The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 13, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 04, 2001
William K. Meade, II, Eagle, ID (US);
James S. Tagg, Boise, ID (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for, and a method of, organizing and utilizing networked peripheral device include peripheral devices, which are aware of their respective geographical location and operational capabilities, and self-organization of the peripheral devices into a cluster of networked peripheral devices based on the operational capability of each respective peripheral device and the relative physical proximity with respect to each other. The host computer is also made aware of its geographical location. One or more peripheral device(s) that are optimally suited to fulfill the request is selected based on the physical proximity of the selected peripheral device(s) to the requesting user host computer and/or the capabilities of the selected peripheral device(s). The selection of the optimal peripheral device(s) is made by the networked peripheral devices without requiring the user of the host computer to know the topology of the network, e.g., the locations and capabilities of each of the networked peripherals. Device driver(s) for the selected peripheral device(s) may be dispensed to the host computer as required in order for the host computer to utilize the selected peripheral device(s). In an embodiment, the host computer may include its geographical location in a request for a peripheral device service. The service request including the geographical location information of the user host computer may enable an on-line service provider, e.g., a provider of an on-line printing service, to direct the service request to the closest service center that may be able to fulfill the request by the user.