US 6,283,573 B1 · Ink jet-type printer control with ink purging function

Abstract

An ink jet-type printer apparatus has a purging device which purges ink in an ink cartridge through ink jet nozzles by applying vacuum to the ink jet nozzles at the time of exchange of the ink cartridge and before normal printing operation. It is first determined whether a previous purging operation is an initial one which is performed at the time of the exchange of the ink cartridge. The next purging operation is performed at an earlier timing if the determination is Yes, while it is performed at a later timing if the determination is No. In each instance, the amount of ink to be purged is increased as the time period elapsed from the previous purging operation is longer. The amount of ink to be purged is varied by the number of times of purging in each purging operation.

Claims30

Dependent claims

An ink jet-type printer apparatus comprising:

a printer head including an ink cartridge for storing ink therein and nozzles for ejecting the ink stored in the ink cartridge;
a purging device that performs a purging operation of purging the ink through the nozzles;
a determination part that determines whether the purging operation is initial after an exchange of the ink cartridge or non-initial;
and
a control part that varies a period of the purging operation so that the amount of the ink purged when the purging operation is initial after the exchange of the ink cartridge is greater than the amount of the ink purged when the purging operation is non-initial after the exchange of the ink cartridge.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Ink jet-type printer control with ink purging function

Life of this patent

Ink jet-type printer control with ink purging function

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30