Patent ID: 7352485

Claim:
A printing method for printing an electronic file using printing devices that are coupled via a network to a user terminal which requests a printing operation, to a provider server which stores guidance information that includes e-mail addresses of the printing devices and maps indicating locations of the printing devices, and to a file server which stores electronic files identifiable by corresponding identifiers, said method comprising the steps of: sending the guidance information that includes the e-mail addresses and the map of at least one location of the printing device from the provider server to the user terminal via the network in response to a request, originated from the user terminal and received via the network, indicating a desired printing location; receiving, by an arbitrary printing device having the e-mail address specified by the user terminal, via the network, an e-mail originated from the user terminal, said e-mail being a print request containing an identifier of a predetermined electronic file to be printed on the arbitrary printing device; retrieving the predetermined electronic file from the file server via the network by the arbitrary printing device itself using the identifier of the predetermined electronic file contained in the print request; and printing the predetermined electronic file that is retrieved on the arbitrary printing device in response to a print execution instruction originated from the user terminal and received via the network.