Print job processing in a printer network using user selected job attributes

摘要

A central print system 200 in which print jobs are directed to a particular printer 106 based on a set of print job attributes 228 specified by an end user at the time of the print job 220 submission. The central print system provides intent-based printing which allows the end user to specify the desired end result of the printing operation rather than initially selecting a particular printer. An attribute manager 206 registers a set of job processing attributes 212, 214 each printer can provide and provides a list of available print job attributes 222 to each client computer 102 on the network from which the end user specifies the particular attributes desired. The user selection of the attributes may involve prioritisation. The attribute manager may update the job processing attribute list as printers are added to or deleted from the network. Alternatively the list updating may occur whenever the print system is initialized or at the time of each job submission. A print job manager 204 processes the print job using user selected print job processing attributes to select the appropriate printer from a group of networked printers. The printer may be selected by prioritizing one or more of the selected attributes using a predetermined set of rules. The central print system may include one or more add-on modules 210 accessible by the print job manager which provide additional functionality 217, 219 to the print system.