Printer Discovery Ranking by Supply Levels for Reliable Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users in large enterprises often select networked printers that are low on supplies, leading to interrupted printing due to insufficient ink, paper, or other resources, as existing discovery protocols do not prioritize printers based on their supply levels.
Innovation Solution
A network management system that includes a management server generating wireless configurations for access points, which rank printers based on supply levels and provide these ranks to users during discovery, ensuring that printers with sufficient supplies are prioritized in the selection process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users select printers based on proximity or default discovery protocols, then printer selection is simple and fast, but printing may be interrupted due to insufficient supplies
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by obtaining printer attributes (supply levels, status) before the user makes a selection. The access point collects and stores printer information in advance, so when a user initiates a print job, the printer list is already pre-filtered and pre-ranked based on supply levels, eliminating the need for users to manually check supply status and ensuring reliable printer selection without printing interruptions
Solution Approach 2:
The access point acts as an intermediary between the user and the networked printers. It receives printer attributes from printers, processes this information by ranking printers based on supply levels, and presents the ranked list to users. This intermediary function shields users from the complexity of directly querying and evaluating multiple printer attributes, while ensuring reliable printer selection through automated ranking
2Loss of information
If discovery protocols provide detailed information about all printers, then users have complete information for selection, but the information overload makes selection difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the most critical attribute for printer selection - supply level - from the complete set of printer attributes. By focusing on supply levels as the primary ranking criterion, the system presents users with a simplified view that highlights the most important information (printers with sufficient supplies) without overwhelming them with all available printer details, thus maintaining information completeness while improving selection ease
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different levels of information presentation to different parts of the printer list. Printers with sufficient supplies are presented with prominent ranking and positive indication, while printers with low supplies are either ranked lower or excluded from the default view. This local quality approach ensures users receive tailored information based on their likely needs, making selection easier while preserving access to complete information when required
Data Source
AI summary
Printers are ranked and the printer ranks are provided to a user during printer discovery. A wireless configuration at an access point may include ranks for the printers along with access policies for the printers. The access policies are used to provide a list of available printers to a user. The ranks of the available printers are also provided to the user. A list of available printers may be displayed to the user in descending order of the printer ranks.