Patents Examined by Fan Zhang
  • Patent number: 11656815
    Abstract: A printing system restricts printing performed by a printing apparatus in a case where predetermined information, representing a printing amount of the printing by utilizing a consumable part, reaches a set 1st value during printing in a state where communication between a server and the printing apparatus is impossible, and the server outputs a 2nd value, which is different from the 1st value, to the printing apparatus in a state where the communication with the printing apparatus is possible. If the 2nd value is input from the server, the printing apparatus restricts the printing in a case where the predetermined information reaches the 2nd value during printing in a state where the communication with the server is impossible, and in a case where a time period related to maintenance of the server is input, the server outputs the 2nd value to the printing apparatus, based on the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryoko Kojima
  • Patent number: 11650767
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a reception unit that receives a progress condition of a group printing job constituted by plural printing jobs, and a presentation unit that presents the progress condition of the group printing job in accordance with an item for presenting the progress condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Bing Yan, Ami Kanzaki
  • Patent number: 11645017
    Abstract: In an approach to governance of document printing, one or more computer processors receive a request from a user to print a document. One or more computer processors identify a content and a context of the document. Based on the content and the context of the document, one or more computer processors determine whether the request complies with one or more printing policies. Responsive to determining the request complies with the one or more printing policies, one or more computer processors determine one or more format attributes of the document. Based on the one or more format attributes, one or more computer processors determine whether the document format is optimized, where optimization minimizes use of one or more printing supplies. Responsive to determining the document format is not optimized, one or more computer processors provide a recommendation for optimizing the document format to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Manjit Singh Sodhi, Sarbajit K. Rakshit, Raghuveer Prasad Nagar, Poornima Iyengar
  • Patent number: 11630612
    Abstract: A printing device printing on a medium while being manually moved in relation to the medium is provided. The printing device includes: a movement detection unit detecting an amount of movement of the printing device in relation to the medium; and a control unit causing a print head to print a print image according to the amount of movement of the printing device detected by the movement detection unit, and causing a display to display a display image showing a current printing position in the print image according to the amount of movement of the printing device detected by the movement detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Toshihiro Tsukada, Takehisa Uemura
  • Patent number: 11586405
    Abstract: A printing control apparatus includes a processor configured to obtain plural pieces of data posted in a group in a messaging service, and perform control in such a way as to print a certain one of the plural pieces of data according to a certain member of the group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventor: Yuki Nakamori
  • Patent number: 11586403
    Abstract: An information processing system includes an information processing apparatus that obtains a state of a job input to a printing apparatus, generates, based on the state of the obtained job, notification information including instruction information used to control the job, and transmits the generated notification information to a network. A mobile terminal apparatus receives the notification information from the network, and notifies, based on the received notification information, the instruction information used to control the job. The information processing apparatus also estimates an execution result of a job which has been input to the printing apparatus but is in an execution standby state, obtains, as a state of the job, the estimated execution result, and in a case in which the estimated execution result indicates abnormal completion, generates the notification information including the instruction information used to control the job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshiko Sueshige
  • Patent number: 11586406
    Abstract: A printing system manages printing devices. A managing server receives device update status information and pending job information from each of the printing devices. A status change for a component within a first printing device is detected, thereby updating the device information for the first printing device. The managing server parses a print job queue for the first printing device to update the pending job information to determine the print job will cause a first potential error related to the changed status of the first printing device. When a new print job is received, the managing server determines that the new print job will not occur according to the first potential error, identifies a second printing device, determines the new print job will not result in a second potential error at the second printing device, and sends the new print job to the second printing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Katherine Bayquen Lao
  • Patent number: 11573747
    Abstract: Systems and methods for redirecting one or more printers from a virtual computing device to a physical computing device. The method includes initiating a printing application on a virtual computing device and exporting at least one printer configuration. The at least one printer configuration corresponds to one or more printers communicatively coupled to a physical computing device. The method also includes storing the at least one printer configuration to a data file on the virtual computing device and copying the data file from the virtual computing device to the physical computing device. The method further includes invoking the data file on the physical computing device such that the at least one printer configuration is imported on the physical computing device. The method also includes generating for display on the virtual computing device at least one indication of the one or more printers communicatively coupled to the physical computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: FMR LLC
    Inventors: Vivek Satyamohan, Hari Krishna Pola, Syed Muzamil, Jemkumar Mathew
  • Patent number: 11567709
    Abstract: A print management device includes: an estimation unit that estimates a completion prediction time of a print process that is planned in advance according to a processing capability of a printing device, the estimation unit estimating, in response to occurrence of an abnormality in the printing device, the completion prediction time based on actual performance information on the processing capability from a start of printing by the printing device to the occurrence of the abnormality and a recovery time determined in advance, the recovery time being a time needed for dealing with the abnormality; and a notification unit that notifies the completion prediction time estimated by the estimation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventor: Kimihiko Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11561745
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a main memory, and a controller. The main memory stores mode information indicating whether the image forming apparatus is set to a contract mode, upper limit information indicating an upper limit to which printing can be performed during a prescribed period, and actual print sheet number information indicating an actual print sheet number actually printed during the prescribed period. The performs a printing permission process in a case that mode information indicates the contract mode and the actual print sheet number is less than the upper limit when the controller receives a print job even in a case that a sum of a specific print sheet number specified in advance in the print job and the actual print sheet number is greater than the upper limit, the printing permission process permitting printing for the specific sheet number as a permission print sheet number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuki Fukusada
  • Patent number: 11537331
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a section that detects posts of an output instruction and an output target from a user in a chat room, a registration section that registers the output target as an output target corresponding to the user or the chat room, in a case where identification information of an output device is not registered for the user or the chat room when the post of the output target is detected, and a control section that performs control of inputting a post of requesting registration of the output device from the user into the chat room in a case where the identification information of the output device is not registered for the user or the chat room when the post of the output instruction is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Mitsuhashi, Hideaki Sugimoto, Nozomi Noguchi, Shigeo Miyata, Yu Mishima
  • Patent number: 11526311
    Abstract: A communication system may include a printer and a terminal device. The printer may, in a case where a predetermined operation is accepted, execute a communication process and, in a case where sending of start information to a server fails in the communication process, execute an output process for causing an output unit to output communication information for communicating with the server and start related information obtained by using the start information. The terminal device may obtain the communication information and the start related information outputted by the printer and, in a case where the communication information and the start related information are obtained, send the start related information to the server using the communication information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yukinori Minamiyama
  • Patent number: 11528383
    Abstract: A billing method for a liquid jet device includes, counting a consumed amount of liquid by printing, counting the number of printed sheets, counting a consumed amount of liquid for maintenance of a jet head, calculating a maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, from a maintenance consumption amount consumed in current maintenance, and the number of printed sheets for which printing is performed from previous maintenance to the current maintenance, setting, as a liquid consumption amount, a value obtained by adding the maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, to a print consumption amount consumed in printing for the unit number of sheets, and billing for printing for the same number of sheets as the number of printed sheets performed after the current maintenance, in accordance with the liquid consumption amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Takashi Akase, Kenji Tsukada, Masato Haga
  • Patent number: 11494134
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a print management unit configured to allocate a plurality of print data sets to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, respectively, the plurality of print data sets being obtained by dividing one print data set; a separator data generation unit configured to generate, for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, print data for a separator, the print data for the separator including management information that includes information regarding a particular print data set among the plurality of print data sets and information regarding a particular image forming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses to which the particular print data set is allocated; and an output unit configured to output, for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the particular print data set and the print data for the separator to the particular image forming apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Hidenori Kinoshita
  • Patent number: 11470222
    Abstract: A communication apparatus includes a reception unit that receives a Bluetooth® beacon signal transmitted from a printing apparatus, an identification unit that identifies a reception field intensity of the beacon signal, a display unit that displays a reception screen for receiving a transmission instruction in a case where the identified reception field intensity is less than a first threshold and greater than or equal to a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold, and a transmission unit that transmits, to the printing apparatus, an authentication request enabling a user to log into the printing apparatus in response to receipt of the transmission instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshinobu Umeda
  • Patent number: 11438478
    Abstract: A printing device includes a battery, a print head and a controller. The battery is charged by a charging power and supplies a power to the print head. The controller has multiple operation modes and is configured to operate in one of the multiple operation modes. The controller consumes an operating power corresponding to the operation mode. An external power source has multiple power profiles and outputs a supplying power corresponding to one of the power profiles to the printing device. The supplying power is used as the operating power for driving the controller. The controller obtains the multiple power profiles from the externa power source. The controller determines whether the supplying power is greater than a sum of the charging power to charge the battery and the operating power, and determine an operation mode when the battery is being charged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Ota
  • Patent number: 11429643
    Abstract: A information collection apparatus for collecting information indicating a state of a printer, the PC configured to perform processing including: collecting a first group of the information; and referring to a collection condition table associating the first group of the information, a first condition, and a second group of the information, wherein when the collected first group of the information satisfies the associated first condition, a determination is made to collect the associated second group of the information, whereas when the collected first group of the information does not satisfy the associated first condition, a determination is made not to collect the associated second group of the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keiro Kawano, Kaoru Takemae
  • Patent number: 11416194
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a scanner, a receiver, and a controller. The scanner scans a document to obtain image data representing the scanned document. The receiver receives faxed image data. The controller includes a processor and a memory, performs processing for reducing usage of a consumable material on the image data obtained by the scanner, and does not perform the processing on image data obtained from an external apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koichi Unno
  • Patent number: 11409476
    Abstract: Quality request data of a printed product including information regarding a print quality request of a printed product, and information regarding a tolerable variation of a print quality request of a plurality of printed products is received, and whether quality of a printed product is satisfied is determined based on information regarding a print quality request of a printed product, and information regarding a tolerable variation of a print quality request of a plurality of printed products that is included in the quality request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiji Kanamoto, Toshihiko Iida
  • Patent number: 11379171
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to determine progress of each of two or more processes included in a workflow and display a second image that is a single image generated based on first images respectively representing the two or more processes and the determined progress.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventor: Yuka Kitazawa