Marking agent credit adjustments

• US 9,898,235 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2013
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Bhaskaran, Shinoj, Tomar, Ruby, Arora, Puneet Kumar, Hammerstad, Diane R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Menberu, Beniyam
• Application Number:
  US14/785,448
• Publication Number:
  US 20160070514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,672 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1219 with regard to consumables, e.g. ink, toner, paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1239 Restricting the usage of resources, e.g. usage or user levels, credit limit, consumables, special fonts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1287 via internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1809 relating to the printing process

Abstract

In one example of the disclosure, account data that is indicative of marking agent credits attributed to a printer is stored. The printer is a printer connected to a supply of marking agent. A marking agent credit is to authorize consumption of a credit amount of marking agent from the supply according to a subscription. A print job is received from a sponsor computing device. The account data is adjusted to add credits in an adjustment amount that is a function of marking agent consumption to print the job. The job is sent to the printer for printing.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a system, cause the processor to:

store account data indicative of credits of a printer and account data indicative of credits of a sponsor computing device, wherein a credit is used to authorize the printer to consume a credit amount of marking agent from a marking agent supply;

in response to receipt of a print job from the sponsor computing device, deduct credits from the account data of the sponsor computing device and add credits to the account data of the printer to compensate for an amount of marking agent to be consumed by the printer to print the print job, wherein the print job is received via an email;

responsive to detecting a sponsored print job flag in the email, add credits in an adjustment amount to the account data of the printer; and

send the print job to the printer for printing.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the credits are stated in terms of pages of printing.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the processor of the system to receive data indicative of the marking agent consumption from the printer.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the account data of the sponsor computing device is adjusted to add credits responsive to receipt of data indicative of a payment.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the processor of the system to send to the printer a portion of the account data of the printer, the portion indicative of an amount of marking agent authorized for immediate consumption at the printer.

6. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a credit storage engine, executed by the processor, to store account data indicative of credits of a printer and account data indicative of credits of a sponsor computing device, wherein the printer is connected to a supply of marking agent, and a credit is used to authorize the printer to consume a credit amount of marking agent from the supply;

a job receipt engine, executed by the processor, to receive a print job via an email from the sponsor computing device;

a credit adjustment engine, executed by the processor, to

analyze the print job to determine a consumption amount of marking agent consumption to print the print job,

deduct credits from the account data of the sponsor computing device,

responsive to detecting a sponsored print job flag in the email, add credits in an adjustment amount to the account data of the printer, and

increase credits to the account data of the printer to compensate for the consumption amount of marking agent to be consumed by the printer to print the print job; and

a job sending engine, executed by the processor, to send the print job to the printer for printing.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a sponsored printing setup engine executed by the processor, to receive at least one message to

authorize forwarding of the print job received from the sponsor computing device to the printer;

and

establish a formula for determining an amount of marking agent consumption to print the job.

8. A processor-implemented method, comprising:

receiving at least one setup message that authorizes a computer system to forward, via a network, print jobs received from a sponsor computing device to a printer that has an onboard supply of marking agent subject to a subscription;

storing account data indicative of credits of the printer and account data indicative of credits of the sponsor computing device, wherein a credit is used to authorize the printer to consume marking agent from the supply;

receiving from the sponsor computing device an email that includes a print job;

analyzing the print job to determine a marking agent quantity to be consumed by the printer during printing of the print job;

determining an adjustment amount of credits based on the marking agent quantity to be consumed by the printer during printing of the job;

deduct credits in the adjustment amount from the account data of the sponsor computing device and add credits in the adjustment amount to the account data of the printer;

detecting a sponsored print job flag within the email;

adding credits in the adjustment amount to the account data of printer in response to the detection of the sponsored print job flag in the email; and

sending the print job to the printer for printing.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein analyzing the print job to determine the marking agent quantity to be consumed by the printer during printing of the print job includes identifying metadata or other job-size information within the print job.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the marking agent quantity to be consumed by the printer is measured in pages.