Contextual fault handling method and apparatus in a printing system

A method in a marking system adapted to display fault messages, the method comprising:

• displaying a first diagnostic message in response to a first occurrence of a first fault in the marking system;
• displaying a second diagnostic message different from said first diagnostic message in response to a second occurrence of said first fault in the marking system;
• collecting print usage log data during operation of said marking system;
• performing a trend analysis on said print usage log data;
• and,
• in response to said second occurrence of said first fault and based on a result of said trend analysis, displaying said second diagnostic message.

A method in a marking system adapted to display fault messages, the method comprising:

• displaying a first diagnostic message in response to a first occurrence of a first fault in the marking system;
• displaying a second diagnostic message different from said first diagnostic message in response to an nth occurrence of said first fault in the marking system;
• collecting print usage log data during operation of said marking system by recording, in a fault log table of the marking system, printer status information in association with each of said n occurrences of said first fault;
• performing a trend analysis on said print usage log data;
• and,
• based on a result of said trend analysis, displaying said second diagnostic message.

A marking system adapted to display fault messages comprising:

• a processor;
• a display operatively connected with said processor;
• and,
• a memory operatively connected with said display and said processor storing said first and second diagnostic messages and a contextual fault handling utility executable by said processor for performing contextual fault handling including displaying said first diagnostic message in response to a first occurrence of a first fault in the marking system and, in response to a second occurrence of said first fault in the marking system and based on a measure of fault occurrence frequency, displaying said second diagnostic message.

A marking system adapted to display fault messages comprising:

• a processor;
• a display operatively connected with said processor;
• and,
• a memory operatively connected with said display and said processor storing said first and second diagnostic messages and a contextual fault handling utility executable by said processor for performing contextual fault handling including displaying said first diagnostic message in response to a first occurrence of a first fault in the marking system, and displaying said second diagnostic message different from said first diagnostic message in response to a second occurrence of said first fault in the marking system, wherein said processor is adapted to execute said contextual fault handling utility to display said first message including displaying information relating to a symptom of said first fault on said display, and displaying said second message including information relating to a root cause of said symptom of said first fault.