Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-21
2002-10-22
Nghiem, Michael (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06467888
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to dispensing applications, and particularly, to fluid jet printing systems that make use of replaceable printing components having an onboard intelligence for controlling fluid delivery and monitoring the parameters of fluid usage.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Fluid jet printers typically make use of fluid jet printheads that move relative to a printing media, such as paper, to deposit a fluid, such as ink, on the printing media. This can be accomplished using different types of fluid jet printers, including, for example, an impulse or drop-on-demand ink jet printer where the printing media moves relative to the printheads, a carriage ink jet printer where the printheads move relative to the printing media, and the like.
In an impulse or drop-on-demand ink jet printer, one or more chambers, including one or more ejection orifices are typically provided. A droplet of ink is ejected from each orifice in response to a contraction of volume in the chamber typically caused by the state of energization of a transducer that may be made, for example, from a piezo-electric material. Ink jet printers employing impulse or drop-on-demand ink jets typically have the same resolution in both the X and Y direction. This resolution permits a wide range of printing, including bar codes as well as alpha-numeric characters. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,093 entitled “Method and Apparatus For Printing With Ink Jet Chambers Utilizing a Plurality of Orifices” describes a typical drop-on-demand ink jet printer.
Some ink jet printers make use of an ink jet printhead mounted within a carriage that is moved back and forth across a print media, such as paper. In operation of the printing system, the movement of the printhead across the print media is controlled by a main control system that also acts to activate the printhead to deposit or eject ink droplets onto the print media to form images and text. Ink is provided to the printhead by a supply of ink that is either carried by the carriage or mounted to the printing system so that it does not move with the carriage. For the case where the ink supply is not carried with the carriage, the ink supply can be intermittently or continuously connected to the printhead for replenishing the printhead. In either case, the replaceable printing components, such as the ink container and the printhead, require periodic repair and/or replacement. The ink supply is replaced when it is exhausted. The printhead is repaired, as needed, or replaced at the end of the printhead life.
In order to guarantee a reliable printer operation, it is standard to monitor the supply of printing medium in, for example, an ink reservoir. For example, DE-A1-3 405 164 discloses an arrangement for ink printing equipment wherein an ink reservoir is provided for the acceptance of printer ink; the reservoir can comprise an electronic memory means or a coding in which status data of the printer ink relevant to the printer operation are unerasably stored. These data stored in a ROM or as coding (color marking) can be registered trademarks of the manufacture or data about the type of ink employed.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,312, entitled “Arrangement For Printer Equipment For Monitoring Reservoirs That Contain Printing Medium”, describes an ink jet printing system having bottles for printing equipment having an electronic memory means in the form of a chip for storing status data of the printing medium relevant to a printing operation. For example, the status data may include information about the current fill status of the bottle and/or other status data, such as the expiration date of the printing medium. The used status of printing medium is acquired via the central controller of the main printing equipment and is communicated to the chip. The chip at the bottle counts consumption until the supply of printing medium (ink fluid, inked ribbon, toner) is exhausted to such an extent that the bottle must be replaced. A reprogramming of the chip and, thus refilling of the bottle is not possible.
Furthermore, ink jet printer equipment continues to be especially sensitive in view of the composition of the ink fluid employed. For example, an ink that is not matched to the ink printing system may lead to a destruction of the printing head. For this reason, it is desirable to prevent used ink reservoirs that are refilled in an uncontrolled fashion, for example by outside manufacturers with ink having an unknown composition, from being reused.
Typically, the data are input once when the ink reservoir is manufactured and are then interrogated upon insertion into the printer. Given lack of coincidence of the data with data stored in a memory, printing may be suppressed.
It is also frequently desirable to alter the parameters of the main printing system concurrently with the replacement of printer components, such as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,091 entitled “Replaceable Part With Integral Memory For Usage, Calibration And Other Data”. U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,091 discloses the use of a memory device, which contains parameters relating to the replaceable part. The installation of the replaceable part allows the main printer to access the replaceable part parameters to insure high print quality. By incorporating the memory device into the replaceable part and storing replaceable part parameters in the memory device within the replaceable component, the main printing system can determine these parameters upon installation of the replaceable component into the main printing system. This automatic updating of printer parameters frees the user from having to update printer parameters each time a replaceable component is newly installed. The main printer system uses these parameters to control the operation of the printer to ensure high print quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,430 entitled “Method and Apparatus For Storing and Retrieving Information On a Replaceable Printing Component” describes an ink jet printing system including a replaceable printing component for use in the main printing system. The replaceable printing component includes a memory portion associated therewith for storing information that does not relate directly to normal operation of the printing system. Also included is a main control portion of the printer equipment for providing information to the memory portion associated with the replaceable printing component.
However, these conventional ink jet printing systems lack a stand alone fluid delivery system having an onboard intelligence capable of controlling fluid delivery and monitoring the parameters of fluid usage independently of the main controller and electronics of the main printing system. Also, traditional ink jet printing systems do not have a reliable communication link for transferring information in an ink laden environment. In addition, conventional systems can be unreliable due to failures caused by the introduction of unknown inks into the printing system that may be non-compatible with the other components of the printing system. These conventional systems also lack a means for recording these instances of unknown ink usage that might otherwise be useful in enforcing the provisions of warranty and/or service agreements. Therefore, a need exists for a new intelligent fluid delivery system for controlling fluid delivery and monitoring the parameter of fluid usage in an ink jet printing system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a fluid jet printing system having an intelligent fluid delivery system for controlling fluid delivery and monitoring the parameters of fluid usage in a fluid jet printing system. The fluid jet printing system includes a stand alone intelligent fluid delivery system having an onboard intelligence capable of controlling fluid delivery and monitoring the parameters of fluid usage independently of the main controller and electronics of the main printing system.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention is directed to a system for controlling
Barker Donald
Bianchi Damian
Cartin Jeffrey G.
Jolie Jeffrey W.
Wheeler David M.
Breh Donald J.
Croll Mark W.
Illinois Tool Works Inc.
Nghiem Michael
Soltis Lisa M.
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