Image forming apparatus

Abstract

The installation of inappropriate types of consumables reduces the likelihood of the system operating in a state where it cannot function properly. [Solution] The OTP memory of the ASIC42 has an OTP area that can be written to only once, and type information related to the type of ink cartridge 2 is written to that OTP area. The control unit 40 determines whether the type information written to the OTP area corresponds to the type information read from the ink cartridge 2. If it determines that they do not correspond, the control unit 40 will do at least one of the following: restrict the execution of the image forming operation, or output to the user that the type of ink cartridge 2 is inappropriate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus that performs an image forming operation, consumables used in the image forming operation are installed, such as the toner cartridge described in Patent Document 1.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] There are a plurality of types of consumables, and an appropriate type may be assigned to each image forming apparatus. In this case, if an inappropriate type of consumable is installed in the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may not function properly.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which the operation in a state where it cannot function properly due to the installation of an inappropriate type of consumable is reduced. [[ID=ZI]]

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises an image forming unit that performs an image forming operation to form an image on a medium, an installation unit where consumables used in the image forming operation are installed, a detection unit that detects the type of consumables installed in the installation unit, a memory having a region that can be written to only once and in which information relating to the type of consumables is written, and a control unit, wherein the control unit performs a determination process that determines whether the information written in the region corresponds to the detection result by the detection unit, and, if the determination process determines that there is no correspondence, performs a consumable incompatibility process that restricts the execution of the image forming operation and outputs to the user that the type of consumables is inappropriate. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The system determines whether the information written to the non-volatile memory corresponds to the detection result of the detection unit. If an inappropriate type of consumable is installed, it is determined that it is incompatible, and consumable incompatibility processing is executed. When the execution of image forming operations is restricted as a result of consumable incompatibility processing, the occurrence of inappropriate operations is directly reduced. Furthermore, when the system outputs to the user that the type of consumable is inappropriate as a result of consumable incompatibility processing, the user is encouraged to refrain from using the device. In addition, information related to the type of consumable is written to an area in the non-volatile memory that can only be written once. Therefore, it is difficult to tamper with the information in a way that would prevent the determination process from being performed correctly. As a result, the problem of the device operating in a state where it cannot perform its functions properly is reliably reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is an overview diagram of a printer according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a flowchart showing the processing flow performed by the printer. [Figure 3] Figure 1 shows an example of how the number of printable pages is displayed on the screen. [Figure 4]Figure 1 shows an example of how an error message might appear on a display. [Figure 5] This is a schematic diagram of a printer according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] [First Embodiment] A printer 1 according to a first embodiment, which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 4. As shown in Figure 1, the printer 1 has an image forming unit 10, a display 20, a mounting unit 30, and a control unit 40.

[0010] The image forming unit 10 has a paper storage section capable of accommodating multiple sheets of printing paper and an inkjet head. The image forming unit 10 performs an image forming operation to form an image on the printing paper by ejecting ink supplied from the ink cartridge 2 from the inkjet head onto the printing paper supplied from the paper storage section, in accordance with the control of the control unit 40. In this embodiment, one image forming operation corresponds to an image forming operation on one sheet of printing paper. The display 20 has a screen that displays characters, images, etc., in accordance with the control of the control unit 40.

[0011] The mounting section 30 is the part into which the ink cartridge 2 (corresponding to the "consumables" of this invention) is mounted. The ink cartridge 2 has an ink storage section 61 for storing ink and a storage section 62 consisting of an IC chip. The ink in the ink storage section 61 is supplied to the image forming section 10. Type information is written to the storage section 62. The mounting section 30 has a reading section 31 (corresponding to the "detection section" of this invention) for reading the contents of the storage section 62. The type information is read by the reading section 31 and output to the control section 40. Details of the type information will be described later.

[0012] Furthermore, the mounting section 30 is equipped with a level sensor 32 that detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 2. The detection result from the level sensor 32 is output to the control unit 40.

[0013] The control unit 40 includes hardware such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 41, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 42, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 43, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 44. The ROM 43 consists of a general-purpose standalone memory circuit. The ROM 43 stores program data and other information processed by the CPU 41. The RAM 44 stores data used by the CPU 41 when executing programs. The hardware, consisting of the CPU 41 and the ASIC 42, executes various processes, such as controlling the operation of the image forming unit 10 and the display 20, according to the program data and other data, which are software, stored in the ROM 43 and RAM 44.

[0014] For example, the control unit 40 performs an image forming process that controls the image forming unit 10 to form an image on the printing paper based on image data received from an external device such as a PC. The control unit 40 also performs a printable page count display process. The printable page count display process displays the number of printable pages (corresponding to the "number of possible operations" in this invention) on the display 20, based on the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage unit 61 of the ink cartridge 2. The remaining amount of ink is obtained based on the detection result by the ink level sensor 32 of the mounting unit 30. The printable page count indicates how many more image forming operations are possible with that amount of ink. The control unit 40 maintains the relationship between the remaining amount of ink and the printable page count in a tabular or function format, and derives the printable page count based on the detection result of the ink level sensor 32 and the above relationship.

[0015] Incidentally, there are multiple types of ink cartridges 2, and an appropriate type may be assigned to each model of the printer 1. In the present embodiment, as shown in Table 1 below, the type of the ink cartridge 2 corresponds to the target country of use (corresponding to the "target area of use" of the present invention). This is because there are differences in the needs such as ink capacity and color tone depending on the country, and differences in the specifications of the ink cartridge 2 are provided for each country. The type information in Table 1 consists of, for example, character information such as "AAA", "BBB", "CCC", etc., and the differences in the character compositions indicate the differences in types.

[0016]

Table 1

[0017] According to this, the printer 1 is also configured according to the specifications corresponding to the assigned type. In this case, if an ink cartridge 2 of an inappropriate type is installed in the printer 1, the printer 1 may not function properly. Therefore, in the present embodiment, type information is stored in the storage unit 62 of the ink cartridge 2. The type information is, for example, any of the character information shown in the types of Table 1.

[0018] And the ASIC 42 of the printer 1 includes an OTP (One Time Programmable) memory 42T having an OTP area. In this OTP area, type information indicating the type of the ink cartridge 2 compatible with the printer 1 is written. This type information is also, as described above, for example, any of the character information shown in the types of Table 1. The OTP area is a memory area composed of a ROM and corresponds to an area where data can be written only once.

[0019] Based on the above configuration, the control unit 40 executes a cartridge incompatibility process (corresponding to the "consumable incompatibility process" of the present invention), which is a process according to whether the type of the ink cartridge 2 is compatible. Hereinafter, this process will be described while referring to FIG. 2.

[0020] Figure 2 shows an example of a series of processes after the printer 1 is activated until it receives image data from an external device and performs processing based on the received data. First, the printer 1 is activated (S1) when the power of the printer 1 is switched from off to on. Next, the control unit 40 acquires the type information stored in the storage unit 62 of the ink cartridge 2 (S2). Next, the control unit 40 compares the type information acquired in S2 with the type information written in the OTP memory 42T of the ASIC 42 (S3). Next, the control unit 40 determines whether or not the two pieces of type information match based on the comparison result of S3 (S4; corresponding to the "determination process" of the present invention). If it is determined that the two pieces of type information match each other (S4, Yes), the control unit 40 causes the display 20 to display the printable number of sheets based on the detection result of the remaining amount sensor 32 of the mounting unit 30 (S5; corresponding to the "number output process" of the present invention). Figure 3 shows an example of the display of the printable number of sheets. This display example includes the display of the remaining amount of ink by a graph. Next, the control unit 40 acquires image data from an external device such as a PC (S6) and executes an image forming process based on the acquired image data (S7).

[0021] On the other hand, if it is determined that the type information acquired in S2 does not match the type information written in the OTP memory 42T of the ASIC 42 (S4, No), the control unit 40 executes the processes after S8, which is a cartridge non-corresponding process. That is, even if the control unit 40 acquires image data from an external device such as a PC (S8), it causes the display 20 to display an error message shown in Figure 4, indicating that the image forming process cannot be executed (S9). Then, the control unit 40 ends the series of processes without executing the image forming process.

[0022] According to the embodiment described above, it is determined whether the type information written to the OTP memory 42T of the ASIC 42 corresponds to the type information read from the storage unit 62 of the ink cartridge 2. If an inappropriate type of ink cartridge 2 is installed in the mounting unit 30, it is determined that the type information does not correspond, and cartridge incompatibility processing (from S8 onwards in Figure 2) is executed. In this embodiment, the execution of image forming processing is restricted as part of the cartridge incompatibility processing, so the occurrence of inappropriate operations is directly reduced. In addition, as shown in Figure 4, a message indicating that the type of ink cartridge 2 is inappropriate is output to the user, prompting the user to refrain from using the device.

[0023] Furthermore, the type information related to ink cartridge 2 is written to OTP memory 42T, which is a single-write memory. Therefore, it is difficult to tamper with the system in a way that would prevent the determination process in S4 from being performed correctly. Moreover, because OTP memory 42T is part of ASIC 42, tampering becomes even more difficult.

[0024] As a result, the problem of printer 1 operating in a state where it cannot function properly is significantly reduced.

[0025] Furthermore, according to this embodiment, different target countries are set for each type of ink cartridge 2. Therefore, the detection of an inappropriate type of ink cartridge 2 corresponds to an inappropriate target country. In this embodiment, when an inappropriate type of ink cartridge 2 is detected, the cartridge incompatibility process is executed as described above. Thus, the occurrence of problems caused by installing an ink cartridge 2 manufactured for an inappropriate target country in the printer 1 is reduced.

[0026] Furthermore, if an inappropriate type of ink cartridge 2 is used, the printable page count may not be displayed correctly, as it may not reflect the actual amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge 2. In contrast, according to this embodiment, the printable page count is displayed on the display 20 only when the appropriate type of ink cartridge 2 is used. Therefore, the correct printable page count is more likely to be displayed.

[0027] [Second Embodiment] Hereinafter, a printer 101 according to a second embodiment, which is another embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to Figure 5. The difference in this embodiment from the first embodiment is that a control unit 140 is installed instead of a control unit 40. Furthermore, the difference in the control unit 140 from the control unit 40 is that an ASIC 142 and a ROM 143 are installed instead of an ASIC 42 and a ROM 43. The ROM 143 consists of a general-purpose standalone memory circuit and has an OTP area 143T. Type information is written to the OTP area 143T. The ASIC 142 does not hold type information. The control unit 140 compares the type information written to the OTP area 143T with the type information obtained from the ink cartridge 2, and based on the comparison result, executes the processes S5 to S9 in Figure 2, in particular the cartridge incompatibility processes S8 and S9.

[0028] In this embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the memory on which type information is written is part of a general-purpose standalone memory circuit. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the device can be reduced compared to the case where type information is written to an ASIC.

[0029] <Other variations> Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, it should be understood that the specific configurations are not limited to these embodiments. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims rather than the above description of embodiments, and all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims are included.

[0030] For example, in each of the embodiments described above, the type of ink cartridge 2 is obtained by reading the type information written to the storage unit 62 of the ink cartridge 2. Alternatively, the printer may employ means to obtain the type of ink cartridge 2 by another method. For example, the shape of the casing of the ink cartridge 2 may differ depending on the type, and the printer may be equipped with means to determine the shape of the casing of the ink cartridge 2. Alternatively, characters or marks formed on the surface of the casing of the ink cartridge 2 may indicate the type, and the printer may be equipped with means to read these characters or marks.

[0031] Furthermore, in each of the embodiments described above, the type of ink cartridge 2 corresponds to the target country of use. Alternatively, the type of ink cartridge 2 may correspond to the target region of use in other regional divisions. For example, it may correspond to the target region of use in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, etc.

[0032] In addition, while the embodiments described above have described the application of the present invention to printers, the invention is not limited thereto. The present invention may also be applied to other inkjet-type image forming devices that eject ink from a head, such as multifunction printers and copiers, or to these image forming devices. It may also be applied to laser-type image forming devices that perform image recording processing by attaching toner to printing paper instead of attaching ink to printing paper using an inkjet method. In this case, a toner cartridge (corresponding to the "consumables" of the present invention) that contains toner is detachably attached to the image forming device. Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to printers that form characters or figures on label cartridges (corresponding to the "consumables" of the present invention), or to printers that transfer ink from an ink ribbon (corresponding to the "consumables" of the present invention) to a medium. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0033] 1. Printer 2 ink cartridges 10 Image forming unit 20 displays 30 Mounting part 40 Control Unit 42 ASIC 43 ROM 42T OTP memory 101 Printer 140 Control Unit 142 ASIC 143 ROM 143T OTP area

Claims

1. An image forming unit that performs an image forming operation to form an image on a medium, An installation section where consumables used in the image forming operation are installed, A detection unit for detecting the type of consumables installed in the installation unit, A memory having an area that can be written to only once, in which information relating to the type of consumable is written, It includes a control unit, The control unit, A determination process that determines whether the information written in the area corresponds to the detection result by the detection unit, An image forming apparatus characterized in that, if it is determined in the determination process that the consumables are not compatible, it performs a consumables incompatibility process which includes at least one of the following: restricting the execution of the image forming operation, and outputting to the user that the type of consumables is inappropriate.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each type of consumable has a different target area for use.

3. The control unit is The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, if it is determined in the determination process that the corresponding operation is met, the apparatus performs a count output process that outputs to the user the number of times the image forming operation can be performed according to the remaining amount of the consumables.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the memory is part of an integrated circuit for a specific purpose.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the memory consists of a general-purpose memory integrated circuit.

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