Claims
- 1. An apparatus for processing a document service request originating from a mobile computing device and directed at an output device in communication with the mobile computing device over a first communications channel of the mobile computing device, said apparatus comprising:
a transceiver for responding to a request to establish a second communications channel with the mobile computing device; and a document server being adapted to communicate with said transceiver to receive over the second communications channel a document service request originating from the mobile computing device; the document service request including a first parameter identifying a document available to the document server and a second parameter identifying a type of output device available over the first communications channel; wherein the document server transmits to the output device, via the second communications channel established by the mobile computing device, the document rendered in a format suitable for the output device.
- 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server:
locates the document identified by the first parameter of the document service request; loads a driver corresponding to the type of output device identified by the second parameter of the document service request; renders the located document using the loaded driver; stores the rendered document in a print file; and transmits the print file to the output device via the mobile computing device.
- 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server and the output device have no preexisting communications channel there between.
- 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server prepares the document identified by the first parameter in a format that conforms to at least one format the output device is adapted to process.
- 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the document server applies one of a document enrichment, translation, conversion, summarization, recommender service to the document before preparing the document in the format suitable for the output device.
- 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server communicates with a file server for retrieving the document.
- 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output device is one of a printer, a display, a file server, and a speaker.
- 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the format suitable for the output device is a device dependent format.
- 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for recording the document service request for accounting purposes at the document server.
- 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document service request includes a third parameter identifying one or more document services to apply to the document.
- 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the document services identified by the third parameter is one of a summarization service, an enrichment service, a recommender service, and a translation service.
- 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second communications channel is a wireless communications channel.
- 13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server forms part of an input device.
- 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the input device is an image-recording device.
- 15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the second communications channel is a limited communications channel.
- 16. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second communications channel is an unlimited communications channel.
- 17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of output device available is obtained by executing a discovery request at the mobile computing device.
- 18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of output device available is obtained using a profile of the output device and confirmed by executing a discovery request at the mobile computing device.
- 19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document server and the output device have an inadequate preexisting communications channel there between.
- 20. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second parameter identifying the type of output device available over the first communications channel is a class of service.
- 21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the class of service is wireless printing.
- 22. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter and the second parameter are specified using a name of the document.
- 23. A method for processing a document service request originating from a mobile computing device and directed at an output device in communication with the mobile computing device over a first communications channel of the mobile computing device, said method comprising:
responding to a request to establish a second communications channel with the mobile computing device; receiving over the second communications channel a document service request originating from the mobile computing device; the document service request including a first parameter identifying a document available to the document server and a second parameter identifying a type of output device available over the first communications channel; and transmitting to the output device, via the second communications channel established by the mobile computing device, the document rendered in a format suitable for the output device.
- 24. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a storage medium; and program instructions stored on the storage medium for processing a document service request on a document server having a processor where the document service request originates from a mobile computing device and is directed at an output device in communication with the mobile computing device over a first communications channel of the mobile computing device; the processor in executing the program instructions:
responding to a request to establish a second communications channel with the mobile computing device; receiving over the second communications channel a document service request originating from the mobile computing device; the document service request including a first parameter identifying a document available to the document server and a second parameter identifying a type of output device available over the first communications channel; and transmitting to the output device, via the second communications channel established by the mobile computing device, the document rendered in a format suitable for the output device.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Cross-reference is made to U.S. Pat. Applications Ser. Nos. 09/AAA,AAA, entitled “Method And Apparatus For Controlling Document Service Requests Using A Mobile Computing Device” (Attorney Docket No. D/A0849), which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.