Patent Publication Number: US-7213897-B2

Title: Ink-jet printer

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for jetting ink drops and recording data. 
   BACKGROUND ART 
   As an example of this kind of ink jet printer, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication 279344/1990 discloses a printer which has a storage means installed in an ink jet printing head with an ink chamber. The storage means holds operation conditions of the printing head and ink information. The printer is operated on the basis of information which is read from the storage means in an electrically non-contact state using a read/write head installed in the printer so that the printing head is operated optimally. The printing bead of the printer in this example stores ink in the ink chamber and is mounted in a carriage in a removable state so as to have a so-called ink cartridge function. 
   In this example, information on the printing head and ink can be transferred to the printer in a non-contact state, so that no electrical contact is required and there is no possibility that ink may be adhered to the exposed contact, causing a defective contact. Further, to maintain the contact between the contacts, there is no need to enhance the accuracy of mechanical positions. 
   In the conventional printer mentioned above, although information on the printing head and ink can be read and written in a non-contact state, data cannot be read and written into the storage means from the printer when the printing head having the ink chamber is not mounted on the carriage. 
   Incidentally, when the number of kinds of recording apparatus is increased, it is difficult for the same ink cartridge to cover a plurality of recording apparatus. Accordingly, the kind of ink cartridge becomes different for each recording apparatus and a suitable combination of recording apparatus and ink cartridges becomes complicated. Therefore, a user cannot easily judge the compliance between recording apparatus and ink cartridges, and after all, a problem arises that until the point of time when an ink cartridge is opened and actually mounted on a carriage of a recording apparatus, the user cannot judge whether the ink cartridge is suitable to the recording apparatus or not. 
   When the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, the seal for sealing the ink feed port of the ink cartridge is broken by the ink feed needle installed on the carriage side. Then, regardless of whether the recording apparatus is suitable to the ink cartridge or not, the ink in the ink cartridge is consumed by a predetermined amount, with the result that, when the ink cartridge is not suitable, unnecessary consumption of ink is caused. 
   The present invention was developed to solve the aforementioned problems and is intended to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which is able to communicate with a storage element installed in an ink container before mounting the ink container on a carriage. 
   DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
   An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a recording head of jetting ink drops to record, a carriage adapted to be loaded with an ink container storing ink to be fed to said recording head in a removable state, and a communication unit of communicating with a storage element for said ink container installed in said ink container, said communication unit being able to communicate with said storage element for said ink container when said ink container is not loaded on said carriage. 
   Preferably, said communication unit can communicate with said storage element for said ink container also when said ink container is loaded on said carriage. 
   Preferably, said communication unit communicates with said storage element for the ink container in a non-contact state. 
   Preferably, said communication unit includes an antenna. 
   Preferably, power is supplied to said storage element for said ink container in a non-contact state. 
   Preferably, said storage element for said ink container can be rewritten and information stored in said storage element for said ink container via said communication unit is read and rewritten. 
   Preferably, the ink jet recording apparatus further comprises a storage element for said recording head installed in said recording head for storing information concerning said recording head, wherein said communication unit communicates also with said storage element for said recording head. 
   Preferably, said communication unit communicates with said storage element for said recording head in a non-contact state. 
   Preferably, said communication unit communicates also with a storage element for a recording medium installed in a package of storage medium to be recorded by said ink jet recording apparatus. 
   Preferably, said communication unit communicates with said storage element for said recording medium in a non-contact state. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing the schematic constitution of the ink jet recording apparatus embodying the present invention. 
       FIGS. 2A ,  2 B, and  2 C show plan views showing the schematic constitution of a carriage of the ink jet recording apparatus embodying the present invention and the periphery thereof. 
       FIG. 3  is an illustration showing the inter constitution of a control circuit of the ink jet recording apparatus embodying the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view showing the intervening condition of the operation of mounting an ink cartridge on a carriage in the ink jet recording apparatus embodying the present invention. 
       FIG. 5  is a sectional view showing the condition that an ink cartridge is perfectly mounted on a carriage in the ink jet recording apparatus embodying the present invention. 
   

   BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
   A printer as an embodiment of the present invention will be explained hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , the printer of this embodiment has a carriage  1 , a recording head  6  and ink cartridges  7   a  and  7   b  loaded on the carriage  1 , a mechanism for driving the carriage  1  along a guide shaft  4  by a carriage motor  3 , a mechanism for transferring a recording paper  5  by a paper feed roller  2  driven by a paper feed motor  10 , and a head cap  8  for sealing the recording head  6  and sucking ink from the recording head  6 . 
   The mechanism for moving the carriage  1  back and forth in the direction of the shaft of the paper feed roller  2  is composed of the guide shaft  4  installed in parallel with the shaft of the paper feed roller  2  for holding the carriage  1  in a slidable state, pulleys  14  connected to the carriage motor  3  via a driving belt  13 , and a position sensor  25  for detecting the home position of the carriage  1 . 
   The ink cartridge  7   a  on the carriage  1  contains black ink (K) and the ink cartridge  7   b  contains 5 colors of inks of cyan ink (C), magenta ink (M), yellow ink (Y), light cyan ink (LC), and light magenta ink (LM). Light cyan ink and light magenta ink are inks having a dye content of ¼ to cyan ink and magenta ink respectively and used to form light color dots. 
   Tags  21   a  and  21   b  having built-in storage elements capable of being rewritten in an electrically non-contact state are put on the respective sides of the ink cartridges  7   a  and  7   b.    
   Further, a tag  22  having a built-in storage element capable of being read in an electrically non-contact state is put on the side of the carriage  1 . 
   The printer has an outer casing  12  only a part of which is shown in  FIG. 1  and a transmitting-receiving antenna  52  is arrange on the inner surface of the outer casing  12 . The transmitting-receiving antenna  52  can receive both a signal generated from inside the outer casing  12  and a signal generated from outside the outer casing  12 . On the outer surface of the outer casing  12 , a projection  12   a  for loading a commercial tag  23  having a built-in storage element which is attached to the recording paper package is provided in the position opposite to the transmitting-receiving antenna  52 . 
   Further, when the surface of another ink cartridge  7   a ′ to which a tag  21   a ′ is stuck is brought close to the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  opposite to it from outside the outer casing  12 , the communication unit can also communicate with the tag  21   a ′ of the ink cartridge  7   a ′ not mounted on the carriage  1 . 
     FIGS. 2A ,  2 B, and  2 C are drawings of the carriage  1  and the periphery thereof viewed from above and among them,  FIG. 2A  shows the carriage  1  in the standby position. In this case, the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  is opposite to the tag  21   a  stuck to the ink cartridge  7   a  and can communicate with a storage element  53   a  (shown in  FIG. 3 ). By doing this, ink information of the ink cartridge  7   a  can be obtained and information on the consumption of ink can be written. 
   Next,  FIG. 2B  shows the condition that the carriage  1  moves in the direction of the arrow FF and the tag  22  of the recording head  6  is opposite to the antenna  52 . In this case, the antenna  52  can communicate with a storage element  55  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) where information of the recording head  6  is written and can obtain the information of the recording head  6 . 
   Next,  FIG. 2C  shows the condition that the carriage  1  further moves in the direction of the arrow FF and the tag  21   b  on the ink cartridge  7   b  is opposite to the antenna  52 . In this case, the antenna  52  can communicate with a storage element  53   b  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) where information of the ink cartridge  7   b  is written, obtain the information of the ink cartridge  7   b , and write information of the consumption of ink. 
   Further, when the tag  23  stuck to the package of the recording paper  5  is put on the projection  12   a  of the outer casing  12  shown in  FIG. 1 , the antenna  52  is opposite to the tag  23  and can obtain information on the recording paper  5 . 
   Furthermore, when the surface of the ink cartridge  7   a ′ to which the tag  21   a ′ is stuck is brought close to the projection  12   a  of the outer casing  12 , the tag  21   a ′ is opposite to the antenna  52 . By doing this, the antenna  52  can communicate with a storage element  53   a ′ (shown in  FIG. 3 ) of the tag  21   a ′ and can obtain the information of the ink cartridge  7   a ′ before loading the ink cartridge  7   a ′ on the carriage  1 . In the ink cartridge  7   a ′ in this case, the non-contact electromagnetic coupling is not disturbed even when the ink cartridge  7   a ′ is sealed by a resin film, so that the communication by the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  is made possible. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , in the control circuit of the printer, a CPU  41 , a PROM  42 , and a RAM  43  connected by a path  50 , a PC interface  45  for transmitting and receiving data with a host  90 , a paper feed motor  10 , a peripheral I/ 0  unit (PIO)  46  for transmitting and receiving signals with the carriage motor  3  and an operation panel  32 , and a timer  44  for timing are installed. In the control circuit, a driving buffer  47  for outputting ink-dot ON and OFF signals to the recording head  6 , an oscillator  49  for outputting a timing signal of driving waveform as a voltage signal for driving a piezo-electric element at a predetermined frequency, and a driving circuit  48  for outputting a driving waveform to the recording head  6  by the timing signal of the oscillator  49  are installed additionally. 
   The control circuit receives dot data processed by the host  90 , stores it in the RAM  43  temporarily, and outputs it to the driving buffer  47  at predetermined timing. Further, a non-contact communication interface  51  for communicating with the tags  21   a ,  21   b ,  21   a  ′,  22 , and  23  respectively attached to the ink cartridges  7   a ,  7   b , and  7   a ′, the recording head  6 , and the recording paper  5  is installed. To the non-contact communication interface  51 , the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  is connected and the interface  51  communicates with the tags  21   a ,  21   b ,  21   a ′,  22 , and  23  via the antenna  52 . 
   The tags  21   a ,  21   b ,  21   a ′,  22 , and  23  are respectively composed of the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b ,  53   a ′,  55 , and  57  and antennas  54   a ,  54   b ,  54   a ′,  56 , and  58  and by the electromagnetic coupling when the antennas  54   a ,  54   b ,  54   a ′,  56 , and  58  respectively become opposite to the antenna  52  on the recording apparatus side, the interface  51  communicates with them. 
   In the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b , and  53   a ′ of the tags  21   a ,  21   b , and  21   a ′ attached to the ink cartridges  7   a ,  7   b , and  7   a ′, information such as the residual amount of ink of each color, ink kind, manufacturing date, and serial number is stored beforehand and the information is read by the control circuit of the printer and used for record control and maintenance control. 
   For example, with respect to the information of residual amount of ink, the ink dot amount used for recording, the ink consumption during head cleaning, and the nozzle flashing amount are calculated by the control circuit of the printer, and the calculated values are subtracted from the residual amounts of ink stored in the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b , and  53   a ′, and the results are written into the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b , and  53   a  ′ again. By doing this, the residual amounts of ink in the ink cartridges  7   a ,  7   b , and  7   a ′ can be confirmed accurately and at the point of time when the residual amount of ink of any ink cartridge becomes 0, exchange of the ink cartridge can be notified to a user. 
   Further, the information of ink kind may be used to judge whether the ink stored in the ink cartridges  7   a ,  7   b , and  7   a ′ is suitable to the concerned printer. When the ink is not suitable to the printer, a warning may be given to the user. Further, the information of ink kind may be used to perform a most suitable color correction process for the ink kind. 
   Furthermore, the cumulative times from the time of mounting of the cartridges  7   a ,  7   b , and  7   a ′ on the carriage  1  are written in the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b , and  53   a ′ and at the time of head maintenance, the head maintenance according to the change of ink with time can be executed on the basis of the cumulative times stored in the storage elements  53   a ,  53   b , and  53   a′.    
   In the recording element  55  on the tag  22  attached to the recording head  6 , driving conditions for keeping the weight and speed of ink drops to be jetted from the recording head  6  constant, for example, the driving voltage which is a parameter of driving waveform, the driving time, and the factor according to temperature change are stored and the printer control circuit reads each condition from the storage element  55  via the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  and drives the recording head  6  optimally. 
   In the recording element  57  on the tag  23  attached to the recording paper  5 , information such as the weight of ink drops most suitable for the recording paper  5 , color correction parameter, and recording method is written and when the tag  23  is put on the projection  12   a  of the outer casing  12 , the printer control circuit reads the information in the storage element  57  via the transmitting-receiving antenna  52  and automatically sets most suitable recording conditions on the recording paper  5 . 
     FIG. 4  shows the intervening condition of the operation of mounting the ink cartridge  7   a  on the carriage  1  of the printer of this embodiment and  FIG. 5  shows the condition that the ink cartridge  7   a  is perfectly mounted on the carriage  1 . On the side of the carriage  1 , a window  6  is formed and in a state that the ink cartridge  7   a  is perfectly mounted on the carriage  1 , the tag  21   a  composed of an IC attached to the side of the ink cartridge  1  is opposite to the window  60 . 
   In the ink cartridge  7   a , a porous member  70  for holding ink is filled. As shown in  FIG. 4 , in the ink cartridge  7   a  not in use, an ink feed port  71  is sealed by a sealing film  72 . When the ink cartridge  7   a  is mounted on the carriage  1 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , the sealing film  72  is broken by an ink feed needle  61  installed on the carriage  1 . The ink feed needle  61  passing through the sealing film  72  is inserted into a sealing rubber member  73  installed at the ink feed port  71  and ink in the ink cartridge  7   a  flows on the side of the recording head  6  via the ink feed needle  61 . 
   As mentioned above, when the ink cartridge  7   a  is mounted on the carriage, the sealing film  72  of the ink cartridge  7   a  is broken and ink in the ink cartridge  7   a  flows on the side of the recording head  6 . Therefore, it is desirable to prevent an unsuitable ink cartridge from mounting on the carriage  1  and prevent unnecessary consumption of ink. 
   Accordingly, when the ink cartridge  7   a  is to be mounted on the carriage  1  of the printer of this embodiment, the information in the tag  21   a  of the ink cartridge  7   a  is read via the transmitting-receiving antenna  52 , and it is ascertained that the ink cartridge  7   a  is suitable, and then the ink cartridge  7   a  is mounted on the carriage  1 . By doing this, unnecessary ink consumption due to mounting of an unsuitable ink cartridge can be prevented. 
   Although the embodiment of the present invention is explained above, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the embodiment. To the aforementioned embodiment, various changes and improvements can be added. As shown by the description in the claims of the patent, an embodiment with such changes and improvements added can be included in the technical scope of the present invention. 
   As shown by the above explanation, according to the present invention, when the ink container is brought close to the communication unit of the ink jet recording apparatus, the communication unit can communicate with the storage element for the ink container installed in the ink container, so that before mounting the ink container on the carriage of the ink jet recording apparatus, it is possible to ascertain the ink kind in the ink container and ascertain the suitability of the ink container with the ink jet recording apparatus. Therefore, the suitability of the ink container can be ascertained easily and quickly and unnecessary ink consumption due to mounting of an unsuitable ink container on the carriage can be prevented. 
   Further, according to the present invention, even after the ink container is mounted on the carriage, a same communication unit as that used before mounting can communicate with the storage element for the ink container. Since the common use of the communication unit can be realized like this, structural simplification and cost reduction of the ink jet recording apparatus can be realized. 
   Furthermore, according to the present invention, the communication unit can communicate with not only the storage element for the ink container but also the storage element for the recording head installed on the recording head or the storage element for the recording medium installed on the package of recording medium, so that a most suitable recording process can be performed.