Printer, control method, and used amount acquiring method

Abstract

There is provided a printer that performs print on a medium by color materials, including: an advance information reading and writing section that reads and writes advance information from and in an advance information holder for storing the advance information; a print control section that outputs a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information is read by the advance information reading and writing section; and a used amount acquiring section that acquires a used amount for the printer based on the print driving signal output from the print control section.

1 . A method for controlling a printer that performs print on a medium by color materials, comprising: 
 reading and writing advance information from and in an advance information holder for storing the advance information;    outputting a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information has been read; and    acquiring a used amount for the printer based on the output print driving signal.    
   
   
       2 . The control method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein 
 the control method further comprises:    receiving an advance information holder;    storing the read advance information;    acquiring the output print driving signal; and    adding and subtracting the accounting information converted from the used amount for the printer to and from the stored advance information,    the reading and writing step includes reading and writing the advance information from and in the inserted advance information holder, and    the acquiring step includes converting the acquired print driving signal into the accounting information.    
   
   
       3 . The control method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein a reading unit of the advance information is an amount corresponding to a driving amount required for one raster print in case of the print driving signal conversion.  
   
   
       4 . The control method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein a reading unit of the advance information is an amount corresponding to a driving amount required for one page print in case of the print driving signal conversion.  
   
   
       5 . The control method as claimed in  claim 2 , further comprising writing back the rest of advance information in the advance information holder based on the computed result by the adding and subtracting step.  
   
   
       6 . The control method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein 
 the printer includes a cartridge accommodating section that detachably accommodates a cartridge for accommodating the color materials,    the control method further comprises:    performing print by means of the color materials in the cartridge based on the print driving signal; and    clearing the read advance information by accounting information according to the used amount for the printer,    the outputting step includes outputting a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information of a predetermined reading unit is read,    the acquiring step includes converting the acquired print driving signal into the accounting information, and    the reading and writing step includes reading the advance information every predetermined reading unit from the advance information holder for storing advance information, and temporarily storing the read advance information and accumulating the stored information to the advance information newly read from the advance information holder when the advance information stored on the advance information holder does not reach the reading unit.    
   
   
       7 . The control method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the reading and writing step includes writing the accumulated advance information in a new advance information holder.  
   
   
       8 . The control method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the advance information holder is attached to the cartridge.  
   
   
       9 . The control method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein 
 the printing step includes discharging color materials to the medium while reciprocating a print head over the medium, and    the reading and writing step includes reading the advance information corresponding to the number of discharges performed for a round of the print head as the predetermined reading unit.    
   
   
       10 . The control method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein 
 the printer prints the medium in a page unit, and    the reading and writing step includes reading the advance information corresponding to a print amount of a page unit as the predetermined reading unit.    
   
   
       11 . The control method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein 
 the control method further comprises:    storing the read advance information;    acquiring the output print driving signal;    converting the acquired print driving signal into the accounting information; and    adding and subtracting the converted accounting information to and from the stored advance information, and    the reading and writing step includes reading and writing advance information from and in the inserted advance information holder.    
   
   
       12 . A control method of a printer that has a cartridge accommodating section that detachably accommodates a cartridge for accommodating color materials and performs print on a medium by the color materials, comprising: 
 reading and writing advance information from and in an advance information holder for storing the advance information;    outputting a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information is read in the reading and writing step;    performing print by means of the color materials in the cartridge based on the output print driving signal;    acquiring a used amount showing an amount by which the printer is used based on the output print driving signal;    storing the acquired used amount; and    outputting the stored used amount to the outside.    
   
   
       13 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein 
 the storing step includes further storing output presence information showing whether the used amount has been output to the outside in the used amount outputting step, and    the print driving signal outputting step includes outputting the print driving signal when the output presence information is stored.    
   
   
       14 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the used amount outputting step includes outputting the used amount to the outside in association with identification information identifying the printer.  
   
   
       15 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the used amount outputting step includes outputting the used amount to the outside at a predetermined date and time.  
   
   
       16 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the print driving signal outputting step includes outputting the print driving signal when being connected to the outside.  
   
   
       17 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein 
 the used amount acquiring step includes:    acquiring a print amount showing an amount of print in the printing step, which is included in the output print driving signal; and    acquiring accounting information converted from the print amount based on the acquired print amount, and    the used amount storing step includes storing the accounting information acquired in the accounting information acquiring step as the used amount.    
   
   
       18 . The control method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein 
 the used amount acquiring step includes acquiring a print amount showing an amount of print by the printing step, which is included in the acquired print driving signal, and    the used amount storing step includes storing the print amount acquired in the used amount acquiring step as the used amount.    
   
   
       19 . A used amount acquiring method for acquiring a used amount for a printer, comprising: 
 reading and writing advance information from and in an advance information holder for storing the advance information;    outputting a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information is read in the advance information reading and writing step;    performing the print by means of color materials in a cartridge for accommodating the color materials based on the print driving signal output in the print controlling step;    acquiring a used amount showing an amount by which the printer is used based on the print driving signal output in the print controlling step;    storing the used amount acquired in the used amount acquiring step; and    outputting the used amount stored in the used amount storing step to the outside.    
   
   
       20 . A printer that performs print on a medium by color materials, comprising: 
 an advance information reading and writing section that reads and writes advance information from and in an advance information holder for storing the advance information;    a print control section that outputs a print driving signal controlling print when the advance information is read by the advance information reading and writing section; and    a used amount acquiring section that acquires a used amount for the printer based on the print driving signal output from the print control section.