Estimation method of recording material, information processing apparatus, and consumable

Abstract

An estimating method of recording material, an information processing device and a consumable provided by the embodiment of the present application, the method comprises: sending, to an image forming device, output page number information corresponding to n types of job respectively and first consumption information of recording material corresponding to the n types of job respectively; the output page number information corresponding to the n types of job respectively and the first consumption information of recording material corresponding to the n types of job respectively are used to determine total consumption information of recording material in the consumable; n is an integer greater than 1; and the output page number of a single job corresponding to the n types of job respectively is different. This way can improve the estimation accuracy of recording material.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of printing technology, and more specifically to a method for estimating recorded materials, an information processing device, and consumables. Background Technology

[0002] An image forming apparatus is a device that forms an image on a recording medium using imaging principles. Examples include printers, copiers, fax machines, multifunction image processing and copying devices, electrostatic printing devices, and any other similar devices. Image forming apparatuses typically have removable consumables that provide recording material during the image forming process. For example, for laser printers, the corresponding consumable can be a toner cartridge containing toner powder; for inkjet printers, the corresponding consumable can be an ink cartridge containing toner powder or ink.

[0003] To facilitate consumable management, consumables are typically equipped with consumable chips. When a consumable is installed in an image forming device, the consumable chip can exchange information with the device. Among these, consumable balance data is one of the key data points, reflecting the remaining quantity or proportion of recorded material in the consumable.

[0004] Existing technologies estimate the amount of recording material consumed per page by using a fixed amount of recording material consumed per print. For example, based on past experience, if the average amount of recording material consumed per page is 'a' grams, then the amount of recording material consumed per page during printing is directly set to 'a' grams. Therefore, printing one page consumes 'a' grams of recording material, printing 10 pages consumes 10' grams, printing 100 pages consumes 100' grams, and so on. However, this estimation method is prone to significant errors, resulting in a poor user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, this application provides a method for estimating recorded materials, an information processing device, and consumables to help solve the problem of inaccurate estimation of recorded materials and reduced user experience in the prior art.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a method for estimating recording materials, applied to an image forming apparatus, wherein consumables are detachably installed in the image forming apparatus, and the method includes:

[0007] Obtain first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of operations corresponding to the consumables; wherein, the first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed for the number of pages already output for the corresponding operation type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of pages output for a single operation is different for each of the n operation types;

[0008] Obtain the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of tasks respectively; wherein, the second consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding task type, excluding the recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output;

[0009] Based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of operations and the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of operations, the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables is determined.

[0010] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a method for estimating recorded materials, the method comprising:

[0011] Send to the image forming device the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types;

[0012] The output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the output page count of a single job corresponding to each of the n job types is different.

[0013] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide an image forming apparatus, wherein consumables are detachably installed in the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus includes:

[0014] The acquisition unit is used to acquire the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of operations corresponding to the consumables; wherein, the first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding operation type; n is an integer greater than 1, and the number of pages output in a single operation corresponding to the n types of operations is different for each operation.

[0015] The acquisition unit is further configured to acquire second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of work respectively; wherein, the second consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding type of work, excluding the recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output.

[0016] The processing unit is used to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of work and the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of work.

[0017] Fourthly, an information processing apparatus, comprising:

[0018] The first transmitting module is used for:

[0019] The image forming device is sent with output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and first consumption information of recording material corresponding to each of the n job types; the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of recording material corresponding to each of the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of recording material in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the number of pages output per job corresponding to each of the n job types is different.

[0020] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a consumable, characterized in that it comprises:

[0021] case;

[0022] A developer container, located within the housing, is used to contain the developer; and

[0023] The information processing device described in the fourth aspect.

[0024] Sixthly, embodiments of this application provide a consumable, the consumable comprising:

[0025] Photosensitive drum;

[0026] A charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and

[0027] The information processing device described in the fourth aspect.

[0028] Using the solution provided in this application embodiment, first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n different job types of consumables is obtained; wherein, the first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type; second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n different job types is obtained; based on the first consumption information and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n different job types, the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined. That is, in this application embodiment, when it is necessary to estimate the recording materials, the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n different job types of consumables can be obtained, and the first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type. Because recording materials are consumed not only during printing but also during OPC idling during the main motor's preheating before printing, OPC idling during page switching, and OPC idling before the main motor stops after the current printing job, these events also contribute to additional recording material consumption. Therefore, this embodiment requires not only obtaining the first consumption information of recording materials for each of the n job types but also the second consumption information for each of the n job types. The second consumption information is used to determine the additional consumption of recording materials for each job type, excluding the recording materials consumed by the number of pages already printed. Based on the obtained first and second consumption information for the recording materials for each of the n job types, the total consumption information of recording materials in the consumables is determined. In other words, in this embodiment, when determining the consumption information of the records, it is necessary not only to determine the amount of recording material consumed by the number of pages already printed for each of the n job types, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n job types. This improves the accuracy of the final assessment result of the consumption of the recorded materials and enhances the user experience. In addition, this embodiment separately counts the number of printed pages corresponding to each job type, and then calculates the additional consumption of recording materials consumed by each job type in addition to the amount of recording materials consumed by the number of pages already printed. The statistically obtained additional consumption of recording materials is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the final assessment result of the consumption of the recorded materials and enhancing the user experience. Attached Figure Description

[0029] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0030] Figure 1A This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 1B A schematic diagram illustrating the connection relationship between a consumable chip and an image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 1C A schematic diagram illustrating the connection relationship between another consumable chip and an image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 2 A flowchart illustrating a method for estimating recorded materials provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating another method for estimating recorded materials provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating another method for estimating recorded materials provided in this application embodiment;

[0036] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of another image forming apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a consumable provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0042] To better understand the technical solution of this application, the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments in this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0044] The terminology used in the embodiments of this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this application. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” used in the embodiments of this application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0045] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0046] To facilitate consumable management, consumables are typically used in conjunction with information processing devices. When consumables are installed in image forming equipment, the information processing device can interact with the image forming equipment. Among these, consumable balance data is one of the key data points, reflecting the remaining quantity or proportion of recorded material in the consumables.

[0047] Existing technologies estimate the amount of recording material consumed per page by using a fixed amount of recording material consumed per print. For example, if the amount of recording material consumed per page is set to 'a' grams, then printing one page consumes 'a' grams of recording material, printing 10 pages consumes 10'a' grams, printing 100 pages consumes 100'a' grams, and so on. However, this estimation method is prone to significant errors, resulting in a poor user experience.

[0048] To address the aforementioned issues, this application embodiment obtains first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n different job types from the information processing device, i.e., from consumables. This first consumption information refers to the amount of recording materials consumed for each of the n job types' output pages. The embodiment then obtains second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n different job types. Based on both the first and second consumption information, the consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables is determined. In other words, in this application embodiment, when it is necessary to estimate the amount of recording materials, the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n different job types can be obtained from the consumables. This first consumption information refers to the amount of recording materials consumed for each of the n job types' output pages. Because recording materials are consumed not only during printing but also during OPC idling during the main motor's preheating before printing, OPC idling during page switching, and OPC idling before the main motor stops after the current printing job, this embodiment requires obtaining not only the first consumption information of recording materials for each of the n job types but also the second consumption information. The second consumption information refers to the amount of recording materials consumed for each of the n job types, excluding the amount consumed for the number of pages already printed. Based on the obtained first and second consumption information for the recording materials for each of the n job types, the total consumption information of recording materials in the consumables is determined. In other words, in this embodiment, determining the consumption information of recording materials requires determining not only the amount of recording materials consumed for the number of pages already printed for each of the n job types but also the second consumption information for each of the n job types, improving the accuracy of the final assessment of the amount of recording materials consumed and enhancing the user experience. Furthermore, in this application embodiment, the number of printed pages corresponding to various job types is statistically analyzed, and then the additional recording material consumption for each job type, in addition to the recording material consumption for the already printed pages, is calculated and recorded. The statistically obtained additional recording material consumption is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the final recording material consumption assessment result and enhancing the user experience.

[0049] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus is used to perform image forming operations, such as generating, printing, receiving, and sending image data. Examples of the image forming apparatus include inkjet printers, laser printers, LED (Light Emitting Diode) printers, copiers, scanners, or multifunction fax machines, as well as multi-function peripheral devices (MFPs) that perform the above functions in a single device. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming control unit and an image forming unit. The image forming control unit controls the entire image forming apparatus, and the image forming unit forms an image on the fed paper under the control of the image forming control unit, based on image forming data and developer such as toner stored in consumables.

[0050] The image forming control unit can be a SoC (System on Chip). An SoC is a miniature system composed of multiple system components, configured to control the imaging processing operations of the image forming device. For example, it performs linear correction, noise reduction, bad pixel removal, and detail enhancement on image data to improve the quality of the image output. The image forming control unit is also used to perform data transmission and reception, command transmission and reception, and engine control-related processing operations for printing images. For example, it can transmit and receive data, print engine control commands, and status through interface units (including but not limited to USB ports, wired network ports, wireless network ports, or other interfaces).

[0051] Figure 1A This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming apparatus provided in one embodiment of this application; please refer to... Figure 1A As an example of an image forming apparatus, the image forming unit of the image forming apparatus may include: a developer container 11, a developing component 12, a developer delivery 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 passing through the developer delivery element 13 for powder feeding and the developing component 12 for developing, it reaches 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.

[0052] The developer container 11 is used to hold developer, which can be materials such as toner or carbon powder; the photosensitive component 14 may include components such as a photosensitive drum (OPC, Organic Photoconductor) and a charging roller, the charging roller being used to charge the photosensitive drum of the developing component; the developing component 12 may include components such as a developing roller, used to deliver developer to the photosensitive component 14; the developer delivery element 13 may include components such as a powder feeding roller, or may be replaced by components such as a powder pushing screw, used to deliver developer to the developing device 12.

[0053] Image forming equipment typically has at least one removable consumable component. Figure 1A Taking the image forming apparatus shown as an example, the image forming apparatus is detachably equipped with four consumables (namely...). Figure 1A The consumables 1, 2, 3 and 4 shown are used to provide the image forming apparatus with four colors of developer: black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y). Of course, in other embodiments, the number of consumables installed in the image forming apparatus can be increased or decreased, for example, to 1 or 6, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0054] One possible approach is that the consumable may consist only of the developer container 11.

[0055] One possible approach is that the consumables have a split structure, for example: the consumables (1, 2, 3 or 4) include a developer cartridge and a drum cartridge that can be disassembled and reassembled with each other, wherein the developer cartridge includes a housing, a developer container 11, a developer component 12, and a developer delivery element 13; the drum cartridge includes a photosensitive component 14, that is, a photosensitive drum and a charging roller.

[0056] The developer container 11 is located inside the housing and is used to contain the developer. The developer delivery element 13 is used to deliver the developer to the developing component 12. The developing component 12 is used to deliver the developer to the photosensitive drum. The developer delivery element can be a powder feeding roller or other components such as a powder pushing screw.

[0057] In one feasible approach, the consumable can be the aforementioned developing cartridge.

[0058] In one feasible approach, the consumable can be the aforementioned drum housing.

[0059] One possible approach is that the consumable is an integrated structure, for example, the consumable (1, 2, 3 or 4) includes a developer container 11, a developer component 12, a developer delivery element 13, a photosensitive component 14, etc.

[0060] It should be noted that the consumables mentioned in this embodiment can also be other components, parts, or units in the image forming equipment that are easily damaged and need to be replaced, such as paper boxes, which also belong to the technical solutions corresponding to the consumables protected in this application.

[0061] To facilitate consumable management, the consumables are used in conjunction with a consumable chip, which is an electronic device with storage capabilities. The consumable chip may also include a control unit (e.g., a microcontroller unit, MCU) or other information processing components. In one embodiment, the consumable chip can be installed on the consumable, either before or after the consumable leaves the factory. In another embodiment, the consumable chip does not need to be installed on the consumable; instead, it is fixed to the image forming equipment using mounting hardware or adhesive. When the image forming equipment uses the consumable, the contact points of the consumable chip make electrical contact with the corresponding contact terminals of the image forming equipment, thereby establishing an electrical connection between the consumable chip and the image forming equipment. When the image forming equipment is not using the consumable (the consumable is not in operation), the contact points of the consumable chip may or may not make contact with the corresponding contact terminals of the image forming equipment. For example, when the consumable is installed in the image forming equipment but not used, or when the consumable is removed from the image forming equipment. It should be noted that when the consumables are of the aforementioned split structure, including the drum cartridge and the developing cartridge which are detachable from each other, the drum cartridge and the developing cartridge are usually equipped with consumable chips respectively.

[0062] In some possible implementations, the information processing device described in this application embodiment is a consumable chip or a consumable chip set. Specifically, the consumable chip is a circuit board mounted on a consumable. This circuit board includes a storage device and an electrical contact portion connected to the storage device. This electrical contact portion is used to connect to an electrical contact portion on the image forming device side. This electrical contact portion can be a conductive plane, a conductive probe, a conductive coil, etc.

[0063] In one embodiment, the consumable chip of this application typically includes a substrate and multiple contact points. The multiple contact points are disposed on the substrate, and each contact point is used to electrically connect with multiple contact terminals disposed on an image forming device, thereby realizing communication between the image forming device and the consumable chip. The multiple contact points may include VCC contact, GND contact, SDA contact, and SCL contact.

[0064] In another embodiment, the consumable chip in this application may further include an adapter board in addition to the substrate, wherein the adapter board is electrically connected to the substrate, and at least some of the aforementioned multiple contact points may be disposed on the adapter board.

[0065] Figure 1BThis is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection between a consumable chip and an image forming apparatus, provided as an embodiment of this application.

[0066] The image forming apparatus 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.

[0067] It is understood that the image forming apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application does not constitute a specific limitation on the image forming apparatus. In some embodiments, the image forming apparatus may include a... Figure 1B The embodiments shown may have more or fewer components, but this application does not limit the number of components.

[0068] The memory 102 can be used to store computer programs, and the processor 101 can call and run the computer programs from the memory 102.

[0069] The processor 101 may include the SoC used as the image forming control unit described above, 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 that includes a serial data line (SDA) and a serial clock line (SCL). In some embodiments, the processor 101 may include multiple I2C buses.

[0070] The first communication interface 104 can be connected to a corresponding interface of the processor 101. For example, if the first communication interface 104 is an I2C interface, then the first communication interface 104 can be connected to the I2C interface included in the processor 101.

[0071] The power supply module 103 is connected to the processor 101, the memory 102, and the first power supply interface 105, respectively. The power supply module 103 can receive power input and supply power to the above-mentioned components.

[0072] Optionally, the power input of the power supply module 103 can be the mains 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 DC power required by components such as the processor 101, memory 102, and first power supply interface 105, thereby powering the aforementioned components.

[0073] The first communication interface 104 and the first power supply interface 105 can be located at the consumable mounting position of the image forming apparatus 100 for coupling consumable chips.

[0074] like Figure 1BAs shown, the consumable chip 110 may include: a second communication interface 111 and a second power supply interface 112.

[0075] It should be noted that, Figure 1B The diagram only shows the second communication interface 111 and the second power supply interface 112 connecting the consumable chip 110 to the image forming apparatus 100, to illustrate the possible connection relationship between the consumable chip and the image forming apparatus 100, and is not intended to limit the specific implementation structure of the consumable chip. The consumable chip 110 may also include other components such as a control unit (e.g., a microcontroller unit (MCU)). For details, please refer to the consumable chip provided in the subsequent embodiments of this application, which will not be elaborated here.

[0076] In one embodiment, the consumable chip 110 can be disposed on the consumable of the image forming apparatus 100. When the consumable is installed at the mounting position provided by the image forming apparatus 100 for the consumable, the consumable chip 110 can be coupled to the image forming apparatus 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 apparatus 100, thereby electrically connecting to the processor 101 of the image forming apparatus 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 apparatus 100, thereby allowing the image forming apparatus 100 to supply power to the consumable chip 110 through the first power supply interface 105 and the second power supply interface 112.

[0077] In some embodiments, 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 [link to documentation]. Figure 1CThe first consumable chip 110 and the second consumable chip 120 are communicatively connected. When the image forming apparatus 100 communicates with the first consumable chip 110, the image forming apparatus 100 acts as the master, sending instructions to the first consumable chip 110, and the first consumable chip 110 acts as the slave, responding to the instructions sent by the master. When the first consumable chip 110 and the second consumable chip 120 communicate, the first consumable chip 110 acts as the master, sending instructions to the second consumable chip 120, and the second consumable chip 120 acts as the slave, responding to the instructions sent by the first consumable chip 110. The instructions sent from the first consumable chip 110 to the second consumable chip 120 can be generated by the first consumable chip 110 or forwarded by the first consumable chip 110 from the image forming apparatus 100. In this case, the first consumable chip 110 determines which device should handle the instruction sent by the image forming apparatus 100. If it determines that the second consumable chip 120 should handle it, it forwards the instruction 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 suitable 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, the second consumable chip, and the image forming device. When the first consumable chip determines that communication between the first consumable chip and the image forming device is required at the current stage, it connects the communication link between the first consumable chip and the image forming device through the switch, or keeps the communication link between the first consumable chip and the image forming device connected. When the first consumable chip determines that communication between the second consumable chip and the image forming device is required at the current stage, it connects the communication link between the second consumable chip and the image forming device through the switch. When the first consumable chip determines that communication between the second consumable chip and the image forming device is not required at the current stage, it disconnects the communication link between the second consumable chip and the image forming device through the switch. The information processing device described in this application embodiment may include a chipset, which includes a first consumable chip 110 and a second consumable chip 120.

[0078] In some possible implementations, the information processing device described in this application includes the aforementioned consumable chip or consumable chip set, and an auxiliary circuit module. The consumable chip is connected to the auxiliary circuit module, specifically through a wired communication interface, or through an optical, infrared, or other suitable information transmission path interface. The auxiliary circuit module is used to implement some or additional functions of the consumable chip. The auxiliary circuit can respond to the indication of the consumable chip, or be enabled by signals other than instructions from the consumable chip, to provide corresponding data information or waveform information to the consumable chip or the main device. The auxiliary circuit module may include logic units such as AND gates, OR gates, NOT gates, and flip-flops, and may also include circuit units of devices such as FPGAs, MCUs, and DSPs. Those skilled in the art can design the auxiliary circuit module according to actual needs. The embodiments of this application do not limit the composition and specific functions of the auxiliary circuit module.

[0079] To enable the information processing device to work in conjunction with consumables, the information processing device described in this application can be installed on the consumables. This installation can be done before the consumables leave the factory or by the user after the consumables leave the factory. Alternatively, the information processing device can be fixed to the image forming equipment using mounting hardware or adhesive without being installed on the consumables. When the image forming equipment uses the consumables, the contact points of the information processing device make electrical contact with the corresponding contact terminals of the image forming equipment, thereby achieving an electrical connection between the information processing device and the image forming equipment.

[0080] It should be noted that when an image forming apparatus can accommodate multiple consumables, each consumable is equipped with an information processing device, or some consumables are equipped with such a device. That is, the relationship between consumables and information processing devices can be one-to-one. For example, an image forming apparatus can accommodate six consumables, and each of these six consumables is equipped with an information processing device. Alternatively, the relationship can be one-to-many. For example, an image forming apparatus can accommodate six consumables, and one of these consumables is equipped with an information processing device. This device processes the information between the six consumables and the image forming apparatus. For instance, the information processing device stores information corresponding to the six consumables; it provides information corresponding to the six consumables to the image forming apparatus; or it receives information corresponding to the six consumables sent by the image forming apparatus.

[0081] In this embodiment, the calculation of the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables usually occurs after the execution of each job. That is, after the current job output is completed, it is necessary to update the cumulative consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types and the cumulative number of pages output corresponding to the n job types according to the execution status of the current job. For easy distinction, the cumulative consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types before the update provided by the consumable chip is called "initial first consumption information", the cumulative number of pages output corresponding to the n job types before the update provided by the consumable chip is called "initial output page information", the cumulative number of pages output corresponding to the n job types after the update provided by the consumable chip is called "output page information", and the cumulative consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types after the update provided by the consumable chip is called "first consumption information".

[0082] To further clarify, the cumulative consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types specifically refers to the cumulative consumption of the recording materials in the consumables up to the present time during the consumables' lifespan. The cumulative number of pages printed corresponding to the aforementioned n job types specifically refers to the cumulative number of pages printed up to the present time during imaging using the consumables. The complete lifespan of the consumables refers to the process from the time the consumables leave the factory until the remaining recording materials in the consumables are consumed to a level below a preset value. When the remaining recording materials in the consumables are consumed to a level below the preset value, it can be considered that the recording materials in the consumables have been exhausted. The current output job refers to the process in which at least one main control motor in the image forming equipment starts up and stops rotating, printing at least one page of image, when there is a print job to be printed in the image forming equipment. The main control motor is used to drive at least some components in the aforementioned image forming unit to rotate. The print job to be printed can be a newly received print job in the image forming equipment or an unfinished portion of a previous print job; this application does not limit this.

[0083] See Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for estimating recorded materials provided in an embodiment of this application. The above method is applied to... Figure 1A and Figure 1B The image forming apparatus shown is equipped with at least one removable consumable, which can communicate with the information processing unit of the consumable. The relationship between the consumable and the information processing unit can be one-to-one or many-to-one, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the method includes:

[0084] S201. Obtain the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n types of operations from the information processing device.

[0085] The first consumption information is used to determine the amount of recorded material consumed for the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type.

[0086] The first consumption information can be the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type. For example, the first consumption information can be the cumulative number of 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. Alternatively, it can be a calculation factor for the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type. That is, the information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of pages already output for the corresponding job type can be generated by using the first consumption information of the recording material according to a preset algorithm. For example, the first consumption information can be the associated information obtained by converting the cumulative number of 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.

[0087] In one possible implementation, the information on the amount of recording material consumed for the number of pages already output for each of the n job types can be directly obtained from the information processing device as the first consumption information. For example, the information processing device directly records the information on the amount of recording material consumed for the number of pages already output for each of the n job types; that is, the information processing device records the first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types. In this way, the image forming apparatus can obtain the information on the amount of recording material consumed for each of the n job types corresponding to the number of pages already output from the information processing device. Further explanation is that the aforementioned first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types can also be stored in other external devices electrically connected to the information processing device. Thus, the image forming apparatus can obtain the first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types from the aforementioned external devices through the information processing device; that is, the image forming apparatus can indirectly obtain the first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types through the information processing device.

[0088] Another possible implementation is that the image forming apparatus can obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types by sending a consumption information acquisition command to the information processing device, causing the information processing device to provide the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types. In this case, when the image forming apparatus needs to obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials, it can send a consumption information acquisition command to the information processing device. After receiving the consumption information acquisition command, the information processing device can send the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types, stored internally or in the aforementioned external device, to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus can then receive the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types sent by the information processing device.

[0089] Another possible implementation is that the information processing device can automatically send the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types 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 job types based on the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device, but instead automatically sends the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types when it determines that the specific conditions are met. For example, 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 job types, and then automatically sends the obtained first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types to the image forming device. Further explanation is that the aforementioned first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types can be stored either in the aforementioned information processing device or in other external devices electrically connected to the aforementioned information processing device. When stored in other external devices electrically connected to the aforementioned information processing device, the image forming device can obtain the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types from the aforementioned 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 job types through the information processing device.

[0090] The above content focuses on how the image forming apparatus obtains the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types from the information processing device. Other methods, such as obtaining the initial output page number information, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, and the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types, are similar and are not limited in this embodiment.

[0091] In this embodiment, the output job of the image forming apparatus can be divided into P job types based on the number of pages output in a single operation. Different job types correspond to different numbers of pages output in a single operation. P is an integer greater than 1. That is, the job types of the output job can be divided into at least two job types based on the number of pages output in a single operation. The n job types refer to the job types for determining the total consumption information of recorded materials using the method described in this embodiment, where n is an integer greater than 1 and not greater than P. To more accurately estimate the consumption of recorded materials, the value of n can be the same as P.

[0092] A single job refers to a job completed by the image forming device in one start-up and stop of the printing engine. 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 up and stops rotating, and prints out at least one page of image.

[0093] In this embodiment, to facilitate the statistical analysis of the output page counts for different types of jobs, jobs with page counts belonging to the same range are grouped into the same type. The number of preset page count ranges and the range of each preset page count range can be pre-set according to actual needs. A single preset page count range may contain multiple page values ​​or only one page value; this application does not limit this. Specifically, the setting of the number and range of preset page count ranges can be related to the structure and control logic of the image forming device; different image forming devices may have different preset page count ranges or ranges.

[0094] For example, the n job types include at least two of the following: 1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type with more than 4 pages. The 1-page job type outputs 1 page per job, and its corresponding preset page number range only includes the page value 1. The 2-page job type outputs 2 pages per job, and its corresponding preset page number range only includes the page value 2. Similarly, the cases for 3-page and 4-page job types are derived. The job type with more than 4 pages outputs more than 4 pages per job, and its corresponding preset page number range includes integer page values ​​of 5 or higher. A total of 5 job types are defined, i.e., P=5. When 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 the recorded materials. Assuming that the 2-page and 3-page job types use the method described in this application to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials, then the other job types, i.e., the 1-page, 4-page, and more than 4-page job types, need to use other methods to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials. When n is P, it means that the method described in this application is used to determine the total consumption information of recorded materials for all job types. The specific value of n can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not impose any restrictions on it.

[0095] S202. Obtain the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n types of operations.

[0096] The second consumption information of the recorded materials is used to determine the amount of recorded materials consumed for the corresponding job type, excluding the recorded materials consumed by the number of pages already output.

[0097] The second consumption information can be directly the information on the amount of recording materials consumed in the corresponding job type, excluding the recording materials consumed in the number of pages already output. For example, it can be the cumulative number of points or cumulative mass (unit: mg) of the recording materials consumed in the corresponding job type, excluding the recording materials consumed in the number of pages already output. Alternatively, the second consumption information can be a calculation factor for the amount of recording materials consumed in the corresponding job type, excluding the recording materials consumed in the number of pages already output. That is, the second consumption information can be used to calculate the amount of recording materials consumed in the corresponding job type, excluding the recording materials consumed in the number of pages already output, according to a preset algorithm. For example, the second consumption information can be the associated information obtained by converting the cumulative number of points of the recording materials in the output pages, excluding the recording materials in the formed image, according to a preset algorithm.

[0098] In some embodiments, the information processing device may directly store the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the above n job types. In this case, the image forming device may directly obtain the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n job types from the information processing device.

[0099] In other embodiments, if the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of work is stored in an external device connected to the information processing device, it can also be obtained indirectly from the aforementioned external device through the information processing device.

[0100] As one possible implementation, the image forming device can also obtain second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types by calculation.

[0101] At this point, the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n types of operations mentioned above includes:

[0102] Get the number of completed tasks for each of the n task types;

[0103] Obtain additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to n preset job types; wherein, the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to any job type is determined based on the amount of recording materials consumed in a single output job of that job type, excluding the recording materials consumed for the number of pages output in a single job of that job type.

[0104] Based on the additional consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the preset n types of work and the number of completed work for each of the n types of work, the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n types of work is determined.

[0105] In some embodiments, the image forming apparatus can obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types through an information processing device. When the information processing device stores the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types, it can directly obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types from the information processing device. In some embodiments, after each job output, the image forming apparatus can update the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types stored in the information processing device.

[0106] Alternatively, in some embodiments, the image forming apparatus stores the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types in its internal storage device, and updates the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types in its internal storage after each job is completed. When it is necessary to obtain the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types, the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types in its internal storage can be directly obtained.

[0107] In some embodiments, the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of work is obtained in advance, and the preset additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of work is stored in an information processing device or other storage device. The image forming device can obtain the preset additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the n types of work from the information processing device or other storage device.

[0108] Of course, the image forming device can also store additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types, and directly retrieve the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types stored in it when needed.

[0109] In this way, after the image forming device acquires the number of completed operations corresponding to each of the n operation types and the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the preset n operation types, it can calculate the additional consumption amount of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n operation types based on the number of completed operations corresponding to each of the n operation types and the additional consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the preset n operation types. This is the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n operation types.

[0110] In some embodiments, to reduce the complexity of data storage, the image forming apparatus can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types. In this case, obtaining the number of completed jobs corresponding to each of the n job types includes:

[0111] Obtain the number of pages already output for each of the n job types from the information processing device.

[0112] When an image forming device needs to calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to n job types, it can obtain the number of output job pages corresponding to the n job types currently stored in the information processing device.

[0113] After obtaining the number of pages already output for each of the n job types, the number of completed jobs for each of the n job types can be determined based on the number of pages already output for each of the n job types and the number of pages output per job for each of the n job types.

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

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

[0116] In other embodiments, the image forming apparatus can obtain the number of pages already output for each of the n 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 apparatus can obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types by sending a consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device. Therefore, the image forming apparatus can simultaneously obtain both the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the number of pages already output for each of the n job types stored in the information processing device by sending a single consumption information acquisition instruction to the information processing device.

[0117] The image forming apparatus can also obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the number of pages output corresponding to each of the n job types stored in the information processing device through two consumption information acquisition instructions, and this application does not limit this.

[0118] In other embodiments, the image forming apparatus may obtain the number of pages output for each of the n job types from other external devices, such as a relay device positioned between the information processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus. The specific process is described above in the section on obtaining the number of pages output for each of the n job types from the information processing apparatus, and will not be repeated here.

[0119] As described in the example above, the information processing device stores the number of pages already output for five job types: 1-page job, 2-page job, 3-page job, 4-page job, and job with more than 4 pages. Let's assume the number of pages already output for the 1-page job is TP1, for the 2-page job is TP2, for the 3-page job is TP3, for the 4-page job is TP4, and for the job with more than 4 pages is TP5. After obtaining the number of output pages for five job types—1-page, 2-page, 3-page, 4-page, and more than 4-page—the image forming device can determine the number of completed jobs for each job type based on the output page count and the number of pages output per job for each of these job types. In this example, the 1-page job type outputs 1 page per job. Therefore, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs for the 1-page job type based on the output page count recorded in the 1-page job count information: TP1 ÷ 1 = TP1. In other words, the 1-page job type has TP1 completed jobs. Similarly, if a 2-page job type corresponds to a single job outputting 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 output page count information recorded in the 2-page job type output page count information. This means the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 2-page job type is TP2 / 2. Similarly, if a 3-page job type corresponds to a single job outputting 3 pages, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type as TP3 / 3, based on the output page count information recorded in the 3-page job type output page count information. This means the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type is TP3 / 3. If the output page count for a single job is 4 pages, the image forming device can calculate the number of jobs completed for the 4-page job type based on the output page count recorded in the target output page count information for the 4-page job type, which is TP4 pages. In other words, the number of jobs completed for the 4-page job type is TP4 / 4.If the number of pages output per job for a job type greater than 4 pages is set to y pages, the image forming device can calculate the number of completed jobs for the job type greater than 4 pages based on the number of pages already output recorded in the output page number information as TP5 pages. That is, the number of completed jobs for the job type greater than 4 pages is TP5 / y times, where y is the average number of pages output per print job among the jobs greater than 4 pages obtained statistically. y can also be set according to actual needs, and this application does not limit it in this regard. It is understood that when the preset page number range corresponding to a job type contains only one page value, the number of completed jobs corresponding to that job type is equal to the number of pages output for that job type divided by the number of pages contained in the preset page number range corresponding to that job type. When the preset page number range corresponding to a job type contains two or more page values, the number of completed jobs corresponding to that job type is equal to the number of pages output for that job type divided by the value y. Preferably, the value y is the average number of pages output in a single print job for that job type obtained statistically. Of course, the value y can also be set according to actual needs. For example, the value y is an empirical value, or the value y is the median of two or more page values ​​contained in the preset page number range corresponding to that job type, or the value y is the average of two or more page values ​​contained in the preset page number range corresponding to that job type, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0120] After calculating the number of completed tasks for each of the five task types, the additional consumption information of the recording materials for each of the five pre-defined task types can be obtained. Assume the additional consumption information of the recording materials for the five pre-defined task types is as follows: a1 for a 1-page task type, a2 for a 2-page task type, a3 for a 3-page task type, a4 for a 4-page task type, and a5 for a task type with more than four pages. Then, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials for each of the four task types. That is, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials for a 1-page task type based on the additional consumption information a1 and the number of completed tasks for that 1-page task type: TP1*a1. Similarly, the image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording materials for a 2-page task type based on the additional consumption information a2 and the number of completed tasks for that 2-page task type: TP2 / 2*a2. The image forming device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to a 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 (a3) ​​and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 3-page job type. The image forming device can also calculate the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to a 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 (a4) and the number of completed jobs corresponding to the 4-page job type. For job types exceeding 4 pages, the device can calculate the second consumption information of the recording material corresponding to job types exceeding 4 pages as TP5 / y*a5, where a5 is the average additional consumption of recording material per print job among the statistically obtained jobs exceeding 4 pages.

[0121] S203. Based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n types of operations and the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n types of operations, determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables.

[0122] In this embodiment of the application, after the image forming apparatus obtains the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types, it can add the consumption amount of the recording materials in the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types, and use the calculated total consumption amount of the recording materials in the consumables as the final estimated total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables.

[0123] As described above, the second consumption information of recording material corresponding to the five job types (1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type with more than 4 pages) acquired by the image forming apparatus are TP1*a1, TP2 / 2*a2, TP3 / 3*a3, TP4 / 4*a4, and TP5 / y*a5, respectively. Assume that the first consumption information of recording material corresponding to the five job types (1-page job type, 2-page job type, 3-page job type, 4-page job type, and job type with more than 4 pages) acquired by the image forming apparatus are TD1, TD2, TD3, TD4, and TD5, respectively. That is, TD1 represents the total amount of recording material consumed by the image forming apparatus for the number of pages already output corresponding to the 1-page job type output job read from the information processing device. TD2 represents the total amount of recording material consumed by the image forming apparatus for the number of pages already output corresponding to the 2-page job type output job read from the information processing device. TD3 represents the total amount of recording material consumed by the image forming apparatus for the number of pages already output corresponding to a 3-page job type, read from the information processing device. TD4 represents the total amount of recording material consumed by the image forming apparatus for the number of pages already output corresponding to a 4-page job type, read from the information processing device. TD5 represents the total amount of recording material consumed by the image forming apparatus for the number of pages already output corresponding to a job type greater than 4 pages, read from the information processing device. At this point, the image forming apparatus can estimate the recording material consumption information based on the second and first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the five job types: 1-page, 2-page, 3-page, 4-page, and greater than 4 pages. That is, the image forming apparatus can add the consumption amounts in the second and first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the five job types (1-page, 2-page, 3-page, 4-page, and greater than 4 pages) to calculate the total consumption of recording material. The calculated total consumption of recording material is determined as the total consumption information of recording material in the consumables. At this time, the total consumption information of the materials recorded 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 noted that the execution order of S201 and S202 is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0125] In this embodiment, when determining the consumption information of the records, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption amount of recording materials consumed for the number of pages already printed corresponding to the n job types, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n job types. This improves the accuracy of the final assessment result of the total consumption of recording materials and enhances the user experience. Furthermore, this embodiment separately counts the number of printed pages corresponding to each job type, and then calculates the additional consumption amount of recording materials consumed for each job type besides the consumption amount of recording materials consumed for the number of pages already printed. The calculated additional consumption amount of recording materials is more accurate, thereby improving the accuracy of the final assessment result of the consumption amount of recording materials and enhancing the user experience.

[0126] In this embodiment of the application, before determining the total consumption information of the consumables, the image forming apparatus can verify whether the information processing device meets expectations in order to ensure the accuracy of the determination of the total consumption information. Figure 2 The method shown also includes a step for determining whether the information processing device is performing as expected. Two implementation methods for determining whether the information processing device is performing as expected are described in detail below.

[0127] See Figure 4 One embodiment for determining whether an information processing device meets expectations, referred to simply as Method 1, may include the following steps:

[0128] S401, The image forming apparatus obtains from the information processing device the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types.

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

[0130] S402, Image forming equipment acquires identification information of information processing device.

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

[0132] Understandably, the identification information of an 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 device obtains the historical output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types based on the identification information of the information processing device.

[0134] In this embodiment, after acquiring the identification information of the information processing device, the image forming apparatus, having stored historical output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types and historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, can retrieve the historical output page count information corresponding to the identification information of the information processing device and the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n job types from its stored historical consumption information. In other words, the image forming apparatus can retrieve the historical output page count information corresponding to the identification information of the information processing device and the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the n job types from its stored historical consumption information.

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

[0136] S404. The image forming apparatus determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types.

[0137] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus compares the historical output page count information corresponding to any one of the n job types with the initial output page count information corresponding to that job type among the n job types, obtaining multiple first comparison results. Based on these multiple first comparison results, it is determined whether the information processing device meets expectations. For example, if one of the multiple first comparison results indicates that the initial output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types is less than the historical output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types, then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations, and the consumables may be abnormal.

[0138] When multiple first comparison results indicate that the initial output page count for each of the n job types is greater than or equal to the historical output page count for each of the n job types, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations and the consumables are normal. In this embodiment, when the consumables are abnormal, the information processing device cannot correctly store the data; therefore, the total consumption information of the recorded materials calculated based on the data stored by the information processing device is inaccurate.

[0139] For example, the historical output page counts for n job types are 11, 12, 15, 16, and 20 pages respectively, and the single-job output page counts for the corresponding job types are 1, 2, 3, 4, and more than 4 pages respectively; the initial output page counts for the n job types are 9, 12, 12, 20, and 20 pages respectively. Then, multiple first comparison results indicate that the historical output page count for a 1-page job type is greater than the initial output page count, the historical output page count for a 2-page job type is equal to the initial output page count, the historical output page count for a 3-page job type is greater than the initial output page count, the historical output page count for a 4-page job type is less than the initial output page count, and the historical output page count for a single-job output page count of 4 or more is equal to the initial output page count. That is, among the multiple first comparison results, if at least one comparison result indicates that the historical output page count for a certain job type is greater than the initial output page count, 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 each of the n types of operations and the initial first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n types of operations.

[0141] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus compares the historical first consumption information corresponding to any one of the n job types with the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to that job type among the n job types, obtaining multiple second comparison results. Based on these multiple second comparison results, it is determined whether the information processing device meets expectations. For example, if any of the multiple second comparison results indicates that the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types is less than the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations, and the information processing device may be malfunctioning.

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

[0143] To further clarify, for steps S404 and S405, in this embodiment of the application, only one of the two steps can be performed, or both can be performed. That is, only the steps related to "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types" can be performed. In other words, the image forming device only needs to obtain the historical output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types, and determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the obtained historical output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types; or only the steps related to "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types" can be performed. The equipment only needs to acquire the historical first consumption information and the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types, and determine whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the acquired historical first consumption information and initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types; or it can perform both the steps related to "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical output page number information and the initial output page number information of each of the n job types" and "determining whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the historical first consumption information and the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types". In other words, the information processing device is determined to meet expectations based solely on the aforementioned multiple first comparison results or multiple second results. If all multiple first comparison results indicate that the initial output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types is greater than or equal to the comparison results of the historical output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations. Alternatively, if all second comparison results indicate that the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types is greater than or equal to the historical first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations. When both S404 and S405 are executed, the execution order of S404 and S405 is not limited in this embodiment.

[0144] The execution order of S401 and S403 is not limited in this embodiment.

[0145] To verify whether the information processing device is performing as expected, in another embodiment, referred to as "Method Two," the image forming apparatus may further include the following steps before determining the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables, see [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 :

[0146] S401, The image forming apparatus obtains from the information processing device the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types.

[0147] Understandably, S401 here is the same as the aforementioned S401, and will not be described in detail again.

[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 device.

[0149] It is understandable that the information processing device receives the page number increment information and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job from the image forming device, and updates the initial first consumption information and the initial output page number information of the recording material. Specifically, it adds the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job to the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job; and it adds the page increment information corresponding to the current output job to the initial output page number information.

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

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

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

[0153] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus acquires first consumption information of recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types in the information processing device. This includes the first consumption information of recording materials for the corresponding job type among the n job types, determined by the information processing device based on the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to the current output job. The specific acquisition process can be found in steps S201 and S301-S302, and will not be repeated here.

[0154] Step S413: After completing the current output job, the image forming device obtains the number of pages output for each of the n job types from the information processing device.

[0155] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus obtains the output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types from the information processing device. This includes the output page count information of the corresponding job type among the n job types, determined by the information processing device based on the page count increment information corresponding to the current output job. The specific acquisition process can be found in steps S201 and S301-S302, and will not be repeated here.

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

[0157] In this embodiment of the application, before determining the total consumption information of the materials recorded in the consumables, the image forming apparatus can verify whether the information processing device meets expectations in order to ensure the accuracy of the determination of the total consumption information.

[0158] As one possible implementation, the image forming apparatus determines whether the information processing device meets expectations by including:

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

[0160] Alternatively, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the number of pages already output for each of the n job types and the initial number of pages already output for each of the n job types.

[0161] Alternatively, the image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types, and the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types.

[0162] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus compares the number of pages already output for any one of the n job types with the initial number of pages already output for that job type to obtain multiple third comparison results. It also compares the first consumption information of the recording material for any one of the n job types with the initial first consumption information for that job type to obtain multiple fourth comparison results. Based on the multiple third comparison results and the multiple fourth comparison results, it determines whether the information processing device meets expectations. For example, if none of the multiple third comparison results indicates that the number of pages output for each of the n job types is greater than the initial number of pages output for each of the n job types, or if any of the multiple third comparison results indicates that the number of pages output for each of the n job types is less than the initial number of pages output for each of the n job types, or if none of the multiple fourth comparison results indicates that the first consumption information for each of the n job types is greater than the initial first consumption information for the recording materials for each of the n job types, or if any of the multiple fourth comparison results indicates that the first consumption information for each of the n job types is less than the initial first consumption information for the recording materials for each of the n job types, then it is determined that the information processing device is not performing as expected and the consumables may be abnormal; if any of the multiple third comparison results indicate that the number of pages output for each of the n job types is greater ... If the initial output page count for each job type in the job category is less than the comparison result of the output page count for that job type among n job types, and none of the multiple third comparison results indicate that the initial output page count for each job type in the n job categories is greater than the comparison result of the output page count for that job type among n job types, and none of the multiple fourth comparison results indicate that the initial first consumption information of the recorded material for each job type in the n job categories is less than the comparison result of the first consumption information of the recorded material for that job type, and none of the multiple fourth comparison results indicate that the initial first consumption information of the recorded material for each job type in the n job categories is greater than the comparison result of the first consumption information of the recorded material for that job type, then it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations and the consumables are normal. In this embodiment of the application, when the consumables are abnormal, the information processing device for the consumables cannot correctly store the data. Therefore, the total consumption information of the recorded material calculated based on the data stored by the information processing device is inaccurate.

[0163] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the determination of whether the information processing device meets expectations can also be based solely on the aforementioned multiple third comparison results or multiple fourth comparison results. If none of the multiple third comparison results indicates that the number of pages output for each of the n job types is greater than the initial number of pages output for each of the n job types, or if any of the multiple third comparison results indicates that the number of pages output for each of the n job types is less than the initial number of pages output for each of the n job types, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations. Alternatively, if any of the multiple fourth comparison results indicates that the initial first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types is less than the first consumption information of the recording material for that job type, and none of the multiple fourth comparison results indicates that the initial first consumption information of the recording material for each of the n job types is greater than the first consumption information of the recording material for that job type, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations.

[0164] In another possible implementation, the image forming apparatus determining whether the information processing apparatus 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 material corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job, and the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job; or,

[0166] Method b: The image forming device determines whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the number of pages already output for each of the n job types, the initial number of pages already output for each of the n job types, and the page increment information for 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 material corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job, the number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types, and the page 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 based on the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming it is job type X;

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

[0171] For 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 to the initial first consumption information to obtain the basic first consumption information corresponding to job type X. For initial first consumption information that does not need to be resized, the device directly determines the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the corresponding job type as the basic first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to that job type, thereby obtaining the basic first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to n job types respectively.

[0172] By comparing the basic first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types with the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to that job type, n fifth comparison results are obtained. If any of the n fifth comparison results indicates that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; if all n fifth comparison results indicate that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to any job type are consistent, it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

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

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

[0175] Based on job type X, the image forming device determines the initial output page number information that needs to be resized and the initial output page number that does not need to be resized for each of the n job types.

[0176] For initial output page count information that needs to be resized, the page count increment information corresponding to the current output job is added to the initial output page count information to obtain the basic output page count information corresponding to job type X. For initial output page count information that does not need to be resized, the initial output page count information corresponding to the corresponding job type is directly determined as the basic output page count information corresponding to that job type. In this way, the basic output page count information of the recorded materials corresponding to n job types is obtained respectively.

[0177] Compare the basic output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types with the output page count information corresponding to that job type to obtain n sixth comparison results. If any of the n sixth comparison results indicates that the basic output page count information and the output page count information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, then it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; if all n sixth comparison results indicate that the basic output page count information and the output page count information corresponding to any job type are consistent, then it is determined that the information processing device meets expectations.

[0178] For method c, the information processing device is determined to meet expectations based on the aforementioned n fifth comparison results and n sixth comparison results. If any of the n fifth comparison results indicates that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, or if any of the n sixth comparison results indicates that the basic output page number information and the output page number information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations. If all n fifth comparison results indicate that the basic first consumption information and the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to any job type are consistent, and all n sixth comparison results indicate that the basic output page number information and the output page information corresponding to any job type are consistent, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations.

[0179] Of course, methods a, b, and c can 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 based on the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming it is job type X;

[0182] Subtract the corresponding initial first consumption information from the first consumption information of the recorded materials for task type X to obtain the first consumption difference information corresponding to task type X. For the initial first consumption information that does not need to be adjusted, the first consumption difference information of the recorded materials for the corresponding task type is directly determined to be 0. Thus, the first consumption difference information of the recorded materials for each of the n task types is obtained.

[0183] By comparing the first consumption difference information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types with the first consumption increment information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types, n seventh comparison results are obtained. If any of the n seventh comparison results indicates that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recorded materials corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, it is determined that the information processing device does not meet expectations; if all n seventh comparison results indicate that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recorded 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 based on the page number increment information corresponding to the current output job, assuming it is job type X;

[0186] Subtract the corresponding initial output page number 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, the output page number difference information corresponding to the job type is directly determined to be 0. In this way, the output page number difference information corresponding to each of the n job types is obtained.

[0187] By comparing the output page count difference information and the page count increment information corresponding to each of the n job types, n eighth comparison results are obtained. If any of the n eighth comparison results indicates 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; if all n eighth comparison results 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, the information processing device is determined to meet expectations based on the aforementioned n seventh comparison results and n eighth comparison results. If any of the n seventh comparison results indicates that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recorded material corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, or if any of the n eighth comparison results indicates that the output page number difference information and the page number increment information corresponding to any job type are inconsistent, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations. If all n seventh comparison results indicate that the first consumption difference information and the first consumption increment information of the recorded material corresponding to any job type are consistent, and all n eighth comparison results indicate that the output page number difference information and the page number increment information corresponding to any job type are consistent, then the information processing device is determined to meet expectations.

[0189] In this embodiment, when the information processing device performs as expected, it indicates that the data storage and retrieval functions of the information processing device are normal, and the data provided by the information processing device can be used according to the embodiments of this application. Figure 2 The method shown is used to calculate the total consumption of recorded materials within the consumables; when the information processing device does not perform as expected, it indicates that the data storage and / or retrieval functions of the information processing device are abnormal, and the data provided by the information processing device is used according to... Figure 2 The method shown calculates the total consumption of materials recorded in the consumables database inaccurately.

[0190] For example, the image forming device acquires initial output page counts for n job types corresponding to 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17 pages respectively, and the single-job output page counts for the corresponding job types are 1, 2, 3, 4, and more than 4 pages respectively. If the page increment information for the current output job is 2 pages, then the basic output page counts for the n job types are determined to be 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 pages respectively. Assuming the information processing device provides n job types with output page counts of 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17 pages, comparing the basic output page counts and output page counts for each job type yields multiple comparison results, which are consistent, inconsistent, consistent, consistent, and consistent respectively. Therefore, it can be determined that there are inconsistent comparison results, and 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, either of the two implementation methods (Method 1 and Method 2) provided above can be used only one method to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, or both methods can be used sequentially. Specifically, when using both methods sequentially to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, one method can be used first to check whether the information processing device meets expectations. If the detection result is that the information processing device does not meet expectations, then it is not necessary to use the other method to check whether the information processing device meets expectations again, and the information processing device can be directly determined to not meet expectations, thus saving detection steps.

[0192] When only one implementation method is used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, the image forming device can execute the aforementioned S201 and obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types after the information processing device is detected to meet expectations using the implementation method described in Method 1. That is, only after the information processing device is detected to meet expectations using the method described in Method 1 will the image forming device send the page number increment information and / or the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the current output job to the information processing device. Figure 4S406 is shown. If the information processing device is detected as not meeting expectations using this implementation method, the image forming apparatus does not execute the aforementioned S201; optionally, the image forming apparatus reports an error at this time. If the information processing device is detected as meeting expectations using the implementation method described in Method Two, the image forming apparatus then executes the aforementioned S203, determining the total consumption information of the recording materials in the consumables based on the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types and the second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types; if the information processing device is detected as not meeting expectations using this method, the image forming apparatus does not execute the aforementioned S203.

[0193] It should be noted that since the information processing device is used in conjunction with consumables by means of installation on consumables, detecting whether the information processing device meets expectations using at least one of the methods described in Method 1 and Method 2 can also be understood as detecting whether the consumables corresponding to the information processing device meet expectations. Specifically, when Method 1 determines that the information processing device meets expectations, it means that the corresponding consumables meet expectations; when Method 1 determines that the information processing device does not meet expectations, it means that the corresponding consumables do not meet expectations. Similarly, when Method 2 determines that the information processing device meets expectations, it means that the corresponding consumables meet expectations; when Method 2 determines that the information processing device does not meet expectations, it means that the corresponding consumables do not meet expectations.

[0194] See Figure 3 The diagram shown is a flowchart illustrating a method for estimating recorded materials according to an embodiment of this application. The method described above is applied to an information processing device. Figure 3 As shown, the method includes:

[0195] Step S301: Receive the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device.

[0196] In this embodiment of the application, the information processing device can directly or indirectly receive a 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, it receives the instruction through a relay provided between the image forming device and the information processing device.

[0197] Step S302: According to the consumption information acquisition instruction, send the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types to the image forming device.

[0198] For a description of the number of pages output for each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recorded materials for each of the n job types, please refer to the aforementioned S201, which will not be repeated here.

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

[0200] In other words, in an image forming device, the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and / or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types can be used to detect whether the information processing device meets expectations, so as to ensure the accuracy of the total consumption information of the recording material in the consumables determined by it.

[0201] For a detailed explanation of how the image forming apparatus detects whether the information processing device meets expectations based on the output page count information and / or the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, please refer to the aforementioned 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 count information and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types to the image forming apparatus under specific conditions, without relying on the consumption information acquisition instruction. For example, the information processing device updates the initial output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types to obtain the output page count information for each of the n job types, and then sends the obtained output page count information for each of the n job types to the image forming apparatus. Similarly, the information processing device updates the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, and then sends the obtained first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types to the image forming apparatus.

[0202] Before S302, the device also receives page number increment information and first consumption increment information of recording material corresponding to the current output job from the image forming device. The following details how the information processing device determines the number of pages already output for each of the n job types based on the received page number increment information, and how the information processing device determines the first consumption information of recording material for each of the n job types based on the received first consumption increment information. Please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 .

[0203] The following describes how the information processing device determines the number of pages already output for n different job types based on the page increment information received for the current output job. The steps include:

[0204] S407. The information processing device determines the first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information based on the page number increment information.

[0205] Understandably, when the image forming device sends the page number 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 number increment information. For example, if the page number increment information received by the information processing device is 2 pages, that is, the current output job printed 2 pages, and its corresponding first job type is 2-page job type.

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

[0207] The initial output page count information or associated information of the initial output page count information for each of the n job types is stored in a first preset storage device. This first preset storage device can be located within the information processing device or in an external device connected to it. Specifically, the information processing device retrieves the initial output page count information or associated information corresponding to the first job type from the first preset storage device. The associated information corresponding to the initial output page count information for the first job type refers to the result calculated based on the initial output page count information for the first job type according to a preset algorithm.

[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 job types, 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 job types includes 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 job types includes S408.

[0209] S410, the information processing device determines the number of pages already output corresponding to the first job type based on the received page 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 received page number increment information, or updates the conversion information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type according to the received page number increment information, to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

[0211] The information processing device can determine the number of pages already output corresponding to the first job type based on the received page increment information in the following ways:

[0212] Method d: The information processing device obtains the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type, and directly adds the page count increment information corresponding to the first job type to the initial output page count information to obtain the output page count information corresponding to the first job type. For example, if the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type is represented as 3000 pages, and the page count increment information corresponding to the first job type is represented as 2 pages, then the calculated output page count information corresponding to the first job type is represented as 3002 pages.

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

[0214] Method f: The information processing device obtains the association information of the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type, converts the received page count increment information corresponding to the first job type into the association information corresponding to the aforementioned page count increment information according to a preset second algorithm, and then updates the association information of the initial output page count information of the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the converted page count increment information, thereby obtaining the association information of the output page count information corresponding to the first job type. Further, the output page count information corresponding to the first job type is obtained based on the association information of the output page count information corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the association information of the page count increment information corresponding to the first job type can be directly added to the association information of the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type to obtain the association information of the output page count information corresponding to the first job type. Then, according to a preset algorithm, the obtained association information of the output page count information corresponding to the first job type is converted into the output page count information corresponding to the first job type. The association information of the initial output page count 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 output page count corresponding to the first job type.

[0215] To further clarify, the foregoing content describes how the information processing device determines the initial output page count information that needs to be adjusted among the n job types based on the received page count increment information, and then adjusts the output page count corresponding to the first job type according to the page count increment information. The output page count information corresponding to the other job types among the n job types does not need to be adjusted and remains consistent with the initial output page count information corresponding to the other job types among the n job types previously provided to the image forming device.

[0216] The following steps are specifically included in how the information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to n types of operations based on the received page number increment information and first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output operation.

[0217] S407. The information processing device determines the first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information based on the page number increment information.

[0218] The S407 here is the same as the S407 mentioned above. Please refer to the description of the S407 mentioned above for details. It will not be repeated here.

[0219] S409. The information processing device obtains the initial first consumption information or the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type.

[0220] Among them, the initial first consumption information or the associated information of the recorded materials for the corresponding work type in the n work types is stored in the second preset storage device. 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 or the associated information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first work type from the second preset storage device. The associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first work type refers to the result calculated and generated based on the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first work type according to a preset algorithm.

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

[0222] The execution order of S408 and S409 is not limited in this embodiment.

[0223] S411. The information processing device determines the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first operation 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 increment 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 increment information, and obtains the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type.

[0225] Regarding the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first operation type determined by the information processing device based on the first consumption increment information, there are several possible methods:

[0226] Method 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 to the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type to obtain the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type. For example, if the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 7740 thousand points and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 774 thousand points, then the calculated first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 8514 thousand points; for example, if the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 200 milligrams and the first consumption increment information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 17 milligrams, then the calculated first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to the first job type is represented as 217 milligrams.

[0227] Method h: The information processing device obtains the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type, converts the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type into the initial first consumption information of the recorded material according to a preset third algorithm, and updates the converted initial first consumption information of the recorded material according to the received first consumption increment information of the recorded material, thereby obtaining the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the first consumption increment information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type is added to the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type to obtain the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type.

[0228] Method i: Obtain the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type. Based on a preset fourth algorithm, convert the received incremental first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type into association information of the incremental first consumption information of the recorded materials. Then, update the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials for the first job type based on the converted association information of the incremental first consumption information, thus obtaining the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type. Further, obtain the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type based on the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type. Specifically, the association information of the incremental first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type can be directly added to the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type to obtain the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type. Then, based on a preset algorithm, convert the obtained association information of the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type into the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type. The association information of the initial first consumption information of 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 of the first job type.

[0229] To further clarify, the foregoing content describes how the information processing device determines the initial first consumption information that needs to be adjusted among the 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. The first consumption information corresponding to the other job types among the n job types does not need to be adjusted and remains consistent with the first consumption information corresponding to the other job types among the n job types previously provided to the image forming device.

[0230] The execution order of S410 and S411 is not limited in this embodiment.

[0231] According to the solution provided in the above embodiments, it should be noted that, since the information processing device works in conjunction with the consumables by being installed on them, the information obtained by the image forming equipment from the consumables, such as the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types, the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types, and the serial number of the information processing device, are all provided by the information processing device of the consumables. The information sent by the image forming equipment to the consumables, such as 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, are all obtained by the information processing device of the consumables.

[0232] It should be further explained that when there is a many-to-one relationship between consumables and the information processing device, for example, an image forming apparatus can be equipped with six consumables, one of which is equipped with an information processing device. This information processing device processes the information between the six consumables and the image forming apparatus. For example, the image forming apparatus can obtain from the information processing device the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types corresponding to the six consumables and the initial output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types corresponding to the six consumables. After completing the current output job, the image forming apparatus sends to the information processing device the page number increment information corresponding to each of the six consumables for the current output job and the page number increment information corresponding to each of the six consumables for the current output job. The information processing device receives the page number increment information corresponding to each of the six consumables, determines the number of pages already output for each of the six consumables, and determines the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the six consumables, based on the first consumption increment information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the six consumables. The information processing device receives the consumption information acquisition instruction sent by the image forming device, and sends the number of pages already output for each of the n job types corresponding to the six consumables and the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to each of the n job types corresponding to the six consumables to the image forming device, based on the consumption information acquisition instruction.

[0233] See Figure 5 The diagram shown is a structural schematic of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. At least one consumable is detachably installed in the image forming apparatus, and an information processing device is mounted on the at least one consumable. The image forming apparatus can communicate with the information processing device, such as... Figure 5 As shown, the image forming apparatus also includes:

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

[0235] The acquisition unit 501 is further configured to acquire second consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations respectively; wherein, the aforementioned second consumption information is used to determine the amount of recording materials consumed by the corresponding type of operation, excluding the recording materials consumed by the number of pages already output.

[0236] The processing unit 502 is used to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the aforementioned consumables based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of work and the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of work.

[0237] As one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 501 is further configured to acquire the number of completed tasks corresponding to the aforementioned n task types; acquire preset additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n task types; wherein, the additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to any task type is determined based on the amount of recording materials consumed in a single output task of that task type, excluding the recording materials consumed in a single output page of that task type; and determine the second consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n task types based on the preset additional consumption information of recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n task types and the number of completed tasks corresponding to the aforementioned n task types.

[0238] As one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 501 is further configured to acquire the number of pages already output for each of the aforementioned n job types from the aforementioned information processing device; and determine the number of completed jobs for each of the aforementioned n job types based on the acquired number of pages already output for each of the aforementioned n job types and the number of pages output per job for each of the aforementioned n job types.

[0239] As one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 501 is further configured to acquire initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations from the aforementioned information processing device, and to acquire initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations from the aforementioned information processing device.

[0240] As one possible implementation, the image forming apparatus also includes:

[0241] The sending unit 503 is used to send page number increment information corresponding to the current output job and first consumption increment information of 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 information on the amount of recording material consumed by the number of pages output by the current output job.

[0242] As one possible implementation, the acquisition unit 501 is specifically used for:

[0243] After completing the current output operation, the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n operation types is obtained from the aforementioned information processing device.

[0244] The acquisition unit 501 is also specifically used to: after completing the current output job, acquire the number of pages already output corresponding to the aforementioned n job types from the aforementioned information processing device.

[0245] As one possible implementation, processing unit 502 is also used for:

[0246] Based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, the aforementioned first consumption increment information, and the aforementioned page increment information, determine whether the aforementioned information processing device meets expectations;

[0247] or,

[0248] Based on the output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types, the initial output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types, and the aforementioned page count increment information, determine whether the aforementioned information processing device meets expectations;

[0249] or,

[0250] Based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, the aforementioned first consumption increment information, the number of pages already output corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, the initial number of pages already output corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations, and the aforementioned page increment information, determine whether the aforementioned information processing device meets expectations.

[0251] The processing unit 502 is further configured to: if the aforementioned consumable chip meets expectations, determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the aforementioned consumable based on the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operation and the second consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operation.

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

[0253] Send to the aforementioned image forming equipment the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types;

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

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

[0256] As one possible implementation, the control unit is also used for:

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

[0258] Based on the received page increment information, determine the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types respectively;

[0259] Based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page number increment information, determine the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations.

[0260] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0261] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0262] Obtain the initial output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial output page count information;

[0263] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type can be determined based on the aforementioned 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 can be determined based on the correlation information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0264] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0265] The first preset storage device is used to obtain the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information. The first preset storage device is located on the consumable chip or an external device connected to the consumable chip.

[0266] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0267] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0268] Obtain the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial first consumption information;

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

[0270] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0271] The first initial consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operation or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operation are obtained from the second preset storage device. The second preset storage device is set on the aforementioned consumable chip or an external device connected to the aforementioned consumable chip.

[0272] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0273] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0275] According to the preset first algorithm, the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial output page number information.

[0276] Based on the initial output page number information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned page number increment information, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

[0277] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0278] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0280] The received page increment information is converted into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information according to the preset second algorithm;

[0281] Update the association information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information, and obtain the association information of the output page information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0282] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained based on the association information of the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0283] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0284] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0285] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0286] According to the preset third algorithm, the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial first consumption information;

[0287] Based on the initial first consumption information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned first consumption increment information, the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type is obtained.

[0288] As one possible implementation, the control unit is specifically used for:

[0289] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0290] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0291] According to the preset fourth algorithm, the first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job is converted into the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information;

[0292] Update the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type according to the association information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtain the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type.

[0293] Based on the association information of the aforementioned first consumption information, the first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

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

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

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

[0297] The storage unit is used to store the associated information of the number of pages output for each of the n job types, and / or the associated information of the first consumption information of the recorded materials for each of the aforementioned n job types.

[0298] Corresponding to the above embodiments, this application also provides an information processing apparatus, including:

[0299] The first transmitting module is used for:

[0300] The image forming device is sent with the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types; the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recording material in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the output page number of a single job corresponding to each of the n job types is different.

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

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

[0305] The page number update module is used to determine the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received page number increment information.

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

[0307] The consumption information update module is used to determine the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations based on the received first consumption increment information.

[0308] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned page update module is specifically used for:

[0309] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0310] Obtain the initial output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial output page count information;

[0311] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type can be determined based on the aforementioned 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 can be determined based on the correlation information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

[0312] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned page update module is specifically used for:

[0313] The first preset storage device is used to obtain the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information. The first preset storage device is located in an information processing device that corresponds to the consumable or in an external device connected to the information processing device.

[0314] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned consumption information update module is specifically used for:

[0315] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0316] Obtain the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial first consumption information;

[0317] The first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type is determined based on the aforementioned first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type, or the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first operation 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 operation type.

[0318] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned consumption information update module is specifically used for:

[0319] The first initial consumption information corresponding to each of the aforementioned n job types or the associated information corresponding to the first initial consumption information corresponding to each of the aforementioned n job types are obtained from the second preset storage device. The second preset storage device is set in an information processing device that corresponds to the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0320] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned page update module is specifically used for:

[0321] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0323] According to the preset first algorithm, the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial output page number information.

[0324] Based on the initial output page number information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned page number increment information, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

[0325] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned page update module is specifically used for:

[0326] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0328] The received page increment information is converted into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information according to the preset second algorithm;

[0329] Update the association information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information, and obtain the association information of the output page information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0330] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained based on the association information of the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0331] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned consumption information update module is specifically used for:

[0332] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0333] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0334] According to the preset third algorithm, the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial first consumption information;

[0335] Based on the initial first consumption information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned first consumption increment information, the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type is obtained.

[0336] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned consumption information update module is specifically used for:

[0337] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0338] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0339] According to the preset fourth algorithm, the first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job is converted into the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information;

[0340] Update the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type according to the association information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtain the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type.

[0341] Based on the association information of the aforementioned first consumption information, the first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

[0342] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned first sending module is also used to send to the aforementioned image forming device the initial first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types and the initial number of pages already output corresponding to each of the n job types.

[0343] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned first sending module is also used to send identification information of the information processing device to the aforementioned image forming apparatus.

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

[0345] Specifically, the first transmitting 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), and DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The first transmitting module can also implement its function by building a specific waveform generator circuit. The first receiving module, the page number update module, and the consumption information update module can also implement their 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 one possible implementation, the first sending module, the first receiving module, the page number update module, and the consumption information update module are other modules that are different from the consumable chip and are set on the consumable. This application does not limit this.

[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 electrically connected to the consumable chip, while the other units are built into the control unit of the consumable chip. That is, the aforementioned consumable includes the consumable chip and the external module electrically connected to the consumable chip.

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

[0350] Of course, those skilled in the art can 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 noted that the specific content involved in the embodiments of this application can be found in the description above, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0352] Corresponding to the above embodiments, this application also provides a method for estimating recorded materials, applied to the aforementioned information processing apparatus, the method comprising:

[0353] Send to the image forming device the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the aforementioned n job types;

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

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

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

[0357] Receive the page number increment information 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 one possible implementation, the aforementioned method further includes: determining the number of pages already output for each of the aforementioned n job types based on the received page increment information.

[0359] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned method further includes: determining the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page number increment information.

[0360] In one possible implementation, determining the number of output pages corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received page increment information includes:

[0361] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0362] Obtain the initial output page count information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial output page count information;

[0363] The output page number information corresponding to the first job type can be determined based on the aforementioned 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 can be determined based on the correlation information between the aforementioned page number increment information and the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

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

[0365] The first preset storage device is used to obtain the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information. The first preset storage device is located in an information processing device that corresponds to the consumable or in an external device connected to the information processing device.

[0366] In one possible implementation, determining the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page number increment information includes:

[0367] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0368] Obtain the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned initial first consumption information;

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

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

[0371] The first initial consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned n types of operations are obtained from the second preset storage device. The second preset storage device is set in an information processing device that corresponds to the aforementioned consumables or an external device connected to the aforementioned information processing device.

[0372] In one possible implementation, determining the number of output pages corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received page increment information includes:

[0373] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0375] According to the preset first algorithm, the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial output page number information.

[0376] Based on the initial output page number information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned page number increment information, the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

[0377] In one possible implementation, determining the number of output pages corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received page increment information includes:

[0378] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

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

[0380] The received page increment information is converted into associated information corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information according to the preset second algorithm;

[0381] Update the association information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the aforementioned page number increment information, and obtain the association information of the output page information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0382] The output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained based on the association information of the output page number information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type.

[0383] In one possible implementation, determining the first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page number increment information includes:

[0384] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0385] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0386] According to the preset third algorithm, the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is converted into the initial first consumption information;

[0387] Based on the initial first consumption information obtained by updating and converting the aforementioned first consumption increment information, the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first operation type is obtained.

[0388] In one possible implementation, determining the first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the aforementioned page number increment information includes:

[0389] The first job type corresponding to the aforementioned page increment information is determined based on the received page increment information;

[0390] Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the aforementioned first job type;

[0391] According to the preset fourth algorithm, the first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job is converted into the associated information corresponding to the aforementioned first consumption increment information;

[0392] Update the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type according to the association information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtain the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type.

[0393] Based on the association information of the aforementioned first consumption information, the first consumption information corresponding to the aforementioned first job type is obtained.

[0394] It should be noted that the specific content involved in the embodiments of this application can be found in the description above, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0395] Corresponding to the above embodiments, this application also provides a consumable.

[0396] See Figure 6 This is a structural schematic diagram of a consumable provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 6 As shown, the consumable includes a housing; a developer container located inside the housing for containing developer; and the information processing device described in the above embodiments.

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

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

[0399] See Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of another consumable provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 9 As shown, the consumable includes a photosensitive drum; a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and the information processing device described in the above embodiments.

[0400] It should be pointed out that, Figures 6-9 The specific details 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, this application also provides an electronic device. Figure 10This is a 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. Those skilled in the art will 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 may be a bus-shaped structure or a star-shaped structure, and may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0402] The communication unit 903 is used to establish a communication channel, enabling the electronic device to communicate with other devices. It receives user data from other devices or sends user data to other devices.

[0403] The processor 901 serves as the control center of the electronic device, connecting various parts of the device via interfaces and lines. It executes software programs and / or modules stored in the memory 902, and calls data stored in the memory to perform various functions and / or process data. The processor can be composed of integrated circuits (ICs), such as a single packaged IC or multiple packaged ICs with the same or different functions connected together. For example, the processor 901 may consist only of a central processing unit (CPU). In this embodiment, the CPU may have a single processing core or include multiple processing 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 storage, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

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

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

[0407] This application also provides a consumable, which includes a housing, a developer container, and the aforementioned consumable chip. The developer container is located inside the housing and is used to contain developer. The consumable chip is disposed on the housing.

[0408] In one embodiment, the consumable also includes a developer delivery element for delivering developer.

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

[0410] This application embodiment also provides another consumable, which includes a photosensitive drum, a charging roller, and a consumable chip. The charging roller is used to charge the photosensitive drum. The consumable chip is the aforementioned consumable chip.

[0411] In this embodiment of the application, when determining the consumption information of the records, it is necessary not only to determine the consumption amount of the recorded materials consumed by the number of pages already output for the n types of jobs, but also to determine the second consumption information corresponding to the n types of jobs, which improves the accuracy of the final evaluation result of the consumption amount of the recorded materials and improves the user experience.

[0412] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the techniques in the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented using software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in various embodiments or certain parts of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0413] The same or similar parts between the various embodiments in this specification can be referred to mutually. In particular, the device embodiments and terminal embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description in the method embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for estimating recorded materials, characterized in that, The method includes: Send to the image forming device the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types; The output page count information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types are used to determine the total consumption information of the recorded materials in the consumables; n is an integer greater than 1; the output page count of a single job corresponding to each of the n job types is different.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types, and / or the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types, are also used to determine whether the consumables meet expectations.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before sending the output page number information corresponding to each of the n job types and the first consumption information of the recording material corresponding to each of the n job types to the image forming device, the method further includes: The image forming device receives 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.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: determining the number of pages already output for each of the n job types based on the received page increment information.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: determining the first consumption information of the recording materials corresponding to the n types of operations based on the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the number of pages already output for each of the n job types based on the received page increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the initial number of pages already output corresponding to the first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the initial number of pages already output; The output page count information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the page count increment information and the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type, or the output page count information corresponding to the first job type is determined based on the association information between the page count increment information and the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page count information includes: The first preset storage device is used to obtain the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type or the associated information corresponding to the initial output page number information. The first preset storage device is located in an information processing device that corresponds to the consumable or in an external device connected to the information processing device.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The step of determining the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type, or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information; The first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type is determined based on the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type, or the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first operation type is determined based on the association information between the first consumption increment information and the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first operation type.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials 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 each of the n job types or the associated information corresponding to the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to each of the n job types are obtained from the second preset storage device. The second preset storage device is set in an information processing device that corresponds to the consumables or an external device connected to the information processing device.

10. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the number of pages already output for each of the n job types based on the received page increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the associated information of the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type; According to the preset first algorithm, the associated information of the initial output page number information corresponding to the first job type is converted into the initial output page number information. The initial output page number information is updated and transformed based on the page number increment information to obtain the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

11. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The step of determining the number of pages already output for each of the n job types based on the received page increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the associated information of the initial output page count information corresponding to the first job type; The received page increment information is converted into associated information corresponding to the page increment information according to the preset second algorithm; Update the association information of the initial output page number information of the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the page number increment information, and obtain the association information of the output page information corresponding to the first job type; The output page number information corresponding to the first job type is obtained based on the association information of the output page number information corresponding to the first job type.

12. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The step of determining the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type; According to the preset third algorithm, the associated information of the initial first consumption information corresponding to the first job type is converted into the initial first consumption information; Based on the initial first consumption information obtained by updating and converting the first consumption increment information, the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type is obtained.

13. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The step of determining the first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the n job types based on the received first consumption increment information and the page number increment information includes: The first job type corresponding to the received page number increment information is determined based on the page number increment information. Obtain the associated information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded materials corresponding to the first job type; According to the preset fourth algorithm, the first consumption increment information corresponding to the current output job is converted into the associated information corresponding to the first consumption increment information; Update the association information of the initial first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type according to the association information corresponding to the first consumption increment information, and obtain the association information of the first consumption information of the recorded material corresponding to the first job type. The first consumption information corresponding to the first job type is obtained based on the association information of the first consumption information.

14. An information processing device, characterized in that, The information processing device is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-13.

15. A consumable, characterized in that, The consumables include: case; A developer container, located within the housing, is used to contain the developer; and The information processing apparatus according to claim 14; Alternatively, the consumables may include: Photosensitive drum; A charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum; and The information processing apparatus according to claim 14.

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