BACKGROUND

[0001] An image forming device may receive a storage format for a scanned document, a file name, and setting information about a destination to which the scanned document is to be transmitted. Based on a scan job command for a certain document being received, the image forming device may perform a scan job based on the setting information. The image forming device may perform a print job in response to a received print job command. The quality of a printout output from the image forming device may deteriorate due to various causes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Various examples will be described below by referring to the following figures.

[0003] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a remote diagnosis using an image obtained by scanning a printout through an inline scan module according to an example.

[0004] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a host device and an image forming device according to an example.

[0005] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a server according to an example.

[0006] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of remote diagnosis operations performed by an image forming device according to an example.

[0007] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a user input for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[0008] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating masking of sensitive information in an image used for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[0009] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a process of outputting a print quality defect image used for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[0010] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a process of outputting a print quality defect image used for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[0011] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of performing remote diagnosis by a server according to an example.

[0012] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method of performing remote diagnosis by a server according to an example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] To address degradation of a print quality of an image forming device, an engineer or other qualified personnel may visit a location of the image forming device to fix the degradation. In that case, the visit may be time consuming and excessive maintenance costs may be incurred.

[0014] In an example, a print quality defect of an image forming device may be remotely diagnosed. For example, the image forming device may include a communication module, a print module, an inline scan module arranged in a downstream direction of the print module, a processor, and a memory to store an instruction executable by the processor. By executing the instruction, the processor may control the print module to print a first document including at least one page, control the inline scan module to obtain a first scan image by scanning the first document, generate diagnosis request data including the first scan image, and control the communication module to transmit the diagnosis request data to a server.

[0015] In an example, a print quality defect of the image forming device may be remotely diagnosed. Therefore, the print quality defect of the image forming device may be quickly identified and addressed (e.g., corrected, solved, etc.). Further, by reducing the number of personnel visits to address the print quality defect of the image forming device, the maintenance costs spent on the image forming device may be reduced.

[0016] Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, examples will be described. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in several different forms and is not limited to the examples described herein. [0017] The term “image forming device” may refer to a device capable of performing an image forming job, such as a printer, a copier, a scanner, a multifunction printer, and a fax machine. An “image forming job” may refer to any of various jobs related to an image, for example, printing, copying, scanning, faxing, or a function related thereto, and may include a series of processes for performing the image forming job.

[0018] A “host device” may refer to a device capable of transmitting content, which is a target of an image forming job, to an image forming device, and may include a personal computer (PC), a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, or the like. A user may execute an application installed in the host device to perform a document work, and execute a printing function provided by the application to transmit a document to be printed to the image forming device.

[0019] A “server” may refer to a computing device that may transmit/receive data to/from another device and store and manage data. In various examples, the server may include an electronic device to transmit/receive data to/from another device and to store and manage data. In addition, the server may include at least one server device that provides a cloud service.

[0020] The term “print data” may refer to a printing command that depicts an image generated by the host device by using standard functions in response to a print request from a user. The print data may also be referred to as a print job. The print data may include page description language (PDL) data in which the printing command is encoded in a description language by the host device. The print data may include printer job language (PJL) related to a setting of the image forming device. The print data may include pixel information (e.g., information indicating whether a pixel corresponds to an image, graphic, or text) of an image. The print data may be transmitted from the host device to the image forming device. The image forming device may generate image information by performing rendering using the print data.

[0021] A “scan image” may refer to an image obtained by the image forming device by scanning a printout output therefrom. For example, the scan image may be generated by a scan module attached to the image forming device or by a scan module removably connected to the image forming device to scan the printout output from the image forming device.

[0022] The term “print quality” may refer to a printout that is generated from the image forming device that satisfies a print setting. For example, based on the image forming device outputting a printout including a number of dots or pixels satisfying the print setting, it may be identified that the print quality satisfies a criterion.

[0023] A “print quality defect” may refer to a printout that is generated from the image forming device that does not satisfy the print setting. For example, based on a number of dots or pixels not satisfying the printout setting, based on color planes of the printout being mis-aligned, based on fading occurring on the printout, based on streaking or banding occurring on the printout, or the like, it may be identified that a print quality defect exists.

[0024] A “region of interest” may refer to an area set on a scan image of a printout to examine whether a print quality defect has occurred.

[0025] The term "sensitive information” may refer to information that should not be leaked, exposed, etc. to others or externally. For example, sensitive information may include a trade secret, personal identifiable information (PH), or the like.

[0026] The term ’’diagnosis request data” may refer to data generated to receive a remote diagnosis regarding the print quality defect of the image forming device. For example, the diagnosis request data may include a scan image generated by the image forming device by scanning the printout, configuration data of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, information about a region of interest set on the scan image, trouble information generated by a user input regarding the print quality, or the like. The configuration information of the image forming device may include a model name of the image forming device, a serial number, a version of machine-readable instructions stored on the image forming device, a lifetime of the components included in the image forming device, a remaining amount of ink or toner, or the like. The print job information may include print data, a digital master image obtained by rendering the PDL included in the print data, a print setting, or the like. [0027] The term “diagnosis result data” may refer to data containing a result of diagnosing the print quality defect of the image forming device. For example, the diagnosis result data may include a result of identifying the print quality defect of the image forming device. The diagnosis result data may include information about a trouble that has occurred in the image forming device. The diagnosis result data may include a guide to address the identified print quality defect.

[0028] Examples described below refer to output and copy functions performed by the image forming device, but these are not to be considered as limiting in scope. Hereinafter, an example case in which an image forming device performs an output function will be described. However, this case is also applicable to a situation in which the image forming device performs a copy function.

[0029] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a remote diagnosis using an image obtained by scanning a printout through an inline scan module according to an example.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 1 , an image forming device 10, a host device 20, and a server 30 may transmit/receive data to/from each other. For example, the host device 20 may transmit/receive data to/from each of the image forming device 10 and the server 30. The image forming device 10 may transmit/receive data directly to/from the server 30, or may transmit/receive data to/from the server 30 through the host device 20. The server 30 may transmit/receive data with an electronic device 40 of a user, a manager, or other personnel able to evaluate, assess, etc. the data (hereinafter an “engineer”).

[0031] The image forming device 10 may receive print data for outputting an image from the host device 20. In an example, the print data may include PDL data, PJL data, and pixel information of an image.

[0032] The image forming device 10 may receive data to control the print setting of the image forming device from the host device 20. For example, the image forming device 10 may receive control data to adjust the print quality from the host device 20. The image forming device 10 may receive control data to adjust a period of identifying the quality of the printout from the host device 20. The image forming device 10 may receive the PJL data as control data from the host device 20.

[0033] The image forming device 10 may output a printout using the print data. The image forming device 10 may print a document including at least one page by using the PDL data included in the print data.

[0034] The image forming device 10 may include an inline scan module 11. The image forming device 10 may obtain a scan image by scanning the printout by using the inline scan module 11. The image forming device 10 may generate diagnosis request data related to the quality of the printout using the scan image. [0035] The inline scan module 11 may scan the printout output from the image forming device 10 based on the setting. For example, the inline scan module 11 may scan all the printouts output from the image forming device 10. As another example, the inline scan module 11 may scan the printout output from the image forming device 10 based on a diagnosis mode of the image forming device 10 being executed.

[0036] The inline scan module 11 may be arranged in a downstream direction of a print module of the image forming device 10. As an example, the inline scan module 11 may be located in an upstream direction of a paper discharger from which a printout is discharged downstream of the print module. The inline scan module 11 may be a separate device from the image forming device 10. The inline scan module 11 may have an attachable/detachable structure to be coupled/decoupled to/from the image forming device 10. The inline scan module 11 may transmit/receive data to/from the image forming device 10 through a wired/wireless communication interface. The inline scan module 11 may scan the printout discharged from the paper discharger.

[0037] The image forming device 10 may obtain configuration information of the image forming device 10, print job information about a print job performed by the image forming device 10, and log information related to the print job while the printout is scanned by the inline scan module 11. For example, the image forming device 10 may obtain configuration information of the image forming device 10, the information including a model name of the image forming device 10, a serial number, a version of machine-readable instructions stored on the image forming device 10, a lifespan (e.g., an age) of the components included in the image forming device 10, information about a remaining amount of ink or toner, status information regarding a trouble that has occurred in a cartridge, or the like. The image forming device 10 may obtain print data used to output the printout, a digital master image obtained by rendering the PDL included in the print data, and print job information including the print setting, and the like. The image forming device 10 may obtain the log information of the host device 20 related to the print job and the log information of the image form ing device 10 related to the print job. [0038] The image forming device 10 may display the scan image obtained through the inline scan module 11. For example, the image forming device 10 may display the scan image on a control panel. As another example, the image forming device 10 may display the scan image on a display of the host device 20 by transmitting the scan image to the host device 20.

[0039] The image forming device 10 may identify a page that is to be diagnosed among at least one page included in the scan image. For example, the image forming device 10 may identify a page that is to be diagnosed based on the user input selecting at least one page displayed on the control panel. As another example, the image forming device 10 may identify a page that is to be diagnosed based on the user input received through the host device 20.

[0040] The image forming device 10 may receive the user input related to the page selected to be diagnosed. For example, the image forming device 10 may receive the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the page selected using the control panel. As another example, the image forming device 10 may receive the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the page selected through the host device 20.

[0041] The image forming device 10 may set a region of interest on the scan image. For example, the image forming device 10 may set a region of interest on the scan image based on the user input received using the control panel. As another example, the image forming device 10 may set a region of interest on the scan image based on the user input received through the host device 20.

[0042] The image forming device 10 may mask sensitive information included in the scan image. For example, the image forming device 10 may identify sensitive information from the scan image based on the user input received using the control panel. As another example, the image forming device 10 may identify sensitive information from the scan image by using an image identification function. The image forming device 10 may mask the identified sensitive information. As another example, the image forming device 10 may identify sensitive information from the scan image and mask the identified sensitive information based on the user input received through the host device 20.

[0043] The image forming device 10 may output a printout used to identify a print quality defect. The image forming device 10 may output the printout used to identify the print quality defect based on control data received from the host device 20 and/or the server 30. The control data may include information about the type of the printout to be output by the image forming device 10. For example, the image forming device 10 may output a printout to detect whether the color planes of the printout are aligned. As another example, the image forming device 10 may output a printout to detect whether fading has occurred on the printout. As another example, the image forming device 10 may output a printout to detect whether streaking or banding has occurred on the printout. The image forming device 10 may obtain a scan image by scanning the printout.

[0044] The image forming device 10 may generate diagnosis request data to diagnose the print quality of the image forming device 10. The diagnosis request data may include at least one of the scan image generated by the image forming device by scanning the printout, configuration data of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, information about a region of interest set on the scan image, trouble information generated by the user input regarding the print quality, or the like. For example, the image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the page selected by the user to be diagnosed. The image forming device 10 may generate the trouble information based on the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the page selected to be diagnosed and generate the diagnosis request data including the trouble information. The image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the region of interest is set. The image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which sensitive information is masked. The image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the printout used to confirm the print quality defect. The image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including print environment information regarding an environment of the printout being output, such as the configuration information of the image forming device 10 and the print job information.

[0045] The image forming device 10 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30. For example, the image forming device 10 may transmit diagnosis request data to the server 30 through the host device 20 connected to the image forming device 10. As another example, the image forming device 10 may directly transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30 through a network.

[0046] The image forming device 10 may transmit/receive data to/from the server 30. The image forming device 10 may receive print data to output an image and data to control a print setting of the image forming device from the server 30, in the same manner as receiving data from the host device 20.

[0047] The host device 20 may transmit control data to control the image forming device 10 to the image forming device 10. The host device 20 may transmit, to the image forming device 10, control data to control the image forming device 10 to perform a certain operation. For example, the host device 20 may transmit the print data to the image forming device 10. The image forming device 10 may output a document using the received print data. As another example, the host device 20 may transmit the control data to the image forming device 10 so that the image forming device 10 scans the output document by using the inline scan module 11.

[0048] The host device 20 may execute a program to diagnose the image forming device 10. The host device 20 may display a preview of the scan image obtained using the inline scan module 11 through the program (i.e., using the program). The host device 20 may receive, through the program, a user input to select a page to be diagnosed among at least one page included in the scan image. The host device 20 may receive, through the program, the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the scan image. The host device 20 may receive, through the program, the user input setting a region of interest on the scan image. The host device 20 may identify sensitive information included in the scan image through the program. The host device 20 may receive, through the program, a user input to select sensitive information. The host device 20 may mask the sensitive information through the program. The host device 20 may receive a user input to select the printout used to identify the print quality defect through the program.

[0049] The host device 20 may generate diagnosis request data through the program. For example, the host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the page selected by the user to be diagnosed. The host device 20 may generate the trouble information based on the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the page selected to be diagnosed, and generate the diagnosis request data including the trouble information. The host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the region of interest is set. The host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which sensitive information is masked. The host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the printout used to confirm the print quality defect. The host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including print environment information regarding an environment of the printout being output, such as the configuration information of the host device 20 and the print job information.

[0050] The host device 20 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30 through the program. The host device 20 may receive diagnosis result data corresponding to the diagnosis request data from the server 30 through the program.

[0051] The server 30 may receive the diagnosis request data. For example, the server 30 may receive the diagnosis request data generated by the image forming device 10 and/or the host device 20. The server 30 may receive the diagnosis request data including at least one of the scan image generated by the image forming device by scanning the printout, configuration data of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, information about a region of interest set on the scan image, trouble information generated by the user input regarding the print quality, or the like.

[0052] The server 30 may mask sensitive information in the scan image included in the diagnosis request data. The server 30 may identify sensitive information such as trade secrets, PH, etc. The server 30 may mask the identified sensitive information.

[0053] The server 30 may identify, from the diagnosis request data, a quality defect of the printout output from the image forming device 10. As an example, the server 30 may identify a type of the print quality defect.

[0054] The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the information included in the diagnosis request data. The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the printout present in the region of interest based on the region of interest set on the scan image. The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the trouble information generated by the image forming device based on the user input related to the print quality of the scan image. The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the configuration information of the image forming device 10, the print job information about a print job performed by the image forming device 10, the log information related to the print job included in the diagnosis request data, or the like. The server 30 may confirm the print quality defect of the image forming device 10 based on the scan image of the printout used to confirm the print quality defect.

[0055] The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data by using a process to identify the print quality defect. The server 30 may identify quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data based on data used to identify the quality defect of the printout stored in a database.

[0056] The server 30 may identify the quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data by using an artificial intelligence model trained to identify the quality defect of an image. The artificial intelligence model may have been trained to identify the quality defects of the scan image by obtaining a feature vector of the scan image and comparing the obtained feature vector with feature vectors obtained from images with quality defects.

[0057] The server 30 may generate diagnosis result data corresponding to the diagnosis request data. The server 30 may generate the diagnosis result data including information about the identified print quality defect. The server 30 may generate the diagnosis result data including a guide to address the print quality defect. The server 30 may generate the diagnosis result data including the control data used to address the print quality defect. The server 30 may transmit the generated diagnosis result data to the image forming device 10 and/or the host device 20.

[0058] The server 30 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the electronic device 40 of the engineer. For example, the server 30 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the electronic device 40 of the engineer for confirmation by the engineer regarding the print quality defect identified by the server 30. As another example, based on the server 30 failing to identify the print quality defect, the server 30 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the electronic device 40 of the engineer.

[0059] The server 30 may receive the diagnosis result data from the electronic device 40 of the engineer. The server 30 may transmit the received diagnosis result data to the image forming device 10 and/or the host device 20.

[0060] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a host device and an image forming device according to an example.

[0061] Referring to FIG. 2, the image forming device 10 and the host device 20 may transmit/receive data to/from each other.

[0062] The image forming device 10 may include the inline scan module 11 , a print module 12, a communication module 15, a memory 17, and a processor 13. However, the image forming device 10 may include more or fewer elements than the elements of the image forming device 10 shown in FIG. 2. For example, the image forming device 10 may further include a user interface (not shown) through which the image forming device 10 is to receive a user input to control the image forming device 10. As another example, the image forming device 10 may further include a display (not shown) to output information about the image forming device 10.

[0063] The inline scan module 11 may scan an image recorded on a document by irradiating light onto the document and receiving light reflected by the document. For example, the inline scan module 11 may scan a printout output from the image forming device 10. The inline scan module 11 may be located in an upstream direction of a paper discharger from which a printout is discharged downstream of the print module.

[0064] The print module 12 may form and print an image on a printout through various printing methods such as an electrophotographic method, an inkjet method, and the like. The print module 12 may include a cartridge 12-1 containing toner or ink to form an image on a printout.

[0065] The communication module 15 may transmit/receive data to/from an external device or network such as the host device 20 or the server 30. For example, the communication module 15 may receive print data from an external device. The communication module 15 may perform wired communication using a standard such as Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), or the like. The communication module 15 may perform wireless communication using a standard such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Near Field Communication (NFC), or the like. The communication module 15 may perform a fax function by transmitting a printout image obtained by the inline scan module 11 to an external fax machine or by receiving print data from an external fax machine that the print module 12 is to print.

[0066] The memory 17 may store a program such as an application and various types of data such as a file. The memory 17 may store at least one instruction and at least one program for processing and controlling the processor 13. The memory 17 may store information about a state of the image forming device 10.

[0067] The memory 17 may include at least one type of storage medium from among a memory that temporarily stores data, such as random access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), etc. and data storage that non-temporarily stores data, such as a flash memory type memory, read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 17 may include a memory chip.

[0068] The processor 13 may include at least one processing unit such as a central processing unit (CPU) or the like. In addition, the processor 13 may include at least one specialized processing unit corresponding to each function.

[0069] The processor 13 may, by executing at least one instruction stored in the memory 17, generally control the inline scan module 11 , the print module 12, the communication module 15, the memory 17, and the like to provide examples described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 to 10.

[0070] The processor 13 may access and use data stored in the memory 17 or store new data in the memory 17. The processor 13 may execute a program installed in the memory 17. The processor 13 may store a file, a program, etc. received from the outside through the communication module 15, in the memory 17.

[0071] The host device 20 may include a user interface 26, a communication module 25, a memory 27, and a processor 23. However, the host device 20 may include more or fewer elements than the elements of the host device 20 shown in FIG. 2.

[0072] The user interface 26 may include an input device to receive an input from a user, etc. and an output device to display a document to be printed. For example, the user interface 26 may be a combination of an output device such as a monitor and an input device such as a keyboard, a touch pad, a mouse, etc. or may include a touch screen.

[0073] The communication module 25 may allow the host device 20 to transmit/receive data to/from an external device or network, such as the image forming device 10 or an external server. For example, the communication module 25 may transmit print data to the image forming device 10. The communication module 25 may perform wired communication using a standard such as Ethernet, USB, HDMI, etc. The communication module 25 may perform wireless communication using a standard such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, UWB, NFC, etc.

[0074] The memory 27 may store a program such as an operating system (OS), an application, and various types of data such as files. The memory 27 may store at least one instruction and at least one program for processing and controlling the processor 23.

[0075] The memory 27 may include at least one type of storage medium from among a memory that temporarily stores data, such as RAM, SRAM, etc., and data storage that non-temporarily stores data, such as a flash memory type memory, ROM, etc.

[0076] The processor 23 may include at least one processing unit such as a CPU or the like. In addition, the processor 23 may include at least one specialized processing unit corresponding to each function.

[0077] The processor 23 may, by executing at least one instruction stored in the memory 27, generally control the user interface 26, the communication module 25, the memory 27, and the like to provide examples described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 to 10 below.

[0078] The processor 23 may generate control data to control an operation of the image forming device 10. The processor 23 may generate print data so that the image forming device 10 may perform an image forming job. For example, the processor 23 may execute instructions stored in the memory 27 to generate a page description file of a document to be printed according to a print request through an application. The processor 23 may execute a program for diagnosing the image forming device 10.

[0079] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a server according to an example.

[0080] Referring to FIG. 3, the server 30 may include a communication module 35, a database 36, a memory 37, and a processor 33. However, the server 30 may include more or fewer elements than the elements of the server 30 shown in FIG. 3.

[0081] The communication module 35 may include an element to allow the server 30 to transmit/receive data to/from an external device. The communication module 35 may transmit/receive data to/from at least one of the image forming device 10, the host device 20, or the electronic device 40 of the engineer.

[0082] The database 36 may store data used to identify a quality defect of a printout.

[0083] The memory 37 may store at least one instruction and at least one program for processing and controlling of the processor 33 and may store data input to or output from the server 30.

[0084] The memory 37 may include at least one type of storage medium among a memory that temporarily stores data, such as RAM, SRAM, etc. and data storage that non-temporarily stores data, such as a flash memory type memory, a hard disk type memory, a multimedia card micro type memory, a card type memory (for example, SD or XD memory), ROM, Electrically Erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), magnetic memory, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.

[0085] The processor 33 may include at least one generically used processor.

[0086] The processor 33 is to control an operation of the server 30. For example, the processor 33 may generally control the database 36, the communication module 35, and the like by executing a program stored in the memory 37 of the server 30. By executing the program, the processor 33 may perform at least one operation from among example operations of the server 30 described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 to 10.

[0087] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of remote diagnosis operations performed by an image forming device according to an example.

[0088] Each operation of FIG. 4 may be embodied by instructions executable by a processor. In addition, the instructions may be stored in a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium and may be executed by a processor.

[0089] Referring to FIG. 4, the image forming device may print a first document in operation S410.

[0090] The image forming device may print the first document by using print data received from a host device. For example, the image forming device may obtain a rendered image by rendering PDL data included in the print data. The image forming device may obtain a dithered image by performing dithering on the rendered image. The image forming device may print the dithered image as the first document based on set data (e.g., PJL) and pixel information included in the print data received from the host device.

[0091] The image forming device may print the first document by using print data generated from data stored in an external device (e.g., a USB memory) connected to the image forming device. For example, the image forming device may generate print data using document data, image data, pattern data, or the like stored in an external device. The image forming device may print the first document by using the generated print data.

[0092] The image forming device may print the first document by using print data stored in the memory of the image forming device. For example, the image forming device may print the first document by using print data related to document data, image data, a pattern, or the like stored in advance in the memory (e.g., at the time of shipment from a factory).

[0093] In operation S430, the image forming device may obtain a first scan image by scanning the first document.

[0094] The image forming device may scan the first document using an inline scan module located in an upstream direction of a paper discharger from which a printout is discharged downstream of a print module of the image forming device.

[0095] The image forming device may scan the first document based on control data of the host device. For example, the image forming device may scan the first document based on control data generated by a program, executed in the host device, to diagnose the print quality defect of the image forming device. [0096] Based on scanning the printout by the inline scan module, the image forming device may obtain configuration information of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, or the like.

[0097] In operation S450, the image forming device may generate diagnosis request data including the first scan image.

[0098] The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including at least one of the scan image generated by the image forming device by scanning the printout, configuration data of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, information about a region of interest set on the scan image, trouble information generated by the user input regarding the print quality, or the like.

[0099] The image forming device may receive a user input requesting to perform diagnosis through the control panel and/or the host device. The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the page selected by the user to be diagnosed.

[00100] The image forming device may receive a user input describing a trouble regarding the print quality through the control panel and/or the host device. The image forming device may generate the trouble information based on the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality of the page selected to be diagnosed and generate the diagnosis request data including the trouble information.

[00101] The image forming device may set a region of interest on a scan image through the control panel and/or the host device. The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the region of interest is set.

[00102] The image forming device may identify sensitive information included in the scan image. The image forming device may identify sensitive information included in the scan image based on the user input received through the control panel and/or the host device. The image forming device may identify sensitive information from the scan image using the image identification function. The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the sensitive information is masked.

[00103] The image forming device may output the printout used to identify the print quality defect based on the control data received from the host device and/or the server. The control data may include information about the type of the printout to be output by the image forming device. The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the printout used to identify the print quality defect.

[00104] The image forming device may generate the diagnosis request data including configuration information of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, or the like.

[00105] In operation S470, the image forming device may transmit the diagnosis request data to a server.

[00106] The image forming device may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server. For example, the image forming device may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server through the host device connected to the image forming device. As another example, the image forming device may directly transmit the diagnosis request data to the server through a network.

[00107] In operation S490, the image forming device may receive diagnosis result data.

[00108] The image forming device may receive the diagnosis result data corresponding to the diagnosis request data from the server. For example, the image forming device may receive the diagnosis result data from the server through the host device connected to the image forming device. As another example, the image forming device may directly receive the diagnosis result data from the server through the network.

[00109] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a user input for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[00110] Referring to FIG. 5, the host device 20 may execute a program 510 to diagnose the image forming device.

[00111] The host device 20 may display, through the program 510, a preview of a scan image 520 obtained using the inline scan module. The host device 20 may receive a user input to select a page that is to be diagnosed among at least one page included in the scan image 520 through the program 510.

[00112] The host device 20 may receive a user input that sets a region of interest 530 on the scan image 520 through the program 510. The region of interest 530 may include an area that is set due to being thought of as having a print quality defect by the user. [00113] The host device 20 may receive a user input related to a page selected to be diagnosed through the program 510. The host device 20 may display a text box 540 to receive the user input. The host device 20 may receive the user input describing the trouble related to the print quality in the text box 540. The host device 20 may generate trouble information related to the print quality based on the user input.

[00114] The host device 20 may generate diagnosis request data including the trouble information and the region of interest through the program 510. The host device 20 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30.

[00115] The operation of the host device 20 described above with reference to FIG. 5 may be applied to the operation of the image forming device. That is, the image forming device may receive the user input to select a page to be diagnosed, the user input setting the region of interest 530 on the scan image 520, and the user input describing a trouble regarding the print quality from the control panel.

[00116] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating masking of sensitive information in an image used for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[00117] Referring to FIG. 6, the host device 20 may execute a program 610 to diagnose the image forming device.

[00118] The host device 20 may identify sensitive information in the scan image 620 through the program 610, and mask 630 the sensitive information. Sensitive information may include trade secrets, PH, etc.

[00119] The host device 20 may receive the user input to select sensitive information on the scan image 620 through the program 610. The host device 20 may identify the sensitive information based on the user input. The host device 20 may mask 630 the identified sensitive information by overwriting the identified sensitive information in black.

[00120] The host device 20 may identify and mask sensitive information from the scan image by using an image identification function through the program 610. As an example, the host device 20 may identify a phrase corresponding to a certain rule from the scan image as sensitive information through the program 610. The host device 20 may identify sensitive information through the program 610 from the scan image by using an artificial intelligence model that is trained to identify sensitive information. The host device 20 may mask the identified sensitive information through the program 610.

[00121] The operation of the host device 20 described above may be applied to the operation of the image forming device 10. That is, the image forming device 10 may identify sensitive information from the scan image. That is, the image forming device 10 may receive, through the control panel, the user input selecting sensitive information. The image forming device may mask the sensitive information.

[00122] FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams illustrating a process of outputting a print quality defect image used for remote diagnosis according to an example.

[00123] Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the host device 20 may execute programs 710 or 810 to diagnose the image forming device. The host device 20 may control the image forming device 10 to output a printout used to identify the print quality defect through the programs 710 and 810.

[00124] Referring to FIG. 7, the host device 20 may receive, through the program 710, a user input to select the type of the printout to be output by the image forming device 10. The host device 20 may display, through the program 710, a check box 720 to receive the user input. The host device 20 may receive, through the program 710, the user input to select a printout to confirm whether color planes of the printout are aligned. The host device 20 may receive, through the program 710, the user input to select a printout to confirm whether fading has occurred on the printout. The host device 20 may receive, through the program 710, the user input to select a printout to confirm whether streaking or banding has occurred on the printout.

[00125] Referring to FIG. 7, the image forming device may output the printout selected by the user based on the control data received from the host device. The image forming device 10 may obtain a scan image by scanning the printout using the inline scan module.

[00126] Referring to FIG. 8, the host device 20 may display, through the program 810, a preview of a scan image 820 of a printout, which is used to identify the print quality defect. For example, the host device 20 may display, through the program 810, a preview of the scan image of a printout to confirm whether the color planes have been aligned. The host device 20 may display, through the program 810, a preview of a scan image of a printout to confirm whether fading has occurred. The host device 20 may display, through the program 810, a preview of a scan image of a printout to confirm whether streaking or banding has occurred.

[00127] The host device 20 may identify the type of the print quality defect from the scan image 820 through the program 810. For example, the host device 20 may identify that the color planes of the printout have not been aligned. The host device 20 may identify that fading has occurred on the printout. The host device 20 may identify that streaking or banding has occurred on the printout.

[00128] The host device 20 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image 820. The host device 20 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30.

[00129] The example operation of the host device 20 described above with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 may be applied to the operation of the image forming device 10. That is, the image forming device 10 may receive a user input to select the type of printout to be output. The image forming device 10 may display a preview of the scan image of the printout used to identify the print quality defect. The image forming device 10 may identify the type of the print quality defect from the scan image. The image forming device 10 may generate the diagnosis request data including the scan image. The image forming device 10 may transmit the diagnosis request data to the server 30.

[00130] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of performing a remote diagnosis by a server according to an example.

[00131] Each operation of FIG. 9 may be embodied by instructions executable by a processor. In addition, the instructions may be stored in a non- transitory computer-readable storing medium and may be executed by a processor.

[00132] Referring to FIG. 9, the server may receive diagnosis request data including a first scan image in operation S910.

[00133] The server may receive the diagnosis request data including the first scan image generated by scanning a printout from an image forming device and/or a host device. The diagnosis request data may include at least one of configuration data of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, log information related to the print job, information about a region of interest set on the scan image, trouble information generated by the user input regarding the print quality, or the like.

[00134] For example, the server may receive the diagnosis request data including the scan image. The server may receive the diagnosis request data including the trouble information generated based on the user input related to the print quality of the scan image. The server may receive the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the region of interest is set. The server may receive the diagnosis request data including the scan image of the printout used to identify the print quality defect. The server may receive the diagnosis request data including print environment information regarding an environment of the printout being output, such as the configuration information of the image forming device and the print job information.

[00135] The server may receive the diagnosis request data with sensitive information. The server may receive the diagnosis request data including the scan image in which the sensitive information is masked. The server may mask the sensitive information in the scan image included in the diagnosis request data. The server may identify sensitive information such as trade secrets, PH, etc. For example, the server may identify a phrase corresponding to a certain rule from the scan image. The server may identify the sensitive information from the scan image by using the artificial intelligence model trained to identify the sensitive information. The server may mask the identified sensitive information.

[00136] In operation S930, the server may identify the print quality defect from the first scan image.

[00137] The server may identify the quality defect of the printout output from the image forming device from the first scan image included in the diagnosis request data. The server may identify the type of the print quality defect. For example, the server may identify that the color planes of the printout are misaligned. The server may identify that fading has occurred on the printout. The server may identify that streaking or banding has occurred on the printout. The server may identify that the printout including the number of dots or pixels not satisfying a print setting is output.

[00138] The server may identify the quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data by using a process to identify the print quality defect. For example, the server may identify that the color planes of the printout are mis-aligned by using a process to detect misalignment of the color planes. The server may identify that fading has occurred on the printout. The server may identify that streaking or banding has occurred on the printout. The server may identify that the printout including the number of dots or pixels not satisfying a print setting is output.

[00139] The server may identify the quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data by using data used to identify the quality defect of the printout stored in a database. For example, the server may identify the quality defect of the scan image by comparing the sample images used to identify the quality defect of the printout with the scan image included in the diagnosis request data.

[00140] The server may identify the quality defect of the scan image included in the diagnosis request data by using an artificial intelligence model trained to identify the quality defect of an image. The artificial intelligence model may have been trained to identify the quality defects of the scan image by obtaining a feature vector of the scan image and comparing the obtained feature vector with feature vectors obtained from images with quality defects.

[00141] The server may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the information included in the diagnosis request data.

[00142] The server may identify the quality defect of the printout present in the region of interest based on the region of interest set on the scan image. The time being taken to identify the print quality defect may be reduced by setting a region of interest on the scan image.

[00143] The server may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the trouble information generated by the image forming device based on the user input related to the print quality of the scan image. The server may identify the features related to the print quality defect included in the trouble information and identify the quality defect of the printout based on the identified features.

[00144] The server may identify the quality defect of the printout based on configuration information of the image forming device, information about a print job performed by the image forming device, the log information related to the print job included in the diagnosis request data, or the like. For example, the server may identify that a contamination on the back surface of the printout is caused by aging of components included in the image forming device from information about the lifespan of components included in the image forming device. As another example, the server may identify that the printout of a certain color has been insufficient from information about a remaining amount of ink or toner of the image forming device. As another example, the server may identify that fading has occurred on the printout from information about a trouble that has occurred with a cartridge. The server may identify a repair history of the image forming device based on a product number of the image forming device and may identify the quality defect of the printout based on the repair history. The server may identify an error that is present on machine-readable instructions stored on the image forming device based on the version of the machine-readable instructions of the image forming device. The server may identify that the printout of a certain color has been insufficient from information obtained by comparing a digital master image obtained by rendering the PDL included in the print data with the scan image.

[00145] The server may confirm the print quality defect of the image forming device based on the scan image of the printout used to confirm the print quality defect. For example, the server may receive the scan image to identify that the color planes of the printout are mis-aligned and identify that the color planes of the printout are mis-aligned from the scan image. The server may receive the scan image to identify that fading has occurred on the printout, and identify that fading is generated on the printout from the scan image. The server may receive a scan image to identify that streaking or banding has occurred on the printout, and identify that streaking or banding has occurred on the printout from the scan image. [00146] In operation S950, the server may generate the diagnosis result data about the print quality defect.

[00147] The server may generate the diagnosis result data corresponding to the diagnosis request data. The server may generate the diagnosis result data including information about the identified print quality defect. The server may generate the diagnosis result data including a guide to address the print quality defect. The server may generate the diagnosis result data including the control data used to address the print quality defect.

[00148] In operation S970, the server may transmit the diagnosis result data.

[00149] The server may transmit the generated diagnosis result data to the image forming device and/or the host device.

[00150] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method of performing a remote diagnosis by the server according to an example.

[00151] Each operation of FIG. 10 may be embodied by instructions executable by a processor. In addition, the instructions may be stored in a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium and may be executed by a processor.

[00152] Referring to FIG. 10, the server may receive the diagnosis request data including the first scan image in operation S1010. Because operation S1010 is similar to operation S910, redundant descriptions are omitted.

[00153] In operation S1030, the server may transmit the diagnosis request data to an electronic device of the engineer.

[00154] The server may transmit the diagnosis request data to the electronic device of the engineer for confirmation by the engineer regarding the print quality defect identified by the server. The server may transmit the diagnosis result data generated by the server with the diagnostic request data to the electronic device of the engineer.

[00155] If the server fails to identify the print quality defect, the server may transmit the diagnosis request data to the electronic device of the engineer. The server may transmit the diagnosis request data together with the diagnosis result data indicating that the print quality defect has not been identified to the electronic device of the engineer. [00156] In operation S1050, the server may receive the diagnosis result data regarding the print quality defect.

[00157] The server may receive the diagnosis result data from the electronic device of the engineer. The electronic device of the engineer may generate diagnosis result data including information about the print quality defect of the image forming device identified by the engineer based on diagnosis request data received from the server and diagnosis result data generated by the server. The electronic device of the engineer may generate diagnosis result data including a guide to address the print quality defect. The electronic device of the engineer may generate the diagnosis result data including the control data used to address the print quality defect.

[00158] In operation S1070, the server may transmit the diagnosis result data. Because operation S1070 is similar to operation S970, redundant descriptions are omitted.

[00159] Examples of the above-described operating methods of the image forming device 10 may be implemented in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium storing instructions or data executable by a computer or a processor. An example operation method of the image forming device 10 may be written as a program executable by a computer, and may be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that executes such a program using a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium. The non-transitory computer- readable storage medium may be any device capable of providing machine readable instructions, related data, data files, and data structures to a processor or computer such that the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, compact disc (CD)-ROMs, CD+ Recordable (R), CD-rewriteable(RW), CD+RWs, digital versatile disk (DVD)-ROMs, DVD-Rs, DVD+Rs, DVD-RWs, DVD+RWs, DVD-RAMs, Blu-ray (BD)-ROMs, BD-Rs, BD- R low to high (LTH), BD-recordable erasable (RE), magnetic tapes, floppy disks, magneto-optical data storage devices, optical data storage devices, hard disks, solid-state disks (SSDs), and machine readable instructions, related data, data files, and data structures and the processor or computer may execute the instructions. [00160] Although examples have been described with reference to the drawings, various modifications and variations may be made from the above description. For example, the described techniques may be performed in an order different from the described method, and/or the described components such as a system, a structure, a device, a circuit, etc. may be attached or combined in a different form than that described or replaced or substituted by other components or equivalents.

[00161] It should be understood that examples described herein should be considered in a descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each example should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other examples. While various examples have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.