Project Konica minolta embedded app

About This Brew

As you’re reading this, we’re well underway with developing the PaperCut Hive embedded app for Konica Minolta MFPs. The app is going to bring most of PaperCut Hive’s cloud print management features right onto the Konica Minolta MFP’s touch panel, including:

card-based authentication
user self-sign up
secure print release and Find-Me printing
copy, scan, and fax tracking
setup and batch deployment
…plus more in Phase II, like one-click scanning

This percolator project is not just about “porting the functionality from PaperCut MF”. It’s about making sure the app works best in a cloud world (that is, security first, performs well over high-latency connections, etc.).

Oh, and while we’re at it, we’re rethinking UX/UI to make it even better.

About the brewers (aka the Product Engineering Team)

The Konica Minolta app is developed by one of the best teams in PaperCut (we’re writing this of course!) because it’s right at the intersection of IoT, Cloud, Microservices, and Single-Page HTML apps. Cool huh?

Atiq (the beard) is the most serious. Julian (the blue jumper) makes sure meetings are on time. According to Joe (the white t-shirt) Karen (The KM C224e standing behind us), who he used to live with for 4 months, is the funniest. We all like coffee.

What we`ve been up to so far?

See the timeline below. We'll update this from time to time so you can follow our progress.

16 APRIL 2021

Log in with Access Code

Don`t have the contactless card on you? Use the Konica Minolta multifunctional printers touch panel to quickly and securely release prints.

18 APRIL 2021

In-touchscreen responsible reminders

Let us do the nudging for you. We’ll keep an eye out for the obvious and help you save even more waste with customizable pop-up messages that encourage users to:

Convert color to black & white
Print 2-sided

20 APRIL 2021

Card Association

This thing’s really working!

10 MARCH 2022

Integrated scanning

A rich set of scanning capabilities has arrived for Konica Minolta full embedded allowing admins to create Quick Scans such as:

Scan to cloud destinations: Box , Dropbox , Evernote , Google Drive , Microsoft OneDrive , pCloud , Microsoft Sharepoint
Scan to Email
Metadata capture fields

Stay tuned for more scanning features on KM Hive App.

STAY TUNED

We’re not done here

We’ll be sharing more videos as we progress with brewing the PaperCut Hive app for Konica Minolta MFPs.

Best of all, you are more than welcome to try it out exclusively, while it’s still in the oven, and spice it up with some ideas

I'm happy to help

FAQs

You've probably got a couple of questions on your mind right about now. We've done our best to answer the most common ones right here.

I currently use PaperCut MF. Can I run PaperCut Hive at the same time?

Yes. But you need to ensure at least one of your Konica Minolta devices can be switched over to PaperCut Hive to help with testing. An MFD can't run PaperCut MF and PaperCut Hive at the same time. Maybe use the IT department's device?

What about if my Konica Minolta MFD is old or doesn't support Open API (embedded software)?

You can still use PaperCut Hive but you might need to use your mobile phone for print release. However, you won’t be able to run the new Embedded software, so this percolating project may not be for you at the time. When you're considering a device upgrade, make sure your future Konica Minolta devices support OpenAPI, embedded software, and i-Option. Your reseller should be able to check compatibility with PaperCut Hive.

What card readers do you support?

The PaperCut Hive embedded app for Konica Minolta is fully compatible with all major card technologies, such as contactless proximity cards (HID, MIFARE, AU-201, IC Card Reader, USB, etc.). It's the same as PaperCut MF in this regard.

Do I need a dedicated print server for this?

PaperCut Hive is a cloud-native product, and a dedicated Windows print server is not required (you can run this as a true serverless printing environment, and your documents remain local for maximum privacy and security). For set-up and security-related operations such as unlocking an MFP, local access is required. This local access is facilitated using PaperCut Hive’s Edge Mesh technology.

Can I set up the Konica Minolta App myself?

Who is best to set it up is ideally discussed between you and your Konica Minolta printer provider. The process is relatively straightforward as long as the right options are enabled on the multifunctional printer.

Do I need other Konica Minolta software such as PageScope or Dispatcher Phoenix?

No, Page Scope and Dispatcher Phoenix are not required. The PaperCut Hive embedded app provides all the functionality for secure print release, tracking of copy, fax, and scan, etc. In later stages this percolator project will add the same scanning functionality you see in PaperCut MF such as scan to One Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft Sharepoint, and Google Drive.

I’ve only just seen this page. Are there any spots left?

We're limited in how many customers/resellers we can take on at the start and high-demand projects mean spots fill quickly. If you apply and our coffee cups are already full, you might miss out. All is not lost though! We'll definitely note your interest and when we're ready to release wider, we'll let you know. There’s also a chance that "we might need more droids along the way".

Is there anything else I can get involved with?

We’re always building new features and embedded apps for PaperCut Hive, so if you can’t join us on this particular journey, don’t worry – there are more to come. Keep an eye on the Percolator projects and if you can help us with any, please get in touch.

Konica Minolta PaperCut Hive App