Thermal ink jet printer cartridge identification

摘要

The invention described in the specification relates to an apparatus for supplying electrical information to a printer controller in order to identify the one or more cartridges installed in a printer. The apparatus comprises a carriage which is laterally translatable relative to the movement of print media through the printer, carriage translation means, and a replaceable cartridge attached to the carriage. The apparatus further comprises an indicia device which is attached to the replaceable cartridge and which has optically readable indicia thereon containing encoded information which contains information identifying the type of cartridge installed in the printer. The apparatus also includes an optical code reader which reads and transmits the encoded information to a printer controller as the cartridge moves in a lateral direction relative to the code reader. The invention thus uses the linear motion of the carriage in combination with the optically readable indicia device on the cartridge to identify the type of cartridge, or to otherwise control the printer depending on the specific information provided by the indicia device.