System and method for automated calibration, monitoring and reporting of print capacity and printer ink and toner levels

摘要

A technique for monitoring, calibrating and reporting the remaining print capacity of an ink or toner cartridge is disclosed. Calibration of the remaining print capacity associated with a specific printer cartridge is done in terms of the number of pages or the number of days. The printer driver keeps track of the ink or toner usage, time of last replacement of a cartridge and the initial ink or toner capacity of a cartridge. This is used to generate a graphical or digital display on a user-selectable page or a day scale. In an extension of this technique, a user-specifiable replacement threshold is provided to the printer driver. If the remaining print capacity falls below the threshold a user alert is generated. This low ink or toner warning can be either aural and/or visual and can optionally be extended to permit on-line reordering of the ink or toner cartridge.