Peripheral devices, systems for providing job operations for a plurality of host devices, and peripheral device monitoring methods

A peripheral device comprising:

• communication means for coupling with a plurality of different host devices at a plurality of different moments in time, to receive a plurality of different identifiers of the respective host devices, and to receive a plurality of job requests, wherein the communication means further comprises means for coupling with a monitoring device;
• job operator means for performing a plurality of job operations with respect to the host devices responsive to the job requests;
• and
• processing means for monitoring the job operator means, for formulating a plurality of messages relative to the performing of the job operations, for associating the identifiers with the respective messages corresponding to the respective host devices, and for controlling the communication means to communicate the identifiers and the messages to the monitoring device for preparation of a plurality of reports to indicate usage information associated with the performing the job operations and communication of the reports to a plurality of entities associated with respective ones of the host devices.

A peripheral device monitoring method comprising:

• interfacing a plurality of different host devices with a peripheral device at a plurality of different moments in time;
• receiving, by the peripheral device, a plurality of job requests from the host devices;
• receiving, by the peripheral device, a plurality of identifiers from the host devices;
• performing, by the peripheral device, a plurality of job operations in response to the job requests;
• and
• communicating, by the peripheral device, a plurality of messages regarding the job operations and the identifiers to a monitoring device.