Patent ID: 7360858

Claim:
A detection device which detects a type and ink level of an ink cartridge, the ink cartridge including a case that reserves ink therein, a first detection target portion in the case, wherein an ink level in the case can be optically detected by the detection device, and a second detection target portion on the case, wherein a type of the ink cartridge can be optically identified by the detection device, the detection device comprising: a detector that optically detects the type the ink cartridge, and detects whether or not the ink level of the ink cartridge is equal to more than the reference amount by using the first and second detection target portions of the ink cartridge; a transporter which moves detection positions of the detector relative to the first and second detection target portions of the ink cartridge; a determiner which determines whether or not an amount of ink in the ink cartridge installed on the mounting portion is equal to or more than the reference amount based on a result of optical detection in the first detection target portion of the ink cartridge conducted by the detector at a first detection position, which corresponds to a position at which the first detection target portion can be detected; and an identifier which identifies the type of the ink cartridge installed on the mounting portion, based on a result of optical detection in the second detection target portion of the ink cartridge conducted by the detector at a second detection position, which corresponds to a position at which the second detection target portion can be detected.