JP2001228759A - Electronic equipment and unit identification method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably enable identification of a unit with an inexpensive and simple configuration. SOLUTION: The electronic equipment has a unit equipped with a unit mains body and a capacitor 21 attached to the unit main body and set detachably at a device main body, an applying means 23 for applying a voltage to the capacitor 21 when the unit is mounted on the device main body, a measuring means 22 for measuring a charging time necessary for the capacitor 21 to reach a specified voltage, and a discriminating means 25 for judging whether the charging time measured by the measuring means 22 is within a prescribed range. When the charging time is within the prescribed range, it is judged that a regular unit is mounted on the device main body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic device and a unit identification method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional unit identification technique will be described.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a conventional unit and an apparatus main body to which the unit is detachably mounted.

[0004] The two units 41 and 42 shown are mounted on mounting portions 44 and 45 formed on the apparatus body 43 corresponding to these units 41 and 42, respectively. The units 41 and 42 have identification protrusions 4 of different shapes.
1 'and 42' are formed, and the mounting portions 44 and 45 are formed with identification holes 44a and 45a, respectively, which are fitted into and recessed from the mounting portions 44 and 45, respectively.

[0005] In this way, by associating the unit 41 with the mounting portion 44 and the unit 42 with the mounting portion 45 so that the unit 41 and the unit 42 have a mechanical incompatibility, The units 41 and 42 are identified to prevent erroneous mounting.

As another unit identification technology, ID
A recording medium such as a ROM storing the values is attached to the unit,
The ID value of this recording medium is read by the main body of the device to identify the unit, or a resistor having a predetermined resistance value is attached to the unit, and the voltage applied to this resistor is measured by applying a certain voltage. The unit is identified by determining whether the applied voltage is within a predetermined range stored in advance.

[0007]

However, in the unit identification technique shown in FIG. 4, it is necessary to make the shapes of the unit and the apparatus main body different by the number of units.
In addition to the increase in the number of parts, the cost of parts increases and the productivity is lowered, and there is a problem that the number of discriminations is limited due to the structure.

Also, in the unit identification technology using a recording medium such as a ROM, the cost of parts is increased as much as the recording medium is required, and a substrate for mounting the recording medium is required. A space is required, and it is difficult to reduce the size of the unit.

The unit identification technique using a resistor has a problem that the determination region is limited because the voltage applied to the resistor must be set and measured in the range of 0 to power supply voltage. Was. Furthermore, if the resistance value of the resistor is increased in order to secure the number of discriminations in the discrimination area, it becomes weak current and is easily affected by surroundings such as contact resistance, making it difficult to make the current constant. However, the voltage actually applied to the resistor differs in spite of the fact that the unit is unstable and the unit cannot be identified stably.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device and a unit identification method capable of stably identifying a unit with an inexpensive and simple configuration.

[0011]

In order to solve this problem, an electronic apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a unit provided with a unit body and a capacitor attached to the unit body, the unit being detachably attached to the apparatus body; Means for applying a voltage to the capacitor when the battery is mounted on the apparatus body, measuring means for measuring a charging time until the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage, and a charging time measured by the measuring means within a predetermined range. And a determination unit for determining whether the charging unit is within the predetermined range. If the charging time is within a predetermined range, it is assumed that a proper unit is mounted on the apparatus main body.

Since the unit is determined based on the charging time of the capacitor, the unit can be stably identified with an inexpensive and simple configuration.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is directed to a unit detachably provided on an apparatus main body including a unit main body and a capacitor attached to the unit main body, and the unit is mounted on the apparatus main body. Application means for applying a voltage to the capacitor when it is performed, and measurement means for measuring a charging time until the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage,
Determining means for determining whether or not the charging time measured by the measuring means is within a predetermined range.If the charging time is within the predetermined range, it is determined that the proper unit has been attached to the apparatus main body. Since the unit is determined based on the charging time of the capacitor, it is possible to stably identify the unit with an inexpensive and simple configuration.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the unit is an electronic apparatus which is a toner cartridge unit containing toner.
Since the unit is determined by the charging time of the capacitor,
An inexpensive and simple configuration has the effect of stably identifying the unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a unit which is provided with a unit body and a capacitor attached to the unit body and which is detachably provided to the apparatus body, and the unit is mounted on the apparatus body. When a voltage is applied to the capacitor, the charging time until the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage is measured, and it is determined whether or not the charging time is within a predetermined range, and when the charging time is within a predetermined range. Is a unit identification method for certifying that a legitimate unit is attached to the main body of the device.Since the unit is determined based on the charging time of the capacitor, it is possible to identify the unit stably with a cheap and simple configuration. It has the effect that it becomes possible.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a toner cartridge unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the operation of identifying the toner cartridge unit of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a theory of detecting a charging time of a capacitor in an identification operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, a toner cartridge unit (unit) according to the present embodiment includes a toner cartridge (unit body) 12 containing toner, a substrate 15 attached to the toner cartridge 12,
Capacitor 1 having predetermined capacity provided on substrate 15
1 and 2 of the capacitor 11 also provided on the substrate 15.
And a contact terminal 14a connected to each of the two electrodes. Further, a contact terminal 14b connected to the contact terminal 14a is provided on the substrate 13 on the apparatus main body side. The toner cartridge unit is detachably attached to the apparatus main body, and the toner cartridge unit and the apparatus main body constitute an electronic device.

The capacitor 11 may be directly mechanically fixed to the toner cartridge 12 without providing the substrate 15. This makes it possible to further save space.

Next, the operation of the toner cartridge unit configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the toner cartridge unit is mounted on the main body of the apparatus, the measuring means 2 of the main body of the apparatus is applied to the capacitor 21 mounted on the toner cartridge 12.
2, a charging start signal S21 for starting charging the capacitor 21 is sent to the application unit 23. Then, a voltage is applied to the capacitor 21 by the application unit 23 that detects this, and charging of the capacitor 21 is started.

After completion of charging, the charging voltage of the capacitor 21 is checked by the voltage comparator 24, and when it is checked that the charging voltage has reached a predetermined voltage, a detection signal S 22 is sent to the measuring means 22. Can be

The measuring means 22 which has detected the detection signal S22
Measures the charging time from the start of charging the capacitor 21 until the electric voltage reaches a predetermined voltage.

Thereafter, it is judged by the judging means 25 whether or not the charging time measured by the measuring means 22 is within a predetermined range defined in advance. The operation is enabled assuming that the toner cartridge 12 is mounted.

Here, the detection of the charging time of the capacitor in the identification operation of the toner cartridge 12 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, the capacitor 21 shown in FIG.
And the charging voltage of the capacitor 21 are equal to the voltage V3.
2 shows a detection signal S22 generated when the number reaches 2.

That is, the capacitor 21 that has started charging
When the charging voltage V31 reaches a predetermined voltage V32, a detection signal S22 is generated from the voltage comparator 24 that has confirmed the charging voltage V31. Thus, the measuring means 22 measures the time T31 from the start of charging to the detection of the detection signal S22, and the determining means 25 determines whether or not the time T31 is within a predetermined range set in advance. If the charging time is within the predetermined range, the operation is enabled assuming that the proper toner cartridge 12 is mounted as described above.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the toner cartridge unit is determined based on the charging time of the capacitor 21, the unit can be stably identified with an inexpensive and simple configuration. Become.

Since the time T31 is proportional to the capacity of the capacitor 21, the ID of the toner cartridge 12 can be recognized by making the capacity of the capacitor 21 correspond to the ID value and storing it in the determination means 25.

In the present embodiment described above, the capacitance of the capacitor 21 and the voltage V32 at which the voltage comparator 24 generates the detection signal S22 are arbitrarily set. It is needless to say that the desired action and effect can be obtained even if the values are changed or the combination is changed by changing the values.

In this embodiment, a toner cartridge unit is used, but various other detachable units can be applied.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the unit is determined based on the charging time of the capacitor, the unit can be stably identified with an inexpensive and simple configuration. Effective effects can be obtained.

As a result, it is possible to obtain an effective effect that a unit realizing cost reduction, improvement of productivity and reduction of space can be obtained.

Further, since the charging voltage for the capacitor is determined by the charging time, the determination area is greatly expanded, the number of units to be determined and the accuracy of the determination are improved, and the charging voltage is less affected by the surroundings. Therefore, an effective effect that stable identification of the unit can be performed is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a toner cartridge unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an operation of identifying the toner cartridge unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the theory of detecting the charging time of a capacitor in the toner cartridge identification operation of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a conventional unit and an apparatus main body to which the unit is detachably mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Condenser 12 Toner cartridge (unit main body) 21 Capacitor 22 Measuring means 23 Applying means 25 Judgment means

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H027 DA27 DA38 DD02 DE04 DE07 EA04 EC20 ED08 EE02 EE07 EF06 HA12 HB13 2H071 BA13 BA17 BA27 BA33 DA08 DA32 2H077 AA01 AA33 DA15 DA32 DA59 DB01 DB14 GA04 4E360 AB12 ED04 GA47 GA20 JJ44 JJ48

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A unit provided with a unit main body and a capacitor attached to the unit main body, the unit being detachably provided to the apparatus main body, and applying a voltage to the capacitor when the unit is mounted on the apparatus main body. Applying means; measuring means for measuring a charging time until the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage; and determining means for determining whether the charging time measured by the measuring means is within a predetermined range. If the charging time is within a predetermined range, a legitimate unit is assumed to be mounted on the apparatus main body. 2. An electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said unit is a toner cartridge unit containing toner. 3. A unit provided with a unit main body and a capacitor attached to the unit main body and detachably provided on the apparatus main body, wherein a voltage is applied to the capacitor when the unit is mounted on the apparatus main body. Measuring the charging time until the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage, determining whether or not the charging time is within a predetermined range, and if the charging time is within a predetermined range, A unit identification method, wherein a unit is identified as being mounted on the apparatus main body.