Approach for Processing Locked Print Jobs Obtained from Other Printing Devices

Abstract

An approach is provided for remotely processing locked print jobs. A printing device discovers other printing devices on a network that store locked print jobs. A user enters user identification data and the printing device displays the locked print jobs stored on the other printing devices that are associated with the user. The user selects a particular locked print job. The printing device requests the particular locked print job from the printing device that stores the locked print job and then processes the locked print job locally. An approach is also provided for a printing device to forward print jobs to other printing devices. The printing device discovers other printing devices on a network and the printing attributes of those printing devices. The printing device determines another printing device that is capable of processing a print job and forwards the print job to the printing device for processing.

1 . A printing device comprising:
 a user interface configured to exchange information between one or more users and the printing device;   a network interface for communicatively coupling the printing device to network;   a printing module for generating printed versions of electronic documents;   a print job management module configured to store at the printing device one or more print jobs received by the printing device over the network;   a print process configured to process the one or more print jobs and cause printed versions of electronic documents contained in the one or more print jobs to be generated at the printing device by the printing module; and   a print job forwarding module configured to:
 determine, based upon the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of one or more other printing devices, that a particular printing device from the one or more other printing devices is able to process a particular print job, and 
 cause the particular print job to be forwarded from the printing device over the network to the particular printing device for processing. 
   
     
     
         2 . The printing device as recited in  claim 1 , a network service module configured to:
 perform device discovery to discover the one or more other printing devices communicatively coupled to the network,   query the one or more other printing devices to determine the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices,   generate and store at the printing device the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices.   
     
     
         3 . The printing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the printing device is further configured to:
 query the user for user identification data and user authentication data via the user interface, and   verify the user identification data and the user authentication data.   
     
     
         4 . The printing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the printing device is further configured to perform one or more of:
 encrypt the particular print job prior to forwarding to the particular printing device to generate an encrypted print job and cause the encrypted print job to be forwarded to the particular printing device, or   compress the particular print job prior to forwarding to the particular printing device to generate a compressed print job and cause the compressed print job to be forwarded to the particular printing device.   
     
     
         5 . The printing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the printing device is further configured to cause a notification to be displayed on the user interface indicating that the particular print job has been forwarded to the particular printing device. 
     
     
         6 . The printing device as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the printing device is further configured to cause location information to be displayed on the user interface, wherein the location information specifies a location of the particular printing device. 
     
     
         7 . The printing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the printing device is further configured to generate a notification message indicating that the particular print job has been forwarded to the particular printing device and transmit the notification message to a client device over the network. 
     
     
         8 . The printing device as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the notification message also indicates a location of the particular printing device. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, causes:
 at a printing device:
 a print job management module to store at the printing device one or more print jobs received by the printing device over the network; 
 a print process configured to process the one or more print jobs and cause printed versions of electronic documents contained in the one or more print jobs to be generated at the printing device by the printing module; and 
 a print job forwarding module configured to:
 determine, based upon the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of one or more other printing devices, that a particular printing device from the one or more other printing devices is able to process a particular print job, and 
 cause the particular print job to be forwarded from the printing device over the network to the particular printing device for processing. 
 
   
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes a network service module on the printing device to:
 perform device discovery to discover the one or more other printing devices communicatively coupled to the network,   query the one or more other printing devices to determine the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices,   generate and store at the printing device the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes generating the printing device to:
 query the user for user identification data and user authentication data via the user interface, and   verify the user identification data and the user authentication data.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes generating one or more of:
 encrypting the particular print job prior to forwarding to the particular printing device to generate an encrypted print job and cause the encrypted print job to be forwarded to the particular printing device, or   compressing the particular print job prior to forwarding to the particular printing device to generate a compressed print job and cause the compressed print job to be forwarded to the particular printing device.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes generating a notification to be displayed on a user interface of the printing device indicating that the particular print job has been forwarded to the particular printing device. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 13 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes location information to be displayed on the user interface of the printing device, wherein the location information specifies a location of the particular printing device. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, causes generating a notification message indicating that the particular print job has been forwarded to the particular printing device and transmit the notification message to a client device over the network. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium as recited in  claim 15 , wherein the notification message also indicates a location of the particular printing device. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 at a printing device:
 a print job management module storing at the printing device one or more print jobs received by the printing device over the network; 
 a print process processing the one or more print jobs and cause printed versions of electronic documents contained in the one or more print jobs to be generated at the printing device by the printing module; and 
 a print job forwarding module:
 determining, based upon the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of one or more other printing devices, that a particular printing device from the one or more other printing devices is able to process a particular print job, and 
 causing the particular print job to be forwarded from the printing device over the network to the particular printing device for processing. 
 
   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 performing device discovery to discover the one or more other printing devices communicatively coupled to the network,   querying the one or more other printing devices to determine the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices,   generating and store at the printing device the printing device capability data that indicates the printing attributes of each of the one or more other printing devices.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 generating a notification indicating that the particular print job has been forwarded to the particular printing device, and   performing one or more of:
 displaying, on a user interface of the printing device, a visual indication of the notification, or 
 transmitting to a client device over the network a notification message indicating the notification. 
   
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method as recited in claim  21 , further comprising causing to be displayed on the user interface of the printing device, location information that specifies a location of the particular printing device.