Method and apparatus for predicting a service call for digital printing equipment from a customer

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for predicting a service call for digital printing equipment from a customer, the operations comprising:

• detecting a triggering event based upon a number of detections of an event on the digital printing equipment exceeding a threshold within a predefined time period, wherein the number of detections of the event on the digital printing equipment exceeding the threshold within the predefined time period is indicative of an impending soft failure;
• calculating a probability that the customer will place the service call within a second predefined period of time based on a fusion of a hazard model of the digital printing equipment, a customer behavior model and the number of detections of the event in response to the triggering event being detected;
• and
• determining an action based upon the probability using a cost based utility function.

A method for predicting a service call for digital printing equipment from a customer, comprising:

• continuously monitoring, by a processor, events of each one of a plurality of digital printing equipment for a plurality of different customers, wherein the events comprise an event code or a calibration event that is not directly correlated to a soft failure, wherein the soft failure is not caused by a hardware failure within any one of the plurality of digital printing equipment;
• detecting, by the processor, a triggering event based upon a number of detections of an event on the digital printing equipment of the plurality of digital printing equipment for the customer of the plurality of customers exceeding a threshold within a predefined time period, wherein the number of detections of the event on the digital printing equipment exceeding the threshold within the predefined time period is indicative of an impending soft failure;
• calculating, by the processor, a probability that the customer will place the service call due to the impending soft failure within a second predefined period of time in response to the triggering event being detected, wherein the calculating comprises:
• applying, by the processor, a hazard model to the digital printing equipment to obtain a survival rate chart for the digital printing equipment;
• obtaining, by the processor, a behavior model for the customer, wherein the behavior model provides information regarding prior service calls placed by the customer for the event;
• fusing, by the processor, data from the survival rate chart, the behavior model and the number of detections of the event;
• and
• applying, by the processor, a unsupervised learning model or a supervised learning model on the data that is fused to calculate the probability that the customer will place the service call;
• comparing, by the processor, the probability to a low threshold and a high threshold;
• and
• initiating, by the processor, an action when the probability is above the low threshold or the high threshold using a cost based utility function.