Patent ID: 7376666

Claim:
A method of associating drivers and Multi-Functional Peripherals (MFPs) connected to a network comprising discovering MFPs by a printer administration utility; building an MFP database comprising data regarding the MFP discovered by the printer administration utility; automatically discovering printer drivers by the printer administration utility, wherein the automatic discovering of printer drivers includes the discovery of updated drivers; automatically building, by the printer administration utility, a printer driver database comprising data identifying at least one MFP each printer driver is applicable to; automatically analyzing the MFP database and the driver database by the printer administration utility to determine allowable MFP/printer driver combinations; and automatically building a relationship database by the printer administration utility; wherein an allowable MFP/printer driver combination is a printer driver and at least one compatible MFP; and whereby the addition of either a new driver or a new MFP and automatic association is accomplished without manual administration by a user.