Patent ID: 7660008

Claim:
A printing material container detachably attached to a printing apparatus having a data signal line, and a reset signal line, said printing material container comprising: a reservoir unit that keeps a printing material therein; a data terminal that transmits a data signal to the data signal line of said printing apparatus and that receives a data signal from the data signal line of said printing apparatus; a reset terminal that receives a reset signal sent via the reset signal line of said printing apparatus; a storage element having a plurality of non-volatile storage areas; a storage element control unit that sets a direction of data transfer with regard to the storage element to a reading direction at a first level of the input reset signal and sets the direction of data transfer with regard to the storage element to a reading or writing direction based on the data signal from the data signal line of said printing apparatus after the reset signal is switched over to a second level which is different from the first level; a clock terminal that receives a clock signal sent via a clock signal line of said printing apparatus, wherein the storage element stores identification information therein, and the storage element control unit comprises: a signal line that is connected with the data terminal; an address counter that specifies a position in the storage areas to be accessed by a count synchronously with the clock signal input via the clock terminal and resets the count to an initial value in response to input of the reset signal via the reset terminal; an input-output controller that is electrically connected with both the storage element and the signal line and controls a direction of data transfer with regard to the storage element as well as a direction of data transfer with regard to the signal line connected with the data terminal; a comparator that compares printing material container identification information, which is assigned to said printing material container for identification thereof and is input via the data terminal, with identification information stored in the storage element to determine coincidence or incoincidence of the two pieces of identification information; and a write/read enable unit that allows the writing/reading operation of the data signal into and from the storage element in the case of coincidence of the two pieces of identification information.