Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Rich Forcier

Kris Randall Livingston

James E Anderson

Robert E Pentecost

Mark Muguira

Methods and arrangements are provided for use in a printer and associated computer(s). The printer is configured to periodically and/or automatically detect when changes are being made to a print media supply tray and output/display the current configuration of the print media supply tray for use by the user and/or programs running on the computer. The current configuration of the print tray is determined using detectable mechanisms that are either hardware and/or software implemented. The configuration of the supply tray is displayed to the user via the printer display, a tray-mounted display, and/or though a graphical user interface (GUI) on the computer. The configuration is defined by at least the size and type of the print media associated with the supply tray.

Methods and arrangements for providing and using printer configuration status information

Methods and arrangement for providing and using printer configuration status information

Methods and arrangements are provided for use in a printer and associated computer(s). The printer is configured to overcome potential print job configuration errors by gathering current printer configuration status data with respect to the available print media and comparing the current print media to the requested print media to make decisions that are likely to provide the user with the appropriate print media. The methods and arrangements provide for additional print media handling capabilities associated with certain types of orientation-dependent print media and simplex and/or duplex printing requirements. The user is only asked to manually intervene when the print media is unavailable or cannot be readily determined from the print job. When this occurs, the additional configuration information that is gathered can be provided to the user to assist with the manual intervention.

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Nampa, ID, United States of America

Rich Forcier