VISUALIZATION OF USER INTERACTIONS IN A SYSTEM OF NETWORKED DEVICES

• US 20100058121A1
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 6, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Donini, Laurent, Bouchard, Guillaume, Ciriza, Victor, Valobra, Pascal
• Granted Patent: US 8,074,124 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3065 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/321 Display for diagnostics, e.g. diagnostic result display, self-test user interface

Abstract

As set forth herein, a system identifies soft failures of devices. An interface captures transactional data between one or more users and one or more devices within the system. A data log receives the transactional data from the interface and stores the data as historical data for subsequent retrieval. A warning system evaluates the historical data in the data log to identify one or more devices that have a soft failure condition, wherein an alarm is output for each soft failure identified. A display module combines the historical data from the data log and one or more alarms from the warning system into a single display for review.

Claims

1. A system that identifies soft device failures within a system, comprising:

an interface that captures transactional data between one or more users and one or more devices within the system;

a data log that receives the transactional data from the interface and stores the data as historical data for subsequent retrieval;

a warning system that evaluates the historical data in the data log to identify one or more devices that have a soft failure condition, wherein an alarm is output for each soft failure identified; and

a display module that combines the historical data from the data log and one or more alarms from the warning system into a single display for review.

2. The system according to claim 1, further including:

a filter that eliminates data that is not relevant to a soft failure condition.

3. The system according to claim 1, the display module is triggered by at least one of a device failure, a threshold value of the number of switches away from a device within a given time period, and non-use of a device for longer than a predetermined time period can trigger an output.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein data is reviewed by an administrator.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein a device that has a high volume of use, with a period of low use during an alarm output indicates an accurate soft failure assessment by the warning system.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein a device that has a low volume of use, with a period of low use does not indicate an accurate soft failure assessment by the warning system.

7. The system according to claim 1, further including:

at least one display that receives soft device failure data from the display module.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein data from the warning system and the log are presented via a bar graph that has a common time axis from the display module to the at least one display.

9. A system that identifies soft device failure candidates, comprising:

one or more users;

a plurality of devices that are coupled to the one or more users, which receive and process data;

a log that stores the historical use of the plurality of devices by the one or more users;

a primary device that is one of the plurality of devices and is employed by the one or more users when all of the plurality of devices are available;

a warning system that reviews the use of the one or more users, wherein an alarm is output when the primary device is not utilized according to a predetermined threshold; and

a display module that combines the historical data from the log and one or more alarms from the warning system into a single display.

10. The system according to claim 9, further including:

one or more redirect candidates that have the same processing capability as the primary device and are located within a proximity to the one or more users of the primary device.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein a device is filtered out if it is not a redirect candidate.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein a redirect device is selected by the primary device users from one or more redirect candidates.

13. The system according the claim 10, further including:

at least one display that receives soft device failure data from the display module.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the one or more users and the plurality of devices are presented graphically to the display, wherein users are connected to respective primary devices via a first graphical element and to the redirect candidates via a second graphical element.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein a switch by a user from a primary device to a redirect device is indicated via a third graphical element.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the display presents the historical use and alarms for a device on a single graph.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the display module sends information to the at least one display when triggered by at least one of a device failure, a threshold value of the number of switches away from a device within a given time period, and non-use of a device for longer than a predetermined time period can trigger an output.

18. A method to identify soft device failures within a system, comprising:

reviewing use of a device in the system over a period of time;

computing a list of users that have the device as a primary device;

reviewing system logs to identify entries that include the device and the user;

displaying usage logs in a chronological order; and

determining if the device has a soft failure condition.

19. The method of claim 18, further including:

executing an algorithm that outputs an alarm if a soft failure condition is identified, wherein the alarm is associated with a level of trustworthiness.

20. The method of claim 19, further including:

displaying the volume of device use and alarm outputs for a time period on a single graph.