JP2010221680A - Ink cartridge and printer system for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge and a printer system for the same. <P>SOLUTION: The ink cartridge includes a detection circuit, an authentication circuit and a control circuit. The detection circuit detects the remaining ink amount of the ink cartridge. The authentication circuit is set to a valid or invalid status, based on the remaining ink amount. The control circuit is electrically connected to the detection circuit and the authentication circuit and determines whether or not the ink cartridge supplies ink, based on the remaining ink amount and the status of the authentication circuit. Simultaneously, the printer system using the ink cartridge is disclosed. The ink cartridge and the printer system prevent a user from arbitrarily filling the ink cartridge with the ink and reduce the remaining of the ink under reasonable use condition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge and a printer system thereof, and more particularly to an ink cartridge having an authentication mechanism and a printer system thereof.

  Printers mainly include laser printers and inkjet printers. Since inkjet printers are relatively inexpensive, they are a necessity for many computer users. In addition to the ink jet printer that continuously supplies ink, many ink jet printers used by general users supply ink necessary for printing using an ink cartridge. Therefore, when the ink in the ink cartridge runs out, the ink cartridge must be replaced.

  Since the ink cartridge is expensive, there is a service for replenishing the ink cartridge with ink. The quality of the ink replenished in this way is bad, or the head of the ink cartridge is deteriorated by the collection and use, and the printing quality is lowered.

  In order to avoid the occurrence of the above situation, printer manufacturers need to prevent consumers from reusing after filling with ink in this way to maintain favorable print quality and protect their interests. is there. As a method of preventing the ink cartridge from being collected and reused, there is a method of locking the ink cartridge so that the ink is not discharged when the printer determines that the ink in the ink cartridge has run out. However, in an ink cartridge that is determined to have used up ink, there is actually a situation in which ink still remains and printing cannot be performed even though there is still ink. Residual ink is wasted and it is unacceptable to consumers that the ink cartridge must be replaced while ink is still present.

  As described above, it is required to prevent the ink from being refilled into the ink cartridge and to use the ink completely and without waste.

  The present invention provides an ink cartridge having an authentication circuit and a printer system for the ink cartridge. The authentication circuit restricts the use of an ink cartridge having an abnormal ink amount, and allows the user to arbitrarily fill the ink cartridge with the ink. In addition, when the remaining ink amount falls below the specified value under reasonable usage conditions, the user can continue to use the remaining ink even if the authentication circuit expires. An object is to prevent ink from remaining in the ink cartridge.

  In order to achieve the above object, an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a detection circuit, an authentication circuit, and a control circuit. The detection circuit detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge. The authentication circuit sets the valid or invalid status based on the remaining amount of ink. The control circuit is electrically connected to the detection circuit and the authentication circuit, and determines whether or not the ink cartridge ejects ink based on the remaining amount of ink and the status of the authentication circuit.

  In order to achieve the above object, a printer system according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a printer and an ink cartridge installed in the printer and electrically connected thereto. The ink cartridge includes a detection circuit, an authentication circuit, and a control circuit. The detection circuit detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge. The authentication circuit sets the valid or invalid status based on the remaining amount of ink. The control circuit is electrically connected to the detection circuit and the authentication circuit, and determines whether or not the ink cartridge ejects ink based on the remaining amount of ink and the status of the authentication circuit.

  The ink cartridge of the present invention and the printer system thereof prevent the user from arbitrarily filling the ink cartridge with ink. Further, the ink remaining in the ink cartridge can be continuously used under a reasonable use condition.

1 is a diagram illustrating a printer system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the position which installs the electrode of a detection circuit in a printer chamber.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a printer system 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a printer 11 and an ink cartridge 12 that is installed in the printer 11 and electrically connected thereto. The ink cartridge 12 has an ink chamber 121 for storing ink, and the printer 11 supplies ink necessary for printing. The ink cartridge 12 further includes a detection circuit 122, an authentication circuit 123, and a control circuit 124. The detection circuit 122 detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 12. The authentication circuit 123 sets a valid or invalid status based on the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 12. The control circuit 124 is electrically connected to the detection circuit 122 and the authentication circuit 123. The control circuit 124 determines whether or not the ink cartridge ejects ink based on the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge and the valid / invalid status of the authentication circuit 123.

  For example, at the time of shipment, the ink chamber 121 of the ink cartridge 12 is filled with ink, and the authentication circuit 123 has a valid status. Under normal use, when the ink gradually decreases and the ink remaining amount becomes less than a predetermined value (for example, 5% or 10 ml), the control circuit 124 sets the authentication circuit 123 to the invalidation status. At this time, the ink cartridge 12 continues to eject ink until the ink is used up. However, when the ink cartridge 12 is refilled with ink and the remaining amount of ink exceeds a predetermined value, the control circuit 124 determines that the ink amount is abnormal and prohibits the ink cartridge 12 from ejecting ink.

  In one embodiment, the control circuit 124 sets the authentication circuit 123 to an invalid status by a method of permanently destroying the authentication circuit 123, and prevents the status of the authentication circuit 123 from being arbitrarily changed. It should be noted that the control circuit 124 sets the authentication circuit 123 to a revoked status in a recoverable manner in order to effectively use resources and allow the ink cartridge 12 to be filled with ink and used repeatedly. You can also After the ink cartridge 12 is filled with ink and used several times, the control circuit 124 sets the authentication circuit 123 to an invalid status by a method of permanently destroying the authentication circuit 123 (for example, a burnout circuit).

  In one embodiment, the detection circuit 122 can determine the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 12 by counting the number of ink drops that exit. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1, the detection circuit 122 detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 12 by directly contacting the ink in the ink chamber 121 with a pair of electrodes 201 and 202. Referring to FIG. 2, the detection circuit 122 includes a plurality of electrodes 20a, 20b, and 20c, and the electrodes 20a, 20b, and 20c are sequentially installed along the direction of gravity, and adjacent electrodes are arranged in the direction of gravity. Along with an altitude difference H. Different altitude electrodes 20a, 20b, 20c provide different ink level detection results.

  Referring again to FIG. 1, the ink cartridge 12 has a memory circuit 125, and the memory circuit 125 is electrically connected to the control circuit 124. The memory circuit 125 records the remaining ink amount and causes the printer 11 to read it. In one embodiment, the memory circuit 125 is an electrically erasable ROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM).

  In summary, the ink cartridge of the present invention and the printer system of the present invention restrict the use of the ink cartridge with an abnormal ink amount by the authentication circuit, and prevent the user from arbitrarily filling the ink cartridge with the ink. To do. In addition, when the remaining amount of ink is less than the predetermined value under reasonable usage conditions, even if the authentication circuit expires, the user continues to use the remaining ink and the ink remains in the ink cartridge. To prevent.

  In the present invention, preferred embodiments have been disclosed as described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the present invention, and any person who is familiar with the technology can use various methods within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Variations and moist colors can be added, so the protection scope of the present invention is based on what is specified in the claims.

1 Printer system
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Printer 12 Ink cartridge 121 Ink chamber 122 Detection circuit 123 Authentication circuit 124 Control circuit 125 Memory circuit 201, 202 Electrode 20a-20c Electrode H Altitude difference

Claims (20)

An ink cartridge,
A detection circuit for detecting a remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge;
An authentication circuit for setting a valid or invalid status based on the ink remaining amount;
A control circuit that is electrically connected to the detection circuit and the authentication circuit, and determines whether the ink cartridge ejects ink based on the remaining amount of ink and the status of the authentication circuit;
An ink cartridge comprising:   2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid when the remaining amount of ink becomes less than a predetermined value.   3. The control circuit according to claim 2, wherein when the status of the authentication circuit is invalid and the remaining amount of ink is greater than the predetermined value, the control circuit prohibits the ink cartridge from ejecting ink. Ink cartridge.   The ink cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid by a method of permanently destroying the authentication circuit.   The ink cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid in a recoverable manner.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a memory circuit that is electrically connected to the control circuit and records the remaining amount of ink.   The ink cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the memory circuit is an electrically erasable ROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM).   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the detection circuit counts the number of ink drops to be discharged and detects the ink remaining amount.   2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the detection circuit detects the remaining amount of ink by contacting the ink in the ink cartridge with an electrode.   The ink cartridge according to claim 9, wherein the detection circuit includes a plurality of the electrodes, and the adjacent electrodes have a height difference along a direction of gravity. A printer system,
A printer,
An ink cartridge installed in the printer and electrically connected;
The ink cartridge comprises:
A detection circuit for detecting a remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge;
An authentication circuit for setting a valid or invalid status based on the ink remaining amount;
A control circuit that is electrically connected to the detection circuit and the authentication circuit, and determines whether the ink cartridge ejects ink based on the remaining amount of ink and the status of the authentication circuit;
A printer system comprising:   The printer system according to claim 11, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid when the ink remaining amount is less than a predetermined value.   13. The control circuit according to claim 12, wherein when the status of the authentication circuit is invalid and the ink remaining amount is greater than the predetermined value, the ink cartridge prohibits the ink cartridge from ejecting ink. Printer system.   The printer system according to claim 12, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid by a method of permanently destroying the authentication circuit.   The printer system according to claim 12, wherein the control circuit sets the status of the authentication circuit to invalid in a recoverable manner.   12. The printer system according to claim 11, further comprising a memory circuit that is electrically connected to the control circuit and records the remaining amount of ink.   The printer system according to claim 16, wherein the memory circuit is an electrically erasable ROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM).   The printer system according to claim 11, wherein the detection circuit detects the ink remaining amount by counting the number of ink drops to be discharged.   The printer system according to claim 11, wherein the detection circuit detects the remaining amount of ink by contacting the ink in the ink cartridge with an electrode.   The printer system according to claim 19, wherein the detection circuit includes a plurality of the electrodes, and the adjacent electrodes have an altitude difference along the direction of gravity.

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