Title of Invention	METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING A REPORT OF USAGE OF ONE OR MORE FEATURES AND OPTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONE OR MORE FEATURES OF A MULTIFUNCTIONAL PERIPHERAL( MFP)
Abstract	The invention, in general relates to Multi Functional Peripherals. Particularly the invention relates to embedded systems in MFP and more particularly to a method for finding statistics of usage of features provided by MFP. Networked MFPs provides various features such as printing, nets can, scan to email, etc. and their various options like enlargement, reduction, and so forth. According to the method, a count is maintained for each feature and its options and a usage report is generated. The automatic report is generated when the feature usage count crosses a pre-defined value or in a customized way such as monthly, weekly, predefined date, etc. Moreover, when the feature usage is below a pre-defined threshold, an alert may be generated. Further, the report may be user-specific or based on global usage. The generated report may be sent as email to the manufacturer or the administrator of the network.

Title of Invention

METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING A REPORT OF USAGE OF ONE OR MORE FEATURES AND OPTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ONE OR MORE FEATURES OF A MULTIFUNCTIONAL PERIPHERAL( MFP)

Abstract

The invention, in general relates to Multi Functional Peripherals. Particularly the invention relates to embedded systems in MFP and more particularly to a method for finding statistics of usage of features provided by MFP. Networked MFPs provides various features such as printing, nets can, scan to email, etc. and their various options like enlargement, reduction, and so forth. According to the method, a count is maintained for each feature and its options and a usage report is generated. The automatic report is generated when the feature usage count crosses a pre-defined value or in a customized way such as monthly, weekly, predefined date, etc. Moreover, when the feature usage is below a pre-defined threshold, an alert may be generated. Further, the report may be user-specific or based on global usage. The generated report may be sent as email to the manufacturer or the administrator of the network.

Full Text	FIELD OF INVENTION The invention, in general relates to Multi Functional Peripherals. Particularly the invention relates to embedded system and more particularly to a method for finding statistics of usage of features provided by MFP. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART Mostly all networked MFPs include variety of features like Scanner, Copiers, S2E, Network Scan, Scan to USB, Fax, Delay Fax etc. As of now there are not many facilities in MFP to know the consumption of resources like paper, toner and the details of each feature that the MFP provides. The present invention puts an effort to solve the problem by providing a count value with every usage of feature and its options and automatically generate a report and send it to the manufacturer so that the manufacturer can use those inputs in designing future products. Such Reports can even be sent to the administrator so that the consumption of resources can be monitored. In patent no. US20060112432A1, titled, "System and method for tracking feature usage in a document processing environment", the invention describes a method for monitoring and tracking of the usage of features, services or functions that are available to users on document processing devices. The features to be tracked, the time period, and the frequency of tracking these features are set by an administrator according his preferences. The feature usage report is generated in a structure predefined by the administrator. The generated report is accessed in the form of an email, an internet web page, or a hard copy. In another patent no. US20040012644A1, titled," Printer", the invention describes a method for generating a usage report of consumables and printer settings in a printer A user may select various settings available on the printer, such as type of paper, print quality, type of printing, etc. A report corresponding to these settings is stored in non-volatile memory storage. Also, the report is updated periodically. The stored report in the form of a web page or a message is displayed on a PC. However, the publication focuses the concept of report generation based on settings selected by a user for a printer, and not for MFPs in general. Yet another patent numbered GB2387004A and titled," Determining an optimal use of printing devices", describes an optimization program for a multifunction device/printer. According to the method, a data of available options and installed options is maintained for the printer, and printer usage is monitored based on number of received jobs, job quantity, etc. Then, the optimization program suggests optimizations for the printer. However, suggesting or alerting a user regarding low usage for a particular option has not been explicitly disclosed. The article titled," Total Print Management-Understand your printer Usage", describes a concept of identifying the features being used in multifunction devices. According to the article, the usage features such as color usage, media usage, duplex or simplex printing, copy, scan, fax usage, total pages printed, etc. can be tracked. The device can be scheduled to generate online or real time reports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Also, the report may be sent to the users in the organization in the form of an email. The concept of monitoring usage of features and options provided by a device such as an MFP has been disclosed in patent publications US20060112432A1, US20040012644A1, GB2387004A, and the article titled Total Print Management-Understand your printer Usage'. The concept of generating customizable reports on daily/weekly/monthly basis and sending them as an email has also been disclosed in the patent publication US20060112432A1 and the article. Report generation at a job level and page level separately has not been explicitly mentioned in these publications. Alerting a user regarding low usage for a particular feature/option has not been disclosed in these publications; however, GB2387004A discloses the concept of an optimization program that suggests optimizations for a printer based on the printer's usage data. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The proposed invention describes a method and system for finding the statistics of usage of features provided by MFP. The MFP provides a lot of features like ScanToEmail, NetScan, Print, etc. The usage of features and the variation of the features by the options provided with them vary with respect to every user. For e.g. scan has lot of variation like enlarge, reduce, poster, Clone, etc. The disclosure maintains a count on the options used thus tries to find which feature is mostly used and based on it automatically generate a report and send it to Administrator or send a mail to manufacturer so that the manufacturer can know the feature usage statistics and design the future products. This automation of report containing the feature usage can be set to be generated when the number of usage count has hit some pre-defined value or on a monthly basis or weekly basis or any customized way. A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP comprising the steps of: maintaining a count for each feature and its options ; generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count; and sending the said report to a desired destination. The report gets generated when the feature or the options usage count crosses a pre-defined value. The MFP is adapted to generate the report in a monthly, weekly or in a customized configured way. The count for each feature gets incremented with usage of the specific feature to get the used count for feature. The count for each option of a feature gets incremented with the usage of the specific option of the feature to get the used count for option. The report is send to the desired destination by e-mail. A usage report is generated for the features alone or options alone or for a combination of both feature and option. Accordingly this invention provides a system for finding the statistics of usage of various features comprising: a counter for maintaining a count for each feature and its options ; means for generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count; and means for sending the said report to a desired destination. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. In accordance with the current invention, MFPs that are mostly networked includes variety of features like Scanner, Copiers, S2E, Network Scan, Scan to USB, Fax, Delay Fax etc. The present invention by having a count value with every usage of feature and its options and automatically generate a report and send it to the manufacturer so that the manufacturer can use those inputs in designing future products. Such Reports can even be sent to administrator so he will know the consumption of resources like paper/ toner etc. This automation of report containing the feature usage can be set to be generated when the number of usage count has hit some pre-defined value or on a monthly basis or weekly basis or any customized way. Also the feature usage can be measured in detail where the count is incremented for every input paper for the feature, i.e., if Scan with Enlarge is done for 10 pages then the value is incremented by 10, even if all the pages for a part of a single Job. A Job is defined like say 'n 'number of pages form an input for ScanTo Email. Thus the report can even be generated at a Job Level As well as a detail Usage Level as mentioned above. The invention therefore provides the user with the detailed analysis report based on feature usage. The invention provides a system for finding the statistics of usage of various features. Counters for maintaining a count for each feature and its options are provided. The MFP generates a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count and sends the said report to a desired destination. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a microchip, microprocessor, handheld communication device, computer, rendering device or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart there from. WE CLAIM 1. A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP comprising the steps of: (a) maintaining a count for each feature and its options ; (b) generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count; and (c) sending the said report to a desired destination. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the report gets generated when the feature or the options usage count crosses a pre-defined value. 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the MFP is adapted to generate the report in a monthly, weekly or in a customised configured way. 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the count for each feature gets incremented with usage of the specific feature to get the used count for feature. 5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the count for each option of a feature gets incremented with the usage of the specific option of the feature to get the used count for option. 6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the report is send to the desired destination by e-mail. 7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a usage report is generated for the features alone or options alone or for a combination of both feature and option. 8. A system for finding the statistics of usage of various features comprising: (a) a counter for maintaining a count for each feature and its options ; (b) means for generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count; and (c) means for sending the said report to a desired destination. 9. A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP substantially described herein the detailed description. 10. A system for finding the statistics of usage of various features substantially described herein the detailed description.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention, in general relates to Multi Functional Peripherals. Particularly the invention relates to embedded system and more particularly to a method for finding statistics of usage of features provided by MFP.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
Mostly all networked MFPs include variety of features like Scanner, Copiers, S2E, Network Scan, Scan to USB, Fax, Delay Fax etc. As of now there are not many facilities in MFP to know the consumption of resources like paper, toner and the details of each feature that the MFP provides. The present invention puts an effort to solve the problem by providing a count value with every usage of feature and its options and automatically generate a report and send it to the manufacturer so that the manufacturer can use those inputs in designing future products. Such Reports can even be sent to the administrator so that the consumption of resources can be monitored.
In patent no. US20060112432A1, titled, "System and method for tracking feature usage in a document processing environment", the invention describes a method for monitoring and tracking of the usage of features, services or functions that are available to users on document processing devices. The features to be tracked, the time period, and the frequency of tracking these features are set by an administrator according his preferences. The feature usage report is generated in

a structure predefined by the administrator. The generated report is accessed in the form of an email, an internet web page, or a hard copy.
In another patent no. US20040012644A1, titled," Printer", the invention describes a method for generating a usage report of consumables and printer settings in a printer A user may select various settings available on the printer, such as type of paper, print quality, type of printing, etc. A report corresponding to these settings is stored in non-volatile memory storage. Also, the report is updated periodically. The stored report in the form of a web page or a message is displayed on a PC. However, the publication focuses the concept of report generation based on settings selected by a user for a printer, and not for MFPs in general.
Yet another patent numbered GB2387004A and titled," Determining an optimal use of printing devices", describes an optimization program for a multifunction device/printer. According to the method, a data of available options and installed options is maintained for the printer, and printer usage is monitored based on number of received jobs, job quantity, etc. Then, the optimization program suggests optimizations for the printer. However, suggesting or alerting a user regarding low usage for a particular option has not been explicitly disclosed.
The article titled," Total Print Management-Understand your printer Usage", describes a concept of identifying the features being used in multifunction devices. According to the article, the usage features such as color usage, media usage, duplex or simplex printing, copy, scan, fax usage, total pages printed, etc.

can be tracked. The device can be scheduled to generate online or real time reports on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Also, the report may be sent to the users in the organization in the form of an email.
The concept of monitoring usage of features and options provided by a device such as an MFP has been disclosed in patent publications US20060112432A1, US20040012644A1, GB2387004A, and the article titled Total Print Management-Understand your printer Usage'. The concept of generating customizable reports on daily/weekly/monthly basis and sending them as an email has also been disclosed in the patent publication US20060112432A1 and the article. Report generation at a job level and page level separately has not been explicitly mentioned in these publications. Alerting a user regarding low usage for a particular feature/option has not been disclosed in these publications; however, GB2387004A discloses the concept of an optimization program that suggests optimizations for a printer based on the printer's usage data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The proposed invention describes a method and system for finding the statistics of usage of features provided by MFP. The MFP provides a lot of features like ScanToEmail, NetScan, Print, etc. The usage of features and the variation of the features by the options provided with them vary with respect to every user. For e.g. scan has lot of variation like enlarge, reduce, poster, Clone, etc. The disclosure maintains a count on the options used thus tries to find which feature is

mostly used and based on it automatically generate a report and send it to Administrator or send a mail to manufacturer so that the manufacturer can know the feature usage statistics and design the future products. This automation of report containing the feature usage can be set to be generated when the number of usage count has hit some pre-defined value or on a monthly basis or weekly basis or any customized way.
A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP comprising the steps of:
maintaining a count for each feature and its options ;
generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used
count; and
sending the said report to a desired destination.
The report gets generated when the feature or the options usage count crosses a pre-defined value. The MFP is adapted to generate the report in a monthly, weekly or in a customized configured way. The count for each feature gets incremented with usage of the specific feature to get the used count for feature. The count for each option of a feature gets incremented with the usage of the specific option of the feature to get the used count for option. The report is send to the desired destination by e-mail. A usage report is generated for the features alone or options alone or for a combination of both feature and option.

Accordingly this invention provides a system for finding the statistics of usage of various features comprising:
a counter for maintaining a count for each feature and its options ;
means for generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting
the used count; and
means for sending the said report to a desired destination.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail.

In accordance with the current invention, MFPs that are mostly networked includes variety of features like Scanner, Copiers, S2E, Network Scan, Scan to USB, Fax, Delay Fax etc. The present invention by having a count value with every usage of feature and its options and automatically generate a report and send it to the manufacturer so that the manufacturer can use those inputs in designing future products. Such Reports can even be sent to administrator so he will know the consumption of resources like paper/ toner etc. This automation of report containing the feature usage can be set to be generated when the number of usage count has hit some pre-defined value or on a monthly basis or weekly basis or any customized way. Also the feature usage can be measured in detail where the count is incremented for every input paper for the feature, i.e., if Scan with Enlarge is done for 10 pages then the value is incremented by 10, even if all the pages for a part of a single Job.
A Job is defined like say 'n 'number of pages form an input for ScanTo Email. Thus the report can even be generated at a Job Level As well as a detail Usage Level as mentioned above. The invention therefore provides the user with the detailed analysis report based on feature usage.
The invention provides a system for finding the statistics of usage of various features. Counters for maintaining a count for each feature and its options are provided. The MFP generates a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting the used count and sends the said report to a desired destination.

It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a microchip, microprocessor, handheld communication device, computer, rendering device or a multi function device.
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart there from.

WE CLAIM
1. A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP
comprising the steps of:
(a) maintaining a count for each feature and its options ;
(b) generating a usage report of each feature and its options reflecting
the used count; and
(c) sending the said report to a desired destination.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the report gets generated when the
feature or the options usage count crosses a pre-defined value.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the MFP is adapted to generate the
report in a monthly, weekly or in a customised configured way.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the count for each feature gets
incremented with usage of the specific feature to get the used count for
feature.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the count for each option of a feature
gets incremented with the usage of the specific option of the feature to get the
used count for option.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the report is send to the desired
destination by e-mail.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein a usage report is generated for the
features alone or options alone or for a combination of both feature and option.
8. A system for finding the statistics of usage of various features comprising:

(a) a counter for maintaining a count for each feature and its options ;
(b) means for generating a usage report of each feature and its options
reflecting the used count; and
(c) means for sending the said report to a desired destination.
9. A method for finding the statistics of usage of various features in MFP
substantially described herein the detailed description.

10. A system for finding the statistics of usage of various features substantially described herein the detailed description.

Documents:

http://ipindiaonline.gov.in/patentsearch/GrantedSearch/viewdoc.aspx?id=+4bP7fdX65tQMkklm3u6WA==&loc=egcICQiyoj82NGgGrC5ChA==

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Patent Number

279092

Indian Patent Application Number

2486/CHE/2006

PG Journal Number

02/2017

Publication Date

13-Jan-2017

Grant Date

11-Jan-2017

Date of Filing

29-Dec-2006

Name of Patentee

SAMSUNG R& D INSTITUTE INDIA BANGALORE PRIVATE LIMITED

Applicant Address

#2870 ORION BUILDING BAGMANE CONSTELLATION BUSINESS PARK OUTER RING ROAD DODDANEKUNDI CIRCLE MARATHAHALLI POST BANGALORE -560037

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	MADHUSUDHANA CHARI S	EMPLOYED AT SAMSUNG INDIA SOFTWARE OPERATIONS PVT LTD., HAVING ITS OFFICE AT, BAGMANE LAKEVIEW, BLOCK B' NO.66/1, BAGMANE TECH PARK, C V RAMAN NAGAR, BYRASANDRA, BANGALORE-560093, KARNATAKA, INDIA

PCT International Classification Number

G06F17/30

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1			NA