Patent ID: 7143210

Claim:
A method for managing printer selection in a network of connected printers, the method comprising: changing specification-defined printer capabilities to user-defined printer usages at a user interface, by programming an administrative policy that cross-references user-defined preferences for the usage of network-connected printers, to print job characteristics selected from the group including user identity, client identity, the document processing application sourcing the print job, the document format, media, document complexity, color/BW, rendering, and content; accepting a print job at a client print subsystem; determining characteristics of the print job; accepting an administrative policy, print driver, and path information for a network-connected printer, distributed from a network server repository: storing the administrative policy, print driver, and path information in a client repository; generating a print subsystem activity selected from the group including accepting the print job at a print driver, spooling the print job, despooling the print job, post-processing the print job, and sending the job to the port manager; initiating the selection of printer in response to accessing a print subsystem activity administrative policy stored in a client-side repository, and installing the print driver and path information in the client print subsystem; and, sending the print job to the selected printer.