Toner cartridge with integral MICR font, and methods

• US 20050095016A1
• Filed: 10/30/2003
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Simpson, Shell S., Cherry, Darrel D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,027,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/12
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/1889 for auto-setting of process parameters, lifetime, usage

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a toner cartridge for the printing of MICR characters that includes a memory device that is programmed with the requisite font for MICR characters. The font is accessible for the printing of MICR characters when the toner cartridge is installed in a printer. In a further embodiment, the memory device on the toner cartridge may also contain a data flag indicating that a print job must print at least one symbol in the MICR font. Corresponding printer firmware may then determine if this flag is present, and, if present, will prevent the printing of print jobs that do not include at least one character to be printed in the MICR font. This prevents MICR toner from being wasted on documents that do not require MICR toner, such as normal office correspondence.

Claims

1. A printer toner cartridge for the printing of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) characters, comprising:

a reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner; and

a memory device integral with the toner cartridge, the memory device programmed with information defining a font for printing MICR characters.

2. The printer toner cartridge of claim 1, wherein the reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner contains a supply of MICR toner.

3. The printer toner cartridge of claim 1, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an electronic memory.

4. The printer toner cartridge of claim 3, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a Read-Only-Memory (ROM).

5. The printer toner cartridge of claim 3, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM).

6. The printer toner cartridge of claim 3, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a flash memory.

7. The printer toner cartridge of claim 3, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a battery backed Random Access Memory (RAM).

8. The printer toner cartridge of claim 1, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge further includes a data flag indicating that the toner cartridge contains MICR toner.

9. A printer toner cartridge for the printing of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) characters, comprising:

a reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner; and

a memory device integral with the toner cartridge, the memory device programmed with a data flag indicating that the toner cartridge contains MICR toner.

10. The printer toner cartridge of claim 9, wherein the reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner contains a supply of MICR toner.

11. The printer toner cartridge of claim 9, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an electronic memory.

12. The printer toner cartridge of claim 11, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a Read-Only-Memory (ROM).

13. The printer toner cartridge of claim 11, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM).

14. The printer toner cartridge of claim 11, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a flash memory.

15. The printer toner cartridge of claim 11, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a battery backed Random Access Memory (RAM).

16. The printer toner cartridge of claim 9, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge further includes information defining a font for printing MICR characters.

17. A printer toner cartridge for the printing of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) characters, comprising:

a reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner; and

a memory device integral with the toner cartridge, the memory device programmed with

a) information defining a font for printing MICR characters; and

b) a data flag indicating that the toner cartridge contains MICR toner.

18. The printer toner cartridge of claim 17, wherein the reservoir for holding a supply of MICR toner contains a supply of MICR toner.

19. The printer toner cartridge of claim 17, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an electronic memory.

20. The printer toner cartridge of claim 19, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a Read-Only-Memory (ROM).

21. The printer toner cartridge of claim 19, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM).

22. The printer toner cartridge of claim 19, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a flash memory.

23. The printer toner cartridge of claim 19, wherein the memory device integral with the toner cartridge comprises a battery backed Random Access Memory (RAM).

24. A method of controlling the printing of bank checks, the checks including Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) characters, the method comprising:

Bundling within a single removable cartridge a supply of MICR marking material and a memory device containing a MICR font; and

Retrieving the MICR font from the memory device when printing checks.

25. A method of inhibiting the use of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) marking material when printing documents not requiring MICR marking material, the method comprising:

Bundling within a single removable cartridge a supply of MICR marking material and a memory device containing a data flag indicating that the removable cartridge contains MICR marking material;

Retrieving the data flag from the memory device when printing, and if the flag indicates that the container contains MICR marking material,

Testing each print job to determine if MICR marking material is required, and, if MICR marking material is not required,

Inhibiting the print job.

26. The method of inhibiting the use of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) marking material when printing documents not requiring MICR marking material of claim 25, wherein the step of testing each print job to determine if MICR marking material is required comprises determining if the print job contains at least one character printed in a MICR font.