Patent ID: 7321436
Filing Date: 2008-01-22
Classification: B41J,G06K

Abstract:
1. A printing material container detachably attached to a printing apparatus having a clock signal line, a data signal line, and a reset signal line, said printing material container comprising: a reservoir unit that keeps a printing material therein; a clock terminal that receives a clock signal sent via the clock signal line of said printing apparatus; a data terminal that transmits a data signal to and from the data signal line of said printing apparatus: a reset terminal that receives a reset signal sent via the reset signal line of said printing apparatus; a storage element having a plurality of non-volatile storage areas that are sequentially accessed; and a storage element control unit that is initialized at a first level of the input reset signal and carries out a writing/reading operation of data into and from the storage element according to the data signal synchronously with the input clock signal when the reset signal is switched over to a second level, wherein the storage element stores identification information therein, and the storage element control unit comprises: a data bus that connects the data terminal with the storage element; an address counter that increments a count thereon synchronously with the clock signal input via the clock terminal and resets the count to an initial value in response to input of the reset signal via the reset terminal; an input-output controller that is electrically connected with both the storage element and the data bus and controls a direction of data transfer with regard to the storage element as well as a direction of data transfer with regard to the data bus; a comparator that compares printing material container identification information, which is assigned to said printing material container for identification thereof and is input via the data bus, with identification information stored in the storage element to determine coincidence or incoincidence of the two pieces of identification information; and a write/read enable unit that allows the writing/reading operation of data into and from the storage element according to the data signal in the case of coincidence of the two pieces of identification information.