Network management tool for maintaining printing device information

• US 20040019671A1
• Filed: 07/29/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Metz, James Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A network management tool is programmed to automatically: discover printing devices on a network; record information about the discovered printing devices in a main device list; and organize at least a portion of the information from the main device list, into one or more secondary device lists based upon criteria that define each of the one or more secondary device lists.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to perform a method comprising:

discovering printing devices on a network;

recording information about the printing devices in a main device list; and

organizing at least a portion of the information from the main device list into one or more secondary device lists based upon criteria that define each of the one or more secondary device lists.

2. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving a user input that defines the criteria by specifying a subset of the information about the printing devices that satisfy the criteria for the one or more secondary device lists.

3. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving a user input that selects a particular secondary device list from a directory of secondary device lists.

4. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving a user input that selects particular information associated with a particular secondary device list and displaying the particular information to the user.

5. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises updating the main device list each time a new printer device is discovered on the network by recording information about the newly discovered printing device in the main device list.

6. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises updating the one or more secondary device lists each time a new printer device is discovered on the network by recording information about the newly discovered printing device in the one or more secondary device lists, if information pertaining to the newly discovered printing device matches any of the criteria for the one or more secondary device lists.

7. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises storing the main device list and the one or more secondary device lists in a database.

8. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to perform a method comprising:

discovering printing devices on a network;

recording information associated with the printing devices in a main list;

querying the main list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy a specified criterion; and

recording information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the specified criterion in a secondary list.

9. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises maintaining the main list and the secondary list in a database.

10. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises querying the main list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the specified criterion each time a printing device is discovered on the network.

11. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises receiving a user input that defines the specified criterion for the secondary list.

12. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises displaying information recorded in the secondary list.

13. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises receiving a user input enabling (i) the querying of the main list and (ii) the recording of information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the specified criterion in a secondary list.

14. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the method further comprises querying the secondary list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy a further specified criterion;

and recording information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the further specified criterion in a third list.

15. A system for collecting information about printing devices on a network, comprising:

means for discovering printing devices on a network;

means for recording information associated with the printing devices in a main list;

means for automatically querying the main list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy a specified criterion; and

means for automatically recording information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the specified criterion in a secondary list.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for automatically querying the main list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the specified criterion each time a printing device is discovered on the network.

17. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for receiving a user input that defines the specified criterion for the secondary list.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for displaying information recorded in the secondary list.

19. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising means for automatically querying the secondary list for information associated with the printing devices that satisfy a further specified criterion;

and recording information associated with the printing devices that satisfy the further specified criterion in a third list.

20. A user interface for depiction on a display device, comprising:

a display area configured to display on a graphical display surface a list of printer devices discovered on a network; and

means for specifying a group of the printer devices from the list using one or more criteria that define the group;

wherein the display area is configured to automatically generate a display on the graphical display surface, printer devices connected to the network that satisfy the one or more criteria for the specified group.

21. A computer and associated display device, the computer programmed to implement the user interface of claim 20.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for implementing the user interface of claim 20 in conjunction with a display device.

23. A user interface as recited in claim 20, wherein the means for specifying the group includes a drop-down list of one or more possible device groups that are user selectable.

24. A user interface as recited in claim 20, wherein the means for specifying the group includes a drop-down list of properties that are selectable by a user to define the one or more criteria for the group.

25. A user interface as recited in claim 20, wherein the list of printing devices includes information associated with the printer devices.

26. A user interface as recited in claim 20, further comprising a discovery status window configured to display a status of when printer devices were discovered on a network.