Method and apparatus for controlling routing of print jobs

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for controlling routing of print jobs, the computer-implemented method includes determining whether a print job meets at least one predetermined criteria and sending a notification based on a result of the determination.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for controlling routing of print jobs, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a print job, transferred from a printer driver which is not configured for printing to any particular printer,   filtering possible printers for printing the print job based on one or more job attributes of the print job;   sorting the possible printers into an order based on the cost of printing the print job; and   sending a notification to a user such that the sorted order of possible printers is displayed to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 1 , wherein the job attributes include at least one of a number of pages to be printed, quality of printing and finishing options of the print job. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 1 , wherein the notification is sent to a sender of the print job. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 1 , wherein the display of the sorted order of possible printers is arranged so the user can select one of the displayed printers. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 4 , wherein the printer ordered first of the possible printers is provisionally selected in the display. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 1 , wherein a notification is sent to an entity authorized to approve printing of the print job. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 6 , wherein the notification sent to the entity authorized to approve printing of the print job includes a request to approve printing the print job. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method according to  claim 7 , wherein the computer-implemented method further includes holding the print job until approval is received from the entity authorized to approve the print job. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus for controlling routing of print jobs, the apparatus configured to:
 receive a print job, transferred from a printer driver which is not configured for printing to any particular printer;   filter possible printers for printing the print job based on one or more job attributes of the received print job;   sort the possible printers into an order based on the cost of printing the print job; and   send a notification to a user such that the sorted order of possible printers is displayed to the user.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program to control routing of print jobs that, when run on a processor or computer in an information-processing apparatus, causes the information-processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a print job, transferred from a printer driver which is not configured for printing to any particular printer;   filtering possible printers for printing the print job based on one or more job attributes of the received print job;   sorting the possible printers into an order based on the cost of printing the print job; and   sending a notification to a user such that the sorted order of possible printers is displayed to the user.