CUMULATIVE CONSUMABLE USAGE IN CLOUD-BASED PRINTING SERVICES

• US 20140211232A1
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ganesan, Kumaravel, Bhatia, Rajesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,104,344 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/00 Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed mounting, arrangement or disposition of types or dies B41J1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/12 Digital output to print unit , e.g. line printer, chain printer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1207 resulting in the user being informed about print result after a job submission
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1219 with regard to consumables, e.g. ink, toner, paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1239 Restricting the usage of resources, e.g. usage or user levels, credit limit, consumables, special fonts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1259 Print job monitoring, e.g. job status
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration

Abstract

In one example, a cloud-based printing service that calculates cumulative usage data of a consumable.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring printer consumable usage, comprising:

receiving at a cloud-based printing service a print job from a user for a target printer, the target printer also usable for printing by other users of the service;

printing the print job on the printer;

receiving at the service job data indicative of consumable consumption for the print job;

calculating, at the service, cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user but not the other users from the job data and prior consumable usage data; and

sending the cumulative consumable usage data from the service to a client application in near-real-time after the completion of the printing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client application is an instant message client, and wherein the sending comprises:

sending the cumulative consumable usage data from the service to the client application as an instant message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sending comprises:

the printing service establishing an instant messaging identity;

the client application friending the instant messaging identity;

the client application opening a chat session with the instant messaging identity;

the printing service instantiating an instant messaging channel for the identity in response to the opening; and

the printing service automatically generating the instant message and sending it to the client application through the instant messaging channel.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying a group of printers which includes the target printer,

wherein the calculating comprises calculating consumable usage data by the user on the group of printers.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying a group of users which includes the user,

wherein the calculating comprises calculating consumable usage data by the group of users.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is associated with a business entity, and wherein the cloud-based printing service is usable, by other users not associated with the business entity, to print print jobs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises:

before beginning the printing, receiving at the service an initial consumable level of the printer; and

at completion of the printing, receiving at the service a remaining consumable level of the printer, wherein the consumable consumption corresponds to the difference between the initial consumable level and the remaining consumable level.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the calculating comprises:

calculating the cumulative consumable usage data by adding the initial consumable level to the prior consumable usage data and then subtracting the remaining consumable level.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

in response to the receiving and prior to the printing, determining whether a limit for cumulative usage of the consumable by the user has been exceeded;

if the limit has been exceeded, aborting the print job; and

if the limit has not been exceeded, initiating the printing

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions for causing a processor to execute a method of controlling printer consumable usage, comprising:

defining at a cloud-based printing service a limit for cumulative usage of a consumable, the limit associated with a user;

receiving at the service a print job from the user for a target printer;

in response to the receiving, determining whether cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user exceeds the limit;

if the limit has been exceeded, aborting the print job; and

if the limit has not been exceeded, printing the print job on the target printer.

11. The medium of claim 10 comprising, if the limit has not been exceeded:

receiving at the service job data indicative of consumable consumption for the print job;

calculating, with the service, cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user from the job data and prior consumable usage data; and

sending the cumulative consumable usage data from the service to a client application external to the service in near-real-time after the completion of the printing.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the receiving comprises:

before beginning the printing, receiving at the service an initial consumable level of the printer; and

at completion of the printing, receiving at the service a remaining consumable level of the printer, wherein the consumable consumption corresponds to the difference between the initial consumable level and the remaining consumable level.

13. The medium of claim 10, comprising:

identifying a group of printers which includes the target printer,

wherein the cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user comprises the usage of the consumable for all print jobs of the user printed on any of the printers in the group.

14. The medium of claim 10, comprising:

identifying a group of users which includes the user,

wherein the cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user comprises the usage of the consumable for all print jobs of all the users in the group on any printers of the service.

15. A cloud-based printing service, comprising:

a device event service to receive from a target printer registered with the cloud-based printing service job data indicative of consumable consumption of a print job printed by the printer for a user;

a consumable data management service to calculate, using the job data, cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user;

a consumable usage reporting service to generate, using the cumulative consumable usage data, information requested by a client external to the cloud-based printing service; and

a communications service to send an instant message having the information to the client in near-real-time after the completion of the printing.

16. The printing service of claim 15, comprising:

an on-ramp service to receive the print job from the user and either to allow the print job if a consumable usage limit associated with the user has not been exceeded or to reject the print job if the consumable usage limit associated with the user has been exceeded, wherein the consumable usage reporting service is structured to compare the consumable usage limit associated with the user with the cumulative consumable usage data associated with the user.

17. The printing service of claim 15, wherein the communications service is further configured to:

inform the client about the presence in the cloud-based printing service of an instant message (IM) friend associated with the information requested by the client;

responsive to the client opening a chat session with the IM friend, instantiate between the IM client and the consumable usage reporting service an IM channel corresponding to the IM friend; and

send the instant message to the client via the IM channel.

18. The printing service of claim 15, wherein the communications service is further structured to:

receive from the client an instant message including a command;

send the command to the consumable usage reporting service;

receive a response to the command from the consumable usage reporting service; and

send the client an instant message including the response.

19. The printing service of claim 15, comprising:

a database coupled to the consumable data management service;

the consumable data management service further coupled to the consumable usage reporting service to store in the database

a first table associating a printer and a user with cumulative consumable usage data for print jobs from the user printed on the printer,

a second table associating a printer with a printer group, and

a third table associating a user with a user group.

20. The printing service of claim 15, comprising:

a worker service to render the print job into print data printable by the target printer.