Multi-Printer Consumable Aggregation for Timely Container Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to accurately calculate the timing for delivering consumable materials like ink bottles across multiple printers, leading to incomplete usage due to the inability to sum consumption data from multiple devices.
Innovation Solution
A system that manages consumable materials by tracking consumption and remaining amounts across multiple devices, summing data to determine the appropriate time for delivery requests through a centralized server and mobile terminal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a single printer tracks its own ink consumption independently, then the printer can monitor its own consumable usage, but the system cannot accurately calculate the total consumption when multiple printers share a common ink bottle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges consumption data from multiple printers by implementing a centralized server that collects and sums ink consumption information from all connected printers. This allows accurate calculation of total consumption across the network, resolving the limitation of individual printer tracking while maintaining manageable system complexity through centralized coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between multiple printers and the delivery service. The server acts as a mediator that aggregates consumption data from various printers, calculates total usage, and determines when delivery is needed, thereby enabling multi-printer consumption tracking without requiring complex direct communication between all devices.
2Reliability
If the system delivers ink bottles based on individual printer consumption thresholds, then each printer can ensure its own supply, but ink bottles may be delivered too early or too late when multiple printers share a common bottle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines consumption data from multiple printers to calculate total ink usage across all devices. By summing the consumption of all printers sharing an ink bottle, the system determines delivery timing based on aggregate usage rather than individual printer thresholds, ensuring bottles are delivered at the optimal moment when total consumption reaches the threshold.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the server continuously monitors consumption data from multiple printers, compares total usage against the threshold value, and automatically triggers delivery requests when the combined consumption reaches the predetermined threshold. This feedback loop ensures accurate delivery timing that reflects actual multi-printer usage patterns.
3Productivity
If the system waits for individual printer ink levels to deplete before delivering bottles, then delivery can be triggered by actual usage, but ink bottles may run out completely before delivery occurs in multi-printer scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges consumption monitoring across multiple printers to track total ink usage from a shared bottle. By combining data from all printers and comparing against the threshold, the system triggers delivery before any single printer exhausts its supply, ensuring continuous operation while maximizing utilization of the shared ink resource.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary delivery actions by triggering delivery requests when total consumption reaches a threshold before complete depletion occurs. This preliminary action ensures that ink bottles are replenished proactively across the multi-printer system, preventing any printer from running out of ink while optimizing the timing to avoid premature delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
A system that manages at least one consumable material used by at least one device includes a memory storing instructions, and a processor executing the instructions causing the system to manage information regarding the consumable material for at least one container, acquire consumed amounts of the consumable material or remaining amounts of the consumable material from the at least one device using the consumable material in the respective container, and transmit information regarding a request to deliver a new container of the consumable material to a delivery service that delivers the new container of the consumable material used by the at least one device on the basis of a total amount of consumption obtained by summing the consumed amounts of the consumable material or the remaining amounts of the consumable material.