Method and system for determining root cause of problems in members of a fleet of multi-function devices

• US 8,264,702 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2009
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: St. Jacques, Robert J. Jr., Thieret, Tracy Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Thierry
• Application Number:
  US12/631,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20110134451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294

Abstract

A distributed data mining system and method for determining root cause of problems associated with a MFD cloud. The MFD cloud may be configured to include a fleet of networked MFDs within an enterprise firewall to perform data analytics in real time. High frequency data with describing the state of each MFD can be captured and stored locally in a file system (distributed or not). The high frequency data may be acquired at regular intervals and/or in response to a specific event with a much higher cadence and finer granularity than currently practiced. A distributed data mining module associated with the enterprise firewall may then continuously analyze the data stored within the cloud to identify actual, pending or, difficult to detect problems based on available computational cycles of idle MFDs in the network. The data associated with the problems may then be securely transmitted to a back-end unit to verify and propagate the results of the analysis of the problems more rapidly.

Claims

1. A method for determining the root cause of problems of members in a fleet of multi-function devices, comprising:

capturing high frequency data with respect to a state of a multi-function device associated with a multi-function device cloud in order to thereafter store said data in a database accessible by said multi-function device, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system;

acquiring said high frequency data in association with a configurable heartbeat and in response to at least one event with a high cadence and fine granularity, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system; and

periodically and frequently analyzing said high frequency data stored in association with said multi-function device cloud utilizing a distributed data mining module to rapidly determine a root cause of at least one difficult to detect problem, wherein said distributed data mining module is associated with said multi-function device cloud, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising configuring said database as a distributed file system, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising configuring said multi-function device cloud to include a plurality of networked multi-function devices in association with an enterprise firewall to perform data analytics in real time, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing said high frequency data utilizing a computational cycle associated with an idle multi-function device in said multi-function device cloud without interrupting a continuity of operation of said multi-function device, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising sharing a solution concerning said at least one difficult to detect problem throughout a particular organization, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing said high frequency data associated with said multi-function device before and after said multi-function device is serviced, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing said high frequency data associated with said multi-function device with an enhanced performance to generate data for optimizing a performance of said plurality of multi-function devices, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising discarding said high frequency data that are irrelevant after a particular period of time, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

examining said high frequency data generated by said multi-function device associated with a specific customer on a continuous basis to derive examination/analysis results thereof, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system; and

transmitting said examination/analysis results of said high frequency data associated with said at least one difficult-to-detect problem based on terms and conditions established at a commencement of a service agreement, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

correlating said high frequency data and said solution reached locally with data collected from a plurality of multi-function device clouds in other locations to derive a correlation thereof, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system; and

utilizing said correlation to verify and propagate results obtained from said correlation, by executing a program instruction in a data-processing system.

11. A system for determining the root cause of problems of members in a fleet of multi-function devices, said system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to said processor; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said data bus, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said processor and configured for;

capturing high frequency data with respect to a state of a multi-function device associated with a multi-function device cloud in order to thereafter store said data in a database accessible by said multi-function device;

acquiring said high frequency data in association with a configurable heartbeat and in response to at least one event with a high cadence and fine granularity; and

periodically and frequently analyzing said high frequency data stored in association with said multi-function device cloud utilizing a distributed data mining module to rapidly determine a root cause of at least one difficult to detect problem, wherein said distributed data mining module is associated with said multi-function device cloud.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for configuring said database as a distributed file system.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for configuring said multi-function device cloud to include a plurality of networked multi-function devices inside an enterprise firewall to perform data analytics in real time.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for analyzing said high frequency data utilizing a computational cycle associated with an idle multi-function device in said multi-function device cloud without interrupting a continuity of operation of said multi-function device.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for sharing a solution concerning said at least one difficult to detect problem throughout a particular organization.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for analyzing said high frequency data associated with said multi-function device before and after said multi-function device is serviced.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

analyzing said high frequency data associated with said multi-function device with an enhanced performance to generate data for optimizing a performance of said plurality of multi-function devices; and

discarding said high frequency data that are irrelevant after a particular period of time.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

examining said high frequency data generated by said multi-function device associated with a specific customer on a continuous basis to derive examination/analysis results thereof; and

transmitting said examination/analysis results of said high frequency data associated with said at least one difficult-to-detect problem based on terms and conditions established at a commencement of a service agreement.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

correlating said high frequency data and said solution reached locally with data collected from a plurality of multi-function device clouds in other locations to derive a correlation thereof; and

utilizing said correlation to verify and propagate results obtained from said correlation.