Printers, printer controllers, printer software, or printer firmware for supporting wireless printing or printing over air

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10140071-B2
Application number	US-201615332432-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2001
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

Printers or printer controllers supporting wireless printing, or printing over air, are herein disclosed and enabled. The printer or printer controller may include wireless communication circuitry to facilitate a client to discover the printer. Subsequent to being discovered by the client, the printer may wirelessly transmit at least part of an output device profile to the client that has discovered the printer or the printer controller, the output device profile includes information related to the printer. After the printer is selected or identified for service, the printer may receive, from the client, print data that is based, at least partly, on the output device profile. A device specific driver may or may not be necessary for printing. The device discovery may be a short range wireless communication or local area network communication. The wireless communication circuitry may support at least part of IEEE 802.11 standards or Bluetooth specifications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing device supporting wireless printing of digital content, comprising:
a memory or storage hardware component to store at least part of an output device profile, the output device profile includes at least one attribute related to the printing device; and
one or more wireless communication units for wireless communication, the one or more wireless communication units include one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets, at least one wireless communication chip or chipset of the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets being compatible, at least partly, with at least one protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards; and
wherein the printing device uses the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets to:
wirelessly broadcast availability of the printing device for the one or more wireless information apparatuses to wirelessly discover the printing device for service;
wirelessly transmit at least part of the output device profile, stored within the printing device, to the one or more wireless information apparatuses that have wirelessly discovered the printing device; and
wirelessly receive, from the one or more wireless information apparatuses and via the at least one wireless communication chip or chipset that is compatible, at least partly, with at least one protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards, print data that is related to at least part of the digital content for printing at the printing device, and wherein the print data is further related, at least partly, to the at least one attribute included in the output device profile that is wirelessly transmitted from the printing device to the one or more wireless information apparatuses.

2. The printing device of claim 1 , wherein the printing device, using the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets, further wirelessly sends identification information to the one or more wireless information apparatuses, the identification information includes one or more of a brand name, a model, an identifier, a registration, or IP address information, individually or in any combination, associated with the printing device.

3. The printing device of claim 1 , wherein the output device profile includes capability information related to the printing device, the capability information includes at least an attribute related to at least one of a duplex printing, a color space, a bit depth, or a resolution, individually or in any combination, and the wirelessly received print data from the one or more wireless information apparatuses is in accordance, at least in part, to the capability information included in the output device profile.

4. The printing device of claim 1 , wherein the output device profile includes information related to one or more languages or formats supported by the printing device, and wherein the print data received at the printing device is in accordance, at least partly, to the one or more languages or formats supported by the printing device and specified in the output device profile.

5. The printing device of claim 1 , wherein wirelessly discovering the printing device, by the one or more wireless information apparatuses, is based, at least in part, on short range wireless communication between the printing device and the one or more wireless information apparatuses.

6. The printing device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless receiving of the print data at the printing device from the one or more wireless information apparatuses is via a wireless local area network connection between the printing device and the one or more wireless information apparatuses.

7. The printing device of claim 6 , wherein the printing device is operable to provide a printing service without requiring the one or more wireless information apparatuses to install a device specific driver or device specific software associated with the printing device.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having recorded therein software or firmware for managing, at least in part, output of digital content at a printing device, the printing device includes:
at least one processor,
at least a memory or storage device component for storing at least an output device profile that includes information related to the printing device, and
one or more wireless communication units, the one or more wireless communication units include one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets for wireless communication; and wherein execution of at least part of the software or firmware by the at least one processor included in the printing device causes the printing device to perform a wireless printing method, comprising:
initiating a discovery process, via the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets included in the printing device, for the printing device to be wirelessly discoverable by a computing device, the computing device being a distinct device from the printing device; and subsequent to the printing device being wirelessly discovered by the computing device, the wireless printing method further comprises:
wirelessly sending, via the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets and from the printing device to the computing device, at least identification information related to the printing device, the identification information being for selection or for identification of the printing device by the computing device;
wirelessly transmitting, via the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets, to the computing device that has wireless discovered the printing device, at least part of the output device profile that includes the information related to the printing device;
wirelessly receiving, from the computing device and via the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets included in the printing device, print data for printing at the printing device, at least part of the print data received from the computing device is based, at least in part, on the information included in the output device profile transmitted from the printing device to the computing device, and the wireless receiving of the print data being subsequent to having wirelessly sent to the computing device at least the identification information related to the printing device, and
wherein the print data being further related to at least part of the digital content for printing at the printing device, and the one or more wireless communication chips or chipsets being compatible, at least partly, with at least one protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards.

9. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the identification information includes one or more of a name, a printer brand, a printer model, an identifier, a printer registration, or an IP address, individually or in any combination, associated with the printing device for the selection or for identification of the printing device.

10. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the output device profile includes information related to one or more of file formats, data formats, languages, or page description languages, individually or in any combination, supported by the printing device, and the print data received at the printing device corresponding, at least partly, to the one or more of file formats, data formats, languages, or page description languages, supported by the printing device and specified in the output device profile.

11. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the output device profile includes at least an attribute related to the printing device, and the attribute includes at least one of a duplex printing attribute, a color space attribute, a bit depth attribute, or a resolution attribute, individually or in any combination.

12. The medi

Assignees

• Flexiworld Tech Inc

Inventors

• Chang William Ho
• Liu Christina Ying

Classifications

• H04N2201/0053

  Optical, e.g. using an infrared link · CPC title

• H04N1/00488

  providing an audible output to the user · CPC title

• H04N2201/0039

  Connection via a network · CPC title

• H04N1/442

  using a biometric data reading device · CPC title

• H04N7/16

  Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems · CPC title