System and method for automated printing of network documents

Abstract

A system and method for contemporaneous printing of a document along with content obtained from a network, in accordance with embedded network address information, includes a print engine, a network interface and an intelligent controller. An electronic document is parsed to identify at least one embedded network addresses. Content associated with each embedded network address is obtained from a network and printed contemporaneously with the original document. Separator pages preceding content obtained from the network are generated and include the network address from which content that follows was obtained, along with a page number in the original document where the address appeared.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A document processing system comprising:
 a print engine;   a network interface; and   an intelligent controller, including a processor and memory, configured to enable operation of the print engine,
 the memory configured to store an electronic document, 
 the processor configured to parse a stored electronic document for at least one embedded network address, 
 the processor further configured to send a page request to the at least one network address parsed from the electronic document via the network interface, 
 the processor further configured to receive content data received via the network interface responsive to each page request, and 
 the controller further configured to commence operation of the print engine to print the electronic document and the content data contemporaneously. 
   
     
     
         2 . The document processing system of  claim 1  wherein the network address is comprised of an Internet address. 
     
     
         3 . The document processing system of  claim 2  wherein the Internet address is comprised of a uniform resource locator. 
     
     
         4 . The document processing system of  claim 3  wherein the processor is further configured to generate a separator page between a printout of the electronic document and a printout of the content data. 
     
     
         5 . The document processing system of  claim 4  wherein the processor is further configured to print the uniform resource locator on the separator page. 
     
     
         6 . The document processing system of  claim 3   wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a number of printed pages associated with the content data,   wherein the processor is further configured to generate a user prompt on an associated user interface when a calculated number of printed pages associated with the content data exceeds a preselected threshold value,   wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user selection responsive to the generated user prompt via the user interface, and   wherein the processor is further configured to selectively print the electronic document in accordance with a received user selection.   
     
     
         7 . The document processing system of  claim 3  further comprising a scan engine configured to generate the electronic document from a tangible document. 
     
     
         8 . A method comprising:
 storing an electronic document in a memory;   parsing, via a processor, a stored electronic document for at least one embedded network address;   sending a page request to the at least one network address parsed from the electronic document via a network interface;   receiving content data responsive to each page request via the network interface; and   printing the electronic document and the content data contemporaneously by a print engine.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the network address is comprised of an Internet address. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the Internet address is comprised of a uniform resource locator. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising generating a separator page between a printout of the electronic document and a printout of the content data. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising printing the uniform resource locator on the separator page. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising:
 calculating a number of printed pages associated with the content data; 
 generating a user prompt on an associated user interface when a calculated number of printed pages associated with the content data exceeds a preselected threshold value; 
 receiving a user selection responsive to the generated user prompt via the user interface; and 
 selectively printing the electronic document in accordance with the received user selection. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising scanning a tangible document by a scan engine to generate the electronic document. 
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 a scanner configured to generate an electronic image of a tangible document;   a processor configured to perform optical character recognition on the electronic image to generate an electronic document inclusive of character data,   the processor further configure to parse the electronic document for at least one embedded Internet address,
 the processor further configured to connect to a networked device corresponding to the at least one embedded Internet address via a network interface, and 
 the processor further configured to receive an electronic document from the networked device; and 
   a printer configured to print an image of the tangible document contemporaneously with an image of the received electronic document.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the processor is further configured to output a separator page between a printout of the tangible document and a printout of the received electronic document. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the received electronic document is a rendering of a web page associated with the networked device. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the received electronic document is comprised of an electronic document file resident on the networked device. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the electronic document file is comprised of an image file. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the electronic document is comprised of an editable electronic file.