Electrophotography – Diagnostics – Consumable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-27
2001-01-09
Grainger, Quana M. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Diagnostics
Consumable
C399S109000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173128
ABSTRACT:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
The following US patents, assigned to the assignee hereof, are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,533,193 and 5,864,730.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system for controlling replaceable modules, also known as “customer replaceable units” or CRUs, in a printing apparatus, such as a digital electrophotographic printer/copier.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the office equipment industry, different customers have different requirements as to their business relationship with the manufacturer of the equipment or other service provider. For various reasons, some customers may wish to own their equipment, such as copiers and printers, outright, and take full responsibility for maintaining and servicing the equipment. At the other extreme, some customers may wish to have a “hands off” approach to their equipment, wherein the equipment is leased, and the manufacturer or service provider takes the entire responsibility of keeping the equipment maintained. In such a “hands off” situation, the customer may not even want to know the details about when the equipment is being serviced, and further it is likely that the manufacturer or service provider will want to know fairly far in advance when maintenance is necessary for the equipment, so as to minimize “down time.” Other business relationships between the “owning” and “leasing” extremes may be imagined, such as a customer owning the equipment but engaging the manufacturer or service provider to maintain the equipment on a renewable contract basis.
A common trend in the maintenance of office equipment, particularly copiers and printers, is to organize the machine on a modular basis, wherein certain distinct subsystems of a machine are bundled together into modules which can be readily removed from machines and replaced with new modules of the same type. A modular design facilitates a great flexibility in the business relationship with the customer. By providing subsystems in discrete modules, visits from a service representative can be made very short, since all the representative has to do is remove and replace a defective module. Actual repair of the module takes place away at the service provider's premises. Further, some customers may wish to have the ability to buy modules “off the shelf,” such as from an office supply store. Indeed, it is possible that a customer may lease the machine and wish to buy a succession of modules as needed. Further, the use of modules, particularly for supply units such as toner bottles, are conducive to recycling activities which are available, and occasionally mandatory, in many countries.
In order to facilitate a variety of business arrangements among manufacturers, service providers, and customers of office equipment such as copiers and printers, it is known to provide these modules with electronically-readable chips which, when the module is installed in a machine, enable the machine to both read information from the memory and also write information, such as a print count, to the module. The present invention is directed to a generalized system for information exchanges between modules and machines in an environment of printers and copiers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,147 discloses an electrophotographic printing apparatus having a “history information providing device”. The device includes a non-volatile memory for taking out the latest failure information, such as the number of times of paper jam, and the latest maintenance information such as the total number of pages of printed paper and storing this information therein. The information thus stored in the non-volatile memory is accessed by causing the printer to print out the information stored in the non-volatile memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,258 discloses a color copying machine in which a plurality of toner supplies, each of a different color, can be called upon. There is provided a plurality of counters for counting the number of copies provided with each color toner developer container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,544 discloses an electrophotographic printer in which the number of image forming operations is maintained in an EEPROM within the machine. The EEPROM is used to hold the data in case the machine is turned off.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,088 discloses the basic concept of using an electronically-readable memory permanently associated with a replaceable module which can be installed in a digital printer. The embodiment disclosed in this patent enables a printer to check an identification number of the module, to make sure the module is authorized to be installed in the machine, and also enables a count of prints made with the module to be retained in the memory associated with the module.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,898 discloses an ink-jet printhead cartridge having a memory element associated therewith. This memory element can store operational characteristics, such as a code indicating the color of ink in the printhead, or the position of the ink-jet orifices on the printhead body. A datum characterizing the amount of ink in the cartridge at any time can be periodically updated to reflect use of ink during printing and can warn the user of an impending exhaustion of ink.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,503 discloses a replaceable cartridge for an electrophotographic printer, having a memory device associated therewith. The memory device stores a value which varies as a function of the usage of the cartridge, and this varying value causes a controller in the printing apparatus to adjust a selected operating parameter in accordance with the value, thus maintaining printing quality of the printing machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,613 discloses a substantially “tamper proof” electronically-readable memory for use in a replaceable print module. A count memory associated with a replaceable module maintains a one-by-one count of prints made with the module. The memory associated with the module further includes a memory which can only be decremented, which serves as a “check” to prevent electronic manipulation of the print count memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,540 discloses a printer/copier having a plurality of replaceable parts therein. Each replaceable part has a memory chip associated therewith, and, within the total apparatus, the various memory chips are connected in serial fashion by only a single wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,988 discloses an electrophotographic printing apparatus in which a replaceable cartridge is used to convey developer material to a charged photoreceptor. The cartridge is associated with a programmable memory which is programmed with a reference value reflecting a desired amount of developer material to be developed on the photoreceptor. In operation, the control system of the printer detects an actual amount of developer material developed on the photoreceptor and reads the reference value to determine if a difference exists between the detected actual amount and the reference value. In this way, the performance of the cartridge can be monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,032 discloses a system for monitoring the supplies of marking material within an electrophotographic or ink-jet printer. The system calculates a number of pixels being rendered in a present job and calculates an amount of marking material used to render the present job. The system also calculates a total area coverage to date for the marking material cartridge, and determines and displays an expected number of pages that the marking material cartridge can render. The system can also calculate per-page costs of the page currently being printed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,199 discloses a reprographic machine which includes an inventory tracking system for monitoring consumable supplies. Usage data from a plurality of networked machines is supplied to a single tracking system for monitoring inventories of supplies consumed by the network. Automatic or semi-automatic ordering can be provided via a remote interactive communications system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,193 discloses a digital printing apparatus in whi
Damji Dhirendra C.
Leon Arnold G.
Perez Porfirio J.
Saber Eli S.
Grainger Quana M.
Nutter R.
Xerox Corporation
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