Various business models are used in the printer industry. In some business models, printer prices are set at levels that yield limited or no profit to thereby increase printer sales. Increased printer sales, in turn, yields greater ink consumption. In contrast, under a subscription-based business model, a user pays a subscription fee to lease a printer from a printer manufacturer or other printer service provider. As an incentive to enter into the lease agreement, the terms of the lease agreement can, in some instances, include a free supply of ink during the life of the agreement.
The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.
Example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to control operation of a printer based on the detection of a marker in a pigment ink. A disclosed example apparatus includes an optical sensor to sense a marker in a vehicle component of the pigment ink from which a pigment component has been depleted. An example controller controls operation of the printer based on whether the optical sensor detects the marker in the vehicle component. Some example apparatus also include an authorizer to determine whether the printer in which the pigment ink is installed is authorized to use the pigment ink having the marker.
In some example apparatus, the controller controls operation of the printer by transmitting a control signal to a print head processor and the control signal causes the print head processor to halt printing operations. Some example apparatus additionally include a message generator. The controller causes the message generator to generate a message indicating that unauthorized ink consumption has been attempted. Some example apparatus also include a filter to deplete the vehicle component of the pigment component.
Some example methods include to detect an unauthorized attempt to consume pigment ink include determining, using an optical sensor, whether a marker is in a vehicle component of the pigment ink from which a pigment component has been depleted and detecting the unauthorized attempt to consume the pigment ink based on whether the marker is detected.
Some example methods include controlling operation of a printer in which the pigment ink is installed based on whether the unauthorized attempt is detected. In some example methods, detecting the unauthorized attempt is further based on whether a printer in which the pigment ink is installed is authorized to use the pigment ink having the marker.
Some example methods further include controlling operation of the printer in which the pigment ink is installed based on whether the unauthorized attempt is detected. Some example methods additionally include filtering the pigment ink to deplete the pigment component from the vehicle component.
In a subscription-based business model, a consumer can enter into a lease agreement with a printer manufacturer (or other third party). Under such a lease agreement, the consumer pays a one-time or recurring fee (also referred to as a “subscription fee”), in exchange for the usage of a printer (referred to as a “subscription printer”). As an incentive, some lease agreements include a free supply of ink (referred to herein as “subscription ink”), provided that the ink is used exclusively with the printer being leased. Unfortunately, ink supplied free of charge is at risk of being stolen, sold and/or used for unauthorized usage in non-leased printers.
To combat such unauthorized usage, ink and printer manufacturers have developed measures to detect and restrict the usage of subscription ink. Some such measures include supplying subscription ink in cartridges equipped with a memory device having identification information stored therein. The identification information identifies the ink as being subscription ink. An ink monitor installed in printers from such printer manufacturers accesses the identification information stored in the memory device to determine whether an installed ink is a subscription ink or a non-subscription ink. If the ink is a subscription ink and the subscription is either not present or is in arrears, the ink monitor can restrict the usage of the ink cartridge in the printer by rendering the printer inoperable while the ink is installed. However, such ink detection and restriction measures are ineffective if the identification information stored in the memory associated with the subscription ink cartridge has been tampered with. Likewise, such measures can be rendered ineffective by transferring subscription ink from a subscription ink cartridge into a non-subscription ink cartridge.
Another potential solution for detecting usage of subscription ink involves inserting a near infra-red (“NIR”) marker into the subscription ink and installing a near infra-red (NIR) sensor that will detect the presence of the marker in printers. However, optical markers are not detectable when added to black pigment inks because of the spectral absorption characteristics of black ink.
Other possible solutions include adding ferrous particles to the subscription ink and using an optical sensor to detect the added particles. However, ferrous particles can be easily removed with a magnet and, when added in concentrations sufficient to allow for detection, the ferrous particles may adversely affect the appearance of color ink on paper.
Changing the ink impedance has also been explored but ink impedance is difficult to control and the chemical properties that affect the impedance of ink also affect the physical properties of the ink on paper. In addition, electronic impedance sensors can be rendered ineffective by modification and/or circumvention. Thus, there exists a need for detecting and restricting the usage of subscription inks.
Example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture described herein address some of these issues by being able to detect a marker added to a pigment ink, even when the pigment ink is black. Example methods and apparatus use an optical sensor to detect a marker after the pigment has been depleted from the ink. In the printer(s) of such an example, the pigment ink, which includes a pigment component and a vehicle component, undergoes a separation process by which the pigment component becomes depleted from a vehicle component. The vehicle component is the portion of the ink not including the pigment component (i.e., the portion of the ink not including pigment particles). The separation process can occur naturally in a nozzle firing chamber of the printer or, in some examples, the printer includes a filtration tool that causes the separation process to occur. The optical sensor is then exposed to the vehicle component from which the pigment has been depleted. When the pigment is depleted, the optical sensor is able to detect the marker. Example methods and apparatus can also determine whether an ink having a detected marker is being used in an unauthorized manner and, if so, take measures to restrict the usage of the ink. In some examples, the measures taken to restrict to usage of the ink can include halting the operation of the printer in which the ink is being used, generating a display message alerting the user to the presence of the ink, generating a report identifying the unauthorized attempt to use the ink, etc.
These and other example methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to detect and restrict usage of a subscription ink are disclosed in further detail below.
In some examples, the vehicle component of the ink becomes separated from the pigment component via a phenomenon called pigment retraction (also known as pigment-ink vehicle separation (PIVS)). As a result of pigment retraction, ink residing in the individual ink channels and/or the firing chambers 250 becomes substantially depleted of pigment leaving only the vehicle component 25 of the ink behind.
Returning to
The example optical sensor 15 supplies information about whether the example marker is present (e.g., has been detected) to the example ink monitor 10 which uses the information to control the operation of the printer 100 as described further below.
The example optical marker can be any type of optically detectable substance including an ultraviolet marker, a visible marker, an infrared marker, a near infrared marker, a fluorescing agent, etc. Example fluorescing agents are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20115221277 which is incorporated by reference. The optical sensor can be any type of optical sensor capable of detecting the optical marker including, a UV sensor, a visible sensor, an infrared sensor, a near infrared sensor, a camera, etc. One example optical sensor, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20115221277, is a single chip black and white camera. Each such optical sensor includes a corresponding light source to illuminate the optical marker. In some examples, the optical sensor 15 is configured to sense a dye marker that includes a fluorescing agent. In some such examples, the optical sensor 15 includes a filter that removes the wavelength of the light generated by the light source but passes the fluorescing wavelength generated by the dye marker.
In some examples, the optical sensor 15 is a light emitting diode having a wavelength that matches an absorbance peak of the dye marker added to the subscription ink. Such an example optical sensor 15 also includes a phototransistor or photodiode to detect an amount of light absorbed by the vehicle component. Because more light is absorbed when the marker is present, the sensor 15 and/or controller 20 determine that the marker is present when more of the light generated by the LED is absorbed.
In some examples, the example vehicle component, which is typically optically clear, can include water, co-solvents, surfactants, buffering agents, biocides, sequestering agents, viscosity modifiers, humectants, and/or other known additives. In some examples, the vehicle component may also carry polymeric binders, latex particulates, and/or other solids.
Although, for illustrative purposes, the example optical sensor 15 is described as sensing the optical marker after the example vehicle component 25 is spit from the inkjet nozzle 125, the optical sensor can also (or instead) be configured to sense the optical marker contained in the vehicle component when the vehicle component is in any number of other locations (e.g., when the vehicle component is in the example firing chambers 250 of
Referring again to
In some examples, the printer 100 is authorized to operate in either a subscription mode or a non-subscription mode. When operating in a subscription mode, the example authorizer 135 informs the example controller 20 that the printer is authorized to use an ink having a marker. When operating in a non-subscription mode, the authorizer 135 informs the example controller 20 that the printer 100 is not authorized to use ink having a marker. In some examples, a user may be supplied an authorization key to be provided to the authorizer 135 via an example keypad 145, or any other input. In some examples, the authorization key is communicated by the printer manufacturer to the printer 100 via the transmitter 175 and installed without user interaction (e.g., stored by the controller 20 for access by the authorizer 135). For example, the printer manufacturer (or any other entity) may operate a web service that transmits the authorization code to the controller 20 upon power up of the printer 100. Upon receiving a valid authorization key, the authorizer 135 informs the controller 20 that the printer 100 is authorized to use ink having the marker. In some examples, the authorizer 135 can access an identification code stored in an example memory 150 associated with an example ink cartridge 155. The identification code can be used by the authorizer 135 to determine whether the ink cartridge 155 is authorized to hold ink having the marker. In some such examples, if the ink cartridge 155 is not authorized to hold ink having the marker, but a marker is detected in the ink, the authorizer 135 can inform the controller 20 that usage of the ink in the cartridge 155 is not authorized.
In some examples, the example printer 100 is configured to operate only in a subscription mode. In some such examples, the ink monitor 10 does not include the example authorizer 135.
In some examples, the example controller 20 receives information from the example optical sensor 15 indicating whether the example optical marker was detected in the vehicle component 25 and receives information from the example authorizer 135 indicating whether the example printer 100 is authorized to use ink having the marker. If, based on the information supplied by the optical sensor 15 and the authorizer 135, the controller 20 determines that the ink includes a marker but that the printer 100 is not authorized to use an ink containing the dye marker, the controller 20 restricts the printer 100 from using the ink. In some examples, the controller 20 restricts the usage of the ink by sending a control signal to an example print head processor 120. The print head processor 120 responds to the control signal by causing an example print head 115 to stop printing. In some examples, the controller 20 also (or instead) causes an example message generator 170 to generator an example message. The message may indicate, for example, that the printer 100 has attempted to perform unauthorized ink consumption. The message may be supplied by the message generator 170 to an example transmitter 175 for delivery to a remote processor and/or a remote display device. In some examples, the remote processor is associated with the manufacturer of the printer and/or ink and the message is used by the manufacturer to track stolen ink. In some examples, the message is delivered to an example local display 180.
As illustrated in the block diagram 300B of
While an example manner of implementing the example ink monitor 10 of
A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions for implementing the example ink monitor 10 of
As mentioned above, the example processes of
The program 400 of
If the example controller 20 determines that the optical sensor-supplied information indicates that a marker was detected, the controller 20 responds by seeking authorization information from the example authorizer 135 (see
If the authorization information indicates that the example printer 100 is not authorized to use ink having the marker, the example controller 20 sends a control signal to the example print head processor 120 (see
In some examples, at a block 470, the example controller 20 also causes the example message generator 170 (see
The example controller 20 determines whether the example ink cartridge 155 (see
In some examples, the example vehicle component 25 sensor 15 may be obtained (block 410) each time a new example ink cartridge 155 is been installed. In some examples, the vehicle component may be obtained each time a print operation begins or at any other desired time/frequency.
In some examples, the message generated by the example message generator 170 indicating that unauthorized ink consumption was attempted is received by a remote processor associated with the printer manufacturer. The printer manufacturer can respond to the message by sending a control signal back to the example controller 20. In some examples, the controller 170 responds to the control signal by causing the example print head 115 to resume printing operations. In some examples, the printer manufacturer responds to the message by transmitting a code to the user of the example printer 100. The user supplies the code to the controller 170 via the example keypad 145. The controller 170 responds to the code by causing the print head 115 to resume printing operations.
The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example includes a processor 512. The processor 512 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor 512 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer.
The processor 512 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 513 (e.g., a cache). The processor 512 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory 514 and a non-volatile memory 516 via a bus 518. The volatile memory 514 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 416 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 514, 516 is controlled by a memory controller.
The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit 520. The interface circuit 520 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.
In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 522 are connected to the interface circuit 420. The input device(s) 522 permit(s) a user to enter data and commands into the processor 512. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.
One or more output devices 524 are also connected to the interface circuit 520 of the illustrated example. The output devices 524 can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactile output device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 520 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.
The interface circuit 520 of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network 526 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), a telephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.),
The processor platform 500 of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices 528 for storing software and/or data, Examples of such mass storage devices 528 include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.
Coded instructions 532, such as the coded instructions described with reference to
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture are able to detect a marker in a black pigment ink or any other ink thereby providing an improved method for detecting unauthorized consumption of subscription ink. It should also be appreciated that, although the methods described herein detect an optical marker added to a subscription ink, an optical marker may instead be added to a non-subscription ink. When the marker is added to the non-subscription ink instead of the subscription ink, the example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture disclosed herein can be used to detect the absence of the optical marker and prevent the usage of inks that do not have the optical marker from being used with a leased printer or any other type of printer. In some examples, a first optical marker may be added to a subscription ink and a second optical marker may be added to a non-subscription ink. In some such examples, the ink monitor 10 of
Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2014/049211 | 7/31/2014 | WO | 00 |