Patents Portfolio
U.S. Patent: 10,873,856
Patent Title
Printing devices supporting printing over air or printing over a wireless network
Meta Information
Issued Date: Dec. 22, 2020
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents
Technical Fields
Abstract
Printing devices (or output controllers) supporting printing over air or wireless network printing or Internet printing, are herein disclosed and enabled. The printing device may include wireless communication chips or chipsets supporting part of IEEE 802.11 standards for (1) connecting to a wireless local area network (LAN) to establish communication with a client that is in the wireless LAN; (2) transmitting device information related to the printing device from the printing device to the client; and (3) receiving print data from the client over the wireless LAN for printing at the printing device. The print data is based on the device information transmitted to the client. A printer driver specific to the printing device may or may not be necessary for printing to the printing device. The printing device may require registration with a service over a network prior to providing printing services to the client.
Sample Claim
1. A method for a printing device to wirelessly provide printing services, the printing device includes:
wireless communication circuitry, and
memory or a storage device storing device information related to the printing device, the device information is for transmitting from the printing device to an information apparatus, and the device information includes one or more of identification information, language information, format information, duplex printing information, color space information, bit depth information, or resolution information, individually or in any combination, corresponding to the printing device; the method comprising:
(1) wirelessly connecting the printing device, using the wireless communication circuitry of the printing device, to a wireless local area network, for the printing device to wirelessly communicate with an information apparatus that is in the wireless local area network, the information apparatus being a separate device from the printing device;
(2) establishing a wireless local area network communication link, using the wireless communication circuitry of the printing device and via the wireless local area network wirelessly connected in (1), between the printing device and the information apparatus that is in the wireless local area network, the wireless local area network communication link being compatible, at least partly, with at least one protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards;
(3) wirelessly transmitting, using the wireless communication circuitry of the printing device and over the wireless local area network wirelessly connected in (1), the device information, from the printing device to the information apparatus that is in the wireless local area network, the device information being stored in the memory or the storage device of the printing device, and the device information includes one or more of identification information, language information, format information, duplex printing information, color space information, bit depth information, or resolution information, individually or in any combination, corresponding to the printing device, and the wireless transmission of the device information from the printing device to the information apparatus is via the wireless local area network communication link established in (2); and
(4) wirelessly receiving, at the printing device and using the wireless communication circuitry of the printing device and over the wireless local area network communication link established in (2), print data from the information apparatus for printing at the printing device, and wherein the print data, which is wirelessly received at the printing device, is in accordance, at least in part, with the device information, corresponding to the printing device, that has been wirelessly transmitted from the printing device to the information apparatus in (3); wherein, by having wirelessly transmitted, via the wireless local area network communication link established in (2), the device information from the printing device to the information apparatus in (3), the printing device provides the printing services to the information apparatus without a need for the information apparatus to install, at the information apparatus, a printer driver that is device specific to the printing device and without a need for the information apparatus to use the installed printer driver for printing at the printing device; and wherein the wireless communication circuitry of the printing device includes one or more chips or chipsets, the one or more chips or chipsets are compatible, at least in part, with at least part of a protocol within IEEE 802.11 wireless standards for wirelessly connecting to the wireless local area network in (1).