System and method for marking substrates within improved line recovery time

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12019501-B2
Application number	US-202017618772-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2020
Priority date	Jun 13, 2019
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A system having a plurality of marking and/or coding devices and a computing system coupled to the devices and having processor configured to: receive sensor data associated with each device; and store printer metadata and batch job metadata in a backup file for each device. The processor is configured to classify a fault condition of a respective one device based on one or more of received sensor data, device self-test data, current operational data and historical device condition data. The processor is configured to determine autonomously a repair process recommendation in response to the classified fault condition and based on an estimated time to repair (ETR) the device using a self-repair recovery process relative to a line recovery time (LRT) threshold. The processor is configured to recommend as the repair process recommendation the self-repair recovery process in response to the ETR being less than or equal to the LRT threshold.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
operating a marking and coding device;
classifying, by a classifying module, a fault condition based on one or more of received sensor data, printer self-test data, current operational data and historical device condition data;
determining autonomously a repair process recommendation, in response to the classified fault condition and based on an estimated time to repair (ETR) the marking and coding device using a self-repair recovery process relative to a line recovery time threshold (LRT threshold); and
recommending, by at least one processor, as the repair process recommendation, the self-repair recovery process in response to the ETR being less than or equal to the LRT threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing device metadata and batch job metadata in a backup file; and
replicating the faulted device by a spare device by downloading the stored device metadata and batch job metadata to configure the spare device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an option to override the recommendation.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
replacing the faulted device with a spare printer online.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting the self-repair recovery process, comprising:
communicating instructions in one or more timed repair screens;
tracking a time to complete each repair screen associated with a repair task; and
measuring the tracked time until self-repair is complete.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting the self-repair recovery process, comprising:
tracking line recovery time statistics (LRT statistics) associated with each resolved fault condition.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the LRT statistics comprises a statistic associated with a mean time between faults associated with a completed self-repair.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an option to override the recommendation;
replacing the faulted device with a spare device online; and
replicating the faulted device by the spare device by downloading stored device and batch job metadata to configure the spare device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
tracking an actual time to complete the self-repair recovery process associated with the repair process recommendation;
tracking, during the self-repair recovery process, statistics associated with at least one of adoption of the recommendation, average time to complete the self-repair recovery process; average time to deploy a spare device; and
selectively reporting the tracked statistics.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising tracking a performance of an operator based on the tracked statistics and reporting the performance.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising tracking a performance of a type of the device and reporting the performance.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the fault condition comprises a fault associated with one or more of a print head and an ink system associated with the coding or marking device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the fault relating to the print head comprises one or both of a gutter fault and an EHT fault.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the EHT fault is associated with one or more parameters comprising voltage, current, trip value, and percentage of trip.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the gutter fault is associated with one or more parameters comprising gutter ink build up, a time since last gutter clean, a warning level setting, and presence of ink in the gutter.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the fault condition associated with the ink system comprises one or more of an ink reservoir fault and a makeup tank fault.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the fault condition is associated with at least one of: in reservoir parameters comprising ink type, ink expiry date, fluid level, print hours remaining, and ink reservoir temperature; make up reservoir parameters comprising at least one of make up type, expiry date, makeup vacuum, fluid level, print hours remaining, and makeup tank temp; viscometer parameters comprising at least one of target time to empty, actual time to empty, density; and viscosity, wherein the viscometer parameters are related to ink reservoir faults and makeup tank faults.

18. A system comprising:
one or more marking and/or coding devices; and
a computing system coupled to the one or more marking and/or coding devices and comprising at least one processor configured to:
classify, by a classifying module, a fault condition of a respective one marking and/or coding device based on one or more of received sensor data, printer self-test data, current operational data and historical printer condition data;
determine autonomously a repair process recommendation, in response to the classified fault condition and, based on an estimated time to repair (ETR) the respective one marking and/or coding device using a self-repair recovery process relative to a line recovery time threshold (LRT threshold); and
recommend, by the at least one processor, as the repair process recommendation, the self-repair recovery process in response to the ETR being less than or equal to the LRT threshold.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor of the computing system further configured to:
store device metadata and batch job metadata in a backup file for each device; and
replicate the faulted respective one device by a spare device by downloading the stored device and batch job metadata to configure the spare device.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor of the computing system further configured to:
provide an option to override the recommendation.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the LRT threshold comprises a threshold for a recovery time from the fault condition associated with a production line that is to output products, wherein the marking and coding device is operated for marking or coding the products being output from the production line.

22. The system of claim 18 , wherein the LRT threshold comprises a threshold for a recovery time from the fault condition associated with a production line that is to output products, wherein the marking and coding device is operated for marking or coding the products being output from the production line.

Assignees

• Videojet Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Weaver Robert
• Folkers John P
• Susi Fred
• Smith Robert

Classifications

• G06Q10/20

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• G06F3/1282

  High volume printer device · CPC title

• G06F3/1234

  Errors handling and recovery, e.g. reprinting (G06F3/1261 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/121 Primary

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

• G06F11/0733 Primary

  in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner · CPC title