Lexmark International, Inc.

Other

Steve Michael Edwards

James Francis Webb

Gail Marie Songer

Kevin Patrick Goffinet

Francis Darrell Rafferty, Jr

Lloyd Phillip Young

Peter Stewart Davidson, Jr

An improved printing system is provided having at least one host computer and a printer in which the printer acquires print job accounting information and communicates it to the host computer via NPAP messages. A host computer downloads print job data to the printer through a communications port on the printer (i.e., either a parallel port, serial port, or network port), and as the printer prints the print job that it received from the host computer, the printer temporarily stores job accounting information. At the end of the print job, the printer communicates that job accounting information back to armed host computers via a bi-directional communications port, including typical information such as: the job identifier number, job processing time, number of sheets of paper from each paper source, number of impressions from each paper source (either one-sided or two-sided impressions), the port identifier, the network user name, the name of the print job (as specified), and the printer's serial number. Since the data is being accumulated at the printer, rather than at the host computer, there is no estimating by a host-resident program to acquire these statistics, and no data base merging (from several host computers) is required to categorize all of the data for one particular printer. Furthermore, the print jobs need not pass through a network queue in order to be detected and accounted for.

Method and apparatus for providing job accounting information to a host

An improved printing system having a host computer and a printer is provided in which the printer has a memory of sufficient size capable of temporarily storing multiple print jobs. The host computer can be utilized by a user or a Network Administrator to 'view' the contents of a print queue within the printer, in which the queue holds one or more print jobs as these print jobs await printing. The host can inform the printer when a particular print job in the queue is to be deleted or undeleted. Deleted jobs are effectively removed from the queue and are not printed; however, such deleted jobs can be reinstated (or 'undeleted') during the time interval between the delete command being received at the printer and when this job would have become the immediate subject for being interpreted, and the particular print job (which really never lost its place in the queue) returns to the queue and has its data sent to the interpreter when its turn to be dispatched occurs, and finally becomes printed. The various stages of a print job migrating through the printer are used to inform the user/Network Administrator at the host as to the status of the entire print queue, upon request by the user/Network Administrator. The list of current jobs in the printer's queue and the 'location' of each of these print jobs is displayed on the monitor at the host in a form that identifies the job name and the status of each job. In one preferred embodiment, a 'list box' of the host's display monitor can present up to twenty-five (25) current jobs in the order that they will be operated on by the printer.

Method and apparatus for providing a printer having internal queue job

Growing community of inventors

Lexington, KY, United States of America

Steve Michael Edwards