Seiko Epson Corporation

Takuma Usuda

Takahiro Netsu

Kei Nagaoka

A printer includes an ink tank; a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light of a plurality of colors incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section estimating an ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor at a position corresponding to a meniscus portion of the ink.

Printer

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a background plate facing the light source and the sensor in the ink tank.

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section detecting an amount of ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor. The light source is turned on by an amount of light based on a result of the sensor detecting light reflected from an area where the ink does not exist.

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing using ink IK in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects first light of a first wavelength band and second light of a second wavelength band incident from an ink tank side, in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section. The processing section determines the ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on a first light amount of the first light and a second light amount of the second light at a position where the ink exists.

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that outputs pixel data by detecting light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section that determines an ink amount by an output of the sensor. The processing section designates a reading area for the sensor, and determines an ink amount based on pixel data of the reading area output from the sensor.

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light and outputs pixel data, and a processing section that determines an ink amount based on an output of the sensor. A pitch of a plurality of lenses is k times a pixel pitch of the sensor, k being an integer of 2 or more, and the processing section detects the ink amount based on a sum of outputs of k continuous pixels.

A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that outputs pixel data by detecting light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section that determines an ink amount by an output of the sensor. The processing section determines an ink amount based on low resolution pixel data output from the sensor in a first reading area and high resolution pixel data output from the sensor in a second reading area other than the first reading area.

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Nagano, Japan

Takuma Usuda