System and method of monitoring usage of a recording material in an image forming apparatus
US11072166B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 18, 2019 |
| Grant date | Jul 27, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 18, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB41J2002/17589
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Systems, methods, software for monitoring usage of a recording medium in an image forming apparatus. In one embodiment, a usage monitor receives a raster image, and identifies thresholds that distinguish different intensity levels reproduced by different drop sizes of the recording material. The usage monitor identifies a set of pixel values for a block of pixels from the raster image, performs a vectorized comparison of the set of pixel values to each of the thresholds to generate sets of comparison bits, determines a number of set bits in each of the sets of comparison bits, and updates a threshold counter for each of the thresholds based on the number of set bits. The usage monitor may then compute drop counts for different drop sizes based on the threshold counter for each of the thresholds.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.