Determinations of previous installations of marking agent cartridges within printer fleets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10430127-B2
Application number	US-201515757053-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2015
Priority date	Nov 5, 2015
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

In one example of the disclosure, for each of a plurality of printers of a printer fleet, identification data indicative of marking agent cartridges installed is obtained via a network. The identification data is caused to be stored in association with a fleet identifier for the printer fleet. A request for fleet installation information with respect to a first marking agent cartridge is received from a computing device. It is determined, based upon the identification data, whether a first marking agent cartridge was previously installed at a printer of the printer fleet. Determination data indicative of the determination is sent to the computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an acquisition engine in a server to obtain via a network, for each of a plurality of printers of a printer fleet, identification data indicative of marking agent cartridges installed in the printers of the fleet;
a storage engine to cause storage of the identification data in association with a fleet identifier for the printer fleet;
a request engine in the server to receive via the network, from a computing device associated with a particular printer in the printer fleet, at least one request for fleet installation information with respect to a marking agent cartridge in the particular printer;
a determination engine in the server to determine the fleet installation information based upon the received identification data, the fleet installation information specifying whether the marking agent cartridge was previously installed at any printer of the printer fleet; and
a send engine in the server to send the determined fleet installation information to the computing device in response to each request.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination is that the marking agent cartridge was previously installed in a printer of the printer fleet, and the fleet installation information is provided to the computing device to override a prior determination by the computing device, made prior to the request for the fleet installation information, that the marking agent cartridge is a remanufactured marking agent cartridge.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination is that the marking agent cartridge was not previously installed in a printer of the printer fleet, and the fleet installation information is provided to the computing device to confirm a prior determination by the computing device, made prior to the request for the fleet installation information, that the marking agent cartridge is a remanufactured marking agent cartridge.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fleet identifier includes an identification of at least one of a fleet owner, a fleet lessee, a fleet licensee, and a fleet customer.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein causing storage of the identification data in association with a fleet identifier for the printer fleet includes storing the identification data in a document that includes identification data for the printer fleet.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein causing storage of the identification data in association with a fleet identifier for the printer fleet includes storing the identification data in association with an identifier for the printer fleet in a database, the database including identification data for a plurality of printer fleets.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is the printer of the printer fleet.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printer is a first printer, and the computing device is a host computing device for a second printer of the printer fleet, the second printer connected to the host computing device via a wired connection.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the host computing device includes an agent component for the acquisition engine, the agent component to facilitate communication of the identification data from the host computing device to the acquisition engine.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the acquisition engine is to obtain the identification data from at least one of the plurality of printers of the printer fleet via the network.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the acquisition engine, the storage engine, the request engine, the determination engine, and the send engine are included within a cloud computing device that is connected to the computing device via an internet.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the acquisition engine, the storage engine, the request engine, the determination engine, and the send engine are included within a print server device that is part of a network that is not an internet and that includes the computing device.

13. A system to determine previous installations of marking agent cartridges within a printer fleet, comprising:
a determination engine, to make a first determination, by accessing a list of marking agent cartridges known to have been previously used or to have been remanufactured, that a first marking agent cartridge installed at a printer is a remanufactured cartridge;
a request engine, to send to a server via a network a request for fleet installation information with respect to a first marking agent cartridge;
a receipt engine, to receive from the server fleet data indicative of a second determination, made at the server based upon the an assessment of usage of the marking agent cartridge within a printer fleet, of whether the first marking agent cartridge was previously installed at a printer of the printer fleet; and
a reversal engine, to reverse the first determination responsive to receipt of fleet data indicative that first marking agent cartridge was previously installed at a printer of the printer fleet; and
a warning engine, cause provision of a user warning responsive to receipt of fleet data indicative that first marking agent cartridge was not previously installed at a printer of the printer fleet.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the computing device is a printer.

15. A method to determine previous installations of marking agent cartridges within a printer of a printer fleet, comprising:
receiving via a network identification data indicative of marking agent cartridges installed at printers of a printer fleet;
storing the identification data in association with a fleet identifier for the printer fleet;
receiving from a computing device a request for fleet installation information with respect to a first marking agent cartridge;
determining, based upon the identification data, that the first marking agent cartridge was previously installed in a printer of the printer fleet; and
sending determination data indicative of the determination to the computing device, the computing device to reverse a conclusion that the marking agent cartridge is a remanufactured marking agent cartridge based upon the determination data.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Simpson Shell S
• Blair Timothy P

Classifications

• G06F3/1285

  Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server · CPC title

• G03G15/5079

  for maintenance · CPC title

• G03G15/55

  Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display · CPC title

• G03G2215/00109

  Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host · CPC title

• G03G15/556

  for toner consumption, e.g. pixel counting, toner coverage detection or toner density measurement · CPC title