Patent ID: 7948644

Claim:
A system for automatically determining the cost to complete a job comprising: a.) a computer processor that determines a future toner usage cost coefficient (TCC) based on historical toner consumption comprising: i) determining a volume-weighted toner cost constant per job mass value (gimK) determined by dividing a total actual toner weight used over a desired time period by a total calculated toner mass usage value (jtcTotal) using historical toner consumption stored values; ii) determining the toner cost coefficient (TCC) by multiplying the volume-weighted toner cost constant per job mass value (gimK) by a historical toner cost per weight stored value from historical stored values; and iii) determining the future toner cost for the job by multiplying the TCC by a toner mass consumption (JTU) value such that total toner cost=[JTU*TCC]; b.) storage adapted to store said TCC so that the stored TCC can be used to determine a future press usage cost based on historical stored values of TCC; and c.) at least one display on which the toner consumption and a total estimated future cost can be presented.