Printer with printhead replacement detection and method for printhead replacement detection
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorFumiharu Iwasaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to an embodiment, a printer includes a thermal head with a plurality of heaters. A memory device stores utilization information indicating a status or cumulative usage amount of the thermal head. A processor is configured to acquire a measured resistance value for each of the heaters in the plurality of heaters and detect whether the thermal head has been changed since a previous use based on differences in the measured resistance values from reference resistance values. If it is detected that the thermal head has been changed, the processor updates the utilization information in the memory device to indicate the thermal head has been replaced.
Claims17
A printer, comprising:
- a printhead including a plurality of heaters arranged a row;
- a roll-type paper feeder configured to supply paper from a roll to the printhead for printing;
- a memory device configured to store reference resistance values for the plurality of heaters and an accumulated distance traveled value varying with a cumulative length of paper printed by the printhead;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- acquire a measured resistance value for each of the heaters in the plurality of heaters;
- detect whether the printhead has been changed since a previous use based on differences in the measured resistance values from the stored reference resistance values;
- and
- the accumulated distance traveled value in the memory device if it is detected that the printhead has been changed.
A method for a printer with a thermal printhead that includes a plurality of heaters, the method comprising:
- storing reference resistance values for a plurality of heaters of a thermal printhead;
- storing an accumulated distance traveled value varying with a cumulative length of paper printed by the thermal printhead;
- acquiring a measured resistance value for each heater in the plurality of heaters in the thermal printhead;
- detecting whether the thermal printhead has been changed since a previous use based on differences in the measured resistance values from the stored reference resistance values;
- and
- resetting the stored accumulated distance traveled value when it is detected that the thermal printhead has been changed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.