Patent ID: 7311379
Filing Date: 2007-12-25
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A printing device for effecting printing by ejecting ink from print head, comprising: a plurality of head unit mountable positions on which a plurality of head units are mountable, each head unit including a carriage on which the plurality of head unit mountable positions are formed; a plurality of on-carriage ink reservoirs, disposed on the carriage, for supplying ink to the print heads; and a plurality of off-carriage ink tanks, disposed on a body of the printing device, for supplying ink to the on-carriage ink reservoirs; wherein each head unit including the print heads and the drive controller is individually installed and uninstalled on the printing device; and wherein the printing device further comprises a chassis having a plurality of data processor mountable positions on which a data processor for transferring data to a corresponding on of the drive controllers is mountable; wherein each data processor and each corresponding drive controller are interconnected by a flexible cable that includes a clock signal line for transmitting a clock signal, a flag signal line for transmitting a flag signal, and a serial data line for transferring serial data: wherein each data processor and each corresponding drive controller can selectively transmit through the flexible cable: wherein each data processor and each corresponding drive controller do not communicate for transmitting print signals during carriage returns, and wherein each data processor and each corresponding drive controller do communicate for transmitting ink quantity information during carriage returns.