Toner container structure and method for assessing toner consumption in an image forming apparatus

摘要

The present invention provides a toner container system (such as a toner cartridge) and method for determining the toner consumed by each pixel in an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, so to accurately assess the amount of toner remaining in the toner container The pixels printed by the image forming apparatus are counted over a portion of toner container life when a known amount of toner is consumed, the rate of toner consumption per pixel is then calculated, and the calculated rate of toner consumption per pixel is used to determine the amount of toner remaining in the container system.