System and method for monitoring ink use in a printing system
View Patent ↗A computer-implemented system for determining ink availability in one or more ink reservoirs in a print system is described. The system includes at least one ink reservoir for each color ink used in the printing system, a print unit associated with each ink reservoir configured to apply a print image including at least one color of ink to a substrate based on print image information, and an ink level monitoring system configured to determine an ink availability in each ink reservoir based on printed image count information including a number of printings of the print image and a total wet ink utilization generated based on a characterization of a print condition and further based on a measured dry ink utilization per area of coverage using the print image information and corrected by an ink usage correction multiplier.
1. A computer-implemented system for determining ink availability in one or more ink reservoirs in a print system, comprising:
at least one ink reservoir for each color ink used in the printing system;
a print unit associated with each ink reservoir configured to apply a print image including at least one color of ink to a substrate based on print image information; and
an ink level monitoring system including a computer processor and non-transient memory having instructions stored thereon to determine an ink availability in each ink reservoir based on
printed image count information including a number of printings of the print image, and
a total wet ink utilization generated based on a characterization of a print condition and further based on a measured dry ink utilization per area of coverage using the print image information as corrected by an ink usage correction multiplier.
2. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined based on the formulation of the specific ink being printed.
3. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein determining the printed image count information includes receiving a print image count value from a device monitoring the print system.
4. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined based on the formulation of a specific ink being printed in combination with a specific substrate receiving the printed image.
5. The computer-implemented system of claim 4 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined by characterizing a print condition of the print image following application of the specific ink to the substrate.
6. The computer-implemented system of claim 5 , further wherein characterizing the prim condition includes determining an amount of wet ink used to produce dry ink as applied to the substrate.
7. A computer-implemented method for determining ink utilization from an ink reservoir in a printing system, comprising:
receiving a characterization of a print condition to determine dry ink utilization per area of coverage at a printing system computer;
applying an ink usage correction multiplier to the dry ink utilization to generate corrected image ink utilization;
determining an area of coverage for a printed image;
determining printed image count information including a number of printings of the printed image; and
determining total wet ink utilization from the ink reservoir based on the area of coverage, the corrected image ink utilization and the printed image count information.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined based on the formulation of the specific ink being printed.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein determining the print image count information includes receiving a print image count value from a device monitoring the print system.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined based on the formulation of a specific ink being printed in combination with a specific substrate receiving the printed image.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined by characterizing a print condition of the print image following application of the specific ink to the substrate.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , further wherein characterizing the print condition includes determining an amount of wet ink used to produce dry ink as applied to the substrate.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further including receiving an initial ink amount, and utilizing the initial ink amount and the ink utilization to determine an ink availability.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further including comparing the ink availability to a minimum ink availability threshold.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further including
receiving an actual color and a target color,
calculating a recipe for correcting the color utilizing the ink availability, and
determining the amount of a corrective ink composition to be added.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further including
receiving an actual color and a target color and
determining a discrepancy between the actual color and the target color,
wherein the ink usage correction multiplier is determined based on a comparison between the actual color of the printed image and the corresponding target color.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further including receiving an actual color and a target color, determining a discrepancy between the actual color and the target color, and determining the ink usage correction multiplier based on a comparison between the measured color of the printed image and the corresponding target color.
18. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further including receiving an actual color and a target color, determining a discrepancy between the actual color and the target color, and issuing a warning if the discrepancy exceed a color discrepancy threshold.