CN111890801B

CN111890801B - Ink box chip, ink box and ink-jet printer

Info

Publication number: CN111890801B
Application number: CN202010848495.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 文冠果; 车秩柳
Original assignee: Print Rite Technology Development Co Ltd of Zhuhai
Current assignee: Zhuhai Tianwei Microelectronics Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-01
Filing date: 2020-08-21
Publication date: 2021-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-21
Also published as: CN111890801A

Abstract

The invention provides an ink box chip, an ink box and an ink-jet printer, wherein the ink box chip comprises a substrate, a memory and a plurality of connecting terminals are arranged on the substrate, the plurality of connecting terminals comprise a plurality of first terminals electrically connected with the memory, and the plurality of connecting terminals also comprise at least one detection terminal and at least one high-voltage terminal; the substrate is further provided with a control module, and the control module sends an interference signal to the memory after detecting a short-circuit signal formed on the short-circuit detection line. The side wall of the box body of the ink box is provided with the ink box chip, and the ink box can be installed on the ink-jet printer. The invention can avoid the damage of the voltage loaded on the high-voltage terminal to the memory after the high-voltage terminal is short-circuited with the first terminal.

Description

Ink box chip, ink box and ink-jet printer

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of printing consumables, in particular to an ink box chip, an ink box with the ink box chip and an ink-jet printer.

Background

The electronic imaging equipment is taken as common office equipment, great convenience is provided for modern office, the common electronic imaging equipment comprises a printer, a copying machine and the like, the existing printer is divided into an ink-jet printer and a laser printer, and the ink-jet printer uses an ink box containing ink as an ink box to jet the ink to paper so as to form characters or patterns to be printed on the paper; the laser printer uses a toner cartridge containing toner as an ink cartridge to form characters or patterns to be printed on a medium.

Referring to fig. 1, a conventional color inkjet printer has a cabinet 11, and the inkjet printer shown in fig. 1 omits a tray of the cabinet 11. The casing 11 is provided with a movement 12 of the ink jet printer and with a slide along which a carriage 14 is driven by a motor (not visible in fig. 1). An adapter plate (not visible in fig. 1) is provided in the carriage 14, and communicates with the movement 12 via the flat cable 13.

A plurality of ink cartridges 15 are detachably mounted on the carriage 14, and different ink cartridges 15 contain different color inks. The structure of the ink cartridge 15 is shown in fig. 2. The ink cartridge 15 has a cartridge body 16, the cartridge body 16 encloses a cavity for accommodating ink, an ink outlet 17 is provided at a lower end of the cavity, and the ink in the cavity flows out through the ink outlet 17 and supplies ink to an ink supply needle of the printing carriage 14.

A chip 18 is mounted on the outer wall of the casing 16 of the cartridge 15, the chip 18 having a substrate with a plurality of connection terminals 19 on one side for electrical connection with the adapter plate. The other side of the substrate is provided with a memory (not visible in fig. 2), which is usually a non-volatile memory, such as an EEPROM or a FLASH, and stores information related to the ink cartridge, including variable information and invariable information, where the variable information is information that is constantly changed with the printing operation, such as information about the remaining amount of ink, the printing duration, the number of printed sheets, and the invariable information is information that is not changed with the printing operation, such as the type of the ink cartridge, the type of an applicable inkjet printer, and the color of ink.

After the ink cartridge 15 is mounted to the carriage 14 of the ink jet printer, the ink jet printer powers up the chip 18 and reads the data stored in the memory of the chip 18 to determine whether the ink cartridge 15 is of the proper type, whether the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge 15 is sufficient, and the like. The ink jet printer can perform the printing operation only after the ink cartridge 15 is judged to be of a proper type and the ink cartridge 15 contains sufficient ink.

Referring to fig. 3, 9 connection terminals are provided on one surface of the substrate 20 of the chip 18, and a plurality of the connection terminals are arranged in two upper and lower rows, wherein a first row located above includes four connection terminals, respectively,

connection terminals

21, 22, 23, 24, and a second row located below includes five connection terminals, respectively,

connection terminals

25, 26, 27, 28, 29. These connection terminals are divided into three groups, the first group of connection terminals being the connection terminals electrically connected to the memory, usually located in the middle of each row of connection terminals, for example the

connection terminals

22, 23, 26, 27, 28 being the connection terminals for connection to the memory. The two

connection terminals

21, 24 at the two ends of the first row are detection terminals, and the two connection terminals at the two ends of the second row are

high voltage terminals

25, 29.

The

detection terminals

21, 24 may have a plurality of functions, the first function being to detect whether the ink cartridge 15 is mounted in place, and if the

detection terminals

21, 24 are electrically connected to the corresponding connection terminals on the ink jet printer side, it can be considered that the ink cartridge has been mounted in place. The second function is to identify the type of the ink cartridge, for example, the

detection terminals

21 and 24 may have different short-circuit connection modes with the

connection terminals

22 and 23, and the ink jet printer determines the type of the ink jet printer by detecting the levels of the

detection terminals

21 and 24, thereby determining whether the ink cartridge 15 is installed incorrectly.

The sensor is provided in the ink cartridge 15 to detect the remaining amount of ink, but a high voltage is applied to the sensor when the sensor is operated, and therefore, the

high voltage terminals

25 and 29 receive a high voltage direct current supplied from the ink jet printer and are applied to both ends of the sensor. However, if an ink droplet is dropped between the plurality of connection terminals, a short circuit occurs between the plurality of connection terminals, for example, the ink droplet is dropped between the

connection terminals

21, 25, and 26, and once the high voltage terminal 25 is applied with a high dc voltage, the voltage of the connection terminal 26 is high. If the connection terminal 26 is a connection terminal for passing power to the memory, also called a power supply terminal, since the operating voltage of the memory is usually about 3.3 volts, if the connection terminal 26 is applied with a higher voltage, the memory will burn out, and even the operation of the inkjet printer will be affected.

Therefore, a detection circuit is arranged in the machine core of the ink-jet printer, the voltage of the detection terminal 21 is detected to judge whether an abnormal phenomenon, such as the dropping of ink drops among the

connection terminals

21, 25 and 26, the voltage of the detection terminal 21 is increased when the high-voltage terminal 25 is loaded with high direct-current voltage, and once the ink-jet printer detects that the voltage of the detection terminal 21 is overhigh, the high-voltage direct current is disconnected from being loaded to the high-voltage terminal 25, so that the damage to a memory caused by the high voltage of the connection terminal 26 is avoided.

However, since the detection circuit is disposed in the housing of the inkjet printer, the inkjet printer can determine the level of the detection terminal 21 and then disconnect the power supply to the high voltage terminal 25 after the electrical signal of the detection terminal 21 needs to be transmitted to the inkjet printer. In general, it often takes several milliseconds from the detection of an excessively high level of the detection terminal 21 to the disconnection of the power supply to the high voltage terminal 25, possibly resulting in memory damage.

For this purpose, the invention patent application with publication number CN110816071A discloses an ink cartridge chip having a plurality of connection terminals, including a detection terminal and a high voltage terminal, and a short detection line is provided between the detection terminal and the high voltage terminal, and the ink cartridge chip is automatically burned or disconnected from the ink jet printer upon detecting the presence of ink droplets on the substrate through the short detection line. However, this solution does not disclose how to achieve automatic burning of the cartridge chip or disconnection from the ink jet printer.

Disclosure of Invention

A first object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge chip capable of quickly responding to a short-circuit condition and protecting a memory.

The second purpose of the invention is to provide an ink box applying the ink box chip.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printer having the above ink cartridge.

In order to achieve the first object of the present invention, the ink cartridge chip provided by the present invention comprises a substrate, a memory and a plurality of connection terminals are disposed on the substrate, the plurality of connection terminals comprise a plurality of first terminals electrically connected to the memory, and the plurality of connection terminals further comprise at least one detection terminal and at least one high voltage terminal; the substrate is further provided with a control module, and the control module sends an interference signal to the memory after detecting a short-circuit signal formed on the short-circuit detection line.

It can be seen by above-mentioned scheme that sets up the short circuit detection line between detection terminal and high-voltage terminal, in case there is the ink droplet to drip between detection terminal and high-voltage terminal, then the short circuit detection line must take place the short circuit with detection terminal, high-voltage terminal, and at this moment, form the high-voltage signal on the high-voltage detection line, like this, control module will send interference signal to the memory according to the high-voltage signal of short circuit detection line to make ink jet printer unable and the ink horn chip carry out normal communication.

It can be seen that once an ink droplet is dropped on the ink cartridge chip and short-circuit occurs between the high-voltage terminal and the detection terminal, the memory cannot normally communicate with the inkjet printer under the interference of the interference signal, the inkjet printer considers that the ink cartridge chip is abnormal and does not continue to be electrically connected with the memory, and the inkjet printer considers that the ink cartridge chip is damaged or abnormal, and stops applying a higher voltage signal to the high-voltage terminal.

In addition, the judgment of the short-circuit detection is realized by the control module arranged on the ink box chip, and the judgment is carried out by the printer after the signal of the detection terminal is transmitted to the printer, so the detection time of the short-circuit state is short, and the memory can receive the interference signal in a very short time.

Preferably, the control module includes a controller and a power module, the power module supplies power to the controller, and the power module is a storage battery or a capacitor.

Therefore, the power supply module supplies power to the controller, so that the controller can detect the level state of the short circuit detection line in real time, and once the short circuit occurs, the controller can send an interference signal to the memory in time.

Further, the high-voltage terminal supplies power to the power supply module. In this way, the power module can receive the voltage output by the printer through the high-voltage terminal and charge, so that the power module can be ensured to have sufficient electric energy to meet the requirement of long-time operation of the controller.

In a further aspect, the interference signal is a signal entering a latch state. The memory enters the latch state after receiving the signal entering the latch state, and the memory cannot normally communicate with the ink jet printer, so the memory can be interfered with effectively at low cost by outputting the signal entering the latch state to the memory by the controller.

Preferably, a gap is formed between the short circuit detection line and the detection terminal, and a gap is formed between the short circuit detection line and the high voltage terminal.

Therefore, gaps are formed among the short-circuit detection line, the detection terminal and the high-voltage terminal, namely, ink drops do not drop in front of the substrate, the short-circuit detection line cannot be in short circuit with the detection terminal and the high-voltage terminal, and therefore the condition that the ink drops drop is detected.

Further, in at least one direction, the detection terminal overlaps with the short detection line, and the high voltage terminal overlaps with the short detection line.

It can be seen that, in different directions, the short-circuit detection line overlaps with the detection terminal and the high-voltage terminal, and regardless of the shape of the ink drop, the short-circuit detection line can ensure that the short-circuit detection line inevitably detects the occurrence of the short-circuit condition when the detection terminal and the high-voltage terminal are short-circuited, so that the accuracy of short-circuit detection is improved.

In a further aspect, the detection terminal includes a first detection terminal and a second detection terminal, the high voltage terminal includes a first high voltage terminal and a second high voltage terminal, the first detection terminal is adjacent to the first high voltage terminal, and the second detection terminal is adjacent to the second high voltage terminal; the short circuit detection line includes a first segment located between the first detection terminal and the first high voltage terminal, and further includes a second segment located between the second detection terminal and the second high voltage terminal.

Therefore, a section of short detection line is arranged between each two adjacent high-voltage terminals and the detection terminal, so that when ink drops are contacted with any detection terminal and any high-voltage terminal on the substrate, the short detection line can detect the occurrence of a short circuit condition, and the delay of short circuit detection is avoided.

In order to achieve the second purpose, the ink box provided by the invention comprises a box body, wherein the box body encloses a containing cavity, and the outer wall of the box body is provided with the ink box chip.

To achieve the third objective, the present invention provides an ink jet printer including a housing, and the ink cartridge is mounted in the housing.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a structural view of a conventional ink jet printer.

Fig. 2 is a structural view of a conventional ink cartridge.

Fig. 3 is a structural view of a conventional ink cartridge chip.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an ink cartridge chip of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a plurality of connection terminals, short detection lines and a control module according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is an electrical schematic diagram of the control module and the memory of the ink cartridge chip embodiment of the present invention.

The invention is further explained with reference to the drawings and the embodiments.

Detailed Description

The ink cartridge of the present invention is a container that is mounted on an ink jet printer and contains ink, and the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

Ink cartridge chip example:

the ink cartridge chip of the present embodiment is an ink cartridge chip mounted on an ink cartridge for an ink jet printer, and has a substrate 40, and a plurality of connection terminals are provided on one surface of the substrate 40, and as shown in fig. 4 and 5, the plurality of connection terminals are arranged in two rows, wherein the first row located above includes four connection terminals, i.e.,

connection terminals

41, 42, 43, and 44, and the second row located below includes five connection terminals, i.e.,

connection terminals

45, 46, 47, 48, and 49. A memory 55 is provided on the other surface of the substrate 40, and the memory 55 is a nonvolatile memory such as an EFFROM or FLASH.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of connection terminals on the substrate 40 are divided into three groups, the first group of connection terminals are the

first connection terminals

42, 43, 46, 47, 48, the first connection terminals include the power supply terminal VCC, the clock signal terminal CLK, the data terminal DAT, the chip select terminal SC, the ground terminal GND, and the like, and the first connection terminals are electrically connected to the memory 55. As can be seen from fig. 5, these connection terminals are located at the middle of each row of connection terminals. Preferably, one of the five first terminals is a power supply terminal to which the ink jet printer applies a low voltage dc voltage to supply the power required for the operation of the memory 55, typically, the operating voltage of the power supply terminal is 3.3 volts.

The second group of connection terminals are two

connection terminals

41, 44 at both ends of the first row, the

connection terminals

41, 44 are detection terminals, and the third group of connection terminals are two

connection terminals

45, 49 at both ends of the second row, these two connection terminals being high voltage terminals.

In the ink cartridge, a device having a high operating voltage, for example, a sensor for detecting the remaining amount of ink, such as a crystal oscillator, is provided, and

high voltage terminals

45 and 49 are connected to both ends of the sensor, respectively. When the ink jet printer needs to detect the ink residual amount, a high direct current voltage is loaded to the

high voltage terminals

45 and 49 so that the crystal oscillator generates an oscillation signal. However, since the operation of detecting the remaining amount of ink is not performed in real time, and is usually performed before the start of one printing operation or after the completion of the printing operation, the high-

voltage terminals

45 and 49 are not applied with a high dc voltage in real time, but are applied with a high dc voltage at a specific timing. In general, the dc voltage applied to the

high voltage terminals

45, 49 by the ink jet printer is 25 volts or more, and if the

high voltage terminals

45, 49 are short-circuited to the first terminal, the memory 55 is damaged by the higher dc voltage.

In order to prevent the memory from being damaged by improper high-voltage direct current application when the high-voltage terminal and the first terminal are short-circuited, in the present embodiment, the short detection line 50 is provided on the substrate 40, and preferably, the short detection line 50 is formed on the substrate 40 by copper-clad, and is formed together with the plurality of connection terminals by copper-clad, for example, when a circuit board of a chip is manufactured. The short detection line 50 is not physically connected to the

detection terminals

41 and 44 and the

high voltage terminals

45 and 49, and as can be seen from fig. 5, the short detection line 50 has gaps between the

detection terminals

41 and 44 and the

high voltage terminals

45 and 49.

In the present embodiment, the detection terminal 41 is disposed adjacent to the high voltage terminal 45, and two terminals are respectively located at the leftmost ends of the first and second rows of terminals, while the detection terminal 44 is disposed adjacent to the high voltage terminal 49, and two terminals are respectively located at the rightmost ends of the first and second rows of terminals. Further, along the longitudinal direction of the substrate 40, i.e., the X direction in fig. 6, the detection terminal 41 and the high voltage terminal 45 partially overlap, and the detection terminal 44 and the high voltage terminal 49 also partially overlap. In the width direction of the substrate 40, i.e., the Y direction in fig. 6, the detection terminal 41 and the high voltage terminal 45 partially overlap each other, and the detection terminal 44 and the high voltage terminal 49 also partially overlap each other.

The short detection line 50 includes a first segment 51 and a second segment 52, and as shown in fig. 6, the first segment 51 is located between the detection terminal 41 and the high voltage terminal 45, and the second segment 52 is located between the detection terminal 44 and the high voltage terminal 49. The first and

second segments

51 and 52 are bent to avoid physical connection with the

detection terminals

41 and 44 and the

high voltage terminals

45 and 49.

The control module 60 is provided on the substrate 40 of the chip, and preferably, the control module 60 is located on the other side of the substrate 40 where the connection terminals are provided, for example, when the chip is mounted on the ink cartridge, the side where the connection terminals are provided faces outward, and the side where the memory 55 and the control module 60 are provided faces the cartridge body of the ink cartridge. In this embodiment, the two

high voltage terminals

45, 49 and the short detection line 50 are connected to the control module 60.

Referring to fig. 6, the control module 60 includes a controller 61 and a battery BAT as a power module, but in practice, the power module is not necessarily a battery, and a capacitor may be used instead. One terminal of the controller 61 is connected to the short detection line 50 and receives a voltage signal of the short detection line 50. The controller 61 is electrically connected to the memory 55, and when receiving a high level signal output from the short detection line 50, the controller 61 sends an interference signal, for example, a signal to enter a latch state, to the memory 55, so that the memory 55 enters the latch state and normal communication with the inkjet printer is not possible.

The battery BAT is connected between the high-voltage terminal 45 and the controller 61, and is charged when a high dc voltage is applied to the high-voltage terminal 45, and is discharged to the controller 61 to maintain the operation of the controller 61 when a voltage is not applied to the high-voltage terminal 45. Thus, the battery BAT can be repeatedly charged and discharged, so that the controller 61 can be maintained in the charged state for a long time, and the controller 61 can be maintained in operation for a long time.

In normal operation, when there is no ink droplet on the substrate 40, the high voltage terminal 45 and the detection terminal 41 are not short-circuited, and the short-circuit connection line 50 and the high voltage terminal 45 are not electrically connected, so that the short-circuit connection line 50 is in a low level state, and at this time, the controller 61 does not send an interference signal to the memory 55, and the memory 55 can perform normal communication with the inkjet printer. In addition, since the high voltage terminal 45 is not electrically connected to the first terminal, the memory 55 does not receive the high voltage dc voltage, and the memory 55 is not damaged.

Once an ink droplet lands on the substrate 40 and causes a short circuit between the high voltage terminal 45 and the detection terminal 41, since the short detection line 50 is located between the high voltage terminal 45 and the detection terminal 41, the short detection line 50 is also short-circuited with the high voltage terminal 45, and a high dc voltage is formed on the short detection line 50, so that the controller 61 detects a high voltage signal formed on the short detection line 50, that is, detects a short signal, and immediately outputs an interference signal, for example, a signal entering a latch state to the memory 55, and at this time, the memory 55 enters the latch state. Since the signal sent to the memory 55 by the inkjet printer cannot be responded, the inkjet printer considers that the ink cartridge chip is abnormal and does not continue to communicate with the memory 55, for example, the inkjet printer is electrically disconnected from the memory 55, on the one hand, the inkjet printer is electrically disconnected from the first terminal, and the electric signal on the first terminal is prevented from being output to the inkjet printer. Therefore, even if a higher voltage is formed on the first terminal, the ink jet printer is not affected, and the damage of the ink jet printer is avoided.

On the other hand, when the ink-jet printer detects that the ink cartridge chip is in an abnormal state, the high-voltage terminal 45 is stopped from being continuously loaded with the high direct-current voltage, and an alarm message is sent out, so that even if the first terminal is short-circuited with the high-voltage terminal 45, the duration of the high direct-current voltage signal received by the first terminal is very short, and the memory 55 cannot be damaged.

Similarly, if a short circuit occurs between the high voltage terminal 49 and the detection terminal 44, the second segment 52 of the short detection line 50 will also be short-circuited with the high voltage terminal 49, so that the voltage of the short detection line 50 is a high level signal, and the controller 61 will also send an interference signal to the memory 55 to disable the memory 55 from communicating with the inkjet printer properly.

After the ink droplets on the substrate 40 are removed, even if the

high voltage terminals

45 and 49 are applied with a high voltage, the short detection line 50 does not form a high level signal, the controller 61 does not apply an interference signal to the memory 55, and the memory 55 returns to normal operation.

Since the memory 55 is controlled to enter the latch state or to normally operate by the controller 61, the response time against the occurrence of a short circuit between the high voltage terminal and the short detection line 50 is very short, and damage to the memory 55 and the ink jet printer can be effectively avoided by the mechanism of the ink jet printer.

Ink cartridge example:

the embodiment has a casing, and the casing encloses into a cavity that holds the ink, is equipped with the ink outlet with the cavity intercommunication in the below of cavity, and the ink accessible in the cavity flows out through the ink outlet. And, a cartridge chip according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention is detachably mounted on one outer wall of the case.

Inkjet printer example:

the ink jet printer of this embodiment is provided with a body in which a housing chamber for housing the ink cartridge is formed.

Finally, it should be emphasized that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, the controller 61 may be a device with data processing capability, such as a single chip or a DSP, and the controller may also be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit, and these changes should also be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An ink cartridge chip comprising:

the circuit board comprises a substrate, wherein a memory and a plurality of connecting terminals are arranged on the substrate, the plurality of connecting terminals comprise a plurality of first terminals electrically connected with the memory, the plurality of connecting terminals also comprise at least one detection terminal and at least one high-voltage terminal, and a short-circuit detection line is arranged between the detection terminal and the high-voltage terminal;

the method is characterized in that:

the substrate is further provided with a control module, the control module sends an interference signal to the memory after detecting a short circuit signal formed on the short circuit detection line, so that the communication between the memory and the ink jet printer is abnormal, wherein the interference signal is a signal entering a latching state.

2. The cartridge chip of claim 1 wherein:

the control module comprises a controller and a power supply module, and the power supply module supplies power to the controller.

3. The cartridge chip of claim 2 wherein:

the power module is a storage battery or a capacitor.

4. The cartridge chip of claim 2 wherein:

the high-voltage terminal supplies power to the power supply module.

5. The cartridge chip according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein:

a gap is arranged between the short circuit detection line and the detection terminal, and a gap is arranged between the short circuit detection line and the high voltage terminal.

6. The cartridge chip of claim 5 wherein:

in at least one direction, the detection terminal overlaps with the short detection line, and the high voltage terminal overlaps with the short detection line.

7. The cartridge chip according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein:

the detection terminals comprise a first detection terminal and a second detection terminal, the high-voltage terminals comprise a first high-voltage terminal and a second high-voltage terminal, the first detection terminal is adjacent to the first high-voltage terminal, and the second detection terminal is adjacent to the second high-voltage terminal;

the short detection line includes a first section between the first detection terminal and the first high voltage terminal, and further includes a second section between the second detection terminal and the second high voltage terminal.

8. An ink cartridge, comprising:

the box body is enclosed into an accommodating cavity;

the method is characterized in that:

the ink cartridge chip as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 is provided on an outer wall of the cartridge body.

9. An ink jet printer comprising a housing, wherein the ink cartridge of claim 8 is mounted in the housing.