The following relates to the printing and sheet marking arts. It is described with example illustrated reference to methods and apparatuses for securing and accounting for print jobs sent via a wireless Internet service to a printing system. However, the following is amenable to other like applications.
Wireless Internet services are becoming increasingly prevalent. For example, 802.11-compliant WiFi-based wireless hotspots provide wireless Internet access to the public for free or on a fee basis. WiFi hotspots are typically at airports, hotels, cafes, and so forth. It is contemplated for whole cities and major metropolitan areas to-be covered by networks of wireless hotspots to provide ubiquitous wireless Internet service. Some cellular telephone companies are also entering the wireless Internet provider market with broadband wireless Internet access having wide geographical coverage and typically available on a contractual basis, for example by purchasing a two-year service contract payable in monthly installments providing the customer with unlimited broadband wireless Internet access. Publicly accessible wireless local area network (WLAN) systems with Internet connectivity are also known. In conjunction with the growth of wireless Internet services, most laptop computers sold today provide an 802.11-compliant or other wireless network card as standard equipment, enabling most laptop computer users to access the available wireless Internet services.
Users of a wireless Internet service can perform a wide variety of tasks, such as accessing email through a webmail server, browsing and interacting with sites on the world-wide web, transferring files (such as word processing files, digital images, and so forth), engaging in on-line shopping, downloading or streaming music or audio-video, and so forth. Many of these services are free, or are pre-paid, or are readily paid for at time-of-purchase or time-of-use through the use of credit cards, debit cards, or Internet pre-pay services such as PayPal®.
The user may also want to print via a wireless Internet service. To do so, the user knows of or locates an Internet-accessible printing device, and sends his or her print job to that printing device via the wireless Internet service. When the print job arrives, it is printed, and the user later visits the location of the printing device to pick up the print job, or alternatively the printed sheets are mailed, couriered, or otherwise delivered from the printing device to a pick-up location selected by the user who initiated the print job.
However, difficulties arise when attempting to perform printing via a wireless Internet service. The user typically must be authorized to print on the printing device. Obtaining such authorization typically involves transfer of money or its equivalent (such as a credit card transaction) from the user to the owner of the printing device. This is generally so because the cost of printing is substantial (including, for example, cost of paper, cost of toner usage, amortized cost of replacement of worn mechanical parts, and so forth) so that the owner of the printing device is unlikely to allow general use of the device for free.
One approach for accounting for the cost of printing is to employ a contractual arrangement between the user and the owner of the printing device. However, such a long-term contract is typically not satisfactory, since the user is then limited to printing at the one or few printing systems owned or controlled by the contracted owner. Such a limitation is contrary to the desired mobile freedom of wireless Internet. For example, if the user is a frequent traveler, he or she will want to be able to print in whatever city or country he or she happens to be in at any given time. Moreover, a contract allowing unlimited printing leaves the owner of the printing device open to losses due to excessive printing by the user.
Instead of or in addition to a long-term contract, another contemplated approach is a per-page or other usage-based fee charged at the time-of-purchase. For example, the user may pay for 100 printed pages using a credit card, debit card, PayPal®, or so forth at the time the print job is submitted. However, if the print job or a portion thereof fails for any reason (which is not uncommon considering the mechanical processes involved in printing, the possibility of running out of paper, toner, ink, or other printing consumables, or so forth) then the user must attempt to get a monetary refund for those sheets that did not print properly. This can be difficult if the user is on travel and will soon be leaving the locality of the printing system. Moreover, existing payment at time-of-purchase arrangements are susceptible to fraud or honest disputes. For example, a dishonest user may claim the print job failed when it actually printed, or an honest user may believe that a print job failed when in fact it executed properly but was inadvertently picked up by another user. In the latter case, it is unclear as between the user and the printing system owner who should be liable for the cost of the lost or misplaced printed sheets.
Other difficulties with attempting to perform printing via a wireless Internet service include inconvenience and security concerns. The Internet-accessible printing system typically receives print jobs via the Internet, and prints them in the order of receipt, unless an alternative priority is provided. The user arrives some time after the print job has executed, and must go through a stack or other collection of print jobs to locate the user's print job. During the time between printing and user pick-up, the printed pages are accessible to others, presenting a security risk. Yet another difficulty is identifying available printing resources at a given, unknown hotspot. For example, the user working at an airport while waiting for a flight may be unaware of what, if any, public printing resources are available at the airport.