An image processing apparatus includes a controller configured to perform: setting characteristic information including first characteristic information and second characteristic information; and converting a target image data using the characteristic information. The first and second characteristic information correlate input values with output values in a specific color space. The input values includes a specific input value within a specific range. The specific input value is correlated with a first specific output value by the first characteristic information, and is correlated with a second specific output value by the second characteristic information. The first specific output value indicates that a colorant consumption quantity for the specific input value is changed from an original colorant consumption quantity by a first colorant quantity. The second specific output value indicates that the colorant consumption quantity is changed from the original colorant consumption quantity by a second colorant quantity different from the first colorant quantity.

A method, a system and a memory chip for generating a verification value, which can eliminate the defect of time consuming and high power consumption of the existing memory chip for generating verification value, are provided according to the present disclosure. The method comprises the following steps: a frequently changing data relating to an imaging cartridge is acquired; an intermediate verification data pre-generated based on infrequently changing data is acquired; the frequently changing data and the intermediate verification data are calculated through a predetermined algorithm, and thus a verification value is obtained. A step of calculating the infrequently changing data relating to the imaging cartridge is omitted according to the present disclosure, and thus the calculation amount for acquiring the verification value can be reduced, the calculation efficiency can be improved, the calculation time and the response time of the entire printing and imaging apparatus can be shortened, and the power consumption of the memory chip can be reduced.

A print job is analyzed to determine what page locations can use optional colors and different image quality increase values of different optional colors at the page locations are calculated. Only one of the optional colors is selected, based on which optional color produces the highest print job image quality increase for all of the page locations of the print job. Each individual page of the print job is evaluated to determine if use of the selected optional color increases image quality of the individual page to identify page exceptions. Instructions to mount a selected replaceable printing module corresponding to the selected optional color are displayed, and the print job is printed using the selected replaceable printing module.

A control device includes a prohibition unit that prohibits use of an electronic apparatus in a case where a sum of a cumulative amount of use of the electronic apparatus for a predetermined period of time and a new amount of use which is newly instructed by an user exceeds a permitted amount in the period of time which is permitted for the user, and a permission unit that permits use of the electronic apparatus by an amount based on an unused amount which is a difference between the permitted amount and the cumulative amount of use in an unreaching period when the unreaching period is present before the period of time in an accounting period including the period of time, in a case where the use of the electronic apparatus is prohibited by the prohibition unit.

A method of selecting optimal inks from a plurality of ink candidates for a given color is provided, said method including a) obtaining a measure of spectral reflectance of a print substrate; b) obtaining a measure of the spectral reflectance of a first candidate ink of a first color; c) predicting a color gamut for the first candidate ink based on the spectral reflectance of the ink and the spectral reflectance of the substrate; d) repeating steps b) and c) for a second ink candidate of the first color; e) selecting the ink candidate for which the predicted color gamut includes the most target spot colors as the optimal ink for the first color.

An efficient method and system to enhance digital acquisition devices for analog data is presented. The enhancements offered by the method and system are available to the user in local as well as in remote deployments yielding efficiency gains for a large variety of business processes. The quality enhancements of the acquired digital data are achieved efficiently by employing virtual reacquisition. The method of virtual reacquisition renders unnecessary the physical reacquisition of the analog data in case the digital data obtained by the acquisition device are of insufficient quality. The method and system allows multiple users to access the same acquisition device for analog data. In some embodiments, one or more users can virtually reacquire data provided by multiple analog or digital sources. The acquired raw data can be processed by each user according to his personal preferences and/or requirements. The preferred processing settings and attributes are determined interactively in real time as well as non real time, automatically and a combination thereof.

Certain examples described herein relate to printer calibration. In some cases, adjustment data is received, indicating an adjustment to be applied to a given colorant. A Neugebauer Primary area coverage (NPac) vector defining an operating set of Neugebauer Primaries (NPs) is obtained. Configuration data is determined, dependent on the operating set of NPs. The configuration data maps colorant adjustments to relationships between NPs in the operating set, for both an increase and a decrease in the given colorant. In some cases, the configuration data and the adjustment parameters are used to identify first and second subsets of the operating set of NPs. The NPac vector is adjusted by decreasing an area coverage of an NP in the first subset and complementarily increasing an area coverage of an NP in the second subset.

Provided is an image forming apparatus to and from which a replenishment container accommodating toner is attachable and detachable and which is configured to form a toner image on a recording material, the image forming apparatus including an image bearing member, a developer container, a developing bearing member, a replenishment port through which the developer container can be replenished with toner, a restriction member capable of transitioning to an allowance state in which a rotation of the replenishment container is allowed and to a restriction state in which the rotation of the replenishment container is restricted, a notification portion configured to notify a replenishment procedure for replenishing the developer container with toner from the replenishment container, and a controller configured to cause the notification portion to notify at least one step of the replenishment procedure.

An image forming apparatus includes a consumable cartridge and a main body. The consumable cartridge includes a cartridge memory storing usage information and identifying information. The main body includes a main memory and a controller. The controller stores the identifying information stored in the cartridge memory in the main memory and rewrites the usage information stored in the cartridge memory into information indicating that the consumable cartridge is used in a case where the usage information indicates that the consumable cartridge is unused. The controller allows the image forming apparatus to execute printing in a case where the usage information indicates that the consumable cartridge is used and the identifying information stored in the cartridge memory is stored in the main memory or executes a specific error process in a case where the usage information indicates that the consumable cartridge is used and the identifying information stored in the cartridge memory is not stored in the main memory.

A consumable characteristic identification method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: detecting a consumable package (210); identifying a characteristic about a consumable associated with the consumable package (215); modifying a device setting according to the identified characteristic (220); and appending a log entry associated with the consumable package to a user activity log (225). A consumable characteristic identification apparatus and no-transitory machine-readable storage medium are also provided.