Systems and Methods for Dynamic Configuration and Control of Multi Function Peripherals

• US 20110231864A1
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Thinxtream Technologies Pte. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Thinxtream Technologies Pte. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kumaraswamy, Shunmuga, Raj B.K, Ranga, Shibata, Robert, Shet, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US12/728,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20110231864A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/321
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications

Abstract

Computer-implemented methods and systems for dynamic configuration and control of multi-function peripherals. A method comprises exposing a unified application programming interface (API) for operating a plurality of MFPs, receiving a first set of instructions from an application according to the API, the instructions directed to a first MFP; receiving a second set of instructions from the application according to the API, the instructions directed to a second MFP; translating the first set of instructions according to the native set of instruction of the first MFP, and sending the translated instructions to the first MFP; translating the second set of instructions according to the native set of instructions of the second MFP, and sending the translated instruction to the second MFP; thereby allowing the application to communicate with the first and second MFPs according to a unified API. The embodiments also allow for dynamic device discovery, and for matching advertised device capabilities to requests, among other things.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for dynamic configuration and control of multi-function peripherals (MFPs), comprising:

exposing a unified application programming interface (API) for operating a plurality of MFPs;

receiving a first set of instructions from an application according to the API, the instructions directed to a first MFP;

receiving a second set of instructions from the application according to the API, the instructions directed to a second MFP;

translating the first set of instructions according to the native set of instructions of the first MFP, and sending the translated instructions to the first MFP;

translating the second set of instructions according to the native set of instructions of the second MFP, and sending the translated instruction to the second MFP;

thereby allowing the application to communicate with the first and second MFPs according to a unified API.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

discovering the first or second MFP on a communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of instructions pertains to a functionality of the first MFP.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the functionality is a printing functionality, a scanning functionality, or a faxing functionality.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of instructions pertains to a management function of the first MFP.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the management function is a configuration function, a diagnostic function, or a software upgrade function.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the management function is a usage audit function, a usage management function, or a monitoring function.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating the application prior to the translating and sending steps.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the authenticating comprises communicating with an external authentication system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the exposing and receiving steps are according to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based framework.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the translating steps are performed by an SOA broker or a web service translator.

12. A system for dynamic configuration and control of multi-function peripherals (MFPs), comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory comprising computer-executable instructions for;

exposing a unified application programming interface (API) for operating a plurality of MFPs;

receiving a first set of instructions from an application according to the API, the instructions directed to a first MFP;

receiving a second set of instructions from the application according to the API, the instructions directed to a second MFP;

translating the first set of instructions according to the native set of instructions of the first MFP, and sending the translated instructions to the first MFP;

translating the second set of instructions according to the native set of instructions of the second MFP, and sending the translated instruction to the second MFP;

thereby allowing the application to communicate with the first and second MFPs according to a unified API.

13. The systems of claim 12, wherein the memory further comprises computer-executable instructions for:

discovering the first or second MFP on a communication network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first set of instructions pertains to a functionality of the first MFP.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the functionality is a printing functionality, a scanning functionality, or a faxing functionality.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the first set of instructions pertains to a management function of the first MFP.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the management function is a configuration function, a diagnostic function, or a software upgrade function.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the management function is a usage audit function, a usage management function, or a monitoring function.

19. The system of claim 12, the memory further comprising computer-executable instructions for authenticating the application prior to the translating and sending steps.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the authenticating comprises communicating with an external authentication system.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the exposing and receiving steps are according to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based framework.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the translating steps are performed by an SOA broker or a web service translator.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

translating the received request according to a native set of instructions of the first MFP to obtain the instructions for sending to the discovered MFP.

23. A computer-implemented method for dynamically interfacing with multi-function peripherals (MFPs), comprising:

exposing a unified application programming interface (API) for operating a plurality of MFPs;

discovering an MFP on a communication network;

receiving information from the MFP indicating one or more capabilities of the MFP;

receiving a first request from an application according to the API;

matching the request to the one or more capabilities of the discovered MFP; and

sending instructions to the discovered MFP for fulfilling the request.