Systems, methods and apparatuses for authorized use and refill of a printer cartridge

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9227417-B2
Application number	US-201414209765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2014
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

A chip for a cartridge with dispensable material may be provided. In one aspect, the chip may comprise a non-volatile memory for storing a number tracking amount of dispensable material in the cartridge, a key storage for storing an encryption key, a signature verification module and circuit components. The circuit components may be configured to receive and process a first message, receive and validate a second message, and update the amount of dispensable material if the validation of the second message succeeds. The first message may comprise a first command and an operation input value for a print job at the cartridge, and to process the first message may comprise decreasing the amount of dispensable material. The second message may comprise a second command to increase the amount of dispensable material, and may be validated using the signature validation module and the encryption key.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A chip for a cartridge with dispensable material, comprising:
a non-volatile memory for storing a number tracking amount of dispensable material in the cartridge;
a key storage, the key storage storing an encryption key;
a signature verification module; and
circuit components configured to:
receive a first message comprising a first command and an operation input value for a print job at the cartridge;
process the first message, comprising decreasing the amount of dispensable material in the cartridge;
receive a second message comprising a second command to increase the amount of dispensable material;
validate the second message using the signature validation module and the encryption key; and
update the amount of dispensable material in the cartridge if the validation of the second message succeeds.

2. The chip of claim 1 , wherein to process the first message the circuit components are further configured to generate a reply.

3. The chip of claim 2 , further comprising a random number generator, and wherein the circuit components are further configured to:
generate a first nonce using the random number generator;
send the first generated nonce to a refill device; and
validate a second nonce contained in the second message.

4. The chip of claim 3 , wherein to validate the second nonce the circuit components are further configured to verify that the second nonce is equal to the first nonce.

5. The chip of claim 3 , wherein the random number generator is a hardware or software based generator.

6. The chip of claim 3 , wherein to validate the second message the circuit components are further configured to determine that a time period from sending the first nonce till receiving the second message is within a pre-defined threshold.

7. The chip of claim 2 , wherein the circuit components are further configured to:
determine if there is enough dispensable material in the cartridge using the number stored in the non-volatile memory; and
add an error report to the reply, if the amount is insufficient.

8. The chip of claim 2 , further comprising a dedicated computation module, wherein the dedicated computation module is configured to perform a pre-defined calculation operation.

9. The chip of claim 8 , wherein an input for the dedicated computation module is taken from the first message and a result of the computation is added to the reply.

10. The chip of claim 8 , wherein the dedicated computation module comprises separate sub-modules to perform different calculations, and the circuit components are further configured to receive an instruction from a printing device to select one of the sub-modules for a specific calculation.

11. A method for performing operations by a chip of a cartridge with dispensable material, comprising:
receiving a first message comprising a first command and an operation input value for a print job at the chip;
processing the first message, comprising decreasing a number tracking amount of dispensable material in the cartridge, the number being stored in a non-volatile memory of the chip;
receiving a second message comprising a second command to increase the amount of dispensable material;
validating the second message comprising verifying a signature of the second message using an encryption key stored in the chip; and
updating the amount of dispensable material in the cartridge if the validation of the second message succeeds.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising generating a reply when processing the first message.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
generating a first nonce;
sending the first generated nonce to a refill device; and
validating a second nonce contained in the second message.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein validating the second nonce comprises verifying that the second nonce is equal to the first nonce.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first nonce is generated using a hardware or software based random number generator in the chip.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein validating the second message comprises determining that a time period from sending the first nonce till receiving the second message is within a pre-defined threshold.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining if there is enough dispensable material in the cartridge using the number stored in a non-volatile memory of the chip; and
adding an error report to the reply, if the amount is insufficient.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising performing a pre-defined calculation operation at the chip using a dedicated computation module.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein an input to the pre-defined calculation operation is taken from the first message and a result of the computation is added to the reply.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising receiving an instruction from a printing device to select one specific calculation sub-module to perform the pre-defined calculation operation, wherein the chip comprises separate sub-modules to perform different calculations.

Assignees

• Ologn Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Ignatchenko Sergey
• Ivanchykhin Dmytro

Classifications

• G03G21/1878 Primary

  Electronically readable memory · CPC title

• G03G15/0863

  provided with identifying means or means for storing process- or use parameters, e.g. an electronic memory · CPC title

• B41J2/17506

  Refilling of the cartridge · CPC title

• G03G15/0894 Primary

  Reconditioning of the developer unit, i.e. reusing or recycling parts of the unit, e.g. resealing of the unit before refilling with toner · CPC title

• B41J2/17546 Primary

  electronically · CPC title