Inkjet printers commonly used by users often complain that the ink is not enough and the price is expensive. The system prompts that the ink is insufficient, and replaces an ink cartridge at a cost of hundreds of yuan. Some attentive users will find that even if the system indicates that the ink is used up, they can still print. Is this because the manufacturers are getting tired of accelerating the user's replacement of ink cartridges to increase revenue? How does an inkjet printer detect cartridge capacity? Why is cartridge capacity monitoring not accurate? What are the differences between major manufacturers regarding ink monitoring?
We can find that there are many chips in ink cartridges. What are these chips used for? In fact, many brands of consumable patents with chips indicate that the chip is a storage device, a memory device, and a device that records consumption. Before there was no chip, usually by visually inspecting the end of ink, and not reporting the "end of ink" signal in advance, it may cause half of the hits, exhausting consumables and losing real-time information. The function of the chip is to prevent the print head from running without ink or toner, and protect the print head.
In order to prevent the sudden ink end during the printing process, Lexmark began to use chips in 1998, HP began to use chips in 2001, and more than 50 printers used chips from 2005 to 2006. Later, it was developed to be used on almost all printers of manufacturers. With the development of chips, a group of printing chip companies has formed around the world, and a number of consumable chip factories have emerged.
The development of chip functions is becoming more and more complicated. Some identification symbol sequences are up to 128 bits, and the latest passwords are up to 192 bits. It is more and more difficult to crack passwords; some functions are expanded to identify whether they are original consumables; When it is recognized that it is not our consumables, the printing function is locked, and the printer uses non-original consumables, and the machine is not warranted, so that the maintenance book is empty, providing a basis for the manufacturer to formulate exemptions and overlord clauses.
Unlike what most people think, the chips on consumables are usually single-use. Manufacturers are forced to promote 3R (Reuse, ReducesRecycle) pressure globally, and some also design the chips to limit the number of times to add powder. As a memory device for the consumption of chips, the chip should be able to be rewritten or cleared. Because of the strict regulations of the European Community WEEE, the chip can be rewritten in Europe, but. . . Driven by differentiated competition, chips are becoming more and more complex and have become an important means of dealing with competitors.
Shortly after the chip used in printing supplies came out in 2000, the first of the five worst products in the world reviewed by the US magazine Computer was the cartridge with a chip. It is believed that the manufacturer ’s unparalleled technology may be destroyed by this humble Small things.
An American columnist made up a story. A car factory put a chip on the fuel tank to specifically identify the gasoline code. When it was found that it was not our company ’s gasoline, it turned off the engine. Although it was not implemented in the car, it was on the printer. This function has been realized, relying on chips to build technical barriers to resist the intervention of substitutes.
Practice has proved that the chip is open-loop controlled. When the ink cartridge with the chip sends an "Inkout" message, the remaining ink amount is up to more than 30%. The chip does not really reflect the ink content. Consumers in various countries complain about consumables with chips. Chips that cannot be used to the utmost cause waste of consumables.
How to detect the remaining ink level of HP ink cartridge
In 1995, Hewlett-Packard of China applied for a patent to the Chinese Patent Office, named "Ink container with ink retention detection circuit for inkjet printing system and method for determining ink retention.
Here are a few issues that need to be clear. First of all, why are there many polymers like cotton in the ink cartridge? Because the ink cartridge is downward, the characteristic of the liquid is to flow downward. The ink cartridge must first ensure that it does not flow downward. Be aware that the earliest inkjet printing products were all fired horizontally. So the way to achieve it is to make good use of surface tension, or negative pressure.
The core of the general patent lies in the ink droplet counting. We know the technology of thermal foam printing. The principle is that there is a resistance near the nozzle. This resistance heating causes the ink to boil and eject ink. The amount of ink ejected can be estimated by the signal of how much heating ink is sent to the print head, which is one of the statistical methods.
Of course, this method is not accurate enough, because the size of the ink droplets ejected by boiling is generally consistent, so it is easy to produce cumulative errors that lead to inaccuracy. Therefore, HP calls this an approximate count, which is an 8-bit binary data that can represent the 2 to the 8th power, which is 256 bits.
Before the production of ink cartridges, HP will conduct a test to obtain a data based on the amount of ink injected and the number of ink drops ejected. This is called an accurate count. This data is written on the chip on the ink cartridge, that is, every time the 256-bit count is full, it will trigger an accurate count. This number is 12.5% ​​of the ink volume of the ink cartridge, which is one-eighth, and then this 8-bit binary number Restart the calculation, so that after 8 times, one cartridge is consumed. There are also sensors inside the cartridge to detect the remaining ink. This data will be returned to the computer, so that the computer knows how much ink is consumed, the driver can display the remaining status of the ink.
How to detect the remaining ink level of Canon ink cartridge
In Canon printers, the ink statistics algorithm used on ink cartridges with print heads should be consistent with that of HP. This has nothing to do with the cooperation between Canon and HP over the years. There are multiple ways of licensing patents in the printing field. However, some of Canon's high-end ink cartridges and independent printhead products can see red light in the ink cartridge placement position.
This technology uses the prism at the bottom of the ink cartridge and the LED to perform liquid level detection. Canon registered this patent in the United States in 1998 with the patent number US6361136B1. This technique is used to detect the remaining amount of ink when the ink is about to run out. And the perception before depletion is achieved by the same method as the ink drop count.
In the patent, Canon has designed a variety of ink sensing solutions. In actual products, we see that Canon is using a triangular small prism. The details of this device are shown in the figure. The light-emitting device on one side and the receiver on the other side can be seen in the section.
When there is no ink in the ink cartridge, a phenomenon similar to the total reflection prism will form between the small triangular prism and the liquid, so that the signal strength received by the receiver on the other side is very high. When the liquid level of the ink is higher than the prism, light starts to penetrate the prism and scatter into the ink. The receiving end detects less light returned, so the machine knows that the ink is enough.
How to detect the remaining ink level of Epson ink cartridge
Epson uses micro piezoelectric printing technology, which is completely different from the thermal foaming technology of Canon and HP. He relies on the deformation of the piezoelectric crystal to push the ink out of the page. During this launch, the liquid will oscillate, and Epson's ink remaining calculation uses this oscillation. The patent number of Epson's ink detection patent in China is CN1380852A.
Epson's ink calculation is also inseparable from estimation. This estimation is based on the number of piezoelectric signals and the size of the ink droplets. Because the micro piezoelectric technology controls these two states more accurately, an estimate based on how many ink droplets are printed can be established.
Epson's micro piezoelectric print head is equipped with a sensor. When a certain amount of ink passes the print head, the output of the piezoelectric device will change greatly. Using this change, you can know that the ink cartridge is empty and the ink cartridge is full The output of the ink is different. Between these two values, it is judged that the ink is more accurately consumed. By comparing and correcting this data with the previous estimates, you can know exactly how much ink was used. This data will be continuously accumulated in the chip on the ink cartridge, and the driver will be used to provide a visual display of the remaining amount for the user.
No matter which method is used, we can see how hard it is to detect perfectly. Therefore, the original intention of the ink cartridge remaining design is to ensure that as much consumption as possible, there will be no ink consumption, but the driver shows that there is a little bit of ink, the driver must show that the ink has not been prompted to replace, but There is still a little bit in the actual cartridge. This is also protecting the print head, such as a thermally foamed print head. The resistance to dry burning without ink will make the print head easily damaged. When the printer company fills the ink cartridge, it also fills about 10% more than the nominal capacity as redundancy. 
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