The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 18, 2010
Filed:
Oct. 03, 2005
Walter Filbrich, Manhattan Beach, CA (US);
Brent Richtsmeier, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Walter Filbrich, Manhattan Beach, CA (US);
Brent Richtsmeier, Laguna Niguel, CA (US);
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, KR;
Abstract
Systems and methods for estimating the amount of imaging material, such as toner, used in a printing device. In one example, a system estimates toner usage from imaging data and accounts for a 'diffusion effect' caused by non-adjacent pixel groups. In certain embodiments, the system examines sets of pixel locations within a page. For example, the system may evaluate each set of eight adjacent pixel locations (i.e., a byte of information) on a page. For each pixel location set, the system determines a proximity factor that is indicative of the number of independent pixel groups within the respective pixel location set. The system then calculates a proximity value based on at least a portion of the proximity factors and uses the proximity value and a pixel count for the page to estimate a toner usage amount.