Abstract:
A dynamic, preventive, centralized printer resource management system provides dynamic, preventive monitoring of printer resources and centralization of the supervision of printer resources in a print management system. The system dynamically monitors the printer resources and delivers warning messages to system administrators, end users, and/or vendors when a printer resource falls below a predetermined threshold. Further, the printer resources can be monitored from a single, centralized location, such as a control panel proximate the system administrator. Notification of printer resource warnings can also be electronically delivered to end users, system operators, and/or vendors. Thus, the printer resource deficiency can be investigated by the administrator, user, or vendor, and resolved prior to the printer resource becoming entirely exhausted.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to the management of printer resources in a print management system. In particular, this invention is directed to dynamic, preventive monitoring of printer resources, and centralizing the supervision of printer resources. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Print management systems provide a method for controlling and accessing various printers, as well as managing printer resources and other related information, from both proximate and remote locations. However, in the current print management systems, problems arising with printer resources, such as paper supply, toner or ink level, and drum quality, are not resolved until after the problems arise. For example, a system administrator or user located remotely from a printer is not aware of a “low paper” level for that printer until the paper tray is entirely empty. At that point, the printer will not operate until the paper supply is replenished. Thus, any print jobs already sent to the printer will not be printed until the paper supply is replenished. This problem is quite common and causes significant inconvenience and time delay. 
     As shown in FIG. 1, the basic conventional print management system  10  uses a client/server architecture that includes three primary components: a client  20 , a server  40 , and an output device  50 . The client  20  conveys print and management requests to the server  40  and receives responses from the server  40  that arise in response to the submitted requests. In general, although not shown in FIG. 1, in these conventional print management systems, a large number of clients  20  will be connected to the server  40 . Similarly, although not shown in FIG. 1, a large number of output devices  50  are usually connected to the server  40  and are located at widely distributed locations. The users of the clients  20  can include system administrators, system operators, and other end users. 
     The server  40  receives these requests from the clients  20 , performs the required actions for each request, and returns the responses to the corresponding client  20 . One such request from a client  20  is a print request, i.e., a request to print one or more copies of one or more documents, with the printed pages output using one or more features. The features can include simplex or duplex printing, stapling or binding, and the like. Thus, a print request represents a collection of one or more documents to be printed, as well as instructions for printing. The server  40  organizes the documents indicated in the print request submitted by the client into a print job. The server then sends the print job and any associated job control commands to the requested one of the output devices  50 . 
     Each of the output devices  50  is a physical device, or hardware, that is capable of rendering images of documents and producing hard copy output of the print jobs received from the server  40 . Each output device  50  can then return responses to the server  40  regarding its current state or the status of the received print jobs. The output device  50  is commonly a printer. 
     Recently, more efficient print management systems have been developed. The efficient distribution of print jobs in a print management system is described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/966,404, filed Nov. 7, 1997, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the incorporated &#39;404 application discloses a network print management system  100 . The network print management system  100  includes a network server  140 , a number of clients  120  and a number of printers  150 , although FIG. 2 shows only one such client  120  and printer  150 . The network server  140  includes a spooler  142  and a supervisor  146 . The supervisor  146  present on the network server  140  can detect and report printer problems, such as a paper jam or an empty paper tray. However, as discussed above, these problems are not detected and reported until after the problem has disabled the particular printer  150 . A system administrator or user would then have to respond to the printer problem. Until the problem is resolved, the disabled printer  150  is inoperable. Thus, the network print management system  100  may become backlogged with print jobs. The print jobs already submitted to the disabled printer  150  will wait in the queue  144  until the problem is resolved. 
     Also, as shown in FIG. 2, the network print management system  100  includes a database  160  for storing system attributes. The term “attributes” refers to the characteristics of print jobs, documents, logical printers, and physical printers. The database  160  is used to store attributes representing fixed reference values, as well as attributes representing system characteristics that are continuously updated as the print management system dynamically changes. 
     Thus, the attributes are collections of data that describe the entities that form the network print management system  100 . In other words, the attributes define or characterize print management systems abstract entities, or objects. For example, document attributes, such as plex, margin, orientation, etc., describe how the printed material should appear. Printer attributes, such as media-ready, fonts-ready, etc., describe the available resources or features of the printer. Other printer attributes may describe the various printing features that users may use to produce high-quality documents, or they may describe status or configuration information, such as the printer&#39;s state or location. In addition to these attributes, there are a suite of attributes to facilitate end user, operator and administrator functions. In summary, the attributes are a set of data that describes the objects of the printer management system  100 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     System administrators, end users, and vendors need to manage printer resources such as paper supply, toner/ink levels, and drum quality. They need to replace the paper supply, replace ink/toner cartridge, and change the drum before the supplies become completely exhausted. If one or more of these resources become completely exhausted, the printer will not operate until the problem is resolved. Presently, the only way to monitor the printer resources is to travel to the location of each printer and observe that printer and any display on that printer. Thus, monitoring the status of these printer resources is tedious in a network environment, because the printers can be located in a plurality of locations remote from the system administrator. 
     This invention provides a method and apparatus for dynamic, preventive monitoring of printer resources and for centralizing the supervision of printer resources. 
     This invention further provides a graphical user interface window that allows the system administrator to view and manage these resources for one or more output devices remotely from the various output devices. 
     This invention also provides a set of graphical user interface windows to notify the system administrator, and possibly end users, when the status of one of the output devices changes, and of the changed attribute. 
     Dynamic, preventive monitoring is accomplished by a print management system that dynamically monitors the printer resources and sends warning messages to system administrators, end users, and/or vendors when a printer resource falls below a predetermined threshold. Thus, the problem could be investigated by the administrator, user, or vendor, and resolved prior to the printer resource becoming entirely exhausted. 
     Additionally, the printer resources can be monitored from a single, centralized location, such as a graphical user interface window providing a control panel on a client being used by the system administrator. Graphical user interface windows providing printer resource warnings can also be electronically displayed on the clients being used by the end users, the system operators, and/or vendors. 
     These graphical user interface windows can provide advanced warning messages which allow the system administrator to schedule printer maintenance for required, but previously unscheduled, repairs or for standard maintenance. This avoids printer down-time and improves the overall efficiency of the print management system. 
     These and other features and advantages of this invention are described or are apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The preferred embodiments of this invention will be described in detail, with reference to the following drawings, wherein like numerals represent like elements and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a diagram of a simple, conventional print management system; 
     FIG. 2 is a diagram of a more complex, conventional print management system; 
     FIG. 3 is a diagram of a print management system including a printer resource management system according to this invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a flowchart outlining one method of printer resource management according to this invention; 
     FIGS. 5 and 9 show control panel graphical user interface windows usable to remotely view the attributes and status of the output devices according to this invention; and 
     FIGS. 6-8 and  10 - 12  show exemplary notification message graphical user interface windows usable to notify a user or system administrator of changes in an output device&#39;s status and/or attribute according to this invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following embodiments illustrate dynamic, preventive monitoring of printer resources, and centralizing of the supervision of printer resources in network printing systems. However, the use of this invention in network printing systems is only an exemplary illustration. The dynamic, preventive monitoring of printer resources, and centralizing of the supervision of printer resources may be applied to any document output system. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a print management system including a printer resource management system of this invention. The print management system  200  includes a number of clients  220 , a server  240 , a number of printers  250 , and a database  260 , although FIG. 3 shows only one such client  220  and one such printer  250 . Each printer  250  must be capable of dynamically supplying the printer resource levels to the print management system  200  of the particular network. Each printer  250  should communicate with the print management system  200  via a network management protocol, for example, simple network management protocol (SNMP), and must be capable of resource information recognition. 
     The server functions are divided between a spooler  242  and a supervisor  246 . The spooler  242  also includes a queue  244  to store print jobs waiting to be output. Users of the clients  220  include users having varying levels of authority, such as system administrators, system operators, and other end users. 
     For each printer  250 , two new printer attributes  262  and  264  are added to the database for each printer resource that needs to be monitored. The first new printer attribute  262  for each monitored printer resource corresponds to the dynamically changing printer resource level for that resource. For example, the monitored printer resource can be the printer paper level, the printer image forming device quality level, the printer ink level, the printer toner level, and the like. The second new printer attribute  264  for each monitored printer resource corresponds to the predetermined printer resource threshold for that resource. For example, monitored printer resource can be a printer paper threshold, a printer image forming device quality threshold, a printer ink threshold, a printer toner threshold, and the like. 
     It should be appreciated that the printer resource management system of this invention can also monitor and notify administrators, end users, and vendors of deficient physical properties of the printers  250 , such as a paper jam, an open printer cover, and the like. 
     The threshold for any monitored printer resource set by the second new printer attribute  264  can be changed by a system administrator or other user with the necessary authority level to invoke such a change. The threshold setting policy may be determined by the system administrator. For example, higher thresholds can be set for more remote printers, as well as for higher volume printers. Thus, the thresholds for each printer can be customized according to printer location, printer capacity, printer workload, configuration of the printing environment, etc. 
     It should be appreciated that the thresholds can also be dynamically modified by the print management system itself, based on the actual accounting information maintained by the print management system  200 . 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the print management system  200  having this printer resource management system thus includes a printer resource system manager  248 . The printer resource system manager  248  resides on the supervisor  246  of the server  240 . The printer resource system manager  248  includes a notification profile for each printer and/or for each monitored resource. Through the notification profile, the system administrator or other authorized user can designate which end users and/or vendors will receive notification of a printer resource deficiency, depending on the printer and/or the deficiency. The notification profile can also be used to designate the type of electronic communication will be used to notify the designated end users and/or vendors (i.e., e-mail, direct paging, etc.). 
     The operation of the printer resource system manager  248  is now described. First, the printer resource system manager  248  obtains the printer resource levels from each printer  250 . Information regarding the printer resource levels can be obtained by several methods. Two such methods are a pulling model and a pushing model. In a pulling model, the supervisor  246  periodically extracts printer resource information from each printer. In a pushing model, each printer  250  periodically reports printer resource information to the supervisor  246 . The primary difference between the aforementioned models is that in the pushing model, the output device  250  initiates the process of updating the printer resource levels, whereas, in the pulling model, the supervisor  246  initiates the process of updating the printer resource levels. In the pulling model, the time period for the periodical updates can be varied as desired. It can be appreciated that any model capable of performing data acquisition and reporting between printers  250  and a supervisor  246  would be acceptable. 
     Next, the printer resource system manager  248  updates the printer resource level attributes in the database  260  according to the printer resource information received from the printer  250 . The printer resource system manager  248  then compares the attributes for the updated printer resource levels with the attributes for the printer resource thresholds. The printer resource system manager  248  notifies clients  220 , designated through the notification profile, of the printer  250  and the corresponding deficient resource level or problem. It should be appreciated that the printer resource system manager  248  continually operates as long as the server  240  is operational. 
     FIG. 4 is a flowchart outlining one preferred operation of the printer resource management system of this invention. Beginning at step S 400 , control continues to step S 410 , where acquisition of printer resource level information is initiated. Next, in step S 420 , the current printer resource levels are determined. Next, in step S 430 , the printer resource level attributes are updated according to the current printer resource levels. Then, in step S 440 , the attributes for the updated printer resource levels are compared with the attributes for the printer resource thresholds. 
     In step S 450 , it is determined whether the printer resource level attributes are less than the printer resource level thresholds. If the printer resource level attributes are not less than the printer resource level thresholds, control returns to step S 410  for further monitoring of printer resource levels. If the printer resource level attributes are less than the printer resource level thresholds, control proceeds to step S 460 . 
     In step S 460 , a notification of the deficient printer resource level is generated and transmitted. In particular, the notification is generated and transmitted based on the notification profile for the printer experiencing the noteworthy event and/or the type of event. Following step S 460 , control returns to step S 410  for further monitoring of printer resource levels. It should be appreciated that the printer resource management system continually operates as long as the server  240  continues running. 
     The notification profile can be configured to notify, i.e., transmit the notification to, the system administrator, one or more end users, and/or a vendor of the particular printer resource that is below the threshold. The notification profile is also used to identify the delivery method or transmission type, i.e., e-mail, paging, etc. 
     Therefore, the system administrator can monitor the status of all printers from a computer console at one central location. Thus, the printer resource system manager  248  eliminates the need for a system administrator, or other network system personnel, to be at each printer to monitor its status. 
     FIGS. 5 and 9 show a control panel graphical user interface window  500  usable to remotely view the attributes and status of the output devices. The graphical user interface window  500  includes a text scroll box  505  for dynamically displaying system information to a system administrator or other authorized user. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 9, the displayed information may include notification of deficient printer resource levels, printer hardware problems, and changes in printer status. FIGS. 5 and 9 are essentially the same except for the contents of the text scroll box  505 . 
     FIGS. 6-8 and  10 - 12  show examples of a sequence of notification message graphical user interface windows  590  usable to notify a user or system administrator of changes in an output device&#39;s status and/or attributes. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 10, a message  595  is displayed that provides notification that the status of a particular printer  250  has changed. Then, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 11, a message  595  is displayed regarding the specific state of the printer  250 , for example, printer needs attention, printer is idle, etc. Next, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 12, a message  595  is displayed to provide notification of the deficiency of the printer  250 , as shown in FIG. 8, or to confirm resolution of the deficiency, as shown in FIG.  12 . 
     It should be appreciated that the printer resource system manager  248  can be configured so that once a printer resource falls below the corresponding threshold, the system administrator, end user, and/or vendor will be constantly notified of the warning and a continuous update of the printer resource level will be provided as the level continues to drop. 
     It should be appreciated that the printer resource system manager  248  can be implemented with multiple thresholds so that a first warning can be provided when a first threshold is reached and subsequent more obvious and/or more critical warnings are provided when each successive threshold is reached. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, as well as in the example outlined above, the dynamic, preventive, centralized printer resource management system of this invention, implemented by the printer resource system manager  248 , is preferably implemented on a programmed general purpose computer. However, the implementation of non-persistent attributes can also be performed on a special purpose computer, a program microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, and ASIC or other integrated circuit, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FGPA or PAL or the like. In general, any device in which a finite state machine capable of implementing the flow chart shown in FIG. 4 in the example illustrated above can be used to implement the dynamic, preventive, centralized printer resource management system. 
     While this invention has been described with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of this invention as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.