JP2002127459A - Cartridge, transmitter-receiver mechanism, and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a signal from a fixed antenna to be transmitted to a plurality of ink cartridges which are moved by being mounted on a carriage without radio interference. SOLUTION: Cartridge antennas 61a-65a are respectively mounted on the ink cartridges 61-65. Two or more of transmission available regions 61b-65b of the cartridge antennas 61a-65a are not included in a transmission available region 53 of the fixed antenna 52 inclined with respect to the horizontal line at the same time, thereby preventing the radio interference.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cartridge incorporated in an ink jet printer or the like, a transmission / reception mechanism for transmitting / receiving signals to / from the cartridge in a non-contact manner, and a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, an ink jet printer includes a printer main body 20 and a carriage 30 movably supported by a guide bar (not shown) attached to the printer main body 20. . A plurality of cartridges 31 each containing ink of each color as a coloring medium are detachably mounted on the carriage 30,
The printer body 20 is provided with a control unit 21 for controlling the movement of the carriage 30. The carriage 30 is moved under the control of the control unit 21, and printing is performed on a print medium using ink contained in the cartridge 31. In addition, there has been proposed a cartridge 31 in which a nonvolatile memory 32 for managing the consumption of ink is incorporated.

However, printers that manage the amount of ink consumption include those that perform communication between the memory 32 and the control unit 21 in a contact type (hereinafter referred to as a contact type) and those that perform non-contact type communication (hereinafter referred to as a contact type). , Non-contact type).

[0004] In a contact type printer, as shown in FIG.
The signal is transmitted to and received from the memory 32 by coupling the connector 42 connected to the connector 2 with the contacts of the connectors 41 and 42. However, since the carriage 30 moves with respect to the printer main body 20, for example, a cable connecting the connector 41 and the control unit 21 or a flexible print circuit is bent. Therefore, it is required to use a cable or a flexible printed circuit having excellent bending resistance, and this has increased the cost of the printer itself. In addition, due to the vibration caused by the movement of the carriage 30 and the stress from the bending cable or the flexible print circuit, the contact state of the contacts of the connectors 41 and 42 may be incomplete, and a long term There was a problem that reliability could not be secured.

On the other hand, in a non-contact type printer, FIG.
The fixed antenna 43 connected to the control unit 21 in the printer main body 20 is set up vertically as shown in FIG.
Incorporates a cartridge antenna 44 connected to each memory 32. This conventional non-contact type printer is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2933347.

In a non-contact type printer, each memory 3
Communication between the control unit 2 and the control unit 21 is performed via the fixed antenna 43 and the cartridge antenna 44. For example,
When the control unit 21 transmits data, the control unit 21
Modulates a high-frequency carrier with data to generate a modulated wave, and radiates the modulated wave from the fixed antenna 43. Each cartridge antenna 44 receives a modulated wave when the carriage 30 moves and the distance from the fixed antenna 43 approaches. In each cartridge 31, data is restored from the modulated wave and supplied to the memory 32.

In such a non-contact type printer,
Since the connectors 41 and 42 are not used, reliability is improved.
Further, in the cartridge 31 mounted on such a non-contact type printer, the memory 3 is used without using a connector.
2 can be accessed, so that data can be easily written and read from the cartridge 31 even on the production line and the inspection line. As described above, the non-contact type printer has many advantages over the contact type printer, and is expected to become the mainstream of future products.

[0008]

However, the conventional non-contact type printer has the following problems.

That is, the cartridge 3 is placed on the carriage 30.
When the widths of the cartridges 31 are narrow when the arrays 1 are arranged,
The distance D between the cartridge antennas 44 also becomes narrow as shown in FIG. On the other hand, a loop antenna is used as the fixed antenna 43, and the transmittable / receiveable area 45 directed by the fixed antenna 43 moves relatively to the carriage 30 as the carriage 30 moves. If the distance D between the cartridge antennas 44 is small, the transmit / receive area 4
5, the transmittable / receiveable areas of the two cartridge antennas 44 may enter simultaneously. Therefore, the fixed antenna 4
In some cases, two cartridge antennas 44 interfere with a signal transmitted / received to / from 3 and cause interference. In order to prevent this interference, it is conceivable to reduce the horizontal diameter of the fixed antenna 43 to reduce the width W of the band-shaped transmittable / receivable area 53, but if the diameter is reduced, the transmittable distance becomes shorter. However, there was a limit in reducing the diameter.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and has as its object to suppress interference between cartridge antennas.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 includes a color medium and a signal transmission / reception between a memory circuit and the memory circuit and the outside. And a cartridge antenna having a plurality of cartridge antennas which are mounted along a moving direction on a moving means which relatively moves with respect to an external external antenna. The gist is that the cartridge antennas are respectively assembled at positions where no more than the cartridge antennas are arranged.

By adopting such a configuration, when the cartridge moves relative to the external antenna, signals are transmitted and received between the cartridge and the outside via the cartridge antenna arranged in the external antenna. Here, since two or more cartridge antennas of a cartridge in which a plurality of cartridges are arranged are not aligned with the external antenna, the transmittable / receiveable area of each cartridge antenna is not aligned with the external antenna. Accordingly, there is no cartridge antenna that simultaneously interferes with the external antenna, and only one cartridge antenna faces the external antenna to transmit and receive data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the cartridge according to the first aspect, each of the cartridges is configured as a separate body which can be replaced on the moving means. By adopting such a configuration, if the information of the direct-color medium is sequentially stored in each memory circuit, each cartridge can be replaced based on this information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cartridge of the first or second aspect, the cartridge antennas of the adjacent cartridges are arranged substantially alternately in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction. By employing such a configuration, it is possible to prevent two or more cartridge antennas from being lined up with respect to the external antenna that is set up in the direction inclined in the moving direction.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cartridge according to the first or second aspect, the cartridge antennas are arranged in a direction inclined with respect to the moving direction. By adopting such a configuration, the interval between the cartridge antennas is wider than when the cartridge antennas are arranged in the moving direction, and the external antennas are arranged perpendicularly to the arrangement direction of the inclined cartridge antennas. It is possible to prevent two or more cartridge antennas from being arranged with respect to the antenna.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the cartridge according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the memory circuit does not have a power source, and power is supplied from a part of the received signal. The gist is that it was done. By employing such a configuration, the memory circuit functions with the power supplied from the external antenna even if the memory circuit does not have a power supply. Thus, for example, the configuration and weight of the cartridge can be simplified.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the cartridge according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the memory circuit stores data relating to the coloring medium, and the data is transmitted to the outside by the signal. The gist of the present invention is that transmission and reception are performed in the following manner. By adopting such a configuration, data relating to the coloring medium is transmitted / received to / from the outside, so that the coloring medium can be managed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transmission / reception mechanism for transmitting / receiving the signal to / from the memory circuit of the cartridge according to any one of the first to sixth aspects in a non-contact manner. An external antenna that scans a cartridge antenna mounted on the plurality of cartridges to emit and enter the signal, and a control unit that inputs and outputs the signal via the external antenna and processes data relating to the cartridge. The gist is that the external antenna is set up so as to be inclined with respect to the moving direction, and a band-shaped area extending in the inclined direction is set as a transmittable / receiveable area. By adopting such a configuration, two or more cartridge antennas cannot be simultaneously placed in the transmittable / receiveable area of the external antenna which is set up in a direction inclined with respect to the moving direction of the moving means. Therefore, there is no cartridge antenna that interferes with the external antenna, and interference can be prevented.

According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided a cartridge including the cartridge according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, and a transmission / reception mechanism according to the seventh aspect. By employing such a configuration, a printer without interference is realized.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment An ink jet printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ink-jet printer is a carriage as a moving means movably mounted along a printer main body 50 and a guide bar (not shown) horizontally supported by the printer main body 50. 60. The printer main body 50 includes a printing mechanism 50a that performs printing using ink as a coloring medium in cooperation with the carriage 60, and a driving mechanism 5 that moves the carriage 60 in the horizontal direction in conjunction with the operation of the printing mechanism 50a.
0b is incorporated. The carriage 60 includes, for example, five cartridges 61 containing inks of different colors,
62,..., 65 are detachably mounted. Each of the cartridges 61 to 65 has a cartridge antenna 61 a to
65a are respectively incorporated, and a circuit for modulating and demodulating a signal and an electronic circuit 67 including a nonvolatile memory are connected to the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a.

The printer body 50 further includes a control unit 51 for managing the ink in each of the cartridges 61 to 65, and a fixed antenna 52 as an external antenna. In this embodiment, the fixed antenna 52 is arranged near the home position of the carriage 60. The control unit 51 includes a static random access memory (hereinafter, referred to as an SRAM) (not shown), a circuit for modulating and demodulating a signal for accessing the SRAM, and the like. Control unit 51 and fixed antenna 52
And are connected.

The fixed antenna 52 is not vertical as in the prior art, but is θ (≠) with respect to the horizontal direction as shown in FIG.
(π / 2). Therefore, the transmittable / receiveable area 53 in the space where the fixed antenna 52 is directed
Extends in a direction having an inclination of θ with respect to the horizontal, and forms a band shape. On the other hand, the cartridge 61 is placed on the carriage 60.
When the carriage 60 moves, the relative positions of the cartridges 61 to 65 with respect to the wave transmitting / receiving area 53 also move as shown in FIG. Each cartridge antenna 61a-65a
The antenna itself also has a transmittable / receiveable area 61b to 65b. Each of the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a is incorporated in each of the cartridges 61 to 65 so that two or more of the transmitting and receiving areas 61b to 65b do not enter the transmitting and receiving area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 at the same time. The cartridge antennas 61a to 65a are arranged such that adjacent ones are substantially alternately arranged vertically.

Hereinafter, the operation of the ink jet printer will be described.

Before the power is turned on, the carriage 60
Is located at the home position. When the power is turned on,
The drive mechanism 50b moves the carriage 60 from the home position. The control unit 51 generates a modulated wave by superimposing a control signal on a high-frequency carrier, and radiates the modulated wave from the fixed antenna 52. Cartridge antenna 61a of each of cartridges 61 to 65 mounted on carriage 60
The transmit / receive areas 61b to 65b of the fixed antenna 52 sequentially enter the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 by the movement of the carriage 60.

The cartridge antenna 61a receives the modulated wave and gives it to the electronic circuit 67. The electronic circuit 67 incorporated in the cartridge 61 demodulates the modulated wave using the modulated wave as energy (power) and extracts a control signal from the modulated wave. The electronic circuit 67 reads the data stored in the memory based on the extracted control signal, and superimposes a modulated wave on the data to generate a modulated wave.

The modulated wave generated by the cartridge 61 is radiated from the cartridge antenna 61a. The modulated wave radiated from the cartridge antenna 61a is received by the fixed antenna 52 when the cartridge antenna 61a faces the fixed antenna 52, and the control unit 51
Given to. The control unit 51 demodulates the modulated wave given from the cartridge 61 and extracts the ink consumption data stored in the memory incorporated in the cartridge 61. The control unit 51 stores the ink consumption data in the built-in SRAM.

If the transmit / receive area 61b of the cartridge antenna 61a of the cartridge 61 deviates from the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52, then the transmit / receive area 6 of the cartridge antenna 62a of the cartridge 62
2b enters the transmittable / receiveable area 53 of the fixed antenna 52. When the carriage 60 further moves, the transmittable / receiveable area 62b of the cartridge antenna 62a of the cartridge 62 deviates from the transmittable / receiveable area 53 of the fixed antenna 52. Hereinafter, the transmit / receive areas 63b to 65b of the cartridges 63a to 65a sequentially enter the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52.

The cartridge antennas 62 a to 65 a and the electronic circuit 67 of each of the cartridges 62 to 65 having the transmittable / receiveable area 62 b to 65 b in the transmittable / receiveable area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 are provided to the controller 51 by the cartridge 61.
Operates in the same manner as the cartridge antenna 61a and the electronic circuit 67. Thereby, all cartridges 61 to
65 is stored in the control unit 5.
1 and stored in the SRAM. Carriage 60
Is once returned to the home position.

After the above processing, printing is started while the printing mechanism 50a controls the driving mechanism 50b to move the carriage 60 from the home position. During printing,
The ink contained in the cartridges 61 to 65 is used. The printing mechanism 50a supplies the ink consumption data of the color used in printing to the control unit 51, and the control unit 51 adds the new ink supplied from the printing mechanism 50a to the ink consumption data stored in the SRAM until then. The consumption amount is added, and the ink consumption amount data is rewritten to the added value.

At the stage when printing is completed, the driving mechanism 50b
Moves the carriage 60 to the home position. At this time, the control unit 51 generates a modulated wave by superimposing the ink consumption data to be stored in the cartridge 61 on a high-frequency carrier wave, and radiates the modulated wave from the fixed antenna 52. Each cartridge 61 mounted on the carriage 60
The transmit / receive areas 61b to 65b of the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a are sequentially placed in the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 by the movement of the carriage 60.

Each of the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a
Receives the modulated wave sequentially and gives it to the electronic circuit 67. The electronic circuit 67 incorporated in the cartridges 61 to 65 uses the modulated wave as energy, demodulates the modulated wave, extracts ink consumption data, and stores the data in the built-in nonvolatile memory.

Thus, the SRAM in the control unit 51
The ink consumption data stored in each cartridge 6
1 to 65 are stored in a built-in nonvolatile memory.

According to the ink jet printer of the above embodiment, the following features can be obtained.

· Cartridge antennas 61a to 65a
Are provided in the transmit / receive area 53 of the two or more cartridge antennas 61a to 65a in the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 extending in the direction having the predetermined inclination θ in the horizontal direction.
5b so that each cartridge 61-6 does not enter at the same time.
5, the signals transmitted or received by the fixed antenna 52 do not interfere with each other.

As described above, since there is no interference with the fixed antenna 52, the width of each of the cartridges 61 to 65 can be reduced, and the size of the cartridge portion can be reduced.

[Second Embodiment] The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
An ink jet printer according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the cartridges 61 to 61 adjacent to the transmitting / receiving area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 having an inclination θ with respect to the horizontal
Although the 65 cartridge antennas 61a to 65a are configured to be staggered up and down, in the second embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 3, the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a
Are assembled in each of the cartridges 61 to 65 so as to be arranged in a direction (θ−π / 2) substantially orthogonal to the inclination θ. Other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment. Transmission and reception between the control unit 51 and the cartridges 61 to 65 are performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment as described above, the following features are obtained.

-Each cartridge antenna 61a-65a
However, since the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a are incorporated in the cartridges 61 to 65 so as to be arranged in a direction substantially orthogonal to the inclination θ, compared with a conventional cartridge in which the cartridge antennas 61a to 65a are arranged in a horizontal direction, the transmittable / receiveable area 61b to The interval of 65b increases. Therefore, a fixed distance can be maintained between the transmit / receive area 53 of the fixed antenna 52 and the transmit / receive areas 61b to 65b. Therefore, similarly to the first embodiment, signals transmitted or received by the fixed antenna 52 do not interfere with each other.

Each cartridge antenna 61a-65a
However, since the cartridges 61 to 65 are aligned in a direction having an inclination of θ−π / 2 with respect to the horizontal, it is possible to prevent the cartridges 61 to 65 from being erroneously mounted at the time of mounting.

This embodiment may be modified as follows.

The number of the cartridges 61 to 65 mounted on the carriage 60 is not limited to five, and the present invention is applicable to a case where an arbitrary number of cartridges 61 to 65 are mounted.

In the first and second embodiments, the ink jet printer has been described.
The cartridges 61 to 65 are mounted on the moving means corresponding to the carriage 60 in a manufacturing line or the like for writing or reading the memory in the electronic circuit of
If the transmission / reception mechanism is configured by setting the antenna corresponding to No. 2 obliquely, it is possible to contactlessly access without causing interference similarly to the first and second embodiments.

The present invention is applicable to other than the ink jet printer. For example, even in a printing apparatus having a plurality of cartridges each having a built-in ink ribbon as a coloring medium, the cartridges 61 to 65 and the fixed antenna 52 may be provided in the first and second embodiments. With the configuration similar to the embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

The cartridges 61 to 65 may be configured to have a power supply inside.

The position of the fixed antenna 52 is not limited to the vicinity of the home position of the carriage 60, but may be any other position as long as the carriage 60 can be moved.

In this specification, a printer according to the present invention is defined as follows.

The printer is an apparatus for printing using a coloring medium, and includes not only a printer but also a facsimile apparatus, a plotter, a copier and the like.

In this specification, each cartridge has been described as being individually separated. However, a plurality of cartridges may be integrally incorporated in a plurality of accommodating portions and a plurality of cartridge antennas may be mounted. Applicable.

[0051]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the mounting position of the cartridge antenna to be mounted on the cartridge is prevented from being horizontally aligned when mounted on the moving means, and the external position of the external device is reduced. Since the transmittable / receiveable area of two or more cartridge antennas is prevented from entering the transmittable / receiveable area of the fixed antenna, it is possible to prevent a plurality of cartridge antennas from interfering with the fixed antenna, thereby preventing interference.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a cartridge and a fixed antenna according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a cartridge according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a contact type printer.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a non-contact type printer.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

50 Printer main body 50a Printing mechanism 50b Driving mechanism 51 Controller 52 Fixed antenna 53 Transmission / reception area of fixed antenna 60 Carriage 61-65 Cartridge 61a-65a Cartridge antenna 61b-65b Cartridge antenna Transmitting / receiving area 67 ... Electronic circuit

Claims (8)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A color medium is incorporated therein, and
A memory circuit and a cartridge antenna for transmitting and receiving signals between the memory circuit and the outside are incorporated, and a plurality of the cartridges are mounted on a moving means that moves relative to the external antenna in a manner aligned along the moving direction. The cartridge, wherein the cartridge antennas are respectively incorporated at positions where two or more of the cartridge antennas are not aligned with the external antenna. 2. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein each of the cartridges is formed as a separate body which can be replaced on the moving means. 3. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge antennas of the adjacent cartridges are arranged substantially alternately in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction. 4. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge antennas are arranged in a direction inclined with respect to the moving direction. 5. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the memory circuit has no power supply, and is configured to be supplied with power from a part of the received signal. 6. The memory circuit according to claim 1, wherein the memory circuit stores data relating to the coloring medium, and the data is transmitted / received to / from the outside by the signal.
A cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. A transmitting / receiving mechanism for transmitting / receiving the signal to / from the memory circuit of the cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 6 in a non-contact manner, wherein the signal is mounted on the plurality of cartridges by relative movement of the moving means. An external antenna that scans and outputs the signal by scanning the cartridge antenna, and a control unit that inputs and outputs the signal via the external antenna and processes data relating to the cartridge. A transmission / reception mechanism, wherein the transmission / reception mechanism is characterized in that a band-shaped area which is set up so as to be inclined with respect to the moving direction and extends in the inclination direction is a transmittable / receiveable area. 8. A printer comprising: the cartridge according to claim 1; and the transmission / reception mechanism according to claim 7.