KR20060120251A - Inkjet printer system with removable cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer including a printing fluid storage means (28, 30, 32, 34) and a pagewidth printhead (52) in communication with said printing fluid storage means. The inkjet printer including a cradle unit having a body complementary to the removable printer cartridge; a data connection point fast with the body for receiving data signals defining images for printing from an external data source; and aprocessing means coupled to the data connection point and arranged to operate the pagewidth printhead in response to the data signals to print said images.

Description

Inkjet Printer System with Removable Cartridge {Inkjet Printer System with Removable Cartridge}

The present invention relates to a removable cartridge for use in a printer system, in particular an inkjet printer system.

Traditionally, most commercially available inkjet printers have a printhead that crosses back and forth across the print media as the print media is printed. Such a printhead has a finite lifespan that is supplied with printing ink and requires replacement of the printhead. Due to the size and shape of the crossover of the printhead, removal and replacement of the printhead is relatively easy, and the printer device is designed to allow easy access to the printhead. While the printhead must continuously traverse a fixed print medium, it has been demonstrated that such traditional transverse printheads can perform sufficiently good print jobs, while such a system is particularly suitable for photo quality print jobs. In general, it works slowly.

In recent years, it has become possible to provide printheads up to the full width of the print media so that the printhead remains fixed while the print media advances rapidly. Such printheads are commonly referred to as pagewidth printheads and can be much faster than traditional cross printheads unless the printheads move back and forth across the print media. However, because the printhead is the length of the print media, the printhead must be supported within the structure of the printer device and requires multiple electrical connectors to transfer power and data and to drive the printhead. It is not as easy as with a traditional cross printhead.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a printer system that can provide high speed, high quality print jobs and relatively easy replacement of the printhead when needed.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising a printing fluid storage means and a pagewidth printhead in communication with the ink storage means.

The pagewidth print head includes at least 20,000 ink jetting nozzles capable of printing at least 8 inches wide and in communication with the ink storage means.

The ink storage means may comprise means for replenishing ink from an external source and one or more reservoirs for storing printing ink. The reservoir can separately store a set of color inks for color printing, as well as an ink fixer that helps to fix the ink ejected by the pagewidth printhead and infrared ink capable of printing in the invisible spectrum required in some applications.

The printer cartridge includes a first electrical connector provided in electrical communication with the pagewidth printhead and disposed adjacent to the first end of the pagewidth printhead mating with a first corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. A second electrical connector is also provided in electrical communication with the pagewidth printhead and disposed adjacent to the second end of the pagewidth printhead that matches the second corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. In this arrangement, when the printer cartridge is received in the inkjet printer, power and data can be transferred from the inkjet printer to the pagewidth printhead by the mating relationship between the first and second electrical connectors and the corresponding connector of the inkjet printer.

The printer cartridge includes an assembly disposed to direct air above the printhead to dust that degrades the print quality during a print job by laying down the paper or ink jetting nozzles. The assembly includes a filter that filters the air before it is directed over the printhead, thereby removing particles that may be involved in the injected air. The assembly may also include an inlet for receiving ink from an external source, such as a source located within the inkjet printer.

Thus, in an improved embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of facilitating preservation of an inkjet printer of the type having a pagewidth printhead, the method comprising the following steps: The first compartment is in use rather than the second compartment. Providing an inkjet printer in at least the first and second compartments separable from each other, wherein frequent replacement is required and the first compartment comprises a pagewidth printhead.

The first compartment may further include ink storage means for storing ink, ejected by the pagewidth printhead, and in the form of a printer cartridge that can be detachably housed within the second compartment.

The second compartment may be a printer support device having a cavity employed to receive a printer cartridge. The printer support device may also further include a print media control system for supplying the print media to the printhead of the printer cartridge that facilitates printing on the surface of the print media.

The present invention in the second form, the ink storage means; And a body having a print head including at least 20,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means.

In another embodiment of this form of the invention, the printhead may comprise at least 30,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means. In other embodiments, the printhead may be comprised of a pagewidth printhead.

The ink storage means of the printer cartridge may comprise one or more reservoirs capable of detachably storing one or more printing inks. Such ink may be a set of color inks for color printing and may include a fixative that easily fixes the ink following the ejection by the ink spray nozzles, such as infrared ink.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a support; An inkjet printer cartridge fixedly separable by a support and including first and second ink storage means for storing ink and ink fixative separately; A pagewidth print head in communication with the first and second ink storage means; And control means for controlling the ink and the ink fixing liquid by the print head to allow the ink to be easily fixed to the print medium following the ejection by the print head.

The inkjet printer cartridge may further include ink storage means for separating and storing the color ink set for color printing.

According to another embodiment of this form of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet printer cartridge arranged to be detachably fixed by an inkjet printer, the printer cartridge comprising: a first capable of storing ink and ink fixative separately; And second storage means; And a pagewidth printhead in fluid communication with the first and second storage means.

According to another embodiment of this form of the invention, there is provided a method of operating an inkjet printer of the type comprising a printer cartridge as described above, the method comprising: controlling a printhead for printing on ink and a print medium; And easily fixing the ink to the print medium by controlling the pagewidth print head applying the ink fixative to the print medium.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, one or more printing inks; And a printhead in communication with at least one ink containing at least one infrared ink.

The printer cartridge may further include a main body disposed to store printing ink, and the print head may be a page width print head attached to the main body to facilitate ink communication. One or more inks stored within the body may also include color inks capable of color printing.

According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, ink storage means for storing one or more inks; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And a refill port for communicating ink with the ink storage means.

The printer cartridge of the present invention may further include a main body having ink storage means therein and a page width printhead and a refill port attached thereto. Further, the ink storage means may also include a separate ink reservoir of each of the one or more inks, and the one or more inks may comprise a set of color inks that facilitate color printing. Furthermore, the refill port may include one or more inlets corresponding to separate ink reservoirs and communicating ink.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage device comprising: ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And an assembly having a filter and arranged to direct air over the printhead.

The assembly further comprises an inlet for receiving ink, for example, from a source remote from the printer cartridge provided inside the inkjet printer. The printhead of the printer cartridge consists of a pagewidth printhead and the filter may be capable of collecting particulate matter present in the air received from an external source.

In this respect, since the printer cartridge can be removed from the inkjet printer, the filter that filters out the air at the same time the cartridge is replaced will also be replaced. The purpose of the assembly is to prevent paper or special material from crumpling or interfering with the printhead surface at the surface of the printhead. These not only affect the quality of the print job performed by the printhead, but can also damage the printhead.

According to an advanced embodiment of this form of the invention, generating an air stream; Filtering particulate matter from the flow of air by a filter attached to the printer cartridge for producing filtered air; And directing the filtered air to the printhead provides a method of preventing damage to the printhead of the removable inkjet cartridge.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage device comprising: ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; Air inlet; And one or more conduits arranged to direct air from the air inlet to the printhead.

The printhead of the printer cartridge may be a pagewidth printhead and may be removable from the inkjet printer to facilitate replacement of the printer cartridge.

The air inlet is formed to match the complementary structure of the inkjet printer so that air can be provided to the printer cartridge from an air supply source located remote from the printer cartridge.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage device comprising: ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And an ink adsorber arranged to blot the printhead.

In a preferred embodiment, the ink storage means and the printhead of the cartridge may be fixedly arranged on the body of the printer cartridge and the ink adsorber may be connected to the body.

The ink adsorber optionally also includes securing means for securing the assembly to operate the ink adsorber with the printhead. The ink adsorber also includes an absorbent material disposed to absorb ink ejected from the print head while the print head is not printed with the print medium.

The ink adsorber may be rotatably connected to the body of the printer cartridge and may be slidably connected to the body. If the printhead consists of a pagewidth printhead, the ink adsorber may be extended to the pagewidth printhead to perform the adsorption function along the entire length of the printhead.

According to another embodiment according to this aspect of the present invention, a main body including at least one ink reservoir; A printhead attached to the body to communicate ink with the at least one ink reservoir; An ink adsorber rotatably connected to the body; And fixing means located in the ink adsorber for securing the assembly for operation with an ink adsorber having a printhead.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage device comprising: ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And an assembly useful for a printhead disposed to selectively perform many of the various functions relating to the printhead.

In a preferred embodiment, the various functions performed by the assembly include at least one of the adsorption of the printhead, the lid of the printhead and the acting as a platen on the printhead. Furthermore, assemblies useful for the printhead may include a rotatable member connected to a printer cartridge adjacent the printhead. The rotatable member includes a plurality of faces each formed to perform one of the various functions described above.

The printer cartridge further comprises fixing means secured to the rotatable member for fixing by an inkjet printer mechanism that selectively actuates the operating surface with the printhead. The fixing means is controllable by the printer to ensure the desired position where the assembly is required for the particular condition of the printer. In this regard, the printer cartridge may also include a biasing member that is generally biased on one side of the rotatable member relative to the printhead such that the assembly is always in a position to perform one desired function.

In a preferred embodiment, the printer cartridge consists of a pagewidth printhead having an assembly that extends to the length of the printhead.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage means; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And a first electrical connector disposed adjacent to the first end of the pagewidth print head in electrical communication with the print head and mating with the first corresponding connector of the ink jet printer.

The printer cartridge may further comprise a second electrical connector disposed adjacent the second end of the pagewidth printhead to match the second corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. Such electrical connectors provide a means by which data and power can be provided to a printer cartridge to control a printhead for printing on a print medium. Matching the corresponding connectors of the inkjet printer with the first and second connectors allows power and data to be transferred when the printer cartridge is secured to the inkjet printer. In this regard, the ink storing means, the pagewidth print head and the first and second electrical connectors are attached to the main body of the printer cartridge, respectively.

According to another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, comprising: an extended body adapted to be accommodated inside an inkjet printer and having ink storage means; A pagewidth print head attached to the body in communication with the ink storage means; And first and second electrical connectors attached to the extended body in electrical communication with the printhead and positioned adjacent opposite ends of the pagewidth printhead to mate with the first and second corresponding connectors of the inkjet printer. A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer is provided.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink reservoir; A printhead in communication with the ink reservoir; A refill port disposed to receive a refill ink for communicating with and replenishing the ink reservoir; And an integrated circuit assembly arranged to store information relating to at least one refilled ink and properties of the ink stored in the ink reservoir.

In a preferred embodiment, information relating to the nature of the ink stored in the refill ink or ink reservoir may be any of the remaining ink in the ink reservoir, the source of the refill ink, the rheological properties of the refill ink, and the color of the refill ink. Information may be included. Preferably, the integrated circuit assembly includes an electrical communicator mounted to an inkjet printer for connecting with an integrated circuit of a refill cartridge comprising a refill ink.

In a preferred form, the printhead of the cartridge of the printhead is a pagewidth printhead.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for maintaining ink supply reliability of an inkjet printer of a type comprising a removable printer cartridge comprising ink storage means in communication with a pagewidth printhead, the method being refilled. Providing an ink refill cartridge comprising an integrated circuit assembly for storing information relating to properties of the ink; Connecting the ink refill cartridge to the printer cartridge; And performing a test for comparing the properties of the ink stored in the ink storage means with the properties of the refilled ink.

Preferably, comparing the properties of the ink stored in the ink storage means with the properties of the refill ink includes determining whether the inks share the same properties that cause the ink storage means to be refilled by the ink supply.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of ink reservoirs each provided for storing a predetermined ink; A printhead in communication with the ink reservoir; And a refill port disposed to match the corresponding connector of the refill cartridge, the refill port having an inlet corresponding to each ink reservoir and communicating with the ink.

In a preferred embodiment, the printhead of the printer cartridge may be a pagewidth printhead, and the ink may comprise one or more of a set of color inks for color printing, an ink fixer, and an infrared ink.

According to another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer cartridge including a refill port corresponding to each of a plurality of ink reservoirs provided for storing a predetermined one of the plurality of inks and including an inlet for communicating the ink; A refill port including one of the plurality of inks and having an outlet positioned to communicate with a particular one of the refillport inlets in communication with a particular one of the plurality of reservoirs provided for storing the ink contained in the refill cartridge; An inkjet printer refill system is provided that includes one or more refill cartridges that include a connector.

The inkjet printer refill system may include a printhead in communication with the ink reservoir and the printhead may be a pagewidth printhead.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage means; And two print chips extending to the length of the printhead, and a printer cartridge for an inkjet printer including a pagewidth printhead in communication with the ink storage means.

The two print chips are preferably arranged adjacent to each other to extend to the length of the printhead.

The printer cartridge preferably includes an extended body adapted to be received within the printer support, and has an electrical connector located opposite the printhead end and in electrical communication with the two printhead chips.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink storage means; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And a protector extended by the length of the printhead arranged to protect the printhead from contact with paper while inserting the cartridge into the support of the inkjet printer.

Preferably, the printer cartridge includes an elongated body having a housing detachably housed within a support of the ink jet printer and containing ink storage means. The blank may further be arranged to act as a cover plate to seal the air duct of the printer cartridge during use.

According to another embodiment of the form of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: an extended body accommodated in a printer support; At least one ink reservoir housed in the extended body; A pagewidth print head attached to the extended body and in communication with the at least one ink storage means; And a blank extending to the length of the printhead and disposed to protect the printhead from contact with the paper while inserting the cartridge into the printer support and further sealing the air duct of the inkjet printer cartridge. A cartridge is provided.

According to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet printer comprising: an extended body accommodating ink storage means and received in an inkjet printer support; A pagewidth print head attached to the body and communicating ink with the ink storage means; And an air distribution assembly disposed to uniformly distribute compressed air along the pagewidth print head.

Preferably the air distribution assembly includes an air inlet for receiving compressed air from an external source and a channel formed in the elongated body in communication with the air inlet and disposed along the pagewidth printhead. The air distribution assembly further includes a filter that seals the length of the channel and is arranged such that air is directed to the printhead along the length of the channel. Preferably the filter is arranged to only allow air to reach the threshold level simultaneously with air compression in the channel through the filter. This is done by a filter that includes a number of holes of size made to determine the threshold level.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for manufacturing at least one ink reservoir; An ink delivery member defining at least one ink delivery channel; And a pagewidth printhead in communication with the one or more ink reservoirs by the one or more ink delivery channels.

Preferably, one or more ink reservoirs are housed in an extended body and a pagewidth printhead is attached to the extended body.

The ink delivery member is preferably arranged to extend by the length of the print head and the pagewidth print head is preferably attached to the body extended by the ink delivery member. The ink delivery member defines a plurality of ink delivery channels for delivering ink from the ink reservoir to the printhead.

A main body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply according to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention; A data connection point fixed to the body for receiving a data signal defining an image for printing from an external data source; And processing means connected to a data connection point and arranged to operate a pagewidth printhead responsive to a data signal for printing the image.

Preferably, the body of the inkjet printer support defines a recess formed to receive a removable pagewidth inkjet cartridge, whereby the cartridge is supported by the support body. The support body may further comprise a power connection point for receiving operating power from an external power source.

According to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: a body complementary to each of a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges each having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply, each having a different performance characteristic; And a controller arranged to determine performance characteristics of each of a plurality of cartridges already connected to the support and to operate each cartridge in response to the determined performance characteristics.

Preferably. The controller is arranged to operate each of a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges having one or more of an optimum print speed or ink capacity having different performance characteristics.

Preferably, the body includes a recess for receiving any one of a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of upgrading an inkjet printer of a type comprising a pagewidth printhead, the method comprising a complementary support and selection arranged to operate a plurality of cartridges having different performance characteristics. Providing an inkjet printer as a cartridge; Replacing the starter cartridge with another one of a plurality of cartridges having improved performance characteristics.

Preferably, other performance characteristics of the cartridge include one or more of printing speed, ink capacity, number and form of ink.

The print speed of the various cartridges supported by the support can be from 15 ppm to 60 ppm.

The ink capacity of the various cartridges supported by the support can be 150 ml to 300 ml. The number and shape of the inks processed by the various cartridges supported by the support may be one or more of black, cyan, magenta, yellow, infrared and ink fixative.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of inkjet printer cartridges; And a plurality of inkjet printer supports, each body defining a recess and including a body for receiving and operating each of a set of supported inkjet printer cartridges among the plurality of inkjet printer cartridges; The plurality of inkjet cartridges, which do not belong to a supported inkjet printer cartridge, are provided with respect to a particular one of the plurality of inkjet printer supports, such that the recesses of the specific inkjet printer support are not accommodated therein.

Preferably, the inkjet printer cartridge includes a pagewidth printhead and an internal ink reservoir in communication with the pagewidth printhead. The internal ink reservoir may comprise a number of separate ink reservoirs for storing printing ink for storage separately.

Preferably, inkjet printer cartridges not supported by a particular inkjet printer support are formed with protrusions or teeth that interfere with the teeth or protrusions of the particular inkjet printer support while inserting the cartridge into the support.

To visually identify an inkjet printer cartridge supported by a particular inkjet printer support, an indicia may be provided on the inkjet printer cartridge and on the inkjet printer support. These signs may be in the form of color indicators.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: a main body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply; And an integrated circuit assembly arranged to test the authenticator of the cartridge.

The apparatus for authenticating a removable inkjet cartridge preferably consists of a quality assurance chip that stores information relating to the operating characteristics of the cartridge.

The printer support body preferably defines a recess for receiving the removable inkjet cartridge, and the integrated circuit assembly includes a connector mounted to the body in a position where the removable inkjet cartridge is inserted into the recess and sufficiently connected with the cartridge's authentication chip. Include. The integrated circuit assembly further consists of a control unit of the inkjet printer support, and is arranged to indicate whether the control circuit fails to verify the authenticator of the cartridge.

According to a twenty second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, comprising: a body defining a recess designed to locate a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head; And a terminal inserted into the recess and simultaneously located in a body corresponding to a terminal located in the removable inkjet cartridge, thereby providing a terminal for facilitating electrical communication between the support and the cartridge.

Preferably, the terminal of the printer support body is mounted on at least one recess wall. The recess may be an extended recess and the terminal is preferably located in at least one recess end wall. In other embodiments, the terminal may be located opposite the extended recess end wall.

Each terminal of the printer support may be comprised of data and power terminals that allow for data and power transfer between the printer support and the inkjet cartridge.

According to another embodiment of this aspect of the invention, a body defining an extended recess designed to mate to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead; And a power and data terminal located opposite the recess end wall in communication with the terminal located in the removable inkjet cartridge as soon as the cartridge is inserted into the recess, thereby facilitating electrical communication between the support and the cartridge. An inkjet printer support is provided that includes.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the invention, a body defining a recess designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge; Holding means arranged to hold the cartridge in a recess; And at least one resilient member for holding the cartridge attached to the retaining means and the body in use.

In a preferred embodiment, the one or more resilient members are arranged to bias the cartridge relative to the retaining means during use of the printer and follow the retention of the cartridge within the printer support. In yet another embodiment, one or more resilient members may be arranged to bias the cartridge relative to the support body during use of the printer.

The removable inkjet cartridge preferably comprises a pagewidth printhead, the printhead in communication with the ink reservoir contained in the removable inkjet cartridge.

The retaining means comprises a latch and the one or more resilient members consists of one or more springs. Preferably, the recess in the printer support body includes a shelf in which one or more resilient members are located.

According to another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, comprising: a body defining a recess having a shelf and designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head; A latch disposed to hold the cartridge in a recess; And one or more springs positioned on the shelf and arranged to bias the cartridge with respect to the latch in use.

In another embodiment of this form of the present invention, there is also provided a method of stabilizing an inkjet printer cartridge in an inkjet printer support, the method comprising positioning the cartridge in a recess defined by the support body; Retaining the cartridge in the recess by a latch; And securing the cartridge to the latch and the body by one or more resilient members.

In one form, the step of securing and holding the cartridge consists of biasing the printer cartridge relative to the latch. Instead, the step of holding and holding the cartridge consists of biasing the printer cartridge with respect to the main body.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inkjet printer support complementary to an inkjet cartridge of a type comprising a pagewidth printhead, the support comprising: a number of mechanisms useful for the cartridge; Single motor; And a delivery assembly connecting a single motor to each of the plurality of mechanisms.

Preferably, the plurality of mechanisms include a compressor for supplying compressed air to a printer cartridge and a print media transport assembly for transporting the print media to the print head.

Preferably, the delivery assembly comprises a direct drive coupling between the compressor and the motor spindle. The direct drive engagement device may include a worm gear that extends from the motor spindle and engages with the cog of the print media assembly that drives the print media transport assembly.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the invention, there is provided an inkjet printer support complementary to an inkjet printer cartridge of a type comprising a pagewidth printhead, the support comprising: an air compressor for producing air directed to the pagewidth printhead; A print media transport assembly arranged to move the print media across the print head; Single motor; And a delivery assembly arranged to connect a single motor to the compressor and the print media transport assembly, wherein the delivery assembly includes a direct drive connection from the single motor spindle to the air compressor and a gear connection from the spindle to the print media transport assembly. do.

In accordance with a twenty fifth embodiment of the present invention, a printer support complementary to an inkjet printer cartridge of a type comprising a pagewidth printhead is provided and the printhead auxiliary member is arranged to selectively perform a number of different functions with respect to the printhead. The support includes a delivery assembly arranged to selectively secure and drive the printhead auxiliary member.

The delivery assembly preferably includes a drive shaft and the drive shaft is arranged to secure and detach the printhead auxiliary member as the drive shaft rotates in the first and second directions, respectively. Furthermore, the transfer assembly preferably comprises a flipper gear assembly for selectively securing to the drive shaft for the printhead auxiliary member, the flipper gear assembly preferably radially from the first gear, the first gear fixed to the drive shaft. And a second gear positioned and a positioning member for retaining the second gear and the first gear in meshed form.

According to a twenty sixth aspect of the present invention, a body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an air inlet port; And an air compressor having an air outlet pipe positioned such that the ink jet printer support is matched to the cartridge and connected to the air inlet port.

Preferably, the printer support body defines a recess designed to receive and position a removable inkjet cartridge and the air outlet tubing terminates in the recess. The air outlet tubing preferably has a termination configured to traverse the body portion defining the inner shelf of the recess and to penetrate the seal for the air inlet port in the removable inkjet cartridge.

In another embodiment according to this aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising: a body defining a recess designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an air inlet port; And an air outlet arranged to traverse a body portion defining an interior shelf of the recess, the ink outlet printer support being positioned to connect with the air inlet port at the same time that the inkjet printer support is inserted into the recess and configured to assist through the seal across the air inlet port. An inkjet printer support is provided that includes an air compressor with piping.

According to a twenty seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink reservoir including an ink outlet; Means for applying pressure to an ink reservoir for pushing ink to the ink outlet; An ink dispenser is provided that includes means for limiting the pressure of ink pushed to the outlet to a predetermined level.

Preferably, the ink reservoir is composed of a deformable film and the means for limiting the pressure of the ink pushed to the outlet is constituted by means for limiting the pressure applied directly to the ink reservoir.

The means for applying pressure to the ink reservoir may be comprised of a handle and the means for limiting the pressure applied to the ink reservoir comprises a resilient member having a deformation characteristic selected to limit the pressure to a predetermined level. The resilient member may preferably be located between the ink reservoir and the means for applying pressure to the ink reservoir and preferably consists of a spring. Both the ink reservoir and the spring may be located within a portion of the handle.

In use, the dispenser is preferably connected to an external reservoir and ink is pushed to the outlet of the dispenser and delivered to the external reservoir. The external reservoir is preferably provided in a removable inkjet cartridge and the predetermined pressure level relates to the pressure required to rupture the external reservoir.

In another embodiment according to this aspect of the invention, a deformable ink container having an outlet; A handle disposed to apply pressure to the container to push ink to the outlet; And a resilient member disposed to limit the pressure applied to the deformable container by the handle to prevent rupture of the external reservoir connected to the dispenser when in use.

Preferably the deformable container is comprised of an ink storage film and the resilient member is comprised of a spring comprising a platform disposed around the ink storage film.

According to a twenty eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink dispenser system consisting of a plurality of ink dispensers, each ink dispenser comprising one of a plurality of inks; A feature configured to position the dispenser in a predetermined position in the inkjet printer component for refilling; And an outlet located at at least one of a plurality of predetermined locations relative to the configuration, depending on the type of ink in the dispenser.

Preferably the refillable inkjet printer component is a removable inkjet printer cartridge, and the removable inkjet printer cartridge includes a pagewidth printhead.

The configuration configured to position the dispenser in a predetermined position preferably consists of a connector arranged to mate with the refill port of the inkjet printer component, and the plurality of predetermined exit positions preferably lie within the area defined by the connector.

In a preferred embodiment, some of the inks include kinds of inks to facilitate color printing.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink dispenser system consisting of a plurality of ink dispensers, each ink dispenser comprising: a color ink; A connector disposed to mate with a refill port of a refillable inkjet printer cartridge comprising a plurality of inlet portions positioned separately therefrom; And an outlet positioned to mate with one of the inlet ports located separately according to the color of the color ink.

According to a twenty-ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing comprising first and second compartments that are movable relative to each other; And an ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to react to the associated motion of the first and second compartments and to move the ink out of the housing, the outlet being positioned when the first and second compartments are directed towards each other in use. An ink dispenser is provided through which ink is discharged.

Preferably, the reservoir consists of a deformable container located within the housing and the deformable container is compressed by bringing the first and second compartments towards each other.

The first and second compartments of the housing are preferably arranged to slide with each other and the resilient member is preferably arranged between the deformable container and one or both of the first and second compartments of the housing. The resilient member preferably has properties selected to limit the pressure of the deformable member to a predetermined level in use.

The resilient member may consist of a spring and the first and second compartments of the housing may consist of a base and a plunger, the spring being located between the deformable member and the plunger.

The deformable member is preferably composed of a deformable membrane.

Another embodiment of this form of the invention comprises a housing consisting of a base and a plunger; A deformable container located within the ink storage housing; An outlet connected to the deformable container and arranged to move ink out of the housing; And a spring positioned between the deformable container and a plunger having a characteristic selected to limit the pressure of the container to a predetermined level in use, wherein the deformable container between the spring and the base is brought when the plunger is brought towards the base in use. An ink dispenser is provided which is compressed and the ink is discharged through the outlet.

According to a thirtieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing comprising a first and second compartments that can move relative to each other; And an ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to move the ink out of the housing in response to the associated motion of the first and second compartments, the first and second compartments having a predetermined level of actuation force across the compartments. An ink dispenser is provided that includes a matched configuration arranged to interfere with each other's associated movement until applied.

In a preferred embodiment, the ink reservoir consists of a deformable container located within the housing and when the first and second compartments of the ink dispenser are directed towards each other, the containers are compressed and thereby ink is moved from the dispenser.

The first and second compartments preferably consist of a base and a plunger and the conforming configuration may consist of one or more complementary protrusions formed opposite the base and plunger walls.

Another embodiment of this form of the invention comprises a deformable container comprising a full filled ink; A housing slidably coupled with the plunger and positioning the deformable container; And an outlet connected with the deformable container and arranged to move the ink out of the housing, wherein the first and second compartments are configured such that the compartments are in contact with each other until a predetermined level of actuation force is applied across these compartments. An ink dispenser having a matched characteristic disposed to interfere with the associated motion of the device is provided.

According to a thirtieth aspect of the invention, there is provided a housing comprising first and second compartments that can move relative to each other; An ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to respond to mutual movement of the first and second compartments and to move the ink out of the housing, wherein the first and second compartments are arranged such that the compartments are in contact with each other according to the operation of the dispenser. An ink dispenser having a locking structure arranged to prevent falling is provided.

The ink reservoir is preferably composed of a deformable container located within the housing so that the container is compressed when the first and second compartments are brought towards each other.

The first and second compartments preferably consist of a base and a plunger and the locking structure preferably consists of one or more complementary protrusions and teeth formed against the walls of the base and plunger.

According to another embodiment of this form of the present invention, a deformable container for storing ink; And a housing positioned to move the ink out of the housing and positioning the deformable container between the base slidably engaging the plunger and the outlet connected to the deformable container, the base and the plunger opposing the base and plunger walls. There is provided an ink dispenser which is joined to each other by one or more complementary protrusions and teeth formed and arranged to prevent the plunger from falling from the base upon operation of the dispenser.

According to a thirty second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of fitting a removable inkjet support to a removable cartridge; Mating the refill cartridge to a removable inkjet cartridge; Confirming authentication of the removable inkjet cartridge; Confirming authentication of the refill cartridge; And operating the support base based on the authentication step.

Preferably, mating the removable cartridge to the complementary inkjet support includes electrical communication between the authentication device of the inkjet cartridge and the controller of the support.

The step of mating the refill cartridge to the removable inkjet cartridge preferably comprises electrical communication between the authentication mechanism of the inkjet cartridge and the controller of the support.

Actuating the support based on the authentication step preferably includes instructing the user to fail authentication of the refill cartridge or removable inkjet cartridge.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, an inkjet printer is provided that includes a controller arranged to identify an authentication mechanism of a removable inkjet printer cartridge and a refill cartridge connected to the removable inkjet printer cartridge.

The controller is preferably connected to an electrician mounted to the body of the support in a position that is located within the support of the printer and in electrical communication with the authentication mechanism. Each authentication device is preferably composed of an integrated circuit.

The present invention will provide a printer system employing associated ink storage means in the form of a cartridge that can be easily removed and replaced from the support device of the printhead and printer system. The removable cartridge can provide print jobs of higher quality and speed than current printer systems and can be refilled when ink is depleted. The present invention also provides a system and method for refilling ink in cartridges that can provide high quality and fast print jobs and provide a printer system that can be easily removed and replaced when needed.

1 is a perspective view showing the front, top and right side of a printer cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention in combination with a printer support.

2 is a block diagram of a printer cartridge.

3 is a perspective view showing the front, top and right side of the printer cartridge before being inserted into the printer support.

4 is a perspective view showing the back, rear and left sides of the printer cartridge.

5 is a perspective view showing the front, bottom and right sides of the printer cartridge in a partially separated state.

6 is a perspective view showing the front, bottom and right sides of the printer cartridge in the disassembled state.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the underside of the base mold of the cartridge revealing multiple ink conduits. FIG.

8 is a right side view of the printer cartridge.

9 is a cross-sectional view of the printer cartridge.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view through a printhead chip nozzle in a first state of operation.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view through a printhead chip nozzle in a second state of operation.

12 is a cross-sectional view through a printhead chip in which ejection of ink drops occurs.

Fig. 13 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of a printhead chip in which ejection of ink drops occurs.

14 is a perspective sectional view of the printhead chip nozzle.

15 is a cross-sectional view of the printhead chip nozzle.

16 is a perspective view and a partial cross-sectional perspective view of the printhead chip nozzle.

17 is a plan view of the printhead chip nozzle.

18 is a partial cross-sectional plan view of the printhead chip nozzle.

19 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view showing a portion of a printhead chip.

20 is a block diagram of a printer support.

Figure 21 is a perspective view showing the front, left and top sides of the printer support.

22 is a plan view showing the front of the printer support.

23 is a plan view showing the top of the printer support.

24 is a plan view showing the underside of the printer support.

25 is a plan view showing the right side of the printer support.

Fig. 26 is a perspective view showing the left side, the front side and the top side of the printer support in the disassembled state.

27 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing the right side of the printer support.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing the back, left and top sides of a printer support with an inserted printer cartridge. FIG.

29 is a perspective view showing the rear, left and top sides of the printer support with the RFI guard removed.

30 is a perspective detail view showing a part of the left side of the printer support;

31 is a perspective detail view showing a part of the right side of the printer support;

32 is a perspective view of a single SoPEC chip controller board.

33 is a perspective view of twin SoPEC chip controller boards.

34 is a block diagram of a SoPEC chip.

35 is a perspective view of the ink refill cartridge in an empty state.

36 is a perspective view of an ink refill cartridge in a filled state.

37 is a perspective view of the ink refill cartridge in a disassembled state.

38 is a sectional view of the ink refill cartridge in an empty state.

Fig. 39 is a sectional view of the ink refill cartridge in a filled state.

40 depicts a filled ink refill cartridge aligned for mounting to a printer cartridge.

Figure 41 depicts an ink refill cartridge mounted to a printer cartridge before dispensing ink.

42 depicts an ink refill cartridge mounted to a printer cartridge after dispensing ink.

1 depicts an inkjet printer 2 comprising a support 4 for receiving a removable printer cartridge 6 in a recess formed in the support body in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The cartridge 6 is fixed in the support recess by a retainer in the form of a latch 7 connected to the support 4 by a hinge. Shown on the top of the printer cartridge 6 is an ink refill port 8 which receives the ink refill cartridge during use.

Printer cartridges

A block diagram of the removable inkjet printer cartridge 6 is depicted with reference to FIG. The cartridge 6 includes an ink refill port 8 and an ink delivery assembly 10 that stores ink and delivers it to the microelectromechanical pagewidth printhead chip 52. The printhead chip 52 receives the power and data signals from the support 4 through the power and data interface 58. The rotor members 60, which are mechanically driven by the support, each have three surfaces that help: adsorb the printhead chip 52 with ink jetting; Seal the printhead when not in use; And acts as a platen during printing. Thus, the rotor member 60 acts as an auxiliary assembly to the printhead in that it assists proper printhead operation. The cartridge 6 also includes an authentication device in the form of a quality assurance chip 57 that contains various manufacturer codes that are read by the electrical circuitry of the support 4 control board 82 in use.

Referring to Figures 3 to 9, first of all, in Figure 6, the cartridge 6 structurally comprises a polyethylene film 26 comprising an ink reservoir in the form of pockets 28, 30, 32, 34 of each of four different inks. It includes a main body including a base casting (20) covering the. Typically the ink will be cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Additional ink reservoirs required by various applications may be provided in the base mold 20 for receiving and storing ink fixative and / or infrared ink. In this regard, up to six ink reservoirs may be provided with the base casting 20. The film 26 expands when filled with ink, and conversely, the film shrinks when ink is consumed during printing.

The lid mold 36 includes a recess 38 for receiving an ink inlet mold 24 having a plurality of passages. A plurality of holes 42A-42E are formed through the recesses 38 and are arranged to communicate in correspondence with the passages of the ink inlet molds 24. The passage of the ink inlet member transports the ink from the appropriate refill cartridge to each ink reservoir from the outside through a series of ink transfer passages formed in the ink film 26. An ink delivery passage connects each of the holes 42A-42E of the ink inlet member 24 to the depicted ink reservoirs 28-34. The ink is generally delivered under pressure and thereby flows into the reservoir in the membrane 26 to expand the reservoir. The ink inlet seal 40 is located outside of the recess 38 to seal the holes 42A-42E before use.

The pagewidth printhead chip 52 is disposed along the outer surface of the cartridge base mold 20 in the region below the ink reservoir. As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of tubing 43A-43E is formed on the underside of the cartridge base mold to communicate directly with each ink reservoir 28, 30, 32, 34. The tubing provides an ink delivery passage from the underside of the cartridge base mold 20 to an inlet port provided in the ink delivery mold 48 to which the printhead chip 52 is attached.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the ink delivery mold 48 is preferably made of plastic such as LCP (liquid crystal polymer) through an injection molding process and prints ink from the ink reservoir in the film 26 to the printhead chip 52. A plurality of elongated tubing of a length arranged for dispensing. Each elongated tubing is provided to transport particular ink, such as special color ink or fixative, and to dispense ink along the length of the printhead. An ink rod strip 45 is positioned between the cartridge base mold 20 and the ink delivery mold 48 to aid in control of the ink delivery. Ink strips are formed with holes that allow ink to pass between the two components. It acts to seal the channels formed in the cartridge base mold to prevent leakage of ink.

In the cartridge base mold 20 adjacent to the extended ink distribution tubing, an air distribution channel is formed that distributes the compressed air from the air inlet port 76 above the nozzles of the printhead 52. The air distribution channel operates along the length of the printhead 52 and communicates with the air inlet port 76. The porous air filter 51 has a porosity selected to allow air to pass through the filter at the desired threshold pressure, whereby the air is uniformly distributed at a constant pressure along the length of the printhead. In use, channel 50 first fills the compressed air until air reaches the threshold pressure in the channel. When the threshold pressure is reached, the air passes evenly through the porous air filter 51 along the length of the filter. The filtered air is then directed over the printhead.

The purpose of compressed air is to prevent printhead damage by keeping the printhead nozzles free of dust and debris. Compressed air is provided by an air compressor (122 in FIG. 14) integrated into the support. The air nozzle of the compressor (124 of FIG. 15) passes through the air seal 44 at the same time the cartridge 6 is inserted into the support 4. Match with the air inlet port 76. The air shroud plate 54 is secured to the cartridge base mold and distributes air evenly across the printhead 52 in the manner described above.

Power and data signals are provided to the printhead 52 by busbars that are alternately connected to external data and power connectors 58A, 58B. An authentication device in the form of a quality assurance (QA) chip 57 is mounted on the connector 58A. Insert the printer cartridge 6 into the support 4 and at the same time the data and power connectors 58A and 58B and the quality assurance chip 57 mate with mating connectors on the support 4 (84A and 84B in FIG. 9). This facilitates communication between the support and the cartridge. The quality assurance chip 57 is tested in use by a portion of the control circuit 82 configured to act as a suitable authentication circuit.

The rotor member 60 is rotatably mounted adjacent to and parallel to the print head 52. The rotor member, as briefly described above, has three sides according to the following: platen face which supports the print medium during printing and helps to bring the print medium close to the print head 52; A lid side covering the printhead to reduce ink vaporization at the nozzle when not in use; And an adsorption face that adsorbs the printhead along with the print job. The three sides of the rotor member are separated by 120 degrees.

At the opposite ends of the rotor member 60, the shaft pins 64A, 64B are received as sliding blocks 66A, 66B. The sliding blocks 66A, 66B include plungers 68A, 68B located in the slots 70A, 70B of the end plates 22A, 22B. The end plate is secured to one of the ends of the cartridge base mold 20.

As shown in FIG. 8, the sliding blocks 66A, 66B are secured at one end by inserting the springs 72A, 72B into the blind holes in the sliding blocks 66A, 66B and placing them over the protrusions into the slots 70A, 70B. Biased toward the printhead ends of the slots 70A, 70B. Thus, the rotor member 60 is biased normally and thus very close to the printhead 52.

During the movement and while the printer cartridge 6 is inserted into the support 4, the rotor member 60 is disposed so that the lid face can be covered to prevent the ambient air from curling the printhead nozzles.

Printhead

The preferred design of pagewidth printhead 52 will now be described. The following types of printheads can be manufactured with a width greater than 8 inches if desired and include at least 20,000 nozzles and in some instances more than 30,000 nozzles. A preferred printhead nozzle arrangement consisting of a nozzle and a corresponding actuator will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 19. 19 shows an arrangement of nozzle devices 801 formed on a silicon substrate 8015. The nozzle devices are the same, but in a preferred embodiment, different nozzle devices are supplied with different color inks and fixatives. The rows of nozzle arrangements 801 intersect each other and allow for closer spacing of the ink spots than when composed of a single row of nozzles during printing. Multiple rows allow for redundancy (if desired), thereby achieving a scheduled failure rate per nozzle. Each nozzle device 801 is the product of an integrated circuit fabrication technique. In particular, the nozzle arrangement defines a microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

For clarity and brevity, the configuration and operation of the single nozzle device 801 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The inkjet printhead chip 12 includes a silicon wafer substrate 801. A 0.35 micron 1 P4M 12 volt CMOS microfabrication circuit is located over the silicon wafer substrate 801.

A silicon dioxide (or glass) film 8017 is located on the wafer substrate 8015. Silicon dioxide film 8017 defines a CMOS dielectric layer. CMOS top level metal defines an aligned pair of aluminum electrode contact layers 8030 positioned over silicon dioxide film 8017. Both silicon wafer substrates and silicon dioxide films are etched to define an ink inlet channel 8014 which generally has a rounded cross section (in plane). Aluminum diffusion barrier 8028 of CMOS metal 1. CMOS metal 2/3 and CMOS highest level metal are located in the silicon dioxide film around the ink inlet channel 8014. The diffusion barrier 8028 helps to prevent diffusion of hydroxyl ions through the CMOS oxide film of the driving circuit layer 8017.

A protective film in the form of a silicon nitride film 8031 is disposed on the aluminum contact layer 8030 and the silicon dioxide film 8017. Each portion of the protective film 8031 positioned over the contact layer has an opening 8302 defined to allow access to the contact layer.

The nozzle apparatus 801 includes a nozzle chamber 8029 defined by an annular nozzle wall 8033, which nozzle upper portion within a radially inner nozzle rim 804 that is circular to the nozzle roof 8034 plane. Have Ink inlet channel 8014 communicates ink with nozzle chamber 8029. At the lower end of the nozzle wall, a moving rim 8010 including a moving seal lip 8040 is disposed. Enclosure wall 8039 surrounds the moving nozzle and includes a fixed seal lip 8039, wherein the fixed seal lip is adjacent to the moving rim when the nozzle is at rest, as shown in FIG. The fluid seal 8011 is formed trapped between the fixed seal lip 8039 and the moving seal lip 8040 because of the surface tension of the ink. This provides a low resistance connecting between the enclosure wall 8038 and the nozzle wall 8033 while preventing ink from leaking out of the chamber.

As shown in FIG. 17, a number of radially extending recesses 8035 are defined in the roof 8034 around the nozzle rim 804. The recess 8035 helps to include radial ink flow as a result of the ink exiting past the nozzle rim.

The nozzle wall 8033 together with the base 8037 attached to the silicon nitride film 8031 forms part of a lever arrangement mounted to a carrier 8036 having a generally U-shaped profile.

The lever device also includes a lever arm 8018 that extends from the nozzle wall and is integrated into the side strengthening beams 8802. As shown in FIGS. 13 and 18, the lever arm is formed of titanium nitride (TiN) and attached to a pair of passive beams 806 located on one side of the nozzle arrangement. The other end of the passive beam 806 is attached to the carrier 8036.

The lever arm 8018 is also attached to the actuator beam 807 formed of TiN. This attachment to the actuator beam is made at a smaller but significant distance than the attachment to the passive beam 806.

As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 16, the actuator beam 807 is basically U-shaped in plane and defines a current path between the electrode 809 and the counter electrode 8081. Each electrode 809 and 8041 are electrically connected at each point in the contact layer 8030. As electrically connected through the contactor 809, the actuator beam is also mechanically connected to the anchor 808. The anchor 808 is configured to limit the movement of the actuator beam 807 on 12 left in FIG. 10 upon operation of the nozzle arrangement.

TiN in the actuator beam is conductive, but has sufficient electrical resistance to self-heat when current passes between the electrodes 809 and 8041. There is no current passing through the passive beam so the passive beam does not expand.

In use, the device is filled with ink 8013 which defines the meniscus under the influence of surface tension at rest. The ink is retained in the chamber 8029 by the unevenness and will not leak out in the absence of other physical effects.

As shown in FIG. 11, current flows between the communicators 809 and 8041 through the actuator beam 807 to eject ink from the nozzle. The size and design of the actuator beam is an important part of the expansion in the horizontal direction in FIG. The expansion is limited to the left by the anchor, whereby the end of the actuator beam adjacent to the lever arm 8018 is pushed to the right.

The relatively horizontal stiffness of the passive beam 806 prevents excessive horizontal movement of the lever arm. However, the relative displacement of each attachment point of the passive beam and the actuator beam with respect to the lever arm causes a torsional movement that generally moves the lever arm downward. The movement is effectively a turning or hinge movement. However, the actual absence of the pivot means that it is to rotate around the pivot area defined by the bending of the passive beam.

The downward movement (and some rotation) of the lever arm 8018 is amplified by the distance between the nozzle wall 8033 and the passive beam 806. Downward movement of the nozzle wall and roof increases the pressure in the chamber and causes the convex unevenness shown in FIG. 11. It will be appreciated that due to the surface tension of the ink, the fluid seal 11 is stretched by this movement without leakage of the ink.

As shown in FIG. 12, at a suitable time, the drive current stops and the actuator beam cools quickly and contracts. The retraction causes the lever arm to return to the rest position, which in turn reduces the pressure in the chamber 8029. The negative pressure resulting from the intersection of the convex ink momentum, the intrinsic surface tension, and the upward movement of the nozzle chamber results in thinning and ultimate bending of the unevenness defining the ink droplet 802 moving upwards until it comes in contact with the print media. .

After the ink drops have fallen, the unevenness 803 forms a concave shape shown in FIG. The surface tension causes the pressure in the chamber to remain relatively low until the ink is absorbed upward through the inlet 8014, which causes the nozzle arrangement and the ink to return to the stationary state shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 13, the nozzle apparatus also specifies a test mechanism that can be used after manufacture and periodically after the printhead is installed. The test mechanism includes a pair of communicators 8020 connected to the test circuit. The bridging communicator 8019 is provided over the finger 8043 extending from the lever arm 8018. Since the bridging speaker is on the opposite side of the passive beam 806, the operation of the nozzle causes the priming speaker to move upwards to contact the speaker 8020. The test circuit can be used to ensure the operation of closing the circuit formed by the communicators 8019 and 8020. Once the circuit is properly closed, it can generally be assumed that the nozzle is working.

support fixture

20 is an operating block diagram of the printer support 4. The printer support is built around a control board 82 that includes one or more traditional Small Office Home Office printer engine chips (SoPECs) having a structure to be described in detail. The control board 10 is connected to a USB port 130 for connecting to an external computing device such as a computer or a digital camera containing a digital file for printing. The control board 10 monitors the following:

A paper sensor 192 for detecting the presence of a print medium;

A printer cartridge chip interface 84 connected to the printer cartridge quality assurance chip 57 in use;

An ink refill cartridge QA chip contactor 132 connected to the ink refill cartridge QA chip 176 in FIG. 37 in use;

Rotor member angle sensor 156 for detecting the direction of the rotor member (60).

In use, the control board processes data received from the USB port 130 and the various sensors described above and responds in response to the printhead chip 52 via the motor 110, the tri-color indicator LED 135 and the interface 84. ). As will be described in more detail later, the motor 110 is mechanically connected to a number of mechanisms that provide auxiliary functions to the printer cartridge 6. Driving mechanisms include:

A rotor member drive assembly 145 for operating the rotor member 60;

A print media transport assembly 93 for transferring the print media across the printhead chip 52 during printing;

An air compressor 122 that provides compressed air for maintaining the printhead chip 52 without debris.

As will be described in more detail, the motor 110 is each connected over mechanisms by a transfer assembly including direct drive connection from the motor spindle to the air compressor and worm gear and tooth transfer to the rotor member and print media transport assembly.

The structure of the support 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 21 to 31. As most clearly seen in the exploded view of FIG. 26, the support 4 has a main body shaped like a complementary cartridge 6 so as to form an inkjet printer upon registration. The support body is formed of a base casting 90 and a support casting 80. The base mold serves to support the support base and also positions the drive motor 110, the rotor member roller 94, and the drive roller 96. The base mold is firmly held to the support mold by a plurality of corresponding flanges 120 and slots 123. The support mold defines an extended recess 89 designed for positioning the printer cartridge 6. A number of teeth in the form of slots 86 are formed in the inner wall of the support to accommodate the complementary protrusions in the form of the ribs (78 of FIG. 4) of the cartridge 6. As a result, the cartridge 6 must be oriented exactly so that it can be fully accommodated in the support mold. Furthermore, the slots are supported by the electronics of the support and thus secure such cartridges having contactless ribs and inserted into the support, thereby attempting to drive cartridges with unsupported performance characteristics. Overcome the problems. The controller 82 is arranged to determine the performance characteristic of the cartridge inserted in the support and to operate each cartridge in response to the determined performance characteristic. As a result, the inkjet support can be provided with a starter cartridge having relatively basic performance characteristics, and then the starter cartridge can be replaced with an improved performance upgrade cartridge to upgrade as desired. Upgrade cartridges, for example, can provide faster printing or more support than starter cartridges.

Referring to FIG. 25, the drive shaft 127 of the motor 110 is terminated in a worm gear 129 overlapping with the teeth 125B, which are in turn fixed to the drive roller 96. Referring again to FIG. 26, the drive rollers are supported at one end by bearing mounting assemblies 100A and 100B, which in turn are secured to slots 101A and 101B of support mold 80. Similarly, rotor member transition roller 94 and pinch roller 98 are also supported by bearing mounting assemblies 100A and 100B.

Referring now to FIG. 30, the flipper gear assembly 140 is positioned opposite the motor end of the drive roller 96. The flipper gear assembly consists of a housing 144 holding the inner gear 142 and the outer gear 143 overlapping one another. The internal gear is fixed to the drive roller and coaxial with the drive roller, while the housing 144 is free to rotate around the drive roller 86. In use, the housing rotates with the drive rollers until the drive rollers are adjacent to the fixture positioned on the support base castings 90 or the outer gear 143 overlaps the rotor member drive teeth 146 and the drive rollers rotate with the external gears ( 143). The direction of rotation of the drive roller 96 depends on the detection of the drive current applied to the motor by the control board 82. The overlap of the outer gear and the rotor member drive tooth forms a rotor member drive assembly 145 consisting of a convex roller 96, an internal gear 142, an external gear 143, and a rotor member drive tooth 146. Thus, power can be transmitted from the drive roller to the rotor member drive roller 94 in this configuration.

Referring to Fig. 31, the opposite ends of the rotor member drive rollers terminate at cams 148A and 148B positioned corresponding to cam followers 150A and 150B. The cam ball is annular and fixed to pivot on one side of the swing pins 152A and 152B, respectively. Hinged jaws 154A and 154B are provided to hold the rotor member sliding Blum (66A, 66B in FIG. 6). The jaws are pivotably connected to cam balls 150A and 150B opposite the pivot pins 152A and 152B, respectively. At the same time as the rotor member drive roller rotates, the cam is adjacent to the inner wall of the cam ball so that the cam ball can hold the jaws respectively.

In order to ensure that the rotor member turns at the correct angle, the support 4 includes a rotor member sensor device (156 of FIG. 20) for sensing the actual orientation of the rotor member. The rotor member 60 has a reflecting surface arranged to reflect light rays from the light source so that the direction of the rotor member is sensed by the sensor 156. In particular, by monitoring the sensor device, the control board 82 can determine which side of the rotor member is adjacent to the printhead 52.

Driving the drive rollers is a special issue, and the motor also drives the air compressor 122 including the fan housing 112, the air filter 116 and the impeller 114. The fan housing includes an air outlet 124 employed to mate with the air inlet port (76 in FIG. 6) of the cartridge.

As shown in the side view of FIG. 25 and the cross-sectional view of FIG. 27, a metal backplane 92 is secured behind the support mold 80. The control board is mounted on the support plate with various electrical circuits. The control board is covered by a metal radio frequency interface (RFI) blank 102. The control board is electrically connected to the support connectors 84A and 84B through a flexible PBC connector 106 and to external data and power connection points in the form of a USB port connector 130. The USB connector allows you to connect an external personal computer or other computing device. The support connector is supported in a slot formed at one end of the support mold 80, and the support connector is electrically connected to the cartridge connectors 58A and 58B while the printer cartridge 6 is fully inserted into the recess 89 of the support mold. It is arranged to be connected with.

The control board 82 is connected to the QA chip communicator 132 by various cable looms and a flexible PBC 106. The QA chip communicator is placed in a recess formed in the support mold 80 and placed in contact with the QA chip located in the refill cartridge 162 during ink refill, which will be described briefly later.

The control board 82 also drives a tricolor indicator LED (135 in FIG. 20) optically coupled to the light pipe 136. The light pipe terminates in an indicator port 138 formed in the support mold such that light from the tricolor indicator LED can be seen outside the lid.

Control board

A printer device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a cartridge assembly comprising a foundation assembly, i.e. a support assembly comprising all of the necessary electronic components, power supplies and paper handling necessities, and the ink handling necessities of an extremely specialized printhead and system do. This is to allow the cartridge device to support a cartridge device that can realize various performances without having to purchase a new support device.

In this regard, a range of cartridge devices having a number of different characteristics can be provided. For example, three different types of cartridge devices can be simply provided: selection device-15 ppm cartridge with 150 ml ink capacity, intermediate device-30 ppm cartridge with 300 ml ink capacity, specialized device-300 60 ppm cartridge with ink capacity of more than ml. These systems can be supported on a single support and allow users to purchase a variety of cartridges depending on their requirements and considerations.

In the case of specialized devices, special support devices may be required that support the more advanced and sophisticated functions of such cartridge devices. The cartridge device of various functions may have a display such as a display in color so that compatibility with the support device can be easily confirmed.

In this regard, FIG. 32 shows the main PCB device for the support device operating at 15-30 ppm, and FIG. 33 shows the main PCB device for driving at 60 ppm. As shown, the PCBs are almost identical except that there are two SoPEC chips on a 60 ppm PCB. Thus, even if a user has purchased a support device that does not initially support a more powerful cartridge device, the current system structure makes it easier to upgrade the support device to support such a system.

The printer preferably includes one or more systems on a chip (SoC) element, as well as special logic for print engine pipeline control applications configured to perform some or all of the functions described above in connection with the printing engine.

Referring to FIG. 4, from the highest point of view, the SoPEC device consists of three different subsystems: a central processing unit (CPU) subsystem 301, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) subsystem 302, and a print engine pipeline. (PEP) subsystem 303.

The CPU subsystem includes a CPU 30 that controls and forms all aspects of the other subsystems. CPUs generally support connecting and synchronizing external printers with internal print engines. The CPU also controls low speed communication to the QA chip. The CPU subsystem 301 may also include various peripherals to assist the CPU, such as general purpose input outputs (including GPIOs, motor control), shutoff control units (ICUs), LSS masters, and general timers. The serial communication block (SCB) on the CPU subsystem supports a full speed USB 1.1 connection to the host as well as a cross SoPEC interface (ISI) to other SoPEC devices (not shown).

DRAM subsystem 302 receives requirements from blocks in the CPU, SCB, and PEP. DRAM subsystems, and in particular DRAM interconnects (DIUs), mediate sufficient access to DRAM for all requestors based on set parameters. The DIU also hides DRAM's performance characteristics such as paper size, number of blanks, and recovery speed.

The PEP subsystem 303 receives the compressed page from the DRAM and bi-dots (bi) for a given print line intended for a printhead interface that communicates directly with at least two zones of bi-lithic printheads. -level dots). The first range of page expansion pipelines is a contone decoder unit (CDU), a lossless bilevel decoder (LBD) and a tag encoder (TE). The CDU decompresses the JPEG compressed contone (typically CMYK) layer, the LBD decompresses the compressed bilevel layer (typically K), and TE the netpage tag for later implementations (typically IR or K ink). Encrypt The output from the first range is a set of buffers: Contone FIFO Device (CFU), Spot FIFO Device (SFU), and Tag FIFO Device (TFU). CFU and SFU butters run on DRAM.

The second range is a halftone compositor device (HCU) which dithers the contone layer and synthesizes the position tag and the bilevel spot layer over the resulting bari level dither layer.

Depending on the printhead with which the SoPEC device is used, a number of compositing options can be implemented. Up to six channels of bilevel data are produced in the second range, although not all channels that may exist in the printhead. For example, the printhead may only have CMY with K pushed into the CMY channel and IR ignored. Instead, the encrypted tag may be printed in K if IR ink is not available (or for testing purposes).

In the third range, the stop nozzle compensator (DNC) compensates the stop nozzles in the printhead by error diffusion of the stop nozzle data to the color surplus and surrounding dots.

The resulting bilevel six-channel dot data (typically CMYK, infrared, fixed liquid) is buffered and written to a set of line buffers stored in DRAM via a dotline writer device (DWU).

Finally, the dot data is retrieved from the DRAM and passed to the printhead interface via the dot FIFO. The dot FIFO accepts data from the line loader device (LLU) at the system clock speed (pcclk), while the printhead interface (PHI) removes data from the FIFO and prints the data at two-thirds of the system clock speed. Send to

In a preferred form, the size of the DRAM is 2.5 Mbytes, of which about 2 Mbytes are available for compressed page storage data. Compressed pages are accommodated in two or more bands together with multiple bands stored in memory. Since the band of pages is consumed by the PEP subsystem for printing, a new band can be downloaded. The new band may be for the current page or the next page.

By using the band, you can start printing one page before the fully compressed page is downloaded, but care must be taken to ensure that the data can always be printed and that butter is operational.

The inserted USB 1.1 device receives the compressed page data and control commands from the host PC, and transfers the data to the DRAM (or other SoPEC device in the multi-SoPEC system, described below).

The multi SoPEC device can be used in other embodiments and can perform other functions depending on the particular implementation. For example, in some cases SoPEC devices can simply be used for onboard DRAM, while other SoPEC devices are used for various compression restores and the formatting functions described above. This reduces the chance of butter operating when the printer starts printing one page in preference to all data if the page being received and the remaining data are not received in time. Even if none of the other capacities of the printhead chip are used, an extra SoPEC device can be added for the memory buffer capacity to double the amount of data that can be buffered.

Each SoPEC system will have several Quality Assurance (QA) devices designed to work together to ensure printer mechanisms, ink supply quality that does not damage the printhead nozzles during printing, and software quality that does not damage the printhead and mechanism. Can be.

Normally, each printing SoPEC has an associated printer QA, which stores printer characteristic information such as maximum print speed. Ink cartridges for use in the system may also include ink QA chips, which store cartridge information such as the amount of ink remaining. The printhead also has a QA chip configured to act as a ROM (effectively as an EEPROM) that stores printhead specific information such as static nozzle mapping and printhead characteristics. The CPU in the SoPEC device can selectively load and execute program code from a QA chip that effectively acts as a serial EEPROM. Finally, the CPU in the SoPEC device executes the logic QA chip.

In general, all the QA chips in a system are physically identical and only differ in the contents of the flash memory.

Each SoPEC device has two LSS system buses that can communicate with QA devices for system certification and ink usage evaluation. The location in the system is not limited except that multiple QA devices can be used on a bus-by-bus basis and the printer QA and ink QA devices must reside on separate LSS buses.

In use, the amount of ink remaining in communication between the logic QA and the ink QA is determined. The response from the ink QA is authenticated with reference to the printer QA. The confirmation from the printer QA itself is authenticated from the logical QA, thereby non-integratingly adding an additional authentication level to the reply from the ink QA.

Data passing between QA chips, not the printhead QA, is authenticated in the form of digital signals. In a preferred embodiment, HMAC-SHAI authentication is used for data, RSA is used for program code, and another scheme may be used instead.

A single SoPEC device can control two printheads and up to six color channels. Six channels of color ink are expected to be the largest in the consumer environment, either by a consumer SOHO or office by virtue, including: CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow), for normal color printing; For K (black), black text, line graphics and grayscale printing; IR (infrared), for netpage capable operations; F (fixed liquid), for stain-resistant printing at high speeds.

Since the bi-by-printer can print very quickly, a fixative will be required to dry the ink before the page touches a page that has already been printed. Otherwise ink may flow between pages. In a relatively slow printing environment, fixatives will not be needed.

In a preferred form, the SoPEC device has no defined color space. Although it receives concon data in SMYK or RGBX format, if X is an optional fourth channel, it also receives contone data in any print color space. In addition, SoPEC provides a mechanism for any mapping of input channels to output channels, which includes dot combinations for ink optimization and generalization of channels based on any other channel. However, the input is typically CMYK for contone input, K for bilevel input, and the optional netpage tag dot is typically implemented with an infrared layer. Fixative channels are typically generated for fast print jobs.

In a preferred embodiment, the SoPEC device also has no resolution. It merely provides a mapping between the input and output resolutions by the scale factor. The expected output resolution in the preferred embodiment is 1600 dpi, but SoPEC has virtually no information about the physical resolution of the printhead.

In a preferred form, the SoPEC device also has no page length. As each band of information is consumed, subsequent pages are typically split into bands and downloaded to the page store.

Subsystem Device abbreviation Device name Explanation DRAM DIU DRAM interface device Provides interfaces for DRAM read and write to access various SoPEC devices, CPUs, and SCB blocks. Provide mediation between competing devices and control DRAM access. DRAM Inserted DRAM 20 Mbits of DRAM inserted.

Subsystem Device abbreviation Device name Explanation CPU Central Processing Unit System setup and control. MMU Memory management device Restrict access to specific memory address areas in CPU user mode. RDU Real-time debug device In addition to some real-time counterfeit registers, it allows you to observe the contents of most CPUs accessible to registers in the SoPEC. TIM General timer Includes watcher and general system timer. LSS Low speed serial interface Low Level Controller for QA Chip and Connectivity GPIO General purpose IOs Equipped with general IO controller, built-in motor controller, LED pulse device and de-glitch circuit. ROM Boot ROM 16 Kbytes of system boot ROM code. ICU Suspension control device General purpose interruption controller with configurable ranking and masking. CPR Clock, Power, and Reset Blocks Central unit that controls and generates the system clock and reset and shutdown mechanisms. PSS Power saving storage Storage retained when the system is powered off. USB Universal serial bus device USB device controller for connection with host USB. ISI Cross-SoPEC Interface Control data and control communication with multi SoPEC systems. SCB Serial communication block Includes both USB and ISI blocks.

Subsystem Device abbreviation Device name Explanation Print engine pipeline PCU PEP Controller Reads and writes PEP device registers and controls an external CPU with a means of reading and writing a single 32-bit DRAM. CDU Concon decoder device Decompresses the JPEG compression contone and writes the restored contone to the DRAM. CFU Conton FIFO Device Line buffer between CDU and HCU. LBD Lossless bilevel decoder Unpack the compressed bilevel layer. SFU Spot FIFO Device Line buffer between CDU and HCU. TE Tag encoder Encrypt tag data with lines of tag dots. TFU Tag FIFO Device Provide tag data storage between TE and HCU. HCU Halftone synthesizer device Dither contone layers and bilevel spots and position tags. DNC Stop nozzle compensator Compensate for the stop nozzles by spreading the color redundancy and the error of the stop data nozzles to the surrounding dots. DWU Dot line writer Six channels of dot data for a given print line are written to the line storage DRAM. LLU Line loader device Read an extended page image from the line store and format the data appropriately for each printhead PHI Printhead interface Send dot data to the printheads by bit and synchronize the lines between multiple SoPECs. It also provides a test interface for the printhead, such as temperature monitoring and stationary nozzle verification.

Ink refill cartridges

As described above, the printhead cartridge 6 includes a storage film 26 that includes internal ink reservoirs 28-34 connected to the ink refill port 8 formed on the lid mold 36. As shown in FIG. To refill the ink reservoir, an ink dispenser in the form of an ink refill cartridge is provided as shown in FIGS. The structure of the refill cartridge 160 will first be described with reference to the cartridge exploded view of FIG.

Ink cartridge 160 has an outer mold 162 that acts as an operating handle or plunger and includes an inner spring assembly 164. The spring assembly includes a platform 178 from a spring member 180 that extends in contact with the interior of the lid mold 162. The spring member causes the platform to be biased against the deformable ink film 166, which is generally made of polyethylene and includes ink such as color ink or fixative. 38 and 39, the ink film 166 is installed in the polyethylene base mold 170 which slides in the outer mold 162. As shown in FIG. Ink outlet tubing 182 is mounted in an elastomeric collar 172 extending from the ink film and formed at the bottom of the base mold. Seal 174 covers ring 172 prior to use of the ink refill cartridge.

The protrusion 190 extends at the bottom of the base mold 170, which serves as a positioning, adapted to the pirill port of an inkjet printer component, such as the ink refill port of the printer cartridge. The position of the outer pipe 182 relative to the protrusion and the relative position of the ring 172 vary depending on the type of ink that the ink refill cartridge is to contain. Thus, the ink system is provided with a plurality of ink dispensers each having a relative exit position with respect to the projections depending on the type of ink contained in the dispenser. As a result, a special ink reservoir 28, 30, 32 provided for matching the refill cartridge to the port 8, while at the same time the outlet 192 matches the appropriate inlets 42A-42E and thus stores the same type of ink. , 34).

An authentication means in the form of a QA chip 176 is mounted on a flange 84 extending from one side of the bottom of the base casting 170. At the same time the ink cartridge 160 is inserted into the ink refill port 8, the QA chip is connected to the QA chip communicator 132 located on the support 4.

The surviving protrusion 168 is formed around the inner wall of the lid casting 162 shown in FIGS. 37 and 38, and the teeth are provided with a tooth that is a recess 165 before the plunge or a recess 169 after the plunge. It extends from the outer wall of the mold 170. The plunger front recess 165 is formed around the abutment wall of the top cover mold 162, while the plunger rear recess 165 is located far above the inner wall. When the ink cartridge is fully charged, the surviving protrusion is fixed by the front recess or the flap. As will be explained in detail later, in order to overcome the planned plunging force, more than the predetermined threshold must be applied to the top cover mold. The plunging releases ink through the outlet 172 and the spring assembly 164 to allow the base mold 170 to be pushed onto the top cover mold 162 until the surviving protrusion is received into the recess after plunge. To overcome bias.

Example

In use, the printer cartridge is correctly aligned above the support 4 as shown in FIG. 3 and then inserted into the recess 89 of the upper support mold 80. When the cartridge device is inserted into the support 4, the data on the support and the power supply communicators 84A, 84B are electrically connected to the data and power supply communicators 58A, 58B of the cartridge. At the same time, the air nozzle 124 of the air compressor 122 passes through the air seal 44 and enters the air inlet port 76 of the cartridge.

As can be seen in FIG. 27, the inner wall of the recess 89 forms a sheet or shelf on which the cartridge rests upon insertion. A number of resilient members in the form of springs 190 are provided to act against the cartridge, while being secured to the cartridge and seated against the holder latch. As a result, the spring acts as a shock absorber during insertion and securely secures the cartridge to the support 4 and the latch 7 by securely positioning the cartridge relative to the latch. Instead, a spring may be inserted over the latch in which the case cartridge is biased relative to the support.

If you try to insert the cartridge in the wrong way, it will not be inserted because of the orientation slots 86 and ribs 78 of the support and the cartridge. Similarly, a cartridge that is not used with the support will not have ribs corresponding to the direction slots 86 and thus will not be accepted regardless of the direction. In particular, a cartridge requiring drive by a support having a twin SoPEC chip control board will not have the exact rib settings accommodated by a support having a single SoPEC chip control board.

When the cartridge device is first inserted into the support, and during transportation, the rotor member 60 is positioned so that the lid face holds the print head 52 and thus seals the nozzle hole of the printer. Similarly, the cover surface contacts the bottom of the printhead to also seal the printhead when the printer device is not in use. Sealing the printhead reduces the evaporation of the ink solvent, which is primarily water, thereby reducing the ink drying of the print nozzle while the printer is not in use.

Remote computing devices, such as digital cameras or personal computers, are connected to the USB port 130 to provide power and print data signals to the support 4. In response to the supply of power, the processing circuit of the control board 82 performs various routine initialization as follows: authenticating the producer coat stored in the QA chip 57; Checking the state of the ink reservoirs 28-34 by the ink reservoir sensor 35; Confirming the state of the rotor member 60 by the sensor 156; Checking whether the paper or other print media is inserted as a support by the paper sensor 192; And a tricolor indicator LED to inform the outside of the state of the device through the light pipe 136.

Before performing a print job, a piece of paper or other print media must be inserted into the support. As soon as the print start signal is received from the external computer, the control board confirms the presence of the paper by the paper sensor. If there is no paper, the tricolor LED 135 is set to turn on the indicator to draw attention and the controller does not start printing. Instead, when the paper sensor 192 indicates the presence of the print medium, the control board responds by rotating the rotor member 60 to a predetermined position for printing.

In this regard, upon sensing the print mode of the start of the job or during the maintenance routine, the rotor member is rotated such that the blot face of the rotor member is positioned in the ink jet path of the printhead. The blot face can act as a spittoon that receives ink from the printing nozzle, and ink is sucked into the body of the rotor member due to the absorbency of the material provided on the blot face. Since the rotor member is part of the printer cartridge 6, the rotor member is replaced at the time of replacement of the cartridge so that the blot face does not fill the ink and does not become messy.

After detecting a print command from the USB port 130 and confirming the presence of the print medium, the drive roller 96 with the pinch roller 98 rotates to start pulling the print medium past the printhead 52. The control board 82 drives the motor 110. At the same time, the control board 82 processes print data from an external computer to generate a control signal for the printhead 52. The control signal is applied to the printhead at one of the ends of the printhead chip 52 via the support interface 84A, 84B, the cartridge interfaces 58A, 58B, and the flexible PCB contactor. The printhead chip has two elongated chips that extend by length, ie the length of the printhead, and data is provided at the end of the printhead through which data is transmitted along the length of each chip for each nozzle. Power is provided to each nozzle of the printhead chip through a busbar that extends along the length of the chip. In response to the data and power received, each nozzle of the printhead selectively ejects ink onto the print media. The nozzle is then pulled over the platen surface of the rotor member 60 and thereby prints an encrypted image on the data signal transmitted to the USB port 130.

Operating the motor 110 directs the air compressor 122 to direct air to the cartridge base mold. Air flows through the ink delivery path in the cartridge base mold 20 to the space behind the air filter 51. When the air pressure reaches a level sufficient to overcome the resistance of the air filter, air flows through the hole in the air filter along the length of the bottom of the cartridge base mold. Air that flows during the operation of the printer is received between the printhead chip 52 and the air shroud 54 and crosses the printhead chip surface, thereby keeping the printhead free of dust and debris, thereby damaging the printhead. Helps prevent

Referring to FIG. 40, the first step of the ink refill process begins with an indication to the control board 82 of the refill sensor 35 that the ink in the ink reservoirs 28, 30, 32, 34 is depleted. In response to the signal from the refill sensor, control board 82 activates indicator LED 135.

Instead, whether or not the ink is depleted may be calculated by the electronic circuitry of the control board. Once the amount of ink per nozzle injection is known and maintained, the amount of ink delivered by the printhead as well as the shape or color of the ink can be calculated throughout the operation of the printhead (about 1 picoliter). In this regard, the control board can monitor the consumption of each ink and when this level reaches a predetermined level, the tricolor indicator LED can indicate that the ink needs to be filled.

Light from the indicator LED is transmitted through the light pipe 136 so that an external indication is indicated in the operation of the printer at the indicator port 138 of the support 4. This indication may convey to the user the color and form of the ink that requires filling. The control board may send a signal to the remote computer through the USB port 130 to show the user the type of ink that needs to be charged through the computer.

In order for the refill process to be processed, the printer cartridge 6 must be located in the printer support 4. A refill cartridge 160 of the ink of the required type may then be placed on the ink refill port 8 located on the top surface of the printer cartridge 6. As previously described, the ink refill port 8 includes a series of inlets 42A-42E that are protected by the sealing film 40. Below the sealing film 40 are a number of ink conduits 42A-42E that allow direct access to the ink reservoirs 28, 30, 32, 34. Ink inlets are provided for each ink, C, M, Y, K, and the infrared ink and the fixing liquid required. The location of the ink provided for each other ink is such that the ink outlet pin 182 of the refill cartridge 160 automatically aligns and communicates with a special one of the specific ink inlets that the cartridge 160 contains and must be filled with. Strategically arranged sideways along the inlet port 8.

A second step of the ink refill process is shown in FIG. 41. In this figure, the refill cartridge 160 is installed into the refill port 8 of the cartridge device. As soon as the refill cartridge is installed into the refill port, the ink refill QA chip 176 automatically aligns with the correspondent 132 of the support device. The control board 82 inquires about various passwords stored in the QA chip 176 for integration and authentication of the ink refill cartridge. Once the control board 182 determines the QA chip 176 that is certified, i.e., confirms the presence of the appropriate producer and the required color or type of ink, the control board sets the indicator LED to indicate yellow, thereby refilling it. The cartridge indicates that it is received. Instead, the control board 182 determines if an error condition exists and in response, sets the LED to be red indicating that there is a problem with the cartridge. For example, if the QA chip 176 fails to pass the authentication step, it may be determined that an error condition exists. Furthermore, there are many cases where only one of the reservoirs 28, 30, 32, 34 needs to be charged. For example, a reservoir is allocated to store cyan ink that may need to be refilled. In this case, the QA chip 176 will indicate that the ink refill cartridge does not contain cyan and the control board will set the indicator LED 135 to red to indicate an error condition.

In order to realize the QA securing the refill, communication between all parts of the printer apparatus is required. That is, the printer cartridge 6 should be located on the printer support 4 and the ink refill cartridge 160 should be installed with the cartridge to allow the ink refill QA chip to communicate with the ink QA chip communicator 132. This reduces the possibility of inaccurate refilling where the ink refill operation is controlled and can damage the printer operation.

As shown in FIG. 41, when the ink refill cartridge 160 is installed in the refill port 8 of the cartridge device 6, the ink outlet pin 28 penetrates the sealing film 40 and the refill port hole 42A. One of -42E) communicates with the corresponding one of the ink inlets 24. An ink inlet 24 is provided as a rubber mold so that penetration of the ink seal 32 located above the ink refill cartridge outlet pin 28 takes place automatically. As a result, self-sealing ink communication is ensured between the ink stored in the refill cartridge, the ink delivery conduits 43A-43E and the reservoirs 28-34. Self-sealing ink communication compresses the flow of ink into one of the reservoirs as soon as the external mold 162 pressure drops.

As shown in FIG. 42, the third step of the ink refill process is when the top cover mold 162 pressure is lowered, thereby discharging the ink present in the ink refill cartridge into one of the printer cartridge reservoirs 28-34. , Occurs. Following the pressure drop in the outer mold 162, it is apparent to the operator that the refilling process is now complete and the ink refill cartridge is consumed and removed from the printer cartridge. Upon completion of the refill process, refill sensor 35 generates a signal indicating that the ink level in each reservoir 28-34 is greater than the predetermined level. In response to a signal from the refill sensor, control board 82 sets the indicator LED to glow green and thereby instructs the operator that the refill process has been successfully completed.

The force with which the ink is discharged from the ink refill cartridge is determined by the degree of plunging force applied by the operator to the top cover mold 162. The top cover mold thus acts as an actuation handle or plunger for the ink refill cartridge. As a result, if the refilling step is not thoroughly done or delayed, there is a possibility that ink is delivered to the printer cartridge with excessive pressure. Such pressure may cause the ink stored in the printer cartridge to rupture the ink reservoir film so that leakage of ink in the cartridge device may cause irreparable damage of the printer cartridge. The inner spring casting 164 prevents the film from inadvertently rupturing by providing a safety mechanism that prevents the ink released from the refill device from being over compressed. In this regard, the spring casting 164 is designed to limit the maximum force transmitted from the plunging of the top cover mold 14 to the deformable ink film 26. Any force applied to the top cover mold 14 that causes the ink to be released at a pressure greater than the maximum allowable pressure is alleviated by the spring mold 164 and stored in the spring member 180. The spring casting 164 is suitably designed to prevent an unintended force from being momentarily applied to the refill ink film 166. That is, the deformation and / or elastic properties of the spring casting are chosen to limit the pressure of the membrane to a predetermined level.

As shown in FIGS. 38 and 39, a retention protrusion 168 is located on the side of the base mold 170. While the ink cartridge 160 is in the pre-plunge state, the retaining protrusions mate with the pre-plunge recess 165. Fixing the protrusion 168 to the recess before the plunge can additionally measure safety during the refill process. This prevents the fixation from inadvertently applying force from the top lid mold to the inner ink film 166 and thus prevents unintentional plunging of the top lid during transportation or delivery. As the ink refill cartridge is installed in the refill port, the top cover 162 is plunge with sufficient force to overcome the fixation of the retaining protrusion 168 by the recess 165 before plunge. Plunging the top cover mold 162 counteracts the ink film 166 on the platform 178 of the spring assembly 164 and thereby transfers ink through the outlet pipe 178 to the printer cartridge ink reservoir film 166. Release. To overcome the initial fixation of the retaining protrusion 168, an initial high force may need to be applied. The spring member 164 acts instantaneously to prevent the ink film 166 from being over compressed at this moment. Normal plunging follows the initial application of force. As shown in FIG. 38, upon completion of the refill process, the retaining protrusion 168 is provided with a securing configuration in the form of a post-plunge recess 169 positioned upwards on the inner wall of the ink cartridge outer mold 169. It is fixed. The retaining protrusion 168 is mated to the upper recess 169 to secure the ink cartridge outer mold 169 to the base mold 170 following the ejection of the ink. This arrangement allows the user to overcome the possibility of the user attempting to fill the ink refill cartridge with inferior ink that damages the nozzle of the printer cartridge as well as the ink refill cartridge. In the post plunge setting, the spent ink refill cartridge is also returned to the feeder. The feeder serves as a tool to unfasten the refill cartridge and returns the top cover to an upper position where certified ink can be refilled with a refill device for regeneration and the QA chip 176 is reprogrammed to verify the authenticity of the ink.

Of course, the foregoing is merely given in the manner of embodiments depicting the invention and all such modifications and variations will therefore be apparent to those skilled in the art and will fall within the broad scope and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

While the invention has been depicted and described with reference to exemplary embodiments, various modifications apparent to those skilled in the art will be prepared without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are not intended to be limited to the technology disclosed herein, but rather should be broadly understood.

Claims (200)

Ink storage means; And A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; Printer cartridge comprising a. The method of claim 1, And a pagewidth printhead arranged to print at least 8 inches wide. The method of claim 1, And the ink storage means is located in a body including means for replenishing ink from an external source. The method of claim 1, And a pagewidth print head comprising at least 20,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means. The method of claim 4, wherein And a pagewidth printhead comprising at least 30,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, The ink storage means comprises at least one ink reservoir for storing ink for printing. The method of claim 6, At least one ink reservoir separates and stores sufficient color ink for color printing. The method of claim 7, wherein And at least one ink reservoir separates and stores an ink fixer to aid in fixing ink delivered by the pagewidth printhead. The method of claim 8, At least one ink reservoir separates and stores the infrared ink for printing. The method of claim 9, A first electrical connector provided in electrical communication with the pagewidth printhead and disposed adjacent the first end of the pagewidth printhead mating with a first corresponding connector of the inkjet printer cartridge. The method of claim 10, A second electrical connector provided in electrical communication with the pagewidth printhead and disposed adjacent to a second end of the pagewidth printhead mating with a second corresponding connector of the inkjet printer cartridge. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein A printer cartridge characterized in that when a printer cartridge is received in an inkjet printer, power and data are transferred from the inkjet printer to the pagewidth printhead by a mating relationship between the first and second electrical connectors and the corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. The method of claim 12, And the cartridge includes an assembly disposed to direct air above the pagewidth printhead. The method of claim 13, And the assembly includes a filter for filtering the air before the air is directed over the printhead. The method of claim 14, And the assembly includes an inlet for receiving air from an external source. The method of claim 15, Wherein the external source is located inside the inkjet printer. The first compartment requires replacement of the inkjet printer in at least the first and second compartments, which are in need of replacement more frequently than the second compartment and can be separated from each other; Wherein the first compartment comprises a pagewidth printhead, A method for facilitating maintenance of an inkjet printer in the form of a pagewidth printhead. The method of claim 17, And the first compartment further comprises ink storage means for storing ink delivered by the pagewidth print head. The method of claim 18, And the first compartment is a printer cartridge that can be detachably accommodated in the second compartment. The method of claim 19, And a second compartment is a printer support device having a cavity adapted to receive a printer cartridge. The method of claim 20, And a printer support device comprising an electrical control device for controlling the operation of the printer cartridge. The method of claim 21, And a printer support device comprising a power and data connector that matches a corresponding power and data connector provided in the printer cartridge that controls the operation of the printer cartridge by the electrical control device. The method of claim 22, A printer support device comprising a print media control system for supplying print media to a printhead of a print printer cartridge. Ink storage means; And A main body including a printhead including at least 20,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means; Inkjet printer cartridge comprising a. The method of claim 24, And a pagewidth print head comprising at least 20,000 ink jetting nozzles in communication with the ink storage means. The method of claim 25, And the printhead is comprised of a pagewidth printhead. The method of claim 26, The ink storage means comprises at least one ink reservoir for separating and storing at least one printing ink. The method of claim 27, At least one printing ink is a set of color inks sufficient for color printing. The method of claim 28, And at least one ink reservoir separates and stores the ink fixative to aid in fixing the ink delivered by the pagewidth printhead. 30. The printer cartridge of claim 29, wherein the one or more inks comprise infrared ink. support fixture; An inkjet printer cartridge fixedly separable by a support and including at least first and second ink storage means for storing ink and ink fixer separately; A pagewidth print head in communication with the first and second ink storage means; And An inkjet printer comprising control means for the ink and the ink fixation liquid by the printhead to allow ink to be easily fixed to the print medium following jetting by the printhead. The method of claim 31, wherein The inkjet printer cartridge further comprises ink storage means for separating and storing a set of color inks sufficient for color printing. First and second storage means for storing ink and ink fixative separately; And And a pagewidth printhead in fluid communication with the first and second storage means. An inkjet printer cartridge arranged to be detachably secured by an inkjet printer. Controlling a printhead for printing on ink and a print medium; And Characterized in that it comprises the step of easily fixing the ink to the print medium by controlling the pagewidth printhead applying the ink fixative to the print medium, 34. A method of operating an inkjet printer comprising the printer cartridge according to claim 33. One or more printing inks; And A printhead in communication with one or more inks, An inkjet cartridge for an inkjet printer, wherein at least one ink is infrared ink. 36. The method of claim 35 wherein And a body arranged to store one or more printing inks, wherein the cartridge is attached to the body. The method of claim 35 or 36, A print cart support, characterized in that the printhead consists of a pagewidth printhead. The method of claim 37, At least one ink comprises a set of color inks capable of color printing. Ink storage means for storing one or more inks; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer, comprising a refill port in communication with the ink storage means. The method of claim 39, And a main body having ink storage means therein and having a page width print head and a refill port attached thereto. 41. The method of claim 39 or 40, And the ink storage means also comprises a separate ink reservoir of each of the one or more inks. The method of claim 41, wherein And the refill port includes one or more inlets corresponding to the separated ink reservoirs and communicating ink. Ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And A removable printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising a assembly having a filter and disposed to direct air over the printhead. The method of claim 43, The assembly includes an inlet for receiving air from a source located inside the inkjet printer. The printhead of the print cartridge consists of a pagewidth printhead The method of claim 43, Removable printer cart support, characterized in that the printhead consists of a pagewidth printhead. Generating an air flow; Filtering particulate matter from the flow of air by a filter attached to the printer cartridge for producing filtered air; And directing the filtered air to the printhead, A method of preventing damage to the printhead of a removable inkjet cartridge. 47. The method of claim 46 wherein Generating an air flow is performed by means remote from the cartridge. 47. The method of claim 46 wherein The printhead of claim 1, wherein the printhead comprises a pagewidth printhead. Ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; Air inlet; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising one or more conduits arranged to direct air from the air inlet to the printhead. The method of claim 49, And the printhead is comprised of a pagewidth printhead. 51. The method of claim 50, The air inlet is configured to mate with the complementary structure of the inkjet printer. The method of claim 51, A printer cartridge, wherein air is supplied to an air inlet by a complementary structure of an inkjet printer in communication with an air supply source. Ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising an ink adsorber arranged to adsorb a printhead. The method of claim 53, The ink storage means and the print head of the cartridge may be fixed to the main body of the printer cartridge and the ink adsorber is connected to the main body of the printer cartridge. The method of claim 54, The ink adsorber optionally further comprises securing means for securing the assembly to operate the ink adsorber with the printhead. The method of claim 55, And the ink adsorber comprises an absorbent material disposed to absorb ink ejected from the print head while the print head is not printed to the print medium. The method of claim 56, wherein A printer cartridge, characterized in that the ink absorber is rotatably connected to the main body. The method of claim 57, A printer cartridge, characterized in that the ink adsorber is also connected to the main body by sliding. The method of claim 53, A print cartridge comprising a pagewidth printhead and an ink adsorber extending along the pagewidth printhead. A body including at least one ink reservoir; A printhead attached to the body to communicate ink with the at least one ink reservoir; An ink adsorber rotatably connected to the body; And A printer cartridge for an ink jet printer, comprising fixing means located in the ink adsorber for selectively securing the assembly for operation with an ink adsorber having a printhead. The method of claim 60, A print cartridge comprising a pagewidth printhead and an ink adsorber extending along the pagewidth printhead. Ink storage means; A printhead in communication with the ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising an assembly useful for a printhead arranged to selectively perform a number of different functions relating to the printhead. The method of claim 62, Various functions include at least one of adsorption of the printhead, cover of the printhead, and acting as a platen for the printhead. The method of claim 63, wherein An assembly useful for a printhead includes a rotatable member connected to a printhead adjacent the printhead. 65. The method of claim 64, Wherein the rotatable member includes a plurality of faces each formed to perform one of the various functions described above. 66. The method of claim 65, And a securing means secured to a rotatable member for securing by an inkjet printer mechanism for selectively operating the working surface with the printhead. The method of claim 66, And a biasing member generally biased on one side of the rotatable member as compared to the printhead. The method of claim 62, And the printhead is comprised of a pagewidth printhead. Ink storage means; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer, comprising a first electrical connector disposed adjacent to a first end of a pagewidth printhead in electrical communication with the printhead and mating with a first corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. The method of claim 69, wherein And a second electrical connector disposed adjacent to the second end of the pagewidth printhead to match the second corresponding connector of the inkjet printer. The method of claim 69, wherein An ink cartridge, characterized in that ink storage means, a pagewidth print head, and first and second electrical connectors are attached to the body of the printer cartridge. An extended body adapted to be accommodated inside the inkjet printer and having an ink storage means; A pagewidth print head attached to the body in communication with the ink storage means; And And first and second electrical connectors attached to the extended body in electrical communication with the printhead and positioned adjacent opposite ends of the pagewidth printhead to mate with the first and second corresponding connectors of the inkjet printer. Printer cartridges for inkjet printers. Ink reservoirs; A printhead in communication with the ink reservoir; A refill port disposed to receive a refill ink for communicating with and replenishing the ink reservoir; And A printer cartridge of an inkjet printer, comprising an integrated circuit assembly arranged for storing information relating to at least one refilled ink and the properties of the ink stored in the ink reservoir. The method of claim 73, Information relating to the properties of the ink stored in the refill ink or ink reservoir includes any of the amount of ink remaining in the ink reservoir, the source of the refill ink, the rheological properties of the refill ink, and the color of the refill ink. Printer cartridges for inkjet printers. The method of claim 73, The integrated circuit assembly of claim 1, wherein the integrated cartridge includes an electrical communicator mounted to the ink jet printer for connecting with the integrated circuit of the refill cartridge including the refilled ink. The method of claim 73, A printer cartridge of an inkjet printer, characterized in that the printhead consists of a pagewidth printhead. Providing an ink refill cartridge comprising an integrated circuit assembly for storing information relating to properties of the refilled ink; Connecting the ink refill cartridge to the printer cartridge; And Supply of ink in an inkjet printer of the type comprising a removable printer cartridge comprising an ink storage means in communication with a pagewidth printhead comprising the step of performing a test comparing the properties of the ink stored in the ink storage means with the properties of the refilled ink. How to maintain reliability. A plurality of ink reservoirs provided for storing predetermined ink; A printhead in communication with the ink reservoir; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer, the printer cartridge being disposed in a mating connector of a refill cartridge and including a refill port corresponding to each ink reservoir and having an ink communicating therewith. The method of claim 78, And the printhead is a pagewidth printhead. A printer cartridge corresponding to each of a plurality of ink reservoirs provided for storing a predetermined one of the plurality of inks and having a refill port including an inlet for communicating ink; A refill port including one of the plurality of inks and having an outlet positioned to communicate with a particular one of the refillport inlets in communication with a particular one of the plurality of reservoirs provided for storing the ink contained in the refill cartridge; An inkjet printer refill system comprising one or more refill cartridges comprising a connector. The method of claim 80, An inkjet printer refill system comprising a printhead in communication with an ink reservoir. 82. The method of claim 81 wherein An inkjet printer refill system, wherein the printhead has a pagewidth printhead. Ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer, comprising two print chips extending to the length of the printhead, and comprising a pagewidth printhead in communication with the ink storage means. 84. The method of claim 83, And the two print chips are disposed adjacent to each other to extend to the length of the print head. 85. The method of claim 84, And an extended body adapted to be received within the printer support. 86. The method of claim 85, And an electrical connector located opposite the printhead end and in electrical communication with the two printhead chips. Ink storage means; A pagewidth print head in communication with the ink storage means; And A printer cartridge for an inkjet printer comprising a blank extended by the length of the printhead arranged to protect the printhead from contact with paper while inserting the cartridge into the support of the inkjet printer. 88. The method of claim 87 wherein The printer cartridge further comprises an elongated body having a housing detachably housed within a support of the inkjet printer and containing an ink storage means. 88. The method of claim 87 wherein And wherein the blank is arranged to act as a cover plate to seal the air duct of the printer cartridge during use. An extended body received in the printer support; At least one ink reservoir housed in the extended body; A pagewidth print head attached to the extended body and in communication with the at least one ink storage means; And An inkjet printer cartridge that extends the length of the printhead and is disposed to protect the printhead from contact with the paper at the same time the cartridge is inserted into the printer support and further comprises a blank disposed to seal the air duct of the inkjet printer cartridge . An extended body accommodating ink storage means and received in an inkjet printer support; A pagewidth print head attached to the body and communicating ink with the ink storage means; And An inkjet printer cartridge comprising an air distribution assembly disposed to uniformly distribute compressed air along a pagewidth printhead. 92. The method of claim 91, An air distribution assembly is formed in the compressed air inlet, the air inlet that receives the compressed air from an external source, and an extended body in communication with the air inlet and seals the channel and the length of the channel disposed along the pagewidth printhead and the air in the channel And a filter disposed such that air is directed toward the printhead along the length of the channel upon reaching the threshold level. 92. The method of claim 91, An inkjet printer cartridge, characterized in that the filter comprises a plurality of holes of a size made to determine the threshold level. One or more ink reservoirs; An ink delivery member defining at least one ink delivery channel; And An inkjet printer cartridge comprising a pagewidth printhead that communicates ink with one or more ink reservoirs by one or more ink delivery channels. 95. The method of claim 94, An inkjet printer cartridge further comprising an extended body surrounding one or more ink reservoirs. 97. The method of claim 95, An inkjet printer cartridge, wherein the pagewidth printhead is attached to an extended body. 97. The method of claim 96, An ink jet printer cartridge characterized in that the ink delivery member is arranged to extend by the length of the print head. 97. The method of claim 95,  An inkjet printer cartridge, wherein the pagewidth printhead is attached to a body extended by an ink delivery member. The method of claim 97, wherein An inkjet printer cartridge, wherein the ink delivery member defines a plurality of ink delivery channels for delivering ink from the ink reservoir to the printhead. A body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply; A data connection point fixed to the body for receiving a data signal defining an image for printing from an external data source; And An inkjet printer support coupled to a data connection point, the processing means arranged to operate a pagewidth printhead responsive to a data signal printing the image. 101. The method of claim 100, An inkjet printer support, wherein the body defines a recess formed to receive a removable inkjet cartridge. An ink jet printer support further comprising a power connection point for receiving operating power from an external power source. A main body complementary to each of a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges each having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply, each having a different performance characteristic; And And a controller arranged to determine performance characteristics of each of a plurality of cartridges already connected to the support and to operate each cartridge in response to the determined performance characteristics. 103. The method of claim 103, And the controller is arranged to operate a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges each having one or more of an optimum print speed or ink capacity having different performance characteristics. 103. The method of claim 103, An inkjet printer support, characterized in that the body includes a recess for receiving any one of a plurality of removable inkjet cartridges. Providing an inkjet printer as a starter cartridge and a complementary support arranged to operate a plurality of cartridges having different performance characteristics; Replacing the selection cartridge with another one of a plurality of cartridges having improved performance characteristics;  An upgrade method of an inkjet printer of the type comprising a pagewidth printhead. 107. The method of claim 106, And other performance characteristics of the cartridge include at least one of printing speed, ink capacity, number and form of ink. 107. The method of claim 107, The printing method of the cartridge, characterized in that the upgrade method of 15 ppm to 60 ppm. 107. The method of claim 107, The ink capacity of the cartridge is an upgrade method, characterized in that 150 ml to 300 ml. The number and shape of the inks processed by the cartridge include black, cyan, magenta, yellow, infrared and ink fixative. A plurality of inkjet printer cartridges; And A plurality of inkjet printer supports each including a body defining a recess and receiving and operating each set of supported inkjet printer cartridges among the plurality of inkjet printer cartridges, And the plurality of inkjet cartridges that do not belong to a supported inkjet printer cartridge are formed such that, for a particular one of the plurality of inkjet printer supports, they are not received by recesses of the specific inkjet printer support. 112. The method of claim 111, wherein An inkjet printer system, wherein the inkjet printer cartridge is in the form of a pagewidth printhead. 112. The method of claim 112, An inkjet printer system according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet printer cartridge has an internal ink reservoir for communicating the ink with the pagewidth printhead. 112. The method of claim 111, wherein An inkjet printer system not supported by a particular inkjet printer support, wherein the inkjet printer cartridge is formed with protrusions or teeth that interfere with the teeth or protrusions of the particular inkjet printer support upon insertion of the cartridge into the support. 112. The method of claim 111, wherein An inkjet printer system, wherein a mark is provided on an inkjet printer cartridge and on an inkjet printer support to indicate an inkjet printer cartridge supported by a particular inkjet printer support. A main body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head and an ink supply; And And an integrated circuit assembly arranged to test the authenticator of said cartridge. 116. The method of claim 116 wherein The inkjet printer support, characterized in that the authentication device is composed of a quality assurance chip. 118. The method of claim 117 wherein The body defines an recess for receiving a removable inkjet cartridge. 118. The method of claim 118 wherein And wherein the integrated circuit assembly includes a connector mounted to the body at a position where the removable inkjet cartridge is inserted into the recess and at the same time fully connected with the authentication chip of the cartridge. 121. The method of claim 119 wherein The integrated circuit assembly further comprises a control unit of the inkjet printer support, wherein the control circuit is arranged to indicate whether the cartridge fails to verify the authenticator of the cartridge. A body defining a recess designed to locate a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head; And An inkjet printer support comprising a terminal inserted into a recess and simultaneously located in a body corresponding to a terminal located in a removable inkjet cartridge to thereby facilitate electrical communication between the support and the cartridge. 121. The method of claim 121, wherein Inkjet printer support, characterized in that the terminal is located above one or more recessed walls. 123. The method of claim 122 wherein And the recess extends and the terminal is located at at least one recess end wall. 123. The method of claim 122 wherein Inkjet printer support, characterized in that the recess extends and the terminal is located at the end wall opposite the recess. 121. The method of claim 121, wherein An inkjet printer support, characterized in that the terminal consists of a data and a power terminal. A body defining an extended recess designed to mate to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head; And As soon as the cartridge is inserted into the recess, it includes a power and data terminal located opposite the recess end wall in response to a terminal located in the removable inkjet cartridge, thereby facilitating electrical communication between the support and the cartridge. Inkjet printer support. A body defining a recess designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge; Holding means arranged to hold the cartridge in a recess; And An inkjet printer support comprising at least one resilient member for holding a cartridge attached to the body and the holding means in use. 127. The method of claim 127 wherein At least one resilient member is arranged to bias the cartridge relative to the retaining means during use of the printer. 127. The method of claim 127 wherein At least one resilient member is arranged to bias the cartridge relative to the support body during use of the printer. 129. The method of claim 128, The removable inkjet cartridge is an inkjet printer support, characterized in that the form having a pagewidth printhead. 131. The method of claim 130, An inkjet printer support, characterized in that the holding means includes a latch. 127. The method of claim 127 wherein An inkjet printer support, characterized in that the one or more resilient members consist of one or more springs. 129. The method of claim 128, And the recess includes a shelf on which one or more resilient members are located. A body defining a recess having a shelf and designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth print head; A latch disposed to hold the cartridge in a recess; And An inkjet printer support comprising one or more springs positioned on a shelf and disposed to bias the cartridge with respect to the latch in use. Positioning the cartridge in a recess defined by the support body; Retaining the cartridge in the recess by a latch; And Securing the cartridge to the latch and the body by one or more resilient members; A method of stabilizing an inkjet printer cartridge in an inkjet printer support. 137. The method of claim 135, Holding and holding the cartridge comprises stabilizing the printer cartridge with respect to the latch. 137. The method of claim 135, The fixing method of holding the cartridge comprises stabilizing the printer cartridge with respect to the main body. 137. The method of claim 135, Holding the cartridge comprises latching the cartridge. A number of mechanisms useful for cartridges; Single motor; And A delivery assembly connecting a single motor to each of the plurality of mechanisms, Inkjet printer support complementary to inkjet cartridges of a type that includes a pagewidth printhead. 140. The method of claim 139, wherein An inkjet printer support, characterized in that a number of mechanisms include a compressor and a print media transport assembly. 141. The method of claim 140, And the transfer assembly includes a direct drive coupling between the compressor and the motor spindle. The method of claim 14, And the delivery assembly includes a worm gear extending from the motor spindle and engaged with the teeth of the print media transport assembly.  An air compressor for producing air directed to the pagewidth print head; A print media transport assembly arranged to move the print media across the print head; Single motor; And A delivery assembly arranged to connect a single motor to the compressor and the print media transport assembly, The delivery assembly includes a direct drive connection from a single motor spindle to the air compressor and a gear connection from the spindle to the print media transport assembly, Inkjet printer support complementary to inkjet printer cartridges of the type including pagewidth printheads A delivery assembly disposed to selectively secure and drive the printhead auxiliary member, A printer support complementary to an inkjet printer cartridge of a type comprising a pagewidth printhead and wherein the printhead auxiliary member is arranged to selectively perform a number of different functions relating to the printhead. 143. The method of claim 144, wherein And the delivery assembly includes a drive shaft arranged to secure and detach the printhead auxiliary member as the drive shaft rotates in the first and second directions, respectively. 143. The method of claim 144, wherein The transmission assembly consists of a first gear fixed to the drive shaft, a second gear radially located from the first gear, and a positioning member for retaining the second gear and the first gear in an engaged form, A printer support comprising a flipper gear assembly for selectively securing to a drive shaft for a printhead auxiliary member. A body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of the type having a pagewidth printhead and an air inlet port; And An inkjet printer support comprising an air compressor having an air outlet pipe positioned to mate with the cartridge and to be connected to the air inlet port. 147. The method of claim 147, The body defines an recess designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge. 148. The method of claim 148, wherein Inkjet printer support, characterized in that the air outlet pipe is terminated in the recess. 149. The method of claim 149, wherein And an air outlet tubing traversing a body portion defining an inner shelf of the recess. 147. The method of claim 147, And an air outlet tubing having an end configured to assist through the seal for the air inlet port. A body defining a recess designed to position a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an air inlet port; And An air outlet tubing arranged to traverse the body defining the inner shelf of the recess and positioned to connect with the air inlet port at the same time the inkjet printer support is inserted into the recess and configured to assist through the seal across the air inlet port Inkjet Printer Supports Including Air Compressor An ink reservoir having an ink outlet; Means for applying pressure to an ink reservoir for pushing ink to the ink outlet; And An ink dispenser comprising means for limiting the pressure of the ink pushed to the outlet to a predetermined level 153. The method of claim 153, And the pressure limiting means comprises means for limiting the pressure applied to the ink reservoir. 154. The method of claim 154, wherein An ink dispenser, wherein the ink reservoir is comprised of a deformable film. 154. The method of claim 154, wherein An ink dispenser, characterized in that the pressure applying means is composed of a handle. 154. The method of claim 154, wherein Means for limiting the pressure applied to the ink reservoir comprises an elastic member having a deformation characteristic selected to limit the pressure to a predetermined level. 161. The method of claim 157, An elastic member is located between the ink reservoir and the means for applying pressure to the ink reservoir. 158. The method of claim 158, An ink dispenser, characterized in that the resilient member is composed of a spring. 161. The method of claim 159, An ink dispenser, wherein the ink reservoir and the spring are located within a portion of the handle. 154. The method of claim 154, wherein The dispenser is preferably connected to an external reservoir and the ink is pushed to the outlet of the dispenser and delivered to the external reservoir. 161. The method of claim 161, An external reservoir is provided in the removable inkjet cartridge and the predetermined pressure level is related to the pressure required to rupture the external reservoir. A deformable ink container having an outlet; A handle disposed to apply pressure to the container to push ink to the outlet; And And an elastic member disposed to limit the pressure applied to the deformable container by the handle to prevent rupture of the external reservoir connected to the dispenser during use. 163. The method of claim 163 wherein An ink dispenser, wherein the deformable container consists of a film. 163. The method of claim 163 wherein An ink dispenser, characterized in that the resilient member is composed of a spring. 167. The method of claim 165 wherein Ink dispenser, characterized in that the spring comprises a platform disposed proximate the membrane. One of a plurality of inks; A configuration configured to position the dispenser in a predetermined position in the refillable inkjet printer component; And Consisting of a plurality of ink dispensers each comprising an outlet located in at least one of a plurality of predetermined positions related to the configuration depending on the type of ink in the dispenser, Ink dispenser system. 167. The method of claim 167, An ink dispenser, wherein the inkjet printer component is a removable inkjet cartridge. 168. The method of claim 168, An ink dispenser, wherein the removable inkjet cartridge includes a pagewidth printhead. 167. The method of claim 167, And wherein the configuration configured to position the dispenser in a predetermined position consists of a connector disposed to mate with the refill port of the inkjet printer component. 172. The method of claim 170, The ink dispenser, characterized in that some predetermined outlet position lies within the area defined by the connector. 171. The method of claim 171, wherein An ink dispenser, characterized in that some of the ink consists of a plurality of ink dispensers comprising types of ink for facilitating color printing. Color ink; A connector disposed to mate with a refill port of a refillable inkjet printer cartridge comprising a plurality of inlet portions positioned separately therefrom; And Consisting of a plurality of ink dispensers each comprising an outlet positioned to mate with one of the inlet ports located separately according to the color of the color ink, Ink dispenser system. A housing composed of first and second compartments movable relative to each other; And An ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to respond to the associated motion of the first and second compartments and to move the ink out of the housing, An ink dispenser in which ink is discharged through an outlet when the first and second compartments are directed towards each other during use. 174. The method of claim 174, wherein The reservoir consists of a deformable container located within the housing and wherein the deformable container is compressed when the first and second compartments are directed towards each other. 174. The method of claim 174, wherein Ink dispenser, characterized in that the first and second compartments of the housing are preferably arranged to slide together. 175. The method of claim 175, And a resilient member disposed between the deformable container and one or both of the first and second compartments of the housing. 178. The method of claim 177, And the resilient member has a property selected to limit the pressure of the deformable member to a predetermined level in use. 178. The method of claim 178, An ink dispenser, characterized in that the resilient member is composed of a spring. 178. The method of claim 179, An ink dispenser, characterized in that the first and second compartments of the housing consist of a base and a plunger. 182. The method of claim 180, An ink dispenser, characterized in that the spring is located between the deformable member and the plunger. 182. The method of claim 181, An ink dispenser, wherein the deformable container consists of a film. A housing consisting of a base and a plunger; A deformable container located within the ink storage housing; An outlet connected to the deformable container and arranged to move ink out of the housing; And A spring positioned between the deformable container and the plunger having a property selected to limit the pressure of the container to a predetermined level in use, An ink dispenser in which the deformable container between the spring and the base is compressed and ink is discharged through the outlet when the plunger is brought towards the base during use. A housing composed of first and second compartments that can move relative to each other; An ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to move the ink out of the housing in response to the associated motion of the first and second compartments, Wherein the first and second compartments comprise matched properties arranged to interfere with each other's associated movement until a predetermined level of actuation force is applied across the compartments. 184. The method of claim 184, The ink reservoir is comprised of a deformable container located within the housing and wherein the container is compressed when the first and second compartments of the ink dispenser are directed towards each other. 184. The method of claim 184, And the first and second compartments comprise a base and a plunger. 186. The method of claim 186, The matched configuration consists of one or more complementary protrusions formed opposite the base and plunger walls. A deformable container containing a full filled ink; A housing slidably coupled with the plunger and positioning the deformable container; And An outlet associated with the deformable container and arranged to move the ink out of the housing, Wherein the first and second compartments have mated properties arranged such that the compartments interfere with each other's associated motion until a predetermined level of actuation force is applied across the compartments. A housing composed of first and second compartments that can move relative to each other; An ink reservoir having an outlet arranged to respond to a relative movement of the first and second compartments and to move the ink out of the housing, And the first and second compartments have locking structures arranged to prevent the compartments from falling off in accordance with the operation of the dispenser. The method of claim 189, wherein An ink dispenser, characterized in that the ink reservoir consists of a deformable container located within the housing such that the container is compressed when the first and second compartments are directed towards each other. The method of claim 189, wherein And the first and second compartments comprise a base and a plunger. 192. The method of claim 191, wherein The locking structure preferably comprises an at least one complementary protrusion and a tooth formed against the walls of the base and the plunger. A deformable container for storing ink; And A housing disposed to position the deformable container between the base slidably engaging the plunger and the outlet connected to the deformable container and to move ink out of the housing, The base and plunger are joined to each other by one or more complementary protrusions and teeth formed opposite the base and plunger walls and are arranged to prevent the plunger from falling from the base upon operation of the dispenser. Mating a removable cartridge to a complementary inkjet support; Mating the refill cartridge to a removable inkjet cartridge; Confirming authentication of the removable inkjet cartridge; Confirming authentication of the refill cartridge; And A method of refilling a removable inkjet cartridge comprising operating a support based on an authentication step. The method of claim 194, wherein Mating the removable cartridge to the complementary inkjet support comprises electrical communication between the authentication device of the inkjet cartridge and the controller of the support. The method of claim 194, wherein Mating the refill cartridge to the removable inkjet cartridge comprises electrically communicating between the authentication mechanism of the inkjet cartridge and the controller of the support. The method of claim 194, wherein Operating the support based on the authentication step comprises instructing a user to fail authentication of the refill cartridge or removable inkjet cartridge. An inkjet printer comprising a controller arranged to identify an authentication device of a removable inkjet printer cartridge and a refill cartridge connected to the removable inkjet printer cartridge. 198. The method of claim 198, wherein An inkjet printer, characterized in that the controller is connected to an electrician mounted to the body of the support, preferably in a position located within the support of the printer and in electrical communication with the authentication device. 198. The method of claim 198, wherein Inkjet printer, characterized in that the authentication device is composed of an integrated circuit.

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