Recording apparatus and method of controlling the same
First Claim
1. A recording apparatus for performing a recording operation using a recording head for emitting ink, said recording apparatus comprising:
- a mounting unit for replaceably mounting a plurality of ink storage means for storing ink supplied to said recoding head;
remaining amount detection means for detecting the amount of ink remaining in each of the plurality of ink storage means; and
judgement means for determining whether it is required to replace some of the plurality of ink storage means on the basis of the detection result given by said remaining detection means, wherein said judgement means determines whether the amount of ink remaining in some of the plurality of ink storage means has decreased to such an extent that the ink storage means has to be replaced, and if it is determined that there is ink storage means which should be replaced, said judgement means determines that another ink storage means whose remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value should also be replaced; and
informing means for presenting information about the ink storage means which should be replaced, in accordance with the judgement result given by said judgement means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An recording apparatus and a method of controlling the operation of the recording apparatus in which the timing of replacing ink cartridges for supplying ink to a recording head or the timing of refilling the ink cartridges with ink is controlled in such a manner as to minimize the total amount of ink consumed during the operation of recovering the recording head performed after the ink cartridge is replaced or refilled thereby achieving a high efficiency in the replacement or refilling of ink cartridges. The amount of remaining ink is monitored for each ink cartridge. If an ink cartridge is detected to be so low in the amount of remaining ink that it should be replaced or refilled, then it is judged whether there is another ink cartridge whose amount of remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value. If there is such an ink cartridge, it is determined that the ink cartridge as well as the former one should also be replaced or refilled with ink. In accordance with the judgement result, information is presented about the ink cartridge which should be replaced or refilled. As opposed to conventional techniques in which there is a possibility that an ink cartridge runs out ink during a recovering operation performed after another ink cartridge was replaced or refilled with ink and thus it is also required to be replaced or refilled, the technique makes it possible to replace or refill ink cartridges in a highly efficient manner.
81 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A recording apparatus for performing a recording operation using a recording head for emitting ink, said recording apparatus comprising:
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a mounting unit for replaceably mounting a plurality of ink storage means for storing ink supplied to said recoding head; remaining amount detection means for detecting the amount of ink remaining in each of the plurality of ink storage means; and judgement means for determining whether it is required to replace some of the plurality of ink storage means on the basis of the detection result given by said remaining detection means, wherein said judgement means determines whether the amount of ink remaining in some of the plurality of ink storage means has decreased to such an extent that the ink storage means has to be replaced, and if it is determined that there is ink storage means which should be replaced, said judgement means determines that another ink storage means whose remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value should also be replaced; and informing means for presenting information about the ink storage means which should be replaced, in accordance with the judgement result given by said judgement means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of controlling a recording apparatus, said recording apparatus including a mounting unit for replaceably mounting a plurality of ink storage means for storing ink, said recording apparatus being adapted to perform a recording operation using a recording head for emitting ink supplied from said ink storage means, said method comprising the steps of:
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detecting the amount of ink remaining in each of the plurality of ink storage means; judging whether replacement is required on each of the plurality of ink storage means on the basis of the detection result obtained in the step of detecting the amount of remaining ink, wherein in said judgement step it is determined whether the amount of ink remaining in some of the plurality of ink storage means has decreased to such an extent that the ink storage means has to be replaced, and if it is determined that there is ink storage means which should be replaced, it is further determined that another ink storage means whose remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value should also be replaced; and presenting information about the ink storage means which should be replaced, in accordance with the judgement result made in said judgement step. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A recording apparatus for performing a recording operation using a recording head for emitting ink, said recording apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of ink storage means for storing ink supplied to said recoding head; remaining amount detection means for detecting the amount of ink remaining in each of the plurality of ink storage means; and judgement means for determining whether it is required to refill some of the plurality of ink storage means with ink on the basis of the detection result given by said remaining detection means, wherein said judgement means determines whether the amount of ink remaining in some of the plurality of ink storage means has decreased to such an extent that the ink storage means should be refilled with ink, and if it is determined that there is ink storage means which should be refilled with ink, said judgement means determines that another ink storage means whose remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value should also be refilled with ink; and informing means for presenting information about the ink storage means which should be refilled with ink, in accordance with the judgement result given by said judgement means. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of controlling a recording apparatus, said recording apparatus including a plurality of ink storage means for storing ink, said recording apparatus being adapted to perform a recording operation using a recording head for emitting ink supplied from said ink storage means, said method comprising the steps of:
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detecting the amount of ink remaining in each of the plurality of ink storage means; judging whether some of the plurality of ink storage means should be refilled with ink on the basis of the detection result obtained in the step of detecting the amount of remaining ink, wherein in said judgement step it is determined whether the amount of ink remaining in some of the plurality of ink storage means has decreased to such an extent that the ink storage means should be refilled with ink, and if it is determined that there is ink storage means which should be refilled with ink, said judgement means determines that another ink storage means whose remaining ink is lower than a predetermined value should also be refilled with ink; and presenting information about the ink storage means which should be refilled with ink, in accordance with the judgement result made in said judgement step. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
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Specification