Patent ID: 6335795
Filing Date: 2002-01-01
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for selecting one of a plurality of printers in a network printing system with a user interface program, comprising:querying a server to which the printers are attached to determine attributes of the first and second types and the printers that support the attributes; updating a cache with the information queried from the server; determining attributes of the first type by querying the cache to determine attributes of the first type and querying the server to determine attributes of the first type when the cache does not include information on attributes of the first type; displaying information on the determined attributes of the first type in a computer user interface; in response to selection of one of the displayed determined attributes of the first type, determining attributes of the second type by querying the cache to determine attributes of the second type and querying the server to determine attributes of the second type when the cache does not include information on attributes of the second type; display information on the determined attributes of the second type in the computer user interface; in response to selection of one of the displayed determined attributes of the first type and one of the determined attributes of the second type, determining all the printers that support the selected attributes of the first type and second type by querying the cache to determine all the printers that support the selected attributes of the first type and the second type and querying the server to determine all the printers that support the selected attributes when the cache does not include information on the printers that support the user selected print options; and displaying information on each determined printer that supports the selected attributes of the first and second type in the computer user interface.