Operator replaceable component life tracking system
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A system with operator enabled maintenance comprising:
- at least one computational element within said system;
a plurality of operator replaceable component (ORC) devices within said system, each of said ORC devices having an expected life span;
a use mechanism coupled to each said computational element and said ORC devices, said use mechanism tracking use of at least one of said ORC devices using a predetermined parameter;
a comparison mechanism that compares use of said ORC devices to said expected life span; and
an operator alert mechanism responsive to said comparison mechanism to provide said operator alert when the result of said comparison satisfies a predetermined parameter representing at least one of said expected life spans where said expected life span for a single of said ORC devices is the shortest expected life span.
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Abstract
Operator Replaceable Component (ORC) devices are employed; that enable an operator that is not a skilled field engineer or service technician, to perform maintenance on a digital printer, resulting in significantly higher uptime for the press. The ORC devices have an expected life span and the system can track the remaining life for each of the ORC devices and prompts the operator when they should be replaced. Preferably, the recent use of the digital printer is compared against the remaining life of the ORC device with the shortest remaining life. The recent use of the digital printer is used to decrement the remaining life of the ORC devices until an ORC device needs replacement. The operator is then notified of the need to replace the ORC device that has expired.
43 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system with operator enabled maintenance comprising:
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at least one computational element within said system;
a plurality of operator replaceable component (ORC) devices within said system, each of said ORC devices having an expected life span;
a use mechanism coupled to each said computational element and said ORC devices, said use mechanism tracking use of at least one of said ORC devices using a predetermined parameter;
a comparison mechanism that compares use of said ORC devices to said expected life span; and
an operator alert mechanism responsive to said comparison mechanism to provide said operator alert when the result of said comparison satisfies a predetermined parameter representing at least one of said expected life spans where said expected life span for a single of said ORC devices is the shortest expected life span. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for providing operator maintenance on a system having a plurality of operator replaceable component devices, comprising:
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providing the expected life span of each of the operator replaceable component devices;
determining a remaining life span for the operator replaceable component device having the shortest expected life span;
comparing said remaining life span with a predetermined threshold;
responding to a result of the comparing step indicating that said predetermined threshold has been exceeded; and
notifying the operator on a periodic basis that said predetermined threshold has been exceeded. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification