Hi Harry,
UP3I is a standard to connect independent preprinter, printer and
postprocessing devices together to a printline like this:
+-------+
| |
| Host |
| |
+---+---+
|
|
| e.g. Ethernet LAN
|
|
+-------+ +---+---+ +-------+
| | | | | |
| pre a | ... |Printer| ... | post c| ....
| | | | | |
+---+---+ +---+---+ +---+---+
| | |
| | |
| | |
+-------...-------+------...--------+--------...
|
| 1394
|
+---+---+
| |
| UP3i |
|manager|
| |
+---+---+
|
|
| LAN
|
|
+---+---+
| |
| SNMP |
|manager|
| |
+---+---+
The commands between the preprinter, printer and postprocessing devices are
sent as standardized UP3I frames over a firewire cable. Every device has a
unique address in the system, called paper sequence id. It is also possible
to send SNMP requests packed into UP3I frames from the up3i manager to the
up3i devices and back. The up3i manager could also have a LAN interface.
Now we want to implement printer and finisher mib support into the print
line to allow an external SNMP manger to monitor the print line.
In the moment we have two ideas how we can do that:
1.) Stand alone devices
Every preprinter, printer and postprocessing device acts as a discrete
device in the host resources mib of the up3i manager. The hrDeviceIndex
could be the same as the paper sequence id. Every device itselfs implents
the host resources-, printer- and finisher mib, independant from the rest
of the print line. The snmp requests to the up3i manager are directly
handed over to the up3i devices by packing them into up3i snmp frames.
The problem with this solution is:
We don't know if it is allowed (respectively meaningful) to have a print
line in which every device has its own hrDeviceIndex. It seems that the
combination printer/finishing mib only allows one hrDeviceIndex per line
and several finDeviceIndex(es) for every device. Is it meaningful
regarding a SNMP Printer Manager to use several hrDeviceIndex instances
in a print line?
2.) One hrDeviceIndex per print line
We have one hrDeviceIndex for the printLine, the up3i device are separated
by their finDeviceIndex. The finDeviceIndex could be the same as the paper
sequence id.
The problems now are:
The finSupply/finSupplyMediaInput tables are not indexed by the
finDeviceIndex,
they have a separate finSupplyIndex/finSupplyMediaInputIndex. An agreement
is
needed which device can use which finSupplyIndex/finSupplyMediaInputIndex.
Some information about the devices lies in the printer mib, e.g. parts of
the
input output and alert table. The finisher devices also have to know e.g.
under
which indexes their own input tables reside in the printer mib.
Therefore the printer and the finisher devices have to get this information,
which is not the case today, or the up3i manager has to merge all tables of
every device together in tables for the whole print line, which could be a
bold venture.
What do you think is the best way for us to implement printer/finisher mib
in
the print line?
Best regards,
Andreas Hirn
_____________________________________
Andreas Hirn OPS TEC
Software Development
Océ Printing Systems GmbH
Siemensallee 2
85586 Poing, Germany
Direct Dial +49-8121-72 4029
Direct Fax +49-8121-72 31 73
mailto: Andreas.Hirn at ops.de
www.oce.com
_____________________________________