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US 11,110,716 B2Granted
Locking consumables
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsWayne J Schmidt, Steve Beutler, Kent S Takeshita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an example, a system includes a controller to monitor a usage state of a consumable installed in the system and a drive mechanism to lock the consumable in the system under an instruction from the controller. The drive mechanism includes a shaft to drive the consumable and a key integrated in the shaft to lock the consumable to the drive mechanism.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a controller to monitor a usage state of a consumable installed in the system;
- and
- a drive mechanism to lock the consumable in the system under an instruction from the controller, wherein the drive mechanism comprises:
- a shaft to drive a delivery auger inside the consumable to extract contents of the consumable;
- and
- a key integrated in the shaft to lock the consumable to the drive mechanism.
3 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a shaft to drive a delivery auger inside a consumable to extract contents from the consumable;
- and
- a key integrated in the shaft to lock the consumable to the apparatus when the key is rotatably engaged with a locking mechanism on a drive coupling of the consumable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.