JP2004345235A - Recording agent cartridge, printer, and method of managing recording agent cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage a quantity of ink contained in an ink cartridge with a memory by a small memory capacity and to use up the contained ink by accurately grasping the quantity thereof in a printing system. <P>SOLUTION: A value of a difference between a minimum assured quantity of ink and an actual quantity of the ink is stored in each of EEPROMs 21a, 21b of ink cartridges 19a, 19b. A printer 5 calculates the actual quantity of the contained ink based on the difference value stored in each of the EEPROMs 21a, 21b to manage the quantity of the residual ink. By managing the quantity of the residual ink, it is possible to accurately grasp the quantity of the contained ink, and the ink in the cartridge can be used up. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for managing a recording material amount of a recording material cartridge used for an ink jet printer, a laser printer, or the like, for example.
[0002]
[Prior art]
An ink jet printer (hereinafter, simply referred to as “printer”) manages the remaining amount of ink in an ink cartridge (hereinafter, simply referred to as “cartridge”) in order to perform normal printing.
[0003]
As a first conventional technique, two storage areas are provided in a storage medium provided in a cartridge, and an actual ink filling amount (hereinafter, referred to as an actual filling amount) is recorded in one area at the time of shipment from a factory, and the other is recorded. Is known to record the accumulated ink usage amount used for printing or the like at any time in the area. In the first related art, the remaining amount of ink is managed by comparing the amounts of ink stored in both storage areas (see Patent Document 1).
[0004]
As a second conventional technique, the ink remaining amount stored in the storage medium of the cartridge is set to a value equal to the actual filling amount when the cartridge is new, and the ink remaining amount stored in the storage medium of the cartridge is set in accordance with subsequent use. There is also known an apparatus in which the remaining amount is updated in a timely manner. That is, in the second conventional technique, once a cartridge is mounted on a printer, the printer calculates the amount of ink used at any time thereafter, and calculates the calculated amount of ink used by the ink stored in the storage medium of the cartridge. The remaining amount is subtracted from the remaining amount, and the result of this subtraction is overwritten on the storage medium of the cartridge as a new remaining amount of ink (see Patent Document 2).
[0005]
As a third conventional technique, there is also known a technique in which ID information indicating a type of a cartridge and data regarding an ink amount are stored in advance in a storage medium of the cartridge. According to the third conventional technique, when an ink cartridge is attached to or detached from a printer, the type of the installed ink cartridge is determined based on the ID data of the storage medium and data relating to the amount of ink. In the case of re-attaching the ink, a relatively large amount of ink is sucked to minimize the amount of ink consumed in the ink filling operation accompanying the attachment of the ink cartridge (see Patent Document 3).
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-8-310007 [Patent Document 2]
JP 2001-199081 A [Patent Document 3]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-21756
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the method of storing the ink filling amount or the like in the storage medium of the cartridge as it is as in the first and second prior arts, the management accuracy of the remaining ink amount is higher than the ink amount. Therefore, the amount of data stored in the storage medium of the cartridge increases. Therefore, there is a problem that the memory cost is increased and the cartridge cost is increased.
[0008]
A method of managing the remaining ink amount based on the standard filling amount guaranteed at the time of shipment from the factory is also conceivable, but the standard filling amount is usually set slightly lower than the actual filling amount. Therefore, if the remaining amount of ink is managed based on the standard filling amount, even if the printer determines that there is no remaining amount of ink, the ink actually remains in the cartridge to a small extent. The ink cannot be used until the end, leaving ink.
[0009]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording agent cartridge, a printer, and a recording apparatus that save the storage capacity of a storage medium of a cartridge while managing the amount of ink with a predetermined accuracy, and enable the ink in the cartridge to be used effectively. An object of the present invention is to provide an agent cartridge management system.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the recording material cartridge of the present invention, the actual filling amount, which is the amount of the recording material actually filled at the time of shipment, and the amount of the recording material guaranteed at the time of shipment, in the storage medium of the recording material cartridge. Is stored as the difference from the standard filling amount.
[0011]
Here, normally, the standard filling amount is a value set so as to be smaller than the actual filling amount, and a difference value between the actual filling amount and the standard filling amount (hereinafter, referred to as a filling amount difference value) is a positive value. Take. As the “filling amount difference value”, for example, a physical quantity difference value such as a value obtained by subtracting the standard filling amount from the actual filling amount, or a relative quantitative difference value such as a ratio of the actual filling amount to the standard filling amount is given. be able to. By storing the filling amount difference value in the storage medium, the storage capacity of the storage medium can be reduced to a minimum.
[0012]
The printer according to the present invention includes an access unit for accessing the storage medium of the recording agent cartridge, a storage unit in which the standard filling amount is stored in advance, and a storage unit that stores the filling amount difference value read from the storage medium via the access unit. Calculating means for calculating the actual filling amount based on the standard filling amount stored in advance in the means; consumption detecting means for detecting the consumption of the recording agent; actual filling amount and consumption calculated by the calculating means Management means for managing the remaining amount of the recording material in the recording material cartridge based on the consumed amount detected by the amount detecting means.
[0013]
The printer obtains the actual filling amount in the recording material cartridge from the filling amount difference value read from the storage medium of the recording material cartridge and the standard filling amount stored in the storage means in advance. By managing the remaining amount of the recording agent based on the actual filling amount and the consumption amount, the recording agent can be used up with a predetermined accuracy without waste.
[0014]
Alternatively, the storage medium may be configured as a rewritable storage medium, and the recording medium consumption related value calculated based on the consumption may be stored in the storage medium.
[0015]
As the consumption-related value, for example, a remaining amount of the recording agent managed with a predetermined accuracy, more specifically, a predetermined coarse accuracy, an integrated usage amount, and the like can be given. By storing the consumption-related value together with the filling amount difference value in the storage medium of the recording material cartridge, it is possible to determine whether the recording material cartridge is new or used and used.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, taking an ink jet printer as an example.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a host device 1 is connected to an ink jet printer (hereinafter, referred to as a printer) 5 via a printer interface circuit 3. The host device 1 is typically a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, and has a printer driver 7 which is software for generating print data to be sent to the printer 5. Although illustration is omitted, the host device 1 includes, for example, an application program for creating a document or an image to be printed, a software resource such as an OS (Operating System), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a ROM (Read).
Print data is generated and transmitted to the printer by appropriately using hardware resources such as an only memory (RAM) and a random access memory (RAM). The host device 1 is not limited to a personal computer, and may be, for example, a digital camera, a scanner device, or the like.
[0018]
The printer driver 7 has an ink remaining amount management function, which will be described later, in addition to an original function of creating print data in a predetermined format based on an image file or a document file and transmitting the print data to the printer 5. The ink remaining amount management function is to display the display of the host device 1 when the ink remaining amount of the ink cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as a cartridge) 19a or 19b attached to the printer 5 becomes a predetermined value or less (small or zero). , A notification to that effect and an instruction to replace the cartridge are given to the user.
[0019]
The printer 5 is connected to the host device 1 via the host interface circuit 13. The host device 1 and the printer 5 can be connected via a serial interface such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) or IEEE 1394, or a parallel interface such as Centronics. The printer 5 includes a print processing circuit 15 and a printing mechanism 20. The print processing circuit 15 creates a print image and controls paper feed based on print data transferred from the host device 1 via the host interface circuit 13. The printing mechanism 20 prints a print image created by the print processing circuit 15 under the control of the print processing circuit 15. Note that the printer 5 may include an input unit that receives a user's operation input and a display unit that notifies the user of the operation.
[0020]
Although not shown, the print processing circuit 15 includes, for example, a print head drive circuit, a motor drive circuit, and data (rough accuracy ink remaining amount, ink filling amount difference value, cartridge opening date and time, etc.) for the cartridges 19a and 19b. A circuit for writing data), an input / output circuit for external data, a CPU for controlling the entire print processing circuit 15, and the like. The print processing circuit 15 is a non-volatile storage medium for storing specific data, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable).
Read-Only Memory 17 or ROM (Read Only)
Memory 18. Further, the print processing circuit 15 calculates the actual filling amount from the ink filling amount difference values stored in the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a and the EEPROM 21b of the cartridge 19b, respectively, and the standard filling amount stored in the ROM 18, as described in detail later. And a function of storing ink consumption related values in the EEPROM 17 and a function of managing the amount of ink in the cartridge 19a or 19b.
[0021]
Although not shown, the printing mechanism 20 includes, for example, a print head, a carriage, a paper feeding device, a head maintenance device, and the like, and replaceable cartridges 19a and 19b for supplying ink to the print head are detachably mounted. It is to be set. One cartridge 19a contains, for example, black ink. Since the black ink is used in a particularly large amount, it is formed separately from the inks of other colors. The other cartridge 19b stores color ink. As printing color inks, typically, Y (yellow), M (magenta) and C (cyan) are known, but not limited thereto, and for example, color inks such as light cyan and light magenta are used. You can also. The cartridges 19a and 19b have nonvolatile rewritable storage media, for example, EEPROMs 21a and 21b, respectively, and access terminals 22a and 22b are provided to be exposed on the outer surfaces of the cartridges 19a and 19b, respectively. When the cartridges 19a, 19b are completely installed in the printer, the access terminals 22a, 22b of the EEPROMs 21a, 21b of the cartridges 19a, 19b are connected to the connection terminals 23a, 23b provided in the printer 5, and the EEPROMs 21a, 21b And the print processing circuit 15 are electrically connected. When a nonvolatile semiconductor memory is used as the storage medium of the cartridge, the memory can be easily accessed by electrically connecting the terminals as described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the memory access may be performed in a preferable mode according to the type of the storage medium.
[0022]
The printer 5 can handle a plurality of types of cartridges, for example, the type of cartridge (large or small ink, dye ink or pigment ink, etc.) to be installed according to the printing application, a new cartridge or a used cartridge. Anything that can be selected may be used. In general, there are two types of cartridges, an on-carriage type mounted on a carriage together with a print head, and an off-carriage type set at an immovable place away from the carriage. The cartridges 19a and 19b of the present embodiment are Either type may be used.
[0023]
FIG. 2 is a memory map of the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a and the EEPROM 21b of the cartridge 19b. The EEPROMs 21a and 21b include, for example, an area (D1) for storing a cartridge ID (CID) for identifying the type of the cartridge, an area (D2) for storing an ink filling amount difference value (ΔI), and ink characteristic information. An area (D3) for storing the cartridge opening date and time, an area (D4) for storing the cartridge opening date and time, an area (D5) for storing the ink remaining amount (Ra) with a predetermined accuracy, and the like can be provided. In the following description, the remaining amount of ink at a predetermined low accuracy is referred to as “rough accuracy ink remaining amount”. In the case of color inks, the ink filling amount difference value, the remaining amount of coarse precision ink, the ink characteristics, and the like can be stored for each color. If the values are common, data of a plurality of colors may be stored together. Note that the same applies to the following description, but other data is stored in a blank portion in the illustrated memory map as needed. In the EEPROMs 21a and 21b on the cartridge side, when no other data is stored, the memory is used efficiently and an unnecessary free area hardly occurs. It is preferable to use the memory so that the memory size is as small as possible.
[0024]
FIG. 3 is a memory map of the EEPROM 17 of the printer 5. The EEPROM 17 can include an area (D11) for storing an ink consumption-related value (Ci) such as, for example, an accumulated ink usage amount.
[0025]
FIG. 4 is a memory map of the ROM 18 of the printer 5. In the ROM 18, for example, a standard filling amount for each cartridge ID is stored in advance in addition to a program (not shown) (D21 to D24). As in a table T1 shown in FIG. 4, the ROM 18 stores in advance a standard filling amount (Ga) corresponding to each cartridge ID (CID). Therefore, by searching the ROM 18 using the cartridge ID read from the EEPROMs 21a and 21b on the cartridge side as a search key, the standard filling amount of the mounted cartridges 19a and 19b can be obtained.
[0026]
FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing when the ink cartridge is replaced. Hereinafter, the process at the time of replacing the cartridge will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the method of managing the remaining amount of ink basically has no difference depending on the ink color, and therefore, the following description focuses on the cartridge 19a.
[0027]
When the completion event of the replacement of the cartridge 19a occurs, the print processing circuit 15 reads the ink filling amount difference value from the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a (S1). Further, the print processing circuit 15 reads the remaining amount of the coarse ink and the cartridge ID from the EEPROM 21a (S2). Subsequently, the standard filling amount of the mounted cartridge 19a is read by referring to the ROM 18 of the printer 5 based on the cartridge ID read in S2 (S3). According to the following formula (1), the actual filling amount is calculated from the standard filling amount (Ga) and the ink filling amount difference value (ΔI) (S4).
[0028]
Rm = Ga + ΔI (1)
Here, the above equation (1) is an example of a case where the ink filling amount difference value (Δi) is defined as a physical amount difference value obtained by subtracting the standard filling amount (Ga) from the actual filling amount.
[0029]
Next, it is determined whether or not the cartridge is a new cartridge based on the remaining amount of the coarse ink (S5). If it is new, the accumulated ink usage is set to 0 (S6). If the ink is not new, the integrated ink usage is calculated from the coarse ink remaining amount and the standard filling amount (S7). Next, the ink is sucked into the print head or the like, and the integrated ink usage (Am) is newly calculated from the consumed ink amount (Um) and the integrated ink usage (Am) as shown in the following equation (2). The calculated value is stored in the EEPROM 17 of the printer 5 (S8).
[0030]
Am = Um + Am (2)
[0031]
The coarse remaining amount of ink is calculated from the actual filling amount and the accumulated ink usage amount, and the calculated coarse remaining amount of ink is stored in the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a (S9).
[0032]
FIG. 6 shows the flow of the remaining ink amount monitoring process. Hereinafter, the process for monitoring the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge will be described with reference to FIG.
[0033]
The CPU of the print processing circuit 15 reads the ink filling amount difference value from the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a through the access terminal 22a when the printer 5 is requested to print (S11). Thereafter, the integrated ink usage is read from the EEPROM 17 of the printer 5 (S12), and the standard filling amount corresponding to the cartridge is read from the ROM 18 of the printer 5 (S13).
[0034]
Next, the actual filling amount (Rm) is calculated from the difference between the standard filling amount and the ink filling amount, and the ink filling amount (Rm) and the accumulated ink usage amount (Am) are calculated from the actual filling amount (Rm) and the accumulated ink usage amount (Am) as shown in Expression (3). The remaining amount (Lm) is calculated (S14).
[0035]
Lm = Rm-Am (3)
[0036]
Based on the calculated remaining amount of ink, it is determined whether the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge is substantially empty (0 or small) (S15). Specifically, for example, a predetermined threshold (insufficient threshold) indicating that the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge is substantially empty is compared with the calculated remaining amount of ink (Lm). When it is determined that the ink remaining amount of the cartridge 19a is substantially empty, the CPU requests the user to replace the empty cartridge through the display panel of the printer 5 or the display of the host device 1 (S16). . If the cartridge 19a is not substantially empty (S15: YES), the process ends without requesting the user to replace the cartridge.
[0037]
FIG. 7 shows the flow of the ink usage amount management process when printing is performed. For example, when printing of one page is completed, the CPU of the print processing circuit 15 calculates the accumulated ink usage based on the consumed ink amount used for printing, and overwrites the EEPROM 17 of the printer 5 (S21).
[0038]
Next, the actual filling amount is calculated from the standard filling amount and the ink filling amount difference value, and the coarse ink remaining amount is calculated from the actual filling amount and the accumulated ink usage amount. The remaining amount of coarse ink is stored in the EEPROM 21a of the cartridge 19a (S22).
[0039]
As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the actual filling amount in the recording material cartridge is determined based on the filling amount difference value read from the ink cartridge 19a by the printer 5 and the standard filling amount stored in the EEPROM 17 of the printer 5 in advance. Can be requested. By storing not the actual filling amount itself but a filling amount difference value indicating the difference between the actual filling amount and the standard filling amount in the ink cartridge 19a, the data size to be stored is reduced, and the storage medium (ie, the EEPROM 21a) Capacity can be reduced. Further, by managing the ink amount based on the actual filling amount instead of the standard filling amount, it becomes possible to use up the filled ink to the end without waste in consideration of a delicate difference in the ink filling amount.
[0040]
The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, these are merely examples for describing the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the embodiments. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in other various forms. For example, a standard filling amount is stored in the host device in advance, and the filling amount difference value read from the memory of the cartridge or the amount of ink consumption detected by the printer is transmitted to the host device. It is also possible to perform remaining amount management.
[0041]
Further, in the embodiment, the case where the ink filling amount difference value (ΔI) is used as the physical quantity difference is exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the ink filling amount difference value (ΔI) may be used for the standard filling amount (Ga). It can also be defined as a relative quantitative difference value, such as a percentage of the actual filling. In this case, the difference value can be referred to as a difference rate, and the actual ink filling amount (Rm) can be calculated as in the following equation (4). By expressing the actual filling amount or the like in percentage format, when displaying on the display of the host device or the panel of the printer, the user can intuitively and easily understand the amount of ink.
Rm = Ga * ΔI / 100 (4)
[0042]
When the cumulative ink usage is expressed in percentage format, the cumulative ink usage (percent format) can be calculated as in the following equation (5). In the formula (5), Ami is the cumulative ink usage (percentage format), and Am is the cumulative ink usage (physical quantity).
Ami = Am / Rm * 100 (5)
[0043]
Further, when the remaining ink amount is expressed in a percentage format, the remaining ink amount (percentage format) can be calculated as in the following equation (6). In the equation (6), Lmi is the remaining ink amount (percent format).
Lmi = (Rm−Am) / Rm * 100 (6)
[0044]
In the printer, the remaining ink amount may be managed based on the actual filling amount, and the value displayed on the host device or the user interface of the printer may be calculated based on the standard filling amount.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a print system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a memory map of an EEPROM of the cartridge.
FIG. 3 is a memory map of an EEPROM of the printer.
FIG. 4 is a memory map of a ROM of the printer.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing at the time of cartridge replacement.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of a process for monitoring the amount of ink in a cartridge.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when printing is performed.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host device 3 Printer interface circuit 5 Inkjet printer 7 Printer driver 13 Host interface circuit 15 Print processing circuit 17, 21a, 21b EEPROM
18 ROM
19a, 19b Ink cartridge 20 Printing mechanism 22a, 22b Access terminal 23a, 23b Connection terminal

Claims (3)

In a recording material cartridge mounted on a printer and filled with a recording material used by the printer,
The recording agent cartridge includes a storage medium accessed by the printer,
The storage medium stores a difference value between an actual filling amount, which is an amount of the recording agent actually filled at the time of shipping, and a standard filling amount, which is an amount of the recording agent guaranteed at the time of shipping. Recording agent cartridge. In a printer in which a recording agent cartridge having a storage medium is exchangeably mounted,
In the storage medium, a difference value between the actual filling amount, which is the amount of the recording agent actually filled at the time of shipping, and the standard filling amount, which is the amount of the recording agent, which is guaranteed at the time of shipping, is stored in advance.
Access means for accessing the storage medium;
Storage means for storing the standard filling amount in advance;
Calculating means for calculating the actual filling amount based on the difference value read from the storage medium via the access means and the standard filling amount stored in the storage means in advance;
Consumption detecting means for detecting the consumption of the recording agent,
Management means for managing the remaining amount of the recording material of the recording material cartridge based on the actual filling amount calculated by the calculating means and the consumption amount detected by the consumption amount detecting means,
A printer comprising: In a recording material cartridge management method for managing a recording material amount of a recording material cartridge mounted on a printer,
The cartridge includes a storage medium in which a difference value between an actual filling amount that is the amount of the recording material actually filled at the time of shipping and a standard filling amount that is the amount of the recording material that is guaranteed at the time of shipping is stored in advance. Yes,
Storage means provided separately from the storage medium, wherein the standard filling amount is stored in advance,
Calculation means for calculating the actual filling amount based on the difference value read from the storage medium and the standard filling read from the storage means,
Consumption detecting means for detecting the consumption of the recording agent,
Management means for managing the remaining amount of the recording material of the recording material cartridge based on the actual filling amount calculated by the calculating means and the consumption amount detected by the consumption amount detecting means,
A recording agent cartridge management system comprising:

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