Patent ID: 7979534

Claim:
A method of configuring a client computer to include available options of a printer connected to the client computer via a network, comprising: displaying, by a graphical user interface (GUI) of the client computer, a graphical image representative of a body of the printer, the graphical representation indicating a first printer option available at the printer, and a plurality of tabs that each cause a different menu of selectable printer options to be displayed when selected; transmitting, by the client computer, commands over the network directly to the printer in accordance with instructions of a computer program product resident on the client computer to retrieve, directly from the printer, a second printer option available at the printer; storing the second printer option in a storage medium at the client computer; updating the graphical image representative of the body of the printer to indicate that both the first and second options are available at the printer; and displaying, by the GUI of client computer, the updated graphical image representative of the body of the printer.