Patent Application
20050024447
The present invention relates generally to printing systems, and more specifically to replaceable printing consumables.
Printing systems, including inkjet printers, are well known in the art. Inkjet technology enables the printing of text and images by depositing very small droplets of ink onto a print medium, such as paper. Inkjet printheads are typically secured to a scanning carriage that traverses the print medium in a direction transverse to the direction of travel of the print media through the printer. Each printhead includes multiple tiny ink ejection elements formed in a substrate that are selectively “fired” by electrical signals, causing droplets of ink to be ejected in a controlled fashion onto the print medium.
Inkjet printers typically utilize replaceable ink supplies, which may be either integral with the printheads (in the form of “print cartridges”), or separate from the printheads (sometimes referred to as “separate ink and silicon”). When the printheads are integral with the ink supplies, the printheads are replaced each time new ink supplies are installed in the printer. When separate from the replaceable ink supplies, the printheads may be permanent or semi-permanent, with an ink delivery system routing ink from the supplies to the printheads. Since printheads are relatively expensive, “separate ink and silicon” configurations typically allow for a lower total cost of printer ownership.
If permanent or semi-permanent printheads are used, the replaceable ink supplies may be located remotely from the printheads and off the scanning carriage (referred to as “off-axis”). Locating the ink supplies off-axis reduces the scanning carriage mass and swept volume, which typically allows for mechanically simpler and more compact printer systems.
Printers are commonplace in business settings, and have long been used to print office documents. More recently, printers have become a common accessory to home computers. As printers become less expensive and more capable, a general trend has been for printers to increasingly move into new areas where the users are less familiar with business machines and may not be technically savvy. For example, a grandparent with no previous familiarity with computer equipment may now acquire a printer for use with a digital camera for printing vacation snapshots.
Individuals who have used printers or other office equipment for many years are generally familiar with the appearance of the printer consumables and with the installation procedures, and are therefore not intimidated by the prospect of having to periodically replace the consumables. In some of the newer printer markets, however, such as printers for use with point-and-shoot digital cameras, unfamiliarity with replacement procedures and the unfriendly, industrial appearance of the consumables can be impediments to adoption of the technology.
Other trends that can make maintaining a printer a daunting task for an unsophisticated user include the use of an increasing number of different ink colors for printing photographs, and the use of separate ink supplies for each ink color. Early color printers typically used three primary colors and black for printing color images; newer photograph-quality printers may use six or more ink colors to provide an improved image quality. Many earlier color printers utilized a single cartridge to contain all three of the primary color inks; separate ink supplies for each color are generally perceived to provide greater value since there is less potential for unutilized ink. A printer user may thus need to maintain a printer with six or more separate ink supplies.
There is thus a need for replaceable printing consumable with features facilitating intuitive installation by a user.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention include replaceable printing consumables with a variety of features that facilitate intuitive installation of the consumables in printers. The features may be utilized in various combinations to provide multiple, consistent visual cues to a printer user regarding the proper installation of the consumable. The consumables may be, for example, ink containers for inkjet printers.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIGS. 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d) illustrate exemplary prior art printing consumables.
FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) illustrate an exemplary printing consumable incorporating embodiments of features facilitating intuitive installation by a user.
The replaceable ink supply 110 may also include an integral memory device 116 that is programmed with information pertaining to the ink supply and the printing system. The memory device may include both non-alterable non-volatile memory, as well as memory which may be modified by the printer controller 170 or by the device to which the printer is connected, such as a computer (not shown). The memory device 116 may communicate with the controller 170 or connected device through electrical contacts on the supply that engage mating contacts in the supply receiving station 120 when the supply is installed in the receiving station, or the memory device may communicate through a wireless date link (not shown).
Ink 112 from the supply 110 is provided to a printhead 140 through an ink delivery system 130, which may take many forms (represented in
The ink delivery system 130 may provide ink the printhead 140 on a continuous basis, or may be configured to intermittently refill the printhead during non-printing intervals, receiving ink from the ink delivery system 130 and storing a small quantity of ink 142 in a local reservoir within the printhead assembly.
The exemplary printer may include multiple printheads, such as printheads for each of the primary colors and black, as denoted by phantom lines 140m. A printhead may include a single row of ink ejection elements for printing a single ink color, or multiple rows of ink ejection elements may be incorporated into a single printhead, with each row printing a different color. The printhead is typically attached to a scanning carriage 150 that reciprocates across the print medium 190. A printhead also typically includes one or more mechanisms for controlling ink backpressure, such that ink does not “drool” from the printhead nozzles. For example, in
The exemplary printing system of
A printer controller 170 typically manages all aspects of the printing process, including: controlling and monitoring the scanning carriage 150 and the media handling mechanism 162, 164; receiving print data from an external source such as a computer (not shown in
FIGS. 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d) illustrate exemplary prior art printing consumables. FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) depict print cartridges having integral printheads; FIGS. 2(c) and 2(d) depict replaceable ink containers without printheads. The replaceable container of
The consumables include a variety of fluid interconnects, air vents, pumping mechanisms, electrical circuitry, mechanical keying features, and levers for actuating latching mechanisms; an unsophisticated user may be apprehensive about coming into contact with these printer functional interfaces. To an unsophisticated user, the various interfaces may be seen collectively as “nasty bits” to be avoided. The designs of the prior art consumables of FIGS. 2(a) through 2(d) also generally do not convey an indication of how the consumables physically relate to a printing system, which may further discourage a user unfamiliar with printers from attempting to replace a spent consumable.
Typically, the prior art printing consumables include a printed label (not illustrated in FIGS. 2(a)-2(d)) that indicates the ink color and other characteristics of the consumable, and possibly information on the steps required to install the consumable in the printer system. A sheet of instructions (also not illustrated) may be included with the purchased consumable, leading the purchaser through the installation process. While adequate for a knowledgeable user, unsophisticated users may not be adept at following these written instructions.
As illustrated in
A feature that helps to make the consumable “friendly” is the clear visual demarcation between “printer” end and “user” end. Embodiments of this feature may include forming the front or printer interface portion 350 of a material of a different, contrasting color, different texture, or different opacity than the material used for the grasping portion 320, such that it is immediately apparent to the user where the printer interface or “unfriendly” portion of the consumable stops, and the user interface or “safe” portion of the consumable begins. The clear demarcation between the “printer” end and the “user” end may also include a well-defined boundary between the two ends having an uncomplicated shape, such as, for example, the boundary 327 falling substantially along a single plane shown in
It may be observed that the shape of the exemplary consumable resembles a ink stamp, an object familiar to virtually everyone, and whose use is intuitive. The act of installing the consumable in a printer receiving station emulates or mimics the physical action of using a stamp, in that the ink container is grasped (typically in the aperture between thumb and forefinger), and moved forward linearly, with the substantially flat printer interface end engaging the printer ink supply station much as an ink stamp is pushed against a sheet of paper. Thus, the relationship of the consumable to the printer is made analogous to a familiar object that is also used for creating images on paper.
As explained below, the exemplary consumable may include a prominently-displayed indicia of contents, which the user may match with a corresponding indicia 582 on the consumable receiving station 580. The indicia may, for example, represent ink color. One form of indicia includes manufacturing the grasping portion or user end of the consumable from a colored material, such that the color of the consumable substantially corresponds to the color of the ink it contains. All or part of the surface area of the grasping area may alternatively be colored with a paint or other pigmented material applied to the surface, or a colored label may be used (not shown). Written indicia 632 may also be used to indicate the consumable contents and to provide an additional orientation cue to the user. Symbolic indicia, such as the circle 233 in
While the exemplary embodiments described above have a grasping portion that is narrowed from the printer interface portion in a horizontal direction, the grasping portion could alternatively be narrowed in the vertical direction while still providing the visual cues to the user for handling and installation.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the foregoing exemplary and alternative embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. This description of the invention should be understood to include all novel and non-obvious combinations of elements described herein, and claims may be presented in this or a later application to any novel and non-obvious combination of these elements. The foregoing embodiments are illustrative, and no single feature or element is essential to all possible combinations that may be claimed in this or a later application. Where the claims recite “a” or “a first” element of the equivalent thereof, such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
