PMP Mail Archive: PMP> RE: FIN> finisher mib integration

PMP> RE: FIN> finisher mib integration into up3i

From: McDonald, Ira (imcdonald@sharplabs.com)
Date: Thu Feb 24 2005 - 11:32:22 EST

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    Hi Andreas,

    Thanks for your interesting question below.

    I'm copying this reply to the Printer MIB Project (PMP)
    mailing list. The Finisher MIB mailing list remains
    functional, but has very few subscribers. All future
    MIB work in the IEEE/ISTO PWG is being coordinated
    through the PMP list.

    Please note that the 'finSupplyTable' has a non-index
    informational element 'finSupplyDeviceIndex' defined as:

            "The value of finDeviceIndex corresponding to the finishing
            device subunit with which this finisher supply is associated.
            The value zero indicates the associated finishing device is
            Unknown."

    And the 'finSupplyMediaInputTable' has a similar
    informational element 'finSupplyMediaInputDeviceIndex'.

    Those elements are NOT indices of their tables (and allowed
    to take the value of zero), in case they are associated
    with the overall finisher and not a specific finishing device.

    It's certainly allowed to implement more than other printer
    in 'hrDeviceTable' (and thus more than one complete print
    line for alerts, trays, etc.). I think that's probably the
    best way to separate the alerts/trays for individual finishers.

    Note: We've tried to accomodate UP3I requests for counters
    in our Imaging Device Counters spec, Counter Schema, and
    Counter MIB work in the PWG WIMS working group. Comments
    are very welcome.

        ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/wd/wd-wimscount10-20050120.pdf

        ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/wd/wd-wimscountmib10-20050205.htm
        - full text - PWG boilerplate, introduction, model, references

        ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/wd/wd-wimscountmib10-20050205.mib
        - ASN.1 MIB source only

    Note that the Finisher subunit (the elements defined in the
    Finisher MIB) has not yet been added to our Subunits schema.

        ftp://ftp.pwg.org/pub/pwg/wims/schemas/subunits-20041212.xsd

    Cheers,
    - Ira (co-editor of Printer MIB v2 and Finisher MIB)

    Ira McDonald (Musician / Software Architect)
    Blue Roof Music / High North Inc
    PO Box 221 Grand Marais, MI 49839
    phone: +1-906-494-2434
    email: imcdonald@sharplabs.com

    -----Original Message-----
    From: fin-owner@pwg.org [mailto:fin-owner@pwg.org]On Behalf Of Hirn,
    Andreas
    Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:42 AM
    To: 'harryl@us.ibm.com'
    Cc: 'fin@pwg.org'; 'rbergma@hitachi-hkis.com'; technic@up3i.org
    Subject: FIN> finisher mib integration into up3i

    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@ops.de
    www.oce.com
    _____________________________________



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