Patent ID: 8601123

Claim:
A media management method for managing the processing of media including a CD or DVD within a media processing device to form processed media and for the removal of such processed media from such device, the method comprising the steps of: storing administrator information and user information in a management database, with the administrator information including administrator identification information for identifying a system administrator for the media processing device and communication address information for such system administrator, and with the user information including user identification information for identifying a user and communication address information for the user; identifying a media processing command directed by a user registered in the management database for processing media; storing the processed media in a media storage unit; using the management database to link the user identified with the media processing command to the media being processed by such command such that a user may only remove processed media that is linked to a given user through the user identification information; recognizing a command from a system administrator for enabling the removal of all processed media stored in the media storage unit; registering in the management database the removal of the processed media by the system administrator; monitoring threshold values corresponding to a difference between the number of processed media stored in the media storage unit as determined from the data recorded in the management database and the actual number of processed media in the media storage unit, and a time period exceeding a predetermined time that processed media remains in the media storage unit; sending a report over a communication network to the communication address of at least one user and the communication address of the administrator registered in the management database that a threshold value has been reached; sending a report requesting removal of the processed media to the communication address of each user linked to the processed media in the media storage unit, when the number of processed media stored in the media storage unit reaches a predetermined count; and wherein an email message that the processed media was removed by the administrator is sent to the communication address of each user that is linked to the processed media that was removed.