Patent ID: 6137503
Filing Date: 2000-10-24
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink jet recording apparatus in which a recording head, and at least one exchangeable ink cartridge containing ink to be supplied to said recording head are freely attachable to or detachable from a carriage, said apparatus comprising:recovery means for effecting a recovery operation on the recording head;counting means for determining a counted value of a number of dischargings of the recording head;resetting means for resetting the counted value determined by said counting means;position detecting means for detecting a shifted position of said carriage;a fixed piece to be detected arranged on said carriage to be detected by said position detecting means;a movable piece to be detected being interlocked with an operation for installing said ink cartridge to said carriage, and being displaceable between a position to be detected by said position detecting means and a position not to be detected thereby, wherein when said carriage is shifted to a home position the position of said carriage is detected by said fixed piece to be detected, and presence or absence of said ink cartridge installed to said carriage is detected by said movable piece to be detected, wherein after said recovery means effects the recovery operation and said resetting means resets the counted value of the number of ink dischargings determined by said counting means at the home position each time said ink cartridge is replaced, said movable piece to be detected is displaced to the position not to be detected, and wherein a sum of detected numbers of said fixed piece to be detected and said movable piece to be detected which are provided for said carriage is determined, the presence or absence of each of said at least one installed ink cartridge by the detected position in said direction of movement of said movable piece to be detected is determined, and whether or not said recovery and resetting operations are executed in said home position is determined.