Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for charging for printing services. In one embodiment, a system and a method pertain to receiving with a printing device a print request transmitted by a printing client, determining using the printing device billing information for the client, and transmitting printing charge information from the printing device to a billing system for printing services rendered by the printing device.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for crash recovery on an image forming apparatus is provided including steps of spooling an imaging job, tracking an imaging status of the imaging job, and deleting the imaging job upon re-initialization of the imaging forming apparatus if the imaging status of the imaging job is a predetermined imaging status.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for spooling print jobs. In one embodiment, a system and a method pertain to receiving a print request with a printing device, receiving print job data associated with the print request with the printing device, storing the print job data on the printing device, and sending the print job data to a print engine of the printing device in a predetermined order.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for printing using a public printing service. In one embodiment, a system and a method pertain to formatting a print job for transmission via a secure network protocol, and transmitting the print job directly to a printing device of the service such that the printing device receives a secure network protocol-formatted print job.

Abstract: A novel method for building a computer peripheral information database for a plurality of peripherals operably connected to a network for sharing between a plurality of users provide a valuable tool for network management and administration. A preferred embodiment of the method is for use with networked printers. Configuration data for the printer is input by at least one user, and printer usage data is obtained by repeated queries over the network to the printers. The information database will contain printer duty cycle and cost data for each of the printer.

Abstract: A novel method for building a computer peripheral information database for a plurality of peripherals operably connected to a network for sharing between a plurality of users provides a valuable tool for network management and administration. A preferred embodiment of the method is for use with networked printers. Configuration data for the printers is input by at least one user, and printer usage data is obtained by repeated queries over the network to the printers. The information database will contain printer duty cycle and cost data for each of the printers.

Abstract: A port monitor is adapted to obtain pre-print and post-print information for each print job handled, to correlate that information and to store it for later transfer to a management server. Upon receiving a print job, the port monitor combines a unique job identifier to the print job, and sends the combination to a printer. The port monitor captures selected pre-print information related to the print job from the peripheral server. The port monitor may poll the printer to learn of the completion of the print job. Upon completion of the print job, the port monitor obtains post-print information from the printer. The port monitor correlates pre-print information and post-print information having like unique job identifiers. The correlated information is transferred to a storage module. Upon realization of a threshold, a data transfer module sends the print information to a report manager on a management server.