Patent Publication Number: US-2019196750-A1

Title: Cartidge chip resetting control for imaging device

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This U.S. application claims priority under 35 U.S.C  111 ( a ) to, and is a U.S. continuation application of, the International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2017/117905, filed on Dec. 22, 2017, which claims the benefit of prior Chinese Application No. 201711401129.3 filed on Dec. 22, 2017. The entire contents of the before-mentioned patent applications are incorporated by reference as part of the disclosure of this U.S. application. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to imaging process field, more particularly, to a cartridge chip reset method and a chip using the method thereof for an imaging device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     An imaging cartridge having a chip is normally installed on an imaging device such as a duplicating machine, a printer, a facsimile machine and a multifunctional word processing machine etc. The chip is stored with imaging cartridge data or information such as manufacturer code, serial number, version number, manufacturing date, model series, machine parameters, consumable volume and consumable consumption volume etc. In operation, the imaging device may communicate with the chip, and verify the validity of the stored data in the chip. Once illegal items may be existed in the data stored in the chip, the communication between the imaging device and the chip may be rejected, resulting non-service of the imaging cartridge having the chip for the imaging device. 
     In prior art, although a device for resetting the chip may exist, the device may only reset a chip under the condition that the non-use of the chip by an imaging device is caused by consumable consumption volume stored in the chip reaching maximum. And normally the resetting is accomplished simply by burning imaging cartridge data into the chip again, such as the solution disclosed in Chinese patent application CN201020581469.6. However, During the operation of the chip, one or more exceptions may cause the chip being recognized by the imaging device as invalid, such as developer dropping non-smoothness, total or partial consumable consumption volume or version exception, non-detectability of the chip, use markup exception etc. When the chip is verified as invalid by the imaging device in this way, the chip is correspondingly communication denied, refusing to communicate with the chip. If the communication denied chip is restored, it may only be performed by the original manufacturer, professional personnel or professional devices. However, normal user of the imaging device does not have the capability or condition of repairing the communication denied chip. Once the chip is denied communication, the chip is discarded or sent back to the chip manufacturer or reset by dedicated devices, resulting in unnecessary waste and deterioration of user&#39;s experience. 
     SUMMARY 
     This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     To solve the above problems, the present disclosure may provide a method for resetting a written-dead chip, a chip using the resetting method and a consumable container. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of resetting a chip for an imaging device may be provided, the method may comprise the steps of obtaining a part of or complete printing information of an imaging cartridge data of the chip in operation; detecting an exceptional status of the chip, and generating an exceptional tag according to the exceptional status; generating a resetting information according to the exceptional tag and/or the printing information, and obtaining a resetting data according to the resetting information; and performing a resetting operation using the resetting data. 
     According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a chip for an imaging device may be provided. The chip may comprise a circuit board; and a reset device disposed on the circuit board. The reset device may comprise a recording module obtaining a part of or complete printing information of an imaging cartridge during operation and storing the printing information; a detecting module detecting an exceptional status of the chip and generating an exceptional tag according to the exceptional status; a backup module for storing resetting data; and a reset module generating resetting information according to the exceptional tag and/or the printing information, and sending a resetting information to the backup module. The backup module may obtain a corresponding resetting data according to the resetting information after receiving the resetting information, and send the resetting data to the reset module. And the reset module may perform a corresponding resetting operation using the resetting data. 
     According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, a consumable container may be provided, comprising a consumable cartridge and the aforementioned chip installed in the consumable cartridge. 
     The present disclosure may have the following advantages. Compared with prior art, a reset device may be provided in the chip, corresponding resetting data may be obtained by the exceptional status of the resetting device and the printing information of the printing device. And the chip may be reset by the resetting data. And the chip may be automatically reset in a relatively accurate way when exception may occur. And the chip may not need to be sent to the original manufacturer for resetting when the chip is denied communication. And the communication denied chip may be reset during customer&#39;s usage, thus enhancing utilizing rate of the chip and further reducing chip waste. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1A  is a block diagram of a consumable container according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 1B  is a block diagram of a reset module in a chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a reset method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a reset method using resetting data according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Descriptions will be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in drawings, in which the same or similar elements and the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions. The embodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, are intended to understand the present disclosure, and are not construed to limit the present disclosure. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B , a consumable container  100  may comprise a consumable cartridge  103  and a chip  105  disposed in the consumable cartridge  103 . The consumable cartridge  103  may be used for containing ink or carbon developer etc. the chip  105  may be stored with EEPROM data. The chip  105  may comprise a circuit board  107  and a reset device  109  provided on the circuit board. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the reset device  109  may comprise: a recording module  111  for obtaining a part of or a complete printing information of an imaging cartridge data of the chip  105  during operation and storing the printing information; a detecting module  113  for detecting an exceptional status of the chip  105  and generating an exceptional tag according to the exceptional status; a backup module  115  for storing resetting data; a reset module  117  generating the resetting information according to the exceptional tag and/or the printing information, and sending a resetting information to the backup module  115 . The backup module  115  may obtain a corresponding resetting data according to the resetting information after receiving the resetting information, and send the resetting data to the reset module  117 . And the reset module  117  may perform a corresponding resetting operation using the resetting data. Of course, the chip  105  may further comprise a storing device  119  for storing EEPROM data. 
     When there are two or more reset modes, the reset device  109  may further comprise a weight setting module  121  and a sorting module  123 . 
     The weight setting module  121  may be used for matching the exceptional tag and the reset mode, and setting a weight value of the corresponding reset mode according to the matching degree. The sorting module  123  may sort the reset modes based on the weight values accordingly. 
     The reset module  117  may further comprise the following submodules: an obtaining submodule  1171  for obtaining the corresponding resetting data based on the sorted reset modes; a determination submodule  1173  for determining whether an unusable tag may exist in the resetting data; a reset submodule  1175  for performing the resetting operation using the resetting data according to the corresponding reset mode if the determination submodule  1173  may determine that no unusable tag exists in the resetting data, and obtaining other resetting data according to other reset mode respectively if the unusable tag exists in the resetting data. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the printing information may comprise at least one of consumable volume, consumable consumption volume and use markup. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the resetting data may comprise at least one of backup serial number information, version information, consumable volume information, and consumable consumption information. 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the exceptional status may comprise at least one of non-detectability, serial number exception, consumable volume exception, and developer dropping exception. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for resetting a chip for an imaging device may be provided. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the imaging device may be a duplicating machine, a printer, a facsimile machine or a multifunctional word processing machine etc. The method may comprise the following steps. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , in step S 1 , a part of or complete printing information of an imaging cartridge data i.e. EEPROM data, of the chip  105  in operation may be obtained by the recording module  111 . And the printing information may be sent to the reset module  117  by the recording module  111 . 
     In step S 2 , exceptional status of the chip  105  may be detected by the detecting module  113 , and the exceptional tag may be generated by the exceptional status. The exceptional tag generated by the detecting module  113  may be sent to the reset module  117 . It should be noted that the exceptional status may only occur when exception occurs for the chip  105 , and exceptional tag may be generated accordingly. If the chip  105  may be used normally, the detecting module  113  may not detect, or may not generate the exceptional tag when no exception is detected. It should be noted that the steps S 1  and S 2  may be executed in a switchable manner. 
     In step S 3 , a resetting information according to the exceptional tag and/or the printing information may be generated by the reset module  117 , and a resetting data according to the resetting information may be obtained from the backup module  115 . For example, an A-class resetting information may be generated according to the non-detectability exceptional tag and the printing information of normal consumable volume. Or a B-class resetting information may be generated based on an exceptional tag of developer dropping non-smoothness and a printing information of partial normal volume and partial abnormal volume. And at least one of serial number information, version information, consumable volume information and consumable consumption information may be obtained based on the A-class resetting information and B-class resetting information. 
     In Step S 4 , a resetting operation using the resetting data may be performed by the reset module  117 . 
     There may be at least one reset mode. When there may be two or more reset modes, after sorting of the reset modes, the resetting operations may be performed respectively following the sorting order of the reset modes. For example, the reset mode may comprise serial number switching, data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, version switching and volume resetting etc. The reset modes may be stored in the reset module  117 . 
     The sorting method of the reset modes may comprise the following steps. Step S 1 ′, matching the exceptional tag and the reset mode to obtain a matching degree, and setting a weight value according to the matching degree. For example, an exceptional tag of non-detectability may be generated by the detecting module, the exceptional tag of non-detectability may have a higher matching degree with the serial number switching, less with version switching, more less with volume resetting, further more less with exception tag clearing and least with data rewriting. And weight value of 1/2/3/4/5 may be set for serial number switching, version switching, volume resetting, exceptional tag clearing and data rewriting respectively. Step S 2 ′, the reset modes may be sorted according to the weight values accordingly. For example, the weight value itself may be used for the sorting. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the step of performing or executing a resetting operation using the resetting data may comprise the following steps. Step S 41 , corresponding resetting data may be obtained using the sorted reset modes. Since the resetting data and the reset mode have correlation, the resetting data is sorted following the reset modes. The resetting data in front after sorting may be firstly obtained. For example, the mode of serial number switching may correspond with the serial number data. The mode of version switching may correspond with the version data. The mode of volume resetting may correspond with the volume data. And the data rewriting may correspond with all the EEPROM data etc. Step S 42 , determining whether an unusable tag may exist in the resetting data. Step S 43 , if not, performing the resetting operation using the resetting data according to the corresponding reset mode. Otherwise, the step S 41  may be returned, to continuously execute the resetting operation based on the sorting to obtain other resetting data. 
     After performing the resetting operation based on the corresponding reset mode using the resetting data, the chip  105  may be determined to work normally or not (step S 44 ). If yes, the chip  105  resetting may be successful (step S 45 ). Otherwise, the step S 41  may be returned to continuously perform the resetting operation by obtaining other resetting data based on the sorting again, and the unusable tag may be tagged for the corresponding resetting data. 
     The following embodiments will further explain the chip reset principle of the consumable container, the chip and the chip resetting method. 
     First Embodiment 
     The chip may be detected by the detecting module as write non-detectability, the consumable volume may be recorded as 100% with non-use markup by the recording module. The resetting module may obtain the resetting information of serial number switching. Then, the serial number information may be obtained from the backup module  115  by the resetting module, for resetting by serial number switching. Of course, the sorting may be performed by the resetting module by matching the exceptional information of write non-detectability with the resetting modes such as the serial number switching, data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, version switching and volume resetting etc. And the resetting modes sorted in the front may firstly be executed. After one execution, the chip resetting is determined to be successful or not. If yes, the resetting operation may be terminated, otherwise the next reset mode may be used for the resetting operation until successful. It may be presumed that the reset modes may be sorted as serial number switching, data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, version switching and volume resetting. The serial number switching may be firstly executed, if the chip may not be reset successfully, the serial number data may be tagged with an unusable tag, and the data rewriting may then be executed . . . and all the sorted reset modes may be executed in turn respectively until resetting may be successful. After success, all the unusable tags may be cleared. If all the resetting modes may be executed and the chip still may not be reset successfully, the chip may be written with a communication denied tag. Normally, the chip may be reset successfully, and only under rare extreme conditions may the resetting of the chip be unsuccessful. 
     Second Embodiment 
     The chip may be detected by the detecting module as developer dropping non-smoothness. The consumable volume may be recorded as 50% with use markup by the recording module. Thus, the EEPROM data for the previous 50% consumable volume may be normal data. The resetting information for the data rewriting may be obtained by the resetting module. Then, the EEPROM data of the previous 50% consumable volume may be obtained from the backup module  115  by the resetting module to reset in the data rewriting mode. Of course, sorting may be performed by the resetting module by matching the exceptional information of developer dropping non-smoothness with the resetting modes such as the serial number switching, data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, version switching and volume resetting etc. And the resetting modes sorted in the front may firstly be executed. After one execution, the chip resetting may be determined to be successful or not. If yes, the resetting operation may be terminated, otherwise the next resetting mode may be used for the resetting operation until successful. It may be presumed that the resetting modes may be sorted as data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, version switching, volume resetting and serial number switching. The data rewriting may be firstly executed, if the chip may not be reset successfully, the exceptional tag clearing may then be executed . . . and all the sorted reset mode may be executed in turn until the resetting may be successful. 
     Third Embodiment 
     Version exception may be detected by the detecting module, showing there may be version exception for the chip. The resetting information for the needed switching may be obtained by the resetting module, then new version data may be obtained from the backup module  115  by the resetting module to reset in a version switching mode. Of course, sorting may be performed by the resetting module by matching the exceptional information of version exception with the resetting modes such as the version switching, serial number switching, data rewriting, exceptional tag clearing, and volume resetting etc. And the resetting modes sorted in the front may firstly be executed. After one execution, the chip resetting is determined to be successful or not. If yes, the resetting operation may be terminated, otherwise the next resetting mode may be used for the resetting operation until successful. The specific process may be referred to as stated in the first and second embodiments described above. 
     As stated above, resetting data may be obtained by the exceptional status of the chip and the printing information of the printing device. And the chip may be reset by the resetting data. And the chip may be automatically reset in a relatively accurate way when exception may occur. And the chip may not need to be sent to the original manufacturer for resetting. And the chip may be reset during customer&#39;s usage, thus enhancing utilizing rate of the chip and further reducing chip waste. In addition, the resetting modes for the resetting operation may be sorted accordingly, so that the chip may be performed with resetting operation in a specific order, thus further enhancing the successful possibility of resetting the chip. 
     Although explanatory embodiments have been illustrated and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.