HP Universal Print Driver (UPD) is an intelligent print driver that supports a broad range of HP LaserJet printers and MFPs. Developed by Hewlett-Packard, it combines a general purpose driver (UNIDRV or PSCRIPT) and HP proprietary extensions. HP UPD simplifies driver deployment and management. This advanced print driver has the ability to discover HP printing devices and automatically configure itself to the device capabilities (e.g., duplex, color, finishing, etc.). HP Universal Print Driver is a Microsoft Windows solution that provides two modes of operation, traditional and dynamic. In traditional mode, the HP UPD behaves similarly to traditional print drivers. In dynamic mode, it provides discovery, auto configuration, and management features that are particularly well suited for mobile computer users. Operating modes HP’s Universal Print Driver is based on Microsoft’s universal core drivers UNIDRV and PSCRIPT. These core drivers are not usable until device specific information is used to inform the core driver of the actual device settings and capabilities. To accomplish this task, a universal printing dialog box is inserted before the standard print setup dialog box. The universal printing dialog box allows users to choose a recently used device, enter a device IP address, search for local print devices, or choose a device from a predefined list. Regardless of the device discovery method used, the Microsoft core driver is updated accordingly and the new device information is then reflected in the normal print driver user interface. HP provides two different Universal Print Drivers: PCL6 and emulation PostScript. Custom default values can be assigned with the HP Driver Configuration Utility. HP UPD is available as a Microsoft Windows 32-bit or 64-bit driver and automatically configures itself to one of 35 currently supported languages based upon the language of the host system. Dynamic mode In dynamic mode, searching for devices is accomplished using the mDNS discovery protocol (aka Bonjour). The mDNS protocol performs satisfactorily for devices residing on the same subnet only. Users will need to enter IP addresses for remote devices unless they have been previously discovered or are available on a managed printers list. Whether discovered, entered, or chosen, the HP universal printing dialog box submits SNMP requests to the target device’s IP address. Using enterprise auto configuration (EAC) and a bidirectional communications port, SNMP requests ascertain a device’s configurations and capabilities. The results are used by HP UPD to update the print driver table in the Windows registry