Patent Publication Number: US-2022219451-A1

Title: Printer driving system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Patent Application No. 110101033 in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Jan. 12, 2021, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a driving system, in particular, to printer driving system adapted to be implemented on a printer. 
     Related Art 
     An inkjet printer is operated by moving the inkjet print head back and forth on a printing medium on a swath-by-swath basis, and ejecting the ink drop to the predetermined positions on the printing medium to form texts or patterns thereon. Therefore, the size, the shape, the material, the concentration, and the location of the ink drop generated by the inkjet print head are factors that might affect the printing quality. 
     A known printer ink cassette carrying device in the relevant art includes a supporting base and a circuit board. The supporting base is adapted to support an inkjet print head cassette thereon. The inkjet print head cassette has a flexible circuit board connected to the circuit board, so that electrical signals can be transmitted between the circuit board and the flexible circuit board. In order to enable the electrical connection of the inkjet print head cassette and to ensure the connection between the contact pads of the flexible circuit board on the inkjet print head cassette and the circuit board of the printer, electrical contacts are provided on the circuit board of the common printer. Therefore, the electrical signals of the circuit board can be transmitted to the flexible circuit of the inkjet print head cassette through the electrical contacts made of metal, so that the inkjet print head cassette can receive the signals and perform the inkjet printing procedures. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C , an ink cassette carrying device  4  of a printer is illustrated. The ink cassette carrying device  4  has a supporting base  41 , a circuit board is disposed on the supporting base  41 , and a plurality of electrical contacts  42  are arranged on the circuit board. The supporting base  41  is adapted to support an inkjet print head cassette  2 . The inkjet print head cassette  2  includes an inkjet print head chip  22  and a flexible circuit board  23 , and a plurality of electrical contacts  231  are arranged on the flexible circuit board  23 . When the inkjet print head cassette  2  is installed in the supporting base  41  of the printer, an electrical connection is established between the electrical contacts  231  of the flexible circuit board  23  on the inkjet print head cassette  2  and the electrical contacts  41  of the supporting base  41  of the printer, so that the inkjet print head cassette  2  can perform the inkjet printing procedures. 
     The printer transmits electrical signals to the flexible circuit board  23  of the inkjet print head cassette  2  through these electrical contacts  42 , so that the inkjet print head chip  22  of the inkjet print head cassette  2  can receive the electrical signals and be driven by the printer to perform the inkjet printing procedures. However, the inkjet print head cassette  2  should be fixed on the supporting base  41 , so as to allow the inkjet printing procedure to perform at the right position. Moreover, as the inkjet print head cassette  2  has to be replaced frequently, the electrical contacts  231  has to be precisely in contact with the electrical contacts  42  during assembling the inkjet print head cassette  2  to the supporting base  41 , so as to allow the printing procedure to be performed correctly. As a result, when the electrical contacts  231  and the electrical contacts  42  are not in contact with each other precisely, the printer  4  would be fail to drive the inkjet print head cassette  2  and perform the inkjet printing procedure. 
     In view of the issue of electrical connection occurred upon assembling the inkjet print head cassette to the supporting base of the ink cassette carrying device  4 , in accordance with one or some embodiments of the present disclosure, a printer driving system is provided, and the issue of electrical connection mentioned above can be solved by providing a busbar connector (which may be a USB), so as to allow the inkjet print head cassette to be positioned with the printer and assembled or disassembled with the supporting base  41  quickly and conveniently without affecting the signal connection of the inkjet print head cassette. 
     SUMMARY 
     One object of the present disclosure is to provide a printer driving system, more specifically, in one embodiment, to a busbar connector (such as a USB) providing between the supporting base of a printer and the inkjet print head cassette. Through the quick positioning and connection of the busbar connector (such as a USB), the inkjet print head cassette can be quickly positioned with the supporting base of the printer and assembled or disassembled from the supporting base of the printer conveniently without affecting the signal connection of the inkjet print head cassette. 
     To achieve the object mentioned above, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, a printer driving system is provided to be implemented on a printer. The system includes a printer driving control circuit, an inkjet print head cassette, and a connection port. The printer driving control circuit is arranged on the printer and includes a driving signal coding chip. The driving signal coding chip is connected to a bus wire to output a driving signal. The inkjet print head cassette is arranged on a supporting base of the printer and includes a driving signal decoding chip and an inkjet print head chip. The driving signal decoding chip is connected to the driving signal coding chip of the printer driving control circuit through the bus wire, the driving signal coding chip provides the driving signal for the driving signal decoding chip to obtain a decoding signal, and the decoding signal is then outputted and received by the inkjet print head chip to perform an inkjet printing procedure. The connection port is arranged on the bus wire connected between the driving signal coding chip and the driving signal decoding chip. The inkjet print head cassette is detachably arranged on the supporting base of the printer through the connection port. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below, for illustration only and thus not limitative of the disclosure, wherein: 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates a schematic view of the separated ink cassette carrying device from the ink cassette of a printer known in the relevant art; 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates a schematic view of the separated supporting base from the ink cassette of the printer known in the relevant art; 
         FIG. 1C  illustrates a schematic view of the ink cassette known in the relevant art from another perspective; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a circuit block diagram of a printer driving system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3A  illustrates a schematic view of a separated ink cassette carrying device from an inkjet print head cassette of a printer of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 3B  illustrates a schematic view of the separated supporting base from the inkjet print head cassette of the printer of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present disclosure will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of different embodiments of this disclosure are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only, and it is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A , and  FIG. 3B . A printer driving system adapted to be implemented on a printer having an ink cassette carrying device  4  is provided. The printer driving system includes a printer driving control circuit  1 , an inkjet print head cassette  2 , and a connection port  3 . The ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer has a supporting base  41 . The printer driving control circuit  1  is arranged on the printer (not shown) and includes a driving signal coding chip  11 , and the driving signal coding chip  11  is connected to a bus wire A and adapted to output a driving signal. The inkjet print head cassette  2  is arranged on the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer and includes a driving signal decoding chip  21  and an inkjet print head chip  22 . The driving signal decoding chip  21  is electrically connected to the driving signal coding chip  11  of the printer driving control circuit  1  through the bus wire A, and the driving signal decoding chip  21  receives the driving signal transmitted by the driving signal coding chip  11 . The driving signal may be a driving signal pulse (Clock), a driving signal data (Data), a power ground signal (Gnd), or a power signal (Vcc). 
     The connection port  3  is arranged on the bus wire A to which the driving signal coding chip  11  and the driving signal decoding chip  21  are connected. In this embodiment, the connection port  3  is a busbar connector (for example, a USB connector) and includes a first connection terminal  31  and a second connection terminal  32 . The first connection terminal  31  is connected to the bus wire A to which the driving signal coding chip  11  is connected. As shown in  FIG. 3B , the first connection terminal  31  may be arranged on the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer, and the rear portion of the first connection terminal  31  is connected to the bus wire A to which the driving signal coding chip  11  is connected (not shown). The second connection terminal  32  is connected to the bus wire A to which the driving signal decoding chip  21  is connected. As shown in  FIG. 3B , the second connection terminal  32  may be arranged on the inkjet print head cassette  2 , and the rear portion of the second connection terminal  32  is connected to the bus wire A to which the driving signal decoding chip  21  is connected (not shown). Hence, as the first connection terminal  31  and the second connection terminal  32  are connected with each other, the driving signal of the driving signal coding chip  11  can be transmitted to the driving signal decoding chip  21  through the bus wire A. In this embodiment, the first connection terminal  31  is a male terminal (as shown in  FIG. 3B ), and the second connection terminal  32  is a female terminal (as shown in  FIG. 3B ). Therefore, the first connection terminal  31  and the second connection terminal  32  can be connected with each other, and the driving signal of the driving signal coding chip  11  can be transmitted to the driving signal decoding chip  21  through the bus wire A. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the first connection terminal  31  is a female terminal (not shown), and the second connection terminal  32  is a male terminal (not shown). Therefore, the first connection terminal  31  and the second connection terminal  32  can be connected with each other, and the driving signal of the driving signal coding chip  11  can be transmitted to the driving signal decoding chip  21  through the bus wire A. 
     In this embodiment, the inkjet print head cassette  2  is arranged on a supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer. The driving signal decoding chip  21  is electrically connected to the driving signal coding chip  11  of the printer driving control circuit  1  through the bus wire A and the connection port  3 , and the driving signal of the driving signal coding chip  11  is provided to the driving signal decoding chip  21  to obtain a decoding signal, and the decoding signal is then outputted and received by the inkjet print head chip  22  to perform an inkjet printing procedure. Therefore, according to one or some embodiment of the present disclosure, the inkjet print head cassette  2  is arranged on the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer through the connection port  3 , so that the inkjet print head cassette  2  can be assembled on or disassembled from the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer conveniently. 
     Based on above content, according to one or some embodiments of the present disclosure, a printer driving system is provided. The inkjet print head cassette  2  is arranged on and electrically connected to the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  of the printer through the electrical connection of the bus wire A and the connection port  3 . The driving signal coding chip  11  is arranged on the printer driving control circuit  1 , and the driving signal decoding chip  21  is arranged on the inkjet print head cassette  2 , so that the driving signal of the driving signal coding chip  11  can be provided to the driving signal decoding chip  21  through the electrical connection of the bus wire A and the connection port  3  to obtain a decoding signal. The decoding signal is outputted and received by the inkjet print head chip  22  to perform the inkjet printing procedure. Consequently, the issue of precisely positioning between the electrical contacts  231  of the inkjet print head cassette  2  and the electrical contacts  42  of the supporting base  41  required upon assembling the inkjet print head cassette  2  to the ink cassette carrying device  4  can be properly fulfilled. Moreover, in one or some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inkjet print head cassette  2  is arranged on the supporting base  41  of the ink cassette carrying device  4  through the connection port  3 , so as to allow the inkjet print head cassette  2  to be assembled on or disassembled from the ink cassette carrying device  4  conveniently and quickly. 
     The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.