Xerox Corporation

Charles Robert Carlson

Shanti Villarreal

Brent Rodney Jones

James Patrick VanWinkle

Sara Kleiman

Ashok Murthy

Christopher Dale Iburg

Mark Simon Boyt

Paul Ronald Herman

James D Rise

Brian Patterson

Peter Charles Rapley

James Patrick VanWinckle

Brent Stuart Deuth

Document processing devices and account manager systems are presented which verify validity of pairings of installed consumables and document processing devices for permissive enablement of document processing functionality based on validity of the pairings.

Methods and system for consumable validity verification in prepaid document processing devices

Methods and systems are presented for managing prepaid usage of document processing devices, in which an account manager system () automatically purchases prepaid account credits for customer accounts and applies print units to document processing devices registered to customer accounts periodically and according to preset top off thresholds () subject to predefined limits (), and in which customer computer agents () allow just in time printing using devices with job-based application of print units to selected devices.

Methods and system for managing credit card usage in pre-paid printing system accounts

Document processing devices and methods are presented, in which the device stores a remaining print unit value in its memory that represents the amount of print units currently available to enable the device to perform the document processing operations, and a programmable computer of the device selectively performs document processing jobs for users and decrements the remaining print unit value until the value reaches zero and the device provides for expenditure of print units according to color content and/or coverage levels determined for a given job.

Pre-paid document processing devices and operating methods

Methods and systems are presented for managing document processing device usage in which a customer accesses a management system to buy and pay for account credits, and to apply print units to specific managed device by conversion of account credits based on current pricing information for the specified account and the particular device at the time of the request.

Methods and apparatus for managing pre-paid printing system accounts

Systems and methods are presented for generating consumable orders for document processing devices and for verifying approved source consumable usage in document processing devices, in which a customer computer receives electronic reports from the devices and from these ascertains whether particular devices will need replacement consumables and also whether non-program consumable products are being used in particular devices. If a replacement will be required, the customer computer presents a proposed order to the customer via prompting content customizable by a reseller. The customer can then accept, modify, or reject the proposed order, and any accepted or modified order is forwarded to an account manager system for automatic placement for consumable shipment from a manufacturer or distributor. If the device has a non-program consumable installed, the customer computer notifies the account manager system and may warn the customer that continued usage may void one or more warranty extensions or other program incentive.

Methods and system for consumable order creation

Growing community of inventors

Beaverton, OR, United States of America

Charles Robert Carlson