System for Indicating to Network User the Cost of Service Provided to Each Device on Network

• US 20110087770A1
• Filed: 07/26/2010
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Akiyama, Kazuhito, Tada, Masami, Furuichi, Sanehiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1504 Cost estimation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1218 Reducing or saving of used resources, e.g. avoiding waste of consumables or improving usage of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1224 Client or server resources management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1229 Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00278 with a printing apparatus, e.g. a laser beam printer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00885 Power supply means, e.g. arrangements for the control of power supply to the apparatus or components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00891 Switching on or off, e.g. for saving power when not in use H04N1/00896 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00896 using a low-power mode, e.g. standby
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00928 Initialisation or control of normal start-up or shut-down, i.e. non failure or error related
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0097 Storage of instructions or parameters, e.g. customised instructions or different parameters for different user IDs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/344 Accounting or charging based on type of function or service used, e.g. copying, faxing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0039 Connection via a network

Abstract

Managing printer and copier server units connected to a network by enabling the user of a personal computer connected to the network to know print costs depending on the environmental load. Server units provide document print and copy services to each network connected client unit, typically personal computers. The server units can operate in any of several operational states, including for example, a standby state, a sleep state and a run state. Upon receiving a service request from the client unit, a management unit estimates the change in operational state for each connected server unit, assigns a priority to the various server units based on the estimated operational state changes, and provides the information for selection by the user requesting the print or copy service.

Claims

1. A method for managing a plurality of server units connected to a network, the method comprising:

detecting a client unit sending a service request for a server unit, the server unit being one of the plurality of server units connected to said network configured to operate in any of a plurality of operational states;

calculating an estimated change in an operational state of said server unit that would occur due to execution of the service corresponding to the service request by the server unit;

assigning, by a management unit, a priority to the server unit based on the estimated change in the operational state; and

storing in a storage unit an indication of the priority and an identifier of said server unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the server unit is a first server unit, the identifier is a first identifier, and the priority is a first priority, the method further comprising:

sending to the client unit, by the management unit, the first identifier and the first priority of the first server unit, and sending a second identifier and a second priority of a second server unit of the plurality of server units;

wherein said first priority and said second priority are respectively based on operational state changes of the first server unit and the second server unit as calculated by the management unit.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

displaying the first and second identifiers sent from the management unit on a display unit of the client unit in a manner indicating the first priority of the first server unit and the second priority of the second server unit.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

detecting a selected identifier input by a user at the client unit selecting either the first identifier or the second identifier; and

sending the service request to either the first server unit or to the second server unit, depending upon the selected identifier.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the change in the operational state of the server unit is associated with a change in power consumption by the server unit.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein for the assigning of the priority, a higher priority is associated with a smaller increase in the power consumption and a lower priority is associated with a larger increase in the power consumption.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the server unit is an image forming apparatus, and the change in the operational state is a change in a resource amount due to an image forming operation by the image forming apparatus.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the management unit assigns the priority to the server unit in a manner inversely related to a predicted change in the resource amount.

9. A method for managing a plurality of server units connected to a network and a client unit connected to the network, the client unit being configured to send a service request to any of the plurality of server units, and the server unit being configured to operate in any of a plurality of operational states, said method comprising:

calculating an estimated change in an operational state due for execution of the service by the server unit;

obtaining an execution cost of the service for said server unit based on the estimated change in the operational state; and

sending, from a management unit to the client unit, an indication of the execution cost and an identifier of said server unit.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

obtaining, by the management unit, the execution cost by referring to a table of correspondences between changes in the operational state and execution costs, the table being stored in a storage unit.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

obtaining an execution cost of the service for each of the plurality of server units; and

displaying, on a display unit of the client unit, correspondences between respective identifiers of the plurality of server units and the execution costs of each of the plurality of server units, the correspondences being sent from the management unit.

12. The method according to claim 10,

detecting an input made by a user at the client indicating an identifier of a selected server unit among said plurality of server units;

and

sending the service request to the selected server unit.

13. The method according to claim 12,

storing an execution cost of the service for the selected server unit selected by the user.

14. A management apparatus configured to manage a plurality of server units and a client unit, the client unit being configured to send a service request to any of the plurality of server units, each of the plurality of server units being configured to operate in any of a plurality of operational states, the management apparatus comprising:

a network connection connecting the management apparatus to a network, said network being connected to each of the plurality of server units and the client unit;

means for calculating an estimated change in an operational state occurring due to execution of the service for each of the plurality of server units; and

means for assigning a priority to each of the plurality of server units based on the estimated change in the operational state for each of the plurality of server units; and

a storage unit configured to store an indication of the priority of each of the plurality of server units and an identifier associated with each of the plurality of server units.

15. A computer program product comprising a machine readable non-transitory medium including a program of instructions for managing a plurality of server units connected to a network, wherein the program of instructions upon being executed on a computer causes the computer to perform activities comprising:

detecting a client unit sending a service request for a server unit, the server unit being one of the plurality of server units connected to said network capable of operating in a plurality of operational states;

calculating an estimated change in an operational state of said server unit that would occur due to execution of the service corresponding to the service request by the server unit;

assigning, by a management unit, a priority to the server unit based on the estimated change in the operational state; and

storing in a storage unit an indication of the priority and an identifier of said server unit.