Account log file

The account log files contain information about the executed jobs. This chapter describes the lifetime, name and the content of the account log file, both syntactically and semantically.

Account log file

For every finished print request an account record is created. A print request is considered finished when all printing or scanning activities are successfully finished or aborted. When a job is printed in parts, each part is logged as a separate record in the account log file. When a non-active request is deleted, partially finished copy sets of that request are not logged. When no requests are executed for one or more days, the account log files for these days only contain the heading record. The record is stored in an account log file on the PRISMAsync Print Server with file name and contents. The syntax of the account log files is described in the next sections.

When a request is active when a power failure or print server MRE (such as 11504) occurs, no account log record is created for that request. This can even occur when all sheets are delivered.

There is one active account log file. There can be multiple inactive account log files. The active account log file is the one to which the record for each request is added. The active account log file begins at 00:00 hours and is active for one day. After one day, one week or one month, the account log file becomes inactive and a new active file is created. A maximum of 99 inactive account log files is saved. When more then 99 inactive account log files are present, the oldest account log file will be deleted. If the PRISMAsync is not powered on during a day, the print server does not create an account log file for that day. When the serial number of the printer is at its factory default (i.e. 0), no account log file is created.

All account log files can be extracted multiple times from the PRISMAsync via the Settings Editor. The account log files can be found via an URL. The URL has the format: http://<printername>/accounting/<accountlogfile>. The account log files can be downloaded with the command: HTTP GET. This interface is intended for applications that process account log files automatically.

The following time stamps are included in the account log file for each print job is:

• Start time

  The start time is set when the first sheet of the job is sent to the printer.

  Any time required to handle one or more start contradictions are not included in the start time. When there is a start contradiction, the job is not considered to be active. A start contradiction can be: paper not present.

• Ready time

  The ready time is the time when the job is removed from the list of scheduled jobs.

• Active time

  The job is considered active between the time that a job starts processing and stops processing. For example, a job can stop processing due to "Out of paper". When the paper is refilled, the job starts processing again.

  The active time is the sum of all times that the job was processing. This way, only the time at which the job is actually being processed by the system is counted.

  A job is allowed to stop at either sheet or set boundary. When the job is stopped, the job can be removed and the account information can be collected.

• Idle time

  The idle time is the difference between the ready time and the start time, minus the active time.

Account logging

Account-information for jobs can be specified in the printer driver, automatic workflow and via the control panel.