CN212411013U - Remaining amount detection circuit for printing material, printing material cartridge, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a surplus detection circuitry, printing material box and image forming device of printing material, this surplus detection circuitry of printing material includes: a preset number of electrode pairs and control circuits; the electrode pairs are arranged at two ends of the set height of the box body corresponding to the printing substances, the set heights corresponding to different electrode pairs are different, and the electrode pairs are used for detecting whether the printing substances exist at the set height or not; the control circuit is connected with each electrode pair and used for sending pulse signals to the electrode pairs, receiving the pulse signals passing through each electrode pair and determining the allowance of the printing substance according to the number of the received pulse signals, wherein the pulse signals passing through each electrode pair have time delay, high-precision and real-time detection of the allowance of the printing substance is realized, and resource waste is avoided.

Description

Remaining amount detection circuit for printing material, printing material cartridge, and image forming apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a remaining amount detecting circuit for a printing material, a printing material cartridge, and an image forming apparatus.

Background

Printers mainly include inkjet printers and laser printers. Both ink jet and laser printers comprise the following two parts: the printer comprises a printer host and a plurality of detachable printing consumables. In the printing process of the printer, the printer host controls the printing consumables to print corresponding images.

Each printing consumable comprises an ink box or a powder box and a chip attached to the ink box or the powder box. In the using process, the chip is communicated with the printer host, and the remaining printable number can be determined by combining the total number of printed sheets and the number of printed sheets prestored in the chip, so that the allowance of the printing supplies can be determined according to the remaining printable number. And when the number of the remaining printable sheets is 0, reminding the user of replacing the printing consumables in time.

However, the remaining amount of the printing supplies is detected based on the number of the remaining printable sheets, so that the detection precision is inaccurate, and the resource waste is easily caused.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide a remaining amount detection circuit of a printing substance, a printing substance cartridge, and an image forming apparatus, which have high remaining amount detection accuracy of the printing substance and high real-time performance.

In order to achieve the above object, the embodiments of the present application provide the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a circuit for detecting a remaining amount of a printing substance, including: a preset number of electrode pairs and control circuits;

the electrode pairs are arranged in the printing material box, the set heights of the different electrode pairs are different, and the electrode pairs are used for detecting whether printing materials exist at the set heights in the printing material box or not;

the control circuit is connected with each electrode pair and used for sending pulse signals to one end of each electrode pair and receiving the pulse signals from the other end of each electrode pair, and determining the residual quantity of the printing substances according to the quantity of the received pulse signals, wherein the pulse signals passing through each electrode pair have delay.

In one possible design, the control circuit includes: the device comprises pulse signal sources, a preset number of delay circuits and processors;

the pulse signal source is used for sending pulse signals to each delay circuit;

the delay circuit is connected with the corresponding electrode pair and used for receiving the pulse signal from the pulse signal source and sending the pulse signal to the corresponding electrode pair;

the processor is used for receiving pulse signals passing through each electrode pair and determining the residual quantity of the printing substances according to the number of the received pulse signals.

In a possible design, each of the electrode pairs is connected in parallel to form an electrode pair parallel circuit, each parallel branch includes an electrode pair and a corresponding delay circuit, the pulse signal source includes an output port, and the output port is connected to the delay circuit of a first parallel branch, where the first parallel branch is one of the electrode pair parallel circuits.

In one possible design, the processor is further to:

and starting the pulse signal source according to the printing material residue detection instruction so that the pulse signal source sends pulse signals to each electrode pair.

In one possible design, a preset number of the electrode pairs are connected in parallel, each electrode pair comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, one end of the pulse signal source is connected with one end where the first electrodes of the electrode pairs are connected in parallel, and one end of the processor is connected with one end where the second electrodes of the electrode pairs are connected in parallel.

In a possible design, the control circuit further includes a counter, one end of the counter is connected to the end where the second electrode of the electrode pair is located after the counter is connected in parallel, and the other end of the counter is connected to the processor, and the counter is configured to receive a pulse signal passing through the electrode pair and determine the pulse number of the received pulse signal.

In one possible design, the counter comprises two ports connected to the pair of electrodes, the counter being particularly configured to:

receiving pulse signals passing through the electrode pairs through two ports respectively, and determining a first pulse number and a second pulse number of the received pulse signals respectively;

correspondingly, the processor is specifically configured to:

determining a remaining amount of the printing substance based on the first and second pulse numbers.

In one possible design, the processor is specifically configured to:

and if the first pulse quantity and the second pulse quantity meet a preset condition, determining the residual quantity of the printing substance according to the first pulse quantity or the second pulse quantity.

In a possible design, the control circuit further includes a second pulse source, one end of the second pulse source is connected to each electrode pair, the other end of the second pulse source is connected to the processor, and the second pulse source sends a pulse signal to the electrode pair corresponding to the control signal according to a control signal of the processor;

correspondingly, the processor is further configured to:

determining a first target electrode pair and a second target electrode pair according to the residual amount of the printing substance, generating a control signal, controlling the second pulse source to respectively send pulse signals to the first target electrode pair and the second target electrode pair according to the control signal, and judging whether the residual amount of the printing substance is accurate or not according to the two groups of received pulse signals.

In one possible design, the control circuit is further configured to:

and generating prompt information according to the residual amount of the printing substance.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a printing substance cartridge, including a remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance provided in any of the embodiments of the present application.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide an image forming apparatus including the printing substance cartridge provided in embodiments of the present application.

The utility model provides a surplus detection circuitry who prints material, print material box and image forming device, through setting up in the electrode pair of the not predetermined quantity of the box body co-altitude of printing material, whether detect corresponding height and exist and print the material, and through the control circuit who is connected with each electrode pair, send pulse signal to the electrode pair, and receive the pulse signal through each electrode pair, quantity alright confirm the surplus of printing the material according to this pulse signal, this application prints the material through the electrode pair that sets up in the box body of printing the material and detects, detection accuracy is high, the real-time strong nature, the accuracy of printing the warning of material surplus has been improved, the waste of printing the material has been avoided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without inventive labor.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

Fig. 1 is a diagram of an application scenario of a printed matter remaining amount detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram of various signals in the embodiment of FIG. 5 of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a remaining printed matter detection circuit according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit branch corresponding to the second pulse source in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a printing substance cartridge according to one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

With the above figures, there are shown specific embodiments of the present application, which will be described in more detail below. These drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concepts in any manner, but rather to illustrate the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by a person skilled in the art without creative work belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, as well as in the drawings, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used is interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "length", "width", "thickness", "top", "bottom", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", "axial", "circumferential", and the like, which are used to indicate the orientation or positional relationship, are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and do not indicate or imply that the position or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be of particular construction and operation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

The following describes the technical solutions of the present application and how to solve the above technical problems with specific embodiments. The following several specific embodiments may be combined with each other, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. Embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The following explains an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application:

fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario of a remaining amount detection circuit of a printing material according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 1, the remaining amount detection circuit of a printing material according to an embodiment of the present application is applied to an image forming apparatus, such as an image forming apparatus 100 of a printer, a copier, etc., generally includes a host 110 and a printing consumable cartridge 120, wherein a printing consumable, such as ink or toner, is disposed in the printing consumable cartridge 120, and the host 110 is configured to scan an original document provided by a user according to a user printing instruction and to print the original document by using the printing consumable in the printing consumable cartridge 120. In order to avoid exhaustion of printing supplies during printing, it is necessary to detect the printing supplies in the printing supply cassette 120. In most conventional printing consumables remaining amount detection, the remaining number of printed sheets is determined by the difference between the total number of printed sheets and the number of printed sheets stored in the host computer 110, and the remaining amount of printing consumables is indirectly determined according to the remaining number of printed sheets. And when the number of the residual printing sheets is less than the preset value or 0, reminding a user to replace the printing supplies.

However, in the method for detecting the remaining amount of the printing supplies, because the printing supplies consumed by different originals are different, the detection accuracy is poor by determining the remaining amount of the printing supplies according to the printed number, which easily causes waste of printing supplies. The main ideas of the technical scheme provided by the application are as follows: the printing material residue detection circuit determines the residue of the printing material through the conduction of the electrode pairs with different heights arranged in the box body corresponding to the printing material, and is high in residue detection precision and strong in real-time performance.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 2, the remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to the embodiment includes: a predetermined number of electrode pairs 210 and a control circuit 220.

The electrode pairs 210 are arranged in the printing material box, the set heights of different electrode pairs 210 are different, and the electrode pairs are used for detecting whether printing materials exist at the set heights in the printing material box, when the printing materials exist, the electrode pairs 210 are conducted, and when the printing materials do not exist, the electrode pairs 210 are not conducted; the control circuit 220 is connected to each electrode pair 210, and is configured to transmit a pulse signal to the electrode pair 210, and receive the pulse signal passing through each electrode pair 210, and determine the remaining amount of the printing substance according to the number of the received pulse signals, wherein the pulse signal passing through each electrode pair 210 has a delay.

Specifically, the electrode pair 210 includes two electrodes disposed at two ends of a set height in the printing material cartridge. The delay times of the pulse signals corresponding to the respective electrode pairs 210 may be different from each other, thereby facilitating the control circuit 220 to determine the number of the pulse signals.

Specifically, the printing material can be any conductive printing material, such as printing consumables of 2D printers like ink, toner, and can also be printing consumables of 3D printers, such as metal consumables, ceramic consumables and the like. The printing material residue detection circuit provided by the application can be used for image forming devices such as printers and copiers, and specifically can be 2D printers such as laser printers and inkjet printers, and can also be 3D printers. The box body corresponding to the printing substance can be an ink box, a liquid container, a toner cartridge, a powder box or a 3D printing consumable box and the like. The waveform, amplitude, width and repetition frequency of the pulse signal are not limited. The pulse signal may be a rectangular pulse signal, the pulse amplitude may be a high level which can be detected by any one of the control circuits 220, such as 1.2V, 3.3V, 5V or other values, the pulse width may be in the order of microseconds, such as 10 μ s, 20 μ s, 100 μ s or other values, and may also be in the order of milliseconds, such as 1ms, 5ms, 10ms, 100ms or other values. The remaining amount of printing substance may be a ratio of the remaining amount of the current printing substance to a maximum value of the printing substance, such as 20%, 30%, 98%, etc. The delay time of the pulse signal passing through each electrode pair 210 may be in the order of microseconds or milliseconds, and may be in the order of the pulse width, and the maximum delay time should be smaller than the pulse width of the pulse signal.

Specifically, the preset number of the electrode pairs 210 may be 10, 50, 100 or other values, and the larger the preset number is, the higher the corresponding remaining amount detection accuracy is, and the preset number may be configured according to user requirements. Each electrode pair 210 is arranged at two ends of the cartridge body of the printing substance at different heights, so that the electrode pair 210 immersed in or in contact with the printing substance is in a conducting state in a power-on state, that is, a pulse signal sent by the control circuit 220 can pass through the electrode pair and then return to the control circuit 220; however, the electrode pair 210 that is not immersed in the printing material or is not in contact with the printing material is in an off state in the energized state, that is, the pulse signal transmitted from the control circuit 220 cannot pass through the electrode pair, and the control circuit 220 cannot detect the pulse signal of the electrode pair.

Specifically, the control circuit 220 may transmit a pulse signal of one cycle or a plurality of cycles to each electrode pair 210, and further determine the remaining amount of the printing substance according to the number of received pulse signals and the number of cycles of the transmitted pulse signal. The remaining amount of the printing substance may be described in percentage, decimal, or other forms, which are not limited in this application.

Further, the expression for the remaining amount of printing substance is:

wherein T is the number of cycles of the pulse signal sent by the control circuit 220; n is₁The number of pulse signals received for the control circuit 220; n is the total number of electrode pairs 210, i.e., the predetermined number.

For example, if the control circuit 220 sends a pulse signal of one cycle, the number of the electrode pairs 210 is 25, and the number of the pulse signals received by the control circuit 220 and passing through each of the electrode pairs 210 is 10, the remaining amount of the printing material in the printer is 40%.

Further, each electrode pair 210 may be composed of a first electrode and a second electrode, such as a cathode and an anode, or a positive electrode and a negative electrode.

Optionally, the control circuit 220 is further configured to: and generating prompt information according to the residual amount of the printing substance. The control circuit 220 may also send the prompt information to a corresponding display screen for display, or send the prompt information to a user terminal for display in a wireless communication manner.

Specifically, the control circuit 220 may be provided in a main body of the image forming apparatus and electrically connected to each electrode pair 210.

For example, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit of a printing substance in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 of the present application, and as shown in fig. 3, the present embodiment takes 5 electrode pairs as an example, and the circuit is composed of 5 electrode pairs and a control circuit 220, which are respectively a first electrode pair S1, a second electrode pair S2, a third electrode pair S3, a fourth electrode pair S4 and a fifth electrode pair S5, wherein the first electrode pair S1, the second electrode pair S2, the third electrode pair S3, the fourth electrode pair S4 and the fifth electrode pair S5 are all the electrode pairs 210. The individual electrode pairs are depicted in fig. 3 in the form of switches. Wherein, the fourth electrode pair S4 and the fifth electrode pair S5 are located below the liquid level a of the ink (printing substance), i.e. the fourth electrode pair S4 and the fifth electrode pair S5 are immersed in the ink, and the state of the corresponding switch is a closed state; when the first electrode pair S1, the second electrode pair S2, and the third electrode pair S3 are above the ink level a, the corresponding switches are turned off. When the control circuit 220 transmits the pulse signals to the 5 electrode pairs, only the pulse signals from the fourth electrode pair S4 and the fifth electrode pair S5 may be received, i.e., the number of the received pulse signals is 2, the control circuit 220 determines that the remaining amount of the printing substance is 40% according to the number of the received pulse signals 2 and the preset number of electrode pairs 5.

Further, after the residual amount of the printing substance is determined, the residual amount of the printing substance can be sent to a display interface or a display of the image forming device so as to display the residual amount of the printing substance in real time, so that a user can replace the printing substance in time according to the residual amount of the printing substance.

The utility model provides a surplus detection circuitry of printing material, through setting up in the electrode pair of the predetermined quantity of the box body co-altitude of printing material, whether detect corresponding height and exist the printing material, and through the control circuit who is connected with each electrode pair, send pulse signal to the electrode pair, and receive the pulse signal through each electrode pair, quantity alright confirm the surplus of printing the material according to this pulse signal, this application prints the material through the electrode pair that sets up in the box body of printing the material and detects, detection accuracy is high, the real-time strong, the accuracy of printing the material surplus warning has been improved, the waste of printing the material has been avoided.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to another embodiment of the present application, and it can be known from fig. 2 and 4 that the remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to this embodiment is further refined on the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and the control circuit 220 of the remaining amount detection circuit according to this embodiment includes a pulse signal source 221 and a processor 222.

The pulse signal source 221 is configured to send a pulse signal to each electrode pair; the processor 222 has one end connected to the pulse signal source 221 and the other end connected to each electrode pair 210, and is configured to determine the remaining amount of the printing substance according to the number of the received pulse signals passing through each electrode pair 210. The electrode pair 210 includes n electrode pairs, and each of the electrode pairs 210 is represented by switches S1 to Sn in fig. 4.

Specifically, the pulse signal source 221 is connected to each of the electrode pairs 210, and is configured to generate a pulse signal and send the pulse signal to each of the electrode pairs 210. The pulse signal source 221 may be a pulse signal generator, and may output a pulse signal of a specified waveform and width.

Further, the respective electrode pairs 210 may be connected in parallel, so that the pulse signal source 221 is connected to one end of one of the electrode pairs 210, and a pulse signal may be transmitted to the respective electrode pairs. Of course, the pulse signal source 221 may also transmit a pulse signal to each electrode pair 210, i.e., each switch Si, by connecting each electrode pair 210 with a respective pulse signal source, where i is 1, 2.

Optionally, the processor 222 is further configured to:

in response to the printing material remaining amount detection instruction, the pulse signal source 221 is turned on so that the pulse signal source 221 transmits a pulse signal to each electrode pair 210.

The printing material remaining amount detection instruction may be issued by a user through the image forming apparatus or a user terminal, or may be issued by the image forming apparatus itself, for example, the printing material remaining amount is detected by itself at a certain period.

Specifically, the pulse signal source 221 is turned on, and specifically, a pulse enable signal may be sent to the pulse signal source 221.

Further, the processor 222 may also control the delay time of the pulse signal output by the pulse signal source, so that the time for the pulse signal to reach each electrode pair 210 is different, and the processor 222 may further identify the pulse signal passing through each electrode pair 210, thereby improving the accuracy of determining the number of the pulse signal. It is also possible to provide delay circuits having different delay times for the respective electrode pairs 210 so that the pulse signals reach the respective electrode pairs 210 at different times.

Further, the pulse signal source 221 may transmit a plurality of periods of pulse signals, or transmit pulse signals to the electrode pairs 210 a plurality of times, and the processor 222 correspondingly determines the number of pulse signals acquired each period or each time, respectively, so as to determine the remaining amount of the printing substance according to an average value of the number of pulse signals determined a plurality of times, thereby improving the accuracy of the number determination. When the number of pulse signals after averaging is a decimal, it is determined that the first integer larger than that is the remaining amount of the printing substance.

Optionally, the preset number of electrode pairs 210 are connected in parallel, each electrode pair 210 includes a first electrode and a second electrode, one end of the pulse signal source 221 is connected to the end where the first electrode of the electrode pair connected in parallel is located, and one end of the processor 222 is connected to the end where the second electrode of the electrode pair connected in parallel is located.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to another embodiment of the present application, and as can be seen from fig. 4 and 5, the remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to the present application is a further refinement of the control circuit based on fig. 4, and the control circuit 220 further includes a counter 223 and a preset number of delay circuits 224.

The pulse signal source 221 is configured to send a pulse signal to each delay circuit 224; the delay circuit 224 is connected to the corresponding electrode pair 210, and is configured to receive the pulse signal from the pulse signal source 221 and send the pulse signal to the corresponding electrode pair 210, so that delay times of the pulse signals passing through the respective electrode pairs 210 are different from each other; the counter 223 is used to receive the pulse signal passing through the electrode pair and determine the number of pulses of the received pulse signal.

Specifically, each electrode pair 210 is connected in parallel, each parallel branch includes one electrode pair 210 and a corresponding delay circuit 224 thereof, the pulse signal source 221 includes an output port C, and the output port C is connected to the delay circuit 224 on the first parallel branch, where the first parallel branch is one of the parallel branches.

Further, one end of the delay circuit 224 on the first parallel branch is connected to the pulse signal source 221, and the other end is connected to the corresponding first electrode 211; one end of the delay circuit 224 on the other parallel branch is connected to the last delay circuit 224, and the other end is connected to the corresponding first electrode 211; the circuit structures of the delay circuits 224 are the same; one end of the counter 223 is connected to the end where the second electrode 212 of the electrode pair 210 is located after being connected in parallel, and the other end is connected to the processor 222.

In one embodiment, the delay circuit 224 may not be included in the first parallel branch, i.e. the delay time of the electrode pair in the branch is 0.

Specifically, the delay circuit 224 is composed of a resistor R and a capacitor C, that is, the delay circuit 224 may be an RC delay circuit, and the types and parameters of the resistor and the capacitor of each delay circuit 224 are the same, so that the delay time of each delay circuit 224 is the same, however, the number of the delay circuits 224 that the pulse signal passes through to reach the electrode pairs 210 located at different heights is different, for example, from top to bottom, the second electrode pair 210 needs to pass through 2 delay circuits 224, and the nth electrode pair 210 needs to pass through n delay circuits 224, and assuming that the delay time of the delay circuit 224 is τ, the delay time of the nth electrode pair is n × τ. When delay circuit 224 is not included in the first parallel branch, the delay time of the nth electrode pair is (n-1) × τ.

Further, the delay time τ of the delay circuit 224 may be on the order of microseconds.

Specifically, one end of the counter 223 is connected to one end of the electrode pair 210 connected in parallel, and the other end is connected to the processor 222. The counter 223 may count up or down and records the number of pulse signals output from the electrode pair 210.

Further, the processor 222 is further configured to:

a counter enable signal is generated and transmitted to the counter 223 to control the counter 223 to start counting.

For example, fig. 6 is a timing chart of each signal in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 of the present application, and as shown in fig. 6, each electrode pair 210 is named as S1, S2, S3 from top to bottom, and sequentially increases to Sn. EN is an enable signal of the counter 233, S is a pulse signal output by the pulse signal source 221, fig. 6 illustrates a pulse signal of 2 cycles, where the specific cycle number may be 1, 7 or other values, fig. 6 only shows a timing diagram of the pulse signals of three electrode pairs, and assuming that the remaining amount of the printing substance is 100%, that is, all the electrode pairs 210 are in a conducting state, S1 is a pulse signal passing through the first electrode pair S1, S2 is a pulse signal passing through the second electrode pair S2, and S3 is a pulse signal passing through the third electrode pair S3, it can be seen that delay times of the pulse signals S1, S2, and S3 corresponding to the electrode pairs S1, S2, and S3 are sequentially increased, the delay time of the pulse signal S1 is τ, the delay time of the pulse signal S2 is 2 τ, and the delay time of the pulse signal S3 is 3 τ.

Optionally, the processor 222 is further configured to:

after determining the remaining amount of the printing substance, generating a control signal according to the remaining amount of the printing substance by using a first target electrode pair and a second target electrode pair, so as to control a pulse signal source 221 to respectively send pulse signals to the first target electrode pair and the second target electrode pair according to the control signal, and judge whether the remaining amount of the printing substance is accurate according to the two groups of received pulse signals.

Alternatively, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit of the printing substance in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the counter 223 includes two ports B connected to the electrode pair 210.

Among them, the counter 223 is specifically configured to: receiving pulse signals passing through the electrode pair 210 via two ports B, respectively, and determining a first pulse number and a second pulse number of the received pulse signals, respectively; accordingly, the processor 222 is specifically configured to: and if the first pulse quantity and the second pulse quantity meet a preset condition, determining the residual quantity of the printing substance according to the first pulse quantity or the second pulse quantity.

Specifically, when the first pulse number and the second pulse number of two groups of pulse signals reaching the counter 223 through the two ports B are equal, it is determined that the first pulse number and the second pulse number satisfy the preset condition. Or when the absolute value of the difference value between the first pulse quantity and the second pulse quantity is smaller than a preset threshold value, determining that the first pulse quantity and the second pulse quantity meet a preset condition.

The preset threshold should be less than the number of cycles of the pulse signal source 221 sending the pulse signal to each electrode pair 210.

Illustratively, it is assumed that the remaining amount detection circuit of the printing substance includes 100 electrode pairs 210, the pulse signal source 221 sends a pulse signal of 5 cycles to each electrode pair 210, the first pulse number and the second pulse number corresponding to the two ports B are 100 and 99, respectively, the phase difference is 1 and is less than 5, the preset condition is satisfied, and then the remaining amount of the printing substance is determined to be 20% according to the first pulse number.

Optionally, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to another embodiment of the present application, which is further detailed on the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 in this embodiment, and as can be seen from fig. 2 and 8, the control circuit of the remaining amount detection circuit for a printing substance according to this embodiment further includes: a second pulse source 225.

One end of the second pulse source 225 is connected to each electrode pair 210, and the other end is connected to the control circuit 220, and the second pulse source 225 sends a pulse signal to the electrode pair 210 corresponding to the control signal according to the control signal of the control circuit 220; correspondingly, the control circuit 220 is further configured to determine the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102 according to the remaining amount of the printing substance, generate a control signal, control the second pulse source 225 to respectively send a pulse signal to the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102 according to the control signal, and determine whether the remaining amount of the printing substance is accurate according to the two sets of received pulse signals.

Here, the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102 may be a pair of electrodes immersed in the printing substance and a pair of electrodes not immersed in the printing substance, respectively, or a pair of motors contacting the printing substance and a pair of electrodes not contacting the printing substance.

Specifically, the number of the first target electrode pairs 2101 and the number of the second target electrode pairs 2102 may be one or more, and may be the same or different.

The control circuit 220 may be replaced with a processor 222 in any of the embodiments of the present application.

For example, assuming that 100 electrode pairs are included, the 1 st electrode pair, the 2 nd electrode pair and up to the 100 th electrode pair are sequentially arranged from top to bottom according to the height, the pulse signal source 221 transmits a pulse signal of one period, and the number of the pulse signals received by the counter 223 or the control circuit 220 is 50, that is, the remaining amount of the current printing substance is 50%, that is, the 51 st to 100 th electrode pairs are turned on and located below the ink level; and electrode pairs 1 through 50 are disconnected and above the ink level. The control circuit 220 or the processor 222 determines that the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102 are the 52 th electrode pair and the 49 th electrode pair, respectively, and controls the second pulse source 225 to transmit pulse signals to the 52 th electrode pair and the 49 th electrode pair, respectively, and receive pulse signals from the 52 th electrode pair and the 49 th electrode pair, and if the count of the counter for the pulse signal corresponding to the 52 th electrode pair is not 0 and the count of the counter for the pulse signal corresponding to the 49 th electrode pair is 0, the result is proved to be accurate, otherwise, the result is not accurate.

After the remaining amount of the printing substance is determined, the detected remaining amount is verified by the second pulse source 225, improving the accuracy of the remaining amount detection.

For example, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit branch corresponding to the second pulse source in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 of the present application, as shown in fig. 9, one end of the second pulse source 225 is connected to each electrode pair 210, and the other end of the second pulse source 225 is connected to the processor 222.

And the circuit branch corresponding to the second pulse source is mainly used for verifying the determined residual quantity after the residual quantity of the printing substance is determined. The specific process is as follows: the processor 222 determines the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102 according to the remaining amount of the printing substance, and generates a control signal; the second pulse source 225 transmits a pulse signal to the electrode pair 210 corresponding to the control signal, that is, the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102, according to the control signal of the processor 222, so that the counter 223 can receive the pulse signal from the electrode pair 210 corresponding to the control signal (the first target electrode pair 2101 and the second target electrode pair 2102), and count each pulse signal, and the processor 222 can determine whether the remaining amount of the printing substance is correct according to the count result of each pulse signal.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a printing substance cartridge according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 10, the printing substance cartridge includes: a printing substance cassette main body 1010 and a printing substance remaining amount detection circuit 1020.

The printing material box main body 1010 is used for placing conductive printing materials, such as 2D printing materials like ink and toner, and also can be 3D printing materials like ceramic and metal; the remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit 1020 is a remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit provided in any of the embodiments of the present application, and is disposed in the printing substance cartridge main body 1010.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 11, the image forming apparatus includes: a remaining amount of printing substance detection circuit 1110, a host computer 1120, and a printing substance cartridge 1130.

The remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit 1110 is the remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit provided in any embodiment of the present application; the control circuit of the remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit 1110 may be provided in the host 1120, and each electrode pair may be provided in the printing substance cartridge 1130; a printing substance cartridge 1130 for containing a printing substance; the host computer 1120 is configured to control the scanner device to scan according to an original input by a user, and to perform original printing based on a printing substance in the printing substance cassette 1130.

Specifically, the remaining amount of the printing material detection circuit 1110 may be partially disposed in the printing material cartridge, such as an electrode pair, and the other portion may be disposed in a control module of the image forming apparatus, such as a control circuit.

In yet another embodiment of the present application, the remaining amount of printing substance detecting circuit 1110 may be disposed entirely on the printing substance cartridge, i.e., the control circuit and the electrode pair thereof are disposed on the printing substance cartridge. More specifically, the control circuit may be integrated into the chip of the print substance cartridge.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and system may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described system embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, a division of modules is merely a logical division, and an actual implementation may have another division, for example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or modules, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

Other embodiments of the present application will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the application disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the application and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the application being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present application is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the application is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A printed matter residue detection circuit, the circuit comprising: a preset number of electrode pairs and control circuits;

the electrode pairs are arranged in the printing material box, the set heights of the different electrode pairs are different, and the electrode pairs are used for detecting whether printing materials exist at the set heights in the printing material box, when the printing materials exist, the electrode pairs are conducted, and when the printing materials do not exist, the electrode pairs are not conducted;

the control circuit is connected with each electrode pair and used for sending pulse signals to one end of each electrode pair and receiving the pulse signals from the other end of each electrode pair, and determining the residual quantity of the printing substances according to the quantity of the received pulse signals, wherein the pulse signals passing through each electrode pair have delay.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the control circuit comprises: the device comprises pulse signal sources, a preset number of delay circuits and processors;

the pulse signal source is used for sending pulse signals to each delay circuit;

the delay circuit is connected with the corresponding electrode pair and used for receiving the pulse signal from the pulse signal source and sending the pulse signal to the corresponding electrode pair;

the processor is used for receiving pulse signals passing through each electrode pair and determining the residual quantity of the printing substances according to the number of the received pulse signals.

3. The circuit of claim 2, wherein each of the electrode pairs is connected in parallel to form an electrode pair parallel circuit, each parallel branch comprises one electrode pair and its corresponding delay circuit, the pulse signal source comprises an output port connected to the delay circuit of a first parallel branch, and the first parallel branch is one of the electrode pair parallel circuits.

4. The circuit of claim 2, wherein the control circuit further comprises a counter for receiving a pulse signal across the pair of electrodes and determining a number of pulses of the received pulse signal.

5. The circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that the counter comprises two ports connected to the pair of electrodes, the counter being in particular configured to:

respectively receiving pulse signals passing through the electrode pairs through two ports, and respectively determining a first pulse number and a second pulse number of the received pulse signals;

correspondingly, the processor is specifically configured to:

and if the first pulse quantity and the second pulse quantity meet a preset condition, determining the residual quantity of the printing substance according to the first pulse quantity or the second pulse quantity.

6. The circuit of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after the residual quantity of the printing substance is determined, generating a control signal according to the residual quantity of the printing substance, controlling the pulse signal source to respectively send pulse signals to the first target electrode pair and the second target electrode pair according to the control signal, and judging whether the residual quantity of the printing substance is accurate or not according to the two groups of received pulse signals.

7. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the control circuit further comprises a second pulse source, one end of the second pulse source is connected to each electrode pair, and the other end of the second pulse source is connected to the processor, and the second pulse source sends a pulse signal to the electrode pair corresponding to the control signal according to the control signal of the processor;

correspondingly, the processor is further configured to:

determining a first target electrode pair and a second target electrode pair according to the residual amount of the printing substance, generating a control signal, controlling the second pulse source to respectively send pulse signals to the first target electrode pair and the second target electrode pair according to the control signal, and judging whether the residual amount of the printing substance is accurate or not according to the two groups of received pulse signals.

8. The circuit of any of claims 1-7, wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

and generating prompt information according to the residual amount of the printing substance.

9. A printing substance cartridge characterized by comprising the residual amount detection circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. An image forming apparatus, characterized by comprising the printing substance cartridge according to claim 9.

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