Maintenance control device, system, method, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for determining a maintenance content of a printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12536396-B2
Application number	US-202318511058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2023
Priority date	Nov 16, 2022
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

A maintenance control system includes a use history acquisition unit that acquires a use history of a printing apparatus, a use state prediction unit that predicts a future use state of the printing apparatus based on the use history of the printing apparatus acquired by the use history acquisition unit, and a maintenance content determination unit that determines a maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on a prediction result predicted by the use state prediction unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A maintenance control device comprising:
one or more processors programmed to perform operations comprising: acquiring a use history of a printing apparatus; predicting a future use state of the printing apparatus based on the use history of the printing apparatus; determining a maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on a prediction result; acquiring a use period of the printing apparatus; acquiring a future desired use period of the printing apparatus; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future desired use period of the printing apparatus; wherein determining the maintenance content comprises determining different maintenance contents of the printing apparatus between a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a first desired use period and a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a second desired use period different from the first desired use period.

2 . A maintenance control system comprising:
one or more processors programmed to perform operations comprising: acquiring a use history of a printing apparatus; predicting a future use state of the printing apparatus based on the use history of the printing apparatus; determining a maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on a prediction result; acquiring a use period of the printing apparatus; acquiring a future desired use period of the printing apparatus; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future desired use period of the printing apparatus; wherein determining the maintenance content comprises determining different maintenance contents of the printing apparatus between a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a first desired use period and a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a second desired use period different from the first desired use period.

3 . A maintenance control method that causes one or more computers to perform:
acquiring a use history of a printing apparatus; predicting a future use state of the printing apparatus based on the use history of the printing apparatus; determining a maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future use status of the printing apparatus; acquiring a use period of the printing apparatus; acquiring a future desired use period of the printing apparatus; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future desired use period of the printing apparatus; wherein the one or more computers are configured to determine different maintenance contents of the printing apparatus between a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a first desired use period and a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a second desired use period different from the first desired use period.

4 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform acquiring an amount of printing performed by the printing apparatus as the use history of the printing apparatus.

5 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform acquiring an energization time of the printing apparatus as the use history of the printing apparatus.

6 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform acquiring use environment information of the printing apparatus as the use history of the printing apparatus.

7 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform:
acquiring, as the use history of the printing apparatus, a first use history and a second use history different from the first use history; and predicting the future use state of the printing apparatus based on the first use history and the second use history.

8 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform:
acquiring a current use value related to use of the printing apparatus as the use history of the printing apparatus; predicting a future use value related to the use of the printing apparatus as the future use state of the printing apparatus based on the current use value; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on whether or not the future use value exceeds a threshold value.

9 . The maintenance control method according to claim 8 , wherein the one or more computers changeably set the threshold value.

10 . The maintenance control method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more computers perform:
acquiring a confirmation result of the printing apparatus confirmed by a confirmer; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the confirmation result of the printing apparatus.

11 . The maintenance control method according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more computers perform:
determining a first maintenance content as the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future use state of the printing apparatus; and determining a second maintenance content as the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the confirmation result of the printing apparatus after the first maintenance content is determined.

12 . The maintenance control method according to claim 10 , wherein the one or more computers perform acquiring a print result printed by the printing apparatus as the confirmation result of the printing apparatus.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes one or more computers to perform:
acquiring a use history of a printing apparatus; predicting a future use state of the printing apparatus based on the use history of the printing apparatus; determining a maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future use state of the printing apparatus; acquiring a use period of the printing apparatus; acquiring a future desired use period of the printing apparatus; and determining the maintenance content of the printing apparatus based on the future desired use period of the printing apparatus; wherein determining the maintenance content comprises determining different maintenance contents of the printing apparatus between a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a first desired use period and a case when the future desired use period of the printing apparatus is a second desired use period different from the first desired use period.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Tanaka Shinichi
• Yasue Takuya
• Miyake Junichi
• Nakai Takamu

Classifications

• G06K15/40 Primary

  Details not directly involved in printing, e.g. machine management, management of the arrangement as a whole or of its constitutive parts (computer driven print job management G06F3/1237) · CPC title

• B41J29/393

  Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine {; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns} · CPC title

• B41J2002/16573

  Cleaning process logic, e.g. for determining type or order of cleaning processes · CPC title

• G06F3/1229

  Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels · CPC title

• B41J2/165 Primary

  Prevention {or detection} of nozzle clogging, e.g. cleaning, capping or moistening for nozzles · CPC title