Patent ID: 8233177

Claim:
A method for remotely printing a document on a network comprising a networked client computer, a target networked printer device and a print server computer, the method comprising: storing administrative settings for the target networked printer device applied by the print server computer on the client computer; creating a local shadow printer instance representing the target networked printer device on the client computer, the local shadow printer instance configured to bundle device information obtained from the print server computer for the target networked printer device for subsequent access by a local rendering subsystem of the client computer to enable rendering of documents for the target networked printer device without accessing the print server computer and associated with a corresponding printer queue established for the target networked printer device; associated with a corresponding printer queue established for the target networked printer device; placing a print job for remotely printing the document in the printer queue of a local provider in association with the local shadow printer instance to enable handling of remote print jobs using local printing functionality; updating, using a synchronization manager on the client computer, the stored administrative settings to maintain synchronization with current print server computer administrative settings, the synchronization manager being configured to perform the updating at a periodic time interval; applying the stored administrative settings to the document on the client computer; based on the administrative settings, rendering the document in a native printer language of the target networked printer device on the client computer using the local rendering subsystem adapted to output the rendered document in a format that enables direct printing by the print server by accessing the local shadow printer instance and applying the device information bundled by the local shadow printer instance when the print job in the printer queue is ready for printing; and sending the rendered document to the print server computer to cause the print server to print the rendered document directly in the format in which the rendered document is sent.