Patent ID: 7988274

Claim:
In an ink printer in which ink is received as discrete substantially solid ink sticks, a method comprising: directing a first ink stick in a feed direction along an ink feed channel, wherein the first ink stick has a first end and a second end that are aligned with the feed direction and a first sensing element that is positioned between the first end and the second end of the first ink stick; directing a second ink stick in the feed direction along the ink feed channel until one end of the second ink stick abuts one end of the first ink stick, wherein the second ink stick has a first end and a second end that are aligned with the feed direction and a first sensing element that is positioned between the first end and the second end of the second ink stick, the first sensing elements of the first ink stick and the second ink stick being positioned away from the ends of the first and the second ink sticks that abut one another; detecting the first sensing element of the first ink stick with a detector positioned to detect the first sensing element from the first ink stick in the ink feed channel as the first ink stick passes a predetermined location in the ink feed channel; and detecting the first sensing element of the second ink stick with a detector positioned to detect the first sensing element from the second ink stick in the ink feed channel as the second ink stick passes the predetermined location in the ink feed channel, the first sensing element having a position with respect to the feed dimension of the second ink stick that is substantially identical to the position of the first sensing element of the first ink stick with respect to the feed dimension of the first ink stick.