Patent ID: 7528979

Claim:
A method of allocating print resources and subsequently printing a document via a print server within an office network, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of workstations and printers arranged in a network in an office; providing each workstation and printer with a unique address within the network; providing users of the network with a unique identifier; enabling a given user to log on to a workstation in the network using said unique identifier, said workstation being different from the user's usual workstation; and automatically allocating, in response the user logging on, print resources to the workstation where the user has logged on, said print resources being adjacent to the workstation, such that a document printed from the workstation is sent to a printer adjacent to the workstation rather than to a printer normally associated with the user's usual workstation; wherein printing of the document comprises the steps of: routing a datastream representative of the document to be printed from the workstation to a print server; causing the print server to determine from the datastream the type of document to be printed; causing the print server to determine a print format for the document; and causing the print server to directly command the allocated printer to print the document in said print format, wherein the step of commanding the printer to print the document in said print format is accomplished by sending a print command from the print server to the allocated printer, the print command comprising an additional datastream element, the print command overriding any user-specified print commands sent by the workstation operator in the datastream to the print server.