Patent ID: 6505926
Filing Date: 2003-01-14
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink cartridge incorporating a memory chip, the cartridge comprising:an ink cartridge housing having a top wall, a bottom wall and plural side walls defining the exterior of the cartridge for enclosing a supply of ink; the bottom wall having an aperture formed therein to provide an opening through the exterior surface of the bottom wall; a pocket-like structure formed within the bottom wall and/or on an inside surface of the bottom wall, the pocket-like structure being formed about the aperture; and a substrate including the memory chip received in the pocket-like structure, the substrate including at least one electrical contact that includes an electrical contact surface that faces the aperture so as to be facing outwardly of the cartridge and being accessible to a contact member external to the cartridge when the cartridge is mounted in a printer's cartridge receiving receptacle and wherein the substrate comprises a relatively rigid circuit board and the pocket-like structure includes walls which locate the circuit board in the cartridge and further wherein the cartridge housing is formed by mating two housing halves, each housing half including part of the top wall, part of the bottom wall, a complete side wall and part of two other side walls of the plural side walls, and each housing half further including in and/or on an internal surface of the respective bottom wall part of the pocket-like structure so that when the two housing halves forming the cartridge housing are imitated the circuit board is trapped within the pocket-like structure formed by the two housing halves and further wherein a chamfer is formed along an edge of the circuit board and the pocket-like structure includes an edge receiving surface with a complementary shape for receiving the edge with the chamfer for proper seating in. the pocket-like structure and wherein the edge receiving surface is configured to block proper seating of the circuit board within the pocket-like structure when a different edge of the circuit board is attempted to be inserted into the cartridge so that the two housing halves are blocked from being mated when the circuit board is incorrectly received in the pocket-like structure.