The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2018-235636, filed Dec. 17, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a waste liquid box management method, a waste liquid box, a printer, and a waste liquid box management system.

2. Related Art

In related art, in inkjet printers, a waste liquid box is provided for collecting waste ink generated when cleaning nozzles of an ink head, as described in JP-A-2011-83896, for example. When inks of different types, such as a pigment type, a dye type, a UV ink type, and the like are mixed in the waste liquid box, it becomes difficult to recycle the inks, and solidification of the inks causes a failure and the like of the waste liquid box.

Therefore, in the related art, by providing a waste liquid box dedicated to each type of inkjet printer, it is possible to prevent the different types of ink from being mixed in together in the waste liquid box.

In order to prevent mixing of inks of different types, when a waste liquid box dedicated to each type of inkjet printer is provided, there is inconvenience due to an inventory management load being large, because inventory of a large number of waste liquid boxes having different specifications must be managed.

SUMMARY

A preferred aspect for solving the above-described problem is, for example, a waste liquid box management method for setting a type of ink to be contained in a container, for a waste liquid box including a coupling portion coupled to a printer, the container containing ink discharged from the printer via the coupling portion, and a storage unit. The waste liquid box management method individually allocates storage regions, in the storage unit, to a plurality of ink types, writes predetermined type specification data into a selected storage region, that is the storage region allocated to an ink type to be contained in the container, and inhibits writing to the storage region other than the selected storage region in a state in which data other than the type specification data is stored therein.

In the waste liquid box management method described above, when the type specification data is written into one of the storage regions, discharge to the container may be allowed for an ink type to which the storage region in which the type specification data is written is allocated, and the discharge to the container may be inhibited for an ink type to which the storage region in which the type specification data is not written is allocated.

Another preferable aspect for solving the above-described problem is, for example, a waste liquid box that includes a coupling portion coupled to a printer, a container containing ink discharged from the printer via the coupling portion, and a storage unit configured to store ink type identification data identifying one of a plurality of ink types.

In the waste liquid box described above, the storage unit may include storage regions individually allocated to the plurality of ink types, and the ink type identification data may include predetermined type specification data written into any one of the storage regions, and data, other than the type specification data, stored in a non-rewritable manner in the storage region other than the storage region into which the type specification data is written.

Another preferable aspect for solving the above-described problem is, for example, a printer using an ink of a predetermined ink type, the printer including a waste liquid box management unit. When the printer is coupled by a coupling portion to a waste liquid box, which includes the coupling portion coupled to the printer, a container containing ink discharged from the printer via the coupling portion, and a storage unit storing ink type identification data identifying one of a plurality of ink types, the waste liquid management unit determines whether the ink type identified by the ink type identification data stored in the storage unit is the predetermined ink type, and, when it is determined not to be the predetermined ink type, performs notification that the waste liquid box is not able to be used or processing of inhibiting discharge of ink of the predetermined ink type into the waste liquid box.

In the printer described above, the storage unit may include different storage regions individually allocated to a plurality of ink types, and the ink type identification data may include predetermined type specification data written into any one of the storage regions, and data, other than the type specification data, stored in a non-rewritable manner in the storage region other than the storage region into which the type specification data is written. When an ink type allocated with the storage region in which the type specification data is written is different from the predetermined ink type, the liquid box management unit determines that the ink type identified by the ink type identification data is not the predetermined ink type.

Another preferable aspect for solving the above-described problem is, for example, a waste liquid box management system that includes a first printer configured to use ink of a first ink type, a second printer configured to use ink of a second ink type different from the first ink type, a coupling portion configured to be couplable to one of the first printer and the second printer, and a waste liquid box including a container containing one of the ink of the first ink type discharged from the first printer and the ink of the second ink type discharged from the second printer, and a storage unit in which storage regions are individually allocated with respect to the first ink type and the second ink type. When the first printer is coupled to the waste liquid box via the coupling portion, the first printer writes, in the storage unit, predetermined type specification data into the storage region allocated to the first ink type, and inhibits writing to the storage region allocated to the second ink type in a state in which data other than the type specification data is stored therein.

In the above waste liquid box management system, when the first printer is coupled to the waste liquid box via the coupling portion, when the type specification data is not stored in the storage region allocated to the second ink type, the first printer may perform one of processing to issue notification that the waste liquid box is not able to be used and processing to inhibit discharge of the ink of the first ink type into the waste liquid box.

Each aspect for solving the above-described problem may be realized in various forms other than the above-described waste liquid box management method, waste liquid box, printer, and waste liquid box management system. For example, an aspect may be a program of a computer or a processor for realizing the above-described waste liquid box management method, printer, and waste liquid box management system. Further, an aspect may be a recording medium in which the above-described program is recorded, a server device for delivering the program, a transmission medium for transmitting the program, a data signal in which the above-described program is embodied in carrier waves, and the like.

