Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-07
2004-04-13
Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C347S007000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06719397
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention provides an identification circuit, in particular one for an inkjet printhead using shift registers to transmit the inkjet printhead identification codes to a controller in order.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Consumer demand for product performance increases with technology advancement. Taking inkjet printers as an example, a variety of inkjet printers meeting various printing demands have been developed while each inkjet printer may correspond to a variety of cartridges, such as black ink cartridge, color ink cartridge, and cartridges capable of providing different numbers of jetting orifices on the printhead. The inkjet printer is capable of controlling individual cartridges through different control programs in light of the model or serial number assigned to each cartridge. Due to the various types of available cartridges, in order to prevent users from mistakenly installing an improper cartridge to an inkjet printer and rendering abnormal operation of the inkjet printer, when a cartridge is installed to an inkjet printer, the inkjet printer will identify the cartridge to ensure that the cartridge is applicable to such inkjet printer. An identification circuit is included in each printhead of the cartridge to allow the inkjet printer to identify the cartridge. The identification circuit of the cartridge is only used when the cartridge is first installed to the inkjet printer and is no longer needed once the cartridge has been identified.
FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate a conventional inkjet printer
10
and a conventional cartridge
12
, respectively. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the inkjet printer
10
includes at least one cartridge
12
installed to the inkjet printer
10
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the cartridge
12
includes a printhead
14
and a housing
16
. The printhead
14
includes a chip
18
and a flexible print circuit board
13
. The chip
18
is formed there on with a plurality of orifices
15
. The housing
16
includes therein an ink reservoir
17
for storing ink. The printhead
14
and ink reservoir
17
communicate to one another. The ink in the ink reservoir
17
is sprayed from the orifices
15
through the printhead
14
upon heating so as to perform the prescribed printing operation.
FIGS. 3 and 4
disclose the identification circuit diagrams of a one-bit shift register
20
and a parallel in, serial out four-bit shift register
2
, respectively, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,095 entitled “Ink Jet Print Head Identification Circuit with Serial Out, Dynamic Shift Registers” and assigned to Lexmark International Incorporation.
By referring to FIG. 3, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,095, a default logic binary code (0 or 1) is digitally encoded into the one-bit shift register
20
as being mask programmed during fabrication by:
(1) Connecting the source
24
of load transistor
22
to ground
21
and disconnecting the source
24
to voltage source
23
, or
(2) Connecting the source
24
of load transistor
22
to a voltage source
23
and disconnecting the source
24
to ground
21
.
Under condition (1), a default logic “0” encoded to the one-bit shift register
20
is read at the output line
28
when load
25
, clock one
26
, and clock two
27
are activated in sequence. On the other hand, under condition (2), a default lock “1” encoded to the one-bit shift register
20
is read at the output line
28
.
FIG. 4
is the identification circuit diagram of a parallel in, serial out, four-bit shift register
2
as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,095. The circuit includes four serially connected one-bit shift registers
20
a
,
20
b
,
20
c
,
20
d
as shown in FIG.
3
. The input lines of the one-bit shift registers
20
b
,
20
c
,
20
d
(the input line
29
in
FIG. 3
) are electrically connected to the output lines of the one-bit shift register
20
a
,
20
b
,
20
c
(the output line
28
in FIG.
3
), respectively. When load
25
, clock one
26
, and clock two
27
are activated in order, the default binary codes encoded to the one-bit shift registers
20
d
,
20
c
,
20
b
,
20
a
are read from the output line
28
in sequence. If the identification code of a certain model number of an inkjet printhead is 0101, and the default binary codes being sequentially read from the one-bit shift registers
20
d
,
20
c
,
20
b
,
20
a
are 0, 1, 0 and 1, the printer (or computer) identifies the model number of the inkjet printhead. Similarly, if the identification code of a color inkjet printhead is 0001 and the default binary codes being sequentially read from the one-bit shift registers
20
d
,
20
c
,
20
b
,
20
a
are 0, 0, 0 and 1, the printer (or computer) identifies the inkjet printhead is for color printing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,095, however, the one-bit shift registers
20
a
,
20
b
,
20
c
,
20
d
are each mask programmed during fabrication to produce a default binary code (0 or 1) for allowing the printer (or computer) to identify the general information related to cartridges, while failing to record the current status of the inkjet printhead that being in use after leaving the factory.
Hence, the present invention provides an identification circuit for an inkjet printer cartridge capable of recording the current status of the inkjet printhead being in use after leaving the factory.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, thus, an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printhead identification circuit and method constructed of fuses and other electronic components.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printhead identification circuit and method being encoded prior to leaving the factory for achieving its identification purpose (of identifying such general information of the cartridge as model number, serial number, color or gray-scale setting, and printing quality, etc.).
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printhead identification circuit and method that is encoded subsequent to leaving the factory for achieving its identification purpose (of detecting the current status of the cartridge).
REFERENCES:
patent: 5363134 (1994-11-01), Barbehenn et al.
patent: 5504507 (1996-04-01), Watrobski et al.
patent: 5757394 (1998-05-01), Gibson et al.
patent: 5940095 (1999-08-01), Parish et al.
patent: 5966144 (1999-10-01), Edwards
patent: 6022094 (2000-02-01), Gibson et al.
patent: 6568783 (2003-05-01), Hu et al.
Hu Hung-Lieh
Li Chi-Lung
Wang Chieh-Wen
Wu Jack
Huffman Julian D.
International United Technology Co., Ltd.
Nguyen Thinh
Troxell Law Office PLLC
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