Patent ID: 8488143

Claim:
An automated method of detecting the internet protocol (IP) address of a network printer that is in communication with a computer having a registry, and of using that internet protocol (IP) address to test the printer, comprising the following steps performed by a printer test program running on the computer: generating a list of printers and a list of port monitors that the computer's registry indicates have been installed on the computer, the list of installed printers including said network printer; using the computer's registry, generating at least one vector based on said installed port monitors; determining if the computer communicates print jobs to said network printer peer-to-peer or via a print server; wherein, if the computer communicates with said network printer peer-to peer, said method comprises retrieving the internet protocol (IP) address of the network printer by retrieving that address directly from the vector, and if the computer communicates with said network printer via a print server, retrieving the internet protocol (IP) address of the network printer by requesting the internet protocol (IP) address from a domain name server; and using the retrieved internet protocol (IP) address to test the printer, bypassing any printer driver software.