Printing apparatus, print processing system, and computer-readable medium to provide supply-related information based on supply-consumed status
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYuka Hattori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printing apparatus includes a holder configured to hold an expendable supply attached thereto, a print engine configured to perform printing using the supply, a display configured to display information regarding the supply, and a controller configured to determine whether a supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached a first threshold, the supply-consumed status amount representing how much the supply is consumed, and when determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, cause the display to show supply-related information related to a contract concluded on the supply used for the printing.
Claims17
A printing apparatus comprising:
- a holder configured to hold an expendable supply attached thereto;
- a print engine configured to perform printing using the supply;
- a display configured to display information regarding the supply;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- determine whether a supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached a first threshold, the supply-consumed status amount representing how much the supply is consumed;
- after determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, determine whether the printing apparatus is in a contracted mode, in which a contract for the supply used for the printing has been concluded, or in an uncontracted mode, in which the contract has not been concluded,
- when determining that the printing apparatus is in the contracted mode, causing the display to show supply-related information related to the concluded contract for the supply used for the printing, and
- when determining that the printing apparatus is in the uncontracted mode, causing the display to show information different from the supply-related information.
A print processing system comprising:
- a printing apparatus;
- and
- a server communicably connected with the printing apparatus,
- wherein the printing apparatus comprises:
- a holder configured to hold an expendable supply attached thereto;
- a print engine configured to perform printing using the supply;
- a display configured to display information regarding the supply;
- a controller configured to:
- determine whether a supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached a first threshold, the supply-consumed status amount representing how much the supply is consumed;
- after determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, operate according to whether the printing apparatus is in an uncontracted mode, in which a contract on the supply used for the printing has not been concluded, or in a contracted mode, in which the contract has been concluded;
- and
- when determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, perform:
- when the printing apparatus is in the uncontracted mode, causing the display to show contract-conclusion guidance information to prompt conclusion of the contract;
- and
- when the printing apparatus is in the contracted mode, causing the display to show supply-related information related to the concluded contract, and sending to the server an inquiry about a shipping status of a new supply for replacement of the supply attached to the holder,
- wherein the server is configured to send, to the printing apparatus, a reply to the inquiry about the shipping status of the new supply, and
- wherein the controller of the printing apparatus is further configured to:
- receive, from the server, the reply to the inquiry about the shipping status of the new supply;
- and
- cause the display to show shipping information regarding the shipping status of the new supply based on the received reply.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions executable by a processor of a printing apparatus, the printing apparatus comprising a holder configured to hold an expendable supply attached thereto, a print engine configured to perform printing using the supply, and a display configured to display information regarding the supply, the instructions being configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the printing apparatus to:
- determine whether a supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached a first threshold, the supply-consumed status amount representing how much the supply is consumed;
- after determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, operate according to whether the printing apparatus is in an uncontracted mode, in which a contract on the supply used for the printing has not been concluded, or in a contracted mode, in which the contract has been concluded;
- and
- when determining that the supply-consumed status amount of the supply attached to the holder has reached the first threshold, perform:
- when the printing apparatus is in the uncontracted mode, causing the display to show contract-conclusion guidance information to prompt conclusion of the contract;
- and
- when the printing apparatus is in the contracted mode, causing the display to show supply-related information related to the contract concluded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.