Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto

• US 20020180851A1
• Filed: 07/18/2002
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Saruta, Toshihisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,134,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/86
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1652 by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17546 electronically
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17566 Ink level or ink residue control
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/102 using ink jet print heads

Abstract

In a printer of the present invention, an EEPROM that carries out sequential access and has a relatively small storage capacity is applied for storage elements mounted on both black and color ink cartridges, which are detachably attached to the printer. Pieces of information relating to each ink cartridge, for example, pieces of information on remaining quantities of respective inks in the ink cartridge, are stored in the storage element of the ink cartridge. A format of addressing adopted in the storage elements of the ink cartridges is different from that adopted in an EEPROM Incorporated in a printer main body of the printer. A control IC provided in the printer accordingly converts the storage format of addressing, before writing the information into the storage elements of the ink cartridges. In the printer, a RAM is mounted with the control IC on a carriage, and the pieces of information to be written into the storage elements of the ink cartridges are temporarily registered in the RAM. The pieces of information are then written into the respective storage elements of the black and color ink cartridges, for example, at a timing of a power-off operation. The signal lines and the memory used in the course of writing the information into the storage elements are identical with the signal lines, through which print data are transmitted to a print head mounted on the carriage of the printer, and the memory, in which the print data are stored. The arrangement of the present invention reduces the manufacturing cost of the ink cartridge and also enables size reduction of the whole printer.

Claims

1. A printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, said cartridge keeping ink therein and having a rewritable non-volatile memory, said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation, said printer comprising:

a printer memory that stores information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge into a predetermined area thereof in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in said non-volatile memory;

a memory writing unit that reads the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge from the predetermined area and writes the read-out information into a specific area of said non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of said 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 said memory writing unit writes the information.

2. A printer in accordance with claim 1, said printer further comprising a print head that is mounted on said printer,

wherein said cartridge is detachably attached to a carriage, which has said print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to said printing medium, and

said address decoder is disposed on said carriage.

3. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory carries out transmission of data by serial access, and

said address decoder converts an address specified in the predetermined format into a number of clocks.

4. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein the information relating to the ink includes a piece of information on a quantity of ink in said cartridge.

5. A printer in accordance with claim 4, wherein the piece of information on the quantity of ink in said cartridge regards either one of a remaining quantity of ink and an amount of ink consumption with respect to said cartridge.

6. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said cartridge has an ink reservoir, in which a plurality of different inks are kept, and said address decoder carries out the conversion of the storage format of addressing with regard to each of the plurality of different inks corresponding to each specific area provided for each ink in said non-volatile memory.

7. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said address decoder alternately specifies one of two different addresses in response to a requirement of writing into said non-volatile memory, with regard to the information stored in one area of said printer memory.

8. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said address decoder carries out the conversion of the storage format of addressing, in order to enable the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge to be written into said non-volatile memory, after at least one of a timing when a power-off instruction is given to turn off a power source of said printer, a timing when power supply to said printer is cut off, and a timing when a replacement instruction is given to replace said cartridge.

9. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory is a programmable ROM that is erasable electrically.

20. A printer in accordance with claim 2, said printer further comprising:

a cleaning unit that carries out head cleaning In response to a predetermined operation, the head cleaning causing a preset quantity of ink to be transferred from said print head,

wherein said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory when said cleaning unit is activated to carry out the head cleaning.

21. A printer in accordance with claim 2, wherein said cartridge detachably attached to said printer comprises a black ink cartridge, in which black ink is kept, and a color ink cartridge, in which a plurality of different color inks are kept, and

said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory that is provided in both said black ink cartridge and said color ink cartridge.

10. A printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, said cartridge keeping ink therein and having a rewritable non-volatile memory, said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred from a plurality of dot-forming elements, which are formed on a print head mounted on said printer, to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation, said printer comprising:

a printer memory that stores information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge into a predetermined area thereof;

a data registration unit that is disposed on a carriage, which has said print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to said printing medium, and temporarily registers therein the information relating to the ink, which is read from the predetermined area of said printer memory; and

a memory writing unit that writes the information temporarily registered in said data registration unit into a specific area of said non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of said printer memory,

11. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein said data registration unit has a memory, in which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements are temporarily held, said data registration unit stores at least part of the information, which is to be written into said non-volatile memory, by utilizing at least a partial area of said memory.

12. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein said data registration unit receives the information from said printer memory by utilizing a signal line, through which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements are output to the dot-forming elements.

13. A printer in accordance with claim 11, wherein said data registration unit comprises a switching unit that selects either one of an output of the data to the dot-forming elements and an output of the information to said non-volatile memory.

14. A printer in accordance with claim 13, wherein said switching unit comprises a unit that cuts off power supply to said non-volatile memory in the case where the data are output to the dot-forming elements.

15. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein the information relating to the ink includes a piece of information on a quantity of ink in said cartridge.

16. A printer in accordance with claim 15, wherein the piece information on the quantity of ink in said cartridge regards either one of a remaining quantity of ink and an amount of ink consumption with respect to said cartridge.

17. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein said non-volatile memory carries out transmission of data by serial access, and

said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory synchronously with a clock for addressing.

18. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein said non-volatile memory is a programmable ROM that is erasable electrically.

19. A printer in accordance with claim 10, wherein said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory at a power-off time of said printer and/or at a time of replacement of said cartridge.

38. A printer in accordance with claim 10, said printer further comprising:

a cleaning unit that carries out head cleaning in response to a predetermined operation, the head cleaning causing a preset quantity of ink to be transferred from said print head,

wherein said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory when said cleaning unit is activated to carry out the head cleaning.

39. A printer in accordance with claims 10, wherein said cartridge detachably attached to said printer comprises a black ink cartridge, in which black ink is kept, and a color ink cartridge, in which a plurality of different color inks are kept, and

said memory writing unit writes the information into said non-volatile memory that is provided in both said black ink cartridge and said color ink cartridge.

22. A method of writing information relating to ink kept in a cartridge into a rewritable non-volatile memory incorporated in said cartridge, which is detachably attached to a printer,

said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred from a print head mounted on said printer to a printing medium, thereby implementing a printing operation, said method comprising the steps of:

storing the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge into a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in said printer in a predetermined format of addressing, which is different from a specific format of addressing adopted in said non-volatile memory;

reading the information relating to the ink kept in said 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 said non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of said printer memory.

25. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, wherein said non-volatile memory carries out transmission of data by serial access, and

said writing controller writes the information into said non-volatile memory synchronously with a clock for addressing.

26. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, wherein the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge regards either one of a remaining quantity of ink and an amount of ink consumption with respect to said cartridge.

27. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, said cartridge comprising an ink reservoir, in which a plurality of different inks are kept,

wherein said non-volatile memory has a plurality of areas, in each of which the information relating to each of the plurality of different inks is stored.

28. A cartridge in accordance with claim 27, wherein said ink reservoir is divided into at least three ink chambers, in which at least three different inks are kept, and

said non-volatile memory has a plurality of information storage areas, in each of which information on a quantity of each of the at least three different inks is stored independently,

a storage capacity of not greater than 2 bytes being allocated respectively to the plurality of information storage areas.

29. A cartridge in accordance with claim 27, wherein said ink reservoir is divided into at least five ink chambers, in which at least five different inks are kept, and

said non-volatile memory has a plurality of information storage areas, in each of which information on a quantity of each of the at least five different inks is stored independently,

a storage capacity of not greater than 2 bytes being allocated respectively to the plurality of information storage areas.

30. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, wherein said non-volatile memory is an EEPROM.

31. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, wherein said writing controller writes the information into said non-volatile memory after at least one of a timing when a power-off instruction is given to turn off a power source of said printer, a timing when power supply to said printer is cut off, and a timing when a replacement instruction is given to replace said cartridge.

23. A method of writing information relating to ink kept in a cartridge into a rewritable non-volatile memory incorporated in said cartridge, which is detachably attached to a printer, said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred from a plurality of dot-forming elements, which are formed on a print head mounted on said printer, to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation, said method comprising the steps of:

storing the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge into a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in said printer;

temporarily storing the information relating to the ink, which is read from the predetermined area of said printer memory, into a temporary memory that is disposed on a carriage, which has said print head mounted thereon and moves forward and backward relative to said printing medium; and

writing the information temporarily stored in said temporary memory into a specific area of said non-volatile memory, which corresponds to the predetermined area of said printer memory.

24. A cartridge that keeps ink therein and is detachably attached to a printer with a print head, said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred from said print head to a printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation, said cartridge comprising:

a rewritable non-volatile memory;

an input unit that receives information relating to ink kept in said cartridge, which has been stored in a predetermined format of addressing in a predetermined area of a printer memory incorporated in said printer, in a specific format of addressing that is different from the predetermined format of addressing; and

a writing controller that writes the information into said non-volatile memory in the specific format of addressing received by said input unit.

32. A cartridge that keeps ink therein and is detachably attached to a carriage set on a printer, said printer having a plurality of dot-forming elements formed on a print head mounted on said carriage that moves forward and backward relative to a printing medium, said printer causing the ink kept in said cartridge to be transferred from the plurality of dot-forming elements on said print head to said printing medium by a unit of dot, thereby implementing a printing operation, said cartridge comprising:

a rewritable non-volatile memory;

an input unit that receives information relating to ink kept in said cartridge, which has been stored in a predetermined format of addressing in a temporary memory mounted on said carriage for temporarily storing information, in a specific format of addressing that is different from the predetermined format of addressing; and

a writing controller that writes the information into said non-volatile memory in the specific format of addressing received by said input unit.

33. A cartridge in accordance with claim 32, wherein said input unit receives the information by utilizing a signal line, through which data corresponding to a driving signal to the dot-forming elements are output to the dot-forming elements.

34. A cartridge in accordance with claim 33, wherein said input unit receives a supply of power only when receiving the information.

35. A cartridge In accordance with claim 32, wherein the information relating to the ink kept in said cartridge regards either one of a remaining quantity of ink and an amount of ink consumption with respect to said cartridge.

36. A cartridge in accordance with claim 32, wherein said non-volatile memory carries out transmission of data by serial access.

37. A cartridge in accordance with claim 32, wherein said non-volatile memory is a programmable ROM that is erasable electrically.