Logic circuitry

Abstract

A sensor circuit for a replaceable print material container to be connected to a host print apparatus logic circuit comprising a first sensor to detect a pneumatic stimulus or pressurization applied by a print apparatus, and an interface including contact pads to connect to a voltage and/or data source of the print apparatus logic circuit, the sensor circuit configured to output signals conditioned by the pneumatic stimulus or pressurization via the contact pads.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A sensor circuit for a replaceable print material container to be connected to a logic circuit of a host printer, the sensor circuit comprising:
 a first sensor to detect a pneumatic stimulus or pressurization applied by the host printer; and   an interface including contact pads to connect to at least one of a voltage or data source of the logic circuit of the host printer, the sensor circuit configured to output signals conditioned by the pneumatic stimulus or pressurization via the contact pads.   
     
     
         2 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to, when in a powered state, output a lower voltage during the pneumatic stimulus as compared to a point in time when the effect of the pneumatic stimulus has substantially ceased. 
     
     
         3 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to:
 base the output on a signal of the first sensor upon receiving an associated first class parameter via the interface; and 
 identify a plurality of class parameters and to base the output on at least one of a different sensor, different data, or a different algorithm, upon receiving a second class parameter via the interface. 
 
     
     
         4 . The sensor circuit of  claim 3  configured to:
 identify a plurality of sub-class parameters; and 
 upon receiving the first class parameter and subsequently a plurality of sub-class parameters, vary the output based on:
 one sensor signal for all sub-class parameters, or 
 a respective one of a plurality of cells of the first sensor for each sub-class parameter. 
 
 
     
     
         5 . The sensor circuit of  claim 4  configured to:
 upon receiving a first class parameter and a plurality of different sub-class parameters, output a plurality of different signals associated with the same pneumatic stimulus; and 
 upon receiving the first class parameter and the same sub-class parameter at subsequent points in time during a pneumatic stimulus cycle, output a different signal at each corresponding time, 
 wherein the different output signals correspond to different reservoir pressures. 
 
     
     
         6 . The sensor circuit of  claim 5  configured to, upon receiving a second class parameter and subsequently again the same sub-class parameters, provide different outputs than for the first class parameter, wherein the output, upon receiving the second class parameter, is to be associated with a print material depletion. 
     
     
         7 . The sensor circuit of  claim 5 , further including a print material sensor, the sensor circuit configured to, upon receiving the second class parameter, base the output on a signal of the print material sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1 , wherein the first sensor includes an array of sensor cells, the sensor circuit configured to identify class and sub-class parameters and to select the first sensor based on a first class parameter and the cells based on the sub-class parameters. 
     
     
         9 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to:
 receive, in addition to at least one of class or sub-class parameters to use the first sensor, calibration parameters; and 
 condition the output based on these calibration parameters, 
 the sensor circuit further including calibration logic to calibrate the output based on the calibration parameters. 
 
     
     
         10 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1 , further including:
 a print material sensor including a temperature sensor cell; and   a heater cell to heat the temperature sensor cell,   the sensor circuit configured to:
 set at least one of a heat level or a time of a heater cell based on corresponding received calibration parameters, and 
 output a signal representative of the temperature of the corresponding temperature cell. 
   
     
     
         11 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to:
 identify, from a command stream, a plurality of different calibration parameter functions; 
 identify, for respective calibration parameter functions, a corresponding plurality of calibration parameter values; and 
 condition the output based on the calibration parameter values in a way that is different for each calibration parameter function. 
 
     
     
         12 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to identify, from an input command stream, an offset and an amplifier parameter to change an output based on an offset parameter by an amount that is a function of the amplifier parameter. 
     
     
         13 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to output, for each received class parameter:
 count values in a count value range; 
 a highest or lowest output count value of the range for certain calibration parameters; and 
 in-range count values between, and having at least one count distance from, the highest and lowest output count value for certain other calibration parameters, wherein the other calibration parameters may herein be defined as operational calibration parameters. 
 
     
     
         14 . The sensor circuit of  claim 13  configured to, in a series of command-responses, vary the in-range count values upon receiving varying operational calibration values for the same class and/or sub-class parameters. 
     
     
         15 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to:
 to receive communications via a first communications address; and 
 in response to a command to enable a second communications address, enable the second communications address. 
 
     
     
         16 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1  configured to:
 upon receiving a command including a time period via a default first communications address and a new communications address via a default second communications address, respond to commands directed to the new communications address until the end of a duration based on the time period; and 
 output said signals based on the first sensor in response to commands sent over the default second communications address or new second communications address. 
 
     
     
         17 . The sensor circuit of  claim 16  configured to transmit,
 outside of said time period and in response to communications sent to the first address, communications that are authenticated using a key, and, 
 during said time period and in response to communications sent to the second or new address, communications which are not authenticated using that key. 
 
     
     
         18 . The sensor circuit of  claim 1 , further including decoding logic to identify class, sub-class and calibration parameters, the sensor circuit configured to condition the output based on identified parameters. 
     
     
         19 . The sensor circuit of  claim 18  including:
 sensors of different classes, wherein at least a subset of the sensors include a plurality of cells associated with different sub-classes; and 
 calibration logic of different functions, 
 wherein the decoding logic is configured to:
 select each sensor, sensor cell and calibration logic function based on the received parameters; and 
 set the respective calibration function based on the received calibration value. 
 
 
     
     
         20 . The sensor circuit of  claim 19 , wherein the decoding logic includes at least partly hard-wired decoding logic including at least one of (1) a shift register arrangement or (2) at least one of (a) multiplexers, (b) flip-flops and latches, or (c) resettable or over-writable memory arrays to load the parameters and set or select at least one of the different cells or the functions.