Apparatus, an article of manufacture, and a method of configuring an image forming device

• US 6,965,441 B1
• Filed: 11/10/2000
• Issued: 11/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Haines, Robert E., Harper, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas D.
• Application Number:
  US09/710,367
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 399/9, 399/10, 399/11, 399/12, 399/24, 358/1.13, 358/1.14, 358/1.15
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5016 User-machine interface; Display panels; Control console
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/502 relating to the structure of the control menu, e.g. pop-up menus, help screens
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/553 Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00109 Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host

Abstract

An apparatus, an article of manufacture, and a method of configuring an image forming device are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus operable to configure an image forming device includes an interface configured to couple with an image forming device configured to use an imaging consumable to form hard images, the image forming device being initially configured to cause the formation of an initial one of a plurality of consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to a status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device; and processing circuitry configured to communicate with the image forming device using the interface to configure the image forming device to cause the formation of another one of the consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to the status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device.

Claims

1. An apparatus operable to configure an image forming device comprising:

an interface configured to couple with an image forming device configured to use an imaging consumable to form hard images, the image forming device being initially configured to cause the formation of an initial one of a plurality of consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to a status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device; and

processing circuitry configured to communicate with the image forming device using the interface to configure the image forming device to cause the formation of another one of the consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to the status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device.

2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to discover an existence of the image forming device and to configure the image forming device after the discovery.

3. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to discover an identity of the image forming device and to configure the image forming device after the discovery.

4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to discover an initial variable of the image forming device configured to cause the formation of the initial one of the consumable order assist functions, and to communicate another variable after the discovery to cause the formation of the another one of the consumable order assist functions.

5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to write a variable to the image forming device to configure the image forming device.

6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to write a variable to the image forming device to configure the image forming device using a remote query language.

7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the interface is configured to couple with the image forming device comprising a printer.

8. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the image forming device is not configured to formulate the another consumable order assist function prior to the configuration by the processing circuitry.

9. An article of manufacture comprising:

a processor-readable medium having processor-usable code embodied therein and configured to cause processing circuitry to perform steps comprising;

accessing an image forming device configured to use an imaging consumable to form hard images, the image forming device being initially configured to cause a formation of an initial one of a plurality of consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to a status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device; and

configuring the image forming device after the accessing to cause the formation of another one of the consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to the status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device.

10. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the processor-readable medium has processor-usable code embodied therein configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform the accessing comprising discovering an existence of the image forming device.

11. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the processor-readable medium has processor-usable code embodied therein configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform the accessing comprising discovering an identity of the image forming device.

12. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the processor-readable medium has processor-usable code embodied therein configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform the accessing comprising discovering an initial variable of the image forming device configured to cause the formation of the initial one of the consumable order assist functions, and the configuring comprising writing another variable to the image forming device after the discovering to cause the formation of the another one of the consumable order assist functions.

13. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the processor-readable medium has processor-usable code embodied therein configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform the configuring comprising writing a variable to the image forming device.

14. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the processor-readable medium has processor-usable code embodied therein configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform the configuring comprising writing a variable to the image forming device using a remote query language.

15. The article in accordance with claim 9 wherein the image forming device is not configured to formulate the another consumable order assist function prior to the configuring by the processing circuitry.

16. A method of configuring an image forming device comprising:

accessing an image forming device configured to use an imaging consumable to form hard images, the image forming device being initially configured to cause a formation of an initial one of a plurality of consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to a status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device; and

configuring the image forming device after the accessing to cause the formation of another one of the consumable order assist functions with respect to replenishment of the imaging consumable within the image forming device and responsive to the status of the imaging consumable within the image forming device.

17. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the accessing comprises discovering an existence of imaging forming device and the configuring is responsive to the discovering.

18. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the accessing comprises discovering an identity of imaging forming device and the configuring is responsive to the discovering.

19. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the accessing comprises discovering an initial variable of the image forming device configured to cause the formation of the initial one of the consumable order assist functions, and the configuring comprises writing another variable to the image forming device after the discovering to cause the formation of the another one of the consumable order assist functions.

20. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the configuring comprises writing a variable to the image forming device.

21. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the configuring comprises writing a variable to the image forming device using a remote query language.

22. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the accessing comprises accessing the image forming device comprising a printer.

23. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the image forming device is not configured to formulate the another consumable order assist function prior to the configuring.