JP2021014070A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a printer capable of quickly grasping information on a stocked ink bottle for replenishment.SOLUTION: A printer 100 can collectively acquire information on a plurality of ink bottles 200 and 300 for replenishment by wireless communication 400, and can determine which is a usable ink bottle. The printer displays a list of the acquired information and the determination result on a display 101, and allows a user to select which ink bottles 200 and 300 for replenishment to use among the ink bottles. The printer transmits a command for the selected ink bottles 200 and 300 for replenishment, and the ink bottles 200 and 300 for replenishment make LEDs 201 and 301 light when receiving the command.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device capable of replenishing ink from an ink bottle, and an ink bottle.

Many inkjet printers use a mechanism in which an inkjet printer is provided with an ink tank capable of storing a large amount of ink and ink is supplied from the ink tank to the injection head.

In such an inkjet printer, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank becomes low, the user needs to fill the ink with an ink bottle. At this time, if the user uses an inappropriate ink bottle, a problem such as deterioration of print quality may occur.

Therefore, as in Patent Document 1, information on ink is stored in a wireless IC chip or the like attached to a replenishment ink bottle, and the printer reads the information to determine whether or not the ink can be used by the printer. A method of displaying information such as an ink composition has been proposed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-30386

However, in Patent Document 1 described above, it is assumed that the printer communicates with one ink bottle. If the ink bottle that the user tries to use is determined to be the wrong ink bottle, the user must communicate with the printer one after another until a suitable ink bottle is found. Therefore, it may take time to find a suitable ink bottle.

In particular, in an environment where multiple models of printers with large-capacity ink tanks are used, it is conceivable that a large number of multiple types of ink bottles are stocked. When users try to fill ink in such an environment, they are more likely to try to fill it with the wrong ink bottle. Further, when the user wants to know what kind of ink bottles are stocked, it is necessary to communicate the ink bottles one by one with the printer.

In order to solve the above problems, the printing apparatus according to the present invention
Based on a communication means capable of collectively acquiring information in a wireless communication tag attached to each of a plurality of ink bottles placed around the printer and the information obtained by the communication means, the plurality of inks Provide a determination means for determining which ink bottle can be used in the bottle. Further, it is provided with a display means for displaying the information acquired by the communication means together with the determination result by the determination means, and a command transmission means for transmitting a command to the ink bottle determined to be usable by the determination means. The ink bottle is provided with a wireless communication means for wirelessly communicating with the printer, a determination means for determining whether or not the ink bottle is the target of an instruction, and a notification means (LED) for operating according to the result of the determination by the determination means. ..

According to the printing apparatus according to the present invention, even if a user has a large number of ink bottles in stock, it is possible to quickly grasp what kind of ink bottles are in stock and decide which ink bottle to use. .. Then, the ink bottle notification means (LED) can quickly grasp which ink bottle is desired to be used.

Block Diagram Flow chart when the printer commands the user to illuminate the LED for the selected refill ink bottle after collectively acquiring the information of the surrounding refill ink bottles. Flowchart when the refill ink bottle receives a command from the printer Display example when displaying the information of the refill ink bottle on the display unit

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the present invention.

Reference numeral 100 denotes a printer main body, and 103 control units control the entire operation. The 110 print head prints an image on paper using the ink in the 111 ink tank in the main body. When the remaining amount of ink in the 111 ink tank is low, the user uses 200 replenishment ink bottle A or 300 replenishment ink bottle B to replenish the 111 ink tank with ink. The 101 display unit is used to notify the user of information regarding the operation of the printer. Based on the information, the user decides what kind of operation the printer should perform by using the 102 operation unit. The printer transmits and receives 400 RFID radio waves by the 109 antenna, and communicates with the surrounding 200 replenishment ink bottle A and 300 replenishment ink bottle B.

Next, the 200 replenishment ink bottle A will be described.

The 202RF tag attached to the refill ink bottle is composed of a 203 antenna, a 204 control unit, and a 205 storage unit. The 205 storage unit stores information such as ID information for identifying the refill ink bottle, ink model information in the ink bottle, ink color, ink capacity, and ink expiration date. In addition, the ink bottle is equipped with 201 LED. ON / OFF of 201LED is controlled by 204 control unit. It is also possible to control ON / OFF of the 201LED by transmitting a command from the printer to the 200 replenishment ink bottle A. Further, the 206 power generation unit is used to operate the 202RF tag and the 201LED. If a battery is used as the 206 power generation unit, the reach of the radio wave of 400 RFID can be extended. On the other hand, if the reach may be short, a method of obtaining power from the radio waves received by the 202RF tag is also conceivable. It should be noted that, in addition to the 200 replenishment ink bottle A, a plurality of bottles having the same configuration as the 200 replenishment ink bottle A, such as the 300 replenishment ink bottle B, are placed around the 100 printer. ing.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart when the user refills the ink tank with the refill ink bottle.

First, when it is found that the 101 operation unit of the printer main body is operated and the user is about to start filling ink, the process shifts from S201 to S202. As a means for detecting that the user is about to start filling ink, another method such as using a sensor that detects the opening / closing of the lid of the 111 ink tank of the printer body can be considered.

In S202, the 109 antenna of the printer main body is used to transmit RFID radio waves around the printer for 5 seconds, and instruct to transmit the information stored in the storage unit of the replenishment ink bottle. When this radio wave is received by the 200 replenishment ink bottle A, the content of the RFID signal is interpreted by the 204 control unit. Then, ID information, ink model information, and the like are read from the 205 storage unit, the contents are converted into RFID signals by the 204 control unit, and transmitted by the 203 antenna. When the signal transmitted from the refill ink bottle is received by the printer, the conditional branch of S203 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to S204. On the other hand, when the replenishment ink bottle is not placed around the printer, the conditional branch of S203 becomes NO. In this case, the process proceeds to S214, the fact that the refill ink bottle cannot be detected is displayed on the 101 display unit, and the process ends.

When the information transmitted from the surrounding replenishment ink bottles is received by the 109 antenna of the 100 printer, the information is acquired by the 107 information acquisition unit. At this time, since it is assumed that RFID signals are received from a plurality of refilling ink bottles, the ID information of each refilling ink bottle and other information are stored in a linked form. Next, the printer uses the 105 bottle availability determination unit to collate the ink model information acquired from the replenishment ink bottle with the model information of the matching ink previously stored in the 104 storage unit, thereby performing surroundings. Determine if any of the refill ink bottles are compatible with the model. If, as a result of the determination, there is no one that matches the model, the process proceeds to S213, and the 101 display unit indicates that there is no refill ink bottle that matches the model, and the process ends. If there is one that matches the model, the conditional branch of S204 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to S205.

In S205, the information acquired from the replenishment ink bottle is displayed in a list on the 101 display unit. FIG. 4 shows an example of the screen displayed at this time. By looking at such a screen, the user can understand what kind of refilling ink bottles are in stock and then decide which refilling ink bottle to use.

In S206, a screen prompting the user to select an ink bottle to be used for ink filling is displayed on the 101 display unit from the replenishment ink bottles displayed in the list. At this time, by operating the 102 operation unit, the user selects which replenishment ink bottle to use for ink filling while observing the display on the 101 display unit. When the replenishment ink bottle is selected by the user, the conditional branch of S207 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to S208.

In S208, the printer sends an RFID signal to the surroundings, instructing the refill ink bottle selected by the user to illuminate the LED. At this time, the target of the instruction is limited to the replenishment ink bottle selected by the user by using the ID information of the replenishment ink bottle. It should be noted that such an instruction is generated by the 106 instruction transmitter.

The flowchart of FIG. 3 describes the process when the surrounding 200 replenishment ink bottles A receive the generated command.

When the 200 replenishment ink bottle A receives the RFID signal related to the control of the LED, S301 becomes YES and the process shifts to S302. In S302, the 204 control unit determines whether or not the ID information that is the target of the instruction matches its own ID information. Since the determination result of the refill ink bottle selected by the user is YES, the process proceeds to S303, and the 204 control unit illuminates the 201 LED for 10 seconds. The user can grasp which replenishment ink bottle is selected by looking at the display unit by the LED light. In S209 of FIG. 2, this is displayed on the 101 display unit of the printer. After illuminating the LED for 10 seconds, the process proceeds to S211 and a screen asking the user whether to illuminate the LED of the refill ink bottle is displayed on the 101 display unit again. At this time, if the user picks up the replenishment ink bottle with the LED lit and is ready to fill the ink, NO is selected in S212. On the other hand, if the user has not yet picked up the refill ink bottle, YES is selected. In this case, the process proceeds to S208 again, and the printer instructs the user to illuminate the LED for the replenishment ink bottle selected.

In this way, when the user wants to fill the printer with ink, he / she can grasp what the stock replenishment ink bottle looks like by looking at the display as shown in FIG. Then, the user can decide the refill ink bottle to be used based on the judgment criteria according to each situation. Further, even if a large number of replenishment ink bottles are stored, it is possible to quickly grasp which replenishment ink bottle is to be used by relying on the LED light.

In addition, in a general printer equipped with a large-capacity ink tank, the user may fill the ink with a refilling ink bottle of the wrong color. On the other hand, in the above method, the user determines the replenishment ink bottle to be used after confirming the color of the replenishment ink bottle used for filling by looking at the screen as shown in FIG. After that, if a replenishment ink bottle with a lit LED is used, the user can fill the ink without making a mistake in the color of the ink.

100 printer, 101 display unit, 102 operation unit, 103 control unit

Claims (13)

In a printing apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium.
The printing device is
A communication means that can collectively acquire the information in the wireless communication tag attached to each of a plurality of ink bottles placed around the printing device, and
It has a display means for displaying the information obtained by the communication means, and has.
The ink bottle is a printing device having a wireless communication means for wirelessly communicating with the printing device. In a printing apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium.
A communication means that can collectively acquire the information in the wireless communication tag attached to each of a plurality of ink bottles placed around the printing device, and
Based on the information obtained by the communication means, a determination means for determining whether or not each ink bottle satisfies a specific condition, and a determination means.
It has a command transmitting means for transmitting a command to an ink bottle satisfying the specific condition.
The ink bottle is a wireless communication means that wirelessly communicates with the printing device, and
When receiving a command from the command transmitting means of the printing device, a determination means for determining whether or not the printing device is the target of the command, and
A notification means that operates according to the result of judgment by the judgment means, and
A printing device characterized by having. In a printing apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium.
A communication means that can collectively acquire the information in the wireless communication tag attached to each of a plurality of ink bottles placed around the printing device, and
A display means for displaying the information obtained by the communication means and
A selection receiving means for accepting selection of an arbitrary ink bottle from the ink bottles displayed on the display means, and
It has a command transmitting means for transmitting a command to the ink bottle selected by the selection receiving means.
The ink bottle for supplying ink to the printing device includes a wireless communication means that wirelessly communicates with the printing device and
When a command of the command transmitting means is received, a determination means for determining whether or not the command is the target of the command,
A printing apparatus having a notification means that operates according to the result of determination by the determination means. In a printing apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image by ejecting ink to a recording medium.
A communication means that can collectively acquire the information in the wireless communication tag attached to each of a plurality of ink bottles placed around the printing device, and
Based on the information obtained by the communication means, a determination means for determining whether or not each ink bottle satisfies a specific condition, and a determination means.
A display means for displaying the information obtained by the communication means together with the determination result by the determination means, and
It has a command transmitting means for transmitting a command to an ink bottle satisfying the specific condition.
The ink bottle is a wireless communication means that wirelessly communicates with the printing device, and
When receiving a command from the command transmitting means of the printing device, a determination means for determining whether or not the printing device is the target of the command, and
A printing apparatus having a notification means that operates according to a result of determination by the determination means. The information acquired by the printing apparatus includes any one or more of information for identifying an ink bottle, information on the type of ink in the ink bottle, expiration date of ink, and capacity of ink. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the printing apparatus is characterized by. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the notification means included in the ink bottle is an LED. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the notification means included in the ink bottle is a buzzer. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 4, wherein the specific condition is that the replenishing ink bottle is compatible with the model of the printing apparatus. The second or fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein the specific condition is that the color of the refilling ink bottle matches the color of the printing apparatus for which the remaining amount of ink is insufficient. Printing device. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 4, wherein the specific condition is that the remaining amount of ink in the replenishing ink bottle is not exhausted. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 4, wherein the specific condition is that the replenishing ink bottle has never been used in the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 4, wherein the specific condition is that the expiration date of the replenishment ink bottle has not expired. Any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ink bottle has a conversion means for converting received radio waves into electric power, and the wireless communication means is operated by the electric power obtained by the conversion means. The printing apparatus described in the section.