Method and device for sensing the quantity of ink remaining in an inkjet printer
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorSung-Wook Kang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and a device for sensing the quantity of remaining ink of an ink-jet printer, the device including a memory for storing printing data from a computer, a jetting device for outputting a printed output corresponding to the printing data in the memory through an inkjetting motion, a scanning device for scanning in wider scanning width than an inkjetting width by movement in the same course, forward or returning direction, as the jetting device, the jetting device and the scanning device using the same driving unit, a picture memory for storing picture or scanning data identified through the scanning device, and a CPU for sensing the quantity of remaining ink by comparing the printing data in the print data memory with the scanning data in the picture memory.
Claims26
A device for determining a quantity of ink remaining in an inkjet printer, comprising:
- a print data memory for storing printing data for a printing operation;
- a jetting device for outputting a printed output corresponding to said printing data stored in said print data memory through an inkjetting motion of said jetting device in a direction to define an inkjetting width;
- a scanning device for scanning in an wider scanning width than said inkjetting width, said scanning device for generating scanning data corresponding to said printed output for said printing data generated by said inkjetting motion of said jetting device by movement in one of a forward direction and a returning direction as said jetting device;
- a picture memory for storing said scanning data identified through movement of said scanning device, said scanning data stored in said picture memory corresponding to said printed output for said printing data;
- and
- a processing unit for determining a quantity of remaining ink by comparing said printing data stored in said print data memory with said scanning data stored in said picture memory.
A method for determining a quantity of ink remaining in an inkjet printer, comprising the steps of:
- storing printing data for a printing operation in a print data memory;
- outputting a printed output from a jetting device corresponding to said printing data stored in said print data memory by moving said jetting device in a direction to define an inkjetting width;
- scanning in a wider scanning width than said inkjetting width by a scanning device, said scanning device moving in one of a forward direction and a returning direction as said jetting device to generate scanning data corresponding to said printed output for said printing data generated by said jetting device;
- storing said scanning data corresponding to said printed output for said printing data identified through movement of said scanning device in a picture memory;
- and
- determining a quantity of remaining ink by comparing said printing data stored in said print data memory with said scanning data stored in said picture memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.