Patent ID: 8306847

Claim:
A print demand forecasting system for use with a print production system in which multiple print jobs are processed over a selected time interval, comprising: a data collection tool, said data collection tool collecting print demand data for each print job processed during the selected time interval, wherein the print demand data comprises a set of aggregated demand related points corresponding with a first time scale; a memory; and a computer implemented service manager for processing the stored set of aggregated demand related points to obtain a first demand component and a second demand component, the first demand component including a first set of demand component related points and the second demand component including a second set of demand component related points, wherein each one of a total number of demand component related points in the first set of demand component related points and a total number of demand component related points in the second set of demand component related points is less than a total number of aggregated demand related points, said memory comprising one or more programming instructions that, when executed, instruct said computer implemented service manager to: process the first set of demand component related points in such a way that at least some of the demand component related points of the first set of demand component related points are corresponded with a second time scale, wherein processing the first set of demand component related points comprises sampling the first set of demand component related points with a recurrence pattern, forecast a demand component related point with the first set of demand component related points corresponded with the second time scale, and correspond both the forecasted demand component related point and the first set of demand related points corresponded with the second time scale with the first time scale to obtain a third set of demand component related points.