Patent ID: 7116444

Claim:
A method for determining toner usage by a printing device for a document of at least one page, the method comprising: accumulating toner values of pixels that are ON in the at least one page, which toner values have a plurality of different values between completely OFF to completely ON; comparing the accumulated toner values of-pixels that are ON to a predetermined toner usage for a defined number of pixels that are ON in a reference page defined for the printing device wherein the toner usage for the defined number of pixels on the reference page is determined by: generating a page having the defined number of pixels contained thereon as a test page, initiating printing of the test page with a toner cartridge of a known toner level, terminating printing of the test page after the toner level in the toner cartridge has reached a known lower limit such that total toner utilized is known, and determining an average value of total toner utilized for the printing of the test page as a function of the pixels that are ON for the total toner utilized for the printing of the test page; and calculating the amount of toner utilized by the at least one page as a proportion of that used by the reference page.