Fault-based unit replacement

• US 8,819,498 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gearing, Mark John, Abbott, Stephen John, Monahan, Lee Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Lottich, Joshua P
• Application Number:
  US13/228,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20130067266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 714/47.1, 714/47.2, 714/47.3
• US Class Current: 714/47.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 3/02 Registering or indicating working or idle time only

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for determining the end of life condition for a replaceable unit, which may be associated with a multifunction device, and have a useful life expectancy based upon a number of operations. A counter associated with the multifunction device maintains a running count of operations for the unit. Once the number of performed operations of the replaceable unit reaches a given percentage of the expected life of that unit, an analysis is performed on a running history of the fault codes. Once the number of fault codes attributable to any given replaceable unit meets or exceeds a predetermined level, such as a percentage of the running history, a notification is generated indicating a need to replace the replaceable unit.

Claims

1. A method for determining an end of life condition for at least one replaceable unit in a multifunction device comprising:

with a processor, initiating an operations counter associated with the at least one replaceable unit to generate a number of operations for the unit;

storing, in an associated memory, fault code occurrences generated by the multifunction device;

calculating a rate of fault code occurrences for the at least one replaceable unit;

comparing the calculated rate of fault code occurrences to a preselected fault code threshold in response to the number of operations relative to a preselected operations threshold;

determining the existence of an end of life condition for the at least one replaceable unit in accordance with the number of operations and a result of the comparison of the rate of the fault code occurrences for the replaceable unit; and

generating a notification indicative of an end of life condition of the at least one replaceable unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the number of operations for the replaceable unit to a preselected operations threshold, wherein the determination of an end of life condition further comprises determining the number of operations for the replaceable unit is greater than or equal to the preselected operations threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determination of an end of life condition further comprises determining the calculated rate of fault code occurrences is greater than or equal to the preselected threshold fault rate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the replaceable unit is at least one of an automatic handler roll, a fuser module, or a paper feed roll.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the rate of fault code occurrences of the at least one replaceable unit is calculated in accordance with a running history of stored fault codes associated with the multifunction device.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the number of operations is at least one of a number of feeds or a number of cycles.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a notification further comprises generating a request for a replacement of the at least one replaceable unit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the notification is at least one of an electronic mail message, a text message, an audible alert, or a visual alert.

9. A system for determining an end of life condition for at least one replaceable unit in a multifunction device comprising memory which stores instructions for performing the method of claim 1 and a processor for executing the instructions, the processor in communication with the memory storing the instructions.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory recording medium storing instructions, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform the method of claim 1.

11. A replaceable unit premature end of life determination system, comprising:

a processor;

a counter operative to generate a number of operations associated with a replaceable unit;

a fault code generator operative to generate a number of fault codes generated during operations of an associated multifunction device; and

memory that stores fault code definitions, the number of generated fault codes, and an output of the counter corresponding to the replaceable unit,

wherein the memory is in communication with the processor, which stores instructions which are executed by the processor for;

calculating a rate of fault code occurrences generated by the fault code generator corresponding to the replaceable unit,

comparing the number of operations for the replaceable unit to a preselected operations threshold,

responsive to the comparison of the number of operations to the preselected operations threshold, comparing the calculated rate of fault code occurrences to a preselected fault code threshold,

determining an end of life condition for the replaceable unit in response to the comparison of the calculated rate of fault code occurrences to the preselected fault code threshold, and

generating a notification indicative of the end of life condition of the replaceable unit in accordance with the determination thereof.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the replaceable unit is at least one of an automatic handler roll, a fuser module, or a paper feed roll.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the rate of fault code occurrences of the replaceable unit is calculated in accordance with a running history of generated fault codes associated with the multifunction device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the number of operations is at least one of a number of feeds or a number of cycles.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the memory further stores instructions for generating a request for a replacement of the replaceable unit.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the notification is at least one of an electronic mail message, a text message, an audible alert, or a visual alert.

17. A computer-implemented method for determining a premature end of life condition for at least one replaceable unit of an associated multifunction device comprising:

with a processor, initiating an operations counter associated with the at least one replaceable unit to generate a number of operations for the unit;

storing, in an associated memory, fault code occurrences generated by the multifunction device;

calculating a rate of fault code occurrences for the at least one replaceable unit in a running history of stored fault codes;

comparing the number of operations for the at least one replaceable unit to a preselected operations threshold;

comparing the calculated rate of fault code occurrences to a preselected fault code threshold in response to an output of the comparison of the number of operations to the preselected operations threshold;

determining an end of life condition for the at least one replaceable unit in response to the comparison of the calculated rate of fault code occurrences to the preselected fault code threshold; and

generating a notification indicative of the end of life condition for the at least one replaceable unit in accordance with the determination thereof.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the output of the operations threshold comparison corresponds to determining the number of operations for the replaceable unit is greater than or equal to the preselected operations threshold, and wherein the determination of an end of life condition further comprises determining the calculated rate of fault code occurrences is greater than or equal to the preselected threshold fault rate.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the number of operations is at least one of a number of feeds or a number of cycles.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein generating a notification further comprises generating a request for a replacement of the at least one replaceable unit.