Abstract: A managed print service (MPS) system is used to analyze the costs associated with creating hardcopies on document output devices in end user customer environments, develop proposals to optimize the placement and use of document output devices based on the end user customer's desired workflow, and manage the resulting optimized document output device fleet in the replenishment of supplies. MPS providers can also use the system to manage break/fix services to maintain the uptime, or availability, of the fleet of document output devices. The system provides a predictive supplies replenishment module that accounts for variations in user behaviors when determining whether a replacement supply is needed and identifies replacement supplies according to multiple trigger thresholds that are based on calculations of the remaining days of the supplies in the devices. The system also provides device-specific routing labels for different supply parts that are sent to the same shipping address.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 12, 2011
Date of Patent:
February 21, 2017
Assignee:
Distribution Management, Inc.
Inventors:
Michelle Therese Weaver Kaufman, Joachim Landes, Mark White Montgomery, Travis Edward Cottrell, Bernard Raphael Kister, Ronald Harold Alphin, Douglas Lee Johnson