Ink jet printing apparatus and ink cartridge

A method of controlling maintenance operation for a print head to which ink is supplied from ink cartridge having a storage system, the ink cartridge being detachable from a printing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

• reading, from the storage system, data indicative of an ink amount of the ink cartridge when the cartridge is attached to the printing apparatus or the printing apparatus is turned on;
• controlling the maintenance operation based on the data indicative of the ink amount while monitoring a consumed ink amount consumed as a consequence of printing and maintenance operation;
• updating the data indicative of the ink amount based on the consumed ink amount;
• and
• storing the thus updated data in the storage system when the ink cartridge is detached from the printing apparatus or the printing apparatus is tuned off.

A method of controlling maintenance operation for a print head to which ink is supplied from ink cartridge having a storage system, the ink cartridge being detachable from a printing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

• reading, from the storage system, data indicative of a history of the maintenance operation executed previously in relation to the ink cartridge attached to the printing apparatus;
• executing maintenance operation controlled based on the data indicative of the history of the maintenance operation;
• updating the data indicative of the history of the maintenance operation based on the thus executed maintenance operation;
• and
• storing the thus updated data in the storage system.

A method of filling a print head with ink when an ink cartridge is attached to a printing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

• trying to read, from an ink cartridge, data indicative of at least one of a manufacturing date of the ink cartridge, an expiration date of the ink cartridge, adaptable printing apparatuses to which the ink cartridge is adaptable, and an ink capacity of the ink cartridge, when the ink cartridge is attached to the printing apparatus, and determining whether the ink cartridge can be used for the printing apparatus;
• informing a user that the ink cartridge cannot be used for the printing apparatus if the data cannot be read or if it is determined based on the data read from the ink cartridge that the ink cartridge cannot be used for the printing apparatus;
• reading an ID data from the cartridge if it is determined that the ink cartridge can be used for the printing apparatus, and determining whether the ID data thus read is contained in ID data previously stored in a storage system of the printing apparatus;
• filling the print head with ink at a normal suction amount if it is determined that the ID data thus read is not contained in ID data previously stored in the storage system;
• determining whether or not the ink cartridge was refilled prior to attachment of the ink cartridge to the printing apparatus if it is determined that the ID data thus read is contained in ID data previously stored in the storage system;
• filling the ink cartridge with ink at a large suction amount larger than the normal suction amount if it is determined that the ink cartridge was refilled;
• and
• filling the ink cartridge with ink at a middle suction amount larger than the normal suction amount but smaller than the large suction amount if it is determined that the ink cartridge was not refilled.

A printing apparatus, comprising:

• a first ink cartridge having a first memory physically located at the ink cartridge, wherein the first ink cartridge is installed in the printing apparatus and wherein the first memory stores first identification that particularly identifies the first ink cartridge;
• a second memory in which second identification data i s stored, wherein the second identification data particularly identifies an ink cartridge that was previously installed in the printing apparatus;
• a controller that reads the first identification data from the first memory, reads the second identification data from the second memory, and determines if the first identification corresponds to the second identification data;
• and
• a print head that receives ink from the ink cartridge,
• wherein the controller instructs the printing apparatus to fill the print head at a normal suction amount if the first identification data does not correspond to the second identification data,
• wherein the controller determines if the first ink cartridge was refilled prior to installation,
• wherein if the first ink cartridge was refilled prior to installation and the first identification data corresponds to the second identification data, the controller instructs the printing apparatus to fill the print head at a large suction amount, and
• wherein the large suction amount is greater than the normal suction amount.