Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-26
2001-03-06
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196670
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, such as an ink jet printer and an ink jet plotter, and also to an ink cartridge detachably attached to a printer main body of the printing apparatus. More specifically the invention pertains to a technique of processing and storing required pieces of information in the ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus such as the ink jet printer and the ink jet plotter mainly includes an ink cartridge, in which one or plural inks are kept, and a printer main body with a print head to carry out actual printing operations on a printing medium. The print head ejects ink fed from the ink cartridge onto the printing medium, such as printing paper, so as to implement printing on the printing medium. The ink cartridge is designed to be detachably attached to the printer main body. A new ink cartridge has a predetermined quantity of ink kept therein. When the ink kept in an ink cartridge runs out, the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one. Such a printing apparatus is arranged to cause the printer main body to calculate the remaining quantity of ink in the ink cartridge based on the amount of ink ejected from the print head and to inform the user of a state of running out of the ink, in order to prevent the printing procedure from being interrupted by the out-of-ink.
Another proposed ink cartridge stores certain pieces of information, such as the type and the capacity of each ink kept in the ink cartridge, in advance. These pieces of information are stored, for example, in the form of a barcode, in the ink cartridge. The printer, to which such an ink cartridge is attached, scans the barcode and reads the certain pieces of information, such as the type of ink kept in the ink cartridge, thereby enabling a printing process suitable for the ink to be carried out.
While the certain pieces of information, such as the type of each ink kept in the ink cartridge, are stored in the ink cartridge, other pieces of information relating to the ink cartridge, such as a remaining quantity of each ink, are stored in the printer or a printer driver for the printer. In the event that the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one in the course of a printing process, the information relating to the ink cartridge, such as the remaining quantity of each ink, may be lost or made incorrect.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a printer that adequately processes and stores information relating to a cartridge, such as a remaining quantity of each ink, as well as a cartridge, which is detachably attached to such a printer, without increasing the manufacturing cost of the ink cartridge.
At least part of the above and the other related objects is actualized by a printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, the cartridge keeping ink therein and having a rewritable non-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in the cartridge is transferred from a print head mounted on a printer main body of the printer to a printing medium, so as to implement printing. The printer includes: a memory writing unit that writes plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge into the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a preset timing and thereby at a certain frequency; a rewritable storage device incorporated in the printer main body of the printer; and an information writing unit that writes specific information into the rewritable storage device of the printer main body at a specified frequency that is higher than the certain frequency, at which the plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge are written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, the specific information being identical with at least part of the plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge.
The present invention is also directed to a method of managing information in a printer, which corresponds to the configuration of the printer discussed above. In the method, a cartridge, which is detachably attached to the printer, keeps ink therein and has a rewritable non-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in the cartridge is transferred from a print head mounted on a printer main body of the printer to a printing medium, so as to implement printing. The method includes the steps of: writing plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge into the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a preset timing and thereby at a certain frequency; and writing specific information into a rewritable storage device incorporated in the printer main body of the printer at a specified frequency that is higher than the certain frequency, at which the plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge are written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, the specific information being identical with at least part of the plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge.
In the printer and the corresponding method of the present invention, the rewritable non-volatile memory is mounted on the cartridge, which is detachably attached to the printer. Information relating to the cartridge is written into the storage device incorporated into the printer main body of the printer at a specified frequency, which is higher than a certain frequency, at which the information is written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. The information relating to the cartridge is thus updated at the higher frequency in the storage device of the printer, whereas the writing operation of the information into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge is restricted. This arrangement enables a storage element having a relatively low allowable frequency of rewriting to be applied for the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. This arrangement also prevents a possible trouble, that is, making the writing operation of information into the non-volatile memory incomplete, which occurs in a conventional structure when the power supply is suddenly cut off, for example, by power failure or by pulling the power plug out of the socket, in the course of the writing operation into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge.
The difference in frequency of writing may be attained by a specific configuration, wherein data are written into the non-volatile memory at the preset timing, whereas data are written into the storage device of the printer main body at the preset timing as well as at another timing.
In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention, the plural pieces of information are written into the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a power-off time of the printer and/or at a time of replacement of the cartridge. While the power supply to the printer continues and the same cartridge is used, it is thought that the contents of the storage in the storage device of the printer main body accurately reflect the information relating to the cartridge attached to the printer.
In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention, the specific information is written into the rewritable storage device on completion of printing with regard to one page or on completion of printing with regard to at least one raster line. This is because the information relating to the cartridge is generally updated with the progress of the printing operation. By way of example, the amount of ink consumption gradually increases with the progress of the printing operation. It is accordingly effective to write the information regarding the amount of ink consumption into the storage device of the printer main body when the printing operation is completed with regard to one page or with regard to at least one raster line.
In accordance with another preferable application of the present invention, the printer further includes a cleaning unit that is activated in response to a predetermined operation, so as to carry out a head cleaning process, which causes the print head to eject a predetermined quantity of ink. In this structure, the specific in
Le N.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Vo Anh T. N.
LandOfFree
Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2472594