Electrophotography – Diagnostics – Consumable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-03
2001-05-15
Grainger, Quana M. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Diagnostics
Consumable
C399S012000, C399S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233410
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to the application of electronic data storage means to packaging for a consumable material. In particular it provides a method and apparatus for processing a consumable material, a packaging for consumable material for use therein, and a kit of parts for apparatus to convert it to embody this invention.
Many devices utilise materials which are consumable and must be replaced when the supply runs out. In many instances, the quality, type, colour, size etc of the material must not be changed inadvertently, in that in some cases the type of consumable can be changed if the device is adapted accordingly. If this specification of the material is allowed to change such as by using the wrong type of material, the device which is utilising it may be damaged or the end product produced by the device may be defective. The onus is therefore on the user to ensure that the new material meets the appropriate specification. A further problem is the availability of inferior quality substitutes for consumable material. Such material may be represented as a suitable replacement for a particular consumable, but may be of an inferior quality to that specified by the manufacturer of the device on which it is to be used.
A further problem with the supply of consumable material is that the packaging, in which the material is supplied, often hides the quantity of material which remains. Also, when the material has been inserted into the device in which it is to be used it may be difficult to gain access to monitor the amount of material remaining. Therefore, the user may be unaware that the material is running low until the device begins to malfunction because the consumable material is exhausted.
Various prior attempts have been made to monitor the matching of consumables with a machine on which they are to be used. For example, GB-A-2216437 discloses a toner cartridge having means for indicating the type of toner stored therein, and this can be used to prevent the mixing, with the residual toner already in the consuming machine, of a different kind of toner from a fresh cassette. The monitoring is effected by various possible means such as reflecting pads, a magnetic material, or an electrical resistance, indicative of the type of toner in the packaging. GB-A-2257093 discloses a laser printer on which the toner cartridge has a memory which can be read by the printer, so that unless the appropriate cartridge is inserted in the cartridge-receiving slot the laser cannot be activated. This prevents the possibility of an engineer, carrying out maintenance work, being damaged by exposure to the laser emission when either no cartridge is present in the toner cartridge slot or the presence of an incorrect cartridge in the slot may allow leakage of the laser emission to the exterior.
It is also known to monitor the presence of consumables, for example in EP-A-0653307 where a sensor monitors if a sheet of paper has been supplied and will stop a printer if no sheet is detected, and in U.S. Pat. No 4,141,646 where a light emitter and detector are present to sense the concentration of developing liquid in the storage reservoir. However, these systems monitoring the consumable are simply there to detect current operating parameters regarding consumables rather than indicating the expected further useful life of the consumable supply.
It is an aim of the present invention to overcome these problems by providing a means of packaging consumable material to provide information about the status of the material in the packaging.
Therefore, according to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a processing apparatus including a package for a consumable material which is utilised therein, the apparatus comprising:
utilisation means for using said consumable material;
control means for controlling operation of said apparatus; and
holder means for the package containing said consumable material, characterised in that
said holder means is provided with electrical contacts connected to said control means;
said holder contacts are connectable to corresponding contacts on said package;
said package contacts are connected to an electronic memory means in said package for providing data indicative of the status of the consumable material; wherein said control means is operative to interrupt normal operation of said utilisation means in the absence of expected status data, and said electronic memory means includes a decrement only counter to be decremented by the control means as the utilisation means uses the consumable. For example, in the case of a stencil duplicator, where the consumable material is stencil master, the master feed means may be interrupted or the mode of operation (i.e. photo quality or text quality which differ in that photo-quality includes pixel dropping giving reduced image quality) may be restricted to one particular mode.
The status data may be the quantity remaining and may be updated by the control system as the consumable material is used to provide a record in the electronic means of the amount of consumable remaining in the packaging. The apparatus therefore preferably comprises monitoring means for providing information about the amount of material being used to allow the control system to update the status data provided by said electronic means in the packaging.
In the event that the apparatus is operating but the monitoring means does not detect the usage of consumable material, then the control means will preferably interrupt normal operation of the apparatus. For example, again referring to a stencil duplicator, it may be possible for the user to deliberately disable the monitoring means in an attempt to overcome the features of the system. Thus if the system expects ink to be used, and thus expects the pump to pump, and such pumping is not detected within a certain number of copies for example, the pump can be disabled.
The present invention is particularly suited for use in copying and printing devices such as stencil duplicators where both ink and stencil master material are used-up during the printing process. In this case, the utilisation means may include (i) ink; pumping means for pumping the ink from the packaging means, or (ii) a stencil master feed means controlling the supply of stencil masters. In this way, the control means can interrupt normal operation of the duplicator by inhibiting the ink pumping means or the stencil master feed means. Where the duplicator is provided with means for selecting one of a plurality of different printing modes of which one is a photo mode, it may be advantageous to restrict the user's choice of such printing modes e.g. to the photo mode printing only.
A second aspect of the invention provides the kit of parts defined in claim
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.
Yet a further aspect of the invention provides the kit of parts defined in claim
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.
A fourth aspect of the invention provides a method as defined in claim
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.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5835817 (1998-11-01), Bullock et al.
patent: 613785 (1994-09-01), None
patent: 2257093 (1993-01-01), None
patent: 59-16792 (1984-01-01), None
patent: 2-122973 (1990-05-01), None
patent: 7-261613 (1995-10-01), None
Fermor-Dunman Geoffrey
Morgan Christopher John
Seber Michael John
Flint & Kim, P.A.
Grainger Quana M.
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