This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-096310, entitled xe2x80x9cprinting apparatus and a management method of an ink consumption amountxe2x80x9d, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and an ink-consumption amount management method and, more particularly, to a printing apparatus which performs printing on a printing medium by using an inkjet printhead supplied with ink from an ink tank, and an ink-consumption amount management method.
Conventional inkjet printing apparatuses (hereinbelow simply referred to as xe2x80x9cprinting apparatusesxe2x80x9d) perform printing on a printing medium while consuming ink supplied from an ink supply unit. When ink has been exhausted from the ink supply unit, many of the inkjet printing apparatuses continue printing on the printing medium without notifying a user of the ink exhausted status even if printing is not normally performed. Recently, however, an increasing number of printing apparatuses notify a user of an ink exhausted status if the ink has been exhausted, and urge the user to replace the ink supply unit.
As a residual-ink amount management system to detect exhaustion of ink from ink supply unit, the following systems are known.
(1) Ink-consumption amount information is counted every time ink is consumed and the information is stored in a memory. When a count value becomes a value indicating an assumed ink exhausted status, a user is notified of the status and urged to replace the ink supply unit. Then the user replaces the ink supply unit, and the user himself/herself voluntarily sets the printing apparatus to an ink-filled status.
(2) Ink-consumption amount information is counted every time ink is consumed and the information is stored in a memory. When a count value becomes a value indicating an assumed ink exhausted status, a user is notified of the status and urged to replace the ink supply unit. On the other hand, the replacement of ink supply unit is automatically detected, and the apparatus is set to an ink-filled status.
(3) Physical ink present/absent status is detected, and when the ink has been exhausted, a user is notified of the ink exhaustion and urged to replace the ink supply unit. Then, when the ink supply unit has been replaced and the presence of ink is detected, the apparatus is automatically set to an ink-filled status.
However, the above-described conventional residual-ink amount management systems have the following problems. The problems will be described in correspondence with the above systems (1) to (3).
System (1)
In this system, in a case where the ink supply unit has been replaced, since the user himself/herself voluntarily sets the apparatus to the ink-filled status, if the user forgets the operation, the residual-ink amount management cannot be properly performed. Further, even though the user does not forget the operation, it is considerably troublesome for the user to voluntarily set the apparatus to the ink-filled status.
Further, in this system, as the amount of ink consumed during a period from the point where the user replaced the ink supply unit to the point where the user voluntarily sets the apparatus to the ink-filled status is not considered, this ink-consumption amount becomes an error in the ink-tank residual amount management.
Further, if the amount of ink in the new ink supply unit is different from an assumed amount upon replacement of ink supply unit, the accuracy of the residual-ink amount management is further deteriorated.
System (2)
In this system, the replacement of ink supply unit can be automatically detected, however, it is not determined that the ink status has actually become a predetermined status. If the amount of ink in the new ink supply unit is different from an assumed amount upon replacement of ink supply unit, the accuracy of the residual-ink amount management is deteriorated.
System (3)
This system is excellent as a residual-ink amount management system, however, to detect the physical ink present/absent status, an expensive residual-ink amount sensor is required. Thus the system itself is expensive.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a low-price printing apparatus and an ink-consumption amount management method for realizing excellent operability and accurate management of residual ink amount.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, comprising: storage means for storing ink-consumption amount information; count means for counting consumption of the ink; update means for updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage means based on an ink consumption amount counted by the count means; determination means for determining occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; storage control means for performing control on storing the ink-consumption amount information upon determination by the determination means, as first consumption-amount information, into the storage means; notification means for notifying the host of the result of determination by the determination means; reception means for receiving ink amount information on ink contained in an ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank, as the result of notification by the notification means, from the host; and change means for changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained by the update means, based on the ink-consumption amount information updated by the update means upon reception by the reception means, the first consumption-amount information stored in the storage means, and the ink amount information received by the reception means.
It may be arranged such that the determination means includes: measurement means for measuring elapsed time since the ink tank moved to a replacement position; and comparison means for comparing the elapsed time measured by the measurement means with a predetermined threshold value, and the determination means determines the occurrence of replacement of the ink tank based on the result of comparison by the comparison means.
Alternatively, it may be arranged such that the determination means includes a sensor that detects attachment/removal of the ink tank, and determines the occurrence of replacement of the ink tank based on an output from the sensor.
Note that the threshold value is variable.
Further, it is preferable that the host includes: display means for displaying an ink-tank replacement check message on a display screen, based on the result of determination notified by the notification means; receiving means for receiving confirmation of replacement of the ink tank from a user; and transmission means for transmitting the ink amount information on the ink contained in the ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank, based on reception of the confirmation of replacement of the ink tank, to the apparatus.
Further, it may be arranged such that the host further includes designation means for designating an amount of ink contained in the ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank.
In addition, it is preferable that the display means is capable of displaying a message for checking to be sure that no ink tank has been replaced, and the receiving means is capable of receiving confirmation that no ink tank has been replaced.
Further, it is preferable in the above construction that the apparatus further comprises prevention means for preventing change of the ink-consumption amount information by the change means if the receiving means receives the confirmation that no ink tank has been replaced and it is confirmed via the reception means that no ink tank has been replaced.
It is preferable that the count means includes: first count means for counting ink consumption related to a printing operation based on the print data from the host; and second count means for counting the ink consumption not related to the printing operation.
Further, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises: presumption means for presuming that the replacement of the ink tank has been made upon acquisition of the result of determination by the determination means; and accumulation means for accumulating the ink consumption obtained from counting by the first or second count means since presumption of the replacement of the ink tank by the presumption means, as the ink consumption from the ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank.
Note that it is preferable that the printhead is an inkjet printhead, and the inkjet printhead has electrothermal transducers that generate thermal energy to be applied to ink, so as to discharge the ink by utilizing the thermal energy.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, comprising: storage means for storing ink-consumption amount information; count means for counting consumption of the ink; update means for updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage means based on an ink consumption amount counted by the count means; determination means for determining a possibility of occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; notification means for notifying the host of a result of determination by the determination means; reception means for receiving ink amount information on ink contained in an ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank, from the host; and change means for changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained by the update means, based on the ink amount information received by the reception means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, comprising: storage means for storing ink-consumption amount information; count means for counting consumption of the ink; update means for updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage means based on an ink consumption amount counted by the count means; determination means for determining occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; and change means for changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained by the update means, based on a result of determination by the determination means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an ink-consumption amount management method for a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, the method comprising: a storage step of storing ink-consumption amount information into a storage medium; a count step of counting consumption of the ink; an update step of updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage medium based on an ink consumption amount counted at the count step; a determination step of determining occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; a storage control step of performing control on storing the ink-consumption amount information upon determination at the determination step, as first consumption-amount information, into the storage medium; a notification step of notifying the host of a result of determination at the determination step; a reception step of receiving ink amount information on the ink contained in an ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank, as the result of notification at the notification step, from the host; and a change step of changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained at the update step, based on the ink-consumption amount information updated at the update step upon reception at the reception step, the first consumption-amount information stored in the storage medium, and the ink amount information received at the reception step.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an ink-consumption amount management method for a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, the method comprising: a storage step of storing ink-consumption amount information into a storage medium; a count step of counting consumption of the ink; an update step of updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage medium based on an ink consumption amount counted at the count step; a determination step of determining a possibility of occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; a notification step of notifying the host of a result of determination at the determination step; a reception step of receiving ink amount information on ink contained in an ink tank newly set by the replacement of the ink tank, as a result of notification at the notification step, from the host; and a change step of changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained at the update step, based on the ink amount information received at the reception step.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an ink-consumption amount management method for a printing apparatus for performing printing by discharging ink supplied from a replaceable ink tank on a printing medium, based on print data received from a host, the method comprising: a storage step of storing ink-consumption amount information into a storage medium; a count step of counting consumption of the ink; an update step of updating the ink-consumption amount information stored in the storage medium based on an ink consumption amount counted at the count step; a determination step of determining occurrence of replacement of the ink tank; and a change step of changing the ink-consumption amount information obtained at the update step, based on a result of determination at the determination step.
The invention is particularly advantageous since the replacement of an ink tank is automatically determined and notified to the host, and the ink-consumption amount information is updated based on new ink amount information received as a result of the notification, the ink consumption amount upon the determination of replacement of the ink tank, and the ink consumption amount upon reception of the new ink amount information, the amount of ink consumed during a period from the point where the user replaced the ink tank to the point where the ink-consumption amount information is actually updated is considered, and consequently the ink-consumption amount management can be more accurately performed with a simple construction.
Further, the invention is advantageous since the user can easily replace the ink-consumption amount information to an optimum value by input in accordance with a displayed message. As a result, the user can be prevented from forgetting to replace the ink-consumption amount information. Furthermore, a response including information about a status where the ink tank has not been replaced can be made in accordance with a displayed message, the user""s erroneous operation can be prevented.
Moreover, the ink-consumption amount information can be updated to a value in consideration of residual ink amount in the newly replaced ink tank, even if an ink tank which is not a new but a partially-used ink tank is employed, accurate ink-consumption amount management can be performed.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same name or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.