Preemptive redirection in printing systems

• US 8,693,021 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2007
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Sampath, Meera, Spencer, Stan Alan, Minhas, Rajinderjeet Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Assistant Examiner(s): BECKLEY, JONATHAN R
• Application Number:
  US11/656,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20080174802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,632 Days
• Field of Search: 358/426, 358/426.09, 358 112- 114, 358/3.05, 714/100, 713/300, 713/340, 713/322
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/55 Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00021 Plural substantially independent image forming units in cooperation, e.g. for duplex, colour or high-speed simplex
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

Described herein is a printing system including a plurality of print processing modules which can selectively transfer print media there between during printing. The system further including a controller that can predict the impending unhealthy state of at least one module and redirect one of an unprocessed job and a partially processed job preemptively from an impending unhealthy module to selectively one of a healthy module and another unhealthy module, with suitable characteristics, to process unprocessed portions of the job.

Claims

1. A printing system, comprising

a plurality of print processing modules which selectively transfer print media therebetween during printing;

said print processing modules includes at least two marking engines for selective said printing;

wherein same said print media moves from one of the at least two marking engines selectively to another of the at least two marking engines;

a controller that predicts an impending unhealthy state of at least one module and redirects at least one of an unprocessed job or a partially processed job preemptively from an impending unhealthy module to selectively a healthy module and another unhealthy module, with suitable capabilities, to process unprocessed portions of the at least one of an unprocessed job or a partially processed job; and

,

wherein the controller determines when the capabilities of the at least one module will reach the predicted diminished capabilities of the at least one module, prior to reaching the predicted diminished capabilities of the at least one module.

2. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the controller uses capabilities of the at least one module to process a job until the at least one module is predicted to be unhealthy and then uses the at least one module to process jobs requiring only predicted diminished capabilities of the at least one module.

3. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the controller tracks and trends data selected from one or more of fault counters, error counters, parts usage counters, sensors, process loop actuators, service history and user input associated with the plurality of print processing modules, and compares the data to predetermined threshold limits to predict the impending unhealthy state of the at least one module.

4. The printing system of claim 3, wherein the predetermined threshold limits are settable by a user.

5. The printing system of claim 3, wherein the controller executes diagnostics and comparisons to the predetermined threshold limits of resulting diagnostic data to predict the impending unhealthy state of the at least one module.

6. The printing system of claim 3, wherein a sensor measures and tracks at least one of an associated electrical characteristic including at least one of a current, a voltage, an impedance, an inductance, a frequency, a capacitance;

the sensor further measures and tracks at least one of an associated mechanical characteristic including at least one of a motor torque, a speed, and a position; and

,

the sensor further measures and tracks at least one of an associated print media characteristic including at least one of a media type, size, thickness, and resistance.

8. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print processing modules are independently selected from a group consisting of print media substrate sources, marking engines, conveyor systems, inverters, and finishers.

9. The printing system of claim 8 wherein the system includes multiple marking engines and the controller redirect jobs from an impending unhealthy marking engine to a healthy marking engine.

10. The printing system of claim 8 wherein the controller predicts an impending unhealthy state of the print media substrate sources by tracking a rate of misfeeds and multifeeds and redirects one of an unprocessed job and a partially processed job to selectively another marking engine and another print media substrate source.

11. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print processing modules include at least one source that provides a print media substrate, a marking engine, a conveyor system, and a finisher.

12. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print processing modules includes marking modules that are in a stacked arrangement according to one of vertically, horizontally, and vertically and horizontally to form one of a tandem, a parallel, and a cluster printer.

13. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print processing modules include one or more of an electrophotographic printer, an ink-jet printer, a solid ink printer, and a thermal head printer.

14. The printing system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of print processing modules include one or more of a black, a custom color, a process color, a highlight color, and a magnetic ink character recognition marking engine.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a xerographic apparatus.

16. The printing system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least a third marking engine;

a print media conveyor to transfer said print media to one or more of the at least three marking engines; and

,

wherein said conveyor selectively transfers said print media from a first marking engine to a second marking engine and selectively bypassing a third marking engine.

7. The printing system of 1, wherein the at least one of an unprocessed job and a partially processed job is redirected with human intervention, without human intervention, or a combination thereof.

17. A method of printing comprising:

predicting an impending unhealthy state of one or more capabilities of a printing system having a plurality of modules;

wherein the printing system having one or more capabilities representing diminished capabilities of one or more modules relative to capabilities available when the one or more modules are healthy;

redirecting one of an unprocessed job or a partially processed job preemptively from an impending unhealthy module to selectively a healthy module or another unhealthy module within the printing system, with suitable capabilities, to process unprocessed portions of the unprocessed job or the partially processed job;

wherein said process includes printing;

wherein the one or more modules includes a finishing module wherein all jobs within the printing system terminate at the finishing module;

using all capabilities available of a healthy module to process a job until predicted to be an unhealthy module having predicted diminished capabilities;

using the predicted to be unhealthy module to process jobs requiring only the predicted diminished capabilities of the predicted to be unhealthy module; and

,

tracking and trending data from one or more of fault counters, error counters, parts usage counters, sensors, and service history associated with one or more modules, and comparing the data to predetermined threshold limits to predict an impending unhealthy state of at least one or more modules, prior to reaching the predicted diminished capabilities of the at least one module.