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US 11,535,036 B2Granted
Unattended reservoir refillings
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsSteve A. O'Hara, Howard G. Wong, Wesley R. Schalk, Roger J. Kolodziej, Christopher J. Arnold, Ki Jung Han, Lynn A. Collie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for filling a reservoir of a printing device that includes conducting an unattended refill process of an internal reservoir in response to a detection of a fluid supply unit. In an example, the supply dock fluidically, electrically, and mechanically couples to the fluid supply unit to the printing device.
Claims18
A method for filling a reservoir of a printing device, comprising:
- conducting, unattended by a user, a refill process of an internal reservoir in response to a detection of a fluid supply unit at a supply dock, wherein the internal reservoir is connected to provide fluid to a separate printhead of the printing device;
- wherein the supply dock fluidically, electrically, and mechanically couples to the fluid supply unit to the printing device;
- and
- wherein the supply dock includes a plurality of fluid supply docks to provide for a plurality of fluid supply units to be hung on the plurality of supply docks.
1 more element
A printing device, comprising:
- a fluid supply dock to receive a fluid supply unit, the fluid supply dock being external to a housing of the printing device;
- an internal reservoir to receive an amount of fluid from the fluid supply unit;
- a fluid dispenser, separate from the internal reservoir, connected to receive and dispense fluid from the internal reservoir;
- and
- a controller to detect the presence of the fluid supply unit and conduct an internal reservoir refill operation unattended by a user;
- wherein the supply dock structured to receive the fluid supply unit such that the fluid supply unit hangs from the supply dock without support from below.
3 more elements
A continuous fluid supply system of a printing device, comprising:
- an internal reservoir within the printing device;
- and
- a supply dock to interface with a fluidic interface of a fluid supply unit;
- the supply dock comprising a rail to allow the fluid supply to hang from the printing device;
- and
- a controller to conduct an internal reservoir refill operation unattended by a user;
- wherein the supply dock is structured to receive the fluid supply unit such that the fluid supply unit hangs from the supply dock without support from below;
- wherein the supply dock includes a plurality of supply docks and a plurality of fluid supply units are hung on the plurality of supply docks.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.