Appeal No. 2003-0048 Page 2
Application No. 09/163,787
facsimiles, and copying. A user needing to scan must learn which servers, if any, can
establish a connection with a peripheral that can scan. (Spec. at 1.)
Accordingly, the appellants' invention enables servers on a network to advertise
a basic function of printing. Clients seeking peripherals offering the additional function
of scanning retrieve ID strings of peripherals having the basic function to learn if the
additional function is available. (Paper No. 7 at 5.)
A further understanding of the invention can be achieved by reading the following
claim.
1. A network client peripheral server discovery method for a client to
discover peripheral servers having peripherals with an additional function
in addition to peripherals with a basic function, the method comprising
steps of:
announcing, by servers on the network, that they have peripherals
having the basic function;
searching, by a client on the network, for announcements by
servers having the basic function;
forming, by the client, a list of servers having peripherals having the
basic function based upon announcements discovered in said step of
searching;
retrieving, by the client, data including that which specifies whether
the peripheral has the additional function from servers on the list of
servers having peripherals; and
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