Ricoh Production Print Solutions Assigned Patent
ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 2012 — Ricoh Production Print Solutions, Boulder, Colo., has been assigned a patent (8,223,358) developed by four co-inventors for a "printer output coverage estimation system." The co-inventors are Joseph S. Czyszczewski, Longmont, Colo., Larry M. Ernst, Longmont, Colo., Mark G. Finlan, Atlanta, and James T. Smith II, Boulder, Colo.
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A printer output coverage estimation system permits a user of print services to obtain an accurate estimate of the amount of toner required by a print job. Providers of print services, including coverage estimations, may be identified through the Internet and selected by the user from a web interface. The estimate request may then be transmitted directly to the provider that fulfills the request using excess computing capacity. Alternatively, providers may register excess computing capacity with a broker. The broker matches job requests with a grid of providers and directs the job request to the matched provider(s). Thus, users of print services have an alternative to purchasing in-house computing resources that may remain idle much of the time."
The patent application was filed on April 28, 2006 (11/380,805).