JP2007245636A - Ink cartridge, and inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge which can detect the opening of an atmospheric air communication port seal by a simple constitution, and to provide an inkjet recording device. <P>SOLUTION: This printer keeps an ink information storage means which can radio-communicate constituted as a label which works as the atmospheric air communication port seal at the time of distribution as well. By this constitution, the opening of the atmospheric communication port seal can be easily detected at the time of activity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge, and more particularly to a printer apparatus to which an ink cartridge is mounted.

  Conventionally, there is a cartridge mounting apparatus in which a part of the apparatus main body is detachably formed as a cartridge member. For example, an ink jet recording apparatus has a structure in which an ink cartridge is mounted on a printer main body.

  An ink jet recording apparatus supplies a drive signal corresponding to print data to a pressure generating unit such as a piezoelectric vibrator or a heat generating unit, pressurizes ink in a pressure generating chamber, and discharges ink droplets from nozzle openings; An ink cartridge for supplying ink is provided.

  The print quality is determined by the resolution of the recording head, and is greatly influenced by the viscosity of the ink and the degree of bleeding on the recording medium. Therefore, the ink characteristics can be improved to improve the printing quality, and the recording head can be used. The drive signal supplied to the nozzle is improved, and further, the idle discharge cycle for preventing clogging of the nozzle opening and the maintenance conditions such as forced discharge in the capping state are also improved.

  For this reason, a semiconductor memory chip that stores data relating to ink cartridges such as ink is provided in the ink cartridge, the data is read from the recording device, and printing is performed under optimum conditions. Many proposals have been made to store data on the semiconductor memory chip.

  For example, as seen in Patent Document 1, a semiconductor memory chip is attached to the upper surface of a container constituting an ink cartridge so as to be readable from the recording apparatus main body via a substrate, or a recess is formed to read the semiconductor memory chip here. A possible containment has been proposed.

  Further, as seen in Patent Document 2 and the like, a configuration is disclosed in which information communication between an ink cartridge and a printer main body is performed in a non-contact manner using wireless radio waves.

Wireless communication systems are used for product management and information management in recent years, as seen in communication modules called so-called wireless tags, etc., which are attached to various products or incorporated into IC cards and the like. . Ink cartridges can be used not only for management of ink-related information during product use, but also for distribution management, etc., so there is a great merit of introducing a wireless communication module in place of a conventional wired storage medium.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-67657 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-320914

  On the other hand, the ink cartridge is generally provided with an ink supply port for supplying ink to the print head and an air communication port for preventing an increase in negative pressure inside the ink cartridge due to a decrease in ink volume due to ink consumption. In some cases, the two are sealed with a cap material, a seal material, or the like during distribution to prevent ink leakage or ink evaporation.

  When using the ink cartridge, the user removes the cap member of the ink supply port and the atmosphere communication port seal and installs the ink cartridge in the printer body. At this time, the cap member is relatively large, and if it is forgotten to be removed, it cannot be attached to the printer body, so that the user can immediately notice a malfunction. However, even if the communication port seal is forgotten to be removed, the ink cartridge can be mounted and the printing operation can be executed. As described above, the negative pressure inside the ink cartridge rises and ink supply failure occurs. The user recognizes that the ink is faint or does not print, and is expected to perform a recovery operation.However, since the communication port seal is not opened, the printing failure is not resolved and it is difficult to identify the cause of the failure. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an ink cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus that can detect the opening of the air communication port seal with a simple configuration.

In order to solve the above problem, an invention according to claim 1 is an ink cartridge that is detachably mounted on a carriage of an ink jet recording apparatus.
The ink cartridge has a communication module including an information storage medium storing predetermined information and means for wirelessly communicating the information with the ink jet recording apparatus main body,
The communication means is mounted on a label sheet that also serves as a communication port seal for communicating the inside with the atmosphere when the ink cartridge is used.
The communication means includes an electrical wiring that passes through a cut-out portion of the label sheet formed to open the atmosphere communication port, and includes means for detecting disconnection of the electrical wiring due to the label sheet cutting. To do.

  In the printer apparatus of the present invention, since the ink information storage means capable of wireless communication is configured as a label that also serves as an air communication port seal at the time of physical distribution, it is possible to easily detect the opening of the air communication port seal during use.

  Next, details of the present invention will be described in accordance with the description of the embodiments.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a plan view for explaining the configuration of an IC module 100 included in the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The IC module has a configuration in which a circuit chip 130 and an antenna 140 formed of a copper foil, an aluminum foil or the like are mounted on a base sheet 101 formed of a PET film, a PEN film or the like, and a cover sheet is further laminated. A part of the sheet member obtained by laminating the base sheet and the cover sheet is provided with a perforation 101C so that the sheet member cut-off portion 101B (shaded portion) can be easily cut off.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit chip 130 has a storage circuit 134 including a power supply circuit 137, an input / output circuit 136, a control circuit 135, a flash memory, and the like via an RF circuit 138 connected to the antenna 140. is doing.

  The RF circuit 138 is a circuit that detects and inputs an AC signal generated by electromagnetic induction to the antenna 140, and outputs a power component extracted by detection to the power supply circuit 137 and a signal component to the input / output circuit 136. It also has a function of receiving a signal from the input / output circuit 136, modulating it into an AC signal, and transmitting it to the printer body via the antenna 140.

  The antenna 140, the RF circuit 138, and the power supply circuit 137 generate electric power by electromagnetic induction, and the input / output circuit 136 transmits and receives predetermined information as radio waves by the electric power supplied from the power supply circuit 137, and the control circuit 135 Performs internal operation control including a read / write operation to the storage circuit 134.

  The storage circuit 134 stores identification data of the product type of the ink cartridge, identification data of the product type of the printer main body, unique ID data of the ink cartridge, manufacturing date and expiration date, ink remaining amount, and the like. (Not shown).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, an electric wire 111 formed of the same member as the antenna 140 is provided on the base sheet, and a part of the electric wire 111 extends over the cut-off portion 101B (shaded portion) of the sheet member. . That is, the electric wire 111 is cut by cutting off the sheet member.

  As shown in FIG. 2, one end of the electric wire 111 is connected to the power supply (Vdd) inside the circuit chip 130, the other end is connected to the control circuit 135, and is grounded via a predetermined resistance element. When the IC module 100 receives a communication radio wave, the power Vdd is supplied to the inside of the circuit chip 130, and the circuit chip 130 becomes operable, when the electric wire 111 is not cut, the input potential to the control circuit 135 is When the electric wire 111 is disconnected with the power supply potential, the input potential to the control circuit 135 is the ground potential. Accordingly, it is possible to detect the cut-off state of the sheet member, that is, the air communication port open state, from the state of the input potential to the control circuit 135 of the electric wire 111.

  FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the ink cartridge 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The inside of the ink cartridge 1 is divided into an ink storage chamber 11 and a negative pressure generating member storage chamber 12 that communicates with the ink supply port 7, and both are connected via a communication port 13. While the ink 10 is stored as it is in the ink storage chamber 11, the negative pressure generating member storage chamber 12 is provided with an ink absorber 15 such as a sponge or fiber assembly that is impregnated and held with ink. The ink absorber 15 is sufficient to prevent ink leakage from the ink discharge portion in balance with the holding force of the meniscus formed in the ink discharge nozzle portion of the print head, and enables the ink discharge operation of the print head. This is for generating an appropriate negative pressure within a certain range. Ink 10 in the ink storage chamber 11 is supplied from the ink supply port 7 to the recording head via the negative pressure generating member storage chamber 12.

  The internal configuration of the ink cartridge 1 is not limited to such a form that is divided into a storage chamber for the ink absorber and a storage chamber for storing ink as it is. For example, the ink absorber may be filled in substantially the entire interior space of the ink cartridge. Further, instead of using an ink absorber as the negative pressure generating means, ink is filled as it is into a bag-shaped member formed of an elastic material such as rubber that generates tension in the direction of expanding the volume. A negative pressure may be applied to the ink inside by the generated tension. Furthermore, at least a part of the ink storage space is formed of a flexible member, and only ink is stored in the space, and a negative pressure is generated by applying a spring force to the flexible member. It may be a thing.

  At the bottom of the ink storage chamber 11, a detected portion 17 is provided at a portion that can face an ink remaining amount detection sensor (described later) provided on the main body device side when the ink cartridge 1 is attached to the apparatus. Yes. In the present embodiment, the remaining ink detection sensor is an optical sensor having a light emitting part and a light receiving part. The detected portion 17 is made of a transparent or translucent material, and can appropriately reflect light from the light emitting portion and return to the light receiving portion (described later) when ink is filled, and the ink storage chamber 11 becomes empty. In this state, it has a prism shape with a slope portion whose shape, angle, etc. are determined so that light does not return to the light receiving portion.

  The latch lever 3 is formed of a resin integrally with the exterior of the ink cartridge 1, and is configured to be displaceable around a supported portion when performing an operation of mounting on an ink cartridge holder, which will be described later. The left and right outer walls of the ink cartridge 1 are integrated with a first engaging portion 5 and a second engaging portion 6 (in this example, integrated with the latch lever 3) that can be engaged with a locking portion of an ink cartridge holder described later. The ink cartridge 1 is mounted and held in the ink cartridge holder by these engagements.

  A groove structure communicating with the negative pressure generating member storage chamber 12 is formed on the top surface of the ink cartridge 1 in a maze shape, and an IC module 100 formed in a film shape is bonded to form an air communication path. .

  FIG. 4 is a plan view of this state as seen from the top surface of the ink cartridge 1. The atmosphere communication path 18 has a terminal end in the sheet member cut-out portion 101B. FIG. 5 shows a state where the atmosphere communication path 18 is opened to the atmosphere by cutting off the sheet member 101B, and a state where the electric wire 111 is cut at the same time.

  FIG. 6 is a view showing the appearance of the inkjet printer 200 according to the present invention, and is a perspective view showing a state in which the main body cover 201 is opened. As shown in FIG. 4, the printer 200 according to the present embodiment includes a recording head and four types of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow (hereinafter abbreviated as “K”, “C”, “M”, and “Y”). A printer such as a mechanism in which a carriage 205 mounted with ink cartridges 1K, 1C, 1M, and 1Y (hereinafter, these ink cartridges may be indicated by the same reference numeral “1”) moves for scanning and performs recording. The main part of the printer includes a printer main body covered with a main body cover 201 and other case parts, a paper discharge tray 203 provided on the front and rear sides thereof, and an automatic paper feeder (ASF) 202, respectively. In addition, an operation panel 213 provided with a display for displaying the status of the printer in both the closed state and the open state of the main body cover, a power switch, and a reset switch is provided.

  In a state where the main body cover 201 is opened, the user can see the range in which the carriage 205 on which the recording head and the ink cartridge are mounted and the vicinity thereof. When the main body cover 201 is opened, a sequence in which the carriage 205 automatically moves to a substantially central position (hereinafter also referred to as “ink cartridge replacement position”) shown in FIG. Each ink cartridge can be exchanged.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the above-described inkjet printer, and mainly shows a control circuit 300 in the form of a PCB (recording wiring board) in the printer main body and a configuration controlled thereby.

  In FIG. 7, a control circuit 300 executes data processing and operation control related to the printer. Specifically, the CPU 301 executes processing related to printing according to a program stored in the ROM 303. The RAM 302 is used as a work area when the CPU 301 executes processing.

  As schematically shown in FIG. 7, the recording head unit 405 mounted on the carriage 205 has a plurality of ejection openings for ejecting ink of “K”, “C”, “M”, and “Y”. The recording heads (not shown) are formed. Ink cartridges 1K, 1C, 1M, and 1Y are detachably mounted on the recording head unit 405 and the ink cartridge holder 220 in correspondence with these recording heads.

  A connector (not shown) provided on the carriage 205 and a control circuit 300 on the main body side are signal-connected via a flexible cable 206. Further, when the recording head unit 405 is mounted on the carriage 205, the connector of the carriage 205 and the connector of the recording head unit 405 are signal-connected. Similarly, for each ink ejection control in the recording head, the flexible cable 206, the connector of the carriage 205, the drive circuit provided in each recording head via the connector of the recording head unit, and the like are controlled on the main body side. A signal connection is made to the circuit 300, whereby the control circuit 300 can control ink ejection and the like in each print head.

  An encoder scale 209 is provided along the movement path of the carriage 205, and an encoder sensor 211 is provided on the carriage 205. The detection signal of this sensor is input to the control circuit 300 via the flexible cable 206, and thereby the movement position of the carriage 205 can be known. This position information is used for each print head ejection control. Further, the light emitting / receiving section 214 provided in the vicinity of a predetermined position in the movement range of the carriage 205 includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and relates to the ink remaining amount of each ink cartridge 1 mounted on the carriage 205. The signal is output to the control circuit 300. The control circuit 300 can detect the remaining amount of ink based on this signal.

  In the printer of this embodiment, ink of each color is supplied to the recording head unit 405, and the recording head unit 405 scans a recording medium such as paper by moving the carriage 205, and the ink is applied to the recording medium during this scanning. Is recorded. That is, the carriage 205 is slidably engaged with the guide shaft 207 extending in the moving direction, and can be moved as described above by the carriage motor and its driving force transmission mechanism. In each of the recording heads corresponding to the inks “K”, “C”, “M”, and “Y”, ink ejection is performed based on ejection data sent from the control circuit 300 on the main body side via the flexible cable 206. Is done.

  Further, a paper feed mechanism such as a paper feed roller and a paper discharge roller is provided, and a recording medium (not shown) fed from the automatic paper feeder 202 can be conveyed to the paper discharge tray 203. The recording head is scanned by the above movement, and during that time, ink is ejected from the respective recording heads to the recording medium to perform recording in a region having a width corresponding to the ejection port in the recording head, and between this scanning and the next scanning. Recording is performed sequentially on the recording medium by feeding a predetermined amount of paper according to the width by the paper feeding mechanism.

  FIG. 8 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the recording head unit 405 and the ink cartridge 1 are mounted on the carriage. The first engaging portion 5 and the second engaging portion 6 of the ink cartridge 1 with respect to the first engaging portion 455 provided in the recording head unit 405 and the second engaging portion 256 provided in the ink cartridge holder 220. Are engaged with each other, the ink cartridge 1 is mounted and fixed to the head unit 405 and the ink cartridge holder 220.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a communication unit 215 that is a means for wireless communication with an IC module provided in the ink cartridge is mounted on the lower surface of the ink cartridge holder 220. The communication unit 215 does not need to be configured integrally with the carriage, and may be configured to be fixed to a main body member in the vicinity of the IC module position at a carriage home position, a tank replacement position, or the like.

  A method of using the ink cartridge 1 of the present embodiment with the above configuration will be specifically described below. In the ink cartridge 1 of this embodiment, various types of information such as product type identification data are stored in the circuit chip 130 of FIG. 1 at the final stage of the production process.

  The process shown in FIG. 9 is a process that is activated when a user opens the main body cover of the printer according to the present embodiment. When this process is started, the carriage is moved to the ink cartridge replacement position described with reference to FIG.

  After the user opens the main body cover and the carriage moves to the ink cartridge replacement position, the ink cartridge is mounted on the printer main body 200 as shown in FIG.

  At this time, the communication unit 215 sequentially issues communication port open state acquisition commands to the four types of mounted ink cartridges. In the mounting process described above, when the ink cartridge enters an area where wireless communication is possible, the power is supplied from the power supply circuit of the IC module into the circuit chip, and the printer becomes operable. In response to the received communication port open state acquisition command, the IC module detects the state of the electric wire 111 and returns the result to the communication unit 215. In the unlikely event that the atmosphere communication port is not opened, the printer main body can notify the user of this through the display on the operation panel 213 of the main body or the host computer.

  In this embodiment, the ink cartridge 1 stores predetermined information in the storage circuit 134 in an updatable manner, and the printer main body 200 and the like read and write predetermined information from the storage circuit 134 of the ink cartridge 1. However, the information storage medium of the ink cartridge 1 is a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which predetermined information is fixedly stored, and the printer main body 200 and the wireless communication device 215 only read predetermined information from the ink cartridge 1. It is also possible.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the ink cartridge 1 is exemplified as having a flash memory as an information storage medium. However, this includes an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), an FeRAM (Ferroelectric RAM), and a RAM (Random RAM) connected to a battery. (Access Memory), ROM, etc.

  In the present embodiment, the ink cartridge 1 has the power generation means including the antenna 140, the RF circuit 138, and the power supply circuit 137, and generates power by electromagnetic induction. A method using energy may be used, and a battery may be mounted on the IC module 100.

1 is a plan view of an IC module according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram explaining the function of the IC module which concerns on the said 1st Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment. It is a top view which shows the state which equipped the ink cartridge which concerns on the said 1st Embodiment with the IC module. It is a top view which shows the state which removed the truncation part of the IC module with which the ink cartridge which concerns on the said 1st Embodiment was equipped. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an external appearance of an ink jet printer that performs recording by mounting the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the said inkjet printer. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view for explaining a state where the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment is mounted on a recording head and a holder. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure regarding attachment / detachment of an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1K, 1C, 1M, 1Y Ink cartridge 3 Latch lever 5 1st engaging part 6 2nd engaging part 7 Ink supply port 10 Ink 11 Ink storage chamber 12 Negative pressure generation member storage chamber 13 Communication port 15 Ink absorber 17 Detected portion 18 Atmospheric communication path 100 IC module 101 Base sheet 111 Electric wire 130 Circuit chip 140 Antenna 134 Storage circuit 135 Control circuit 136 Input / output circuit 137 Power supply circuit 138 RF circuit 200 Inkjet printer 201 Main body cover 202 Automatic paper feeder 203 Exhaust Paper tray 205 Carriage 206 Flexible cable 207 Guide shaft 209 Encoder scale 211 Encoder sensor 213 Operation panel 214 Light emitting / receiving section 215 Communication unit 220 Holder 222 Connection member 256 Second locking Part 300 Main body control board 301 CPU
302 RAM
303 ROM
405 Recording head unit 407 Ink introduction port 455 First locking portion

Claims (3)

  An ink cartridge that is detachably mounted on a carriage of an ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the ink cartridge includes a communication module including an information storage medium storing information and means for wirelessly communicating the information with the ink jet recording apparatus main body. And the communication means is mounted on a label sheet that also serves as a communication port seal for communicating the inside with the atmosphere when the ink cartridge is used, and the communication means is formed to open the atmosphere communication port. An ink cartridge comprising: an electric wiring that passes through a cut-out portion of the label sheet; and means for detecting disconnection of the electric wiring due to sheet cutting.   2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the communication means includes means for communicating a cut state of the electrical wiring to the main body.   An ink jet recording apparatus comprising the ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording main body includes means for notifying a cutting state of the electric wiring.

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