Apparatus and method for metering, monitoring and providing real time enterprise printing information

• US 20080312944A1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emerge Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: DEX Imaging Co.
• Inventors: Scaff, Marvin
• Granted Patent: US 8,879,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

The invention relate to an apparatus and a method for monitoring all printers in an enterprise. The method includes for each transaction, authenticating a customer associated with the enterprise and obtaining a session ticket. The method also includes executing a printer list fetcher for downloading a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise and executing a scheduler for implementing different categories of scans. The method further includes executing a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, executing a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and executing a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers. The method also includes compiling all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in a file and dispatching the file to an external server and using the file in the external server to provide printer status information and usages for each printer in the enterprise.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring all printers in an enterprise, comprising:

for each transaction, authenticating a customer associated with the enterprise and obtaining a session ticket;

executing a printer list fetcher for downloading a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise;

executing a scheduler for implementing different categories of scans;

executing a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers;

compiling all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in a file and dispatching the file to an external server; and

using the file in the external server to provide printer status information and usage information for each printer in the enterprise.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of compiling all scanned information comprises saving the file in an outbox folder and dispatching the file from the outbox folder to the external server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of authenticating the customer comprises obtaining a separate preference for each location within the enterprise, wherein a separate scan is implemented for each location and a scanned result file for each location is uploaded to the external server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of executing the printer list fetcher comprises downloading a customer service object including a list of in-service printers and print scan upload frequency based on each location within the enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of executing the scheduler comprises executing separate scan categories on the basis of a purpose of each scan category.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of executing separate scan categories comprises executing a printed page scanning category, a printer status report scanning category and a printer addition or removal reporting scanning category.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of executing the printed page scanning category comprises scanning for printed pages counted for in-service printers and transmitting obtained information to the external server.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of executing the printer status report scanning category comprises scanning the status of in-service printers for predefined events.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of executing the printer addition or removal reporting scanning category comprises detecting the addition or removal of printers to or from the network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network scan is a simple network management protocol scan.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the local scan comprises obtaining an internet protocol address for each print monitoring agent and obtaining print status information from each print monitoring agent.

12. The method of claim 1, where executing the port scan comprises sending a query to a specific port to obtain information on non-catalogued printers.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of compiling all scanned information comprises saving the file in an outbox folder and dispatching the file from the outbox folder to the external server.

14. A monitoring component of a computer network, the monitor being configured to monitor all printers in an enterprise, the monitor comprising:

an authentication unit configured to authenticate a customer associated with the enterprise and obtain a session ticket, for each transaction;

a printer list fetcher configured to download a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise;

a scheduler configured to implement different categories of scans;

an executing unit configured to execute a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers;

a complier configured to compile all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in a file;

a dispatcher configured to dispatch the file to an external server,

wherein the file in the external server is used to provide printer status information and usage information for each printer in the enterprise.

15. The monitoring component of claim 14, wherein the compiler is configured to save the file in an outbox folder for dispatch from the outbox folder to the external server.

16. The monitoring component of claim 14, wherein the authenticating unit is configured to obtain a separate preference for each location within the enterprise, wherein a separate scan is implemented for each location and a scanned result file for each location is uploaded to the external server.

17. The monitoring component of claim 14, wherein the printer list fetcher is configured to download a customer service object including a list of in-service printers and print scan upload frequency based on each location within the enterprise.

18. The monitoring component of claim 14, wherein the scheduler is configured to execute separate scan categories on the basis of a purpose of each scan category.

19. The monitoring component of claim 18, wherein the scheduler is configured to execute a printed page scanning category, a printer status report scanning category and a printer addition or removal reporting scanning category.

20. The monitoring component of claim 19, wherein the scheduler is configured to execute scan for printed pages counted for in-service printers and transmit obtained information to the external server.

21. The monitoring component of claim 19, wherein the scheduler is configured to execute scan the status of in-service printers for predefined events.

22. The monitoring component of claim 19, wherein the scheduler is configured to execute scan for the addition or removal of printers to or from the network.

23. The monitoring component of claim 19, wherein the network scan is a simple network management protocol scan which includes obtaining an internet protocol address and print status information for each printer in the computer network.

24. The monitoring component of claim 14, wherein the compiler is configured to save the file in an outbox folder and dispatch the file from the outbox folder to the external server.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

an authentication means for authenticating a customer associated with the enterprise and obtain a session ticket, for each transaction;

executing means for executing a printer list fetcher for downloading a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise;

executing means for executing a scheduler for implementing different categories of scans;

executing means for executing a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers;

compiling means for compiling all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in a file and dispatching the file to an external server; and

means for using the file in the external server to provide printer status information and usage information for each printer in the enterprise.

26. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for controlling a processor to execute a method for monitoring printer usage and status of all printers in an enterprise, comprising:

authenticating a customer associated with the enterprise and obtain a session ticket, for each transaction;

executing a printer list fetcher for downloading a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise;

executing a scheduler for implementing different categories of scans;

executing a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers;

compiling all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in a file and dispatching the file to an external server; and

using the file in the external server to provide printer status information and usage information for each printer in the enterprise.

27. A computer network configured to monitor all printers in an enterprise, comprising:

a server configured to authenticate a customer associated with the enterprise and provide a session ticket, for each transaction;

a monitoring component configured to obtain the session ticket and to transmit a file with scanned results from the computer network to the server where information from the file is used to provide printer status information and usage information for each printer in the enterprise,

the monitoring component comprises a printer list fetcher configured to download a list of in-service printer and print scan load frequency for each location with in the enterprise, a scheduler configured to implement different categories of scans, an executing unit configured to execute a network scan on a computer network to obtain information for all printers attached to the computer network, to execute a local scan on each computer that is attached to a non-network printer to obtain information for all non-network printers in the enterprise and to execute a port scan to obtain information for all non-catalogued printers, a complier configured to compile all scanned information, obtained from executing the network scan, the local scan and the port scan, in the file and a dispatcher configured to dispatch the file to the server.