Print Job Redirection via NFC Tags and Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face frustration and customer dissatisfaction due to failed print jobs in remote image forming devices, as conventional mechanisms fail to effectively redirect print jobs from failed devices to alternate capable devices, especially in complex office environments where image forming systems are centrally located but not proximal to user workstations.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing mobile devices and near field communication (NFC) tags to transfer print jobs from a failed image forming device to an alternate device, allowing users to read device information and capabilities, ensuring compatibility and facilitating direct transfer without needing access to the print queue of the original device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If image forming devices are centrally located in a document processing center, then device capability and sophistication are improved, but user accessibility and convenience deteriorate due to remote placement from user workstations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces mobile devices as intermediaries between users and centrally located image forming devices. Users can initiate print jobs from their workstations, and the system automatically redirects failed jobs to alternative devices, eliminating the need for users to physically access remote devices while maintaining sophisticated printing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the image forming device communicates job status back to the user's mobile device. When a print job fails, the system automatically detects the failure, notifies the user, and enables redirection to an alternative device, creating a closed-loop system that maintains user convenience despite centralized device placement.
2Reliability
If conventional print job redirection mechanisms are used, then some failover capability is provided, but user frustration increases due to inability to redirect jobs from mobile devices and lack of real-time job status information
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to self-service print job redirection by presenting a list of available alternative image forming devices on their mobile device. Users can independently select and redirect failed print jobs to suitable alternative devices without requiring administrator intervention or complex procedures, thereby maintaining reliability while significantly improving convenience.
3Productivity
If users must return to their workstation to redirect failed print jobs, then job control is maintained, but time loss increases due to repeated travel between workstation and image forming device
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions print job management from a physical dimension (users must physically travel to devices) to a digital dimension (all management occurs through mobile device interfaces). Users can initiate, monitor, and redirect print jobs entirely through their mobile devices, maintaining full job control while eliminating the need to physically travel between locations, thereby significantly reducing time loss.
4Loss of information
If print jobs are stuck in the print queue of a failed device, then job status is preserved, but system efficiency deteriorates due to blocking of print queue resources
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically manages print job locations rather than statically holding them in the original device's queue. When a device fails, the system automatically or user-directed moves the print job to an alternative device's queue, preserving job status and information while releasing the blocked resources at the failed device, thereby maintaining both information integrity and system efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables convenient and efficient redirection of print jobs, reducing user inconvenience and ensuring that print jobs are completed on compatible devices, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and streamlining print operations in modern office environments.
Implementation Method 1
using mobile devices and near field communication (NFC) tags to transfer print jobs
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method are provided for implementing a streamlined scheme for transferring print jobs directly from the print queue of one image forming device to the print queue of another image forming device using mobile devices and tags, such as near field communication (NFC) tags, affixed to image forming devices. A user manipulated mobile device is employed to read a readable tag affixed to or nearby a particular image forming device as a source device in which a print job is stuck, the mobile device running a print-job transfer application. The user then walks up to a different (or destination) image forming device and “touch” its tag, and confirm, for example, when prompted, to transfer the “stuck” print job from the source to the destination image forming system or device.