US-12625452-B2 - Image forming apparatus configured to perform initialization process to initialize lifetime information in consumable memory of consumable when receiving instruction

US12625452B2US 12625452 B2US12625452 B2US 12625452B2US-12625452-B2

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: a main casing to which a consumable is attached; a controller; and a main memory. The consumable includes a consumable memory in which lifetime information relating to a service life of the consumable is stored. The controller is configured to perform: a reception process to receive an instruction to initialize the lifetime information; an initialization process to initialize the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory in accordance with the received instruction; and a write process to write initialization information into the consumable memory, the initialization information indicating that the lifetime information was initialized.

Inventors

Tadao KYOTANI
Yosuke IMANISHI

Assignees

BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230725
Priority Date: 20210129

Claims (20)

1 . An image forming apparatus comprising: a main casing to which a consumable is attached; a controller; and a main memory, wherein the consumable includes a consumable memory in which lifetime information relating to a service life of the consumable is stored, and wherein the controller is configured to perform: a reception process to receive an instruction to initialize the lifetime information; an initialization process to initialize the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory in accordance with the received instruction; and a write process to write initialization information into the consumable memory, the initialization information indicating that the lifetime information was initialized by execution of the initialization process.
2 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image forming apparatus comprises a display, and wherein the controller is configured to perform: a display process to cause the display to display thereon a warning and a selection screen in accordance with the instruction, the warning indicating that a printing quality is not warranted when the lifetime information is initialized, the selection screen being a screen for a user to select whether to initialize the lifetime information or not; and wherein the controller performs the initialization process when initialization is selected through the selection screen.
3 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image forming apparatus comprises an operation part, and wherein, in the reception process, the controller receives the instruction to initialize the lifetime information through the operation part.
4 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the initialization information is an initialization number that indicates the number of times that the lifetime information was initialized, wherein the controller is configured to further perform: a determination process to determine whether the initialization number of the lifetime information indicated by the initialization information reaches a predetermined upper limit of the number of times, and wherein the controller is configured not to perform the initialization process when determining in the determination process that the initialization number reaches the upper limit of the number of times.
5 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of consumption information and remaining quantity information is stored in the consumable memory as the lifetime information, the consumption information being information for identifying a degree to which the consumable is used, the remaining quantity information being information for identifying a quantity of a material remaining in the consumable.
6 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the consumable is a toner cartridge, wherein at least one of a printed sheet number, a developing roller-rotation number, and a consumption toner quantity is stored in the consumable memory as the consumption information, and wherein, in the initialization process, the controller sets a value of the consumption information to 0.
7 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the consumable is a drum cartridge, wherein at least one of a printed sheet number and a drum-rotation number is stored in the consumable memory as the consumption information, and wherein, in the initialization process, the controller sets a value of the consumption information to 0.
8 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the consumable is a cartridge that accommodates therein a printing material, wherein a value indicating a capacity of the cartridge is stored in the main memory or the consumable memory, wherein a remaining printing material quantity is stored in the consumable memory as the remaining quantity information, and wherein, in the initialization process, the controller rewrites a value of the remaining printing material quantity to the value indicating the capacity stored in the main memory or the consumable memory.
9 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image forming apparatus comprises a display, wherein the initialization information is an initialization number that indicates the number of times that the lifetime information was initialized, and wherein the controller is configured to further perform: a read process to read the initialization number from the consumable memory of the consumable attached to the main casing; a detection process to detect that the attached consumable is a recycled product on the basis of the read initialization number being equal to or more than one time; and a display process to cause the display to display thereon a warning and a selection screen in response to detection of the recycled product, the warning indicating that a printing quality is not warranted when the recycled product is used, the selection screen being a screen for a user to select whether to use the recycled product or not.
10 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured to further perform: a permission process to permit printing using the recycled product when use is selected through the selection screen.
11 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured to further perform: a storage process to store use history information in the main memory when use is selected through the selection screen, the use history information indicating that the recycled product was used.
12 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein mode information is stored in the main memory, the mode information indicating whether the image forming apparatus is in a subscription mode indicating that an agreement is reached for the image forming apparatus, and wherein the controller is configured not to perform the reception process when the mode information indicates the subscription mode.
13 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein type information is stored in the consumable memory, the type information indicating whether the consumable is a subscription consumable or a normal consumable, the subscription consumable being a consumable that can be used in an image forming apparatus for which an agreement is reached, the normal consumable being a consumable that can be used in an image forming apparatus for which an agreement is reached and in an image forming apparatus for which an agreement is not reached, and wherein the controller is configured to further perform: a change process to change the type information to the normal consumable in accordance with the instruction when the type information indicates the subscription consumable.
14 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the image forming apparatus comprises a display, and wherein, when the type information indicates the subscription consumable, the controller is configured to perform: a display process to cause the display to display thereon a warning and a selection screen in accordance with the instruction, the warning indicating that the subscription consumable is recognized as the normal consumable when the lifetime information is initialized, the selection screen being a screen for a user to select whether to initialize the lifetime information or not, and wherein the controller performs the initialization process when initialization is selected through the selection screen.
15 . An initialization method of initializing a consumable memory included in a consumable, the initialization method comprising: a reception step, by an image forming apparatus, receiving an instruction to initialize lifetime information stored in the consumable memory of the consumable attached to a main casing of the image forming apparatus, the lifetime information being information relating to a service life of the consumable; an initialization step, by the image forming apparatus, initializing the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory in accordance with the received instruction; and a write step, by the image forming apparatus, writing initialization information into the consumable memory, the initialization information indicating that the lifetime information was initialized by execution of the initialization step.
16 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the initialization information indicates a number of times that the lifetime information was initialized.
17 . The initialization method according to claim 15 , further comprising: a display step, by the image forming apparatus, causing a display of the image forming apparatus to display thereon a warning and a selection screen in accordance with the instruction, the warning indicating that a printing quality is not warranted when the lifetime information is initialized, the selection screen being a screen for a user to select whether to initialize the lifetime information or not, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to perform the initialization step when initialization is selected through the selection screen.
18 . The initialization method according to claim 15 , wherein, in the reception step, the image forming apparatus receives the instruction to initialize the lifetime information through an operation part of the image forming apparatus.
19 . The initialization method according to claim 15 , wherein the initialization information is an initialization number that indicates the number of times that the lifetime information was initialized, the initialization method further comprising: a determination step, by the image forming apparatus, determining whether the initialization number of the lifetime information indicated by the initialization information reaches a predetermined upper limit of the number of times, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured not to perform the initialization step when determining in the determination step that the initialization number reaches the upper limit of the number of times.
20 . The initialization method according to claim 15 , wherein at least one of consumption information and remaining quantity information is stored in the consumable memory as the lifetime information, the consumption information being information for identifying a degree to which the consumable is used, the remaining quantity information being information for identifying a quantity of a material remaining in the consumable.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a by-pass continuation application of International Application No. PCT/JP2022/003262 filed Jan. 28, 2022 which claims priorities from Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-013957 filed Jan. 29, 2021 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-013958 filed Jan. 29, 2021. The entire contents of the International Application and the priority applications are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND ART Consumables such as a toner cartridge, a drum cartridge, and an ink cartridge, for example, are attached to image forming apparatuses. Each consumable includes a consumable memory. The consumable memory stores therein lifetime information relating to a service life of the consumable. For example, a prior art discloses an ink cartridge at which a reset button for resetting contents of a memory mounted in the ink cartridge is provided. A user manually operates the reset button to reset the contents of the memory. The prior art discloses a technology that causes a printer to recognize that a cartridge is in a state that the cartridge is filled with ink by resetting a memory chip of the cartridge attached to the printer. DESCRIPTION In order to promote recycling of consumables, it is required that the user can simply initialize the consumable memory. It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an image forming apparatus that can simply perform initialization of a consumable memory. In order to attain the above and other object, according to one aspect, the present disclosure provides an image forming apparatus including: a main casing to which a consumable is attached; a controller; and a main memory. The consumable includes a consumable memory in which lifetime information relating to a service life of the consumable is stored. The controller is configured to perform: a reception process to receive an instruction to initialize the lifetime information; an initialization process to initialize the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory in accordance with the received instruction; and a write process to write initialization information into the consumable memory, the initialization information indicating that the lifetime information was initialized. In the above structure, the controller initializes the lifetime information in the consumable memory when receiving an instruction to initialize the same. Accordingly, a user can perform simply initialization of the consumable memory using the image forming apparatus. According to another aspect, the present disclosure also provides an initialization method of initializing a consumable memory included in a consumable. The initialization method includes: a reception step, by an image forming apparatus, receiving an instruction to initialize lifetime information stored in the consumable memory of the consumable attached to a main casing of the image forming apparatus, the lifetime information being information relating to a service life of the consumable; an initialization step, by the image forming apparatus, initializing the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory in accordance with the received instruction; and a write step, by the image forming apparatus, writing initialization information into the consumable memory, the initialization information indicating that the lifetime information was initialized. The initialization method according to the above aspect exhibits the advantages the same as those obtained by the image forming apparatus according to the above-noted aspect. According to still another aspect, the present disclosure also provides an image forming apparatus including: a main casing to which a cartridge is attached; a sensor; and a controller. The sensor measures a service life of a consumable filled in the cartridge. The cartridge includes a consumable memory in which lifetime information is stored. The lifetime information is information stored when the consumable is used and indicating the service life of the consumable. The controller is configured to perform: a permission process to permit initialization of the lifetime information by the image forming apparatus when the service life indicated by the lifetime information stored in the consumable memory is different from the service life measured by the sensor. When the service life of the consumable in the cartridge actually measured and the service life on record are different from each other as indicated above, there is a likelihood that the cartridge is filled with the consumable again. That is, there is a likelihood that the cartridge is recycled. According to the above image forming apparatus, in a situation where there is a likelihood that the recycled cartridge is attached, the initialization of the lifetime information by the image forming apparatus is permitted. Accordingly, the initialization of the service life of the cartridge can be permitted in an appropriate situation. According to still another aspect, the