A liquid cartridge configured to be inserted in a frontward direction to a printer includes: a housing; a liquid supply portion; a circuit board; a plate; and a detection portion. The circuit board includes an electrode group facing upward in an upright posture of the liquid cartridge. The electrode group includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a third electrode for grounding. The first to third electrodes are arrayed in a lateral direction crossing the frontward direction and a gravitational direction such that the third electrode is positioned between the first and second electrodes. In the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the plate and the detection portion are respectively positioned upward and rearward relative to the circuit board. Each of the third electrode and an upper portion of the plate is positioned a datum plane extending in the frontward direction and in the gravitational direction.

An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head, an ink reservoir portion, an ink amount sensor, a dot counter, and a control portion. The ink reservoir portion stores ink to he ted to the recording head. The ink amount sensor senses the amount of ink in the ink reservoir portion. The dot counter for measures in a cumulative manner the number of dots in the ink ejected from the recording head. The control portion changes the amount of ink ejected from the recording head based on the difference between a calculated value of the amount of consumed ink as calculated based on the cumulative number of dots measured by the dot counter and a measured value of the amount of consumed ink as determined based on the amount of ink in the ink reservoir portion as sensed by the ink amount sensor.

An Imaging device includes a print monitoring engine to monitor an ink level of an ink cartridge installed in the imaging device and track a print count for each ink level. The print count for each ink level indicates a number of prints printed during a one percent drop in the ink level. Further, a print capacity estimation engine is to determine an average print rate for the ink cartridge based on the print count for each one percent drop in ink level and determine a print capacity estimate of the ink cartridge based at least on the average print rate and the current ink level. Further, an Ink cartridge controlling engine is to deactivate the ink cartridge upon occurrence of a predetermined event and activate the deactivated ink cartridge in response to an activation input from a user, wherein the activation input is based on the print capacity estimate.

A physical quantity detection device including a container that accommodates a detection object formed of a dielectric and whose depth direction is a direction of a z axis when an x axis, a y axis, and the z axis along a vertical direction are set as axes orthogonal to one another, a first electrode provided at an outer side of the container, at least one second electrode that has an elongated shape extending in a direction of the y axis, is provided at an outer side of the container, and is separated from and faces the first electrode in a direction of the x axis, a first insulation layer that covers the first electrode, a second insulation layer that covers the second electrode, and an electrostatic capacitance detector that detects an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a first storage which stores liquid; a first detector which detects an amount of the liquid in the first storage; a communication hole communicating the first storage and outside; a semipermeable membrane arranged to cover the communication hole; a head unit having at least one nozzle which discharges the liquid supplied from the first storage; a liquid flow channel which communicates the first storage and the head unit; a cap which seals the nozzle of the head unit; a cap movement mechanism which moves the cap; an electrode arranged in the cap and on which the liquid discharged from the nozzle is landed; a second detector connected electrically to the electrode; a suction mechanism which sucks the liquid and gas inside the cap; a waste liquid storage which stores the liquid sucked from inside of the cap by the suction mechanism; and a controller.

The present disclosure provides a security verification method, a consumable chip, a consumable chipset, a consumable. The method includes obtaining a preset dynamic parameter configured to determine an authentication sequence; determining authentication sequence data corresponding to a plurality of authentication events according to the preset dynamic parameter; and executing at least one of the plurality of authentication events according to the authentication sequence data and feeding back an authentication result of at least one of the plurality of authentication events to the image forming apparatus. The authentication result is configured to determine whether a consumable corresponding to at least one of consumable chips in the consumable chipset satisfies a preset image forming requirement. The present disclosure effectively avoids the problem of damaging the image forming apparatus and affecting printing quality caused by the use of consumables provided by third parties that do not satisfy requirements.

A print unit includes a reactive liquid element row in which a plurality of print elements are arrayed in a first direction, a first element row in which a plurality of print elements are arrayed in the first direction, and a second element row in which a plurality of print elements are arrayed in the first direction. The reactive liquid element row, the first element row, and the second element row are arrayed in this order in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A scan unit scans the print unit in the second direction. A print control unit controls a print operation by the print unit such that a ratio of the number of pixels permitted to eject the second ink to the number of pixels in a predetermined region on the print medium does not exceed a threshold.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: a storage chamber which is connectable to a cartridge storing liquid and stores liquid supplied from the cartridge; a movable member provided in the storage chamber and including a float and a detection target portion, the float being lower in specific gravity than the liquid stored in the storage chamber; and a detection unit which detects movement of the movable member by detecting the detection target portion. The detection target portion is movable from a first position to a third position through a second position. The detection unit is arranged to detect the detection target portion in a case where the detection target portion is present at the second position.

An ink tank having an ink tank body, a first electrode member, and a second electrode member, is provided. The ink tank body includes an ink inlet, an ink reservoir chamber, an ink supplying section, a first restrictive side wall, a second restrictive side wall, a leaked-ink flow path, a first surface, a second surface, a connecting surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, and a restrictive section. The leaked-ink flow path is formed at least of a part of the first surface, a part of the connecting surface, a part of the second surface, the first restrictive side wall, and the second restrictive side wall. The restrictive section is arranged on the second surface between the first restrictive side wall and the second restrictive side wall. At least a part of the restrictive section is located between the connecting surface and the first electrode member.

Disclosed is a method to mitigate deterioration of printing fluid in a tank of a printer. The method comprises: draining printing fluid from a tank of a printer, and stopping the draining before the tank is empty, wherein the printing fluid comprises solids suspended in imaging oil, filtering the printing fluid drained from the tank, to separate at least some of the solids from the imaging oil, passing the filtered imaging oil to a reservoir; and then passing imaging oil from the reservoir to the tank. Also disclosed is a printer and a system to perform the method.