In the modern information society people are more and more dependent on telecommunication and data processing services. Utilization of services has been experienced to be so important that people do no more want to be dependent on the limitations of traditional office environment. That is why many kinds of portable telecommunication terminal devices have been developed, a very popular representant of which is a portable microcomputer. In order to utilize various telecommunication services a portable microcomputer can, using auxiliary devices, be connected to telecommunication networks e.g. utilizing the data channel provided by GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) -mobile telephone system. Telecommunication terminal devices slightly different in their functions are so called electronic notebooks, which are commonly called PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) -devices. These devices offer typically calendar services and other services increasing the efficiency of utilization of time.
A telecommunication terminal device which is even more advanced than the above mentioned ones is a so called multi-service mobile station. In a multi-service mobile station features have been collected from a portable microcomputer, a mobile station and a PDA-device. A multi-service mobile station is a small but versatile wireless telecommunication terminal device. This kind of device can be used as a mobile station, because it comprises e.g. the functions of a GSM mobile telephone, and with it one can send and receive facsimile messages, browse WWW (World Wide Web) -pages through Internet and create and edit text files. One example of this kind of multi-service mobile station is NOKIA 9000 Communicator manufactured by Nokia Mobile Phones Inc. All above mentioned devices have been optimized for a certain purpose, and they facilitate the utilization of various telecommunication and data processing services outside the office.
While using the above described telecommunication terminal devices one usually meets the following problem: one wishes to output information processed with the telecommunication terminal device on paper. While moving outside an office, a personal printer is not available very often. In order to be able to connect a telecommunication terminal device to a printer, a printer driver specific to the printer in question is required, which driver converts the data processed with the telecommunication terminal device into a form suitable for the printer. This means in practice that several different printer drivers have to be installed in a telecommunication terminal device in order to be able to use printers of different types. This can be somewhat successfully done in a portable computer which has a big mass storage. As is generally known, computers usually have a large number of printer drivers for various printers. Still, even then one may meet the problem that the necessary printer driver is not found in the mass memory of the computer when it is needed. This happens especially in foreign environment when it is impossible to predetermine an available printer. The version of an available printer driver can also be so old that printing is not successful when a more recent printer version is used. These problems are easily met e.g. while traveling, when one attempts to connect a computer to such a printer which one has not used previously.
Several printer drivers as such are a big problem for pocket-size, light telecommunication terminal devices. Their memory capacity is small, and as big a share of the available memory as possible is desired to be reserved for the information processed by the user. In addition to that, increasing memory capacity increases manufacturing cost. On the other hand, if memory capacity has to be increased because of the number of printer drivers, the power consumption of the memory is normally increased, and through it also the total power consumption of the telecommunication terminal device, which on its behalf has an unfavorable effect on the operating time of battery powered telecommunication terminal devices.
Patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,918 describes a separate adapter unit connected to a fixed ISDN (Integrated Services digital Network) -line, which adapter is further connected to a computer and a printer. The adapter unit comprises among other things ISDN -interface circuits, a memory and a processor. By utilizing this adapter unit it is possible to use a computer and a printer as a facsimile device. The adapter unit can relay transfer data received from the computer through ISDN-network to another corresponding adapter unit, and from there further to a printer. The information may be a teletext, a facsimile message and in so called mixed form, which comprises text and pictures. If information is transferred using a protocol other than the data transfer protocol prior known from facsimile devices, we meet the following drawback: one has to determine in advance for each connection which data format is to be used for data transfer. For example, if the receiving terminal device cannot process data in mixed form, the sending terminal device has to be commanded manually into facsimile mode.
Patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,762 presents a remote outputting method which utilizes in a data transfer connection through telephone lines the picture coding standard prior known from normal facsimile devices. Printer commands required for outputting have though to be forwarded in connection with the message, which means that one has to know before transmitting, what kind of printer is available in the other end. This is laborious. In addition to that, the resolution used in facsimile devices does not make it possible to transfer pictures of good quality. In the system according to the publication it is also possible to transfer data in non-standard (NSF, Non-Standard Facility) format. NSF has been specified in Group 3 of CCITT. In this case files can be transferred in the original file format, specific to each application. The disadvantage of this system is that outputting requires that the receiving end has access to the same software with which the file was originally created in the transmitting end. It is often even required that the software must be of the same version. Even if both computers would have the same software, the outputting has to be executed manually, that is, someone must be present in the receiving end to open the received file using said software and to give the Print-command.