Method and apparatus for automatic updating of printer configuration and status data

Abstract

A method and apparatus for updating print drivers is described. The described system includes a port monitor that monitors the configuration and status of a printer. When changes occur to the configuration of a printer, the port monitor updates a print driver registry on the print server. The port monitor also wakes the print driver on the print server and informs the print driver of the configuration changes. Depending on the client operating system used, a client device connected to the server's shared print queue may either directly read or request the configuration data from the print server. In some client operating systems, the client device may also update a local registry on the client device to reflect the changes in configuration of the printer. The described system allows print drivers to have a consistent interface to printer configuration and status data regardless of which version of the Microsoft Windows Operating System is used by the client.

1 . A computer code to update printer data comprising: 
 a first code section to periodically poll a printer that outputs data from client devices, the first code section to compare the results from the poll to a server registry that maintains the configuration states of the printer, the first code section to determine changes in configuration states;    a second code section that transmits the changes in configuration states to a plurality of client devices coupled to the server to allow the client devices to update a local registry.    
   
   
       2 . The computer code of  claim 1  wherein the computer code runs on a print server.  
   
   
       3 . The computer code of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a third code section to interact with a first client device of the client devices, the third code section to instruct the first client device to update a local print registry in the first client device, the local print registry of the first client device to maintain the configuration state of the printer.    
   
   
       4 . The computer code of  claim 1  wherein the configuration states of the printer corresponds to the printer settings at a particular point in time.  
   
   
       5 . The computer code of  claim 1  wherein the computer code conforms to a computer operating system and uses a pipe server thread that transfer the changes in configuration states from the printer to the client device.