Patent Publication Number: US-2004042033-A1

Title: Display of location of alternate image-forming device to which image-forming-related job has been routed

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001] In many organizational environments, there are a number of image-forming devices, such as printers. Typically, a user&#39;s print jobs have a default printer to which they are automatically routed. However, the default printer may not be able to process the user&#39;s jobs at certain times. The default printer may not be currently operational. It may also not have the capability to print a given user&#39;s job. For instance, the default printer may be black and white, whereas the user requested that the print job print in color.  
       [0002] In some environments, print jobs may be rerouted to less busy printers to increase overall throughput. In such cases, the print job may be routed to another nearby printer for completion. Typically, the user is informed at his or her computer that the print job has been routed to another printer. However, the user may have already left his or her desk to obtain the output of the print job from the default printer. The user may then wait in vain for the print job at the default printer. At some point, the user is likely to be forced to go back to his or her computer to see where the print job has been output. This can be an inconvenient, inefficient, and frustrating process.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0003] A method of an embodiment of the invention routes an image-forming-related job from an intended image-forming device to an alternate image-forming device. The method then displays, at the intended image-forming device, a location of the alternate image-forming device to which the image-forming-related job has been routed. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0004] The drawings referenced herein form a part of the specification. Features shown in the drawing are meant as illustrative of only some embodiments of the invention, and not of all embodiments of the invention, unless otherwise explicitly indicated, and implications to the contrary are otherwise not to be made.  
     [0005]FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.  
     [0006]FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method that is more specific than, but consistent with, the method of FIG. 1, for performance by an image-forming device, according to an embodiment of the invention.  
     [0007]FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method that is more specific than, but consistent with, the method of FIG. 1, for performance by an image-forming device server, according to an embodiment of the invention.  
     [0008]FIG. 4 is a diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the invention.  
     [0009]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image-forming device according to an embodiment of the invention, which can be used within the system of FIG. 4.  
     [0010]FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an external display device for the image-forming device of FIG. 5, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0011] In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and logical, mechanical, and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.  
     [0012]FIG. 1 shows a general method  100 , according to an embodiment of the invention. Like other methods of embodiments of the invention, the method  100  may be implemented as a computer program or computer-executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, such as a fixed or removable medium, a volatile or non-volatile medium, and so on. The method  100  may be performed by an image-forming device, such as a printer, by an image-forming device server, such as a printer server, host computer, or by another type of device.  
     [0013] An image-forming-related job is routed from an intended image-forming device to an alternate image-forming device ( 102 ). The image-forming-related job may be a print job, such as a file, like a document file, an image file, and so on, that a user selected at his or her computer for output by the intended image-forming device. Each of the intended image-forming devices and the alternate image-forming devices may be a printer, such as a laser printer, an inkjet printer, and so on.  
     [0014] The job may have been routed from the intended device to the alternate device for a number of different reasons. The intended device may not have been able to complete the job. For example, the intended device may be currently inoperable for reasons such as lack of paper or other media, lack of toner or ink, loss of power or device turned off, or due to it malfunctioning. Also, the default device may not be able to print the job due to media size or type limitations. As another example, the job may have been requested to be output in color, whereas the intended device outputs only in black and white. The intended device may also not be as suitable to complete the job as the alternate device. For example, the job may encompass the printing of a large number of pages, whereas the intended device is relatively slow in performance or higher in cost, and the alternate device is relatively fast or less costly in performance. The job may have been rerouted to a less busy printer to increase overall throughput by load balancing across multiple machines. It is to be understood that print jobs may be rerouted for other reasons as well.  
     [0015] The location of the alternate image-forming device is displayed at the intended image-forming device ( 104 ). Thus, when the user travels to the location of the intended image-forming device to pick up the output of the image-forming-related job, he or she is able to quickly learn that the job has been routed to the alternate image-forming device, as well as learn the location of the alternate device. The location of the alternate device may be displayed on an integrated display of the intended device.  
     [0016] Such a display may also be used to display other information regarding the intended device or be reserved for displaying the locations of alternate devices to which jobs originally sent to the intended device have been routed. The display may be external to the intended device as well, which allows for extra functionality on a limited or non-existent integrated display. As another alternative, the display of the location of the alternate image-forming device at the intended image-forming device may be accomplished by outputting a sheet of media indicating the location of the alternate device, where the intended device is operational for such purposes.  
     [0017]FIG. 2 shows a method  200  for specific performance by an intended image-forming device, according to an embodiment of the invention. As can be appreciated by those of ordinary skill within the art, some parts of the method  200  may be performed in an order different than that which is depicted in FIG. 2. The intended image-forming device receives an image-forming-related job ( 202 ). The intended device determines whether it can perform this job ( 204 ). This determination can entail whether the intended device is capable of completing the job and/or whether the intended device is most suitable for completing the job. That is, the term performable encompasses both whether a device is capable of completing a job and/or whether the device is most suitable for completing the job.  
     [0018] As has been described, the intended device may not be capable of completing the job where it is currently inoperable or does not have the necessary capability to complete the job, such as color-printing capability, and so on. As has also been described, the intended device may not be as able to complete the job as other image-forming devices. For instance, it may be a relatively slow printer or have more jobs in its queue than other printers in the system. If the image-forming job encompasses the printing of a large number of pages or the rendering of complex pages, a faster image-forming device may be more suitable for, and thus more able to, complete the job.  
     [0019] If the image-forming-related job is performable within the meaning of this term as used herein ( 206 ), then the intended image-forming device completes the job ( 208 ), and the method  200  is finished. Otherwise, the intended device determines other image-forming devices that can complete the job ( 210 ). The intended device may, for instance, query other image-forming devices to learn whether they are capable or more able to complete the job. In one embodiment, the intended device may only query other image-forming devices that are nearby, so that the user does not have to travel far to pick up the output of the image-forming-related job from a device other than the intended device. The method  200  assumes that other image-forming devices that can complete the job exist, although those of ordinary skill within the art can appreciate that in some instances, this may not be true.  
     [0020] An alternate image-forming device to which to route the job is then selected from these other devices ( 212 ). Selection can be accomplished by the intended device itself or through user interaction. In the latter case, for instance, the user may be provided, at a display of the intended device, with a list of other image-forming devices to which his or her job can be routed. The user then is able to use a control panel of the intended device to select which of these other devices to which the user wishes to route the job, as the alternate image-forming device. Although not shown in FIG. 2, in the case where the user manually selects which device to reroute a job to, the selection of alternate devices might be displayed on both the device and the user&#39;s computer, allowing the user to reroute their job from either location.  
     [0021] The location of the alternate image-forming device is determined ( 214 ). For example, this can be accomplished by the intended device querying the alternate device as to its location. Such querying may be accomplished when the intended image-forming device had determined the other devices that can complete the image-forming-related job, in  210 . The image-forming-related job is then routed to the alternate image-forming device ( 216 ) and the location of the alternate device displayed at the intended device ( 218 ), as has been described.  
     [0022] The routing of the job from the intended image-forming device to the alternate image-forming device may also be logged ( 220 ), for later administrator review. For instance, an administrator may be able to call up the history of job routings from the intended image-forming device on an embedded web server of the intended device, or have the intended device output the log. This enables the administrator to learn whether the intended image-forming device has the appropriate capabilities for the users whose jobs default to the output at the intended device. The administrator may learn, for example, that many users generate image-forming-related jobs that involve transparent media, whereas the intended device does not handle such media. The intended device may then be upgraded or replaced to better meet the users&#39; needs. Alternatively, the administrator may block image-forming devices for job routing that are too great a distance from the default device, too expensive to use, or which are reserved for other types of output.  
     [0023]FIG. 3 shows a method  300  for specific performance by an image-forming device server, according to an embodiment of the invention. The server may be a print server that handles job routing for a number of different printers, for instance. As can be appreciated by those of ordinary skill within the art, some parts of the method  300  may be performed in an order other than that depicted in FIG. 3. The server receives an image-forming-related job for an intended image-forming device ( 302 ). The server determines whether the intended device can perform this job ( 304 ). As has been described, such determination can entail whether the intended device is capable of completing the job and/or whether the intended device is most suitable for completing the job.  
     [0024] If the image-forming-related job is performable within the meaning of this term as used herein ( 306 ), then the job is routed to the intended image-forming device ( 308 ), and the method  300  is finished. Otherwise, the server determines other image-forming devices that can complete the job ( 310 ). The server may, for instance, query other image-forming devices, such as perhaps only nearby such devices, to learn whether they are capable or more able to complete the job, or would likely complete the job more quickly. The server may also look up the capabilities of such image-forming devices in a database maintained by the image-forming device server or elsewhere. An alternate image-forming device to which to route the job is selected from these other devices by the server ( 312 ).  
     [0025] The location of the alternate image-forming device is determined ( 314 ). The location may be determined by querying the alternate device, as may have already been accomplished in  304  or in  310  or it may be determined by looking up this information in a database stored on the image-forming device server or at a remote location, as also may have already been accomplished in  304  or in  310 . The image-forming-related job is then routed to the alternate image-forming device ( 316 ), whereas the location of the alternate device is sent to the intended image-forming device ( 318 ), so that the location may be displayed at the intended device. The routing of the image-forming-related job is logged ( 320 ), for later administrator analysis, as has been described.  
     [0026]FIG. 4 shows a system  400  according to an embodiment of the invention. The system  400  includes a network  402 , such as one or more of a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a wired network, a wireless network, an intranet, an extranet, the Internet, and so on. Communicatively coupled to the network  402  are a client computing device  404 , a default image-forming device  406  for the client computing device  404 , and a number of alternate image-forming devices  408 A,  408 B, . . . ,  408 N, the latter which are collectively referred to as the alternate image-forming devices  408 . Optionally communicatively coupled to the network  402  is an image-forming device server  410 .  
     [0027] The client computing device  404  and the image-forming device server  410  may each be a computer, such as a desktop computer. Each of the default image-forming device  406  and the alternate image-forming devices  408  may be a printer, such as a laser printer, an inkjet printer, digital copier and so on. A user generates an image-forming-related job at the client  404  intended for output by the default device  406 . The job may be directly transmitted by the client  404  to the default device  406  or alternatively may be initially transmitted to the server  410 .  
     [0028] In the former instance, if the default device  406  determines that it is unable or less suitable to complete the image-forming-related job, then it routes the job to one of the alternate devices  408 , as has been described. The default device  406  then displays the location of the alternate device to which it has routed the job. In the latter instance, if the server  410  determines that the default device  406  is unable or less suitable to complete the image-forming-related job, then it routes the job to one of the alternate devices  408 , as has been described. The server  410  then sends the location of the alternate device to which it has routed the job to the default device  406  for display.  
     [0029]FIG. 5 shows the image-forming device  406  in more detail, according to an embodiment of the invention. The image-forming device  406  specifically includes at least an image-forming mechanism  502  and a display  504 . The image-forming mechanism  502  is that which actually outputs image-forming-related jobs. For example, the mechanism  502  may be a laser printing mechanism, an inkjet printing mechanism, and so on. The display  504  displays at least the locations of alternate image-forming devices to which image-forming-related jobs intended for output by the device  406  have been routed. The display  504  may be an external or internal display, such as a liquid-crystal display (LCD).  
     [0030] Where the optional display  506  is present within the device  406 , in which case the optional display  506  would in fact be the primary display for the device  406 , the display  504  would then be a secondary display and may exclusively display only the locations of alternate devices to which jobs intended for the device  406  have been routed. The display  506  in this embodiment then displays other information regarding the device  406 , such as general status information, consumables information, and so on. In the embodiment where the display  506  is not present, then the display  504  may be the primary display and handle both these functions, displaying the locations of alternate devices to which jobs intended for the device  406  have been routed, as well as other information regarding the device  406 . In still another embodiment where the display  506  is not present, the display  504  is a dedicated display that only displays the locations of alternate devices to which the jobs have been routed.  
     [0031] The routing mechanism  508  is desirably present and/or functional within the device  406  when the system of which the device  406  is a part does not include an image-forming device server, such as the server  410  of FIG. 4. The routing mechanism  508  performs the determination of alternate image-forming devices to which jobs intended for the image-forming device  406  can be routed where the device  406  is unable or less suitable to complete such jobs. The routing mechanism  508  determines the locations of such alternate devices, as has been described. The mechanism  508  is said to selectively route jobs intended for the image-forming device  406 , since not all jobs intended for the device  406  will be routed to alternate devices. The mechanism  508  can be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, and can be considered the means for performing its functionality. In the embodiment where the image-forming device server is present, the mechanism  508  may alternatively be located within the server.  
     [0032]FIG. 6 shows the display  504  of the image-forming device  406  of FIG. 5 in more detail, in an embodiment of the invention where the display  504  is an external display device to the image-forming device  406 . The external display  504  includes a display mechanism  602  and a coupling mechanism  604 . The display mechanism  602  is that which actually displays the locations of the alternate image-forming devices to which image-forming-related jobs intended for the image-forming device  406  have been routed. The display mechanism  602  can be an LCD, for instance.  
     [0033] The coupling mechanism  604  communicatively couples the display  504  to the image-forming device  406 . The mechanism  604  thus allows the display  504  to receive from the image-forming device  406  the locations of the alternate image-forming devices to which jobs intended for the device  406  have been routed, for presentation on the display  602 . The coupling mechanism  604  can be a wired or a wireless mechanism, such as a serial cable, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, an extended input/output (EIO) card, an 802.11 b or a Bluetooth wireless transceiver, and so on.  
     [0034] It is noted that, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and equivalents thereof.