Patent attributes
The technique of the present invention ensures efficient management of printers in a large-scaled network even under a condition that some printer shifts its position on the network. A positioning unit included in each printer connected to the network recognizes positional information, which represents its own geographical position where the printer is located and includes, for example, a latitude and a longitude. Each of computers connected to the network obtains the positional information from each of the printers and specifies a printer, to which print data are output to carry out printing, based on the positional information thus obtained. This arrangement extremely facilitates the management of the printers on the network and enables the user to carry out printing with a selected printer that is located at a desired position.
