Two way copier monitoring system
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for automatically monitoring the operational status of and initiating operational commands in one or more copy machines from a remote location, each copy machine having a copy machine control computer for monitoring copy machine status information and controlling operation of the copy machine and a copier control panel for user interaction by a user at the copier machine, comprising interface means associated with each copy machine including means to access status information from the copy machine control computer for transmission to the remote location and means to receive operation commands from the remote location for execution by the copy machine control computer, communication means between the interface means and the remote location, means to remotely monitor the status information from the copy machine control computer at the remote location and means to initiate operation commands from the remote location for execution by the copy machine control computer thereby remotely activating copy machine functions comprising means to remotely input copy machine commands at the remote location, means to direct said commands to a specific copier machine in the system and means to simulate keystrokes on the copier control panel within the copy machine.
11 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for automatically, remotely monitoring the operational status of and initiating operational commands in one or more copy machines each having a copier computer therein for determining copier status and controlling operation of the copy machine including an interface in the copier to monitor status information of the remote location from the copier computer and receive and input operational commands from the remote location into the copy machine and a communication link between the individual copiers and the remote location. The system utilizes a scanner to respectively monitor the copiers which can poll each of the copiers at a uniform rate or, when requested by the user at the central location, vary the poll rate of one or more of the copiers to poll the selected copier with increased regularity, slowing the polling rate of the other copiers, to provide a real-time monitoring of the selected copier. The system provides for the operation of the copier from the remote location to allow the user at the remote location to operate the copier, i.e. for the diagnosis and correction of a detected problem.
-
Citations
13 Claims
- 1. A system for automatically monitoring the operational status of and initiating operational commands in one or more copy machines from a remote location, each copy machine having a copy machine control computer for monitoring copy machine status information and controlling operation of the copy machine and a copier control panel for user interaction by a user at the copier machine, comprising interface means associated with each copy machine including means to access status information from the copy machine control computer for transmission to the remote location and means to receive operation commands from the remote location for execution by the copy machine control computer, communication means between the interface means and the remote location, means to remotely monitor the status information from the copy machine control computer at the remote location and means to initiate operation commands from the remote location for execution by the copy machine control computer thereby remotely activating copy machine functions comprising means to remotely input copy machine commands at the remote location, means to direct said commands to a specific copier machine in the system and means to simulate keystrokes on the copier control panel within the copy machine.
Specification