The present invention provides a method of printing application data. In
this method, a print request and ASP certification data for accessing an
application server are transmitted from a client computer to a printer of
a print shop connected to the client computer and the service provider
via a network capable of providing an application service, such as the
Internet available for unspecified users. The printer is operable to
access the application server directly according to the ASP certification
data so as to receive print data from the application server and output
the print data. The present invention can solve problems caused when the
client computer issues a print request to the printer of the print shop
via the network, so that the requirement for the client computer to
acquire application software from the application server is eliminated to
provide a reduced time-period of a printing operation.