ISO/IEC 19798:2017

Information technology — Office equipment — Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components

The scope of ISO/IEC 19798:2017 is limited to evaluation of toner cartridge page yield for toner-containing cartridges (i.e. all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without a photoconductor) for colour electrophotographic print systems. This document can also be applied to the printer component of any multifunctional device that has a digital input printing path, including multi-function devices that contain electrophotographic printer components. ISO/IEC 19798:2017 is only intended for the measurement of toner cartridge page yield when printing on plain paper using cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner cartridges. No other claims can be made from this testing regarding quality, reliability, etc. ISO/IEC 19798:2017 is not for use with printers whose minimum printable size is equal to or greater than A3 or for photo-only printers. NOTE 1 Application of this document for yield measurement of toner replenishment systems (i.e. toner cartridge and bottle type systems where the toner reservoir is internal to the printing system and not user-replaceable) requires some procedural modifications specifically noted herein. This document is intended for equipment used in the office space and does not apply to production volume or large format printing machines where the major cost of ownership is not caused by the consumable yield measured in this document. NOTE 2 An all-in-one toner cartridge is a cartridge that includes at least: a toner containment part, a photoreceptor part and a developer part (see ISO/IEC 29142‑1).

Technologies de l'information — Équipements de bureau — Méthode pour la détermination du rendement de cartouche de toner pour les imprimantes couleur et pour les dispositifs multifonctionnels qui contiennent des composants d'imprimantes

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 15-Jan-2017
• ICS: 37.100.10 - Reproduction equipment
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 28 - Office equipment
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 28 - Office equipment
• Current Stage: 9093 - International Standard confirmed
• Completion Date: 04-Jul-2022

Relations

• Revises: ISO/IEC 19798:2007 - Method for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour printers and multi-function devices that contain printer components
• Effective Date: 31-Aug-2013

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 19798
Third edition
2017-01
Information technology — Office
equipment — Method for the
determination of toner cartridge
yield for colour printers and multi-
function devices that contain printer
components
Technologies de l’information — Équipements de bureau — Méthode
pour la détermination du rendement de cartouche de toner pour
les imprimantes couleur et pour les dispositifs multifonctionnels qui
contiennent des composants d’imprimantes
Reference number
ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
ISO/IEC 2017
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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO/IEC 2017, Published in Switzerland

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior

written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of

the requester.
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Tel. [phone]
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www.iso.org
ii © ISO/IEC 2017 – All rights reserved
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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
Contents Page

Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................iv

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................v

1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

2 Normative references ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

3 Terms and definitions ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

4 Test parameters and conditions ........................................................................................................................................................... 2

4.1 Set-up .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2

4.2 Sample size ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

4.3 Print mode .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

4.4 Print environment ................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

4.5 Paper ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

4.6 Maintenance .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

4.7 Test files ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

4.8 End of life ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

5 Test methodology ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

5.1 Testing procedure ................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

5.2 Procedure for handling a defective cartridge or printer ..................................................................................... 6

5.2.1 General...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

5.2.2 Defective cartridge ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

5.2.3 Defective printer .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

6 Determination of the yield value and declaration ............................................................................................................ 7

6.1 Determination of the declared yield value ...................................................................................................................... 7

6.2 Test data reporting .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8

6.3 Declaration of the yield .................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Annex A (informative) Examples of fade .......................................................................................................................................................10

Annex B (informative) Flow chart ........................................................................................................................................................................11

Annex C (normative) Sample reporting form ...........................................................................................................................................13

Annex D (normative) Optional method for comparison of colour to ISO/IEC 19752 .....................................17

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................19

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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical

Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are

members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical

committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical

activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international

organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the

work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,

ISO/IEC JTC 1.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are

described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the

different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the

editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of

patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of

any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or

on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not

constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment,

as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the

Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www . i so .org/ iso/ foreword .html.

The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, SC 28, Office

equipment.

This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO/IEC 19798:2007), of which it constitutes

a minor revision with the following changes:

— The definitions for 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 have been aligned with ISO/IEC 19752:2016.

— For the sample size in 4.2 ‘at least’ has been inserted.

— 4.8 has been added as a subclause containing information previously given in notes to entry in 3.5;

— ISO 29142-1 has been added to the Bibliography.
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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
Introduction

The purpose of this document is to provide a process for determining the cartridge page yield for a given

colour electrophotographic print system (i.e. all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without

a photoconductor) using a standard office consumer type test suite. This test suite is not focused on

printing of photographs, but is intended to be a sampling of typical office consumer pages. In the case

where a cartridge set can be used in multiple printer models, only one yield test needs to be performed

as long as the difference between printer models does not impact yield.

NOTE A cartridge supplier can choose to use more than one market identifier for a single physical cartridge.

In this case, only one yield test is required as long as there are no differences in the cartridges other than market

identifiers.
This document prescribes the following:

— the test method that manufacturers, test labs, etc. use to determine cartridge yield;

— the method for determination of declared yield values from the test results;

— the appropriate method of describing the yield of cartridges in the documentation supplied to the

consumer by the manufacturer.

The cartridge yield is determined by an end of life judgment, or signalled with either of two phenomena:

fade caused by depletion of the useable toner in the cartridge or automatic printing stop caused by a

toner out detection function.

This document will be used for the measurement of one of the contributions to cost per page (CPP). This

document does not directly measure CPP, only the yield of the magenta, cyan, yellow and black toner

cartridges. In most cases, these are not the only contributors to the CPP. It is beyond the scope of this

document to provide a methodology for calculation of CPP.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)
Information technology — Office equipment — Method
for the determination of toner cartridge yield for colour
printers and multi-function devices that contain printer
components
1 Scope

The scope of this document is limited to evaluation of toner cartridge page yield for toner-containing

cartridges (i.e. all-in-one toner cartridges and toner cartridges without a photoconductor) for colour

electrophotographic print systems. This document can also be applied to the printer component of

any multifunctional device that has a digital input printing path, including multi-function devices that

contain electrophotographic printer components.

This document is only intended for the measurement of toner cartridge page yield when printing on

plain paper using cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner cartridges. No other claims can be made from

this testing regarding quality, reliability, etc.

This document is not for use with printers whose minimum printable size is equal to or greater than A3

or for photo-only printers.

NOTE 1 Application of this document for yield measurement of toner replenishment systems (i.e. toner

cartridge and bottle type systems where the toner reservoir is internal to the printing system and not user-

replaceable) requires some procedural modifications specifically noted herein. This document is intended for

equipment used in the office space and does not apply to production volume or large format printing machines

where the major cost of ownership is not caused by the consumable yield measured in this document.

NOTE 2 An all-in-one toner cartridge is a cartridge that includes at least: a toner containment part, a

photoreceptor part and a developer part (see ISO/IEC 29142-1).
2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content

constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For

undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISO/IEC 24712, Colour test pages for measurement of office equipment consumable yield

3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http:// www .iso .org/ obp
3.1
fade

phenomenon whereby a noticeable reduction in density uniformity in the bars around the sides of the

diagnostic page occurs
Note 1 to entry: This does not have to be a distinct gap.
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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)

Note 2 to entry: In this test, fade is defined as a noticeably lighter area, 3 mm or greater, located in the bars

around the diagnostic page of the test suite. Generally, the lightening will occur parallel to the paper movement

direction during printing. The determination of the change in lightness is to be made referenced to the 100th

page (diagnostic page) printed for each cartridge in testing. For examples of fade, consult Annex A.

3.2
shake procedure

specified method to carry out shaking of a cartridge according to the user manual

Note 1 to entry: If a shake procedure is used in testing, it will be noted in the report.

3.3
toner low

signal generated by the printer when it has been detected that the amount of toner is such that a toner

change will be required soon
Note 1 to entry: It does not indicate that the system is out of toner.
3.4
toner out

signal generated by the printer when the toner in the system is depleted and the printer is incapable of

reliable printing without user intervention

Note 1 to entry: For the purpose of this test, the toner out signal will only be used if it causes the printer to stop

printing and requires toner replacement to continue printing.
3.5
end of life
when the printer declares “toner out” (3.4) or when fade (3.1) is observed
3.6
individual cartridge yield

value determined by counting the number of diagnostic pages (page 5 of the ISO/IEC 24712 test suite)

printed between cartridge installation and end of life (3.5) and multiplying by 5

Note 1 to entry: If the printer stops due to toner out (3.4) in the middle of a test page suite, the number of the

diagnostic pages printed is counted. Then, the first diagnostic page of the suspended print job is included in the

subsequent cartridge yield. The number of test page suites counted may contain some pages that show visible

fade (3.1). To simplify the testing, determination of end of life (3.5) is only made on the diagnostic page (page 5).

3.7
declared cartridge yield
value at or below the lower 90 % confidence bound as prescribed in 6.1 and 6.3
4 Test parameters and conditions
4.1 Set-up

Place the printer on a horizontal surface and set up the printer according to the installation guide

provided in the printer user’s manual. Use the most recent printer driver available from the

manufacturer’s website or the supplied driver with the printer. The driver version will be specified

on the test report. Cartridge installation shall be completed following the instructions in the cartridge

installation guide. If there is a contradiction between the printer and cartridge manuals for the

cartridge installation, the cartridge manual will take precedence except if changes are recommended

for printer or driver settings.

If the cartridges used in testing are toner replenishment or toner bottle types, then one set of toner

cartridges will be used to end of life in each printer before the start of the test. The pages printed to

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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)

deplete these priming cartridges do not have to be recorded and printing can be conducted at any

environment. The priming cartridges are used to bring the printing system to a set toner level condition.

NOTE 1 The cartridges used to bring the printing system to a set toner level condition do not have to start out

full. For large capacity systems, using a complete cartridge could result in tens of thousands of pages printed just

to bring the system to a set condition.

All image and print quality modifiers shall be at their factory pre-set configuration for the printer and

default installed condition for the driver. If the printer and driver differ, then the driver defaults shall

be used. Any user selectable toner conservation modes shall be disabled during testing. If auto media

detection is available on the printer, it shall be disabled and media-type set to plain paper. This is to

avoid inaccurate sensing of the media.

For printers that default to duplex printing, the default shall be overridden and the printer be set to

simplex for yield testing.

If the printer under test uses an internal PDF interpreter, it is okay to use it as long as the printer defaults

are set to not substitute fonts. If the internal interpreter is used, this shall be noted on the report.

To assure that the test page is printed correctly, any page size modifiers such as “Fit to Page” and font

substitution shall be turned off. If the option exists, rendering of graphics shall be performed by the

printer, not the application software or operating system. The files shall be printed using the fonts

embedded in the file and shall be printed on the page in a size corresponding to the dimensions in the

test suite standard (see ISO/IEC 24712). Page placement modifiers such as page centring can be used to

place the image properly on the page. If available, any colour management shall be set to the printer and

driver installed defaults. If there is a question about rendering settings affecting the yield, the setting

shall be noted in the report.

NOTE 2 The application software (i.e. Adobe Reader™ ), printer driver and printer can have page size

modifier functions, such as “Fit to Page”. Make sure that all of these functions are disabled.

4.2 Sample size

The sample size shall be determined such that for each calculated yield value, a minimum of nine

physical cartridge sets are tested using a minimum of three printers. An equal number of cartridge sets

shall be tested on each printer. For example, three sets of cartridges could be tested on three printers

with each printer using three sets of cartridges. In the case of a typical four-colour printer with four

single-colour cartridges, this would result in at least 36 cartridges being tested, 9 black (K), 9 cyan (C),

9 magenta (M) and 9 yellow (Y).

When testing additional engines and cartridges above the minimum, an effort shall be made to test

equal number of cartridges on each engine. For example, if an additional engine were to be tested, then

the minimum number of cartridges to be tested would be 48 (3 cartridges × 4 colours × 4 engines) for a

four-cartridge system.

When testing cartridges for a commercially available product, it is recommended that cartridges and

printers be procured from various sources, or sampled from different production lots. The printers and

cartridges shall be within their useful life as stated in their user’s manual.

It is recommended that additional engines and/or cartridges be used in testing to allow for the

possibility of a cartridge and/or printer failure during testing.
4.3 Print mode

For reporting cartridge yield, the test will be run in semi-continuous simplex printing and set in the

driver default print mode. Each copy of the test suite shall be printed as a separate five page print job.

This shall allow for some intra-job calibration and/or servicing to take place. Pauses can take place due

1) Adobe Reader™ is an example of a suitable product available commercially. This information is given for the

convenience of users of this document and does not constitute an endorsement by ISO of this product.

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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)

to paper refills and idle time due to end of work days. Every attempt shall be made to have printing be

continuous from the start of a cartridge to the end of cartridge life. If the printer is powered down at

the end of day during testing, this shall be noted on the test report.

Colour electrophotographic printers commonly need to calibrate the printing system after a number

of prints, or when the device has been powered down or not used for a given amount of time. This

calibration uses toner that could have been used to print additional pages. It is realized that customers

do not normally print in a continuous fashion, but these changes are made to decrease testing time and

increase the repeatability of the testing process. Depending on use conditions, the yield experienced by

a given customer may vary significantly from the yield measured by this test method.

4.4 Print environment

The temperature and humidity can have a profound effect on test results. For this reason, the test shall

be carried out according to the following test conditions:
Temperature: Testing room average 23,0 °C ± 2 °C
Readings to be made with a running average of 1 h with readings
recorded at least every 15 min; all running average temperatures are
to be between 20,0 °C and 26,0 °C.
Relative humidity (RH): Testing room average 50 % ± 10 % RH
Readings to be made with a running average of 1 h with readings re-
corded at least every 15 min; all running average RHs are to be
between 35 % and 65 %.

EXAMPLE An example of the calculation of the temperature is shown below for temperature readings taken

on 15 min intervals for the testing of one cartridge.
t t t t t t t t t t t t Testing room average
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Temperature 24,0 23,4 20,5 24,2 23,6 22,0 25,5 24,7 22,1 20,8 22,0 23,5
23,0
Running average N/A N/A N/A 23,0 22,9 22,6 23,8 24,0 23,6 23,3 22,4 22,1
Running Average at T = (t + t + t + t )/4
i i−3 i−2 i−1 i
Testing Room Average = (t + t + … + t )/12
1 2 12

From this, the testing room average would be 23,0 °C, the maximum running average

reading 24,0 °C and the minimum running average reading 22,1 °C. These values can

be found highlighted in the table of temperature measurements. It shall be noted

that the testing room average for both temperature and RH are averages of all meas-

urements, not the running averages.

Environmental conditions shall be included in the test report. The maximum and minimum running

averages for temperature and humidity shall be reported for each cartridge tested. See Annex C for a

sample reporting form.

All materials shall be temperature acclimated to the test room environment. Prior to testing, the

printer, paper and cartridges shall be acclimated to the above conditions for a minimum of 8 h. Before

acclimation, packaging and shipping materials shall be opened with care taken to prevent damage to

the cartridges during acclimation. Paper may be acclimated in the ream wrapper.

Any water condensation shall be avoided when printer, paper and cartridges are carried in the test

environment.
4.5 Paper

The paper used in this test shall represent a common medium weight paper and shall conform to the

printer’s list of approved papers. The paper manufacturer, weight and size, A4 or equivalent, used

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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)

in the test will be noted on the report. If auto media detection is available on the printer, it shall be

disabled and the media type set to plain paper. The auto-detect process can have an effect on the yield

performance.
4.6 Maintenance

Printer maintenance shall be performed per the printer and cartridge user’s manual.

NOTE Examples of common maintenance performed during testing could include replacement of transfer

belts or fuser units.
4.7 Test files

The test files are outlined and specified in ISO/IEC 24712. The test shall be conducted using the

most recent official electronic test files as the input. The most recent official file can be located at

ht t p:// st and ar d s .iso .org/ ittf/ PubliclyAvailableStandards/ SC28 _Test _Pages/ . Failure to use the exact

file specifications will invalidate test results. In addition to the test file, a publicly available PDF Reader

will be used in conjunction with the latest version of the printer driver to generate the printer input and

send the files directly to the printer. The method used for connection between the host computer and

the printer shall be recorded on the test report. For automated testing, a pre-generated print file can be

used if the results are equivalent to direct printing methods. This will be recorded on the test report.

The version of the test file, the printer driver version and the PDF Reader version will be included in

the test report. The printer under test may use an internal PDF interpreter as long as the test file fonts

are not substituted from the original PDF. If an internal interpreter is used, this shall be noted on the

report. The proper size for each of the pages in the test suite is specified in ISO/IEC 24712.

There are several PDF reader versions available; each version can have an impact on the yield results. It

is recommended that the latest version of the chosen PDF reader be used for testing.

To reduce test variability due to other programs, it is recommended that test file generation be

conducted on a printer with a “clean” install of the operating system with only the printer driver, PDF

reader and any test control software installed. Testing has shown that old installed drivers from the

same or different printers can affect the yield results.

To allow for automated testing, the complete original ISO/IEC PDF test file may be encapsulated

within a secondary file in order to be compatible with automated print systems. This method shall be

documented and the resulting print shall be proven to be equivalent in operate with sending the PDF

file directly to the printer via a PC host. To aid in counting and tracking pages, a header or footer can

be added to the test page. Every attempt shall be made to reduce the size of this addition to minimize

the effect on calculated yield. If this information is included in the test pages, it shall be documented

in the test report. If this header or footer is added to the test pages, it shall be noted on the test report.

The host computer environment such as Operating System (OS), RAM size, CPU type and application

software may affect the yield test results. The computer environment recommended by the printer’s

user manual shall be used for the test. All of this information will be recorded on the test report.

4.8 End of life

If the printer is equipped with a toner out device, then end of life occurs when the printer declares toner

out. However, when fade occurs before toner out and no shake procedure is specified, then end of life

is declared at the fade. If a shake procedure is specified for a printer with a toner out device, then up to

two shake procedures can be executed when fade occurs before toner out. In this case, if fade occurs

after two shake procedures but before toner out, then end of life is declared at the third fade. If toner

out occurs at any time during testing, the cartridge is considered to be at end of life.

When shake procedures have been performed during the test, the test report will note for both the first

and second shake procedures whether they were done at toner low or at fade. Any faded pages printed

during the test are to be excluded from the cartridge page count.
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ISO/IEC 19798:2017(E)

The general intent of this definition is to allow two shake procedures near end of life and to declare

end of life at the first fade after the two shake procedures. Nomin
...