Quality monitoring and maintenance for products employing end user serviceable components

A method of identifying the presence of third party replacement consumables in an apparatus the method comprising the steps of:

• reading first information indicative to an amount of consumption of a consumable from an electronic label for an originally installed user serviceable component;
• storing said first information;
• subsequently repeating said reading step to produce second information indicative of an amount for consumption, and
• comparing said second information with said first information thereby identifying an increase in the amount of the consumable;
• outputting a replacement indicator indicative of an increase in the quantity of said consumable.

A method of identifying invalid service claims for an apparatus having user serviceable components, comprising the steps of:

• performing initial calibration procedure to produce a first performance metric;
• performing a subsequent calibration procedure to produce a second performance metric;
• comparing said second performance metric with said first performance metric;
• outputting a performance factor indicative of a reduction in performance resulting from a change in the user serviceable components with a third party user serviceable component, and
• determining the validity of a subsequent service claim according to said performance factor.

A method of identifying invalid service claims for an apparatus, wherein certain originally installed user serviceable components include an electronic label, the method comprising the steps of:

• performing initial calibration procedure to produce a first performance metric;
• detecting the presence of a third party user serviceable component by identifying the absence of a proper electronic label;
• performing a subsequent calibration procedure to produce a second performance metric;
• comparing said second performance metric with said first performance metric;
• outputting a performance factor indicative of a change in performance resulting from the use of said third party user serviceable component;
• and
• determining the validity of a subsequent service claim according to said performance factor.

An apparatus having user serviceable components, the apparatus being operable to monitor its own performance and comprising:

• means for performing initial calibration procedure to produce a first performance metric;
• means for detecting the presence of a third party user serviceable component by identifying the absence of a predetermined electronic label;
• means for performing a subsequent calibration procedure to produce a second performance metric;
• means for comparing said second performance metric with said first performance metric;
• and
• means for outputting a performance factor indicative of a change in performance resulting from the use of said third party user serviceable component.

An apparatus having user serviceable components, certain of which have electronic labels, and having consumables in the user serviceable components, the apparatus, comprising:

• means for reading first information indicative of an amount of consumption of a consumable from an electronic label for at least one originally installed user serviceable components;
• a memory for storing said first information;
• means for subsequently reading second information indicative of an amount for consumption of said consumable from said electronic label;
• means for comparing said second information with said first information thereby identifying an increase in the amount of the consumable;
• and
• means for outputting a replacement factor indicative of an increase in the quantity of said consumable.