Digital BW, The Print

Keith,

> Bob, even you have to admit that the chip is not an innovation in any
> sense or intent than in that of  preventing 3rd-party ink sales and
> forcing the use of EPSON consumables.

"Even you" indeed! Trouble is that I doubt if any of us know what was in the 
mind of the person who had the idea of storing some info on a chip on the 
cart. Maybe it was as you suggest; maybe it wasn't. Maybe he/her thought 
they could 'kill two birds with one stone'.

From what little I know about the functioning of the chip and printer (from 
reading service manuals etc),  the chip does do several useful things - such 
as:-

- storing the ink usage of that particular cart, so that you can swap carts 
and still have the ink usage remembered when you put it back, and you can 
even use the same cart in two printers of the same type and have everything 
remembered properly.

- storing the date of manufacture and reminding you when it is past it's 
use-by date (never had this happen yet)

-  rather importantly, it also tells the printer whether it is a photo-black 
or matte black cart in printers where they are alternatives in the same 
slot. This info is not only needed to set the paper and resolution 
alternatives in the driver, but also to delay the paper eject if using matte 
ink which dries more slowly than photo black.

- by checking the data on the cart at startup, the printer determines 
whether it is the same cart or a different cart (from that in place at 
shutdown) , and sets the appropriate cleaning cycles (CL or CL3)

- the chip also tells the printer if it is a new cart and thus needs a 
filling cycle, rather than a cleaning cycle.

- the number of cleaning cycles is also stored on the cart, so that ink 
usage can be calculated properly. Since carts are all swapped in and out at 
different times, this is cart-specific info.



There are probably other functions, but I'm sure that if I was designing a 
printer and cartridge system with swappable carts, having some info stored 
on each cart would be an inevitable thought on my part just from the point 
of making the setup work efficiently, accurately, and be as idiot-proof as 
possible.

But there are always 'conspiracy theorists' who see conspiracies in everyone 
else's actions. For instance, the different carts in a printer all have 
different plastic knobs on that fit or don't fit into the appropriate slot 
for that cart. Stops idiots fitting carts in the wrong slots, which I have 
seen happen, but I'm sure a conspiracy theorist would say that was invented 
to make like more difficult for 3rdparty cart manufacturers!

Enough of this; back to my photos!

Bob Frost.


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