2.5 Use Cases

The Print Services system is designed to support scenarios that allow users shared access to printers that are connected to print servers or to computers that are used by other users. When a user wants to print to a shared printer, the system facilitates this action by providing the following:

  • Lists of shared printers

  • Connecting the user to the print queue that is associated with the requested printer and enabling the user to install the appropriate printer driver

  • Transporting the print data from the print client to the print queue

  • Processing multiple print jobs in the order of their arrival or priorities

  • Keeping the user apprised of the status of the print job

The Print Services system also facilitates the management of a large number of shared printers across multiple print servers by enabling an administrator to remotely install and configure shared print queues on print servers, to manage the use of shared print queues on print servers, and to view and manage print jobs that have been submitted by all users to shared print queues on print servers.

Although there is a distinction between the roles and capabilities of administrator and user when participating in the Print Services system, both roles can be conducted on the same computer. And although there is a distinction between a print client and a print server as actors in scenarios that are using the Print Services system, a print client can assume the role of a print server if it enables other print clients to discover and use a print queue that is installed on the print client computer or administers administrative clients.

This section provides the use cases that describe the functionality of the Print Services system in terms of actors that participate in this system and their goals. The use case participants most often include a print client and a print server. They are triggered by a user performing print operations, or an administrator performing administrative operations.

Section 2.5.2 provides a table that summarizes the use cases that are described in section 2.5.3.