The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 15, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 21, 1997
Atsushi Kobayashi, Nagano, JP;
Seiji Mochizuki, Nagano, JP;
Kazuhisa Kawakami, Nagano, JP;
Shigenori Fukasawa, Nagano, JP;
Masahiro Isono, Nagano, JP;
Masahiro Nakamura, Nagano, JP;
Nobutoshi Ohtsuka, Nagano, JP;
Nobuhito Takahashi, Nagano, JP;
Hitoshi Hayakawa, Nagano, JP;
Norihiro Maruyama, Nagano, JP;
Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An ink jet recording device includes an external switch, a device for detecting the amount of ink left in each ink cartridge, and a device operating such that when an instruction to replace the ink cartridge is generated by the switch, or when a device detects an ink end of the cartridge, only the ink cartridge to be replaced is exposed through a window in the recording device. The ink cartridge to be replaced is specified, and only the specified ink cartridge is automatically moved to a replaceable position. Correct replacement of more than one ink cartridge is ensured, and the cartridge replacing work is simplified.