Methods and systems for operating a printer apparatus

• US 10,596,827 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2018
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Datamax-O'Neil Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Goetz, Slawek
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Huan H
• Application Number:
  US15/947,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20190308419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04513 for increasing lifetime
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04515 preventing overheating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04536 using history data
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/0458 controlling heads based on heating elements forming bubbles
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/3555 Historical control

Abstract

Various embodiments disclose a method for operating a printer apparatus. The method comprising monitoring a utilization rate of each heating element in a first set of heating elements defined by a print head arrangement. Further, the method comprises generating a utilization dataset based upon monitoring of the utilization rate of each heating element in the first set of heating elements print head arrangement. Furthermore, the method includes analyzing the utilization dataset to identify one or more overutilized heating elements of the first set of heating elements. Additionally, the method includes identifying a second set of heating elements defined by the print head arrangement. The second set of heating elements comprises a portion of the first set of heating elements exclusive of the one or more overutilized heating elements. The method further includes processing a print job. The processed print job utilized the second set of heating elements during printing.

Claims

1. A method for operating a printer apparatus, the method comprising:

monitoring, by a monitoring unit, a utilization rate of each heating element in a first set of heating elements defined by a print head arrangement;

generating, by the monitoring unit, a utilization dataset based upon monitoring of the utilization rate of each heating element in the first set of heating elements;

analyzing, by a heating element identification unit, the utilization dataset to identify one or more overutilized heating elements of the first set of heating elements;

and

modifying, by a controller, one or more characteristics of data included in a print job causing a decrease in utilization of the identified one or more overutilized heating elements.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring of the utilization rate of each heating element of the first set of heating elements further comprises determining, by the monitoring unit, an energization count for each heating element, wherein the energization count comprises the number of times each heating element is energized during printing of one or more print jobs.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein analyzing the utilization dataset further comprises comparing, by the heating element identification unit, the energization count of each heating element of the first set of heating elements with a predetermined threshold energization count.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined threshold energization count defines an upper limit of the energization count, wherein if the energization count associated with a heating element of the first set of heating elements exceeds the predetermined threshold energization count, the heating element is determined to be overutilized.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein monitoring the utilization rate of each heating element of the first set of heating elements further comprises determining, by the heating element identification unit, an energization duration of each heating element, wherein the energization duration comprises the time period each heating element is energized during printing of one or more print jobs.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein analyzing the utilization dataset further comprises comparing, by the heating element identification unit, the energization duration of each heating element of the first set of heating elements with a predetermined threshold energization duration.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined threshold energization duration defines an upper limit of the energization duration, wherein if the energization count associated with a heating element exceeds the predetermined threshold energization duration, the heating element is determined to be overutilized.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing the utilization dataset further comprises determining, by the heating element identification unit, a likelihood to fail for each heating element of the first set of heating elements based on an energization count and an energization duration, associated with each heating element in the first set of heating elements.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein analyzing the utilization dataset further comprises comparing, by the heating element identification unit, the likelihood to fail for each heating element of the first set of heating elements with a predetermined failure threshold.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein modifying the one or more characteristics of data in the print job further comprises modifying, by a print job modification unit, one or more of a size of a print job data, a position of the print job data, or a font type of the print job data, wherein printing the modified print job utilizes a second set of heating elements, and wherein the second set of heating elements comprises a portion of the first set of heating elements exclusive of the one or more overutilized heating elements.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein modifying the one or more characteristics of data in the print job further comprises modifying, by a print job modification unit, the print job such that printing the modified print job utilizes one or more heating elements of a second set of heating elements and one or more heating elements of the one or more overutilized heating elements, wherein the second set of heating elements comprises a portion of the first set of heating elements exclusive of the one or more overutilized heating elements.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining, by the heating element identification unit, a remaining life for each heating element of the first set of heating elements based on at least one of an energization count or an energization duration of the heating element.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising generating, by a notification unit, a notification identifying the remaining life for one or more of the heating elements.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating, by a notification unit, a notification in response to identification of the one or more overutilized heating elements.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising generating, by a print job modification unit, one or more print job recommendations for display to a user, wherein a print job recommendation of the one or more print job recommendations comprises the processed print job that utilizes a second set of heating elements, wherein the second set of heating elements comprises a portion of the first set of heating elements exclusive of the one or more overutilized heating elements.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising receiving, by a notification unit, a user input selecting the print job recommendation.

17. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instruction stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:

monitoring a utilization rate of each heating element in a first set of heating elements defined by a print head arrangement;

generating a utilization dataset based upon monitoring of the utilization rate of each heating element in the first set of heating elements;

analyzing the utilization dataset to identify one or more overutilized heating elements of the first set of heating elements;

and

modifying one or more characteristics of data included in a print job causing a decrease in utilization of the identified one or more overutilized heating elements.