Cloud Print Job Metadata Translation for Secure Authentication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in printing documents from cloud storage systems on authenticated printing systems due to differences in user credentials, limited computational resources on devices, and high costs associated with wireless data downloads, which hinder secure and tracked printing without manual document download and software availability.
Innovation Solution
A method that generates a print job with metadata containing second user credentials, allowing authentication, secure printing, and accounting, even on devices without software applications or printer drivers, by integrating cloud storage systems with authenticated printing systems through a processing server that converts and renders documents for printing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a user stores documents in a cloud storage system and attempts to print from various devices, then accessibility and convenience are improved, but user authentication and print job tracking become problematic due to different credential systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a processing server as an intermediary between the cloud storage system and the authenticated printing system. This server receives print jobs from various devices, retrieves documents from cloud storage using first credentials, and submits them to the printing system with second credentials. The intermediary resolves the credential incompatibility by handling the translation and coordination between different authentication systems, enabling seamless printing from any device while maintaining reliable user identification and tracking.
2Adaptability or versatility
If cloud storage systems are integrated with authenticated printing systems, then printing from any location is enabled, but the complexity of credential mapping and system integration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the credential mapping and system integration complexity from the user's device and concentrates it in the processing server. The server maintains mappings between user identifiers from cloud storage systems and credentials for the authenticated printing system. This extraction allows user devices to remain simple and device-agnostic, while the server handles all the complexity of coordinating between different systems, thereby enabling printing from any location without burdening individual devices with integration complexity.
3Ease of operation
If devices with limited computational resources are used for printing, then accessibility is improved, but the ability to process and convert document formats is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The processing server acts as an intermediary that performs document retrieval, format conversion, and print job preparation. User devices with limited resources only need to submit simple print requests and receive print jobs, without needing to install software applications or have document conversion capabilities. The server handles the computationally intensive tasks of fetching documents from cloud storage, converting them to appropriate formats, and preparing them for printing, thereby enabling accessibility from resource-constrained devices while maintaining full document processing capability.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Due to different formats for documents, in particular different means of identifying- users, it is a problem how to handle a document (12) in a cloud storage system (20), in: which a user is Identified by first user credentials, far processing by an authenticated printing system (50) for which the user is identified by second user credentials. This problem is solved by a method comprising the steps of: i. obtaining the document (12) from the cloud storage system (20) (I), the document (12) comprising document metadata comprising the first user credentials, ii. obtaining the second user credentials based on the first user credentials (L, M), iii. obtaining a print job corresponding to the document (12), the print job comprising print job metadata comprising the second user credentials, and iv. forwarding at least the print job metadata comprising the second user credentials, to the authenticated printing system (50) for the processing. A system and a computer program product for performing the method are also provided.