Patent ID: 7804609

Claim:
A method of automatically configuring a target computer on a network to have a connection to a network printer, the method comprising: receiving through the network, at the target computer from a server, configuration signals having corresponding configuration information of the network printer that identify (i) a share-providing computer on the network, the share-providing computer having a share for a local printer and having a driver for the local printer, and (ii) a network location of the network printer on the network, wherein the configuration information does not include a driver for the network printer; automatically sending through the network from the target computer a command that results in the share-providing computer automatically sending to the target computer driver-identification signals that identify a driver for the network printer; determining, at the target computer from the driver-identification signals, whether the target computer includes a driver for the network printer based on the share of the local printer; in response to said determining indicating that the target computer does not include the driver for the network printer, determining, at the target computer, whether the share-providing computer on the network includes the driver for the network printer: when said determining indicates that the share-providing computer includes the driver for the network printer, obtaining, by the target computer, the driver for the network printer from the share-providing computer via the network; and when the share-providing computer does not include the driver for the network printer, obtaining, by the target computer, the driver for the network printer from one of the other computers or storages other than a server based on the driver-identification signals from the share-providing computer; and establishing, at the target computer, a network-printer connection with the network printer, said network printer being at the location identified by the configuration signals and whose driver is the driver identified by the driver-identification signals.