Patent ID: 7522299

Claim:
A system for automatic configuration upon installation of a network printer, wherein the network printer is associated with printer description files, a driver, a spooler, and a port monitor, the system comprising: bi-directional application program interfaces associated with the spooler for allowing the driver to generate a request and a response, the bi-directional application program interfaces that seek a list of one or more installable features upon installation of the network printer; a syntax within the printer description files for representing and associating the request and the response with a print feature, the syntax including one or more extensions to the printer description files; extension files stored in the driver for relating bi-directional values and printer values, the bi-directional values that enable a client to generate a request and interpret a response; a notification infrastructure controlled by the port monitor for providing a bi-directional notification of configuration changes to the driver and selected applications; and a computer storage medium for storing information related to automatic configuration upon installation of the network printer, wherein the bi-directional application program interfaces perform an auto-configuration of the system upon installation of the network printer, the auto-configuration including configuration of the one or more installable features and the auto-configuration performed independent of input from one or more users at one or more computers.