System and method for increasing page yield of a replaceable toner cartridge

An intelligent Print Device monitoring & manipulation method provided on a host computer that continually tracks in the connected/accessible print devices parameters like toner or ink cartridge/container along with identities & toner levels. As & when certain device statuses change, the invention will accordingly & progressively alter the density/resolution and such allied print device setting to achieve higher page yield from the available toner/ink present in cartridge. The alteration activity can be initiated automatically on-site &/or manually from remote location, when it is added as part of system platform that bridges client sites having print devices and the host computer to external service providers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The instant application is a national phase of PCT International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/IB2018/056153 Filed 16 Aug. 2018, and claims priority to Indian Patent Application Serial No. 201741029261 filed Aug. 18, 2017, the entire specifications of both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to increasing page yield of a replaceable toner cartridge used electrographic printers including laser based printers, multifunction devices or similar printed image forming apparatus. In printers toner, ink and other printing materials are contained in removable cartridges that may be replaced periodically, for example when the printing material is fully consumed.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

A laser based printer having a hopper containing a limited fixed quantity of toner, prints by transferring toner on to a printing medium or sheet by using an electrographic process. Specifically, the printer charges the surface of a photoconductive element with a charger, electrostatically forms a latent image on the charged surface of the photoconductive element with an exposing unit, develops the latent image with a toner, transfers the toner to a sheet with an image transfer unit, and then fixes the toner on the sheet with a fusing unit. The number of pages printed is written on to a memory carried on the cartridge.

The problem with the current method of printing, the printing process is constant for the duration of printing, until changed otherwise. In the current process of printing an amount of toner is gathered in waste chamber of cartridge and the factory set limits make printer display low toner messages even before the toner is almost empty.

In light of the above, there is a proposed method of altering the process of printing such a way that additional pages can get printed from the same amount of toner carried by the cartridge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a method of continually altering the process of printing, reducing the amount of toner going to the waste chamber. Also curtailing the limits when the low messages begin allows the cartridge to continue printing till the toner is actually almost empty. Thus with this method additional pages can get printed from the same amount of toner carried by the cartridge, whereby giving a page yield beyond the declared amount. By getting additional page, the amount of cartridges used gets reduced thereby benefiting economy and the amount of e-wasted generated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples disclosed herein aimed at increasing the page count capable of being printed by a printer cartridge carrying a set amount of toner, involve adjusting print settings based on number of pages printed combining the amount of toner available in the printer cartridge along with data stored and written on to a memory chip that is a component on the printer cartridge. An example a page yield enhancement process is run monitoring and determine a variety of parameters including number of pages being printed, cartridge toner levels, the set image density and dot resolution of the printer and then accordingly continually change/adjust the settings of the printer or a plurality of printers in order to increase the amount of pages that can be printed from an installed cartridge till the end of the cartridge life gauged from data retrieved from the cartridge memory and optimal exhaustion of toner.

The above objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings in which:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1is a schematic diagram of an example printing system100that may be implemented in accordance with an aspect of this disclosure. The example printing system100includes a host device110and a printer120that carries a User Interface Panel127capable of presenting messages, The example host device110includes an example printer monitor112that runs as a service in the host device is constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, Examples disclosed herein involve the printer monitor112monitoring printed media of the printer120and adjusting print settings of the printer120based on number of pages printed and amount of toner present in Cartridge124having a memory chip126.

The host device110in the illustrated example ofFIG. 1may be any computing device, such as a personal computer (e.g., a laptop computer, desktop computer, etc.) a mobile device (e.g., a tablet computer, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.), a server, etc., A user may access the printer120via the host device110to print media (e.g., images, documents, etc.) onto substrates (e.g., paper, cardboard, card stock, plastic, etc.). For example, the user may create the media to be printed by the printer120using applications or programs stored or executed by the host device110using any suitable technique. The host device110may be communicatively coupled with the printer120a plurality of printers via a direct communication link (e.g., a wired or wireless communication link) or an indirect communication link (e.g., via a communication link involving a network or other device), (e.g., seeFIG. 3).

The example printer120includes a printer controller122and a print cartridge124. The example printer controller122controls mechanisms (e.g. cartridges, toners, rollers, etc.) of the printer120to print media or images onto a substrate. The printer controller122may have various settings to control the application of toner, ink or other substance to the substrate. For example, settings may include speed settings, margin settings, etc. along with image quality settings (e.g., image density, resolution, etc.). For example, the printer controller122may continually receive monitoring and image forming process altering instructions that are coded in114using appropriate printer settings commands in languages that include and not limited to pml, pjl, snmp, html, pcl, ps etc., of the printer monitor112to adjust settings of the image density and resolution or any such allied image forming process properties of printer120by increasing and/or subsequently decreasing the properties dependent on number of pages printed between two such altering instances based on the teachings of this disclosure. In the examples, the printer controller122may adjust toner replacement settings for the cartridge124of the printer120based on analyses performed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure.

FIG. 2is a block diagram of an example printer monitor112that may be used to implement the example Printer Monitor112ofFIG. 1. The example printer monitor112ofFIG. 2includes a Printer Parser210, a settings register220, a Yield regulator230, and a printer interface240. The Printer Parser210, the settings register220, the Yield regulator230, and the printer interface240may communicate with one another.

In The example solution includes a Printer Parser210ofFIG. 2identifies printers and then reads the current printer settings that include the page counts of the printer, the cartridge levels with usage details gathered from the cartridge memory chip126, the density setting, resolution settings along with all relevant details needed to perform activities described in this present invention. The collected details are recorded in the Settings Register220as a reference points that become the basis for quantum of altering the printer image forming process settings to achieve the maximum possible page yield from the cartridge before it needs to be replaced.

The yield regulator230is the main component of the printer monitor112that is responsible to gauge settings and then accordingly keep changing the settings of the printer be it the density and/or resolution and any allied image forming process settings.

The example Yield Regulator230that is master component of the printer monitor112installed in the host device110that carries the processor platform500first only records the details of the printer page count, cartridge124usage details from its memory126with the density and resolution setting details of the printer120or the plurality of printers320that is recorded into settings register220. This repository of data prior to beginning the process forms the basis for the measurement process of altering the printer image forming process settings to maximize the page yield of cartridge124.

The printer monitor112installed in the host device110that carries the processor platform500initially only records settings of printer120and values of pages printed from cartridge or the plurality of printers320.

When a new cartridge124is installed in the printer, the printer parser210reads the memory chip126of the cartridge124and records this into settings register220along with the other details of page count, density, resolution and allied setting details, that become the default settings.

The example Yield Regulator230that is in the Printer monitor112gauges from the settings register220that the cartridge124is new by reading the new serial number that is present in the memory chip and is having full toner capacity. It now begins the process of tracking and altering the image forming process settings of the printer120. The yield regulator230sends instructions using appropriate printer settings commands to printer controller122through the printer interface240to reduce toner density setting of the printer120from default setting to a much lower value with/without changing the print resolution setting. The printer parser210records this change and writes this into settings register220by over writing previous values.

The printer120prints the jobs given to it by user. The Printer parser210reads and records the new page count of printer120and the memory126of cartridge124that will keep getting updated with counts of pages printed from the installed cartridge.

The yield regulator230check these details and when the counts increase by a set number of pages sends instructions using appropriate printer settings commands to printer controller122to increase the toner density setting of the printer120from the previous set lower value to a much higher value with/without changing the print resolution setting to a corresponding device settable higher or lower value. The need for changing the toner density setting in conjunction of changing resolution is to see that there is not a too much perceptible change in the quality of the prints which will definitely vary. This variation will not be easy to detect by an untrained eye.

In the example the difference of page counts allowed for the yield regulator230to trigger the setting change instruction at lower density values 1 with/without changing the print resolution setting to a corresponding device settable higher or lower value is 3 pages. When 3 pages get printed and recorded, the yield regulator230will set the printer120to higher density value 3 with/without changing the print resolution setting to a corresponding device settable higher or lower value for 2 pages before triggering a change to lower value setting.

In example the cartridge memory126keeps records of the pages printed by the cartridge carrying the memory. When the page count memory counter reaches a variable low toner alert level mostly set to 10% to page yield of the cartridge model, the printer controller122will keep printing but will start to present toner low message on the printer120User Interface Panel127/mail so that the user orders a fresh cartridge ready to be replaced when this cartridge becomes empty. The consequence is the possibility of user replacing this cartridge even though there is still some toner/ink present that can give a significant amount of print outs.

The yield regulator230from the printer monitor112will send instructions using appropriate printers image forming process settings commands to printer controller122to move the variable low toner alert level to the least level so that the printer120will not present any low message on User Interface Panel127while at the same time sending an alert to the user via email sent to user mail id using network526or a message pop up on the output devices524stating that ‘there is still toner left in the cartridge for few prints only and keep a replacement cartridge ready for replacement and continue to print until the toner is exhausted or print quality drops beyond acceptability.

This process to increasing and decreasing the printer's image forming process settings is a continuous process that will reset and start over again after a new cartridge is installed in the printer. The printer monitor112will present the statistics of page yield of the first cartridge when the enhancement process was not initiated and henceforth the increased page yield of subsequently used cartridges as a report to the user.

There can be cases when this process of altering the image forming process settings of the printer120or one or all of the plurality of printers320needs to be capable of being stopped or restarted by user. This is achieved by through a user interface of the printer monitor112that has the start and stop button visible on output device524of the host device110and on the host device310in case of plurality of printers320accessible by the user/third party service provider on the network330.

FIG. 3is a schematic diagram of an example printing system300that may be implemented in accordance with an aspect of this disclosure, The example printing system300ofFIG. 3includes a host device310, a plurality of printers320, and a network330. The example network330may be any type of network, including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), Wi-Fi network the internet, etc., The example host device310includes a printer monitor112, which may be implemented in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure.

Each of the plurality of printers320in the illustrated example ofFIG. 3may be a same printer model or similar printer model, such as a same model or similar model of the printer120ofFIG. 1. Although the plurality of printers320in the illustrated example ofFIG. 3includes three printers, any number of printers may be included in the plurality of printers320. Accordingly, each of the plurality of printers320may include a printer controller (e.g., the printer controller122) and a print cartridge (e.g., the print cartridge124) that may communicate with the printer monitor112ofFIG. 3. The printer monitor112in the host device310will be constantly monitor plurality of printers320and the printer's image forming process settings of each of the plurality of printers320be altered continually via the network330as implemented in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure.

The process of altering the printer settings occurring continually actuated by the printer monitor112as described in this invention has to be done continually during the printing activity to get the enhanced yield. If the printer's image forming process settings are set and kept lower levels indefinitely, then the printer cartridge124can experience a midlife failure as its components will get worn out faster than the toner getting exhausted.

In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3, the printer monitor112may use information corresponding to device usage information got from the plurality of printers320in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. For example, print controllers on the plurality of printers may send printer information (e.g., cartridge use, toner availability, set resolution, density, etc.) along with printer page counts to the printer monitor112ofFIG. 3.

The printer monitor112may use the statistics of the information detected across the plurality of printers to determine whether adjustments or printer setting alterations for any of the plurality of printers320is needed. For example, a first printer of the plurality of printers320may begin to print media with a set printer information e.g., cartridge use, toner availability, set resolution, density, etc.) which will be recorded by the printer monitor112.

Based on information gathered from the first printer or any of the other printers of the plurality of printers320, the printer monitor112may run an page yield enhancement process by sending the monitoring and altering instructions114to the printer controller122to alter the print setting of the printer120or the plurality of printers320to enhance the page yield of cartridge124of the first printer or plurality of printers.

The process400ofFIG. 4begins with step410an initiation of the printer monitor112(e.g., upon start up, upon instructions from a user, upon startup of a device implementing the printer monitor112(e.g., the host device110) host device310when it is a node in a network, etc.). At block410, the printer parser210monitor discovers all connected print devices including plurality of printer320and records the page counts and relevant cartridge details into settings register220stored to be presented to user.

In the process411Whenever a cartridge124is replaced in the printer120or plurality of printer320the printer monitor112will record details again as in410. The example Yield Regulator230that is master component of the printer monitor112installed in the host device110that carries the processor platform500first only records the details of the printer page count, cartridge124usage details from its memory126with the density and resolution setting details of the printer120or the plurality printers320that is recorded into settings register220.

The process412The yield regulator230of the printer monitor112will begin to execute altering the printer's image forming process settings of printer120or plurality of printers320by sending instructions to printer controller122prior to and during execution of print jobs. The printer parser210will also be working constantly updating the yield regulator230and setting register220. The printer monitor112will calculate and present the statistics of page yield of the first cartridge when, the enhancement process was not initiated and henceforth the increased page yield of subsequently used cartridges as a report to the user.

In413, at toner exhaustion whenever the cartridge124is replaced, the printer monitor112will read the enhancement results from the settings register220and present them to user on output device524showing the results of page yields of cartridge collected at process410before process412was started and compared with results after process412was started.

In example414, the process starting from411till413will be initialized every single time a cartridge124is replaced and the event is recorded by printer monitor112.

The process415the process of starting and stopping the yield regulator230of the printer monitor112of printer120or the plurality of printer320is presented to user through output device524of the host device110and on the host device310in case of plurality of printers320accessible by the user/third party service provider oil the network330. Based on statistics information gathered from the first printer or any of the other printers of the plurality of printers320, the printer monitor112may run a page yield enhancement process by sending the monitoring and altering instructions114to the printer controller122to alter the print setting of the printer120or the plurality of printers320to enhance the page yield of cartridge124of the first printer or plurality of printers.

FIG. 5is a block diagram of an example processor platform500capable of executing the instructions to implement the printer monitor112ofFIG. 2, The example processor platform500may be or may be included in any type of apparatus, such as a server, a personal computer, a mobile device {e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet, etc.), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a printer with sufficient memory, or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform500of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5includes a processor512. The processor512is a hardware that can be implemented by at least one integrated circuit, logic circuit, microprocessor or controller with a main memory including a volatile memory514and a non-volatile memory516via a bus518.

The processor platform500of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit520, The interface circuit520may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), Wi-Fi or a peripheral component interconnect (PCS) express interface.

In the illustrated example, at least one input device522is connected to the interface circuit520. The input device(s)522permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor512. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touch screen, a track-pad, a trackball, iso-point or a voice recognition system.

At least one output device524is also connected to the interface circuit520of the illustrated example. The output device(s)524can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touch screen, a tactile output device, a Sight emitting diode (LED), a printer or speakers). The interface circuit520of the illustrated example, thus, may include a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The processor platform500of the illustrated example also includes at least one mass storage device528for storing executable instructions (e.g., software) or data. Examples of such mass storage device(s)528include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The coded instructions532ofFIG. 4may be stored in the mass storage device528, installed in the local memory513, in the volatile memory514, in the non-volatile memory516, or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a Pen Drive, CD or DVD.