METADATA RETRIEVAL FOR MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICES

• US 20130278957A1
• Filed: 06/18/2013
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gubitz, Erik, Ahmed, Farhan, Jawad, Abed, Bhorania, Aayaz, Perumal, Palani, Saito, Mitsuru
• Application Number:
  US13/921,005
• Publication Number:
  US 20130278957A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1293 Printer information exchange with computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for retrieving metadata relating to a multi-function device. In some embodiments, metadata is retrieved using a plurality of identifiers (e.g., hardware identifiers each identifying at least one function performed by the device) received from the device. The plurality of identifiers are arranged into a sequence, and at least one of the identifiers in the sequence is associated with metadata specifying a characteristic of the device. Using the metadata that is retrieved, a client computer may present an graphical user interface displaying information relating to the device.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a peripheral device by a host device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of functionality identifiers from the peripheral device, each of the plurality of functionality identifiers corresponding to a function of a plurality of functions that the peripheral device is operable to perform;

receiving at least one device identifier from the peripheral device, the device identifier corresponding to at least one of a model or manufacturer of the peripheral device;

retrieving, based on at least one of the received functionality identifiers and the received device identifier, metadata from a local metadata store, the retrieved data being associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers and with the received device identifier;

determining that the metadata retrieved from the local metadata store has a date stamp indicating that the metadata retrieved from the local metadata store was last updated before a particular date;

in response to the determination, transmitting a request to a server device, over a network, for additional metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers and with the received device identifier;

receiving the additional metadata from the server device; and

displaying at least a portion of the received additional metadata in a unified configuration interface that facilitates integrated configuration of at least two of the plurality of functions that the peripheral device is operable to perform.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a multi-function device adapted to provide at least a printing function and a scanning function via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) link, a FireWire link, or a network link between the peripheral device and the host device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received additional metadata includes information relating to configuring the host device to interoperate with the peripheral device, the peripheral device represented in the unified configuration interface as a single entity instead of as separate entities for each function of the plurality of functions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received additional metadata specifies a manufacturer of the peripheral device, a model number of the peripheral device, at least one task relating to configuring the peripheral device, at least one function that the peripheral device is operable to perform, and a graphical representation of the peripheral device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

retrieving metadata from the local metadata store includes;

constructing a query based on at least some of the received functionality identifiers and the received device identifier; and

executing the constructed query on the local metadata store; and

transmitting the request to the server device includes transmitting the constructed query to the server device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein constructing the query includes constructing the query based in part on the date stamp.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, in response to execution on a host device, perform a process of configuring a peripheral device for use by the host device, the process comprising:

receiving a plurality of functionality identifiers from the peripheral device, each of the plurality of functionality identifiers associated with a function of a plurality of functions that the peripheral device is adapted to perform;

retrieving metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers from a local metadata store;

determining a deficiency in the metadata retrieved from the local metadata store;

in response to the determination of the deficiency, retrieving additional metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers from a server metadata store; and

displaying at least a portion of the retrieving additional metadata in a unified configuration interface, the unified configuration interface facilitating configuration of at least two of the plurality of functions that the peripheral device is adapted to perform.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein:

the process further comprises receiving at least one device identifier from the peripheral device, the device identifier corresponding to at least one of a model or manufacturer of the peripheral device; and

retrieving the metadata from the local metadata store includes retrieving the metadata based on the at least one device identifier.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the peripheral device is a multi-function device adapted to provide at least a printing function and a scanning function.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the peripheral device is represented in the unified configuration interface as a single entity capable of performing each of the functions of the plurality of functions.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the received additional metadata specifies a manufacturer of the peripheral device, a model number of the peripheral device, at least one task relating to configuring the peripheral device, at least one function that the peripheral device is adapted to perform, and/or a graphical representation of the peripheral device.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein:

retrieving the metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers from the local metadata store includes;

constructing a query based on the at least some of the received functionality identifiers; and

executing the constructed query on the local metadata store; and

retrieving the additional metadata from the server metadata store includes transmitting the constructed query to the server device.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein determining the deficiency in the metadata retrieved from the local metadata store includes determining that the metadata retrieved from the local metadata store is older than a threshold age.

14. A host computing device, comprising:

a memory and at least one processor that are respectively configured to store and execute instructions that;

receive a plurality of functionality identifiers from a peripheral device, the individual functionality identifiers of the plurality of functionality identifiers corresponding to functions of a plurality of functions associated with the peripheral device;

access metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers from a metadata store of the host computing device;

determining a deficiency in the metadata of the metadata store of the host computing device;

in response to the determination of the deficiency, access additional metadata associated with at least one of the received functionality identifiers from a metadata store of a remote computing device; and

display at least a portion of the additional metadata in a unified configuration interface that facilitates configuration of the peripheral device.

15. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein:

the memory and the at least one processor are also respectively configured to store and execute instructions that receive a device identifier from the peripheral device;

the device identifier corresponds to a model and/or manufacturer of the peripheral device; and

the additional metadata is also associated with the model and/or manufacturer of the peripheral device.

16. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein:

the instructions that access the metadata of the metadata store of the host computing device also;

construct a query from at least some of the received functionality identifiers; and

query the metadata store of the host computing device with the constructed query; and

the instructions that access the additional metadata also transmit the constructed query to the remote computing device.

17. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein:

the instructions that access the metadata of the metadata store of the host computing device also;

construct a query from more than one of the received functionality identifiers; and

query the metadata store of the host computing device with the constructed query; and

the instructions that access the additional metadata also transmit the constructed query to the remote computing device.

18. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein the additional metadata specifies a manufacturer of the peripheral device, a model number of the peripheral device, at least one task relating to configuring the peripheral device, at least one function that the peripheral device is operable to perform, and/or a graphical representation of the peripheral device.

19. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein the deficiency in the metadata of the metadata store of the host computing device includes the metadata of the metadata store of the host computing device being older than a threshold age.

20. The host computing device of claim 14, wherein the peripheral device is represented in the unified configuration interface as a single entity capable of performing each of the functions of the plurality of functions.