Toner Container Chip Duplicate Command Detection

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Efficient communication between an image forming device and its replaceable supply items, such as toner containers, is hindered by the need to distinguish between new and repeated write commands, leading to potential errors and inefficiencies in command execution.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a method where a chip on the replaceable supply item operates as a slave node on an I2C communication bus, comparing the transmission cycle bit of incoming write commands with previous commands, and resending responses or executing commands based on matching or non-matching cycle bits to prevent duplicate executions and improve communication efficiency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the slave node processes every write command received from the master node, then all commands are executed, but duplicate commands are executed multiple times causing inefficiency and potential errors

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommand execution accuracyVSAvoidcommunication efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The slave node performs preliminary comparison of the transmission cycle bit before executing the write command. By checking whether the current transmission cycle bit matches the previous one, the slave node determines in advance whether the command is a duplicate, preventing unnecessary execution and improving both reliability and communication efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If the slave node compares transmission cycle bits to identify duplicate commands, then duplicate executions are prevented, but additional processing steps are required

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommand execution accuracyVSAvoidcommunication protocol complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The communication protocol is segmented into distinct components: the transmission cycle bit is extracted and compared separately from the main command data. This segmentation allows the duplicate detection mechanism to operate independently with minimal impact on the overall command processing flow, reducing the perceived complexity while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Reliability

If the slave node resends responses for duplicate commands, then communication synchronization is maintained, but additional communication overhead is generated

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication synchronizationVSAvoidcommunication time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of reprocessing the original command, the slave node creates a copy of the previous response and resends it for duplicate commands. This copying approach maintains communication synchronization and protocol consistency while avoiding the time-consuming process of re-executing the command, thus reducing communication overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP4261621A1Communication between an image forming device and a replaceable supply item
Publication Date: 2023.10.18 LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL INC
  • EP4261621A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4261621A1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP4261621A1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

A toner container installable in an image forming device having a controller according to one example embodiment includes a housing having a reservoir for storing toner. A chip is positioned on the housing and configured to receive a first write command from the controller of the image forming device. The chip is further configured to determine whether a transmission cycle bit of the first write command matches a transmission cycle bit of a second write command received by the chip from the controller of the image forming device previous to the first write command. The chip is further configured to resend to the controller of the image forming device a response to the second write command if the transmission cycle bit of the first write command matches the transmission cycle bit of the second write command.