System and methods for reducing component wear in an imaging device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10459671-B2
Application number	US-201715825681-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 29, 2017
Priority date	Nov 29, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

An imaging device having a controller, a print engine and a raster image processor including methods for reducing wear in one or more components of the imaging device, the raster image processor including instructions for receiving a print job, determining whether one or more function features in the imaging device is disabled prior processing the print job, adjusting a default printing performance of the imaging device upon a determination that the one or more function features in the imaging device is disabled, generating a rasterized image for each page of the print job following the adjusting, and sending each rasterized image to the print engine of the imaging device for printing, wherein the adjusting the printing performance of the imaging device reduces the component wear in the imaging device and extends an allowable life of the one or more imaging components.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for reducing component wear in an imaging device, comprising:
by a raster image processor of the imaging device, receiving a print job;
determining whether one or more function features in the imaging device is disabled prior processing the print job;
adjusting a default printing performance of the imaging device upon a determination that the one or more function features in the imaging device is disabled;
generating a rasterized image for each page of the print job following the adjusting; and
sending each rasterized image to a print engine of the imaging device for printing, wherein the adjusting the printing performance of the imaging device reduces the component wear in the imaging device, wherein the adjusting the printing performance includes not sending a command instructing the print engine to transition to a printing state in response to receiving the print job and increasing a time to first print of the imaging device as a result of not sending the command.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the printing performance includes sending an instruction to the print engine for the print engine to shut down following processing of the print job upon a determination that the one or more function features in the imaging device is disabled and decreasing a throughput of the imaging device as a result of sending the instruction.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining includes identifying by the raster image processor a state of a first function feature and a state of a second function feature of the one or more function features in the imaging device from a controller of the imaging device, the state being one of a disabled state and an enabled state.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first function feature includes an advanced start function including instructions to power on the print engine to a printing state following receipt of a print job when the print engine is in idle state.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second function feature includes a smart run-out function including instructions to keep the power engine powered on as long as a rasterized image is being generated by the raster image processor.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising tracking a number of times that the rasterized image is generated without a slow image generation and reverting back to the default printing performance of the imaging device upon a determination that the number of times exceeded a predetermined counter value.

7. A method of reducing wear on one or more imaging components in an imaging device, comprising:
receiving a print job;
determining whether a default printing performance of the imaging device needs to be adjusted based on a previous print job following receipt of the print job;
upon a positive determination, disabling at least one of a set of functions performed in the imaging device for achieving the default printing performance; and
sending a rasterized image corresponding to each page of the print job to a print engine of the imaging device for printing,
wherein the disabling the at least one of the set of functions reduces the default printing performance of the imaging device and reducing the default printing performance results in a reduction of the wear on the one or more imaging components in the imaging device thus increasing an allowable life of the one or more imaging components and wherein the determining includes detecting a network connectivity problem while receiving the print job and disabling the at least one of the set of functions performed in the imaging device in response to detecting the network connectivity problem to reduce the default printing performance.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising detecting that the network connectivity problem is absent and reverting back to the default printing performance wherein the at least one of the set of functions is enabled following the detecting.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising generating a rasterized image corresponding to each page of the print job prior the sending, detecting a slow image generation while generating each rasterized image, and disabling the set of functions in response to detecting the slow image generation to reduce the default printing performance of the imaging device and to reduce wear on the one or more imaging components.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining includes detecting a slow image generation prior sending each rasterized image and disabling at least one of the set of functions performed in the imaging in response to detecting the slow image generation to reduce the default printing performance of the imaging device.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising using a reduced printing performance in processing a second print job following the print job upon disabling the at least one of the set of functions, wherein using the reduced printing performance increases the allowable life of the one or more imaging components.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one of the set of functions includes a first function for instructing the print engine to transition to a printing state following the receiving of the print job and a second function for instructing the print engine to remain in the printing state following processing of the print job and while processing a second print job.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising tracking a number of times that the rasterized image is sent to the print engine without disabling the at least one of the set of functions and reverting back to the default printing performance upon a determination that the number of times exceeded a predetermined counter value.

14. An imaging device including a method for reducing component wear in the imaging device, comprising:
a controller having an associated memory, the memory including instructions for executing a set of functions for achieving a default printing performance of the imaging device;
a raster image processor for generating a rasterized image for each page of a print job; and
a print engine for outputting the rasterized image onto a media sheet passed through the imaging device,
wherein the raster image processor includes instructions to:
determine prior processing the print job whether at least one of the set of functions are disabled;
reduce the default printing performance upon a determination that the at least one of the set of functions are disabled; and
send each rasterized image to the print engine for printing using the reduced default printing performance following performing the instructions to reduce the default printing performance,
wherein performing the instructions to reduce the default printing performance result in the component wear in the imaging device to be reduced and
wherein the raster image processor further includes instructions to determine whether slow image generation exists during one of prior and during the sending of each rasterized image to the print engine and to disable the at least one of the set of functions upon a positive determination for reference by the raster image processor when another print job is received in the imaging device.

15. The imaging device of claim 14 , wherein the set of functions includes an advanced start function including instructions to power on the print engine to a printing state from being in an idle state following receipt of a print job in the imaging device and a smart run-out function including instructions to keep the power engine powered on as long as a rasterized image is being generated by the raster image processor.

Assignees

• Lexmark Int Inc

Inventors

• Cook William Paul

Classifications

• G06F2206/1506

  Degraded mode, e.g. in view of consumables depleted, thresholds reached · CPC title

• G06F3/1254

  Automatic configuration, e.g. by driver · CPC title

• G06F3/1285

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

• G06F3/1258

  by updating job settings at the printer · CPC title

• G06F3/121

  Facilitating exception or error detection and recovery, e.g. fault, media or consumables depleted · CPC title