Coloring agent amount recording apparatus, coloring agent materials cost processing apparatus, coloring agent cartridge, and collection of the cartridge
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsTakahiro Naka, Masumi Yoshino, Hideto Matsuzaka, Eiko Yanagida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
When a printer carries out maintenance by control by a maintenance control portion 52, an ink information obtaining portion 73 calculates the amount of the consumed ink. The calculated ink amount is stored in a storage element attached to an ink cartridge by a storage element managing portion 74. By doing this, the amount of ink not used in actual printing such as the amount of ink used for maintenance can be grasped by reading out the contents of the storage element later.
Claims25
A coloring agent amount recording apparatus recording an amount of a printing coloring agent, said apparatus comprising:
- an information obtaining portion obtaining information on an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing;
- and
- an information writing portion writing onto a recording medium the information on the amount obtained by said information obtaining portion.
A coloring agent materials cost processing apparatus processing a materials cost of a printing coloring agent, said apparatus comprising:
- an information reading portion reading out information on an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing from a recording medium on which the information on the amount is written;
- and
- a materials cost generating portion generating a materials cost of the amount based on the information on the amount read out by said information reading portion.
A coloring agent cartridge containing a printing coloring agent, said cartridge comprising a recording medium on which information on an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing is recorded.
A coloring agent cartridge collecting apparatus collecting a coloring agent cartridge, said apparatus comprising:
- a coloring agent materials cost processing apparatus having an information reading portion reading out information on an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing from a recording medium on which the information on the amount is written, and a materials cost generating portion generating a materials cost of the amount based on the information on the amount read out by said information reading portion;
- and
- a cartridge storage portion for collecting a coloring agent cartridge containing the printing coloring agent.
A transportation body for collection equipped with a coloring agent cartridge collecting apparatus,
- wherein said coloring agent cartridge collecting apparatus comprising:
- a coloring agent materials cost processing apparatus having an information reading portion reading out information on an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing from a recording medium on which the information on the amount is written, and a materials cost generating portion generating a materials cost of the amount based on the information on the amount read out by said information reading portion;
- and
- a cartridge storage portion for collecting a coloring agent cartridge containing the printing coloring agent.
A method of collecting a coloring agent cartridge containing a printing coloring agent, said method comprising the step of:
- (a) obtaining information on an amount of the printing coloring agent in the coloring agent cartridge, not used in actual printing;
- and
- (b) generating a materials cost of the amount based on information on the amount.
A user interface used when a coloring agent cartridge containing a printing coloring agent is collected, said user interface comprising:
- an identification information display portion for displaying identification information for identifying a user;
- a materials cost display portion displaying a materials cost of an amount of the printing coloring agent not used in actual printing based on information on the amount;
- and
- a materials cost accumulated total display portion displaying an accumulated total of the materials cost associated with the identification information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.