Patent ID: 7349116

Claim:
A method of managing workflow in a commercial printing environment including a designer location and a print service provider location, said method comprising: establishing a closed-loop communication link between an automated shipping device and the designer location; creating a high performance file at the designer location that comprises both a print job to be printed by the print service provider location and a job ticket that contains shipping instructions; the designer location receiving updated device configuration information from the automated shipping device via said closed-loop communication link, said updated device configuration information comprising information about installed features and capabilities of the automated shipping device; automatically verifying at the designer location that the automated shipping device is capable of shipping as per said shipping instructions contained in said job ticket; the designer location submitting said high performance file to the print service provider location via said closed-loop communication link; the print service provider location printing said print job to generate a printed output; and the automated shipping device receiving said printed output and shipping said printed output in accordance with said shipping instructions.