Equipment unit with imperceptible information recorded thereon being used with an image forming device and an image forming device comprising the same
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKohji Shinkawa, Hideyuki Nishimura, Takafumi Nagai, Takeshi Murata, Keiko Yutani, Hitoshi Nagahama
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Abstract
An equipment unit such as a toner cartridge detachably equipped to an image forming device has a product information related to the equipment unit recorded on the outer surface thereof using an organic pigment having infrared reflectiveness that cannot be observed normally with the naked eye.
Claims15
An equipment unit to be attached to an image forming device for forming an image, comprising:
- a casing, wherein the equipment unit casing bears erasable and imperceptible information recorded thereto by using an organic pigment having infrared reflectiveness,
- wherein
- said information is recorded via a recording agent formed by dispersing said organic pigment having infrared reflectiveness in water, natural wax or resin,
- said information is related to the equipment unit and is recorded on the casing in the form of either a barcode or a Q-code, and
- the content of said organic pigment ranges from 0.5 part by weight to 15 part by weight against 100 part by weight of the recording agent.
An image forming device equipped with an equipment unit, the equipment unit comprising:
- a casing that bears erasable and imperceptible information relating to the equipment unit, the information being recorded thereto by using an organic pigment having infrared reflectiveness;
- the image forming device comprising:
- a sensor for reading said information related to the equipment unit, and
- a computing unit for computing and processing the information read through said sensor,
- wherein processing performed by the image forming device is optimized based on the information read.
A method for providing an equipment unit attachable to an image forming device with information pertaining thereto, comprising:
- recording said information on said equipment unit with an organic pigment having infrared reflectiveness, the recording provided on an outer surface of said equipment unit and said information relating to the equipment unit,
- wherein the recording is erasable and imperceptible to the naked eye,
- said image forming device:
- reading said information related to the equipment, computing and processing the information read,
- displaying said information along with a result of the computing and processing, and
- controlling image forming processes based on said displayed information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.