CN103009818A - Printing-supplies storage chip - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a printing-supplies storage chip. A base board is provided with a control unit, an ink cartridge identity information identifying unit, a storage unit, an interface unit and a reset detection unit, a group of golden finger contacts is arranged on one surface of a base board partition, the control unit is respectively connected with the ink cartridge identity information identifying unit, the storage unit, the interface unit and the reset detection unit, the interface unit is respectively connected with the ink cartridge identity information identifying unit and the reset detection unit, the storage unit is respectively connected with the control unit and the ink cartridge identity information identifying unit, the control unit is used for receiving an initialization signal, information in the storage unit and information data, the initialization signal is generated by the reset detection unit, the information data are outputted by an imaging unit and received by the interface unit, and the control unit transmits the information in the storage unit to the imaging unit through the interface unit. A plurality of ink cartridges are controlled by only one printing storage chip, and correctness of storage information can be ensured even if an imaging device and the storage chip have error signals in the high-speed communication process.

Description

A storage chip for printing consumables

technical field

The invention relates to a printer consumable chip.

Background technique

At present, modern office is becoming more and more digitized, and printers provide great convenience for modern office. Printers have increasingly become an indispensable part of modern office equipment. Existing printers can be divided into three types: dot matrix printers, inkjet printers, and laser printers according to the consumables used. Dot matrix printers hit copy paper with 24 needles in the print head to form fonts; inkjet printers use ink cartridges containing ink as consumable containers to spray ink on paper to form text or patterns that need to be printed on paper; laser The printer uses a toner cartridge containing toner as a consumable container to spray toner onto paper, thus forming pre-set text or patterns on the paper.

In the printing operation, in order to identify whether the ink cartridge on the printer is suitable for the printer, usually a chip for identification is installed in the imaging device of the printer. The chip can be used to record the color of the ink cartridge, the remaining dose, the date of production, the manufacturer and so on. The specific information of the ink cartridge is obtained through the data information exchange of the chip.

At present, a general printer uses a plurality of ink cartridges of different colors with a certain volume to supply ink for the printer, and each ink cartridge has a corresponding memory chip. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic diagrams of the substrates of the common four conjoined ink cartridges and the printing consumable chips controlling the ink cartridges. The four ink cartridges are provided with four memory chips, and the chips provide working voltage for the chips through the power interface unit 23 . The chip is provided with four independent interface units to communicate with the imaging unit of the printer, and the chip is provided with four identical storage units and control units, that is, the control unit 21 and the memory 22 . According to this working method, if there are n ink cartridges in the printer, n such control units and storage units are required. the

This will not only cause a waste of resources, but also cause a problem of information communication errors in the storage unit of the printer. Generally, the printer guarantees the correctness of communication according to its own communication protocol. For example, when the imaging unit of the printer communicates with the target ink cartridge unit, it is necessary to modify the information of the detected ink cartridge of the ink cartridge unit, such as the remaining amount. During this process, other ink cartridges often have errors. The response affects the communication between the printer and the target ink cartridge, causing waste of the ink cartridge or affecting the normal operation of the printer.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a storage chip for printing consumables to solve the situation that each ink box in the existing inkjet printer needs a storage chip and the technical problem that an error occurs in the storage chip to modify the stored information of the ink box.

For solving above technical problem, the technical scheme that the present invention adopts is:

A storage chip for printing consumables, including a substrate, the substrate includes a plurality of sequentially connected substrate partitions, respectively the first partition, the second partition to the Nth partition, where N is greater than or equal to 2, and each substrate partition corresponds to an ink cartridge The substrate is provided with a control unit, an ink cartridge identity information identification unit, a storage unit, an interface unit, and a reset detection unit, and one side of the substrate partition is provided with a set of golden finger contacts. The control unit, the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, the storage unit, The interface unit and reset detection unit are distributed on the other side of one or more substrate partitions; the control unit is connected to the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, storage unit, interface unit and reset detection unit respectively, and the interface unit is respectively connected to the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, reset The detection unit is connected, and the storage unit is connected with the control unit and the cartridge identity information identification unit respectively; the storage unit includes a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory, and the volatile memory and the non-volatile memory are connected; the control unit receives the reset The initialization signal generated by the detection unit, the information in the storage unit and the information data output by the imaging unit received by the interface unit, the control unit and the information in the storage unit are transmitted to the imaging unit through the interface unit; the ink cartridge identification information identification unit It is composed of a logic circuit; the reset detection unit generates an initialization signal or directly inputs the initialization signal manually and transmits the signal to the control unit; the imaging unit is located in the printer.

The storage space of the volatile memory is divided according to addresses, and corresponding ink cartridge information is written in the assigned addresses.

The storage space of the non-volatile memory is divided according to the address, and the identity information of the corresponding ink cartridge is written in the assigned address, and the identity information includes the ink cartridge model, the applicable imaging device model, the color of the ink cartridge, the remaining amount of the ink cartridge, Ink cartridge manufacturer and production date.

The ink cartridge identity information distinguishing unit compares the ink cartridge identity information parsed from the information received by the interface unit with the identity information data of multiple ink cartridges in the non-volatile memory to obtain an enable signal, and converts the enable signal to output to the control unit.

The storage unit includes a power storage module, and the power storage module is located on the substrate. When the printer is powered off, the power storage module supplies power to the volatile memory and the control unit, and the control unit converts the volatile memory Data is written to non-volatile memory.

The volatile memory is one of SRAM, DRAM, and SDRAM, and the nonvolatile memory is one of FLASH, OTP, EEPROM, and FRAM.

The power storage module is one of a button battery and a capacitor.

When the ink cartridge identity information identification unit receives the information output by the interface unit, it first resolves the self-identification signal, and then resolves the material identity information ID in the interface unit output information and the identity data ID of all ink cartridges stored in the non-volatile memory ₁ , ID ₂ -IDn, after comparison, the enable signal is obtained; the control unit receives the enable signal generated by the identification unit of the ink cartridge identity information, and the control unit performs read and write operations on the storage unit. If the control unit receives the read signal, it will The information of the corresponding storage unit in the non-volatile storage is read out and transmitted to the imaging unit. If the control unit receives the write signal, it will write the data into the corresponding volatile memory. If the control unit receives the stop operation, it will write the data to the corresponding The received data does not perform any operation; when the printer is powered off, the power storage unit in the storage unit supplies power to the volatile memory and the control unit, and the control unit writes the data at the address in the volatile memory to the corresponding non-volatile memory In the address area of the memory; when the ink cartridge is reassembled, the memory chip is reset and detected. The reset detection unit adopts manual operation or automatically sends initialization information, and the control unit rewrites the information in the storage unit after receiving the initialization information. .

Beneficial effects of the present invention:

The present invention can control multiple ink cartridges by using only one print memory chip, and simultaneously carry out the identity comparison logic operation of multiple ink cartridges in the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, even if there is an error signal during the high-speed communication between the imaging device and the memory chip. The correctness of stored information is ensured, which solves the problem of waste of resources caused by the need for an independent control unit and storage unit for each existing ink cartridge, and ensures the correctness of information transmission of the ink cartridge. In addition, because the number of components is reduced, the production cost is reduced, and the rate of high-quality products is increased, and the pressure of quality inspection is reduced.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a common four conjoined ink cartridges.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a substrate of a common printing consumable chip for controlling multiple ink cartridges.

FIG. 3(A) is a schematic diagram of one side of the substrate for printing consumable memory chips according to the present invention.

FIG. 3(B) is a schematic diagram of the other side of the substrate for printing consumable memory chips according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is an information exchange diagram of the control unit, storage unit, interface unit, ink cartridge identification unit, reset detection unit and imaging unit of the storage chip of the printing consumables of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is the information exchange of the volatile memory in the storage unit of the present invention being a memory chip of SRAM, the non-volatile memory being an OTP memory chip, an interface unit, a control unit, an ink cartridge identification unit, a reset detection unit and an imaging unit picture.

6 shows that the storage unit of the present invention includes an electric storage unit, and the volatile memory in the storage unit is a memory chip of SRAM, the non-volatile memory is a memory chip of OTP, an interface unit, a control unit, an ink cartridge identification unit, The information exchange diagram of reset detection unit and imaging unit.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of read and write processing for reading out the storage device on the imaging unit side.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the processing flow of the manual initialization processing.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the identification process of the ink cartridge identity information.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the present invention. The described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other examples obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

A storage chip for printing consumables, including a substrate, the substrate includes a plurality of sequentially connected substrate partitions, respectively the first partition, the second partition to the Nth partition, where N is greater than or equal to 2, and each substrate partition corresponds to an ink cartridge The substrate is provided with a control unit, an ink cartridge identity information identification unit, a storage unit, an interface unit, and a reset detection unit, and one side of the substrate partition is provided with a set of golden finger contacts. The control unit, the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, the storage unit, The interface unit and reset detection unit are distributed on the other side of one or more substrate partitions; the control unit is connected to the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, storage unit, interface unit and reset detection unit respectively, and the interface unit is respectively connected to the ink cartridge identity information identification unit, reset The detection unit is connected, and the storage unit is connected with the control unit and the cartridge identity information identification unit respectively; the storage unit includes a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory, and the volatile memory and the non-volatile memory are connected; the control unit receives the reset The initialization signal generated by the detection unit, the information in the storage unit and the information data output by the imaging unit received by the interface unit, the control unit and the information in the storage unit are transmitted to the imaging unit through the interface unit; the ink cartridge identification information identification unit It is composed of a logic circuit; the reset detection unit generates an initialization signal or directly inputs the initialization signal manually and transmits the signal to the control unit; the imaging unit is located in the printer.

The storage space of the volatile memory is divided according to addresses, and corresponding ink cartridge information is written in the assigned addresses.

The storage space of the non-volatile memory is divided according to the address, and the identity information of the corresponding ink cartridge is written in the assigned address, and the identity information includes the ink cartridge model, the applicable imaging device model, the color of the ink cartridge, the remaining amount of the ink cartridge, Ink cartridge manufacturer and production date.

The ink cartridge identity information distinguishing unit compares the ink cartridge identity information parsed from the information received by the interface unit with the identity information data of multiple ink cartridges in the non-volatile memory to obtain an enable signal, and converts the enable signal to output to the control unit.

The storage unit includes a power storage module, and the power storage module is located on the substrate. When the printer is powered off, the power storage module supplies power to the volatile memory and the control unit, and the control unit converts the volatile memory Data is written to non-volatile memory.

The volatile memory is one of SRAM, DRAM, and SDRAM, and the nonvolatile memory is one of FLASH, OTP, EEPROM, and FRAM.

The power storage module is one of a button battery and a capacitor.

When the ink cartridge identity information identification unit receives the information output by the interface unit, it first resolves the self-identification signal, and then resolves the material identity information ID in the interface unit output information and the identity data ID of all ink cartridges stored in the non-volatile memory ₁ , ID ₂ -IDn, after comparison, the enable signal is obtained; the control unit receives the enable signal generated by the identification unit of the ink cartridge identity information, and the control unit performs read and write operations on the storage unit. If the control unit receives the read signal, it will The information of the corresponding storage unit in the non-volatile storage is read out and transmitted to the imaging unit. If the control unit receives the write signal, it will write the data into the corresponding volatile memory. If the control unit receives the stop operation, it will write the data to the corresponding The received data does not perform any operation; when the printer is powered off, the power storage unit in the storage unit supplies power to the volatile memory and the control unit, and the control unit writes the data at the address in the volatile memory to the corresponding non-volatile memory In the address area of the memory; when the ink cartridge is reassembled, the memory chip is reset and detected. The reset detection unit adopts manual operation or automatically sends initialization information, and the control unit rewrites the information in the storage unit after receiving the initialization information. .

The invention discloses a printing consumable memory chip, which comprises a substrate. Its substrate is shown in Figure 3, wherein one side of the substrate is provided with multiple groups of gold finger contacts as a communication unit as shown in Figure 3 (A); the other side of the substrate is provided with gold finger contacts as shown in Figure 3 (B) The circuit module unit, the circuit principle of the circuit module unit is shown in Figure 4.

The circuit module unit is provided with a reset detection unit 31 , a power interface 32 , an ink cartridge identification unit 33 , a control unit 34 and a storage unit 35 . The circuit module units can be distributed on the back of a set of gold finger contacts or multiple groups of gold fingers in the basic version.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the storage unit 35 includes a nonvolatile memory 41 and a volatile memory 42 . The interface unit 43 is used to carry out parallel communication with the main line of the imaging unit, and the information received by the interface unit includes ink cartridge identity information ID and data information; the ink cartridge identity identification unit 33 compares the ink cartridge identity information ID with the multiple ink cartridges in the nonvolatile memory The identity information data ID ₁ , ID ₂ -ID _n are compared to obtain the enable signal, and the enable signal is output to the control unit; the control unit 34 receives the enable signal output by the ink cartridge identity information discrimination unit, and according to the signal to the memory chip 25 Perform read and write storage operations. If the control unit 34 receives the signal of reading, then the information readout of the corresponding storage unit in the non-volatile memory 41 is passed to the imaging unit; if the control unit 34 receives the signal of writing, then the data is written into the corresponding volatile memory. In the permanent memory 42; if the control unit receives the stop operation, it will not perform any operation on the received data. When the printer is powered off, the power storage unit 44 in the storage unit supplies power to the volatile memory 42 and the control unit 34, and the control unit 34 writes the data at the address in the volatile memory to the address area of the corresponding non-volatile memory When the ink cartridge is reassembled, the memory chip is reset and detected, and the reset detection unit 31 adopts manual operation or automatically sends initialization information, and the control unit 34 rewrites the information in the storage unit 25 after receiving the initialization information.

As shown in Figure 5, it is a printing consumable memory chip containing four sets of gold fingers, and in this example, all circuit module units are on the back of one set of gold fingers.

As shown in FIG. 6 , the non-volatile memory 41 is an OTP, the volatile memory 42 is an SRAM, and the power storage unit 44 is a capacitor, which may be an electrolytic capacitor or a farad capacitor.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the processing flow for reading out the storage unit at the imaging unit side. After the interface unit receives the start instruction S01, those skilled in the art can easily think of, for example, using a high frequency signal clock signal. The ink cartridge identifying unit first performs the characteristic information comparison operation S02. When the instruction received by the ink cartridge identification unit is correct, the ink cartridge identification unit reads the ID information (ID ₁ , ID ₂ −ID _n ) in the non-volatile memory OTP and compares it with the ID in the received instruction. Operation S03. The ink cartridge identification unit sends the enabling signal obtained after the logical operation to the control unit, and the control unit performs instruction type judgment operation S04 according to the enabling signal. When the instruction type is a read operation, the control unit performs a read operation S05 on the corresponding ID _X address area in the non-volatile memory, and returns the obtained information to the imaging unit through the interface unit for operation S07. When the instruction type is a write operation, the control unit performs a write operation S06S on the corresponding ID _Y address area in the non-volatile memory, and returns the relevant write information operation S08 to the imaging unit.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the processing flow of the manual initialization processing. The initial information of the ink cartridge and the initial information stored in the non-volatile memory OTP is judged to be consistent with operation S9, and operation S10 is performed by manually generating a reset signal. The control unit performs judgment operation S11 on receiving the initialization signal sent by the reset detection unit. When data is stored in the corresponding address area in the non-volatile memory OTP, the information initialization operation S12 is performed on the address data, and when there is no data in the corresponding address area in the non-volatile memory OTP, a load signal operation S13 is generated. After the initialization is successful, the imaging unit re-identifies the imaging unit.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the identification process of the ink cartridge identity information. The imaging unit starts to send identification data S16, and the imaging unit sends ink cartridge material ID information and operation instructions S17. The ink cartridge identity information identifying unit receives the ink cartridge material ID information S18, and the ink cartridge identity information identifying unit reads the ink cartridge material ID (ID ₁ , ID ₂ −ID _n ) information from the storage unit in operation S19. The ink cartridge identity information identification unit compares the received ID information with the ink cartridge material ID ₁ , ID ₂ -ID _n in operation S20, and the ink cartridge identity information identification unit provides an enable signal to the control unit S21.

Claims (8)

1. A storage chip for printing consumables, characterized in that it includes a substrate, and the substrate includes a plurality of sequentially connected substrate partitions, which are respectively the first partition, the second partition to the Nth partition, wherein N is greater than or equal to 2, Each substrate partition corresponds to an ink cartridge. The substrate is provided with a control unit, an ink cartridge identity information identification unit, a storage unit, an interface unit, and a reset detection unit. One side of the substrate partition is provided with a set of golden finger contacts. The control unit, ink cartridge identity The information discrimination unit, the storage unit, the interface unit and the reset detection unit are distributed on the other side of one or more substrate partitions; the control unit is respectively connected with the ink cartridge identity information discrimination unit, the storage unit, the interface unit and the reset detection unit, and the interface unit is respectively connected with the The cartridge identification information identification unit and the reset detection unit are connected, and the storage unit is connected with the control unit and the ink cartridge identification information identification unit respectively; the storage unit includes a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory, and the volatile memory and the nonvolatile memory The memory is connected; the control unit receives the initialization signal generated by the reset detection unit, the information in the storage unit and the information data output by the imaging unit received by the interface unit, and the control unit transmits the information in the storage unit to the imaging unit through the interface unit; The identification information identification unit of the ink cartridge is composed of a logic circuit; the reset detection unit generates an initialization signal or directly inputs the initialization signal manually and transmits the signal to the control unit; the imaging unit is located in the printer. 2. The printing consumable storage chip according to claim 1, wherein the storage space of the volatile memory is divided according to addresses, and corresponding ink cartridge information is written in the allocated addresses. 3. The printing consumable storage chip according to claim 1, wherein the storage space of the non-volatile memory is divided according to addresses, and the identity information of the corresponding ink cartridge is written in the assigned address, and the identity The information includes the ink cartridge model, the applicable imaging device model, the color of the ink cartridge, the remaining amount of the ink cartridge, the manufacturer of the ink cartridge, and the production date. 4. The printing memory chip according to claim 1, characterized in that, said ink cartridge identification information identifying unit combines the ink cartridge identity information parsed from the information received by the interface unit with a plurality of in the non-volatile memory After comparing the identity information data of the ink cartridges, an enable signal is obtained, and the enable signal is output to the control unit. 5. The storage chip for printing consumables according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit includes an electrical storage module, the electrical storage module is located on the substrate, and when the printer is powered off, the electrical storage module supplies The volatile memory and the control unit are powered, and the control unit writes the data in the volatile memory into the non-volatile memory. 6. The printing consumable storage chip according to claim 1, wherein the volatile memory is one of SRAM, DRAM, and SDRAM, and the non-volatile memory is FLASH, OTP, EEPROM , One of FRAM. 7. The printing consumable storage chip according to claim 5, wherein the power storage module is one of a button battery and a capacitor. 8. An operation method for printing consumable storage chips, characterized in that, when the identity information identification unit of the ink cartridge receives the information output by the interface unit, it first parses out the self-identification signal, and then parses out the material identity in the information output by the interface unit Information ID and the identity data ID ₁ of all ink cartridges stored in the non-volatile memory, ID ₂ -IDn, obtain enable signal after comparing; Control unit receives the enable signal that ink cartridge identity information discrimination unit generates, control unit The storage unit performs read and write operations; if the control unit receives the read signal, it reads the information of the corresponding storage unit in the non-volatile storage and transmits it to the imaging unit; if the control unit receives the write signal, it writes the data into the In the corresponding volatile memory; when the printer is powered off, the power storage unit in the storage unit supplies power to the volatile memory, and the volatile memory will transfer the data at the address to the address area of the corresponding non-volatile memory; when the ink cartridge When reassembling, the reset detection operation is performed on the memory chip. The reset detection unit adopts manual operation or automatically sends initialization information, and the control unit rewrites the information in the storage unit after receiving the initialization information.

Images