Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-13
2004-08-03
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C347S019000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769754
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus utilizing a solid semiconductor element, and an particular, to the ink jet recording apparatus capable of gathering information on a position of recording means and ink inside an ink tank by having the solid semiconductor element built in an ink jet head (recording means) or an ink tank.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, in an ink jet recording apparatus wherein images are printed on paper as dot patterns by moving a carriage equipped with an ink jet recording head in a direction of printing while discharging ink from a plurality of discharge nozzles provided on the ink jet recording head (hereafter, also merely referred to as a recording head), an ink tank accommodating ink for recording is provided so as to supply the ink of the ink tank to the recording head via an ink supply route.
As for the ink jet recording apparatus, one of the major factors for producing high-precision and high-quality records is to keep accurate a relative positional relation between a discharge position of the ink and a record medium (recording paper or the like). At its designing, the relative relationship between the carriage and its carrying mechanism and the record medium's supporting and carrying mechanisms is precisely set, and based on that precondition, timing of carriage movement and ink discharge for acquiring a desired record image is determined and the records are produced. There are cases, however, where the discharge position of the ink somewhat goes wrong due to an error in manufacturing or assembly, wear over time, mechanical deterioration and so on. In that case, it becomes difficult to make ink droplets adhere to the record medium at a desired position or a shape and a size of the ink adhering to the record medium change so that quality of the formed images deteriorates.
Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus for which a mechanism for detecting a position of the carriage equipped with the recording head is provided is used. This detects the position of the carriage by using a linear encoder and so on as appropriate.
In addition, as for the ink jet recording apparatus, another major factor for producing high-precision and high-quality records is that a state such as a type, a residual amount, ingredients or condition of the ink inside the ink tank is grasped at a correct time. For instance, as to the residual amount of the ink inside the ink tank that is one item of the state to be grasped, various ink residual amount detecting apparatuses are proposed.
For instance, according to the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-143607, two (a pair of) electrodes
702
are placed on an inner surface on the bottom side of an ink tank
701
filled with nonconductive ink as shown in
FIG. 1
, and a floating object
703
on which an electrode
704
is placed in an opposite position to the electrodes
702
is floating in the ink inside the ink tank
701
. It is disclosed that the two electrodes
702
are connected to a detecting portion (unillustrated) for detecting a conduction state of both electrodes respectively, and if it detects their conduction state, it issues an ink residual amount error indicating that there is no ink in the ink tank
701
and stops operation of an ink jet recording head
705
.
In addition, the Japanese Patent No. 2947245 discloses an ink cartridge
805
for an ink jet printer as shown in
FIG. 2
, which has a configuration wherein its lower part is formed toward its bottom in a state of a funnel, two electric conductors
801
and
802
are provided on the bottom and a metal ball
804
of smaller specific gravity than ink
803
is placed inside. In such a configuration, a fluid level of the ink
803
lowers as the ink
803
is consumed and reduced. The position of the metal ball
804
floating on the surface of the ink
803
lowers in conjunction with it. If the fluid level of the ink
803
lowers to the position of the bottom of the ink cartridge housing, the metal ball
804
contacts the two electric conductors
801
and
802
. And then, the electric conductors
801
and
802
are brought into conduction so that a current passes between them. It is possible to detect an ink end state by detecting that current. If the ink end state is detected, information indicating the ink end state is given to a user.
The above described carriage position detecting mechanism of the conventional ink jet recording apparatus basically performs only one-dimensional position detection in a movement direction of the carriage, and so it is not possible to know space between an ink discharge port and the record medium and so on. In addition, as the linear encoder is expensive, the cost of the ink jet recording apparatus itself increases.
Moreover, it is necessary, in a configuration wherein the ink residual amount inside the ink tank is detected, to place the electrodes for detection inside the ink tank. Furthermore, as the ink residual amount is detected from the conduction state of the electrodes, there are constraints to the ink to be used, such as no use of metal ion as the ink ingredient.
In addition, the above configuration only allows the ink residual amount to be detected, and other in-tank information cannot be known to the outside. For instance, information on pressure in the ink tank, change in physical properties of the ink and so on are important parameters for constantly operating the ink jet head with a stable discharge amount, and thus a tank capable of informing in real time an external ink jet recording apparatus of in-tank pressure incessantly changing in conjunction with in-tank ink consumption and transmitting change in physical properties of the ink to the outside is desired.
Furthermore, an ink tank capable of two-way exchange of information, that is, not only one-sidedly transmitting information detected inside the ink tank to the outside but also responding to inquiries from the outside with internal information is desired.
Here, the inventors focused attention on a ball semiconductor (solid semiconductor element) of BALL Semiconductor, Inc., which is a 1-millimeter silicon ball on which spherical surface a semiconductor integrated circuit is formed. As this solid semiconductor element is spherical, it is expected that, by accommodating it in the recording head or the ink tank mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus, detection of environmental information and two-way exchange of information with the outside can be implemented very efficiently compared with a plane figure.
The present applicant has proposed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-114228 a solid semiconductor element suitable for gathering ink information, and an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with an ink tank having this semiconductor element built-in. The solid semiconductor element has information acquiring means for acquiring environmental information surrounding the element, and discriminating means for reading from information storing means information to refer the acquired information to and comparing the read stored information with the acquired information so as to determine necessity of transmitting the information. And in the case of determining that it is necessary to transmit the information, the discriminating means causes the acquired information to be transmitted to the outside by information communicating means. While this solid semiconductor element has the information acquiring means, the information communicating means and so on, it should be possible to provide it with various other functions, and so it is desired that this solid semiconductor element will be exploited in a wider variety of manners in order to contribute to quality improvement of ink jet recording.
It is possible, by placing at least one piece of such a solid semiconductor element in the recording head or the ink tank, to transmit position information on the recording head, information on the ink accommodated in the ink tank, in-tank pressure and so on to the e
Imanaka Yoshiyuki
Inoue Ryoji
Ishinaga Hiroyuki
Kubota Masahiko
Mochizuki Muga
LandOfFree
Ink jet recording apparatus utilizing solid semiconductor... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ink jet recording apparatus utilizing solid semiconductor..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ink jet recording apparatus utilizing solid semiconductor... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3344898