Ink cartridge, ink-jet printing apparatus, and refilling device
First Claim
1. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
- a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein;
an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; and
a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, data indicative of past environment of use of the ink cartridge, and data indicative of past cleaning of the print head, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge including: a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for ejecting the ink from the ink chamber to the print head; a memory device for storing data related to the ink or the ink cartridge, the memory device has an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; and a contact device enabling the transmission of data between the memory device and an external device. The memory device may include data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge which may be utilized to control a reproduction of the ink cartridge.
68 Citations
43 Claims
-
1. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; and a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, data indicative of past environment of use of the ink cartridge, and data indicative of past cleaning of the print head, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; and wherein the data includes data indicative of past maintenance processing required for use in a reproduction of the ink cartridge.
-
-
9. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; and wherein the data includes data indicative of past maintenance processing required for use in a reproduction of the ink cartridge; wherein the data includes data indicative of a past condition of cleaning.
-
-
10. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; wherein the data includes data indicative of a maintenance processing required for use in a reproduction of the ink cartridge; and wherein the data includes data indicative of a condition of exchange of a part of the ink cartridge.
-
-
11. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, said memory device having an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; wherein the data includes data indicative of the time of final ink depletion of the ink cartridge; and wherein the data includes data indicative of past maintenance processing required for use in a reproduction of the ink cartridge.
-
-
12. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; a memory device formatted to store data indicative of the history of the ink cartridge, said memory device has an area in which the data is stored in a rewritable manner; and wherein the data includes data indicative of a past environment in which the ink cartridge was used.
-
-
13. An ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the ink cartridge comprising:
-
a container having an ink chamber for containing ink therein; an ink supply port for supplying the ink from said ink chamber to the print head; and a memory device for storing data related to the ink or the ink cartridge, said memory device storing therein data relating to a minimum ink amount to be contained in the ink cartridge, said memory device having an area in which data indicative of a residual ink amount is stored in a rewritable manner; wherein said ink cartridge is operable to alter an ink discharge operation during cleaning of the print head based on the stored data relating to the minimum ink amount and the residual ink amount.
-
-
14. An ink-jet printing apparatus comprising:
-
a print head for ejecting ink droplets; an ink cartridge containing ink therein for supplying the ink to said print head; a memory device storing data related to the ink cartridge, data related to past environment of use of the ink cartridge, and data related to past cleaning of the print head; a control device accessible to said memory device for controlling said print head in accordance with data supplied from the exterior, said control device controlling a charging of the ink into said print head in accordance with data, stored in said memory device, when said ink cartridge is attached to the printing apparatus; and said control device determines whether the print head needs cleaning and controls the cleaning operation. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 42)
-
-
25. An ink-jet printing apparatus comprising:
-
a print head for ejecting ink droplets; an ink cartridge containing ink therein for supplying the ink to said print head; a memory device storing data representative of a preset minimum ink amount and residual ink in the ink cartridge; and a control device accessible to said memory device for controlling said print head in accordance with data supplied from the exterior, said control device judging whether a cleaning operation is necessary in accordance with the data stored in said memory device. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
-
28. A cartridge reproducing device for an ink cartridge for an ink jet type printing apparatus having a print head, the reproducing device comprising:
-
means for reading data, related to a history of use of the ink cartridge to be reproduced, from a memory device provided on the ink cartridge; a control device which controls a reproduction processing apparatus in accordance with said data, and causes at least data, representing the number of reproductions and the time of reproduction, to be stored in said memory device after the reproducing operation is finished; and said control device determines when and if the print head needs cleaning and controls the cleaning. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. An ink-jet printing apparatus comprising:
-
a print head for ejecting ink droplets; an ink cartridge containing ink therein for supplying the ink to said print head; a memory device storing data related to the ink cartridge, data related to environment of use of the ink cartridge, and data related to cleaning of the print head; and a control device accessible to said memory device for controlling said print head in accordance with data supplied from the exterior, said control device judges, from the data stored in said memory device, whether the next reproduction of the ink cartridge is possible. - View Dependent Claims (36, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
37. A method of operating a printing ink cartridge reproducing device having a data memory device, a reproducing control device, an ink charging device and an ink discharge device, said method comprising:
-
reading ink cartridge data from an ink cartridge having an ink memory circuit; evaluating the ink cartridge data using the reproducing control device; determining whether regeneration of the ink cartridge is possible; and recharging the ink cartridge using the ink charging device if the reproducing control device determines that regeneration of the ink cartridge is possible. - View Dependent Claims (43)
-
Specification