Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-26
2003-10-14
Nguyen, Judy (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C711S202000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06631967
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer with an ink cartridge attached thereto that carries out printing by the unit of dots, as well as to an ink cartridge detachably attached to a main body of the printer. More specifically the invention pertains to a technique of storing information into the ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
The printing apparatus like 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 transfers 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 transferred 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.
The data on the remaining quantities of inks are generally stored only in the printer main body or in a printer driver that controls the printer. In the event that a first ink cartridge is replaced with a second ink cartridge in the course of the printing operation, the information relating to the first ink cartridge, such as the data on the remaining quantities of inks, are thus lost or made wrong.
One proposed technique to solve this problem utilizes a non-volatile memory provided in the ink cartridge and causes the required data, for example, the data on the remaining quantities of inks, to be written from the printer main body into the non-volatile memory (for example, JAPANESE PATENT LAID-OPEN GAZETTE No. 62-184856). In the case of replacement of the ink cartridge during the printing operation, this technique ensures the storage of the data on the remaining quantities of inks.
The ink cartridge attached to the printer is expendable. A non-volatile memory generally used in the printer, for example, a large-sized, expensive non-volatile memory having a relatively large storage capacity of several kilobytes and more than ten terminals, is not applicable for the ink cartridge. Using such a non-volatile memory makes the ink cartridge undesirably bulky and increases the manufacturing cost of the expendable ink cartridge, which is abandoned after the ink kept in the ink cartridge runs out.
One proposed technique accordingly applies a small-sized special non-volatile memory having a relatively small storage capacity for the ink cartridge. The non-volatile memory with only several terminals adopts a specific format of addressing, which is different from the format of addressing adopted in the general non-volatile memories. This accordingly arises another problem of difficulty in handling.
In the case where the different addressing format is adopted, the computer that controls the writing operation of data may carry out conversion of the addressing format. In the case of an ink cartridge having an ink reservoir, in which a plurality of different inks are kept, and information is require to be held, such as pieces of information on the amounts of ink consumption, independently with regard to each of the respective inks, however, relatively long data lengths need to be written and the address conversion may take an undesirably long time. Such a disadvantage is not negligible since it may cause all the data to be not rewritten when an insufficient time period is provided for the address conversion, for example, at the time of a forcible cut-off of a power supply.
The problems discussed above arise in any printing apparatus that does not directly measure the remaining quantity of ink or the amount of ink consumption in an ink cartridge but causes the printer to compute such data, and in an ink cartridge attached thereto. Such printing apparatus includes an ink jet-type printing apparatus that uses ink obtained by mixing or dissolving a pigment or a dye with or in a solvent and transfers ink droplets in the liquid state to implement printing, a printing apparatus that uses an ink cartridge with an ink toner accommodated therein, and a thermal transfer-type printing apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a technique that is applicable to a printer and, a cartridge attached thereto and enables information relating to the cartridge, such as pieces of information on remaining quantities of inks, to be adequately processed, while not increasing the manufacturing cost of the cartridge.
At least part of the above and the other related objects is actualized by a first printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, wherein the cartridge keeps ink therein and has a rewritable non-volatile memory. The first printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a print head mounted on the printer to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation. The first printer includes: a printer memory that stores information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area thereof in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory; a memory writing unit that reads the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge from the predetermined area and writes the read-out information into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory; and an address decoder that converts a storage format of addressing of the information relating to the ink from the predetermined format of addressing into the specific format of addressing when the memory writing unit writes the information.
The present invention is also directed to a first method that corresponds to the first printer discussed above. The present invention thus provides a first method of writing information relating to ink kept in a cartridge into a rewritable non-volatile memory incorporated in the cartridge, which is detachably attached to a printer, wherein the printer causes the ink kept in the cartridge to be transferred from a print head mounted on the printer to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation. The first method includes the steps of: storing the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge into a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in the printer in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory; reading the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge from the predetermined area; converting a storage format of addressing of the information relating to the ink from the predetermined format of addressing into the specific format of addressing; and writing the information in the converted specific format of addressing into a specific area of the non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of the printer memory.
In the first printer and the corresponding first method of the present invention, the information relating to the ink kept in the cartridge is stored in different formats of addressing in the printer memory incorporated in the printer and in the non-volatile memory incorporated in the cartridge. The address decoder converts the storage format of addressing when the information is written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. This arrangement enables the information relating to the ink to be readily written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, even when the format of addressing adopted in the non-volatile memory is different from that adopted in the printer
Huffman Julian D.
Nguyen Judy
Seiko Epson Corporation
LandOfFree
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