Patent ID: 7606880

Claim:
A printing method using a server computer connecting at least one client computer and at least one printer via a network, comprising: receiving a registration request from the at least one printer and managing as usable printers, the printers that have sent the registration request; receiving a registration request from the at least one client computer and assigning one of the usable printers to each of the client computers that have sent the registration request; sending, to an output destination printer that is one of the assigned usable printers, a request for sending a printer secure communication session establishment request to initiate establishment of a printer secure communication session; receiving, from the output destination printer, a printer secure communication establishment request in response to the request for sending the printer secure communication session establishment request; establishing the printer secure communication session with the output destination printer based on the printer secure communication establishment request; and transferring a print job sent from the client computer using the established printer secure communication session, wherein the at least one printer is located inside a firewall, the server computer is located outside the firewall, and the server computer receives a communication session establishment request from the output destination printer prior to the request for the printer secure communication session.