Patent Description:
Currently, image-forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers, faxes and multifunctional machines are detachably installed with process cartridges for image formation. The process cartridge may be an ink cartridge, a toner cartridge or the like. The process cartridge is disposed with a process cartridge chip. The process cartridge chip is disposed with four contacts respectively including a power contact (e.g., volt current condenser VCC), a data signal contact (e.g., serial data SDA), a clock signal contact (e.g., CLK) and a grounding contact (GND).

In the image-forming apparatus, each sheet metal of the image-forming apparatus is grounded and electrically connected to each other. A data board of the image-forming apparatus is fixed on the sheet metal of the main body of the image-forming apparatus through locking screws, thereby achieving grounding. The data board is connected to a part of conductive terminals disposed on the image-forming apparatus. When the process cartridge is installed on the image-forming apparatus, another part of the conductive terminals may be electrically connected to conductive contacts of the process cartridge chip. In such way, the process cartridge chip may communicate with the data board and achieve grounding through the data board.

However, if the electrical connection between the conductive terminals disposed on the image-forming apparatus and the data board is unstable, it may result in not direct grounding, abnormal grounding and the like of the process cartridge chip, thereby affecting communication between the process cartridge chip and the image-forming apparatus.

Document <CIT> I discloses a printing apparatus with a power supply unit designed to increase the self-resonant frequency of capacitors particularly focusing on the capacitors' arrangement and the circuit substrate design for stabilization and noise reduction.

The present invention is defined in the attached claim <NUM>. Other aspects of the present invention may be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure.

To clearly describe technical solutions of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings which need to be used for describing various embodiments are described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other drawings may be obtained in accordance with the drawings without creative efforts.

In order to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that described embodiments are only some of embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all of embodiments. Based on embodiments in present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative efforts should fall within the protection scope of present disclosure.

The terms used in embodiments of the present disclosure are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and not intended to limit the present disclosure. As used in embodiments and appended claims, the singular forms "a," "the" and "said" are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" used in the present disclosure is only an association relationship describing related objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and/or B may indicate three cases: A alone, both A and B, and B alone. In addition, the character "/" in the present disclosure indicate that related objects are an "or" relationship.

Before a detailed description of embodiments of the present disclosure, terms that may be applied in embodiments of the present disclosure are first defined. For a potential reference point, a certain point A in a circuit is selected as the potential reference point, which indicates that the potential at such point is configured to be zero. The potential reference point is marked with a symbol "<NUM>" in the circuit. In practice, the potential reference point is chosen to be ground potential, in other words, the ground potential is chosen to be zero potential. In electronic circuits, a common point or a housing is selected as zero potential. It should be noted that, although the potential of the potential reference point is specified to be zero potential, actual potential of such potential reference point is not necessarily zero. For the convenience of subsequent description, the connection to the potential reference point may also be referred to as "ground".

Currently, image-forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers, faxes and multifunctional machines are detachably installed with process cartridges for image formation. The process cartridge may be an ink cartridge, a toner cartridge or the like. The process cartridge is disposed with a process cartridge chip. The process cartridge chip is disposed with four contacts respectively including a power contact (e.g., volt current condenser or VCC), a data signal contact (e.g., serial data or SDA), a clock signal contact (e.g., CLK) and a grounding contact (GND).

It should be noted that the image-forming apparatus may include an image-forming control unit. The image-forming control unit may be an SoC (System on Chip). The SoC is a miniature system including multiple system parts configured to control image-forming processing operations of the image-forming apparatus, for example, performing linear correction, noise reduction, bad pixel removal, detail enhancement and the like on the image data to improve image output quality. The image-forming control unit may be also configured to perform processing operations related to data transmission and reception, command transmission and reception, and engine control of printing images. For example, the image-forming control unit may send and receive data, print engine control commands, status and the like through an interface unit (including but not limited to a USB port, a wired network port, a wireless network port, other interface, and/or the like). The image-forming control unit may be a data board.

In order to solve above technical problems, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a conductive connection structure and an image-forming apparatus. The conductive connection structure includes a conductive part; the conductive part includes a first connection portion and a second connection portion; the first connection portion is configured to be electrically connected to a reference-ground supply part disposed in a main body of the image-forming apparatus through a first connection part, in order to be connected to a potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part; and the second connection portion is configured to be connected to the reference-ground supply part through a second connection part. The first connection part is different from the second connection part. The first connection part is not included in the second connection part, and the second connection part is not included in the first connection part. That is, above-mentioned conductive connection structure includes the conductive part; the first connection portion of the conductive part is electrically connected to the reference ground disposed in the main body of the image-forming apparatus through the first connection part, such that the conductive part is connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part through the first connection portion; and furthermore, the second connection portion of the conductive part is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through the second connection part, such that the conductive part may be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part through the second connection portion. The first connection part is not included in the second connection part, and the second connection part is not included in the first connection part. Therefore, even if one of the first connection portion and the second connection portion is not connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part, the conductive part may still be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part through another connection portion. In such way, through the conductive part, stable connection to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part may be achieved. The conductive connection structure is described in detail hereinafter.

<FIG> illustrates a structural schematic of a conductive connection structure provided by exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The conductive connection structure includes a conductive part <NUM>; the conductive part <NUM> includes a first connection portion <NUM> and a second connection portion <NUM>; the first connection portion <NUM> is configured to be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> (e.g., the main body of the image-forming apparatus) through a first connection part <NUM>, in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>; and the second connection portion <NUM> is configured to be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> through the second connection part <NUM>. The first connection part <NUM> is different from the second connection part <NUM>. The first connection part <NUM> is not included in the second connection part <NUM>, and the second connection part <NUM> is not included in the first connection part <NUM>.

For example, the conductive connection structure includes the conductive part <NUM>; and the conductive part <NUM> includes the first connection portion <NUM> and the second connection portion <NUM>. When the conductive connection structure is used in the image-forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier and/or the like, the first connection portion <NUM> is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> through the first connection part <NUM>, in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>; and the second connection portion <NUM> is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> through the second connection part <NUM>, in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>. The reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may be a data board or sheet metal disposed in the image-forming apparatus, or a power board that supplies power to the data board, or another part in the image-forming apparatus capable of providing a potential reference point, which may not be limited in the present disclosure. In such way, the conductive connection structure may be connected to the potential reference points provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM> through the first connection portion <NUM> and the second connection portion <NUM> respectively. Since the first connection part <NUM> and the second connection part <NUM> are different and not included with each other, two paths of connecting to the potential reference point may not affect each other. When any one path is unstable, the conductive part may be connected to the potential reference point through another path, thereby achieving stable access to the potential reference point.

As shown in <FIG>, the first connection portion <NUM> is configured to be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> by electrically connecting to an electrical contact portion <NUM> disposed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, thereby implementing connection to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>.

For example, the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> is disposed with the electrical contact portion <NUM>. At this point, the first connection portion <NUM> is configured to be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> by being connected to the electrical contact portion <NUM> disposed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>. For example, the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be a contact elastic piece disposed on the sheet metal frame of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, and the conductive part <NUM> may be a conductive tape, a wire or the like. As shown in <FIG>, the conductive part <NUM> is the conductive tape, which is taken as an example. The conductive tape may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>. A part of the conductive tape may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> by electrically connecting to the contact elastic piece, thereby electrically connecting to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>; and another part of the conductive tape may be directly attached to the sheet metal of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>. Since the sheet metal may provide the potential reference point, the conductive tape may be electrically connected to the conductive elastic piece and the sheet metal respectively, thereby being stably connected to the potential reference point. Optionally, when the conductive part <NUM> is a wire, one end of the wire may be wrapped around the contact elastic piece, and another end may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point. Optionally, one end of the conductive part <NUM> may be a clip for clamping the conductive contact elastic piece, and another end may be attached to the sheet metal of the image-forming apparatus or directly connected to the potential reference point.

As shown in <FIG>, the electrical contact portion <NUM> is configured to be electrically connected to an electrical contact of a storage apparatus <NUM> installed on a process cartridge <NUM>; and the process cartridge <NUM> is detachably installed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>.

For example, the image-forming apparatus further includes the process cartridge <NUM>. The process cartridge <NUM> is detachably installed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, and the storage apparatus <NUM> may be installed on the process cartridge <NUM>. For example, the storage apparatus <NUM> may be a process cartridge chip. At this point, the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the electrical contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> installed on the process cartridge <NUM>, where the portion of the electrical contact portion <NUM> used for grounding may be electrically connected to the electrical (ground) contact in the storage apparatus <NUM>. Since the grounding portion of the electrical contact portion <NUM> has been electrically connected to the conductive connection structure to be connected to the potential reference point, the storage apparatus <NUM> may be electrically connected to the electrical contact portion <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point. Obviously, the storage apparatus <NUM> may also be electrically connected to another reference-ground supply part, thereby being connected to the potential reference point. For example, the storage apparatus <NUM> may be disposed with a grounding contact at another position, and the grounding contact may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> through an electrical connection part <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point. As shown in <FIG>, the storage apparatus <NUM> may be a process cartridge chip; the front of the process cartridge chip may be disposed with at least three electrical contacts including a power contact (volt current condenser VCC), a data signal contact (serial data SDA), and a clock signal contact (CLK); and the back of the process cartridge chip may be disposed with a grounding contact (GND). As shown in <FIG>, when the process cartridge chip is installed on the process cartridge <NUM> and the process cartridge <NUM> is placed on a drawer and loaded in the image-forming apparatus, three contacts on the front side of the process cartridge chip may form electrical connections with three conductive contact elastic pieces disposed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, the conductive contact elastic pieces may be electrically connected to a connection plate, and the process cartridge chip may communicate with the image-forming apparatus. As shown in <FIG>, the grounding contact on the back of the process cartridge chip may be in contact with the sheet metal of the printer drawer through the electrical connection part <NUM>. When the printer drawer is installed on the image-forming apparatus, the sheet metal of the drawer may be electrically connected to the sheet metal of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> to be connected to the potential reference point, such that the grounding contact on the back of the process cartridge chip may be grounded. Moreover, the grounding contact may be disposed on the back of the chip, which may facilitate the contact with the sheet metal of the drawer, reduce electrical connection difficulty and improve electrical connection stability. In addition, when the storage apparatus <NUM> is also electrically connected to other reference-ground supply parts in order to be connected to the potential reference point, the layout of all contacts on the chip may also be that the power contact (volt current condenser VCC), the data signal contact (serial data SDA), the clock signal contact (CLK), the grounding contact (GND) ) may be disposed on a same side of the chip; or the layout of all contacts on the chip may be configured using other suitable manners.

As an optional implementation, the reference-ground supply part <NUM> may include an image-forming control unit and/or a power supply unit.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may be disposed with an image-forming control unit <NUM> and a power supply unit <NUM>, where the power supply unit <NUM> may be configured to supply power to the image-forming control unit <NUM>. Since both the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the power supply unit <NUM> can provide potential reference points, the reference-ground supply part <NUM> may be the image-forming control unit <NUM> and/or the power supply unit <NUM>. Therefore, the first connection portion <NUM> may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> or the power supply unit <NUM> through the first connection portion <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>.

As an optional implementation method, the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may also be disposed with a connection unit. The connection unit may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the electrical contact portion <NUM>, respectively.

The first connection portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> by electrically connecting to the connection unit, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the image-forming control unit <NUM>.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, in addition to the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the power supply unit <NUM>, the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may also be disposed with a connection unit <NUM>. The connection unit <NUM> may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the electrical contact portion <NUM>, respectively. When the process cartridge <NUM> is detachably installed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, the electrical contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> in the process cartridge <NUM> may be electrically connected to the electrical contact portion <NUM>, and then may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> through the connection unit <NUM>. Therefore, the communication between the storage apparatus <NUM> and the image-forming control unit <NUM> may be realized, and the grounding contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> may be grounded through the image-forming control unit <NUM>. Furthermore, the electrical contact portion <NUM> is also electrically connected to the first connection portion <NUM> of the conductive part <NUM>, and the second connection portion <NUM> of the conductive part <NUM> is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> through the second connection part <NUM>. Therefore, even if the grounding between the connection unit <NUM> and the image-forming control unit <NUM> is unstable, the electrical contact portion <NUM> may still be grounded through the second connection portion <NUM> of the conductive part <NUM>. It may prevent unstable grounding of the storage apparatus <NUM> of the process cartridge <NUM> from affecting the communication between the storage apparatus <NUM> and the image-forming control unit <NUM>.

The first connection portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> by electrically connecting to the connection unit <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the image-forming control unit <NUM>.

For example, in the printer, the image-forming control unit <NUM> may be a data board, and the connection unit <NUM> may be a connection board. As shown in <FIG>, the data board <NUM> of the printer may be fixed on the sheet metal of the printer (e.g., image-forming apparatus) main body <NUM> through locking screws. Since the sheet metal of the printer main body <NUM> is grounded, the data board may be grounded through the sheet metal of the printer main body <NUM>. That is, both the sheet metal of the printer main body <NUM> and the data board may be the reference-ground supply parts to provide the potential reference points. As shown in <FIG>, the connection board <NUM> of the printer may be electrically connected to the data board <NUM>, such that the connection board of the printer may be grounded through the data board.

It should be noted that in the image-forming apparatus, the connection unit <NUM> and the image-forming control unit <NUM> may be disposed separately, or the connection unit <NUM> may be integrated into the image-forming control unit <NUM>, which may not be limited in the present disclosure.

As an optional implementation, reference-ground supply part104 may further include the sheet metal of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>. The second connection portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> by electrically connecting to the sheet metal, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part <NUM>.

For example, the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may further include a sheet metal such as a housing sheet metal, a frame body sheet metal, a drawer sheet metal or the like of the image-forming apparatus; and above-mentioned sheet metals of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may be connected to each other. The sheet metals on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may be grounded, that is, the sheet metals, which are connected to each other, on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may all provide the potential reference points. Therefore, the second connection portion <NUM> may be electrically connected to the sheet metal on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> to be connected to the potential reference point.

As disclosed above, through above conductive connection structure, the first connection portion of the conductive part in the conductive connection structure may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit through the connection unit in order to be connected to the potential reference point; and the second connection portion of the conductive part may be electrically connected to the sheet metal in order to be connected to the potential reference point. Furthermore, the connection unit of the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM> may be also electrically connected to the electrical contact portion, such that the electrical contact portion is connected to the potential reference points through the first connection portion and the second connection portion of the conductive part, thereby achieving stable grounding. In such way, when the process cartridge <NUM> is installed on the image-forming apparatus main body <NUM>, the electrical contact portion may be configured to be electrically connected to the electrical contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> installed on the process cartridge <NUM>, such that the electrical contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> installed on the process cartridge <NUM> may be stably grounded through the electrical contact portion that has been connected to the potential reference point.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an image-forming apparatus. The image-forming apparatus may include the reference-ground supply part and the conductive connection structure as described above. The image-forming apparatus may include the conductive connection structure described in <FIG> or <FIG>.

<FIG> illustrates another structural schematic of an image-forming apparatus provided by exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The image-forming apparatus includes a reference-ground supply part <NUM>, configured to provide the potential reference point; and a conductive connection structure <NUM>, where the conductive connection structure includes a conductive part, and the conductive part includes the first connection portion and the second connection portion. The first connection portion is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through the first connection part in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part. The second connection portion is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through the second connection portion in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part. The first connection part is different from the second connection part, the first connection part is not included in the second connection part, and the first connection part is not included in the second connection part.

For example, the image-forming apparatus includes the reference-ground supply part <NUM> and the conductive connection structure <NUM>. The conductive connection structure <NUM> includes conductive parts. The first connection portion of the conductive part is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through the first connection part in order to be connected to the potential reference point. The second connection portion is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through the second connection portion in order to be connected to the potential reference point. For example, as shown in <FIG>, the conductive connection structure <NUM> may be a conductive contact elastic piece1301. The conductive contact elastic piece <NUM> may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part, disposed in the image-forming apparatus, which for example, may be the sheet metal of the main body of the image-forming apparatus.

The image-forming apparatus further includes the electrical contact portion; and the first connection portion is electrically connected to the electrical contact portion to be connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM>.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, the image-forming apparatus may further include an electrical contact portion <NUM>. One end of the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM> disposed in the main body of the image-forming apparatus, and another end of the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be electrically connected to the first connection portion of the conductive part in the conductive connection structure <NUM>. Therefore, the first connection portion is electrically connected to the electrical contact part to be connected to the reference-ground supply part <NUM>.

As an optional implementation, the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the electrical contact of the storage apparatus <NUM> installed on the process cartridge; and the process cartridge may be detachably installed on the main body of the image-forming apparatus.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, when the process cartridge <NUM> is detachably installed on the image-forming apparatus, the electrical contact portion <NUM> may be configured to be electrically connected to the electrical contact <NUM> of the storage apparatus <NUM> installed on the process cartridge <NUM>. For example, the storage apparatus <NUM> may be the process cartridge chip, such that the storage apparatus <NUM> may communicate with other modules disposed in the main body of the image-forming apparatus.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, the image-forming apparatus may be disposed with an image-forming control unit <NUM> and a power supply unit <NUM>. The power supply unit <NUM> may be configured to provide power to the image-forming control unit <NUM>. For example, in the printer, the image-forming control unit <NUM> may be a data board. Since both the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the power supply unit <NUM> can provide potential reference points, the reference-ground supply part <NUM> may be the image-forming control unit <NUM> and/or the power supply unit <NUM>.

As an optional implementation manner, the image-forming apparatus may further include the connection unit. The connection unit may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit and the electrical contact part, respectively. The first connection portion may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit by electrically connecting to the connection unit, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the image-forming control unit.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, in addition to the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the power supply unit <NUM>, the image-forming apparatus may further include a connection unit <NUM>. For example, the connection unit <NUM> may be a connection board. The connection unit <NUM> may be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> and the electrical contact portion <NUM>, respectively. The first connection portion may be configured to be electrically connected to the image-forming control unit <NUM> by electrically connecting to the connection unit <NUM>, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the image-forming control unit <NUM>.

As an optional implementation, the image-forming apparatus may further include the main body, and the reference-ground supply part may further include the sheet metal of the main body. The second connection portion may be electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part by electrically connecting to the sheet metal, thereby being connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part.

Claim 1:
An image-forming apparatus, comprising:
a reference-ground supply part (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
a conductive connection structure (<NUM>) comprising:
a conductive part (<NUM>), including
a first connection portion (<NUM>) electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part (<NUM>, <NUM>) disposed in a main body of the image-forming apparatus through a first connection part (<NUM>), in order to be connected to a potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part;
wherein the first connection portion is electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part, by electrically connecting to an electrical contact portion (<NUM>) disposed on the main body of the image-forming apparatus, in order to be connected to the potential reference point provided by the reference-ground supply part;
wherein the electrical contact portion (<NUM>) is electrically connected to an electrical contact (<NUM>) of a storage apparatus installed on a process cartridge (<NUM>); wherein the process cartridge is detachably installed on the main body of the image-forming apparatus
characterized in that
the conductive part (<NUM>) also includes a second connection portion (<NUM>) electrically connected to the reference-ground supply part through a second connection part (<NUM>), wherein the first connection part is different from the second connection part, wherein the first connection part is not included in the second connection part, and the second connection part is not included in the first connection part.