Troy Group, Inc.

Pierce Companies, Inc.

Ronald V Surya

Cheston Sung Yin Chan

Gregory S Kussmann

Gregory S Kussman

Albert M Kritz

An apparatus for communicating to a printer a type of installed printer cartridge, where the combination of the cartridge and the printer form a magnetic coupling that can generate a cartridge specific code to identify the toner cartridge as being of a predetermined type. In a preferred embodiment, the magnetic coupling is achieved using at least two reed switches preferably mounted on the printer, with the reed switches biased using fixed magnetic elements placed immediately adjacent the reed switches. In the absence of any further magnetic fields, the reed switches are selected to provide a known set of switch positions corresponding to a bit value of one ('1') for an open circuit and a bit value of zero ('0') for a closed circuit. Magnetic elements on a printer cartridge are positioned to be disposed adjacent the reed switches and opposite the fixed magnets, and of a size and field strength sufficient to counteract the fixed magnetic elements adjacent the reed switches when the cartridge is inserted into the printer. The positions of the reed switches on the printer may be transformed into a sequence of bits of &#x201c;1&#x201d;s and &#x201c;0&#x201d;s. This series of data (ones and zeros) can be used to distinguish one printer cartridge from another and allow automatic optimization of the printer settings based on the cartridge recognition.

Toner cartridge identification system for a printer

An apparatus for communicating to a printer a type of installed printer cartridge, where the combination of the cartridge and the printer form a magnetic coupling that can generate a cartridge specific code to identify the toner cartridge as being of a predetermined type. In a preferred embodiment, the magnetic coupling is achieved using at least two reed switches preferably mounted on the printer, with the reed switches biased using fixed magnetic elements placed immediately adjacent the reed switches. In the absence of any further magnetic fields, the reed switches are selected to provide a known set of switch positions corresponding to a bit value of one (&ldquo;1&rdquo;) for an open circuit and a bit value of zero (&ldquo;0&rdquo;) for a closed circuit. Magnetic elements on a printer cartridge are positioned to be disposed adjacent the reed switches and opposite the fixed magnets, and of a size and field strength sufficient to counteract the fixed magnetic elements adjacent the reed switches when the cartridge is inserted into the printer. The positions of the reed switches on the printer may be transformed into a sequence of bits of &ldquo;1&rdquo;s and &ldquo;0&rdquo;s. This series of data (ones and zeros) can be used to distinguish one printer cartridge from another and allow automatic optimization of the printer settings based on the cartridge recognition.

In medium to high volume printers using more than one print head, multiple documents may be printed side by side in one pass. Multiple rolls of ribbon are utilized on the ribbon mandril to accommodate the documents. The ribbon is kept taut across its print head by the feed system controller. When the outside diameters of the two rolls of ribbon vary, the system keeps one ribbon taut and the other tends to go slack at the print head. A split sleeve mandril with a differential mechanism connecting the two sleeves of the mandril assures that both ribbons are maintained taut. The preferred differential mechanism may be a planetary gear arrangement, or a thrust bearing arrangement. A unique ribbon roll holding mechanism, to hold the ribbon roll at the selected place on the mandril is also provided.

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Laguna Hills, CA, United States of America

Ronald V Surya