Abstract: Systems and methods are described that facilitate parallel processing of PDF documents for printing, wherein the PDF documents comprise transparency effects. Transparent objects in the PDF document are identified, and the document is divided into subgroups of pages. The transparency objects are then flattened to enable conversion to PostScript format. The PostScript pages are processed and rendered to raster for printing.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus provided with a storage and a random access memory (RAM) includes an extended app manager that performs management of an extended app as an application for implementing a function other than the standard functions of the image forming apparatus in itself, and an extended app platform as a platform of the extended app. The extended app manager stores a source for extended app application program interface (API) that is a program for an extended app API as an API usable to the extended app, in a region for dynamic addition that is a region provided on the storage for purposes of dynamic addition of the source for extended app API, and the extended app platform uses the source for extended app API in the region for dynamic addition to load the extended app API on the RAM.

Abstract: Examples disclosed herein relate to receiving a query via a chat interaction, translating the received query into one of a set of predefined commands according to a trained machine-learning model, and providing a result of the one of the set of predefined commands to the chat interaction.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: a processor is configured to: read an image of at least one of a first surface or a second surface of a medium with the medium folded; discriminate whether the image is of the first surface or the second surface based on an identification image in the image; specify, based on the image, a surface on which a folding deviation occurs; and determine a correction direction of the folding deviation according to whether the surface on which the folding deviation occurs is the first surface or the second surface.

Abstract: A printer includes: a first connector to be used to input electric power supplied from an outside; a second connector to which a communication terminal is to be connected, and which is to be used to output at least a part of the electric power to the connected communication terminal; a printing control unit configured to control operation of a printing unit configured to perform printing on recording paper; and an adjustment unit configured to adjust a maximum amount of the electric power to be output from the second connector, of the electric power supplied from the outside, to a first amount of power when the printing unit is not under a printing operation, and adjust the maximum amount of the electric power to be output from the second connector to a second amount of power when the printing unit is under the printing operation, the second amount of power being smaller than the first amount of power.

Abstract: A system and method for improved predictive maintenance for multifunction peripherals includes machine learning trained with more accurate problem and resolution coding and categorization. A training set is made from past maintenance records that include accurate problem codes, thorough natural language problem descriptions, accurate resolution codes, thorough problem resolution descriptions and problem/solution categorization. When a service call is received, an operator provides record with a natural language problem description and to which they assign a problem code for categorization. Natural language in the record is compared with records in the training set. When there is a sufficient language match, the problem code and categorization from the training set record is used instead of that which was operator assigned. The corrected record can then be fed to improve predictive maintenance machine learning.

Abstract: A Onepass system inkjet printing control method, device and storage are provided. The method includes: dividing all physical channels into several groups according to a printing requirement command, defining one group as a printing module, wherein each of the printing modules includes x physical channels, x?1, x is an integer; configuring n logical channels for each printing module, wherein n?x, n is an integer; starting a printing command, and extracting corresponding printing data from the printing memory in units of the logical channel; processing the printing data according to the printing parameters and then inputting it into the corresponding physical channel for inkjet printing. The solution of the present invention ensures that each printing module can independently control the printing task during printing.

Abstract: A printing method performed by an image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus receives job information of content, and generates payment amount information based on the job information of the content. The image forming apparatus receives payment method information from a user, and generates billing information by using the payment amount information and the payment method information. The image forming apparatus transmits the billing information to a payment system.

Abstract: A tone reproduction curve for a printing apparatus is periodically generated based on printed items produced by the printing apparatus. The tone reproduction curve is adjusted between periodic print-based generations of the tone reproduction curve by: determining the amount of area coverage of marking material applied by the printing apparatus during printing (in subsequent periods following an initial period in which the tone reproduction curve was generated); weighting the amount of area coverage in each of the subsequent periods differently based on how distant each of the subsequent periods is from the initial period to produce a weighted moving average of the area coverages of the marking material; and adjusting the tone reproduction curve based on the weighted moving average of the area coverages of the marking material.

Abstract: An information processing device includes a processor that is configured to receive execution instructions that instruct printing to be executed, group the execution instructions into an aggregation in accordance with attributes of the execution instructions, perform control in such a way that a first execution instruction that has been received and a second execution instruction that has not been received are displayed using different display modes in accordance with type information indicating types of the execution instructions constituting the aggregation.

Abstract: An information processing system manages progress of a job including one or more work processes. The information processing system includes one or more imagers that are associated with the one or more work processes of the job and configured to capture a form being transferred together with a work object of the job; and a processor programmed to execute a process including managing the one or more work processes of the job based on the one or more imagers capturing the form, recognizing a mark image indicating transferability from image data of the form captured by the one or more imagers, and managing whether the work object is transferable to a next work process based on the mark image recognized from the image data obtained by capturing the form.

Abstract: An information processing device includes a processor configured to: group electronic documents that have been processed, based on similarity degree of the electronic documents into one or more groups; determine a group, among the one or more groups, to which at least one received electronic document is to belong; determine whether the at least one received document is a modified version of one or more electronic documents belonging to the determined group, the modified version having been partially modified with respect to the one or more electronic documents belonging to the determined group; and specify a blank portion in the at least one received electronic document by comparing the at least one received electronic document with the one or more electronic documents belonging to the determined group.

Abstract: A server includes: a storage control section storing, in a storage section, relationship information that indicates a relationship between attribute information indicating an attribute of a user of a device and consumption information indicating consumption of a consumable product of the device; an acquisition section acquiring the attribute information of a first user; and a predicted consumption calculation section calculating, based on the attribute information of the first user and the relationship information, predicted consumption of the consumable product of the device used by the first user.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus and an image forming method are provided. The image forming apparatus includes a printing engine to form an image, a step motor to drive the printing engine, a driving circuit to provide a constant current to the step motor and sense a voltage corresponding to a magnitude of the constant current provided to the step motor, and a processor to calculate a temperature of the step motor based on the voltage sensed by the driving circuit during an excitation period of the step motor and control an operation of the image forming apparatus based on the calculated temperature.

Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods obtain sensor data that were generated by a plurality of sensors; obtain event data that include occurrences of an event; calculate first characteristics of the sensor data that were generated by the plurality of sensors within a temporal range of an occurrence of the event; identify, in the sensor data, sensor data that were generated by the plurality of sensors within the temporal range of at least one other occurrence of the event based on the first characteristics; calculate second characteristics of the sensor data that were generated by the plurality of sensors within the temporal range of the at least one other occurrence of the event, normalize at least some of the sensor data based on the first characteristics and on the second characteristics, thereby generating normalized sensor data, and train a machine-learning model based on the normalized sensor data.

Abstract: Provided is an image processing apparatus including an image processing unit that generates a binary image in which the width of a black line has been changed, the binary image constituted by black and white pixels. The image processing apparatus includes a first replacement unit that replaces a white pixel in a first binary image by a black pixel and replaces a black pixel in the first binary image by a white pixel, to generate a second binary image, and a second replacement unit that replaces, in the second binary image in which the width of a black line has been thickened by the image processing unit, a white pixel by a black pixel and replaces a black pixel by a white pixel.

Abstract: An image reading apparatus is configured to be connected to an external terminal via a network. The image reading apparatus includes a transmitter, a reading section, and a controller. The controller executes an image generation process of generating a single first image file from image data of a document read by the reading section and causes the transmitter to transfer the first image file to the external terminal connected via the network. The controller executes a compression rate determination process of determining a compression rate of a second image file in the image generation process based on a transfer rate of the network when the first image file is transferred to the external terminal and a reading rate of the reading section.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a duct, a filter provided inside the duct, a first fan provided on an upstream side of the filter in an exhaust direction and a second fan provided on a downstream side of the filter in the exhaust direction. A first mode operation containing a first operation in which the first fan sends air to the filter and a second operation in which the second fan sends air to the filter after the first operation is performed at least once, and then a second mode in which the first fan sends air in the exhaust direction is performed.

Abstract: First quantization data for printing by the first nozzle group and second quantization data for printing by the second nozzle group are generated based on multi-valued data. By use of mask patterns, first print data and second print data are generated based on the first quantization data and the second quantization data. The first mask pattern for generating first print data and the second mask pattern for generating second print data are formed so as to include a pixel in which printing of a dot is allowed in both and a pixel in which printing of a dot is not allowed in both. The pixel value of each pixel indicated by the multi-valued data has a correlation with the sum of the number of dots indicated by the first print data and the number of dots indicated by the second print data in the area corresponding to each pixel.

Abstract: A transmission apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires document data; an analysis unit that analyzes the document data acquired by the acquisition unit; a storage unit that stores destination information in which a destination of the document data and information for transmission are associated with each other; a determination unit that determines, based on an analysis result of the analysis unit and the destination information stored in the storage unit, a candidate for the destination of the document data; a processing unit that executes processing based on the candidate; and a transmission unit that transmits, based on the processing, the document data.