Predicting remaining useful life for a consumable using a weighted least square regression prediction technique

• US 9,134,675 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Yang, Ming, Foley, Diane M., Stumbo, William K., Zou, Guangyu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Susan
• Application Number:
  US13/929,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20150003846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• Field of Search: 399/25, 399/27, 399/29
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/0856 Detection or control means for the developer level
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/556 for toner consumption, e.g. pixel counting, toner coverage detection or toner density measurement

Abstract

An apparatus and method of predicting the end of life of a consumable. A basic weighted least squares algorithm has been extended and augmented to compensate for observed common consumable/printer behavior. The system uses consumable usage data (such as toner level) acquired from the device to predict the current and future consumable level and to predict the remaining life. The apparatus and method monitors the consumable'"'"'s usage and updates the prediction so that when the predicted remaining life matches a preset threshold, it automatically triggers an order placement event to ship product to customer.

Claims

1. An image production device, comprising:

at least one replaceable cartridge;

monitoring device in the at least one replaceable cartridge that monitors toner level changes; and

a consumable management unit in communication with the at least one replaceable cartridge that determines from the toner level changes if a remaining useful life span is greater than a predetermined threshold, the predetermined threshold relating to the expected life span of the at least one replaceable cartridge;

wherein if the consumable management unit determines that the remaining useful life span is not greater than the predetermined threshold, the consumable management unit automatically generating a message to a user at a user interface or to the consumable service/maintenance provider to replenish the at least one replaceable cartridge;

wherein the remaining useful life span is determined by using the following equation;

2. An image production device in accordance to claim 1, wherein w_i is determined using the following function:

w_i=w_0iw_1i . . . w_kif(x_i)

where w_0i, w_1i, . . . w_ki are weight component layers that account for multiple measurements and measurement resolution error, and f(x_i) account represents toner usage over time.

3. An image production device in accordance to claim 2, wherein the weight function for toner usage over time can be determined using the following equation:

F(X_i)=(X_i−

X₀+1)^N

where x_i is a working time instance when the toner level of the replaceable cartridge is measured, x₀ is the time when the new replaceable cartridge is installed and N is an exponent parameter.