Patent ID: 7042585

Claim:
A method of brokering a print job between a customer and a plurality of print providers, the method comprising: providing a print brokering system controller having a printing capability of each of the print providers registered therewith; defining a network communication link between the customer and the print brokering system controller; receiving a print request for the print job at the print brokering system controller via the network communication link, including receiving a parameter of a performance attribute of the print job; comparing the print request for the print job with the printing capability of each of the print providers and determining which of the print providers have the printing capability to fulfill the print request, including performing a first match of the print request with the printing capability of the print providers and establishing a first subset of the print providers based on the first match, querying the first subset of the print providers on the performance attribute of the print job and receiving a response thereto, and performing a second match of the parameter of the performance attribute with the response thereto and establishing a second subset of the print providers based on the second match; and compiling a list of the second subset of the print providers which has the printing capability to fulfill the print request and matches the performance attribute of the print job, and presenting the list to the customer via the network communication link, the list excluding print providers which do not have the printing capability to fulfill the print request.