Systems and methods for print accounting
Systems and methods consistent with embodiments of the present invention provide for a method for print accounting. In some methods for print accounting, statistics related to print events are maintained and reported. The print accounting report may include a human-readable section and an encoded machine-readable section. In some embodiments, information contained in the human-readable section may be a subset of the information in the machine-readable section. The encoded machine-readable section may comprise a bar code or other encoding depending on the medium used for generating the report. In some embodiments, the machine-readable section may be encrypted prior to encoding. In some embodiments, the human-readable section may include an invoice based on printer usage statistics contained in the print accounting report. Information contained in the machine-readable section may be used to authenticate and verify information in human-readable section.
1 . A method performed comprising:
logging at least one of a plurality of events on a printing device;
updating stored accounting information for a user-specified reporting period with the at least one of a plurality of logged events; and
generating a report for the reporting period using the updated stored accounting information, wherein the report comprises human-readable print accounting information and encoded print accounting information.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a plurality of events logged on the printing device comprises one or more of the events of:
printing of color pages;
printing of monochrome pages;
utilization of color ink;
utilization of monochrome ink;
utilization of print cartridges;
error codes reported by printer components;
errors requiring service calls;
types of service performed during each service call;
length of each service call;
start of a reporting period; and
end of a reporting period.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein updating stored accounting information comprises one or more of the steps of:
archiving stored accounting information for the reporting period;
resetting and initializing stored accounting information;
directly adding the logged event information to an appropriate location in stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information comprises raw event data; and
performing mathematical operations to appropriately update stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information is derived from event information.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein stored accounting information for a reporting period comprises one or more of:
start of the reporting period;
end of the reporting period;
total number of pages printed;
total number of monochrome pages printed;
total number of color pages printed;
total numbers of pages printed, by size of printed page;
average monochrome coverage;
average color coverage;
duration of error free operation;
date of each failure;
mean time between failures;
average cost per page;
total number of service calls; and
average length of service calls.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the human-readable print accounting information includes a unique printer identification number and other print accounting information based on a user-specified reporting configuration.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the human-readable print accounting information includes an invoice for print services rendered over the reporting period.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the human-readable print accounting information is a subset of the information contained in encoded print accounting information.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded print accounting information is machine-readable.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the machine-readable encoded print accounting information comprises a bar-code.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the machine-readable encoded print accounting information comprises a two dimensional bar-code.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded print accounting information is encrypted prior to encoding.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded print accounting information is used to authenticate information contained in the human-readable print accounting information.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by one or more of:
a printer;
a print server;
a print controller coupled to a printer; and
a computer coupled to a printer.
14 . A computer-readable medium that stores instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method for print accounting, the steps comprising:
logging at least one of a plurality of events on a printing device;
updating stored accounting information for a user-specified reporting period with the at least one of a plurality of logged events; and
generating a report for the reporting period using the updated stored accounting information, wherein the report comprises human-readable print accounting information and encoded print accounting information.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein updating stored accounting information comprises one or more of the steps of:
archiving stored accounting information for the reporting period;
resetting and initializing stored accounting information;
directly adding the logged event information to an appropriate location in stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information comprises raw event data; and
performing mathematical operations to appropriately update stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information is derived from event information.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the human-readable print accounting information is a subset of the information contained in encoded print accounting information.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the encoded print accounting information is machine-readable.
18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the encoded print accounting information may be used to authenticate information contained in the human-readable print accounting information.
19 . A system for print accounting comprising:
means for logging at least one of a plurality of events on a printing device;
means for updating stored accounting information for a user-specified reporting period with the at least one of a plurality of logged events; and
means for generating a report for the reporting period using the updated stored accounting information, wherein the report comprises human-readable print accounting information and encoded print accounting information.
20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein updating stored accounting information comprises:
means for archiving stored accounting information for the reporting period period;
means for resetting and initializing stored accounting information;
means for directly adding the logged event information to an appropriate location in stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information comprises raw event data; and
means for performing mathematical operations to appropriately update stored accounting information, if the stored accounting information is derived from event information.
21 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the human-readable print accounting information is a subset of the information contained in encoded print accounting information.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the encoded print accounting information is machine-readable.
23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the encoded print accounting information may be used to authenticate information contained in the human-readable print accounting information.