Patent Publication Number: US-2012038945-A1

Title: Electronic system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/373305, filed Aug. 13, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an electronic system, and more particularly to an electronic system configured for printing files. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     With the rapid development of the technology, mobile device such as personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, smart phone, pocketable computer, e-book reader etc., has been widely applied into the daily work and life of the human, and has more and more functions. 
     The mobile device generally displays a file, such as an image document, a word document, or an email document, on a display screen thereof. However, the display screen of the mobile device is generally small and is hard for information sharing. It is necessary therefore the file in the mobile device should be printed such that users may report a paper file to leaders or clients. Before printing the file in the mobile device, a printing driver should be installed into the mobile device to drive a related printer for printing the file. Generally, the computing capability and the storing space of the mobile device are limited and the limited storing space and computing capability should be better configured for programs increasing performance but not programs for specific document outputting. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide an electronic system, which will not occupy a storing space of a mobile device for printing driver installing. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing method for an electronic system, which will not occupy a storing space of a mobile device for printing driver installing. 
     The present invention provides an electronic system, which comprises a mobile device for sending a file; a server group for receiving the file from the mobile device; and a printer electrically coupled to the server group. The server group comprises an email server and a printing server. The mobile device sends the file as an email to the email server of the server group. The printing server has a scanning driver and a printing driver installed therein such that the printing server employs the scanning driver to scan the email for determining whether printing the file, and employs the printing driver to drive the printer for printing the file if the file should be printed. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device sends the file as the email to the email server of the server group by a wireless communication protocol. Preferably, the wireless communication protocol comprises an 802.11 wireless communication protocol or a Bluetooth communication protocol. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the file is used as an attachment of the email such that the file is sent from the mobile device to the email server of the server group. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device is selected from a group consisted of a personal digital assistant, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a pocketable computer and an e-book reader. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the email server and the printing server are integrated together. Alternatively, the email server and the printing server are two individual servers. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the printing server employs the scanning driver to scan whether the email has a predetermined content, and if the email has the predetermined content, the printing server drives the printer to print the file by the printing driver. Preferably, the predetermined content is a predetermined word-string. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the printing server is included in an embedded bridging server, and an Operation System installed in the embedded bridging server such that the scanning driver and the printing driver run in the Operation System. Preferably, the Operation System is the Linux System. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the embedded bridging server comprises an ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) 32 bit platform. For example, the embedded bridging server comprises an ARM based embedded system and an USB hub. The ARM based embedded system is configured for making the scanning driver and the printing driver run therein. The USB hub is electrically coupled to the printer. Preferably, the USB hub comprises at least one USB interface for being electrically coupled to the printer. 
     The present invention also provides a printing method for an electronic system, which comprises sending a file as an email to an email server from a mobile device; scanning the email by a printing server with a scanning driver installed therein for determining whether printing the file; and printing the file by the printing server with a printing driver installed therein, if the file should be printed. 
     The electronic system of the present invention installs the scanning driver and the printing driver in the printing server of the server group instead of the mobile device, such that the scanning driver and the printing driver will not occupy the storing space of the mobile device, and it is not necessary for the mobile device to execute the printing driver. Thus, the mobile device is still convenient in use and has more resources than before for other applications. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an electronic system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a block view of the electronic system as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the printing server as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart of an electronic system in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. 
     Refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , wherein  FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an electronic system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 2  is a block view of the electronic system as shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the electronic system  100  comprises a mobile device  110 , a server group  120  and a printer  130 . The mobile device  110  is configured for sending a file, and the server group  120  is configured for receiving the file from the mobile device  110  and drives the printer  130  to print the file. 
     The mobile device  110  may be a portable device with an operation processing function, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a smart phone, a pocketable computer, an e-book reader, etc. The file may be an image document, a word document, or an email document, etc. 
     The server group  120  may comprise an email server  121  and a printing server  122 . In this exemplary embodiment, the mobile device  110  may send the file as an email to the email server  121 . The printing server  122  has a scanning driver and a printing driver installed therein such that the printing server  122  can employ the scan driver to scan the email for determining whether printing the file, and employ the printing driver to drive the printer  130  for printing the file if the file should be printed. Preferably, the file may be used as an attachment of the email such that the file can be sent from the mobile device  110  to the email server  121 . 
     In addition, the mobile device  110  may send the file as the email to the email server  121  by a wireless communication protocol, such as an 802.11 wireless communication protocol or a Bluetooth communication protocol, etc. Of course, it is understood for persons skilled in the art that, the mobile device  110  also may send the file as the email to the email server  121  by a wire communication protocol. The printing server  122  is communicated with the email server  121  such that after the email server  121  receives the email attaching the file, the printing server  122  scans the email to determine whether the email has a predetermined content, such as a predetermined word-string. If the email has the predetermined content, the printing server  122  drives the printer  130  to print the file by the printing driver. Preferably, the email server  121  and the printing server  122  may be integrated into a server, that is, the server not only can perform the function of the email server  121 , but also can perform the function of the printing server  122 . Alternatively, the email server  121  and the printing server  122  also may be two individual servers to combine the server group  120 . 
     Furthermore, the printing server  122  may be included in an embedded bridging server, and an Operation System (OS) is installed in the embedded bridging server such that the scanning driver and the printing driver may run in the Operation System. The Operation System may be the Linux System, of course, it also may be the Windows System. The printing server  122  is further electrically coupled to the printer  130 , for example, they are connected together through a wire interface, such as an Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. 
     Refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a schematic view of the embedded bridging server. The embedded bridging server  200  may employ an Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) 32 bit platform to perform the related operation. In detail, the embedded bridging server  200  comprises an ARM based embedded system  210  and an USB hub  220 . The ARM based embedded system  210  is configured for running the scanning driver and the printing driver, and the USB hub  220  is electrically coupled to the printer  130  such that the printing server  122  may drive the printer  130  to print the file by the printing driver. The USB hub  220  may comprise at least one USB interface  221  such that the printer  130  may be electrically coupled to the printing server  122  through the USB interface  220 . 
     In summary, the electronic system  100  of the present invention installs the scanning driver and the printing driver in the printing server  120  instead of the mobile device  110 , such that the scanning driver and the printing driver, specially the printing driver will not occupy the storing space of the mobile device  110 , and not occupy the computing capability of the mobile device  110 . Thus the mobile device  110  is still convenient in use. 
     Furthermore, the present invention also provides a printing method for an electronic system. Refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a flow chart of the printing method for the electronic system in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The electronic system is described in  FIGS. 1-2 . The printing method comprises: sending a file as an email to an email server from a mobile device; scanning the email by a printing server with a scanning driver installed therein for determining whether printing the file; and printing the file by the printing server with a printing driver installed therein, if the file should be printed. 
     While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.