Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: A printing device includes a user interface, a print module, memory and a device agent. The device agent is configured to modify usage information stored in the memory of the printing device. Based on values in the usage information, one or more processes operating on the printing device may be suspended. If so suspended, a user may contact an administrator who operates the device agent to modify the usage information, and permit the one or more processes to resume.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: A printing device includes a user interface, a print module, memory and a device agent. The device agent is configured to modify usage information stored in the memory of the printing device. Based on values in the usage information, one or more processes operating on the printing device may be suspended. If so suspended, a user may contact an administrator who operates the device agent to modify the usage information, and permit the one or more processes to resume.

Abstract: An approach is provided for a smart card authentication solution utilizing dynamically configurable data to authenticate unrecognized smart cards and communicate with back-end systems not supported by a default environment. The data may be dynamically reconfigured by a user to reflect changes in the authentication environment such as a new smart card type, new data model on a card, or new remote authentication mechanism.

Abstract: An interface for connecting one of a plurality of industrial machines having different data format and storage configurations to a communications medium for remote monitoring and control, includes a programmable apparatus having a memory for storing data in predetermined locations and in a predetermined format, and for storing configuration information relating to the at least one of the machines; a configurable electrical interface responsive to the configuration information for receiving machine data from the machine and sending data to the machine; a data translator responsive to the configuration information, receiving data from the interface and transforming the data to the predetermined format; a processor responsive to the configuration information for reading data from and writing data to the predetermined locations in the memory; and a communications port connected to the communications medium.

Abstract: interface for connecting one of a plurality of industrial machines having different data format and storage configurations to a communications medium for remote monitoring and control, includes a programmable apparatus having a memory for storing data in predetermined locations and in a predetermined format, and for storing configuration information relating to the at least one of the machines; a configurable electrical interface responsive to the configuration information for receiving machine data from the machine and sending data to the machine; a data translator responsive to the configuration information, receiving data from the interface and transforming the data to the predetermined format; a processor responsive to the configuration information for reading data from and writing data to the predetermined locations in the memory, and a communications port connected to the communications medium.

Abstract: An approach is provided for a smart card authentication solution utilizing dynamically configurable data to authenticate unrecognized smart cards and communicate with back-end systems not supported by a default environment. The data may be dynamically reconfigured by a user to reflect changes in the authentication environment such as a new smart card type, new data model on a card, or new remote authentication mechanism.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach is provided for securely printing electronic documents using a portable media. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of contexts and implementations and includes secure direct printing of electronic documents, secure direct printing of electronic documents with remote user authentication and secure printing of electronic documents with remote data management. The particular information provided on the portable media varies, depending upon the implementation. Furthermore, the approach provides varying degrees of security and may be used in conjunction with conventional printing of electronic documents.

Abstract: An approach for automatically customizing printer drivers generally includes installing a generic printer driver on a client. The client is configured to allow communications between the generic printer driver and a printing device. The generic printer driver automatically retrieves configuration data from the printing device and stores the configuration data on a non-volatile storage. The configuration data indicates one or more attributes of the printing device and allows data to be printed to the printing device via the generic printer driver. The approach allows a generic printer driver to be used with many different printing devices, thereby reducing development costs and installation overhead.

Abstract: An interface for connecting one of a plurality of industrial machines having different data format and storage configurations to a communications medium for remote monitoring and control, includes a programmable apparatus having a memory for storing data in predetermined locations and in a predetermined format, and for storing configuration information relating to the at least one of the machines; a configurable electrical interface responsive to the configuration information for receiving machine data from the machine and sending data to the machine; a data translator responsive to the configuration information, receiving data from the interface and transforming the data to the predetermined format; a processor responsive to the configuration information for reading data from and writing data to the predetermined locations in the memory; and a communications port connected to the communications medium.