JP4411297B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a recording apparatus that uses a light emitting means such as an LED to notify the state of the liquid container such as the remaining amount of ink in an ink tank used in ink jet recording.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of digital cameras, applications (non-PC recording) in which a digital camera and a printer as a recording apparatus are directly connected without using a personal computer (PC) are increasing. Further, an increasing number of forms (non-PC recording) in which a card type information storage medium, which is an information storage medium detachably used in a digital camera, is directly attached to a printer for data transfer and printing. In general, there is known a method in which the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank of the printer is confirmed on a monitor via a PC. However, even when performing the non-PC recording, the ink in the ink tank is not via the PC. There was an increasing demand to know the remaining amount. In other words, if the user knows that the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank is small, for example, a situation where the recording is substantially impossible because the ink is replaced with a new ink tank in advance before starting the recording and the ink amount is insufficient during the recording. Can be prevented.

  Conventionally, a configuration using a display element such as an LED is known as a configuration for notifying the user of the state of such an ink tank. Patent Document 1 describes that two LEDs are provided in an ink tank integrated with a recording head, and that these light up according to the remaining ink levels in two stages. Similarly, Patent Document 2 describes that an ink tank is provided with a lamp that is turned on in accordance with the remaining amount of ink. This document also discloses that the above-described lamp is provided in each of four ink tanks used in the recording apparatus.

On the other hand, in light of the demand for higher image quality, light inks such as light magenta and light cyan having a low density have been used for the conventional four colors (black, yellow, magenta, and cyan). Furthermore, the use of so-called special color inks such as red and blue inks has been proposed. In such a case, 7 to 8 ink tanks are individually mounted on the ink jet printer. At that time, a mechanism for preventing the ink tank from being mounted at the wrong mounting position is required. In Patent Document 3, when the ink tank is mounted on the carriage, the shape of the engagement between the carriage mounting portion and the ink tank is different for each ink tank, so that the ink tank is mounted at an incorrect position. A configuration that prevents this is disclosed.
JP-A-4-275156 JP 2002-301829 A JP 2001-253087 A

  Even when the ink tank is provided with a lamp as described in Patent Document 2 described above, in order for the main body side control unit to identify an ink tank that is recognized as having a low ink remaining amount, a lamp based on the recognition is used. It is necessary to specify the ink tank to which a signal is to be sent in order to light up. For example, if the ink tank is mounted at the wrong position, there is a possibility that an ink tank that has not run out of ink is erroneously displayed as having no remaining ink. Therefore, in the light emission control of the indicator such as a lamp, it is necessary to specify the mounting position of the mounted ink tank.

  As described above, as a configuration for specifying the mounting position of the ink tank, there is a configuration in which the mutual shape in which the mounting portion and the ink tank are engaged differs for each mounting position. However, in this case, in particular, it is necessary to manufacture ink tanks having different shapes for each color or type of ink, which is disadvantageous in terms of manufacturing efficiency and cost.

  As another configuration, a configuration is considered in which the signal line of the circuit formed by connecting the electrical contact of the ink tank and the electrical contact on the main body side at the mounting position of the carriage or the like is individual for each mounting position. . For example, the color information of the ink tank is read from the ink tank, and the signal line for controlling the lighting of the LED is made individual for each mounting position, so that the read color information is adapted to the mounting position. If it is not, it can be known that the ink tank is installed by mistake.

  However, the configuration in which such signal lines are individually provided for each ink tank or mounting position increases the number of signal lines. In particular, as described above, in recent inkjet printers and the like, one tendency is to improve image quality by increasing the types of ink used. In such a printer, an increase in the number of signal lines particularly causes an increase in cost. On the other hand, in order to reduce the number of wires, a so-called common signal line configuration such as bus connection is effective, but in a configuration using only a common signal line such as bus connection, the ink tank or its mounting position is specified. Obviously you can't.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems. The target place is to control the light emission of the indicator such as LED using a common signal line for the mounting positions of a plurality of ink tanks, and even in this case, the mounting position of the liquid storage container such as the ink tank is specified. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that can control light emission of a display.

Therefore, in the present invention, a plurality of liquid storage containers can be mounted, and the apparatus-side contacts that can be electrically coupled to the contacts provided in the liquid storage containers, and the respective contacts of the mounted liquid storage containers In a recording apparatus having an electric circuit having a wiring electrically connected in common to the apparatus side contact
An information holding unit capable of holding at least individual information of the liquid storage container, a light emitting unit, a signal related to the individual information input from the contact point, and the individual information held by the information holding unit. A mounting unit capable of mounting a liquid storage container comprising a control unit for controlling light emission;
A light receiving portion for receiving light from the light emitting portion of the liquid container;
A light amount variable means that is disposed between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, and changes a light amount received by the light receiving unit to a different light amount depending on a mounting position of the plurality of liquid storage containers;
It is characterized by having.

  According to the above configuration, based on the signal input through the contact (pad) of the ink tank that is the liquid storage container connected to the contact (connector) on the main body side of the recording apparatus, and the individual information of the ink tank. The light emission of the light emitting unit can be controlled. As a result, even if a plurality of ink tanks to be mounted first receive the same control signal through a common signal line, only the ink tank that matches the solid information can perform the light emission control. Thereby, it is possible to perform light emission control such as lighting of the light emitting unit specifying the ink tank.

  Next, if a member that converts light quantity information that varies depending on the mounting position of the ink tank is provided between the light emitting part and the light receiving part, and the amount of received light varies, the light emitting part emits light sequentially and the light output from the light receiving part The mounting position can be specified by the value. As a result, when the combination of the individual information of the ink tank subjected to the light emission control and the output value from the light receiving unit is wrong, it can be recognized that the ink tank is mounted at the wrong position. Thereby, for example, it is possible to perform a process of prompting the user to remount the ink tank at the correct position, and as a result, the mounting position can be specified for each ink tank. According to the present invention, it is possible to specify the mounting position of the ink tank immediately after mounting the ink tank.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail along the following flow with reference to the drawings.
1. 1. Mechanical configuration 1.1 Ink tank 1.2 Ink tank mounting section 1.3 Recording device 2. Configuration of control system 2.1 Overall configuration 2.2 Configuration of connection unit 2.3 Control procedure Other embodiments

1. Mechanical structure 1.1 Ink tank (Figs. 1-3)
1A, 1B, and 1C are a side view, a front view, and a bottom view, respectively, of an ink tank that is a liquid storage container used in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. It is a sectional side view. In the present description, the front surface of the ink tank refers to a surface that enables operations (attachment / detachment operation, etc.) and provision of information to the user (light emission of LEDs described later) by facing the user.

  In FIG. 1, an ink tank 1 of the present embodiment has a support member 3 supported at the lower part on the front side. The support member 3 is formed of a resin integrally with the exterior of the ink tank 1 and is configured to be displaceable around the supported portion when performing a mounting operation to a tank holder, which will be described later. On the back side and the front side of the ink tank 1, a first engaging portion 5 and a second engaging portion 6 (in this example, integrated with the support member 3) that can engage with a locking portion on the tank holder side, respectively. These are engaged, and the mounting state of the ink tank 1 to the tank holder is ensured. The operation at the time of mounting will be described later with reference to FIG.

  An ink supply port 7 is provided on the bottom surface of the ink tank 1 to supply ink in combination with an ink introduction port of a recording head, which will be described later, when the ink tank 1 is attached to the tank holder. In the portion where the bottom surface and the front surface cross each other, a base body constituting the main part of the present embodiment is provided on the bottom surface side of the support portion of the support member 3. Although the shape of the substrate may be a chip shape or a plate shape, the substrate 100 will be described below.

  FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the ink tank 1. The substrate 100 is provided with an LED (light emitting unit) 101 described later, and information can be provided to the user by a light guide member 121 that guides light emitted from the LED 101 upward and a light emitting unit 122 that is an end surface thereof.

  The configuration and function of the holder (mounting unit) 150 that holds the ink tanks of the substrate 100 and the recording head 105 will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic side views for explaining the outline of the function of the substrate disposed in the ink tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and enlargement of the main part thereof. FIG. 4A and 4B are a front view and a side view, respectively, showing an example of the control board 100 attached to the ink tank according to the first embodiment.

  The first engaging portion 5 and the second engaging portion 156 of the ink tank 1 with respect to the first engaging portion 155 and the second engaging portion 156 of the holder 150 integrated with the recording head unit 105 having the recording head 105 ′. The joint portions 6 are engaged with each other. As a result, the ink tank 1 is mounted and fixed to the holder 150. At this time, a contact (hereinafter referred to as a connector) 152 provided on the holder 150 and an electrode pad 102 (FIG. 4 (FIG. 4) as a contact provided on the outer surface of the substrate 100 provided on the ink tank. a)) comes into contact with each other and electrical connection becomes possible.

  A first light emitting unit 101 that generates visible light, such as an LED, and a control element 103 that controls the light emitting unit are provided on the surface of the substrate 100 positioned toward the inside of the ink tank 1. The control element 103 controls the light emission of the first light emitting unit 101 by an electrical signal supplied from the connector 152 via the pad 102. In addition, a memory element for storing information such as ink color information and ink remaining amount stored in the ink tank can be mounted in the control element 103.

  Here, as described above, the substrate 100 constituting the main part of the present embodiment is disposed below the support portion of the support member 3 at the portion where the bottom surface and the front surface of the ink tank 1 intersect each other. ing. In this arrangement site, light emission is guided by the light guide member 121 extending above the ink tank 1 and projected outward from the light emitting portion 122 which is the end face thereof.

  By using the substrate 100 having such an arrangement, for example, by controlling the light emission of the LED 101 by positioning the carriage in the center of the scanning range, the user can obtain predetermined information about the ink tank 1 by visually checking the light emission state. It becomes possible to recognize.

  The predetermined information of the ink tank (liquid storage container) 1 is determined in advance according to whether or not the ink tank 1 is attached (that is, whether or not the attachment is complete) and whether or not the attachment position is appropriate (corresponding to the ink color). Whether or not it is correctly mounted on the mounting position on the holder. Furthermore, the presence / absence of remaining ink (whether or not a sufficient amount of ink remains) and the like, and it is possible to present such information depending on the presence / absence of light emission and the state of light emission (blinking). The aspect of the control of light emission and the accompanying information presentation will be described in detail in the description of the configuration of the control system.

  Here, the holder 150 is provided with an opening 161 that receives light projected from the light emitting unit 101 to the side of the ink tank 1 and a light receiving chamber 160 that is covered so as not to be affected by external light. One first light receiving unit 210 is disposed in common in all tanks 160. The first light receiving unit 210 is mounted on the back surface of the connector substrate 163 on which the connector 152 is mounted, for example. The area of the opening 161 differs depending on the ink tank mounting position, which makes it possible to specify the ink tank mounting position. The mode of this light emission control and the accompanying mounting position detection will be described in detail in the section describing the configuration of the control system.

  A mode of light reception from the ink tank 1 by the first light receiving unit 210 inside the light receiving chamber 160 disposed in the holder 150 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 5 is a front view of a state where four color ink tanks (1K, 1C, 1M, 1Y) are mounted on the recording head 105. FIG. Since the light receiving chamber 160 is covered so as not to be affected by external light and the inside is not visible in a normal use state, the light receiving chamber 160 is shown in a cut state in this drawing. As described with reference to FIG. 3, an opening 161 serving as a light amount variable unit is provided on the wall surface of the holder 150 in the vicinity of the light emitting portions 101K to 101Y of the respective colors of the ink tanks 1K to 1Y. In the example of FIG. 5, the opening area of the opening 161K corresponding to the black ink tank 1K is the largest. Hereinafter, the areas of the openings 161C, 161M, and 161Y corresponding to the cyan ink tank 1C, the magenta ink tank 1M, and the yellow ink tank 1Y in this order are It is getting smaller.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the light emission of the ink tank 1 and the light reception by the first light receiving unit 210. The light emitted from the LED 101 of each ink tank 1 is attenuated by each aperture 161 at a different attenuation rate and is received by the first light receiving unit 210. If the light receiving chamber 160 is substantially sealed, light from each ink tank 1 can be emitted from each ink tank 1 if a light receiving element having a wide directivity is selected as the first light receiving unit 210 without providing a light guiding member. Light reception is possible at different levels according to the area.

1.2 Ink tank mounting part (FIGS. 7 to 9)
FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a recording head unit in which the ink tank according to the first embodiment is configured to be detachable.

  The recording head unit 105 generally includes a holder (mounting portion) 150 that detachably holds a plurality (four in the figure) of ink tanks, and a recording head 105 ′ (FIG. 3) disposed on the bottom surface side. Yes. By mounting the ink tank on the holder 150, the ink introduction port 107 on the recording head side located at the bottom of the holder and the ink supply port 7 on the ink tank side are coupled to form an ink communication path therebetween.

  As the recording head 105 ′, an electrothermal conversion element is provided in a liquid path constituting a nozzle, and an electric pulse is applied to the electrothermal conversion element to give thermal energy to the ink, and foaming (boiling) caused by a phase change of the ink at that time. An apparatus that uses the pressure of time for ink discharge can be used. Then, contact is made between an electrical contact portion (not shown) for signal transmission provided on a carriage 203 (to be described later) and an electrical contact portion 157 on the recording head unit 105 side, and the recording head 105 ′ is connected via the wiring portion 158. The recording signal is transmitted to the electrothermal transducer driving circuit. A wiring part 159 extending from the electrical contact part 157 to the connector 152 is also extended.

  The configuration of the attachment portion of the ink tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention is not limited to that shown in FIG.

  This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another configuration example of a recording head unit that receives a supply of ink from an ink tank and executes a recording operation, and a carriage incorporating the recording head unit, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state in which both are combined.

  The recording head unit 405 according to this example is different from the holder 150 as in the above example that fixes and holds the entire ink tank, and as shown in FIG. It does not have the 2nd latching | locking part and connector which were used. Others are substantially the same as the above example. The ink introduction port 107 connected to the ink supply port 7 is provided on the bottom surface, the first locking portion 155 is provided on the back side, and the signal transmission is provided on the back surface. It has an electrical contact (not shown).

  A carriage 415 movable along the shaft 417 has a lever 419 for mounting and fixing the recording head unit 405 and an electrical contact portion 418 connected to the recording head side electrical contact portion, as well as a front side of the ink tank. A holder corresponding to the configuration is provided (FIG. 9). That is, the second locking portion 156, the connector 152, and the wiring portion 159 to the connector are disposed on the carriage side.

  In this configuration, if the recording head unit 405 is mounted on the carriage 415 as shown in FIG. 9, the entire ink tank mounting portion is configured. Through the mounting operation similar to that of the recording head of FIG. 7, the ink supply port 7 and the ink introduction port 107 are joined, and the pad 102 and the connector 152 are connected to complete the mounting operation. 8 to 9, the light receiving chamber 160, the connector substrate 163 in the light receiving chamber 160, and the first light receiving unit 210 are mounted on the carriage 415.

1.3 Recording device (FIGS. 10 to 11)
FIG. 10 is a view showing the appearance of the ink jet printer 200 that performs recording with the ink tank described above being installed, and FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a state in which the main body cover 201 shown in FIG. 10 is opened.

  In the printer 200 of the present embodiment, the main part of the printer such as a mechanism in which a carriage mounted with a recording head and an ink tank moves for scanning is covered with a main body cover 201 and other case parts. A printer body is provided. Further, the apparatus includes a paper discharge tray 203 and an automatic paper feeder (ASF) 202 that are respectively provided before and after the paper discharge tray 203. An operation unit 213 including 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 the state where the main body cover 201 is opened, as shown in FIG. 11, the user can see the range in which the recording head unit 105 and the carriage 205 carrying the ink tanks 1K, 1Y, 1M, and 1C move and the periphery thereof. . Actually, 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 “tank replacement position”) shown in FIG. Ink tank replacement operation and the like can be performed.

  In the printer of this embodiment, the recording head unit 105 is provided with a recording head (not shown) in the form of a chip corresponding to each color of ink, and the recording head of each color applies to a recording medium such as a sheet by moving the carriage 205. Scan. During this scanning, ink is ejected onto the recording medium for recording. 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 K, Y, M, and C inks, ink is ejected based on ejection data sent from the control circuit on the main body side via the flexible cable 206. 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 carriage 205 is detachably mounted with a recording head unit 105 integrally provided with an ink tank holder. On the other hand, each ink tank 1 is detachably attached to the recording head unit 105 in the form of a cartridge. Installed. That is, it is possible to mount the recording head unit 105 on the carriage 205 and further mount the ink tank 1 on the recording head unit 105. In this embodiment, the ink tank 1 is attached to and detached from the carriage 205 via the recording head unit 105. Is possible.

  In the recording operation, the recording head scans by the above movement, and during that time, ink is ejected from each recording head to the recording medium, and recording is performed in an area having a width corresponding to the ejection port in the recording head. At the same time, recording is sequentially performed on the recording medium by feeding a predetermined amount of paper according to the width by the paper feeding mechanism between this scanning and the next scanning. In addition, an ejection recovery unit such as a cap is provided at the end of the moving range of the recording head by the carriage movement described above to cover the surface of each recording head on which the ejection port is provided. As a result, the recording head moves to a position where the recovery unit is provided at predetermined time intervals, and performs recovery processing such as preliminary ejection.

  As described above, the recording head unit 105 having the tank holder portion of each ink tank 1 is provided with a connector corresponding to each ink tank, and each connector is provided in the ink tank 1 to which the ink tank 1 is attached. In contact with the pad on the substrate. Accordingly, it is possible to control lighting or blinking of each LED 101 according to a sequence described later with reference to FIGS.

  Specifically, at the tank replacement position, when the ink remaining amount of each ink tank 1 is low, the LED 101 of the corresponding ink tank 1 is turned on or blinked, and the light emitting unit 122 is turned on or blinked. Furthermore, as another example of control such as lighting of the LED, control is performed to turn on the LED 101 of the tank when the ink tank 1 is correctly mounted at the tank replacement position. These controls are executed by sending control data (control signals) from the control circuit on the main body side to the respective ink tanks via the flexible cable 206 in the same manner as the control of ink ejection of the recording head.

2. Configuration of control system 2.1 Overall configuration (Fig. 12)
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the control system of the above-described ink jet printer, and a configuration relating to a control circuit in the form of a PCB (printed wiring board) in the printer main body and light emission of the LED of the ink tank controlled by the control circuit. Is mainly shown.

  In FIG. 12, a control circuit 300 executes data processing and operation control related to the printer. Specifically, the CPU 301 executes processing described later with reference to FIGS. 17 to 19 in accordance with 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. 12, the recording head unit 105 mounted on the carriage 205 has a plurality of discharge nozzles that discharge black (K), yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) inks. The recording heads 105′K, Y, M, and C are provided with outlets. The ink tanks 1K, 1Y, 1M, and 1C are detachably mounted on the holder of the recording head unit 105 corresponding to these recording heads.

  As described above, each ink tank 1 is provided with a substrate 100 provided with an LED 101, a display control circuit thereof, a pad serving as a contact terminal, and the like. When the ink tank 1 is correctly attached to the recording head unit 105, the pads on the substrate 100 come into contact with connectors provided respectively corresponding to the ink tanks 1 in the recording head unit 105. Further, a connector (not shown) provided on the carriage 205 and a control circuit 300 on the main body side are signal-connected through a flexible cable 206. Further, when the recording head unit 105 is mounted on the carriage 205, the connector of the carriage 205 and the connector of the recording head unit 105 are signal-connected. With the above connection configuration, signals can be exchanged between the control circuit 300 on the main body side and each ink tank 1. As a result, the control circuit 300 can control lighting or blinking according to a sequence described later with reference to FIGS.

  Control of ink ejection in the recording heads 105′K, Y, M, and C is also performed via the flexible cable 206, the connector of the carriage 205, and the connector of the recording head unit. A drive circuit or the like provided in each print head is in signal connection with the control circuit 300 on the main body side, whereby the control circuit 300 can control ink ejection and the like in each print head.

  The first light receiving unit 210 provided on the connector substrate 163 on the carriage 205 receives light emitted from the LED 101 of the ink tank 1 and outputs a signal corresponding thereto to the control circuit 300 via the flexible cable 206. In the control circuit 300, first, an analog signal that is an output from the first light receiving unit 210 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 304 and signal processing is performed by the CPU 301.

  The control circuit 300 can determine the position of each ink tank 1 in the carriage 205 based on this signal, as will be described later. 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. Further, the second light emitting / receiving unit 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 the remaining amount of ink in each ink tank 1 mounted on the carriage 205. Is output to the control circuit 300. The control circuit 300 can detect the remaining amount of ink based on this signal.

2.2 Configuration of connection part (FIGS. 13 to 16)
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of signal wiring for signal connection with the ink tank 1 in the flexible cable 206 in relation to the substrate 100 of each ink tank.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the signal wiring for the ink tank 1 includes four signal lines, and is a signal wiring common to the four ink tanks 1 (so-called bus connection). The signal wiring for each ink tank 1 is composed of the following four signal lines. A power supply signal line “VDD” and a ground signal line “GND” for power supply such as operation of the functional element group 103 that performs light emission and driving of the LED 101 in the ink tank. Further, as will be described later, a signal line “DATA” and a clock signal line “CLK” for transmitting a control signal (control data) relating to processing such as lighting and blinking of the LED 101 from the control circuit 300. In the present embodiment, description will be made with four signal lines. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the “GND” line can be omitted by achieving a ground signal in another configuration. . It is also possible to configure the signal line of “CLK” and “DATA” by sharing one.

  On the other hand, the substrate 100 of each ink tank 1 is provided with a control unit 103 that operates in response to signals from these four signal lines and an LED 101 that operates thereby.

  FIG. 14 is a circuit diagram showing details of a substrate on which these control units and the like are provided. As shown in the figure, the control unit 103 includes an input / output control circuit (I / O CTRL) 103A, a memory array 103B, and an LED driver 103C. The input / output control circuit 103A controls display driving of the LED 101 and data writing to and reading from the memory array 103B according to control data sent from the control circuit 300 on the main body via the flexible cable 206. The memory array 103B is in the form of an EEPROM in this embodiment, and ink tank individual information such as manufacturing information such as a unique number of the ink tank and a manufacturing lot number in addition to ink remaining amount and ink color information to be stored. Can be stored. The color information is written at a predetermined address in the memory array 103B corresponding to the color of the ink stored when the ink tank is shipped or manufactured. For example, this color information is used as ink tank identification information (individual information), as will be described later with reference to FIGS. As a result, it is possible to specify an ink tank, write data to the memory array 103B, read data from the memory array 103B, and control lighting and extinguishing of the LED 101 of the ink tank. The data written to and read from the memory array 103B includes, for example, ink remaining amount data. As shown in FIG. 2, the ink tank of the present embodiment is provided with a prism 17 at the bottom thereof, and when the remaining amount of ink is reduced, this fact can be detected optically via this prism. it can. In the present embodiment, in addition to this, the control circuit 300 counts the number of ejections for each recording head based on the ejection data, and calculates the remaining amount of ink for each ink tank based on the count. Then, the remaining amount information is written into and read from the corresponding ink tank memory array 103B. As a result, the memory array 103B can hold information on the remaining amount of ink at that time. This information is used for, for example, more accurate remaining amount detection in combination with the remaining ink amount detection using the prism, or the installed ink tank is new or once used and remounted. It is used to determine if it is a thing. Further, the light emission intensity of the LED 101 may be previously measured in the memory array 103B when the ink tank is shipped, and data relating to the light emission intensity may be written in order to correct the light emission intensity when the LED 101 is driven.

  The LED driver 103C operates to apply a voltage to the LED 101 when the signal output from the input / output control circuit 103A is off (low level), thereby causing the LED 101 to emit light. Therefore, when the signal output from the input / output control circuit 103A is in an off state, the LED 101 is in a lighting state, and when the signal is in an on state, the LED 101 is in an off state.

  FIG. 15 is a timing chart for explaining the data writing and reading operations for the memory array 103B described above, and FIG. 16 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of turning on and off the LED 101, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 15, in writing to the memory array 103B, each data is transmitted from the control circuit 300 on the main body side to the input / output control circuit 103A in the control unit 103 of the ink tank 1 via the signal line DATA (FIG. 13). A signal is sent. Each data signal is “start code + color information”, “control code”, “address code”, “data code”, and is sent in this order in synchronization with the clock signal CLK. "Start code + color information" means the start of a series of data signals by the "start code" signal, and the ink tank that is the target of this series of data signals is specified by the "color information" signal To do. The “color” of the ink here includes not only ink colors such as Y, M, and C but also inks having different densities.

  The “color information” has codes corresponding to the ink colors “K”, “C”, “M”, and “Y”, as shown in FIG. The input / output control circuit 103A compares the color information indicated by this code with its own color information stored in the memory array 103B, and performs processing for fetching the subsequent data signal only. If they do not match, a process of ignoring subsequent data signal capture is performed. Thus, even if a data signal is commonly sent from the main body side to each ink tank via the common signal line “DATA” shown in FIG. 13, the ink tank is specified by including the color information described above. be able to. Therefore, subsequent processing based on the data signal such as writing, reading, turning on / off the LED, and the like can be performed only for the identified ink tank. As a result, it is possible to control the lighting and extinguishing of LEDs in addition to data writing by data transmitted through a common (single) data signal line to the four ink tanks. The number of signal lines required for control can be reduced as in the present invention. It is apparent from the above description that the configuration using such a common (single) data signal line can be the same without being limited to the number of ink tanks.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the “control code” of the present embodiment includes “OFF” and “ON” codes used for LED on / off control, which will be described later, and “READ” indicating reading and writing to the memory array. ”And“ WRITE ”codes. In this writing operation, the “WRITE” code follows the “color information” code for specifying the ink tank. The next “address code” indicates the address of the memory array that is the write destination, and the last “data code” indicates the content to be written.

  Note that the content represented by the “control code” is not limited to the above example, and for example, a control code related to a verify command, a continuous read command, or the like can be added.

  In reading, the configuration of data signals is the same as in the case of writing described above. Similarly to the case of the above writing, the “start code + color information” code is taken in by the input / output control circuit 103A of all the ink tanks, and the data signals thereafter are the inks whose “color information” matches. Only the tank input / output control circuit 103A takes in. The difference is that after the address is specified by the address code, the read data is output in synchronization with the rising edge of the first clock (the 13th clock in FIG. 15). Even if the data signal terminals of a plurality of ink tanks are connected to such a common (single) data signal line, the input / output control circuit 103A arbitrates so that the read data does not collide with other input signals. Is doing.

  When the LED 101 is turned on or off, as shown in FIG. 16, first, a data signal of “start code + color information” is first sent from the main body side to the input / output control circuit 103A via the signal line DATA. come. As described above, the ink tank is specified by the “color information”, and the LED 101 is turned on / off based on the “control code” sent thereafter, only in the specified ink tank. As described above with reference to FIG. 15, the “control code” for turning on / off includes the “ON” or “OFF” code. The LED 101 is turned on by “ON”, and the light is turned off by “OFF”. Is called. That is, when the control code is “ON”, the input / output control circuit 103A outputs an off signal to the LED driver 103C as described above with reference to FIG. 14, and maintains the output state thereafter. On the contrary, when the control code is “OFF”, the input / output control circuit 103A outputs an ON signal to the LED driver 103C and maintains the output state thereafter. The actual timing for turning on or off the LED 101 is performed after the seventh clock of the clock CLK for each data signal shown in FIG.

  In the example shown in the figure, first, as shown in the leftmost data signal in the figure, the black K ink tank is specified, and the LED 101 of the ink K tank is turned on. Next, since the “color information” of the second data signal specifies magenta ink M and the “control code” instructs to turn on the ink, the ink 101 tank LED 101 remains lit while the ink is in the ink. The LED 101 of the M tank is also lit. In the third data signal, since the “control code” instructs to turn off the ink K tank, the LED 101 is turned off only for the ink K tank.

  As can be understood from the above description, the blinking control of the LED is made possible by the control circuit 300 on the main body side sending a data signal including “control code” for turning on and off and specifying the ink tank. . In that case, the cycle of blinking can be controlled by determining the cycle of sending the signal.

2.3 Control procedure (FIGS. 17 to 21)
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a control procedure related to the attachment / detachment of the ink tank based on the configuration of the present embodiment described above. In particular, the control of the LED 101 of each ink tank 1 by the control circuit 300 on the main body side is shown. Is.

  The process shown in FIG. 17 is a process that is activated when a user opens the main body cover 201 of the printer according to the present embodiment, by detecting this by a predetermined sensor. When this process is started, first, an ink tank attaching / detaching process is executed in step S101.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of the ink tank attaching / detaching process. As shown in the figure, in the attaching / detaching process, first, in step S201, the carriage 205 is moved, and status information (individual information report of the ink tank) is acquired for each ink tank mounted at that time. The acquired state information includes the remaining amount of ink at that time, and these are read from the memory array 103B together with the unique number of the ink tank. In step S202, it is determined whether the carriage 205 has reached the ink tank replacement position described with reference to FIG.

  If it is determined that the carriage 205 has reached the ink tank replacement position, ink tank mounting confirmation control is performed in step S203.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing details of the attachment confirmation control. First, in step S301, a parameter N indicating the number of ink tanks mounted on the carriage 205 is set, and a flag F (k) for checking LED emission is initialized according to the number of ink tanks. . In the present embodiment, N is set to 4 as the number of K, C, M, and Y ink tanks. In accordance with this, four flags of F (1), k = 1 to 4 are prepared, and these are all initialized and their contents are set to “0”.

  Next, in step S302, the variable A relating to the ink tank mounting determination order of the flag is set to 1, and in step S303, mounting confirmation control is performed for the Ath ink tank. In this control, when the user mounts the ink tank in the correct position, the main body and the ink tank communicate with each other, and the control circuit 300 specifies the ink tank by the color information and obtains the color information from the specified memory array 103D. This is a sequential reading operation. Of course, the color information for specifying is not used for information that has already been read. Further, in this control, it is also determined whether or not the read color information is different from the color information read so far after the start of the processing.

  In step S304, when the color information can be read out and the color information is different from those read out so far, it is determined that the ink tank of the color information is attached as the Ath ink tank. In other cases, it is determined that the A-th ink tank is not attached. Note that the A-th described here simply describes the order in which the ink tanks are determined, not the order in which the ink tanks are mounted. When it is determined that the A-th ink tank is attached, in S305, the flag F (A), that is, the flag corresponding to k = A among the four flags F (k) and k = 1 to 4 (A ) Is set to “1”, and the light emitting unit 122 of the ink tank 1 of the corresponding color information is turned on. If it is determined that it is not attached, the content of the flag F (A) is set to “0” in step S311.

  Next, in step S306, the variable A is incremented by 1. In step S307, it is determined whether or not the variable A is greater than N (N = 4 in the case of the printer of the present embodiment) set in step S301. Here, when it is determined that the variable A is equal to or less than N, the processes after step S303 are repeated. When it is determined that the variable A is greater than N, it is determined that the attachment confirmation control has been completed for all four ink tanks. In step S308, whether the main body cover 201 is open is determined. Judge based on output. That is, when the main body cover is in a closed state, the user may have closed the cover with some of the ink tanks not attached or incompletely attached. Is returned to the processing routine of FIG. 18, and this processing is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S308 that the main body cover 201 is open, whether or not the contents of all four flags F (k), k = 1 to 4 are “1”, that is, all It is determined whether the LED 101 is turned on for all ink tanks. When it is determined that the LED 101 of any of the ink tanks is not lit, the processing from step S302 is repeated. That is, the user repeats the above-described process until the ink tank whose LED 101 is not lit is mounted or the mounting operation is performed again, and the LED of the ink tank is lit.

  When it is determined that all the ink tank LEDs are lit, a normal termination operation is performed in step S310, the process is terminated, and the process returns to the process routine shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 18 again, after the ink tank mounting confirmation control in step S203 is executed as described above, in step S204, whether or not the control is normally completed, that is, whether or not the ink tank is normally mounted. Judging. When it is determined that the mounting is normal, the display (FIGS. 10 and 11) of the operation unit 213 is lit in, for example, green in step S205, and is normally terminated in step S206, and the process routine returns to FIG. If it is determined that the mounting is abnormal, the display of the operation unit 213 blinks in, for example, orange in step S207, abnormally ends in step S208, and the process returns to the processing routine shown in FIG. When a host PC for controlling the recording apparatus is connected, it is possible to display a mounting abnormality through the PC monitor at the same time.

  In FIG. 17, when the ink tank attaching / detaching process in step S101 is completed, it is determined in step S102 whether the attaching / detaching process has been normally completed. If it is determined that the process has ended abnormally, in step S108, the process waits for the user to open the main body cover 201. When the cover 201 is opened, the process in step S101 is started, and the process described in FIG. 18 is repeated. .

  If it is determined in step S102 that the attachment / detachment process has been completed normally, the process proceeds to the optical authentication process in step S103. At this time, the LED 101 of each lit ink tank is turned off.

  The optical authentication process is a process for determining whether or not each of the normally installed ink tanks is installed at the correct position. In the present embodiment, for example, the ink tank mounting position is set such that the ink tank and the mounting position cannot be mounted with ink tanks of other inks, and the mounting positions are determined corresponding to the ink tanks of the respective colors. Do not take a configuration like this. For this reason, there is a possibility that the ink tanks of the respective colors are erroneously attached to places that are not the original positions. For this reason, this optical authentication process is performed, and if it is worn by mistake, the user is informed accordingly. Thereby, in particular, it is possible to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of manufacturing the ink tank without changing the shape of the ink tank for each color.

  20A to 20F are diagrams for explaining this optical authentication process.

  After the mounting of the four color ink tanks 1K to 1Y is completed, as shown in FIG. 20A, first, only the LED 101K of the black ink tank 1K is controlled to emit light. At this time, since the light is projected to the first light receiving unit 210 through the opening 161K of the holder 150 at the black position when mounted at the correct mounting position, the output level from the first light receiving unit 210 is the highest level 4 Is obtained. Here, for convenience, the four-stage light receiving unit output levels obtained by dimming with four types of opening areas are expressed as levels 4 to 1.

  Similarly, as shown in FIG. 20B, light emission control is performed for the ink tank 1C of cyan ink, and if it is in the correct mounting position, light is projected to the first light receiving unit 210 through the opening 161C. The output level from the light receiving unit 210 is level 3. Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 20C and 20D, outputs of level 2 and level 1 can be obtained for the magenta ink tank 1M and the yellow ink tank 1Y as long as the mounting positions are correct. FIG. 20E is a graph collectively showing output levels obtained from the first light receiving unit 210 when the mounting position is correct.

  Here, consider a case where the mounting position is wrong. FIG. 20 (f) shows a case where the magenta ink tank 1M and the cyan ink tank 1C are replaced and mounted. Since the ink tank 1M is mounted at the cyan position, the light emitted from the LED 101M is projected to the first light receiving unit 210 through the opening 161C, so that the output level from the first light receiving unit 210 is level 3. Similarly, level 2 is obtained as the output level from the first light receiving unit 210 by light emission from the cyan ink tank 1C. From this, it is possible to recognize the mounting position of the ink tank by referring to the individual information of the ink tank subjected to light emission control and the obtained output level from the first light receiving unit 210.

  By performing the optical authentication process described above, the control circuit 300 can specify an ink tank that is not mounted in the original position. Also, by detecting the output level, it is possible to specify where the ink tank has been accidentally mounted.

  The LED 101 originally has a certain range in the emission intensity, but the emission intensity is measured at the time of shipment of the ink tank, and is measured in the memory array 103B such as the EEPROM in the control unit 103 as described above. Data can also be stored. When the control circuit 300 refers to the output level from the first light receiving unit 210, the control circuit 300 can read the LED emission intensity measurement data from the memory array and correct the output level from the first light receiving unit 210. As a result, it is possible to detect the mounting position of the ink tank more accurately, and it is effective because it is necessary to set the output level value more finely, particularly in a model having a large number of ink tanks.

  Further, when a phototransistor or the like is used for the first light receiving portion, the output photocurrent has a large variation among components. FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a difference in output from the first light receiving unit when sensitivity variation is doubled. FIG. 30A shows the case where the first light receiving unit A (A indicates the number of each part) is used, and outputs 4, 3, 2, 1 (in arbitrary units) in the order of ink tanks 1K, C, M, Y. It shows that it was obtained. FIG. 30B shows the case where the first light receiving part B having a light receiving sensitivity of half that of the first light receiving part A is used, and outputs 2, 1.5, 1 in the order of the ink tanks 1K, C, M, Y. , 0.5 is obtained. Even if there is a double sensitivity variation in this way, after measuring the amount of light from all ink tanks, the relationship between the magnitudes of the amounts of light obtained from each ink tank is examined, and a relative comparison is made for ranking. If this is done, the mounting position of the ink tank can be specified.

  FIG. 31 is a flowchart for explaining another embodiment of the ink tank mounting confirmation control. In the above-described example, the light authentication process is performed collectively after the ink tank attaching / detaching process is completed. When each ink tank is mounted, the light emission control of the ink tank is sequentially performed, and the first light receiving unit is performed. It is also possible to perform optical authentication processing with reference to the output level from 210. By doing so, the mounting position can be detected each time the ink tanks 1 are mounted one by one, so that the user can be notified of a mounting position error at an early stage. In this case, as described above, when the sensitivity variation of the first light receiving unit is large, in order to detect the position of the ink tank with high accuracy, the sensor is selected or incorporated into the recording device, and then the sensitivity is measured to measure the recording device. It is preferable to calibrate the data by storing it in the nonvolatile memory.

  In FIG. 17, after the above-described optical authentication process in step S103, it is determined in step S104 whether or not this process has ended normally. If it is determined that the optical authentication has been normally completed, the display unit of the operation unit 213 is turned on, for example, in green in step S105, and the process is terminated. On the other hand, when it is determined that the operation has not been completed normally, the display of the operation unit 213 blinks in, for example, orange in step S109, and in step S110, an ink tank that is not mounted in the original correct position specified in step S103. The LED 101 blinks or lights up. As a result, it is possible to know the ink tank that is not mounted at the original correct position, and to prompt the user to remount the ink tank at the correct position.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing recording processing according to the present embodiment. In this process, first, in step S401, an ink remaining amount confirmation process is performed. In this process, for the job that is going to be recorded, the recording amount is obtained from the recording data, and this amount is compared with the remaining amount of each ink tank. It is a process to confirm. In this process, the ink remaining amount obtained by counting the remaining amount at that time by the control circuit 300 can be used.

  In step S402, it is determined whether there is an ink amount necessary for recording based on the above confirmation processing. When there is a sufficient amount of ink, the recording operation is performed in step S403, and the display of the operation unit 213 is lit in green in step S404 to complete the normal end. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S402 that there is not a sufficient amount of ink, in step S405, the indicator of the operation unit 213 blinks orange, and in step S406, the LED 101 of the ink tank 1 with a low ink remaining amount blinks. Or turn it on and terminate abnormally. When a host PC for controlling the printing apparatus is connected, the remaining ink amount can be displayed through the PC monitor at the same time.

3. Other embodiments (FIGS. 22 to 26)
22 to 23 are views for explaining a configuration example of an ink tank 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 22 is a side sectional view of the ink tank 1. In the vicinity of the LED 101 of the ink tank 1, a second light guide member 123 that guides lateral light projection to the first light receiving unit 210 is provided. As shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B, the second light guide member 123 is provided in the vicinity of the opening 161 so that the end surface thereof is positioned when the ink tank is mounted. With this configuration, light emitted from the LED 101 can be efficiently guided to the opening 161 of the holder 150.

  24 to 25 are diagrams illustrating an example in which a holder-side light guide member 164 is provided between the opening 161 on the holder 150 side and the first light receiving unit 210. FIG. 24 is a front view of the recording head 105, and FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram for explaining the light emission of the ink tank 1 and the light reception by the first light receiving unit 210.

  A light guide member 164 integrally formed of a transparent resin such as acrylic is provided on the first light receiving unit 210 side of the openings 161 </ b> K to Y of each color. Thereby, the light projection from each opening 161K-Y can be efficiently guide | induced to the 1st light-receiving part 210. FIG. With this configuration, it is possible to eliminate the need to provide the light-receiving chamber 160 in a substantially sealed state in order to prevent the influence from external light.

  Also, by providing four optical fibers instead of the holder-side light guide member 164 between the openings 161K to Y and the first light receiving part 210, it is possible to efficiently project the light from the openings 161K to Y first. The light can be guided to the light receiving unit 210.

  Further, according to the present invention, an ink tank is attached to a fixed portion of the recording apparatus separately from the recording head mounted on the carriage, and the fixed ink tank and the recording head are connected via a flexible tube to supply ink. The present invention can also be applied to a continuous supply system using a supply tube. In this embodiment, an ink tank that functions as an intermediate tank between the ink tank and the recording head may be mounted on the recording head or the carriage.

  FIG. 26 shows an example of such an ink jet recording apparatus.

  Reference numeral 710 denotes a cassette-type paper feed tray. The recording media stacked on the tray 710 are separated and fed one by one, conveyed along a folded conveyance path, and mounted on a carriage 803 (not shown). ) And then discharged to the paper discharge tray 703. The carriage 803 is supported and guided by a guide shaft 807, and moves in the left-right direction in the drawing to perform recording scanning of the recording head.

  The carriage 803 is mounted with a recording head for each color ink, and each recording head for each color ink has its own intermediate (sub) tank (for example, ink tanks 811K to 811K for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow ink). 811Y) is mounted. In addition, these intermediate tanks are supplied with respective inks from relatively large-capacity fixed (main) tanks 701K to 701Y that are detachably provided on the mounting portion of the apparatus. Reference numeral 850 denotes a flexible follow-up portion that follows the movement of the carriage 803. In addition to an electric wiring portion that transmits a required electric signal to each recording head mounted on the carriage, each fixed tank is connected to each intermediate tank. The ink supply tube group is collectively shown. The supply tube group communicates with the fixed tank through the ink via a communication pipe (not shown).

  Although the recording operation is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, in this example, the light emitting units 801 having the same function as the above-described light emitting unit 101 are provided in each of the fixed tanks 701K to 701Y. Corresponding to the light emitting unit 801, a shielding plate 812 is provided in a part of a fixed tank holder (not shown) of the recording apparatus, and an opening 813 having a different diameter is provided in the vicinity of each light emitting unit 801. A light receiving unit 810 that receives light from the fixed tanks 701K to 701Y that have passed through the openings 813 is mounted below the fixed tank holder in the recording apparatus. That is, with these mechanisms, the fixed tanks 701K to 701Y recognize the state of each fixed tank and perform the necessary control in the same manner as described above with respect to the presence / absence of the remaining amount of ink, the presence / absence of the attachment, and the quality of the attachment. Can be performed. Further, the user can recognize information regarding each fixed tank by visually recognizing the light emission state of the light emitting unit 801. The fixed tank is not only detachable, but may be substantially semi-permanently attached so that ink can be replenished according to the remaining amount of ink.

Further, such a configuration is not limited to a continuous supply method using a tube. The recording system includes a storage unit that stores a relatively small amount of ink, and a supply system that intermittently supplies ink at an appropriate timing from a supply source that stores a relatively large amount of ink to the storage unit. The present invention can also be applied to the system configured as described above. (Intermittent supply method; so-called pit-in supply method)
As an aspect thereof, the ink supply system with the fixed tank can be spatially connected only when ink is filled into the intermediate tank. In addition, an electromagnetic valve or the like may be inserted into the connection structure, and the tank may be configured to be fluidly insulated and connected between the two tanks by appropriately controlling the opening and closing thereof. In addition, a gas-liquid separation membrane (a membrane that allows gas to pass but not liquid) is provided in the intermediate tank, and it is also applied to a pit-in method that supplies ink into the intermediate tank by sucking air in the tank through the membrane. Is possible.

  FIG. 27 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. Each of the openings 161Y, M, C, and K includes 1, 2, 3, and 4 openings having the same area.

  FIG. 28 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, each opening 161 is provided with the same opening area, but includes a different number of optical fibers 165 as a light guide member. In this embodiment, the optical fibers 165Y, 165, M, C, and K are shown as having 1, 2, 3, and 4 optical fibers having the same cross-sectional area. As a result, the influence of the amount of received light due to the difference in distance between the issuing unit and the light receiving unit can be reduced, and the difference in the amount of received light of each ink tank can be accurately identified. In addition, the influence of external light can be reduced.

  FIG. 29 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, each opening 161 is provided with the same opening area, but the end surface of the light guide member 164 near the opening 161 has a different cross-sectional area. Thereby, a difference is given to the amount of received light.

  In the above embodiment, the communication between the control unit of the ink tank and the control unit of the recording apparatus has been described by showing an example in which the contact on the ink tank side and the recording apparatus side connector are contacted to each other. Is not limited to this form. For example, communication between the ink tank and the recording apparatus may be performed by wireless communication such as RFID.

(A), (b), and (c) are a side view, a front view, and a bottom view of the ink tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention, respectively. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the ink tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention. (A) And (b) is a typical side view for demonstrating the outline of the function of the board | substrate arrange | positioned at the ink tank which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and the enlarged view of the principal part. (A) And (b) is the front view and side view which respectively show an example of the control board attached to the ink tank which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a front view of an ink tank holder of the recording head according to the first embodiment of the invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the aspect of light emission of the ink tank which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and the light reception by a 1st light-receiving part. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a recording head unit having a holder to which an ink tank according to the first embodiment is attached. It is a perspective view which shows the other example of a structure of the ink tank attachment part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the other example of a structure of the ink tank attachment part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the inkjet printer which mounts | wears with the ink tank of the said 1st Embodiment, and performs recording. It is a perspective view which removes and shows the main body cover 201 shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the said inkjet printer. It is a figure which shows the structure of the signal wiring for the signal connection with an ink tank in the flexible cable of the said inkjet printer in relation to the board | substrate of each ink tank. It is a circuit diagram which shows the detail of the said board | substrate with which the control part etc. were provided. 4 is a timing chart for explaining data writing and reading operations with respect to the memory array of the substrate. It is a timing chart explaining the operation | movement of turning on and off of LED101, respectively. It is a flowchart which shows the control procedure regarding attachment / detachment of the ink tank which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of ink tank attachment / detachment processing in FIG. 17. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the mounting confirmation control in FIG. (A)-(f) is a figure explaining an optical authentication process. It is a flowchart which shows the recording process concerning the said embodiment. It is a sectional side view for demonstrating the structural example of the ink tank which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. (A) And (b) is a typical side view for demonstrating the outline of the function of the board | substrate arrange | positioned at the ink tank which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, and the enlarged view of the principal part. FIG. 10 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the aspect of light emission of the ink tank which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, and the light reception by a 1st light-receiving part. It is a perspective view which shows the printer which has the structure which concerns on another embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a front view of an ink tank holder of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. (A) And (b) is a figure explaining the optical authentication process based on further another embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of mounting | wearing confirmation control in FIG. 18 which concerns on further another embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1K, 1C, 1M, 1Y Ink tank 100 Substrate 101, 801 Light emitting unit (LED)
102 Pad (Contact terminal)
103 Control element (control unit)
103A Input / output control circuit Input / output control circuit 103B Memory array 103C LED driver 103D Command identification unit 122 Light emitting unit 150 Holder 152 Connector 157 Electrical contact unit 158, 159 Wiring unit 160 Light receiving chamber 161, 161K, 161C, 161M, 161Y, 813 Opening 163 Connector board 210, 810 1st light-receiving part

Claims (7)

A plurality of liquid storage containers can be mounted, and a device-side contact that can be electrically coupled to a contact provided in the liquid storage container, and a device-side contact coupled to the contact of each of the liquid storage containers to be mounted In a recording apparatus having an electric circuit having a wiring electrically connected to the common,
An information holding unit capable of holding at least individual information of the liquid storage container, a light emitting unit, a signal related to the individual information input from the contact point, and the individual information held by the information holding unit. A mounting unit capable of mounting a liquid storage container comprising a control unit for controlling light emission;
A light receiving portion for receiving light from the light emitting portion of the liquid container;
A light amount variable means that is disposed between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, and changes a light amount received by the light receiving unit to a different light amount depending on a mounting position of the plurality of liquid storage containers;
A recording apparatus comprising:   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light amount varying unit has an opening having a different area depending on a mounting position of the liquid storage container.   The recording apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a light guide unit between the light receiving unit and the opening.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mounting position of the liquid storage container is determined by comparing individual information of the liquid storage container and a value from the light receiving unit.   The information holding unit of the liquid container holds information about the light emission intensity of the light emitting unit, and corrects the value from the light receiving unit using the information about the light emission intensity. 5. The recording device according to any one of 4.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mounting position of the liquid storage container is determined based on a value from the light receiving unit corresponding to the individual information of the liquid storage container. In a recording apparatus having a device-side antenna that can be mounted in common with a plurality of liquid storage containers that can be mounted on the liquid storage container.
An information holding unit capable of holding at least individual information of the liquid storage container, a light emitting unit, a signal related to the individual information input from the antenna, and the individual information held by the information holding unit. A mounting unit capable of mounting a liquid storage container comprising a control unit for controlling light emission;
A light receiving portion for receiving light from the light emitting portion of the liquid container;
A light amount variable means that is disposed between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, and changes a light amount received by the light receiving unit to a different light amount depending on a mounting position of the plurality of liquid storage containers;
A recording apparatus comprising:

Images