Brother HL-1870N User Guide

CHAPTER 5 BIP INTERNET PRINTING INSTALLATION 

5-2

 

 
The BIP software is installed using a standard Windows 
95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP Installation Wizard. It creates a virtual port on the 
Windows 95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP PC that operates in a similar way to the 
standard LPT1 printer port from the Application program point of view. The user 
can use the Windows 95/98/MeNT4.0/2000/XP Print Manager to create a printer 
that uses this port along with a standard Windows 95/98/Me, NT4.0/2000/XP-
compatible printer. Any Windows 95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP applications 
program can therefore print to this printer (and hence to the virtual port) without 
modification or operational procedure. 
 
When a job is printed to the BIP virtual port, it is actually MIME-encoded 
(converted to a standard Internet E-mail message) and sent out to a Brother print 
server at the remote location. This means that BIP is compatible with most 
common E-mail software packages. The only requirement is that the E-mail 
server be capable of sending E-mail message over the Internet. 
 
In more detail, the procedure works in the following way: 
 
• 

If you are connected to a Local Area Network, the E-mail message is passed 
to the E-mail server, which in turn transmits the message out over the 
Internet using the SMTP protocol (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) to the 
remote print server. 

 

• 

If you are connecting via a modem directly to an Internet Service Provider 
(ISP), the ISP handles the routing of the E-mail to the remote print server. 

 

• 

At the remote site, an E-mail server receives the E-mail message. The 
remote print server, which has its own E-mail address, uses the POP3 
protocol (Post Office Protocol 3) to download the E-mail message from the 
server. It then decodes the attachment and prints it out on the printer. 

 
If an E-mail is received that has not been configured to use the BIP virtual port 
driver, the printer will print the e-mail out as a text document.