A data-bearing image (391) is created from a carrier image (371). The carrier image (371) is scaled to produce a scaled image. A clustered-dot halftone screen is applied to the scaled image to produce a halftone image. A resulting number of cells in the halftone image conforms to a cell count (372) that includes a horizontal cell value and a vertical cell value. Payload data is encoded into the halftone image to produce a data-bearing halftone image, including shifting pixel clusters within cells of the halftone image that include pixel clusters.

A distributed computing system for managing solutions for print device support requests includes a solution data store and a solution processing system. The system receives a support request via the user interface that includes input data and search terms that pertain to an issue with a print device. The system uses the input data and the search terms to generate a search query, and queries the solution data store using the search query to identify a list of possible solutions for the support request. The system receives a selection of the possible solutions. For each selection, the system generates a session record for the support request, correlates the possible solution associated with the selection with the input data and search terms, generates factors based on the correlation, and uses the generated factors to update fields of a solution index in the data store for the possible solution.

A distributed computing system for managing solutions for print device support requests includes a print device having a user interface, a solution data store, and a solution processing system in communication with the print device. The system receives a support request from the print device that includes print device data pertaining to an issue with the print device. The system uses the print device data to generate a search query, and queries the solution data store to identify a list of possible solutions for the support request. For each selection, the system receives, from the print device, an indication of an exit status for the support request. The system correlates the possible solution associated with the selection with the print device data, generates factors based on the correlation, and uses the generated factors to update fields of a solution index in the data store for the possible solution.

A system and method for communicating printer errors from a small printer to a nearby NFC-enabled device are provided. A printer has an NFC tag which is configured to store information on a recent print error. A nearby NFC-enabled device (such as a cell phone with a suitable app) can read the print error from the printer, and so identify the print error for a user or technician. Once the print error has been fixed or corrected, the error is cleared from the NFC tag, enabling the tag to store the next printer error that may occur. In an alternative embodiment, the tag may store multiple print errors, with an oldest error being deleted as the tag's memory becomes full, to make room for new error data. In an embodiment, the NFC tag may store other printer status data as well, and the NFC-enabled device may be configured to report the additional data.

An image forming system includes: an image-data transmission unit that transmits image data; and an image-data receiving unit that receives the image data, the image-data transmission unit being connected to the image-data receiving unit through a transmission path having lanes used for a color machine, at the time of image data transmission, the image-data transmission unit adding an error check code to image data, and transmitting the image data to the image-data receiving unit, in a first unit of the image data, the image-data receiving unit calculating an error check code in the first unit, comparing the calculated error check code with the error check code transmitted, and when the calculated error check code disagrees with the error check code transmitted, transmitting an error to the image-data transmission unit, and when the image-data transmission unit receives the error, the image-data transmission unit retransmitting image data corresponding to the error.

The present disclosure relates to cloud-based document quality assurance. One example embodiment includes a method for evaluating document quality. The method includes receiving, by a cloud server, document data associated with an image forming device. The method also includes accessing, by the cloud server, a cloud service. Further, the method includes performing, by the cloud service, a data-segment comparison between the document data and reference document data from a quality assurance database. In addition, the method includes generating, by the cloud service, a quality assurance report based on the data-segment comparison between the document data and the reference document data.

A printer maintenance guide device includes a guide command button for commanding a maintenance guide for a maintenance work, and a moving image memory storing moving images for successively and continuously displaying a whole process of the maintenance guide from start to end at once on a display unit by the operation of the guide command button.

An image forming system includes: an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet, an image reading unit for reading a sheet surface and generating a scan image, an image inspection unit for detecting abnormalities within the scan image, and a history generating unit for generating detection information of each of the abnormalities and generating a history image by embedding the detection information in the scan image; a storage device for storing the history image; and a user terminal for displaying an abnormality detection result and inputting a user's evaluation of the abnormality detection result, wherein the image forming apparatus further includes a parameter setting unit for finally determining the abnormalities depending on the user's evaluation, and determining and setting abnormality detection parameters such that the abnormalities finally determined are detected, and the abnormalities not finally determined are not detected.

A method for watermarking a document containing at least one text portion comprising the following steps: determining a specific character font comprising, for at least one character, an original graphic and at least one variation, each of the variations being associated with a different value, said character being termed encodable characters; using the specific character font to encode an item of information in the text portion of the document, by replacing at least one original graphic with a variation, the original graphic and the variation or variations being identified as a single character by a first optical character recognition process referred to as standard OCR and identified as a plurality of characters by a second optical character recognition process referred to as specific OCR that is capable of determining if the represented character is the original graphic or one of the variations of same and, if so, making it possible to determine the variation that is represented, a strict order relationship being defined on the encodable characters in order to establish the order in which the encodable characters are to be processed during the decoding phase.

An information processing device includes a retaining unit and an image display. The retaining unit retains image-formation-related information of an image forming apparatus that forms an image. The image display causes a display section of a portable terminal having the display section and an image capturing section to display an image for assisting with an operation of the image forming apparatus based on a captured image result of the image capturing section and the image-formation-related information retained in the retaining unit.