| 摘要 |
PURPOSE: A cartridge and a printer are provided to detect the presence or absence of ink and the residual amount of ink accurately by a sensor, and to improve the freedom of design by outputting the detection result through wireless communication. CONSTITUTION: An ink cartridge(10) has a sensor(17) for detecting ink, and a controller(22) of a printer(20) transmits the command of detection along with the detecting condition to the cartridge side by radio. The cartridge receives the command, and a sensor control section(19) drives and oscillates the sensor under the commanded detecting conditions. Since the sensor is disposed opposite to a resonance chamber(18) provided in an ink containing chamber(16), and the oscillation frequency is regulated by the resonance frequency of the resonance chamber. Since the resonance frequency depends on the presence/absence of ink in the resonance chamber, presence/absence of ink in the resonance chamber and the residual quantity of ink in the ink cartridge are displayed by detecting the resonance frequency. Detection under commanded condition is checked by outputting the detecting condition from the ink cartridge side.
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