Patent ID: 7637579

Claim:
A method for attaching an ink cartridge to an ink-jet printer, the ink-jet printer being provided with: a carriage on which a recording head having nozzles for discharging ink and a buffer tank for supplying the ink to the recording head are mounted; an exhaust valve provided on an exhaust path that exhausts air in the buffer tank to the outside; an attaching unit disposed outside the carriage and at a height lower than the recording head, to which the ink cartridge is detachably attached; an ink flow passage, to whose one end the ink cartridge to be attached to the attaching unit is detachably connected, that supplies the ink in the ink cartridge to the buffer tank; a sensor that detects whether or not the cartridge is attached to the attaching unit; and a control circuit that controls the exhaust valve; the method comprising: detecting by the sensor whether or not the cartridge is attached to the attaching unit; opening the exhaust valve by the control circuit when the sensor detects a change from a state where the cartridge is not attached to the attaching unit to a state where the cartridge is attached to the attaching unit; and moving the ink in the vicinity of the one end of the ink flow passage to which the ink cartridge is connected, into the ink cartridge, by moving the ink in the ink flow passage from the side of the buffer tank to the side of the ink cartridge due to a head difference between a head of the ink in the buffer tank and a head of the ink in the ink cartridge when the valve is opened.