Ink cartridge
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsMasashi Fujikawa, Tomoji Suzuki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink cartridge is detachably mounted on a cartridge holder. At least one first reflector is provided in cartridge holder. A reflective-type optical sensor includes a light emitter and a light receiver. The optical sensor is operable to form an optical path originated from the light emitter to the light receiver via the first reflector. A shading member is provided in the ink cartridge operable to shade the optical path when the ink cartridge is mounted on the cartridge holder. A second reflector is provided in the ink cartridge. The second reflector reflects light emitted from the light emitter and varies an intensity thereof in accordance with an ink amount remaining in the ink cartridge.
Claims10
An ink cartridge comprising:
- an ink reservoir, storing ink therein;
- a reflector provided on one side of the cartridge, the reflector being adapted to reflect an external light beam impinging thereon, the reflectance of the reflector being a function of the ink amount remaining in the ink reservoir;
- and
- a shading member provided on said one side of the cartridge next to the reflector, the shading member being opaque to the external light beam.
An ink cartridge comprising:
- an ink reservoir, storing ink therein;
- a reflector, arranged so that light emitted from an external light emitter is absorbed by the ink when the reflector is in contact with the ink in the ink reservoir, and light emitted from the external light emitter reflects to an external light receiver when the reflector is in contact with air in the ink reservoir:
- and
- a shading member, which shades an optical path originated from the external light emitter to the external light receiver when the ink cartridge is mounted on a cartridge holder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.