Patent ID: 8502996

Claim:
A method for matching distributed users with distributed multi-function devices, said method comprising: registering a plurality of multi-function devices associated with a cloud infrastructure and user information to a back end unit, wherein said back end unit maintains a persistent state of said plurality of multi-function devices in said cloud infrastructure; generating a sorted list of said plurality of multi-function devices that meet at least one job criterion associated with a rendering job and account for user proximity to said plurality of multi-function devices in response to receiving said rendering job from a user; providing a dynamic turn-by-turn direction for locating a destination multi-function device in said cloud infrastructure from a user's location in response to selecting said destination multi-function device from said sorted list wherein said turn-by-turn direction accounts for travel plans and details about preferred locations; updating said dynamic turn-by-turn direction if said destination multi-function device becomes unresponsive, to locate a new destination multi-function device in said cloud infrastructure from a user's location in response to selecting said new destination multi-function device from said sorted list; affixing a picture of a two dimensional code associated with a non-EIP enabled MFD to said non-EIP enabled MFD; sending a picture of said two dimensional code to said back end unit; and interpreting said two dimensional code by said back end unit to find an IP address associated with said non-EIP enabled MFD to render said rendering job to said IP address.