Printing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11438478-B2
Application number	US-202117196106-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2021
Priority date	Mar 24, 2020
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

A printing device includes a battery, a print head and a controller. The battery is charged by a charging power and supplies a power to the print head. The controller has multiple operation modes and is configured to operate in one of the multiple operation modes. The controller consumes an operating power corresponding to the operation mode. An external power source has multiple power profiles and outputs a supplying power corresponding to one of the power profiles to the printing device. The supplying power is used as the operating power for driving the controller. The controller obtains the multiple power profiles from the externa power source. The controller determines whether the supplying power is greater than a sum of the charging power to charge the battery and the operating power, and determine an operation mode when the battery is being charged.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing device, comprising:
a print head configured to perform printing on a printing medium;
a battery configured to be charged by a supplied power which is an electrical power supplied from an external power source when the printing device is connected to the external power source, the battery being capable of supplying an electrical power to the print head; and
a controller configured to operate in one operation mode of multiple operation modes with consuming an operating electrical power from the supplied power,
wherein the controller is configured to perform:
obtaining an amplitude of the supplied power from the external power source when the printing device is connected to the external power source;
calculating an amplitude of a total power that is a sum of an electrical power to charge the battery and a particular operating electrical power, the particular operating electrical power being the operating electrical power consumed when the controller operates in a particular operation mode of the multiple operation modes,
comparing the amplitude of the total power with the amplitude of the supplied power obtained in the obtaining; and
determining an operation mode of the multiple operation modes when the battery is being charged based on a comparison result in the comparing.

2. The printing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to operate in an operation mode to perform a particular function when the amplitude of the total power is less than the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, and
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is greater than the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, the controller is configured to determine the operation mode at a time of charging the battery to be an operation mode restraining the particular function from being executed.

3. The printing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller further includes a battery voltage obtaining part configured to obtain a voltage of the battery at regular intervals,
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is less than or equal to the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, the controller operates in an operation mode in which the controller obtains the voltage of the battery at every first interval which is a particular one of the regular intervals, and
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is greater than the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, the controller is configured to determine the operation mode at the time of charging the battery as an operation mode in which the battery voltage obtaining part obtains the voltage of the battery at every second interval which is longer than the first interval.

4. The printing device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the controller further includes a clock part configured to output a signal at the regular intervals,
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is less than or equal to the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, the controller operates in an operation mode in which the battery voltage obtaining part always operates as a part of the operating power is supplied and obtains the voltage of the battery when the clock part outputs the signal, and
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is greater than the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, the controller is configured to determine the operation mode at the time of charging the battery as an operation mode in which a supply of the power to the battery voltage obtaining part is stopped until the clock part outputs the signal next time.

5. The printing device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the controller further includes a time determining part configured to determine, when the amplitude of the total power is greater than the amplitude of the supplied power as the comparison result in the comparing, whether a particular period has elapsed immediately after printing by the print head, and
wherein, when the amplitude of the total power is greater than the amplitude of the supplied power as the result of comparison by the controller, and the controller determines that the particular period has not elapsed, the controller is configured to determine the operation mode at the time of charging the battery as an operation mode in which the interval at which the battery voltage obtaining part obtains the voltage of the battery to be a third interval which is longer than the first interval and shorter than the second interval.

6. The printing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a USB port compliant to a USB standard, the USB port being connected to the external power source,
wherein, at the time of charging the battery, the supplied power is supplied from the external power source via the USB port.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Ota Yoshihiro

Classifications

• B41J29/38

  Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism · CPC title

• G06F3/1229

  Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels · CPC title

• G06F3/1221

  with regard to power consumption · CPC title

• G06F3/1203

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management · CPC title

• B41J3/36

  for portability {, i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers (B41J3/4075 takes precedence)} · CPC title