Recording material estimation method, information processing device, and consumable

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a recording material estimation method, an information processing device and consumables. The method comprises the steps that first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n operation types corresponding to the consumables is acquired; wherein the first consumption information is used for determining the consumption information of the recording material consumed by the output page number of the corresponding operation type; acquiring second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n operation types respectively; wherein the second consumption information is used for determining the consumption information of the consumed recording materials except the consumed recording materials of the output page number of the corresponding operation type; and determining total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumable according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n operation types and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n operation types. The method can improve the estimation accuracy of the recording material.

Description

[0001] The present invention claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office on September 26, 2023, with application number 202311256350.X and invention name “Method, device, storage medium and equipment for estimating recording materials”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into the present invention. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of printing technology, and in particular to a recording material estimation method, an information processing device and consumables. Background Art

[0003] An image forming device is a device that forms an image on a recording medium by the principle of imaging, such as a printer, a copier, a fax machine, a multifunctional image making and copying device, an electrostatic printing device, and any other similar device. An image forming device is usually provided with a removable consumable, which provides recording materials in the image forming process of the image forming device. For example, for a laser printer, the corresponding consumable may be a toner cartridge, and the recording material in the toner cartridge is toner powder; for an inkjet printer, the corresponding consumable may be an ink cartridge, and the recording material in the ink cartridge is toner powder or ink.

[0004] In order to facilitate the management of consumables, consumables are usually provided with consumable chips. When the consumables are installed in the image forming device, the consumable chips can exchange information with the image forming device. Among them, the consumable remaining data is one of the key data of the consumables, which is used to reflect the remaining amount or remaining proportion of the recording material in the consumables.

[0005] In the prior art, the consumption of recording materials used for printing a fixed single page is used to estimate the consumption of recording materials for consumables. For example, based on past overall experience, the average amount of recording materials consumed for printing one page is a grams. The consumption of recording materials for a single page during printing is directly set to a grams. Printing one page consumes a grams of recording materials, printing 10 pages consumes 10a grams of recording materials, printing 100 pages consumes 100a grams of recording materials, and so on. However, this estimation method is prone to large errors, which causes a bad experience for users. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of this, the present application provides a recording material estimation method, an information processing device and consumables, so as to solve the problem of inaccurate estimation of recording materials and reduced user experience in the prior art.

[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a recording material estimation method, which is applied to an image forming device, wherein consumables are detachably installed in the image forming device, and the method includes:

[0008] Acquire first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different;

[0009] Acquire second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively; wherein the second consumption information is used to determine the information of the consumption amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type except for the recording materials consumed by the number of output pages;

[0010] Total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined according to first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

[0011] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for estimating a recording material, the method comprising:

[0012] Sending to the image forming device information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information on recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs;

[0013] The output page number information corresponding to the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the single job output page numbers corresponding to the n job types are different.

[0014] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an image forming device, in which consumables are detachably installed, and the image forming device includes:

[0015] an acquisition unit, configured to acquire first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different;

[0016] The acquisition unit is further used to acquire second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively; wherein the second consumption information is used to determine the information of the consumption amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type except for the recording materials consumed by the number of output pages;

[0017] The processing unit is used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

[0018] According to a fourth aspect, an information processing device includes:

[0019] The first sending module is used for:

[0020] Sending information on the number of output pages corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs to an image forming device; information on the number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs are used to determine total consumption information of recording materials in consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different.

[0021] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a consumable material, characterized in that it includes:

[0022] case;

[0023] a developer containing portion, located in the housing, for containing the developer; and

[0024] The information processing device described in the fourth aspect.

[0025] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a consumable, the consumable comprising:

[0026] Photosensitive drum;

[0027] a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and

[0028] The information processing device described in the fourth aspect.

[0029] By adopting the scheme provided in the embodiment of the present application, the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables is obtained; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine the information on the consumption of the recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted by the corresponding job type; the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs is obtained; and the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs. That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, when it is necessary to estimate the recording materials, the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables can be obtained, and the first consumption information is used to determine the information on the consumption of the recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted by the corresponding job type. Since recording materials are consumed not only when printing paper but also when the main control motor starts preheating before the printing job, when the OPC idles due to the switching between pages during the printing of the job, and when the main control motor stops when the current job is printed, other events such as OPC idle will also result in the consumption of recording materials. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, it is necessary not only to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, but also to obtain the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, wherein the second consumption information is used to determine the information of the additional consumption of the recording materials corresponding to the corresponding types of jobs in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages. Based on the first consumption information and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, when determining the recorded consumption information, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to n types of jobs, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation results of the final consumption of recording materials and improving the user experience. In addition, the embodiment of the present application separately counts the number of print pages information corresponding to various job types, and then separately calculates and records the consumption of recording materials consumed in addition to the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to various job types. The consumption of the additionally consumed recording materials obtained by statistics is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation results of the final consumption of recording materials and improving the user experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0031] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 1B A schematic diagram of the connection relationship between a consumable chip and an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 1C A schematic diagram of the connection relationship between another consumable chip and an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a method for estimating a recording material provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 3 A schematic flow chart of another method for estimating recording materials provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 4 A schematic flow chart of another method for estimating recording materials provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of another image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In order to better understand the technical solution of the present application, the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0044] It should be clear that the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0045] The terms used in the embodiments of the present application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present application and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates other meanings.

[0046] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0047] In order to facilitate the management of consumables, consumables are usually used in conjunction with information processing devices. When consumables are installed in image forming devices, the information processing devices can exchange information with the image forming devices. Among them, the remaining consumables data is one of the key consumables data, which is used to reflect the remaining quantity or remaining proportion of recording materials in the consumables.

[0048] In the prior art, the consumption of recording materials used for printing a fixed single page is used to estimate the consumption of recording materials of consumables. For example, if the consumption of recording materials for a page is set to a gram, then printing one page consumes a gram of recording materials, printing 10 pages consumes 10a gram of recording materials, printing 100 pages consumes 100a gram of recording materials, and so on. However, this estimation method is prone to large errors, causing a bad experience for users.

[0049] In order to solve the above problems, the embodiment of the present application obtains first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs from the information processing device, that is, the consumables; wherein the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs is information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted corresponding to the n types of jobs; obtains second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs; and determines the consumption information of recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs. That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, when it is necessary to estimate the recording materials, the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs can be obtained from the consumables, and the first consumption information is information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted corresponding to the n types of jobs. Since recording materials are consumed not only when printing paper but also when the main control motor starts preheating before printing the job, when the OPC idles due to the switching between pages during the job printing, and when the main control motor stops rotating before the current job printing is completed, the recording materials are consumed. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, it is necessary not only to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, but also to obtain the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, wherein the second consumption information refers to the information of the consumption of the recording materials consumed in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs. Based on the first consumption information and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, when determining the consumption information of the recording, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption of the recording materials consumed by the output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation result of the consumption of the final recording materials and improving the user experience. In addition, the embodiment of the present application separately counts the print page number information corresponding to multiple job types, and then calculates and records the consumption of recording materials consumed in addition to the consumption of recording materials consumed by the output pages corresponding to each job type. The statistically obtained consumption of additional recording materials is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation results of the final recording material consumption and improving the user experience.

[0050] In the embodiment of the present application, the image forming device is used to perform image forming operations, such as generating, printing, receiving and sending image data, and examples of image forming devices include: inkjet printers, laser printers, LED (Light Emitting Diode) printers, copiers, scanners or multi-function all-in-one fax machines, and multi-function peripherals (MFP, Multi-Functional Peripheral) that perform the above functions in a single device. The image forming device includes an image forming control unit and an image forming unit, wherein the image forming control unit is used to control the image forming device as a whole, and the image forming unit is used to form an image on a conveyed paper under the control of the image forming control unit based on the image forming data and a developer such as toner stored in the consumables.

[0051] Among them, the image formation control unit can be a SoC (System on Chip), which is a miniature system composed of components of multiple systems and is configured to control the imaging processing operations of the image forming device, such as linear correction, noise reduction, bad pixel removal, detail enhancement and other processing of image data, so as to improve the quality of image output. The image formation control unit is also used to perform processing operations related to data sending and receiving, command sending and receiving, and engine control of printing images, such as sending and receiving data, printing engine control commands, status, etc. through an interface unit (including but not limited to USB ports, wired network ports, wireless network ports or other interfaces, etc.).

[0052] Figure 1A This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided in one embodiment of the present application; please refer to Figure 1A As an example of an image forming device, the image forming unit of the image forming device may include: a developer accommodating portion 11, a developing component 12, a developer conveying element 13, a photosensitive component 14, a transfer component 15 and a fixing assembly 5, etc. The paper to be printed moves in the paper feeding direction, and after the powder feeding operation of the developer conveying element 13 and the developing operation of the developing component 12 in sequence, it arrives at the clamping area between the photosensitive component 14 and the transfer component 15 for transfer, and then passes through the fixing assembly 5 for fixing to complete the image forming operation.

[0053] Among them, the developer containing portion 11 is used to contain the developer, and the developer can be materials such as toner and carbon powder; the photosensitive component 14 can include components such as a photosensitive drum (OPC, Organic Photoconductor) and a charging roller, and the charging roller is used to charge the photosensitive drum of the developing component; the developing component 12 can include components such as a developing roller, which are used to transport the developer to the photosensitive component 14; the developer transporting element 13 can include components such as a powder feeding roller, and can also be replaced by components such as a powder pushing screw, which is used to transport the developer to the developing device 12.

[0054] Usually, the image forming device is equipped with at least one consumable material detachably mounted thereon. Figure 1A As an example, the image forming device shown in FIG. 1 is detachably mounted with four consumables (respectively Figure 1A The consumables 1, 2, 3 and 4 shown are respectively used to provide four colors of developers, namely black K, cyan C, magenta M and yellow Y, to the image forming device. Of course, in other embodiments, the number of consumables installed in the image forming device may be increased or decreased, for example, to 1 or 6, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0055] One possible implementation is that the consumables may only include the developer containing portion 11 .

[0056] One possible implementation method is that the consumables are of a split structure, for example, the consumables (1, 2, 3 or 4) include a developer box and a drum box that can be detached from each other, wherein the developer box includes a shell, a developer accommodating portion 11, a developer component 12, and a developer conveying element 13; the drum box includes a photosensitive component 14, that is, a photosensitive drum and a charging roller.

[0057] Among them, the developer containing part 11 is located in the shell, and is used to contain the developer. The developer conveying element 13 is used to convey the developer to the developing component 12, and the developing component 12 is used to convey the developer to the photosensitive drum. Among them, the developer conveying element can be not only a powder feeding roller, but also other components such as a powder pushing screw.

[0058] In one achievable manner, the consumable material may be the aforementioned developing box.

[0059] In one achievable manner, the consumable material may be the aforementioned drum cartridge.

[0060] One possible implementation is that the consumable is an integrated structure, for example, the consumable (1, 2, 3 or 4) includes a developer containing portion 11, a developer component 12, a developer conveying element 13, a photosensitive component 14 and the like.

[0061] It should be noted that the consumables mentioned in this embodiment may also be other components, parts, units in the image forming device that are easily damaged and need to be replaced, such as paper boxes, etc., which also belong to the technical solutions corresponding to the consumables protected by this application.

[0062] In order to facilitate the management of consumables, the consumables are also used in conjunction with consumable chips, which are electronic devices with storage functions. The consumable chips can also include control units (such as microcontroller units (MCU)) and other information processing components. In one embodiment, the consumable chip can be installed on the consumables. The consumable chip can be installed on the consumables before the consumables leave the factory, or it can be installed on the consumables by the user after the consumables leave the factory. In another embodiment, the consumable chip does not need to be installed on the consumables, but is fixed to the image forming device by a mounting member or an adhesive. When the image forming device uses the consumables, the contact points of the consumable chip are electrically contacted with the contact terminals corresponding to the image forming device, thereby realizing the electrical connection between the consumable chip and the image forming device. When the image forming device does not use consumables (the consumables are not in working state), the contact points of the consumable chip may be in contact or not in contact with the contact terminals corresponding to the image forming device. For example, when the consumables are installed in the image forming device but are not used, or when the consumables are taken out of the image forming device. It should be noted that when the consumables are of the aforementioned split structure including a drum box and a developer box that are detachable from each other, the drum box and the developer box are usually equipped with consumable chips respectively.

[0063] In some possible implementations, the information processing device described in the embodiments of the present application is a consumable chip or a consumable chipset. The consumable chip is specifically a circuit substrate mounted on the consumable, the circuit substrate includes a storage device and an electrical contact portion connected to the storage device, the electrical contact portion is used to connect to the electrical contact portion on the image forming device side, and the electrical contact portion can be a conductive plane, a conductive probe, a conductive coil, etc.

[0064] In one embodiment, the consumable chip of the embodiment of the present application generally includes a substrate and a plurality of contact contacts, wherein the plurality of contact contacts are arranged on the substrate, and each contact contact is respectively used to electrically connect to a plurality of contact terminals arranged on an image forming device, thereby realizing communication between the image forming device and the consumable chip, wherein the plurality of contact contacts may include VCC contacts, GND contacts, SDA contacts, and SCL contacts.

[0065] In another implementation, the consumable chip in the embodiment of the present application may further include an adapter plate in addition to the substrate, wherein the adapter plate is electrically connected to the substrate, and at least part of the aforementioned multiple contact points may be disposed on the adapter plate.

[0066] Figure 1BA schematic diagram of the connection relationship between a consumable chip and an image forming device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0067] The image forming device 100 may include: a processor 101 , a memory 102 , a power supply module 103 , a first communication interface 104 , and a first power supply interface 105 .

[0068] It is to be understood that the image forming device provided in the embodiments of the present application does not constitute a specific limitation on the image forming device. In some embodiments, the image forming device may include: Figure 1B The structure shown may have more or fewer components, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0069] The memory 102 may be used to store computer programs, and the processor 101 may call and execute the computer programs from the memory 102 .

[0070] The processor 101 may include the SoC used as the image formation control unit, and may also include one or more interfaces. The interface may include an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) interface. The I2C interface is a bidirectional synchronous serial bus, including a serial data line (SDA) and a serial clock line (SCL). In some embodiments, the processor 101 may include multiple groups of I2C buses.

[0071] The first communication interface 104 may be connected to a corresponding interface of the processor 101. For example, if the first communication interface 104 is an I2C interface, the first communication interface 104 may be connected to an I2C interface included in the processor 101.

[0072] The power supply module 103 is respectively connected to the processor 101, the memory 102, and the first power supply interface 105. The power supply module 103 can receive power input to supply power to the above components.

[0073] Optionally, the power input of the power supply module 103 can be the AC power received by the power plug of the image forming device, such as 220V AC power. The power supply module 103 can convert the AC power into the DC power required by components such as the processor 101, the memory 102, the first power supply interface 105, etc., thereby powering the above components.

[0074] The first communication interface 104 and the first power supply interface 105 may be disposed at a consumable installation position of the image forming device 100 for coupling consumable chips.

[0075] like Figure 1BAs shown, the consumable chip 110 may include: a second communication interface 111 and a second power supply interface 112 .

[0076] It should be noted that Figure 1B Only the second communication interface 111 and the second power supply interface 112 connected to the consumable chip 110 and the image forming device 100 are shown to illustrate the possible connection relationship between the consumable chip and the image forming device 100, and are not used to limit the specific implementation structure of the consumable chip. The consumable chip 110 may also include other components such as a control unit (such as a microcontroller unit (MCU)), and the details can be referred to the consumable chip provided in the subsequent embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated here.

[0077] In one embodiment, the consumable chip 110 can be set on the consumable of the image forming device 100. When the consumable is installed in the installation position set for the consumable by the image forming device 100, the consumable chip 110 can be coupled with the image forming device 100. Specifically, the second communication interface 111 of the consumable chip 110 can be electrically connected to the first communication interface 104 of the image forming device 100, thereby being electrically connected to the processor 101 of the image forming device 100 through the first communication interface 104. In one example, the first communication interface 104 and the second communication interface 111 can be I2C interfaces respectively. The second power supply interface 112 of the consumable chip 110 can be electrically connected to the first power supply interface 105 of the image forming device 100, so that the image forming device 100 can supply power to the consumable chip 110 through the first power supply interface 105 and the second power supply interface 112.

[0078] In some embodiments, the consumable chip 110 is used as the first consumable chip 110, and the first consumable chip 110 and the second consumable chip 120 form a chipset, see Figure 1C, the first consumable chip 110 and the second consumable chip 120 are in communication connection. When the image forming device 100 and the first consumable chip 110 communicate, the image forming device 100 acts as a host to send instructions to the first consumable chip 110, and the first consumable chip 110 acts as a slave to respond to the instructions sent by the host. When the first consumable chip 110 and the second consumable chip 120 communicate, the first consumable chip 110 acts as a host to send instructions to the second consumable chip 120, and the second consumable chip 120 acts as a slave to respond to the instructions sent by the first consumable chip 110. Among them, the instructions sent by the first consumable chip 110 to the second consumable chip 120 can be generated by the first consumable chip 110, or the first consumable chip 110 can forward the instructions sent by the image forming device 100. At this time, the first consumable chip 110 determines who should process the instructions sent by the image forming device 100, and when it is determined that the instructions should be processed by the second consumable chip 120, the instructions are forwarded to the second consumable chip 120. The third communication interface 113 of the first consumable chip 110 can be electrically connected to the fourth communication interface 121 of the second consumable chip 120. In one embodiment, the third communication interface 113 and the fourth communication interface 121 can be wired communication interfaces, preferably I2C interfaces, or optical, infrared or other appropriate information transmission path interfaces. In some embodiments, a switch controlled by the first consumable chip is provided in the communication link between the first consumable chip and the second consumable chip and the image forming device. When the first consumable chip determines that the first consumable chip needs to communicate with the image forming device at the current stage, the communication link between the first consumable chip and the image forming device is connected by the switch, or the communication link between the first consumable chip and the image forming device is kept connected. When the first consumable chip determines that the second consumable chip needs to communicate with the image forming device at the current stage, the communication link between the second consumable chip and the image forming device is connected by the switch. When the first consumable chip determines that the second consumable chip does not need to communicate with the image forming device at the current stage, the communication link between the second consumable chip and the image forming device is disconnected by the switch. The information processing device described in the embodiment of the present application may include a chipset, and the chipset includes a first consumable chip 110 and a second consumable chip 120 .

[0079] In some possible implementations, the information processing device described in the present application includes the aforementioned consumable chip or consumable chipset, and an auxiliary circuit module. The consumable chip is connected to the auxiliary circuit module, and can be connected through a wired communication interface, or can be connected through an optical, infrared or other appropriate information transmission path interface. The auxiliary circuit module is used to implement some functions of the consumable chip, or additional functions. The auxiliary circuit can respond to the indication of the consumable chip, or be enabled by a signal other than the instruction of the consumable chip, to provide the consumable chip or the main device with corresponding data information or waveform information and other information. The auxiliary circuit module may include logic units such as AND gates, OR gates, NOT gates, triggers, etc., and may also include circuit units of devices such as FPGA, MCU, DSP, etc. Those skilled in the art can design the auxiliary circuit module according to actual needs. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the composition and specific functions of the auxiliary circuit module.

[0080] In order to make the information processing device and consumables work together, the information processing device described in the present application can be installed on the consumables, and can be installed on the consumables before the consumables leave the factory, or can be installed on the consumables by the user after the consumables leave the factory. The information processing device described in the present application does not need to be installed on the consumables, but is fixed to the image forming device through a mounting piece or an adhesive. When the image forming device uses the consumables, the contact points of the information processing device are in electrical contact with the corresponding contact terminals of the image forming device, thereby realizing the electrical connection between the information processing device and the image forming device.

[0081] It should be noted that when the image forming device can be installed with multiple consumables, each consumable is provided with an information processing device, or some of the consumables are provided with an information processing device. That is, there can be a one-to-one relationship between the consumables and the information processing device. For example, the image forming device can be installed with 6 consumables, and each of the 6 consumables is provided with an information processing device. There can also be a one-to-many relationship between the consumables and the information processing device. For example, the image forming device can be installed with 6 consumables, and one of the consumables is provided with an information processing device. The information between the 6 consumables and the image forming device is processed by the information processing device. For example, the information processing device stores the information corresponding to the 6 consumables. For another example, the information processing device provides the image forming device with the information corresponding to the 6 consumables. For another example, the information processing device receives the information corresponding to the 6 consumables sent by the image forming device, etc.

[0082] In an embodiment of the present application, the calculation of the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables usually occurs after the completion of each job execution, that is, after the current job output is completed, it is necessary to update the cumulative consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types and the cumulative output page number information corresponding to the n job types according to the execution status of the current job. For the sake of convenience in distinguishing, the cumulative consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types before the update provided by the consumable chip is referred to as "initial first consumption information", the cumulative output page number information corresponding to the n job types before the update provided by the consumable chip is referred to as "initial output page number information", the cumulative output page number information corresponding to the n job types after the update provided by the consumable chip is referred to as "output page number information", and the cumulative consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types after the update provided by the consumable chip is referred to as "first consumption information".

[0083] It is to be supplemented that the accumulated consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs refers specifically to the accumulated information of the consumption of recording materials in the consumables up to the present in the life cycle of the consumables, and the accumulated output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs refers specifically to the accumulated number of pages printed out when the consumables are used for imaging up to the present in the life cycle of the consumables. Among them, the complete life cycle of the consumables refers to the process from the consumables leaving the factory to the recording materials in the consumables being consumed until the remaining amount is lower than the preset value. When the recording materials in the consumables are consumed until the remaining amount is lower than the preset value, it can be considered that the recording materials in the consumables have been exhausted. Among them, the current output job refers to the process in which at least one main control motor in the image forming device starts to stop rotating and prints out at least one page of the image when there is a job to be printed in the image forming device, wherein the main control motor is used to drive at least part of the components in the aforementioned image forming unit to rotate, and the aforementioned job to be printed can be a job to be printed newly received by the image forming device, or it can be an unfinished part of the previous printing task, and this application does not limit this.

[0084] See also Figure 2 , is a flow chart of a method for estimating a recording material provided in an embodiment of the present application. The above method is applied to Figure 1A and Figure 1B The image forming device shown in FIG. At least one consumable is detachably mounted in the image forming device, and the image forming device can communicate with the information processing device of the consumable. The relationship between the consumable and the information processing device can be one-to-one or many-to-one, such as Figure 2 As shown, the method includes:

[0085] S201. Acquire first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs from an information processing device.

[0086] The first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording material consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type.

[0087] The first consumption information may be directly the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type. By way of example, the first consumption information may be the cumulative points of recording material consumed by the image formed in the output pages, or the cumulative mass (unit: mg) of recording material consumed by the image formed in the output pages. It may also be a calculation factor of the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type, that is, the first consumption information of the recording material may be used to generate the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type by calculating according to a preset algorithm. By way of example, the first consumption information may be the associated information obtained by converting the cumulative points of recording material in the image formed in the output pages or the cumulative mass of recording material in the image formed in the output pages according to a preset algorithm.

[0088] In a possible implementation, the information of the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type directly obtained from the information processing device can be used as the first consumption information. For example, the information of the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to each of the n job types is directly recorded in the information processing device, that is, the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types is recorded in the information processing device. In this way, the image forming device can obtain the information of the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to each of the n job types from the information processing device. It should be supplemented that the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types can also be stored in other external devices electrically connected to the information processing device, so that the image forming device can obtain the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types from the aforementioned external devices through the information processing device, that is, the image forming device can indirectly obtain the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types through the information processing device.

[0089] In another possible implementation, the image forming device may obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively by sending a consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device so that the information processing device feeds back the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively. At this time, when the image forming device needs to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials, it may send the consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device. After receiving the consumption information acquisition instruction, the information processing device may send the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively stored in the information processing device or in the aforementioned external device to the image forming device. The image forming device may receive the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively sent by the information processing device.

[0090] Another possible implementation method is that the information processing device sends the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs based on specific conditions, that is, the information processing device does not send the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs based on the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device, but sends the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs when it determines that the specific conditions are met. Exemplarily, the information processing device updates the initial first consumption information of the recording materials to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, and sends the obtained first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs to the image forming device. It is supplemented that the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs can be stored in the information processing device or in other external devices electrically connected to the information processing device. When stored in other external devices electrically connected to the information processing device, the image forming device can obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs from the external device through the information processing device, that is, the image forming device can indirectly obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs through the information processing device.

[0091] The above content focuses on how the image forming device obtains the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs from the information processing device. Other information such as the initial number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs are obtained in a similar manner and are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0092] In an embodiment of the present application, the output job of the image forming device can be divided into P job types according to the number of pages output by the image forming device in a single job. The number of pages output by a single job is different for different job types. P is an integer greater than 1. That is, the job types of the output job of the image forming device can be divided into at least two job types according to the number of pages output by a single job of the image forming device. The n job types refer to the job types for determining the total consumption information of the recording material using the method described in the embodiment of the present application in the embodiment of the present application, and n is an integer greater than 1 and not greater than P. In order to more accurately estimate the consumption of the recording material, the value of n can be the same as P.

[0093] Among them, a single job refers to a job completed by starting and stopping the printing engine of the image forming device once, that is, when there is a job to be printed in the image forming device, at least one main control motor in the image forming device starts and stops rotating, and prints out at least one page of image.

[0094] In an embodiment of the present application, in order to facilitate the statistics of the number of output pages corresponding to each type of job, jobs whose page numbers corresponding to a single job belong to the same page number interval are classified as the same type. Among them, the number of preset page number intervals and the range of each preset page number interval can be preset according to actual needs. A single preset page number interval can contain multiple page values ​​or only one page value, which is not limited in the present application. Specifically, the number and range of preset page number intervals can be related to the structure and control logic of the image forming device, and the number or range of preset page number intervals set for different image forming devices can be different.

[0095] For example, the n types of job types include at least two of a 1-page job type, a 2-page job type, a 3-page job type, a 4-page job type, and a job type greater than 4 pages. Among them, the 1-page job type is a type that outputs 1 page in a single job, and its corresponding preset page number interval only includes a page value of 1. The 2-page job type is a type that outputs 2 pages in a single job, and its corresponding preset page number interval only includes a page value of 2. Similarly, the cases of 3-page and 4-page job types can be obtained. The job type greater than 4 pages is a type that outputs more than 4 pages in a single job, and its corresponding preset page number interval includes integer page values ​​of 5 or more. A total of 5 job types are defined above, that is, P=5. When the value of n is 2, it means that among the above five job types, only two job types use the method described in this application to determine the total consumption information of recording materials. Assuming that the 2-page job type and the 3-page job type use the method described in this application to determine the total consumption information of recording materials, other job types, namely the 1-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type greater than 4 pages, need to use other methods to determine the total consumption information of recording materials. When the value of n is P, it means that the method described in this application is used to determine the total consumption information of recording materials for all job types. The specific value of n can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not limit this.

[0096] S202. Obtain second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs.

[0097] The second consumption information of the recording material is used to determine information on the consumption of the recording material consumed in addition to the recording material consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type.

[0098] The second consumption information may be directly the information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages, illustratively, the cumulative points or cumulative mass (unit: mg) of the recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages; the second consumption information may also be a calculation factor for the consumption of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages, that is, the information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type in addition to the recording materials consumed by the output pages may be generated by calculating according to a preset algorithm using the second consumption information. illustratively, the second consumption information may be the associated information obtained by converting the cumulative points of recording materials in the output pages excluding those in the formed image according to a preset algorithm.

[0099] In some embodiments, the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the above-mentioned n types of jobs may be directly stored in the information processing device. At this time, the image forming device may directly obtain the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs from the information processing device.

[0100] In other embodiments, if the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs are stored in an external device connected to the information processing apparatus, the second consumption information can also be indirectly obtained from the external device through the information processing apparatus.

[0101] As a possible implementation manner, the image forming device may also obtain, by calculation, the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

[0102] At this time, the second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively includes:

[0103] Get the number of completed jobs corresponding to n job types;

[0104] Acquire additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n preset job types, respectively; wherein the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to any job type is determined based on the consumption of recording materials consumed in addition to the recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted in a single job corresponding to the job type when a single output job of the job type is performed;

[0105] According to the preset additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n job types, the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types is determined.

[0106] In some embodiments, the image forming device may obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to n types of jobs through an information processing device. When the number of completed jobs corresponding to n types of jobs is stored in the information processing device, the number of completed jobs corresponding to n types of jobs may be directly obtained from the information processing device. In some embodiments, after each job output is completed, the image forming device may update the number of completed jobs corresponding to n types of jobs stored in the information processing device.

[0107] Alternatively, in some embodiments, the image forming device stores the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs in its internal storage device, and updates the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs stored therein after each job output is completed. When it is necessary to obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs stored therein can be directly obtained.

[0108] In some embodiments, additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of n job types is acquired in advance, and the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the preset n job types is stored in an information processing device or other storage device, and the image forming device can acquire the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the preset n job types from the information processing device or other storage device.

[0109] Of course, the image forming device may also store additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs, and directly obtain the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs stored therein when needed.

[0110] In this way, after the image forming device obtains the number of completed jobs corresponding to n job types and the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the preset n job types, it can calculate the additional consumption of recording materials corresponding to the n job types based on the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n job types and the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the preset n job types, that is, to obtain the second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n job types.

[0111] In some embodiments, in order to reduce the complexity of data storage, the image forming device can obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs by calculation. At this time, obtaining the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs includes:

[0112] The output page number information corresponding to each of the n types of jobs is acquired from the information processing apparatus.

[0113] When the image forming device needs to calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to n types of jobs, the information of the number of pages of output jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs currently stored in the information processing device can be obtained from the information processing device. After the information of the number of pages of output jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs is obtained, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs can be determined according to the information of the number of pages of output jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs and the number of pages of single job output corresponding to each of the n types of jobs.

[0114] In some embodiments, the image forming apparatus may directly read the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs currently stored in the information processing device.

[0115] In other embodiments, the information processing device may send the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types currently stored based on specific conditions. Exemplarily, the information processing device updates the initial output page number information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types, and sends the obtained output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types to the image forming device.

[0116] In other embodiments, the image forming device may obtain the output page count information corresponding to the n types of job types currently stored in the information processing device by sending a consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device. It should be understood that the image forming device may obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types by sending a consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device, so the image forming device may simultaneously obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types stored in the information processing device and the output page count information corresponding to the n types of job types by sending a consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device once.

[0117] The image forming device can also use two consumption information acquisition instructions to respectively obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types stored in the information processing device and the output page number information corresponding to the n job types. This application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0118] In other embodiments, the image forming device may obtain the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs from other external devices, such as a relay provided between the information processing device and the image forming device. The specific process is described in the above description of obtaining the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs from the information processing device, which will not be repeated here.

[0119] As described in the above example, the information processing device stores information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, 1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type with more than 4 pages. Assume that the number of pages outputted corresponding to the 1-page job type stored in the information processing device is TP1 pages, the number of pages outputted corresponding to the 2-page job type is TP2 pages, the number of pages outputted corresponding to the 3-page job type is TP3 pages, the number of pages outputted corresponding to the 4-page job type is TP4 pages, and the number of pages outputted corresponding to the job type with more than 4 pages is TP5 pages. After obtaining the output page number information corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type with more than 4 pages, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type with more than 4 pages, can be determined according to the output page number information corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type with more than 4 pages and the number of single job output pages corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type with more than 4 pages. Since in this example, the number of single job output pages corresponding to the 1-page job type is 1 page, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 1-page job type according to the number of output pages recorded in the output page number information corresponding to the 1-page job type as TP1 pages, as follows: TP1÷1=TP1, that is, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 1-page job type is TP1 times. Similarly, if the number of pages output for a single job corresponding to a 2-page job type is 2 pages, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 2-page job type as TP2 pages based on the number of output pages recorded in the output page number information corresponding to the 2-page job type, which is TP2 / 2 times, that is, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 2-page job type is TP2 / 2 times. If the number of pages output for a single job corresponding to a 3-page job type is 3 pages, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type as TP3 pages based on the number of output pages recorded in the output page number information corresponding to the 3-page job type, which is TP3 / 3 times, that is, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type is TP3 / 3 times. The number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the 4-page job type is 4 pages. The image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 4-page job type as TP4 pages based on the number of output pages recorded in the target output page number information corresponding to the 4-page job type. The number of completed jobs is: TP4 / 4 times, that is, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 4-page job type is TP4 / 4 times.Set the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to a job type greater than 4 pages to y pages. The image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the job type greater than 4 pages as TP5 pages based on the number of output pages recorded in the output page number information corresponding to the job type greater than 4 pages. The number of completed jobs is: TP5 / y times, that is, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the job type greater than 4 pages is TP5 / y times, where y is the statistically average number of output pages of a single printing job in jobs greater than 4 pages, and y can also be set according to actual needs, and this application does not limit this. It can be understood that when the preset page number interval corresponding to a job type contains only one page value, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the job type is equal to the result of dividing the number of output pages corresponding to the job type by the only one page value contained in the preset page number interval corresponding to the job type; when the preset page number interval corresponding to the job type contains two or more page values, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the job type is equal to the result of dividing the number of output pages corresponding to the job type by the value y. Preferably, the value y is the statistically average number of output pages of a single printing job in the job type. Of course, the value y can also be set according to actual needs. For example, the value y is an empirical value. For another example, the value y is the median of two or more page values ​​contained in the preset page number interval corresponding to the job type. For another example, the value y is the average of two or more page values ​​contained in the preset page number interval corresponding to the job type, and the present application does not limit this.

[0120] After calculating the number of completed jobs corresponding to the five types of jobs, the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the preset five types of jobs can be obtained. Assume that the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the preset five types of jobs are: the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the one-page job type is a1, the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the two-page job type is a2, the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the three-page job type is a3, the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the four-page job type is a4, and the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the job types greater than four pages is a5. At this time, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the four types of jobs respectively. That is, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the one-page job type as TP1*a1 based on the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the one-page job type as a1 and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the one-page job type. Similarly, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the two-page job type as TP2 / 2*a2 based on the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the two-page job type as a2 and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the two-page job type. The image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the 3-page job type as TP3 / 3*a3 based on the additional consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the 3-page job type as a3 and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type. The image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the 4-page job type as TP4 / 4*a4 based on the additional consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the 4-page job type as a4 and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 4-page job type. If the number of completed jobs corresponding to the job type is greater than 4 pages, the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type greater than 4 pages is calculated as TP5 / y*a5, where a5 is the statistically average value of the additional consumption of the recording material for a single printing job in jobs greater than 4 pages.

[0121] S203 . Determine total consumption information of recording materials in consumables according to first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

[0122] In an embodiment of the present application, after the image forming device obtains the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs, the consumption of the recording materials in the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs can be added together, and the total consumption of the recording materials in the consumables can be calculated as the final estimated total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables.

[0123] As described above, the second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the five types of jobs, namely, 1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type greater than 4 pages, obtained by the image forming device are TP1*a1, TP2 / 2*a2, TP3 / 3*a3, TP4 / 4*a4, and TP5 / y*a5. Assume that the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the five types of jobs, namely, 1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type greater than 4 pages, obtained by the image forming device are TD1, TD2, TD3, TD4, and TD5. That is, TD1 represents the total consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to the output job of the 1-page job type read by the image forming device from the information processing device. TD2 represents the total consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to the output job of the 2-page job type read by the image forming device from the information processing device. TD3 represents the total consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to the output job of the 3-page job type read by the image forming device from the information processing device. TD4 represents the total consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to the output job of the 4-page job type read by the image forming device from the information processing device. TD5 represents the total consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to the output job of the job type greater than 4 pages read by the image forming device from the information processing device. At this time, the image forming device can estimate the consumption information of the recording materials based on the second consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type greater than 4 pages, respectively. That is, the image forming device can calculate the total consumption of the recording materials by adding the consumption in the second consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the five types of job types, namely, the 1-page job type, the 2-page job type, the 3-page job type, the 4-page job type, and the job type greater than 4 pages. The calculated total consumption of the recording materials is determined as the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables. At this time, the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is (TP1*a1+TD1)+(TP2 / 2*a2+TD2)+(TP3 / 3*a3+TD3)+(TP4 / 4*a4+TD4)+(TP5 / y*a5+TD5).

[0124] It should be supplemented that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S201 and S202.

[0125] In the embodiment of the present application, when determining the recorded consumption information, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages output corresponding to the n types of jobs, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation result of the total consumption of the final recording materials and improving the user experience. In addition, the embodiment of the present application respectively counts the number of printed pages corresponding to various job types, and then respectively calculates and records the consumption of recording materials consumed in addition to the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages output corresponding to various job types. The consumption of the additionally consumed recording materials obtained by counting is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation result of the consumption of the final recording materials and improving the user experience.

[0126] In the embodiment of the present application, before determining the total consumption information of the recording material in the consumables, the image forming device may verify whether the information processing device meets expectations in order to ensure the accuracy of the total consumption information determination. Figure 2 The method shown also includes a step for determining whether the information processing device meets expectations. Two implementation methods for determining whether the information processing device meets expectations are specifically introduced below.

[0127] See also Figure 4 , an implementation method for determining whether an information processing device meets expectations, referred to as method 1, may include the following steps:

[0128] S401. The image forming apparatus obtains, from an information processing device, initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs and initial output page count information corresponding to n types of jobs.

[0129] In an embodiment of the present application, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs are provided to the image forming device by the information processing device. In an embodiment of the present application, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs can be directly stored in the information processing device or an external device connected to the information processing device, or can be the result pre-calculated and generated by the information processing device.

[0130] S402: The image forming apparatus obtains identification information of the information processing device.

[0131] In some embodiments, the image forming device can directly read the identification information stored in the information processing device. In other embodiments, the image forming device can directly or indirectly send an identification information acquisition instruction to the information processing device, and after receiving the identification information acquisition instruction, the information processing device directly or indirectly sends its identification information to the image forming device.

[0132] It is understandable that the identification information of the information processing device is used to identify the corresponding information processing device, for example, it may be the serial number of the information processing device.

[0133] S403. The image forming apparatus obtains historical output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and historical first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs according to the identification information of the information processing device.

[0134] In the embodiment of the present application, after the image forming device acquires the identification information of the information processing device, when the image forming device stores the historical output page count information corresponding to n types of job types and the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of job types, the image forming device can search the historical output page count information corresponding to n types of job types and the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of job types from the historical consumption information of each information processing device stored in the image forming device according to the identification information of the information processing device. That is, the image forming device can search the historical output page count information corresponding to n types of job types and the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of job types from the historical consumption information stored in the image forming device according to the identification information of the acquired information processing device.

[0135] In some embodiments, when historical output page count information corresponding to n types of jobs and historical first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs are stored in a cloud server or other external device, the image forming device can obtain the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and historical first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs in the cloud server or other external device according to the identification information of the information processing device.

[0136] S404, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs;

[0137] In the embodiment of the present application, the image forming device compares the historical output page count information corresponding to any one of the n types of job types and the initial output page count information corresponding to the job type in the n types of job types, obtains multiple first comparison results, and determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the multiple first comparison results. For example, when there is a comparison result among the multiple first comparison results that indicates that the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of job types is less than the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of job types, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations and the consumables may be abnormal;

[0138] When the multiple first comparison results all indicate that the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs is greater than or equal to the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations and the consumables are normal. In the embodiment of the present application, when the consumables are abnormal, the information processing device cannot store data correctly, and therefore, the total consumption information of the recording material calculated based on the data accessed by the information processing device is inaccurate.

[0139] For example, the historical numbers of output pages corresponding to the n job types are 11 pages, 12 pages, 15 pages, 16 pages, and 20 pages, respectively, and the single job output page numbers of the corresponding job types are 1 page, 2 pages, 3 pages, 4 pages, and more than 4 pages; the initial numbers of output pages corresponding to the n job types are 9 pages, 12 pages, 12 pages, 20 pages, and 20 pages, respectively, then the multiple first comparison results respectively indicate that the historical number of output pages corresponding to the 1-page job type is greater than the initial number of output pages, the historical number of output pages corresponding to the 2-page job type is equal to the initial number of output pages, the historical number of output pages corresponding to the 3-page job type is greater than the initial number of output pages, the historical number of output pages corresponding to the 4-page job type is less than the initial number of output pages, and the historical number of output pages corresponding to the job type with a single job output number of more than 4 pages is equal to the initial number of output pages, that is, among the multiple first comparison results, there is at least one comparison result indicating that the historical number of output pages corresponding to a certain job type is greater than the initial number of output pages, then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations.

[0140] S405. The image forming apparatus determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

[0141] In an embodiment of the present application, the image forming device compares the historical first consumption information corresponding to any one of the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n types of jobs, obtains a plurality of second comparison results, and determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the plurality of second comparison results. For example, when there is a comparison result indicating that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n types of jobs is less than the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n types of jobs, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations and the information processing device may be abnormal.

[0142] When the multiple second comparison results all indicate that the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs is greater than or equal to the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations and the consumables are normal. In the embodiment of the present application, when the consumables are abnormal, the information processing device cannot store data correctly, and therefore, the total consumption information of the recording materials calculated based on the data accessed by the information processing device is inaccurate.

[0143] It is supplemented that, for steps S404 and S405, in the embodiment of the present application, only one of the two steps can be executed, or both can be executed. That is, only the steps related to "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs" can be executed, that is, the image forming device only needs to obtain the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the acquired historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs; or only the steps related to "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs" can be executed, that is, the image forming device only needs to obtain the historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the acquired historical output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs. The equipment only needs to obtain the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the acquired historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs; or both execute steps related to "determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs", and also execute steps related to "determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs". That is to say, whether the information processing device meets expectations is determined only based on the aforementioned multiple first comparison results or multiple second results. When multiple first comparison results all indicate that the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs is greater than or equal to the comparison result of the historical output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations, or when the second comparison results all indicate that the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs is greater than or equal to the historical first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations. When both S404 and S405 are executed, the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S404 and S405.

[0144] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S401 and S403.

[0145] In order to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, in another embodiment, referred to as "method 2", the image forming device may further include the following steps before determining the total consumption information of the recording material in the consumables. Figure 4 :

[0146] S401. The image forming apparatus obtains, from an information processing device, initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs and initial output page count information corresponding to n types of jobs.

[0147] It is understandable that S401 here is consistent with the aforementioned S401, and the specific introduction is not repeated here.

[0148] S406. After completing the current output job, the image forming device sends the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job to the information processing apparatus.

[0149] It can be understood that the information processing device receives the page increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device, and will update the initial first consumption information of the recording material and the initial output page number information. Specifically, the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job is added to the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job; and the page increment information corresponding to the current output job is added to the initial output page number information corresponding to the current output job.

[0150] Specifically, the information processing device can directly determine the corresponding job type based on the page increment information corresponding to the current output job. For example, the page increment corresponding to the current output job is 3 pages, the first consumption increment of the recording material corresponding to the current output job is 774 kilopoints, or the first consumption increment of the recording material corresponding to the previous output job is 17 milligrams. Then, 3 pages are added to the initial output page number information corresponding to the 3-page job type, 774 kilopoints are added to the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the 3-page job type, or 17 milligrams are added to the initial first consumption information of the 3-page job type.

[0151] Optionally, after the image forming device completes the current output job, in addition to sending the page count increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job, the image forming device may also send the job type information corresponding to the current output job. Thus, the information processing device may directly update the initial first consumption information and the initial output page count information of the corresponding recording material according to the job type information corresponding to the current output job.

[0152] Step S412: After completing the current output job, the image forming device obtains first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs from the information processing device.

[0153] In the embodiment of the present application, the first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively obtained by the image forming device in the information processing device includes the first consumption information of recording materials of the corresponding job type in the n types of jobs determined by the information processing device according to the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job. The specific acquisition process can be referred to step S201 and step S301-step S302, which will not be repeated here.

[0154] Step S413: After completing the current output job, the image forming device obtains information on the number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs from the information processing apparatus.

[0155] In the embodiment of the present application, the output page count information corresponding to the n types of job types respectively obtained by the image forming device in the information processing device includes the output page count information of the corresponding job type in the n types of job types determined by the information processing device according to the page count increment information corresponding to the current output job. The specific acquisition process can be referred to step S201, and steps S301-S302, which will not be repeated here.

[0156] Step S414: The image forming apparatus determines whether the information processing device meets expectations.

[0157] In an embodiment of the present application, before determining the total consumption information of recording materials in consumables, the image forming device may verify whether the information processing device meets expectations in order to ensure the accuracy of the total consumption information.

[0158] As a possible implementation manner, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations including:

[0159] The image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs and initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs;

[0160] Or, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs;

[0161] Or, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, the output page number information corresponding to the n job types, and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n job types.

[0162] In an embodiment of the present application, the image forming device compares the output page number information corresponding to any one of n job types with the initial output page number information corresponding to the job type among the n job types to obtain multiple third comparison results, compares the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to any one of the n job types with the initial first consumption information corresponding to the job type among the n job types to obtain multiple fourth comparison results, and determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the multiple third comparison results and the multiple fourth comparison results. For example, when there is no comparison result among multiple third comparison results indicating that the output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types is greater than the initial output page count information corresponding to the n job types, or when there is a comparison result among multiple third comparison results indicating that the output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types is less than the initial output page count information corresponding to the n job types, or there is no comparison result among multiple fourth comparison results indicating that the first consumption information corresponding to each of the n job types is greater than the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, or there is a comparison result among multiple fourth comparison results indicating that the first consumption information corresponding to each of the n job types is less than the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations and the consumables may be abnormal; when there is a comparison result among multiple third comparison results indicating that n job types If the initial output page count information corresponding to each job type in the industry type is less than the output page count information corresponding to the job type in the n job types, and there is no comparison result indicating that the initial output page count information corresponding to each job type in the n job types is greater than the output page count information corresponding to the job type in the n job types among the multiple third comparison results, and there is a comparison result indicating that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each job type in the n job types is less than the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type among the multiple fourth comparison results, and there is no comparison result indicating that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each job type in the n job types is greater than the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type among the multiple fourth comparison results, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations and the consumables are normal. In the embodiment of the present application, when the consumables are abnormal, the information processing device of the consumables cannot store data correctly, and therefore, the total consumption information of the recording material calculated based on the data accessed by the information processing device is inaccurate.

[0163] Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present application, whether the information processing device meets expectations can be determined only based on the aforementioned multiple third comparison results or multiple fourth comparison results. When there is no comparison result in the multiple third comparison results indicating that the output page number information corresponding to the n job types is greater than the initial output page number information corresponding to the n job types, or when there is a comparison result in the multiple third comparison results indicating that the output page number information corresponding to the n job types is less than the initial output page number information corresponding to the n job types, then it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations. Or when there is a comparison result in the multiple fourth comparison results indicating that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each job type in the n job types is less than the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type, and there is no comparison result in the multiple fourth comparison results indicating that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each job type in the n job types is greater than the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type, then it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0164] As another possible implementation, the image forming device determining whether the information processing device meets expectations may include:

[0165] Method a: The image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job, and the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job; or,

[0166] Mode b: The image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job; or,

[0167] Method c: The image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job, the output page number information corresponding to the n job types, the initial output page number information corresponding to the n job types, and the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job.

[0168] Specifically, method a may include the following steps:

[0169] The image forming device determines the job type corresponding to the current output job according to the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming that the job type is job type X;

[0170] The image forming device determines, based on the job type X, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types, the initial first consumption information that needs to be resized and the initial first consumption information that does not need to be resized;

[0171] For the initial first consumption information that needs to be resized, the image forming device adds the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job on the basis of the initial first consumption information to obtain the basic first consumption information corresponding to the job type X. For the initial first consumption information that does not need to be resized, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the corresponding job type is directly determined as the basic first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the job type, thereby obtaining the basic first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n job types respectively.

[0172] Compare the basic first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each job type in n job types with the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the job type to obtain n fifth comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n fifth comparison results indicating that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when the n fifth comparison results all indicate that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0173] Specifically, method b comprises the following steps:

[0174] The image forming device determines the job type corresponding to the current output job according to the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming that the job type is job type X;

[0175] The image forming device determines, based on the job type X, the initial output page number information that needs to be adjusted and the initial output page number information that does not need to be adjusted among the initial output page numbers corresponding to the n job types respectively;

[0176] For the initial output page number information that needs to be resized, the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job is added to the initial output page number information to obtain the basic output page number information corresponding to the job type X; for the initial output page number information that does not need to be resized, the initial output page number information corresponding to the corresponding job type is directly determined as the basic output page number information corresponding to the job type, thereby obtaining the basic output page number information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types respectively;

[0177] Compare the basic output page count information corresponding to each job type among n job types with the output page count information corresponding to the job type to obtain n sixth comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n sixth comparison results indicating that the basic output page count information and the output page count information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when the n sixth comparison results all indicate that the basic output page count information and the output page count information corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0178] For method c, whether the information processing device meets expectations is determined based on the aforementioned n fifth comparison results and n sixth comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n fifth comparison results indicating that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, or there is a comparison result among the n sixth comparison results indicating that the basic output page number information and the output page number information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when the n fifth comparison results all indicate that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to any job type are consistent, and the n sixth comparison results all indicate that the basic output page number information and the output page number information corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0179] Of course, methods a, b, and c may also include the following steps respectively.

[0180] Specifically, method a includes the following steps:

[0181] The image forming device determines the job type corresponding to the current output job according to the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming that the job type is job type X;

[0182] The first consumption information of the recording material of the job type X is subtracted from the corresponding initial first consumption information to obtain the first consumption difference information corresponding to the job type X. For the initial first consumption information that does not need to be adjusted, the first consumption difference information of the recording material corresponding to the corresponding job type is directly determined to be 0, thereby obtaining the first consumption difference information of the recording material corresponding to the n job types respectively;

[0183] Compare the first consumption difference information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types with the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the corresponding n job types to obtain n seventh comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n seventh comparison results indicating that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when the n seventh comparison results all indicate that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0184] Specifically, method b includes the following steps:

[0185] The image forming device determines the job type corresponding to the current output job according to the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming that the job type is job type X;

[0186] Subtract the corresponding initial output page number information from the output page number information of job type X to obtain the output page number difference information corresponding to job type X. For the initial output page number information that does not need to be resized, directly determine the output page number difference information corresponding to the corresponding job type as 0, thereby obtaining the output page number difference information corresponding to n types of job types respectively.

[0187] Compare the output page count difference information corresponding to each job type among n job types and the page count increment information corresponding to the corresponding n job types to obtain n eighth comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n eighth comparison results indicating that the output page count difference information and the page count increment information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when the n eighth comparison results all indicate that the output page count difference information and the page count increment information corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0188] For method c, whether the information processing device meets expectations is determined based on the aforementioned n seventh comparison results and n eighth comparison results. When there is a comparison result among the n seventh comparison results indicating that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, or there is a comparison result among the n eighth comparison results indicating that the output page number difference information and the page number increment information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; when n seventh comparison results all indicate that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to any job type are consistent, and n eighth comparison results all indicate that the output page number difference information and the page number increment information corresponding to any job type are consistent, then it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0189] In the embodiment of the present application, when the information processing device meets expectations, it indicates that the data storage and reading functions of the information processing device are normal, and the data provided by the information processing device can be used according to the embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 The method shown is used to calculate the total consumption of recording materials in the consumables; when the information processing device does not meet expectations, it indicates that the data storage and / or reading function of the information processing device is abnormal, and the data provided by the information processing device is used according to Figure 2 The method shown does not accurately calculate the total consumption of recording materials in the consumables.

[0190] For example, the initial number of output pages corresponding to the n job types obtained by the image forming device are 11 pages, 12 pages, 15 pages, 16 pages, and 17 pages respectively, and the number of single job output pages of the corresponding job types is 1 page, 2 pages, 3 pages, 4 pages, and more than 4 pages; the page increment information corresponding to the current output job is 2 pages, then the basic number of output pages corresponding to the n job types is determined to be 11 pages, 14 pages, 15 pages, 16 pages, and 17 pages respectively. Assuming that the number of output pages corresponding to the n job types provided by the information processing device are 11 pages, 12 pages, 15 pages, 16 pages, and 17 pages, the basic number of output pages and the number of output pages corresponding to each job type in the n job types are compared to obtain multiple comparison results, and the multiple comparison results are consistent, inconsistent, consistent, consistent, and consistent, respectively. Therefore, it can be determined that there are inconsistent comparison results, and then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations.

[0191] It should be noted that, in order to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, of the two implementation methods provided above, method 1 and method 2, only one of the implementation methods can be used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, or the two implementation methods can be used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations in sequence. Specifically, for using two implementation methods to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations in sequence, one of the methods can be used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations first. If the detection result is that the information processing device does not meet expectations, there is no need to use another method to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, and it can be directly determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations, thereby saving detection steps.

[0192] When only one of the implementation methods is used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, after the information processing device is detected to meet expectations using the implementation method described in method one, the image forming device then executes the aforementioned S201 to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, that is, after the information processing device is detected to meet expectations using the method described in method one, the image forming device sends the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and / or the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job to the information processing device, that is, Figure 4S406 shown. After the information processing device is detected to be not as expected by using this implementation method, the image forming device does not execute the aforementioned S201. Optionally, the image forming device reports an error at this time. When the information processing device is detected to be as expected by using the implementation method described in the second method, the image forming device then executes the aforementioned S203, and determines the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs; after the information processing device detected by this method is not as expected, the image forming device does not execute the aforementioned S203.

[0193] It should be noted that, since the information processing device is used in conjunction with consumables by being installed on consumables, etc., detecting whether the information processing device meets expectations by at least one of the above-mentioned methods one and two can also be understood as detecting whether the consumables corresponding to the information processing device meet expectations. Specifically, when the above-mentioned method one is used to determine that the information processing device meets expectations, it is determined that the corresponding consumables meet expectations; when the above-mentioned method one is used to determine that the information processing device does not meet expectations, it is determined that the corresponding consumables do not meet expectations; when the above-mentioned method two is used to determine that the information processing device meets expectations, it is determined that the corresponding consumables meet expectations; when the above-mentioned method two is used to determine that the information processing device does not meet expectations, it is determined that the corresponding consumables do not meet expectations.

[0194] See also Figure 3 FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for estimating recording materials provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to an information processing device. Figure 3 As shown, the method includes:

[0195] Step S301: receiving a consumption information acquisition instruction sent by an image forming device.

[0196] In the embodiment of the present application, the information processing device may directly or indirectly receive the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device. When the information processing device indirectly receives the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device, for example, the information processing device receives the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device through a relay provided between the image forming device and the information processing device.

[0197] Step S302: according to the consumption information acquisition instruction, output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs are sent to the image forming device.

[0198] The description of the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs can be referred to the aforementioned S201 and will not be repeated here.

[0199] As a possible implementation, the output page number information corresponding to the n job types, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types are also used to determine whether the information processing device meets expectations.

[0200] That is, in an image forming device, the information processing device can be detected to see whether it meets expectations through the output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs, so as to ensure the accuracy of the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables determined by it.

[0201] For an explanation of how the image forming device specifically detects whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types, please refer to the above description of determining whether the information processing device meets expectations, which will not be repeated here. It should be noted that in a specific implementation, the information processing device may also send the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types to the image forming device based on specific conditions instead of obtaining the consumption information instruction. For example, the information processing device updates the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types, obtains the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types, and sends the obtained output page number information corresponding to the n types of job types to the image forming device. The information processing device updates the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types, obtains the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types, and sends the obtained first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of job types to the image forming device.

[0202] Before S302, it also includes receiving the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device. The following specifically describes how the information processing device determines the output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs based on the received page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, and how the information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to n types of jobs based on the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job. See Figure 4 .

[0203] The following first introduces how the information processing device determines the output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs based on the received page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, which specifically includes the following steps.

[0204] S407: The information processing apparatus determines, based on the received page increment information, a first job type corresponding to the page increment information.

[0205] It can be understood that when the image forming device sends the page increment information corresponding to the current output job to the information processing device, the information processing device can directly determine the job type corresponding to the current output job based on the page increment information corresponding to the current output job. Exemplarily, the page increment information received by the information processing device is 2 pages, that is, the current output job prints out 2 pages, and the corresponding first job type is a 2-page job type.

[0206] S408: The information processing apparatus obtains initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or associated information of the initial output page number information.

[0207] The initial output page number information or the associated information of the initial output page number information of the corresponding job type among the n job types is stored in a first preset storage device, and the first preset storage device can be set in the information processing device or an external device connected to the information processing device. The information processing device specifically obtains the initial output page number information or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type from the first preset storage device, wherein the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type refers to the result calculated and generated according to a preset algorithm based on the initial output page number corresponding to the first job type.

[0208] Of course, the information processing device may first obtain the initial output page number information or the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and then execute S407. It can be understood that the initial output page number information or the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs include the initial output page number information or the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, that is, the step of obtaining the initial output page number information or the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs includes S408.

[0209] S410. The information processing apparatus determines output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the received page number increment information.

[0210] That is, the information processing device updates the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the aforementioned page number increment information received, or updates the conversion information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the aforementioned page number increment information received, to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

[0211] There are several ways for the information processing device to determine the output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the received page number increment information:

[0212] Mode d: The information processing device obtains the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, and directly adds the page number increment information corresponding to the first job type on the basis of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the first job type. Exemplarily, the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type is represented as 3000 pages, and the page number increment information corresponding to the first job type is represented as 2 pages, then the output page number information corresponding to the first job type obtained by calculation is represented as 3002 pages.

[0213] Mode e: The information processing device obtains the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, converts the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to the preset first algorithm, updates the converted initial output page number information according to the aforementioned page number increment information, and obtains the output page number information corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the page number increment information corresponding to the first job type is directly added to the converted initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0214] Mode f: The information processing device obtains the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, converts the received page number increment information corresponding to the first job type into the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the preset second algorithm, and then updates the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the converted page number increment information, and obtains the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type, and further obtains the output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the associated information of the page number increment information corresponding to the first job type can be directly added on the basis of the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, and the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type can be obtained, and then the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type can be converted into the output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the preset algorithm. The associated information of the initial output page number corresponding to the first job type is the result calculated and generated according to the preset algorithm based on the associated information of the initial output page number corresponding to the first job type.

[0215] As a supplement, the above content introduces that the information processing device determines the initial output page number information that needs to be adjusted among n job types based on the received page number increment information, and then adjusts the output page number corresponding to the first job type based on the page number increment information, while the output page number information corresponding to other job types among the n job types does not need to be adjusted and remains consistent with the initial output page number information corresponding to other job types among the n job types previously provided to the image forming device.

[0216] The following specifically includes the following steps on how the information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs based on the received page count increment information and the first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job.

[0217] S407: The information processing apparatus determines, based on the received page increment information, a first job type corresponding to the page increment information.

[0218] S407 here is consistent with the aforementioned S407. Please refer to the description of the aforementioned S407 for details, which will not be repeated here.

[0219] S409: The information processing apparatus obtains initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type or associated information of the initial first consumption information.

[0220] Among them, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials of the corresponding job types among the n job types or the associated information of the initial first consumption information is stored in a second preset storage device, and the second preset storage device can be set in the information processing device or an external device connected to the information processing device. The information processing device specifically obtains the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information from the second preset storage device, wherein the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type refers to the result calculated according to a preset algorithm based on the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the first job type.

[0221] Of course, the information processing device may first obtain the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs or the associated information of the initial first consumption information, and then execute S407. It can be understood that the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs or the associated information of the initial first consumption information includes the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the first job type or the associated information of the initial first consumption information, that is, the step of obtaining the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs or the associated information of the initial first consumption information includes S409.

[0222] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S408 and S409.

[0223] S411. The information processing apparatus determines first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type based on the aforementioned first consumption increment information.

[0224] That is, the information processing device updates the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type based on the received first consumption incremental information, or updates the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type based on the received first consumption incremental information, to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

[0225] The first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type determined by the information processing device according to the first consumption increment information may be in the following ways:

[0226] Mode g: The information processing device obtains the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, and directly adds the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type on the basis of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, so as to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type. Exemplarily, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is expressed as 7740 kilopoints, and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is expressed as 774 kilopoints, then the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is calculated to be 8514 kilopoints; Exemplarily, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is expressed as 200 milligrams, and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is expressed as 17 milligrams, then the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is calculated to be 217 milligrams.

[0227] Mode h: The information processing device obtains the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, converts the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type into the initial first consumption information of the recording material according to the preset third algorithm, updates the converted initial first consumption information of the recording material according to the received first consumption increment information of the recording material, and obtains the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is added to the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is obtained.

[0228] Method i: obtaining the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, converting the received first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type into the association information of the first consumption increment information of the recording material according to the preset fourth algorithm, and then updating the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material of the first job type according to the association information of the converted first consumption increment information, obtaining the association information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, and further obtaining the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the association information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the association information of the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type can be directly added on the basis of the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, obtaining the association information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type, and then converting the obtained association information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type into the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the preset algorithm. Among them, the association information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type is the result calculated and generated according to the preset algorithm based on the association information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type.

[0229] As a supplement, the above content introduces that the information processing device determines the initial first consumption information that needs to be adjusted among n job types based on the received first consumption increment information, and then adjusts the first consumption information corresponding to the first job type based on the first consumption increment information, while the first consumption information corresponding to other job types among the n job types does not need to be adjusted and remains consistent with the first consumption information corresponding to other job types among the n job types previously provided to the image forming device.

[0230] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S410 and S411.

[0231] According to the scheme provided by the above embodiment, it should be noted that, since the information processing device is used in conjunction with the consumables by being installed on the consumables, the information obtained by the image forming device from the consumables, such as the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the serial number of the information processing device, etc., are all provided by the information processing device of the consumables. The information sent by the image forming device to the consumables, such as the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job, etc., are all obtained by the information processing device of the consumables.

[0232] It should be supplemented that when there is a many-to-one relationship between consumables and information processing devices, for example, the image forming device can be installed with 6 consumables, one of which is provided with an information processing device, and the information between the 6 consumables and the image forming device is processed by the information processing device. For example, the image forming device can obtain from the information processing device the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the 6 consumables and the initial number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the 6 consumables; after the image forming device completes the current output job, it sends to the information processing device the page number increment information corresponding to the 6 consumables corresponding to the current output job and the 6 consumables corresponding to the current output job. The information processing device receives the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the six consumables respectively; the information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the six consumables according to the received page number increment information corresponding to the six consumables; the information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the six consumables according to the received first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the six consumables respectively; the information processing device receives the consumption information acquisition instruction corresponding to the six consumables sent by the image forming device, and sends the output page number information corresponding to the n job types corresponding to the six consumables and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types corresponding to the six consumables to the image forming device according to the consumption information acquisition instruction.

[0233] See also Figure 5 The figure shows a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The image forming device is provided with at least one consumable detachably mounted therein, and an information processing device is disposed on at least one consumable. The image forming device can communicate with the information processing device, such as Figure 5 As shown, the image forming device also includes:

[0234] The acquisition unit 501 is used to acquire first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs from the information processing device; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different;

[0235] The acquisition unit 501 is further used to acquire second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively; wherein the aforementioned second consumption information is used to determine the information on the consumption amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type in addition to the recording materials consumed by the outputted pages;

[0236] The processing unit 502 is used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the aforementioned consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs.

[0237] As a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit 501 is also used to obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to the aforementioned n job types; obtain the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types respectively; wherein the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to any job type is based on the consumption of the recording materials consumed when a single output job of this job type is performed, in addition to the recording materials consumed by the number of pages of a single job output corresponding to this job type; based on the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types respectively and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the aforementioned n job types respectively, the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types respectively is determined.

[0238] As a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit 501 is also used to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs from the aforementioned information processing device; based on the obtained output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs and the number of single job output pages corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs, the number of completed jobs corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs is determined.

[0239] As a possible implementation method, the acquisition unit 501 is also used to obtain the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs from the aforementioned information processing device, and to obtain the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs from the aforementioned information processing device.

[0240] As a possible implementation, the image forming device further includes:

[0241] The sending unit 503 is used to send the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job to the information processing device; wherein the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job includes the output page number information corresponding to the current output job; the aforementioned first consumption increment information includes the information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages output by the current output job.

[0242] As a possible implementation manner, the acquisition unit 501 is specifically configured to:

[0243] After the current output job is completed, first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs is obtained from the information processing device;

[0244] The acquisition unit 501 is further specifically configured to: after completing the current output job, acquire the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively from the aforementioned information processing device.

[0245] As a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 502 is further configured to:

[0246] Determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, first consumption increment information, and page count increment information;

[0247] or,

[0248] Determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the page count increment information;

[0249] or,

[0250] Determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, first consumption increment information, output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial output page count information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and page increment information;

[0251] The processing unit 502 is also specifically used to: if the aforementioned consumable chip meets expectations, determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the aforementioned consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations.

[0252] The present application also provides a consumable chip, which is used to be installed on a consumable, and the consumable can be detachably installed on an image forming device. The consumable chip includes: a control unit, which is used to:

[0253] sending to the image forming device information of the number of pages outputted corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs;

[0254] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the aforementioned consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the output page numbers of a single job corresponding to the aforementioned n job types are different.

[0255] As a possible implementation, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs are also used to determine whether the aforementioned consumable chip meets expectations.

[0256] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is further used for:

[0257] receiving the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the aforementioned image forming device;

[0258] Determine the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information;

[0259] The first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are determined based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page count increment information.

[0260] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0261] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0262] Acquire the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information;

[0263] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0264] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0265] The initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information is obtained from a first preset storage device, and the first preset storage device is set in the consumable chip or an external device connected to the consumable chip.

[0266] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0267] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0268] Acquire initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type or associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial first consumption information;

[0269] The first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0270] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0271] The initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are obtained from a second preset storage device, and the aforementioned second preset storage device is set in the aforementioned consumable chip or an external device connected to the aforementioned consumable chip.

[0272] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0273] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0274] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0275] Converting the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to a preset first algorithm;

[0276] The initial output page number information obtained by conversion is updated according to the aforementioned page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0277] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0278] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0279] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0280] Converting the received page number increment information into associated information corresponding to the page number increment information according to a preset second algorithm;

[0281] updating the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0282] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0283] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0284] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0285] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type;

[0286] Converting the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type into the initial first consumption information according to a preset third algorithm;

[0287] The initial first consumption information obtained by the conversion is updated according to the aforementioned first consumption increment information to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0288] As a possible implementation manner, the control unit is specifically configured to:

[0289] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0290] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0291] Converting the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information according to a preset fourth algorithm;

[0292] updating the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type;

[0293] The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is obtained according to the associated information of the first consumption information.

[0294] As a possible implementation method, the consumable chip also includes:

[0295] The second communication interface is used to send output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs and / or first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs to the image forming device.

[0296] As a possible implementation method, the consumable chip also includes:

[0297] The storage unit is used to store the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs, and / or the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs.

[0298] Corresponding to the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides an information processing device, including:

[0299] The first sending module is used for:

[0300] Information on the number of output pages corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are sent to an image forming device; information on the number of output pages corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are used to determine total consumption information of recording materials in consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs is different.

[0301] As a possible implementation manner, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, are also used to determine whether the consumables meet expectations.

[0302] As a possible implementation, the information processing device further includes:

[0303] The first receiving module is used to receive the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the aforementioned image forming device.

[0304] As a possible implementation, the information processing device further includes:

[0305] The page number updating module is used to determine the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information.

[0306] As a possible implementation, the information processing device further includes:

[0307] The consumption information updating module is used to determine the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information.

[0308] As a possible implementation method, the aforementioned page number updating module is specifically used to:

[0309] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0310] Acquire the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information;

[0311] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0312] As a possible implementation method, the aforementioned page number updating module is specifically used to:

[0313] The initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial output page number information is obtained from a first preset storage device, and the aforementioned first preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0314] As a possible implementation, the consumption information updating module is specifically used to:

[0315] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0316] Acquire the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information;

[0317] The first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0318] As a possible implementation, the consumption information updating module is specifically used to:

[0319] The initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are obtained from a second preset storage device, and the aforementioned second preset storage device is arranged in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0320] As a possible implementation method, the aforementioned page number updating module is specifically used to:

[0321] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0322] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0323] Converting the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to a preset first algorithm;

[0324] The initial output page number information obtained by conversion is updated according to the aforementioned page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0325] As a possible implementation method, the aforementioned page number updating module is specifically used to:

[0326] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0327] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0328] Converting the received page number increment information into associated information corresponding to the page number increment information according to a preset second algorithm;

[0329] updating the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0330] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0331] As a possible implementation, the consumption information updating module is specifically used to:

[0332] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0333] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type;

[0334] Converting the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type into the initial first consumption information according to a preset third algorithm;

[0335] The initial first consumption information obtained by the conversion is updated according to the aforementioned first consumption increment information to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0336] As a possible implementation, the consumption information updating module is specifically used to:

[0337] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0338] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0339] Converting the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information according to a preset fourth algorithm;

[0340] updating the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type;

[0341] The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is obtained according to the associated information of the first consumption information.

[0342] As a possible implementation, the aforementioned first sending module is further used to send initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs and initial output page number information corresponding to n types of jobs to the aforementioned image forming device.

[0343] As a possible implementation manner, the first sending module is further configured to send identification information of the information processing device to the image forming apparatus.

[0344] In the embodiment of the present application, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number updating module and the consumption information updating module in the information processing device can be implemented by software or by hardware.

[0345] Specifically, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module can be circuit units including devices such as FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), MCU (Microcontroller Unit), DSP (digital signal processor), etc. The first sending module can also realize its function by building a specific waveform generator circuit, and the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module can also realize the corresponding functions by building a digital logic calculator. This application does not further limit the specific implementation form of each module.

[0346] In one possible implementation, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module are all included in the aforementioned consumable chip. Preferably, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module are all included in the control unit of the aforementioned consumable chip.

[0347] In a possible implementation, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number updating module and the consumption information updating module are other modules arranged on the consumables and different from the consumable chips, which is not limited in the present application.

[0348] In one possible implementation, at least one of the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module can be an external module outside the consumable chip and electrically connected to the consumable chip, and the other units are built into the control unit of the consumable chip, that is, the aforementioned consumables include a consumable chip and an external module electrically connected to the consumable chip.

[0349] In a possible implementation, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module are respectively arranged on two or more different consumable chips that can communicate with each other. Preferably, the first sending module and the first receiving module are arranged on the first consumable chip, and the page number update module and the consumption information update module are arranged on the second consumable chip. After the first receiving module of the first consumable chip receives the page increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device, the received page increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device are sent to the second consumable chip, the page number update module of the second consumable chip determines the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively according to the received page increment information, the consumption information update module of the second consumable chip determines the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information, the second consumable chip sends the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively to the first consumable chip, and the first sending module of the first consumable chip sends the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively to the image forming device.

[0350] Of course, those skilled in the art may also set the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module and the consumption information update module on different consumable chips in other ways, and this application does not limit this.

[0351] It should be pointed out that the specific contents involved in the embodiments of the present application can be found in the above description, and for the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0352] Corresponding to the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides a recording material estimation method, which is applied to the above information processing device, and the above method includes:

[0353] Sending to the image forming device information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information on recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs;

[0354] The output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the output page counts of a single job corresponding to the aforementioned n job types are different.

[0355] In a possible implementation, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, are also used to determine whether the consumables meet expectations.

[0356] In a possible implementation, before sending the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs to the image forming device, the method further includes:

[0357] Receive the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the aforementioned image forming device.

[0358] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: determining output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information.

[0359] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: determining first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information and the received page count increment information.

[0360] In a possible implementation, the determining of the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes:

[0361] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0362] Acquire the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information;

[0363] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0364] In a possible implementation, the obtaining of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information includes:

[0365] The initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial output page number information is obtained from a first preset storage device, and the aforementioned first preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0366] In a possible implementation, the determining of the first consumption information of the recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs according to the received first consumption increment information and the received page count increment information includes:

[0367] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0368] Acquire initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type or associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial first consumption information;

[0369] The first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is determined based on the association information between the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0370] In a possible implementation, the obtaining of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information includes:

[0371] The initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of jobs are obtained from a second preset storage device, and the aforementioned second preset storage device is arranged in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0372] In a possible implementation, the determining of the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes:

[0373] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0374] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0375] Converting the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to a preset first algorithm;

[0376] The initial output page number information obtained by conversion is updated according to the aforementioned page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0377] In a possible implementation, the determining of the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes:

[0378] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0379] Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0380] Converting the received page number increment information into associated information corresponding to the page number increment information according to a preset second algorithm;

[0381] updating the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type;

[0382] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0383] In a possible implementation, determining the first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information and the received page count increment information includes:

[0384] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0385] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type;

[0386] Converting the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type into the initial first consumption information according to a preset third algorithm;

[0387] The initial first consumption information obtained by the conversion is updated according to the aforementioned first consumption increment information to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0388] In a possible implementation, determining the first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information and the received page count increment information includes:

[0389] Determining a first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information according to the received aforementioned page number increment information;

[0390] Acquire the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0391] Converting the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information according to a preset fourth algorithm;

[0392] updating the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type;

[0393] The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is obtained according to the associated information of the first consumption information.

[0394] It should be pointed out that the specific contents involved in the embodiments of the present application can be found in the above description, and for the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0395] Corresponding to the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a consumable.

[0396] See also Figure 6 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of a consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 As shown, the consumables include a shell; a developer containing portion, located in the shell and used to contain the developer; and the information processing device described in the above embodiment.

[0397] See also Figure 7 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 As shown, the consumables Figure 6 The illustrated embodiment further includes a developer conveying element for conveying developer.

[0398] See also Figure 8 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 As shown, the consumables Figure 7 The illustrated embodiment further includes a photosensitive drum and a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum.

[0399] See also Fig. 9 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 9 As shown, the consumables include a photosensitive drum; a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and the information processing device described in the above embodiment.

[0400] It should be pointed out that Figure 6-Figure 9 The specific content of the information processing device in the illustrated embodiment can be found in the description of the above embodiment, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0401] Corresponding to the above embodiments, the present application also provides an electronic device. Fig.10A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device 900 may include: a processor 901, a memory 902 and a communication unit 903. These components communicate through one or more buses, and those skilled in the art can understand that the structure of the electronic device shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the embodiment of the present invention, it can be a bus structure or a star structure, and can also include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0402] The communication unit 903 is used to establish a communication channel so that the electronic device can communicate with other devices, receive user data sent by other devices or send user data to other devices.

[0403] The processor 901 is the control center of the electronic device. It uses various interfaces and lines to connect various parts of the entire electronic device. It runs or executes software programs and / or modules stored in the memory 902, and calls data stored in the memory to perform various functions of the electronic device and / or process data. The processor can be composed of an integrated circuit (IC), for example, it can be composed of a single packaged IC, or it can be composed of multiple packaged ICs with the same or different functions. For example, the processor 901 can include only a central processing unit (CPU). In an embodiment of the present invention, the CPU can be a single computing core or multiple computing cores.

[0404] The memory 902 is used to store the execution instructions of the processor 901. The memory 902 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0405] When the execution instructions in the memory 902 are executed by the processor 901, the electronic device 900 can execute Figure 4 Some or all of the steps in the illustrated embodiments.

[0406] In a specific implementation, the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium may store a program, and when the program is executed, the program may include some or all of the steps of each embodiment of the method for estimating the recording material provided by the present invention. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM) or a random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0407] The embodiment of the present application also provides a consumable, which includes a housing, a developer containing portion and the consumable chip. The developer containing portion is located in the housing and is used to contain the developer. The consumable chip is arranged on the housing.

[0408] In one embodiment, the consumables further include a developer conveying element, and the developer conveying element is used to convey the developer.

[0409] In one embodiment, the consumables further include a photosensitive drum and a charging roller, and the charging roller is used to charge the photosensitive drum.

[0410] The embodiment of the present application also provides another consumable material, which includes a photosensitive drum, a charging roller and a consumable material chip. The charging roller is used to charge the photosensitive drum. The consumable material chip is the consumable material chip mentioned above.

[0411] In the embodiment of the present application, when determining the recorded consumption information, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages corresponding to n job types, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n job types, thereby improving the accuracy of the evaluation results of the final recording material consumption and improving the user experience.

[0412] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the technology in the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. Based on this understanding, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a storage medium such as ROM / RAM, a disk, an optical disk, etc., and includes a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention or some parts of the embodiments.

[0413] In this specification, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. In particular, for the device embodiment and the terminal embodiment, since they are basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description in the method embodiment.

Claims

1. A method for estimating a recording material, characterized in that: Applied to an image forming device, wherein consumables are detachably installed in the image forming device, the method comprises: Acquire first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different; Acquire second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively; wherein the second consumption information is used to determine the information of the consumption amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type except for the recording materials consumed by the number of output pages; Total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined according to first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The acquiring of second consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables comprises: Obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n job types respectively; Acquire additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the preset n types of jobs, wherein the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to any one type of job is determined based on the consumption of recording materials consumed in addition to the recording materials consumed by the number of pages outputted by the single job corresponding to the job type when the output job of the job type is performed once; According to the preset additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n job types, the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types is determined.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The obtaining of the number of completed jobs corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively comprises: Obtaining information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to the n types of jobs; The number of completed jobs corresponding to the n job types is determined according to the obtained information on the number of output pages corresponding to the n job types and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n job types.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before acquiring first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables, the method further includes: Initial first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables and initial output page number information respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables are acquired.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Before determining the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the method further includes: Sending to the consumables page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job; Among them, the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job includes the output page number information corresponding to the current output job; the first consumption increment information includes the information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of pages output by the current output job.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The acquiring of first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables comprises: After the current output job is completed, first consumption information of the recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs is acquired from the consumables; The obtaining of information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to the n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables includes: After the current output job is completed, information on the number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs is obtained from the consumables.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Before determining the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, the method further includes: Determining whether the consumables meet expectations according to first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial first consumption information respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs, the first consumption increment information, and the page count increment information; or, Determine whether the consumables meet expectations according to the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the page number increment information; or, Determine whether the consumables meet expectations according to first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, the first consumption increment information, output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, initial output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and the page increment information; The determining of the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs comprises: If the consumables meet expectations, total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined according to first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

8. A method for estimating a recording material, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending to the image forming device information on the number of pages outputted corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information on recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs; The output page number information corresponding to the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the single job output page numbers corresponding to the n job types are different.

9. The evaluation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, are also used to determine whether the consumables meet expectations.

10. The evaluation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: Before sending the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs to the image forming device, the method further includes: Receive page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and first consumption increment information of recording materials corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device.

11. The evaluation method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The method further includes: determining output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information.

12. The evaluation method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The method further includes: determining first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information and the page count increment information.

13. The evaluation method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The step of determining the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information; The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, or the output page number information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the association information between the page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

14. The evaluation method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The acquiring of the initial number of output pages corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial number of output pages information includes: The initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information is obtained from a first preset storage device, and the first preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the consumables or an external device connected to the information processing device.

15. The evaluation method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The determining, according to the received first consumption increment information and the page count increment information, first consumption information of the recording materials respectively corresponding to the n types of jobs includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the first job type or associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information; The first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type, or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the association information between the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type.

16. The evaluation method according to claim 15, characterized in that: The acquiring the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information includes: The initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs are obtained from a second preset storage device, and the second preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the consumables or an external device connected to the information processing device.

17. The evaluation method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The step of determining the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type; converting the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to a preset first algorithm; The initial output page number information obtained by conversion is updated according to the page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

18. The evaluation method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The step of determining the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type; Converting the received page number increment information into associated information corresponding to the page number increment information according to a preset second algorithm; updating the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type; The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

19. The evaluation method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The determining, according to the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information, first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire association information of initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type; converting the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type into the initial first consumption information according to a preset third algorithm; The initial first consumption information obtained by the conversion is updated according to the first consumption increment information to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

20. The evaluation method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The determining, according to the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information, first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively includes: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire association information of initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the first job type; Converting the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation into associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information according to a preset fourth algorithm; updating the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type; The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is obtained according to the associated information of the first consumption information.

21. An image forming device, characterized in that: The image forming device is provided with a consumable material detachably mounted therein, and the image forming device comprises: an acquisition unit, configured to acquire first consumption information of recording materials respectively corresponding to n types of jobs corresponding to the consumables; wherein the first consumption information is used to determine information on the consumption of recording materials consumed by the number of output pages of the corresponding job type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different; The acquisition unit is further used to acquire second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively; wherein the second consumption information is used to determine the information of the consumption amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding job type except for the recording materials consumed by the number of output pages; The processing unit is used to determine the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables according to the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs.

22. An information processing device, characterized in that: include: The first sending module is used for: Sending information on the number of output pages corresponding to n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs to an image forming device; information on the number of output pages corresponding to the n types of jobs and first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs are used to determine total consumption information of recording materials in consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; and the number of output pages of a single job corresponding to the n types of jobs is different.

23. The information processing device according to claim 22, characterized in that: The output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs, and / or the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs, are also used to determine whether the consumables meet expectations.

24. The information processing device according to claim 22, characterized in that: The information processing device further includes: The first receiving module is used to receive the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job sent by the image forming device.

25. The information processing device according to claim 24, characterized in that: The information processing device further includes: The page number updating module is used to determine the output page number information corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received page number increment information.

26. The information processing device according to claim 24, characterized in that: The information processing device further includes: The consumption information updating module is used to determine the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of jobs respectively according to the received first consumption increment information.

27. The information processing device according to claim 25, characterized in that: The page number updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information; The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type, or the output page number information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the association information between the page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

28. The information processing device according to claim 25, characterized in that: The page number updating module is specifically used for: The initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information is obtained from a first preset storage device, and the first preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the consumables or an external device connected to the information processing device.

29. The information processing device according to claim 26, characterized in that The consumption information updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type or associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information; The first consumption information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type, or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the association information between the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type.

30. The information processing device according to claim 26, characterized in that The consumption information updating module is specifically used for: The initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs are obtained from a second preset storage device, and the second preset storage device is set in an information processing device that has a corresponding relationship with the consumables or an external device connected to the information processing device.

31. The information processing device according to claim 27, characterized in that: The page number updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type; converting the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type into the initial output page number information according to a preset first algorithm; The initial output page number information obtained by conversion is updated according to the page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

32. The information processing device according to claim 27, characterized in that: The page number updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type; Converting the received page number increment information into associated information corresponding to the page number increment information according to a preset second algorithm; updating the associated information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type; The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained according to the associated information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

33. The information processing device according to claim 26, characterized in that: The consumption information updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire association information of initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type; converting the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type into the initial first consumption information according to a preset third algorithm; The initial first consumption information obtained by the conversion is updated according to the first consumption increment information to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

34. The information processing device according to claim 26, characterized in that: The consumption information updating module is specifically used for: Determining a first job type corresponding to the page number increment information according to the received page number increment information; Acquire association information of initial first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the first job type; Converting the received first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation into associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information according to a preset fourth algorithm; updating the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type according to the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtaining the associated information of the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type; The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is obtained according to the associated information of the first consumption information.

35. A consumable material, characterized in that: include: case; A developer containing portion, located in the housing, for containing the developer; as well as An information processing device as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 34.

36. The consumable material according to claim 35, characterized in that: The consumables also include: The developer conveying element is used for conveying the developer.

37. The consumable material according to claim 36, characterized in that: The consumables also include: Photosensitive drum; A charging roller is used for charging the photosensitive drum.

38. A consumable material, characterized in that: The consumables include: Photosensitive drum; a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and An information processing device as claimed in any one of claims 22 to 34.

Images