Abstract: A printing system includes a housing and a marking engine within the housing for marking print media conveyed on a paper path through the housing. A viewing system, such as a window in the housing, is positioned so as to enable an observer outside the housing to view a print job in progress.

Abstract: A first and second printing engine are disposed with an intermediate transport belt in U-shaped arrangement. The method employs printing sheets serially on one side in the first engine inverting the sheet and transporting the sheets through about 180° change in direction without rotation. The commonality of the leading edge is thus maintained before and after inverting. The sheet is then fed to the second engine for duplex printing on the second side of the sheet. The second engine may have a media sheet input rotation for simplex printing serially with the duplex printing.

Abstract: A system for automatically detecting the need to service a machine. The system includes a processor and at least one of a device component and a supply component. The processor determines a time at which the device component will require repair or replacement and when the supply component will need replenishment and sends an electronic message addressed to a communication device accessible by the user or supplier. The electronic message includes data which facilitates ordering services and sending the supplies to the user of the machine.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus including tandem print engines is provided for forming an image on an image receiving substrata. The apparatus includes a first print engine and a second print engine downstream from the first print engine. The second print engine is slaved to the first print engine. The first print engine has a first photoreceptor and a first period of revolution. The second print engine has a second photoreceptor and a second period of revolution. The image processing apparatus further includes an intermediate inverter that inverts the image receiving substrate between the first print engine and the second print engine. The inverter determines a phase difference between a first seam signal from the first photoreceptor and a second seam signal from the second photoreceptor.

Abstract: A printing system accurately prints proprietary marks and selected colors. A dictionary of recognizable patterns and defined colors corresponding to the proprietary marks and selected colors is linked to a user interface wherein a user may designate a location within a document and at least one of the proprietary marks with defined colors from an accessible menu. A processor associates the defined colors with the image at the specified location and generates a printer signal representative thereof. Alternatively, the processor includes a pattern recognizer for identifying recognizable patterns within a document. The patterns have a likeness to defined patterns within a pattern dictionary and can be converted to the defined patterns for display or imaging.

Abstract: A class of add-on system components providing functionality of devices, management of self-help, customization and enhancement of services for devices, and remote monitoring at significantly reduced cost. It reduces the cost of UI and greatly enhances ease-of-use by realizing that the networked system can be headless and use a browser-based UI for its platform. It embeds a Device Model Agent (DMA) and connects to the Device-Centric Services platform to offer services. Additionally, it offers customized diagnostic access for customer representatives to enable self-help service actions to be performed, unifies and manages multiple access needs to several disparate data access mechanisms, and uses largely COTS PC hardware rather than customized PWBs.

Abstract: A distributed system allows marking devices and the like to subscribe to and run device-centric services. A device model agent allows the devices to interact with service hosts of service providers to automate supplies maintenance, user help, and services subscription and deployment. The device model agent can be embedded in the devices, can be deployed in an add-on component connected to the device, or can be run by a separate machine as a proxy. The device model agent provides a run time environment for services available to the device, but with a common interface and a common structure so that services can be written once and run in the device model agent in virtually any deployment.

Abstract: A device independent color control server and control methods provide color consistency services and improve consistent color document appearance between any number of connected color image forming devices and/or color display monitors on a distributed network.

Abstract: The Device Model Agent (DMA), the device side technology module in Device Centric Services (DCS) system, is the main focus of this invention. DMA is a thin, efficient applications/services execution environment. DMA provides an embedded services platform for enabling system management applications and services. This allows a flexible, extensible, dynamic services management module allowing networked services to be designed, added, and managed within the system without modifications to devices, DCS system, or DMA itself. While this invention specifically describes the integration of benefits from DMA into document system devices, the concepts are equally applicable in other domains. The DMA runtime environment is a thin software interface layer that resides on a document system device between the Java runtime environment and embedded web server.

Abstract: A class of add-on system components providing functionality of devices, management of self-help, customization and enhancement of services for devices, and remote monitoring at significantly reduced cost. It reduces the cost of UI and greatly enhances ease-of-use by realizing that the networked system can be headless and use a browser-based UI for its platform. It embeds a Device Model Agent (DMA) and connects to the Device-Centric Services platform to offer services. Additionally, it offers customized diagnostic access for customer representatives to enable self-help service actions to be performed, unifies and manages multiple access needs to several disparate data access mechanisms, and uses largely COTS PC hardware rather than customized PWBs.

Abstract: A printing system accurately prints proprietary marks and selected colors. A dictionary of recognizable patterns and defined colors corresponding to the proprietary marks and selected colors is linked to a user interface wherein a user may designate a location within a document and at least one of the proprietary marks with defined colors from an accessible menu. A processor associates the defined colors with the image at the specified location and generates a printer signal representative thereof. Alternatively, the processor includes a pattern recognizer for identifying recognizable patterns within a document. The patterns have a likeness to defined patterns within a pattern dictionary and can be converted to the defined patterns for display or imaging.

Abstract: A rotary encoder error compensation system for use in a marking device with a rotary encoder includes an error correction logic circuit and an error correction table linked to the error correction logic circuit. The rotary encoder is configured to generate an encoder signal indicating a detected position of a rotating element and has a known rotary encoder error. The error correction logic circuit receives the encoder signal from the rotary encoder. The error correction table includes normalized error correction values. The error correction logic circuit accesses the error correction table based on the detected position of the rotating element and the known rotary encoder error and obtains one of the normalized error correction values corresponding to the detected position of the rotating element and the known rotary encoder error.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus comprises a tandem print engine configuration for forming two-sided prints. The print engines include a master print engine and a slave print engine downstream from the master print engine. The image processing apparatus matches the periods of revolution of the photoreceptors of the master and slave print engines during print runs, by simultaneously adjusting both the velocity of the slave photoreceptor and color imagers of the slave print engine. The velocity controllers for the slave photoreceptor and imagers can have the same dynamic response and can be simultaneously actuated, to minimize incremental registration errors in the slave print engine. In addition, the controllers can be operated at an adjustment level that is achievable by both controllers.

Abstract: A single pass, multi-color electrophotographic printing machine architecture uses a vertically oriented photoconductive belt. Transfer of the toner powder images occur at the lowermost portion of the photoconductive belt. The photoconductive belt is elliptically shaped, having a major and a minor axis. N image recording stations are positioned adjacent an exterior surface of the photoconductive belt on one side of the major axis thereof. N-1 image recording stations are positioned adjacent the exterior surface of the photoconductive belt on the other side of the major axis thereof. The image recording stations record electrostatic latent images on the photoconductive belt. This architecture optimizes image registration while minimizing the overall height of the printing machine.

Abstract: A sensor having a shutter mounted upon a shaft for rotation within a housing in opposition to a light path between an LED and photodetector is described. A potion of the shaft extends outside the housing connected to an elongated arm. A runner secured to the elongated arm, engages a moving photosensitive surface and deviations of the edge position of the photosensitive surface rotate the shutter in relation to the light path between the LED and photodetector for tracking the edge position of the moving photosensitive surface by providing signals representing shutter position.