Method and apparatus for acquiring device information

• US 20060010257A1
• Filed: 07/08/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hardcastle, Mike
• Application Number:
  US10/887,952
• Publication Number:
  US 20060010257A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00347 with another still picture apparatus, e.g. hybrid still picture apparatus circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between image input and image output device H04N1/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0036 Detecting or checking connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0039 Connection via a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0046 Software interface details, e.g. interaction of operating systems

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method and corresponding apparatus for conveying office peripheral information. An acquisition module included in a device establishes a connection to an aggregation module. Device information is communicated to the aggregation module using the established connection.

Claims

1. A method for conveying information from an office peripheral comprising:

establishing a connection to an aggregation module from an acquisition module included in the office peripheral; and

communicating information from the office peripheral to the aggregation module using the established connection.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a connection comprises:

establishing a connection period; and

establishing a connection from an acquisition module included in the office peripheral to an aggregation module according to the connection period.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a connection comprises establishing a connection from an acquisition module included in the office peripheral to an aggregation module when an event is detected.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a connection comprises establishing a guaranteed delivery connection from an acquisition module included in the office peripheral to an aggregation module.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating information comprises communicating at least one of office peripheral status information, office peripheral usage information and office peripheral configuration information.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

discovering the office peripheral; and

seeding an acquisition suite in to the office peripheral when the office peripheral does not include an acquisition suite and when the office peripheral is capable of accepting and executing an acquisition suite.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein seeding an acquisition suite in to the office peripheral comprises directing a machine-level instruction sequence to the office peripheral when the office peripheral indicates that it can accept a machine-level instruction sequence.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein seeding an acquisition suite in to the office peripheral comprises directing an interpretive-level application to the office peripheral when the office peripheral indicates that it can accept an interpretive-level application.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein seeding an acquisition suite in to the office peripheral comprises directing a JAVA application to the office peripheral when the office peripheral indicates that it can accept a JAVA application.

10. An office peripheral comprising:

functional unit;

communication unit capable of establishing a connection with an aggregation unit; and

acquisition unit capable of acquiring information from the functional unit and conveying said information by way of a connection established by the communication unit.

11. The office peripheral of claim 10 wherein the communication unit comprises:

timer that generates a connect signal; and

connection unit that is capable of establishing a connection with an aggregation unit according to the connect signal.

12. The office peripheral of claim 10 wherein the communication unit comprises:

event detector that generates a connect signal when an event is detected; and

connection unit that is capable of establishing a connection with an aggregation unit according to the connect signal.

13. The office peripheral of claim 10 wherein the communication unit is capable of establishing a guaranteed delivery connection to an aggregation unit.

14. The office peripheral of claim 10 wherein the acquisition unit is capable of acquiring at least one of office peripheral status information, office peripheral usage information and office peripheral configuration information.

15. An office peripheral comprising:

office peripheral functional hardware;

network interface capable of communication with a communications network;

processor capable of executing an instruction sequence;

memory for storing an instruction sequence; and

instruction sequence modules stored in the memory including;

device control module instruction sequence that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to control the office peripheral functional hardware;

protocol stack module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to establish a connection with an aggregation unit using the network interface; and

acquisition module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to collect device information and to convey the device information to the aggregation unit using a connection established by the processor when it executes the protocol module stack.

16. The office peripheral of claim 15 further comprising a timer and a timer module instruction sequence and wherein the timer module instruction sequence further minimally causes the processor to:

set the timer;

cause the processor to collect device information according to the timer by executing the acquisition module; and

cause the processor to execute the protocol stack to establish a connection with an aggregation module according to the timer.

17. The office peripheral of claim 15 further comprising an event module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to respond to an event by:

executing the acquisition module so as to collect device information; and

executing the protocol stack to establish a connection so as to convey device information from the acquisition module to an aggregation module.

18. The office peripheral of claim 15 wherein the protocol stack module minimally causes the processor to establish a connection by minimally causing the processor to establish a guaranteed delivery connection with an aggregation module.

19. The office peripheral of claim 15 wherein the acquisition module minimally causes the processor to collect device information by minimally causing the processor to collect at least one of device status information, device usage information and device configuration information.

20. A computer readable medium having imparted thereon one or more instruction sequence modules for collecting device information from an office peripheral including an acquisition module that, when executed by a processor, minimally causes the processor to:

establish a connection to an aggregation unit by executing a protocol stack module;

collect office peripheral device information; and

convey the office peripheral device information to the aggregation unit using a connection established by the processor when it executes the protocol module stack.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 further comprising a timer management module that, when executed by a processor, minimally causes the processor to:

establish a connection period; and

establish a connection with an aggregation unit by executing a protocol stack module according to the connection period.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20 further comprising an event management module that, when executed by a processor, minimally causes the processor to establish a connection with an aggregation unit by executing a protocol stack module when it detects an event.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein the acquisition module causes a processor to establish a connection by minimally causing a processor to establish a guaranteed connection with an aggregation unit by executing a protocol stack module.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein the acquisition module causes a processor to collect device information by minimally causing a processor to collect at least one of device status information, device usage information and device configuration information.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein one or more of the instruction sequence modules comprises a machine-level instruction sequence.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein one or more of the instruction sequence modules comprises an interpretive-level application.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein one or more of the instruction sequence modules comprises a JAVA application.

28. An office peripheral seeding apparatus comprising:

detector capable of detecting an office peripheral;

computer readable medium having imparted thereon an acquisition suite including one or more instruction sequence modules for collecting office peripheral information including an acquisition module that, when executed by a processor, minimally causes the processor to;

establish a connection to an aggregation unit by executing a protocol stack module;

collect office peripheral information; and

convey the office peripheral information to the aggregation unit using a connection established by the processor when it executes the protocol module stack;

network interface capable of conveying the acquisition suite to a detected office peripheral and allowing the detector to detect an office peripheral; and

seeding engine capable retrieving the acquisition suite from the computer readable medium and directing the acquisition suite to the network interface when the detected office peripheral does not include an equivalent acquisition suite.

29. The office peripheral seeding apparatus of claim 28 wherein the acquisition suite includes one or more instruction sequences comprising a machine-level instruction sequence.

30. The office peripheral seeding apparatus of claim 28 wherein the acquisition suite includes one or more instruction sequences comprising an interpretive-level instruction sequence.

31. The office peripheral seeding apparatus of claim 28 wherein the acquisition suite includes one or more instruction sequences comprising a JAVA application.

32. An office peripheral comprising:

means for performing an office peripheral function;

means for establishing a connection to an aggregation module;

means for acquiring information from the means for performing an office peripheral function; and

means for directing the acquired information to a connection established by the means for establishing a connection to an aggregation module.

33. The device of claim 32 wherein the means for establishing a connection comprises:

means for establishing a connection period; and

means for establishing a connection to an aggregation module according to the connection period.

34. The device of claim 32 wherein the means for establishing a connection comprises a means for establishing a connection to an aggregation module when an event is detected.

35. The device of claim 32 wherein the means for establishing a connection comprises establishing a guaranteed delivery connection to an aggregation module.

36. The device of claim 32 wherein the means for acquiring information comprises a means for acquiring at least one of office peripheral status information, office peripheral usage information and office peripheral configuration information.