System and method of ink and data delivery
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsRicardo Ernesto Espinoza-Ibarra, Ben Percer
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Abstract
A system (100, 500, 600, 800) of ink and multi-channel data delivery includes an optically transmissive tubular body (113) having at least two ends (105, 107). The tubular body (113) defines an ink channel between an ink supply (101) and at least one inkjet pen (117, 521, 525, 529, 901, 903). A multi-channel optical transmitter (111, 300, 400) is in optical communication with one end (105, 107) of the tubular body (113), and an optical receiver (115, 509, 511, 513) is in optical communication with another end (105, 107) of the tubular body (113).
Claims18
A system of ink and multi-channel data delivery, comprising:
- an optically transmissive tubular body having at least two ends, said tubular body defining an ink channel between an ink supply and at least one inkjet pen;
- a multi-channel optical transmitter in optical communication with one end of said tubular body;
- and
- an optical receiver in optical communication with another end of said tubular body,
- wherein said channel is configured to feed ink to each of a plurality of inkjet pens disposed at a plurality of ends in said tubular body, and
- wherein each of said inkjet pens comprises an optical receiver tuned to receive a different channel transmitted by said optical transmitter.
A system of diagnostic indication for an inkjet pen, comprising:
- an optically transmissive tubular body having at least two ends, said tubular body defining an ink channel between an ink supply and at least one inkjet pen;
- an optical source in optical communication with one end of said tubular body;
- an optical indicator in optical communication with another end of said tubular body, wherein said indicator is disposed on said inkjet pen and illuminable by an optical beam transmitted from said optical source;
- and
- control circuitry configured to activate said optical source when said inkjet pen is determined to be faulty.
A method of diagnostic indication in a printing device, said method comprising:
- providing an optically transmissive tubular body between an ink supply and an inkjet pen in said printing device;
- identifying an inkjet pen that requires servicing;
- transmitting visible light from an optical source through said tubular body;
- and
- illuminating an indicator on said inkjet pen with said visible light received in said inkjet pen through said tubular body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.