Method and apparatus for determining toner level in electrophotographic print engines
First Claim
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1. 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.
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Abstract
The toner in the toner cartridge is determined by taking each of the rasterized images output by the RIP and evaluating the pixel levels over the surface thereof. The average value is determined as a percentage of the maximum toner that can be applied to the page. This is then subtracted from a toner value and a remaining toner level determined. Further, all pages of the rasterized document can be evaluated to predetermine the toner level after printing. If this falls below a predetermined minimum, printing is inhibited for that document.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for determining toner usage by a printing device for a document of at least one page, the method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for determining toner usage by a printing device for a multi-color document of at least one page, having different color planes, the method comprising for each plane:
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accumulating toner values of pixels that are ON in the at least one page in the given plane, which toner values have a plurality of different values between completely OFF and completely ON; comparing the accumulated toner values of the pixels that are ON to a predetermined toner usage of toner associated with the given plane for a defined number of pixels that are ON in a reference page of the given plane defined for the printing device wherein the toner usage for the defined number of pixels on the reference page of the given plane is determined by; generating a page having the defined number of pixels contained thereon as a test page for each color plane, initiating printing of the test page with a toner cartridge for each plane of a known toner level for that plane, 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 for that plane, 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 for each plane; and calculating the amount of toner for the given plane, utilized by the at least one page of the given plane as a proportion of that used by the reference page for the given plane. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for determining toner usage by a printing device for a multi-page document, the method comprising:
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accumulating toner values of pixels that are ON in the multi-page document, which toner values have a plurality of different values between completely OFF and completely ON; comparing the accumulated toner values of the 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 entire document as a proportion of that used by the reference page. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for determining toner usage by a printing device for a rasterized document of at least one page, the method comprising:
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fetching the rasterized document; accumulating the values of pixels that are ON in the at least one page, each ON pixel having a non-zero value less than a maximum value; comparing the accumulated values to a predetermined toner usage for a defined number of the 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. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for determining toner usage for a document of at least one page prior to printing the page, the method comprising:
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determining the number of pixels that are ON in the at least one page; comparing the number 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 a 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. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification