Patent ID: 7873718

Claim:
A method for recovering imaging device accounting data to an accounting server that has been brought back into service after a failure, said method comprising: a) sending a recovery message from a recovered primary accounting server (PAS) to at least one network device, wherein said PAS is a computing device maintaining a financial accounting record of jobs performed by users of an imaging device (IDev) with user accounts and said IDev is connected to said PAS with a communication network, wherein said PAS has experienced a period of inactivity during which said IDev has reported its activity to a lightweight accounting backup server (LABS) maintaining a temporary IDev activity log (TIAL) and wherein said TIAL comprises a financial accounting record of jobs performed by said IDev during said period of inactivity of said PAS; b) establishing the reporting of current activity data from said IDev to said PAS; c) sending a temporary IDev activity log (TIAL) request to said lightweight accounting back-up server (LABS); d) receiving said TIAL; and e) updating a primary IDev accounting log (PIAL) on said PAS with data from said TIAL such that said PIAL now comprises a financial accounting record of jobs performed by said IDev during said period of inactivity.