Ink jet printing apparatus, ink information detecting device, and ink information detecting method
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasaya Uetsuki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus, ink information detecting apparatus, and ink information detection method which can calculate ink consumption without any errors by combining two detection devices. In an ink jet printing apparatus that prints an image on a print medium by using a print head that can eject ink fed from an ink tank, ink consumption is detected on the basis of the number of ink droplets ejected from the print head, and the amount of ink remaining in the ink tank is detected by pins used as a pair of electrodes. Further, a value used to calculate the ink consumption is corrected on the basis of the results of detection of the amount of remaining ink.
Claims28
An ink jet printing apparatus that prints an image on a print medium by using a print head that can eject ink fed from an ink tank, the apparatus comprising:
- estimating means for estimating ink consumption by making a calculation on the basis of driving conditions for the print head;
- detecting means for detecting that an ink level of ink remaining in said ink tank has decreased to a predetermined value;
- and
- correcting means for correcting a value used in the calculation for estimating the ink consumption by said estimating means, on the basis of the ink consumption estimated by said estimating means when said detecting means detects that the ink level has decreased to the predetermined value.
An ink information detecting apparatus that detects information on ink fed from an ink tank to a print head that can eject ink, the apparatus comprising:
- estimating means for estimating ink consumption by making a calculation on the basis of driving conditions for the print head;
- detecting means for detecting that an ink level of ink remaining in said ink tank has decreased to a predetermined value;
- and
- correcting means for correcting a value used in the calculation for estimating the ink consumption by said estimating means, on the basis of the ink consumption estimated by said estimating means when said detecting means detects that the ink level has decreased to the predetermined value.
An ink information detecting method of detecting information on ink fed from an ink tank to a print head that can eject ink, the method comprising the steps of:
- estimating ink consumption by making a calculation on the basis of driving conditions for the print head;
- and
- correcting a value used in the calculation for estimating the ink consumption, on the basis of the ink consumption estimated by said estimating step when detecting means detects that an ink level of ink remaining in the ink tank has decreased to a predetermined value.
An ink jet printing apparatus that prints an image on a print medium by using a print head that can eject ink fed from an ink tank, the apparatus comprising:
- count means for counting the number of operations that consume ink, the operations including printing operations;
- detecting means for detecting that an ink level of ink remaining in said ink tank has decreased to a predetermined value;
- remaining amount calculating means for calculating the amount of ink remaining in said ink tank on the basis of the number counted by said count means as well as a unit consumption corresponding to the operations after said detecting means has detected that the ink level of ink remaining in said ink tank has decreased to the predetermined value;
- and
- correcting means for correcting the unit consumption on the basis of the number indicated by said count means when said detecting means has detected that the ink level of ink remaining in said ink tank has decreased to the predetermined value,
- wherein said calculating means calculates the amount of remaining ink on the basis of the unit consumption corrected by said correcting means.
A method of calculating the amount of ink in an ink tank in an ink jet printing apparatus that prints an image on a print medium by using a print head that can eject ink fed from the ink tank, the method comprising the steps of:
- counting the number of operations that consume ink, the operations including printing operations;
- detecting that an ink level of ink remaining in the ink tank has decreased to a predetermined value;
- correcting a unit consumption used to calculate the amount of remaining ink, on the basis of the number obtained at said counting step when said detecting step has detected that the ink level of ink remaining in the ink tank has decreased to the predetermined value;
- and
- after said detecting step has detected that the ink level of ink remaining in the ink tank has decreased to the predetermined value, counting the number of operations that consume ink, the operations including printing operations, and calculating the amount of ink remaining in the ink tank on the basis of the unit consumption corrected by said correcting step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.