Unified Master Controller for Multi-Printer Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for managing and testing multiple printers require multiple personnel to operate each printer sequentially, leading to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and unreliable results due to human error and coordination challenges, especially in quality testing and firmware deployment.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows a single user to control multiple printers through a master controller device, enabling simultaneous, asynchronous, or parallel operations on all selected printers, including panel navigation, configuration, and firmware installation, using a unified user interface to streamline operations and reduce human error.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple personnel manually operate each printer sequentially, then each printer can be controlled individually, but the time consumption and coordination complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple printer control interfaces into a single unified control system. The master controller aggregates the user interfaces of multiple slave printers, allowing a single operator to control multiple printers simultaneously through one device, thereby eliminating the need for multiple personnel and sequential operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The master controller serves multiple functions: it acts as a control interface for multiple printers, a coordination hub for simultaneous operations, and a central point for firmware deployment. This universal control device can manage selection, configuration, and operation controls across the entire printer network.
2Productivity
If multiple personnel perform operations in parallel on multiple printers, then operations can be performed simultaneously, but human error and inconsistency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the master controller receives status information from slave printers and adjusts coordination accordingly. This ensures that simultaneous operations are synchronized properly and that any deviations or errors can be detected and corrected, maintaining consistency across all printers.
Solution Approach 2:
The master controller acts as an intermediary between the operator and multiple slave printers. It translates single-operator actions into coordinated commands for multiple printers, ensuring consistent execution across all devices while eliminating human variability introduced by multiple operators.
3Reliability
If sequential firmware installation is performed on multiple printers, then each printer receives updated firmware reliably, but the total time required becomes prohibitively long
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by preparing firmware updates and coordination sequences in advance on the master controller. Before actual firmware installation begins, the master controller configures all necessary parameters and coordinates the timing for simultaneous deployment across multiple printers, ensuring both reliability and speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The firmware deployment is executed as periodic simultaneous actions across multiple printers rather than continuous sequential updates. The master controller initiates firmware installation at predetermined intervals on multiple slave printers simultaneously, dramatically reducing total deployment time while maintaining reliable installation through coordinated monitoring.
4Loss of time
If a unified control system manages multiple printers simultaneously, then time and effort are reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into distinct functional modules: a master controller for coordination and slave printers for execution. This segmentation allows the complexity to be distributed and managed separately, with the master controller handling high-level coordination logic while slave printers handle local firmware and operational tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus to implement a unified and decentralized machine interface for control of multi-printer systems is disclosed. A master controller device accepts a selection control from a user indicating a plurality of selected printers from printers connected to the master controller device by a network. The master controller device accepts an operation control from the user, indicating at least one printer operation to be performed on the plurality of selected printers. The master controller broadcasts a simultaneous control signal to the plurality of selected printers with data instructing the printers to immediately perform at least one printer operation, triggering, substantially simultaneously with the broadcasting of the simultaneous control signal, performance of the at least one printer operation at the plurality of selected printers, and performing the at least one printer operation substantially simultaneously at the plurality of selected printers immediately upon receiving the simultaneous control signal.