Patent ID: 7826076

Claim:
A method for providing secure value-added network services in a network including a server and a plurality of client devices, the method comprising: receiving, by the server, one or more document service requests from one of the client devices to send to at least one other of the plurality of client devices over a secure communications medium, wherein each received document service request is associated with at least one quality of service selection that causes the at least one other of the plurality devices receiving the request to perform, at the receiving device, an output operation related to reproducing the document in a manner specified by the selection; authenticating, by the server, a sender of each received document service request; and in response to said authenticating, processing the one or more authenticated document service requests to fulfill each of the processed document service requests based upon the associated at least one quality of service selection, wherein the requesting client device and the at least one other of the plurality of client devices each have a different type of computer operating system, and wherein the plurality of client devices includes a personal computer, a file server and a facsimile machine coupled together over the secure communications medium.