阅读说明：本技术 代理芯片、耗材及图像形成装置 (Agent chip, consumable, and image forming apparatus ) 是由 宁丹 于 2021-01-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了一种代理芯片、耗材及图像形成装置,该代理芯片包括第一通信单元、第二通信单元和控制单元,第一通信单元用于与图像形成装置的主控芯片电连接,图像形成装置上安装有耗材,耗材设置有耗材芯片；第二通信单元用于与耗材芯片电连接,以通过代理芯片隔离主控芯片与耗材芯片之间的直接通信；控制单元与第一通信单元、第二通信单元分别电连接,用于对耗材执行管理操作。本申请通过设置于有代理芯片,并使代理芯片与主控芯片、耗材芯片分别电连接,进而通过代理芯片能够及时地对耗材执行管理操作并反馈相应信息给主控芯片,避免了由于数据不能及时更新而导致的数据丢失及可能造成对设备的损坏。(The application discloses a proxy chip, consumables and an image forming device, wherein the proxy chip comprises a first communication unit, a second communication unit and a control unit, the first communication unit is used for being electrically connected with a main control chip of the image forming device, the image forming device is provided with the consumables, and the consumables are provided with consumable chips; the second communication unit is electrically connected with the consumable chip so as to isolate direct communication between the main control chip and the consumable chip through the proxy chip; the control unit is electrically connected with the first communication unit and the second communication unit respectively and is used for executing management operation on the consumable. This application is through setting up in there being the chip of acting in to make the chip of acting in the same place be connected with main control chip, consumptive material chip electricity respectively, and then can carry out management operation and feedback corresponding information for main control chip to the consumptive material in time through the chip of acting in the same place, avoided because data that can not in time update and the data that leads to lose and probably cause the damage to equipment.)

1. A proxy chip, comprising:

the first communication unit is used for being electrically connected with a main control chip of the image forming device, consumables are installed on the image forming device, and the consumables are provided with consumable chips;

the second communication unit is electrically connected with the consumable chip so as to isolate direct communication between the main control chip and the consumable chip through the proxy chip;

and the control unit is electrically connected with the first communication unit and the second communication unit respectively and is used for executing management operation on the consumable.

2. The agent chip of claim 1, wherein the means for performing management operations on the consumable substance comprises:

the control unit is used for performing authentication operation on the consumable and/or the control unit is used for acquiring the use state information of the consumable and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

3. The agent chip according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to perform the authentication operation on the consumable item specifically including:

the control unit is used for receiving the consumable chip authentication instruction sent by the main control chip and executing authentication operation on the consumable based on the received consumable chip authentication instruction, or

The control unit is used for autonomously executing authentication operation on the consumable.

4. The agent chip according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to obtain the usage status information of the consumable item and feed back the usage status information to the main control chip specifically includes:

the control unit is used for receiving the consumable use state acquisition instruction sent by the main control chip, acquiring the use state information of the consumable based on the received consumable use state acquisition instruction and feeding the use state information back to the main control chip, or

The control unit is used for autonomously acquiring the use state information of the consumable and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

5. The agent chip according to claim 1, wherein the main control chip comprises a data controller and an engine controller, the engine controller being electrically connected to the data controller, wherein the data controller is configured to receive data to be printed and convert the data to be printed into data recognizable by the image forming apparatus, and the engine controller is configured to control an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation based on the data recognizable by the image forming apparatus; wherein the proxy chip is electrically connected with the data controller to isolate direct communication between the data controller and the consumable chip through the proxy chip.

6. The agent chip according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the agent chip is provided on the image forming apparatus or the consumable.

7. A consumable comprising a consumable chip and a surrogate chip according to any of claims 1 to 6.

8. An image forming apparatus in which a consumable is detachably installed, the consumable being provided with a detachable consumable chip, the image forming apparatus including a main control chip, characterized in that the image forming apparatus further includes:

the agent chip is electrically connected with the main control chip and the consumable chip respectively so as to isolate direct communication between the main control chip and the consumable chip through the agent chip, and the agent chip is used for executing management operation on the consumable.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the agent chip is configured to perform a management operation on the consumable part, and specifically comprises: the agent chip is used for performing authentication operation on the consumable item and/or the agent chip is used for acquiring the use state information of the consumable item and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the main control chip comprises a data controller and an engine controller, the engine controller being electrically connected to the data controller, wherein the data controller is configured to receive data to be printed and convert the data to be printed into data recognizable by the image forming apparatus, and the engine controller is configured to control an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation based on the data recognizable by the image forming apparatus; wherein the proxy chip is electrically connected with the data controller to isolate direct communication between the data controller and the consumable chip through the proxy chip.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a display unit electrically connected to the data controller.

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of image forming, in particular to a proxy chip, a consumable with the proxy chip and an image forming device.

Background

An image forming apparatus, such as a printer, has a main control chip for managing consumables, and a conventional printer performs a consumable management operation, such as status inquiry, on consumables at a specific timing.

However, in the existing printer, because the resources of the main control chip are limited, the main control chip needs to be used for dealing with relatively important real-time work tasks in time, the management operation of the printer on consumables is often caused to be later than the preset time, and the related data of the consumables interacted between the consumables chip and the printer cannot be updated in time, so that the data is lost; or the printer needs to retrieve consumable status information, such as whether the consumable is available for some functional operation (e.g., to warm up the device), but if the consumable detection process is not completed to warm up the device, damage to the device may result.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to overcome the problems of the prior art, the present application is directed to a broker chip capable of managing consumables in a timely manner.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the following technical solutions are specifically adopted in the present application:

the application provides a proxy chip, this proxy chip includes:

the first communication unit is used for being electrically connected with a main control chip of the image forming device, consumables are installed on the image forming device, and the consumables are provided with consumable chips;

the second communication unit is electrically connected with the consumable chip so as to isolate direct communication between the main control chip and the consumable chip through the proxy chip;

and the control unit is electrically connected with the first communication unit and the second communication unit respectively and is used for executing management operation on the consumable.

In a specific embodiment, the method for performing management operations on the consumable comprises:

the control unit is used for performing authentication operation on the consumable and/or the control unit is used for acquiring the use state information of the consumable and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

In a specific embodiment, the control unit is configured to perform an authentication operation on the consumable, and specifically includes:

the control unit is used for receiving the consumable chip authentication instruction sent by the main control chip and executing authentication operation on the consumable based on the received consumable chip authentication instruction, or

The control unit is used for autonomously executing authentication operation on the consumable.

In a specific implementation manner, the step of the control unit being configured to obtain the usage status information of the consumable and feed back the usage status information to the main control chip specifically includes:

the control unit is used for receiving the consumable use state acquisition instruction sent by the main control chip, acquiring the use state information of the consumable based on the received consumable use state acquisition instruction and feeding the use state information back to the main control chip, or

The control unit is used for autonomously acquiring the use state information of the consumable and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

In a specific embodiment, the main control chip comprises a data controller and an engine controller, the engine controller is electrically connected with the data controller, the data controller is used for receiving data to be printed and converting the data to be printed into data which can be identified by the image forming device, and the engine controller is used for controlling an image forming unit of the image forming device to execute image forming operation based on the data which can be identified by the image forming device; wherein the proxy chip is electrically connected with the data controller to isolate direct communication between the data controller and the consumable chip through the proxy chip.

In a specific embodiment, the proxy chip is disposed on the image forming apparatus or the consumable.

Correspondingly, the application also provides a consumable which comprises a consumable chip and the agent chip.

Accordingly, the present application also provides an image forming apparatus in which consumables are detachably installed, the consumables being provided with detachable consumable chips, the image forming apparatus including a main control chip, the image forming apparatus further including:

the agent chip is electrically connected with the main control chip and the consumable chip respectively so as to isolate direct communication between the main control chip and the consumable chip through the agent chip, and the agent chip is used for executing management operation on the consumable.

In a specific embodiment, the method for executing management operations on the consumable part by the proxy chip specifically includes: the agent chip is used for performing authentication operation on the consumable item and/or the agent chip is used for acquiring the use state information of the consumable item and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip.

In a specific embodiment, the main control chip comprises a data controller and an engine controller, the engine controller is electrically connected with the data controller, the data controller is used for receiving data to be printed and converting the data to be printed into data which can be identified by the image forming device, and the engine controller is used for controlling an image forming unit of the image forming device to execute image forming operation based on the data which can be identified by the image forming device; wherein the proxy chip is electrically connected with the data controller to isolate direct communication between the data controller and the consumable chip through the proxy chip.

In a specific embodiment, the image forming apparatus further comprises a display unit electrically connected to the data controller.

Compared with the prior art, the method and the device have the advantages that the agent chip is arranged, the agent chip is electrically connected with the main control chip and the consumable chip respectively, management operation can be performed on the consumable in time through the agent chip, corresponding information is fed back to the main control chip, and data loss and possible damage to equipment due to the fact that data cannot be updated timely are avoided.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection between a host chip and a proxy chip in an image forming apparatus according to the related art.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a proxy chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection between a proxy chip, a main control chip, and a consumable chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a specific connection of a proxy chip according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating connection between a proxy chip and a main control chip, a consumable chip and a display unit in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The attached drawings are as follows:

1. a proxy chip; 101. a first communication unit; 102. a second communication unit; 103. a control unit; 2. a main control chip; 21. a data controller; 22. an engine controller; 3. a consumable chip; 4. a display unit.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

In the description of the present application, unless explicitly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "first", "second", and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance; the term "plurality" means two or more unless specified or indicated otherwise; the terms "connected," "fixed," and the like are to be construed broadly and may, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, integrally connected, or electrically connected; may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "upper" and "lower" used in the description of the embodiments of the present application are used in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. In addition, in this context, it will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being "on" or "under" another element, it can be directly on "or" under "the other element or be indirectly on" or "under" the other element via an intermediate element.

Referring to fig. 1 in the prior art, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection between a main control chip and a consumable chip in an image forming apparatus according to the prior art. The image forming device comprises a main control chip 2 ', the image forming device is internally provided with a consumable which comprises a consumable chip 3 ', the consumable chip 3 ' is directly electrically connected with the main control chip 2 ', and then the management operation is directly executed on the consumable through the main control chip 2 '.

Specifically, the main control chip 2 'includes a data controller 21' and an engine controller 22 ', the data controller 21' is electrically connected to the engine controller 22 ', and the engine controller 22' is electrically connected to the consumable chip 3 'to realize communication among the data controller 21', the engine controller 22 'and the consumable chip 3'. The data controller 21 'is responsible for receiving data transmitted by a device such as a computer, a mobile phone, or a usb disk, converting the received data into data recognizable by the image forming device, and then transmitting the data recognizable by the image forming device to the engine controller 22'. The engine controller 22' controls the image forming unit to perform an image forming operation based on the received data. In the above image forming operation, the management operation may be directly performed on the consumables through the data controller 21 'or the engine controller 22', for example, the data controller 21 'may be responsible for data interaction with the consumable chip 3', perform an authentication operation on the consumables and feed back authentication status information to the display unit of the image forming apparatus or the display unit of another terminal connected to the image forming apparatus, such as a mobile phone, for display; the engine controller 22 'may be responsible for performing data interaction with the consumable chip 3', authenticating the consumable, and feeding back the authentication status information to the data controller 22 ', and the data controller 22' may feed back the authentication status information to the display unit 4 'of the image forming apparatus or the display unit 4' of another terminal connected to the image forming apparatus, such as a mobile phone, for display.

However, in the above process, the inventor found that, because the resources of the main control chip of the image forming apparatus are limited, the main control chip needs to be used for dealing with the real-time work task which is important in time, the consumable management operation of the image forming apparatus on the consumable is often caused to be later than the preset time, so that the data related to the consumable interacted between the consumable chip and the image forming apparatus cannot be updated in time, and the data is lost; or the image forming apparatus needs to retrieve the status information of the consumables, such as for some functional operations, such as preheating the machine, according to the presence or absence of the consumables, but the consumable detection process is not completed, and the machine may be damaged if the machine is preheated without being detected.

In order to solve the above problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a proxy chip, and fig. 2 is a block diagram of a module of the proxy chip provided in the embodiment of the present application. The agent chip 1 comprises a first communication unit 11, a second communication unit 12 and a control unit 13, wherein the control unit 13 is electrically connected with the first communication unit 11 and the second communication unit 12 respectively so as to realize communication among the first communication unit 11, the second communication unit 12 and the control unit 13. The first communication unit 11 is used for realizing communication with the image forming apparatus, the second communication unit 12 is used for realizing communication with consumables, and the control unit 13 is used for coordinating functions in the agent chip and performing management operation, updating and the like on the consumables.

Among them, the image forming apparatus is used to perform image forming jobs such as generating, printing, receiving, and transmitting image data, and examples of the image forming apparatus include: an inkjet printer, a laser printer, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) printer, a copier, a scanner, or a multifunction Peripheral (MFP) that performs the above functions in a single device. The image forming apparatus includes a main control chip for controlling the entire image forming apparatus and an image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet conveyed thereto under the control of the main control chip based on image forming data and a developer such as toner stored in consumables.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application; referring to fig. 3, as an example of an image forming apparatus, an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus may include: the paper to be printed moves in the paper feeding direction, sequentially passes through the powder feeding operation of the developer conveying member 13 and the developing operation of the developing member 12, reaches a nip area between the photosensitive member 14 and the transfer member 15 for transfer, and then passes through the fixing assembly 5 for fixing, so as to complete the image forming operation.

The developer accommodating portion 11 is used for accommodating a developer, which may be toner, carbon powder, or other materials; the developing member 12 may include a developing roller or the like; the developer conveying member 13 may include a powder feeding roller or the like; the photosensitive member 14 may include a photosensitive drum (OPC) and a charging roller for charging the photosensitive drum, and the like.

The consumable of this embodiment can be implemented by: the consumptive material is split type structure, including developing box and drum box, wherein, developing box and drum box can be dismantled relatively, are provided with the developing box chip in the developing box, are provided with the drum box chip in the drum box, are used for storing carbon dust content, information such as the number of pages of printing respectively. For example: the developing cartridge includes a casing, a developer accommodating portion 11, a developing member 12, and a developer conveying member 13, wherein the developer accommodating portion 11 is located in the casing for accommodating the developer, and the developer conveying member 13 is for conveying the developer; the drum cartridge includes a photosensitive body 14 and the like.

Another way that can be achieved is: the consumable is of a one-piece construction, for example: the consumable (1, 2, 3, or 4) includes a developer accommodating portion 11, a developing member 12, a developer conveying member 13, a photosensitive member 14, a transfer member 15, and the like. That is, in the present application, 1 consumable chip is usually provided for the consumable of the integrated structure; to the consumptive material of split type structure, be provided with 2 consumptive material chips usually, install respectively in development box and drum box.

The consumable mentioned in this embodiment may be the developing cartridge, the drum cartridge, or both, and is not limited herein; the consumable mentioned in this embodiment may also be other components, parts, units that need to be easily damaged and replaced in the image forming apparatus, such as a paper box, a powder cartridge, a paper box or a powder cartridge, and the like, and also belongs to the technical scheme corresponding to the consumable protected by the present invention; correspondingly, the embodiment refers to the mounting of consumable chips on the consumables, which are used for storing the consumption information of printing media such as carbon powder and paper contained in the consumables, the number of printed pages, and the attribute information of the consumables such as serial numbers.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating connection between a proxy chip, a main control chip and a consumable chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where n is an integer greater than zero. The image forming apparatus includes a main control chip 2, consumables are detachably mounted on the image forming apparatus, and a consumable chip 3 is detachably mounted on the consumables. The first communication unit 11 is electrically connected with the main control chip 2 to realize the communication between the agent chip 1 and the main control chip 2; the second communication unit 12 is electrically connected with the consumable chip 3 to realize communication between the agent chip 1 and the consumable chip 3, and further isolate direct communication between the main control chip 2 and the consumable chip 3 through the agent chip 1, that is, communication such as data transmission, data reception and the like cannot be directly performed between the main control chip 2 and the consumable chip 3, and data transmitted by the main control chip 2 to the consumable chip 3 needs to be transmitted to the agent chip 1 first and then transmitted to the consumable chip 3 by the agent chip 1; data sent by the consumable chip 3 to the main control chip 2 need to be sent to the agent chip 1 first, and then sent to the main control chip 2 by the agent chip 1, for example, the main control chip 2 cannot directly communicate with the consumable chip to execute consumable authentication operation, and the agent chip 1 executes the consumable authentication operation on the consumable chip.

Specifically, the control unit 13 can be configured to perform an authentication operation on the consumable, and when the control unit 13 receives a consumable chip authentication instruction transmitted from the main control chip 2 through the first communication unit 11, the authentication operation can be performed on the consumable based on the received consumable chip authentication instruction, or the control unit 13 can autonomously perform the authentication operation on the consumable. The authentication operation is performed on the consumable, and whether the consumable is a consumable meeting preset requirements or not is determined by communicating with a consumable chip on the consumable so as to determine whether the image forming operation is to be performed by using the consumable.

Further, the control unit 13 can also be used for acquiring the use state information of the consumable and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip 2, when the control unit 13 receives the consumable use state acquisition instruction sent by the main control chip 2 through the first communication unit 11, the use state information of the consumable can be acquired based on the received consumable use state acquisition instruction and fed back to the main control chip 2 through the first communication unit 11, or the control unit 13 can autonomously acquire the use state information of the consumable and feed back to the main control chip 2, and then display the use state information through the display unit. The use state information of the consumable includes the number of remaining printing pages and the remaining amount of printing media such as toner stored in the consumable.

This application is through being provided with the chip 1 of acting as an agent that is used for concentrating and managing the consumptive material, when main control chip 2 need monitor the existing condition or the user state of consumptive material, only need from chip 1 of acting as an agent obtain corresponding information can, avoided because data can not in time be updated and the data that leads to lose and probably cause the damage to equipment.

Further, the agent chip 1 further includes a security identification unit, a traffic monitoring unit, and a status management unit. The safety identification unit is used for identifying the legality of each consumable part loaded on the agent chip 1 and proving the legality of the consumable part to the main control chip; the business monitoring unit is used for monitoring the behavior of the consumable mounted on the agent chip; the state management unit is used for feeding back to the main control chip according to the behavior of the consumable material, and the integrated state of the consumable material is integrated into the main control chip, wherein the consumable material hung on the agent chip is the consumable material corresponding to the consumable material chip connected with the agent chip.

According to the application, the agent chip 1 is arranged, the agent chip 1 is used for managing and controlling the consumable system, the agent chip is used for integrating all safety characteristics, states and corresponding information of the consumable and feeding back results to the main control chip through a protocol agreed by the main control chip; on one hand, the printing control system and the consumable management system can be separated, so that the coupling of the module is reduced and the independence of the module is enhanced; on the other hand, because the agent chip is directly communicated with the data controller, the state related to the consumable supplies can be transmitted to the data controller through the agent chip, the communication efficiency is higher, and the error probability is lower; in addition, this application is through setting up in there being the chip of acting to make the chip of acting and main control chip, consumptive material chip be connected electrically respectively, and then can carry out management operation and feedback corresponding information to the main control chip through the chip of acting in time, avoided because data can not in time be updated and the data that leads to lose and probably cause the damage to equipment.

Further, there is a business model in which the original equipment designer sells the complete machine together with the consumable items to the equipment vendor or other equipment manufacturers with cooperation for design or sale, and the original equipment designer usually does not inform the equipment vendor or other equipment manufacturers of the control manner in the engine controller, so that if the equipment vendor or other equipment manufacturers want to modify the relevant policy of consumable item management, the modification can only be performed by the original equipment designer, it takes much time for the equipment vendor or other equipment manufacturers, and the consumable item management policy of the equipment vendor or other equipment manufacturers can be revealed, specifically, as shown in fig. 1, if the consumable item management policy is modified, the control policy in the engine controller 22' needs to be modified as a whole.

In order to solve the above problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a proxy chip, and referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a specific connection schematic diagram of the proxy chip provided in the embodiment of the present application, and the main control chip 2 includes a data controller 21 and an engine controller 22, where the proxy chip 1 is specifically configured to be connected to the data controller 21 in the main control chip 2. The data controller 21 is responsible for receiving data transmitted by a device such as a computer, a mobile phone, or a usb disk, converting the received data into data recognizable by the image forming device, and then transmitting the data recognizable by the image forming device to the engine controller 22. The engine controller 22 controls an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation based on the received data recognizable by the image forming apparatus.

Specifically, the first communication unit 11 of the proxy chip 1 is electrically connected to the data controller 21, and the second communication unit 12 of the proxy chip 1 is electrically connected to the consumable chip 3 to isolate direct communication between the data controller 21 and the consumable chip 3 through the proxy chip 1, and to perform an authentication operation on the consumable through the proxy chip 1 and feed back authentication status information to the display unit 4 for display, where the display unit 4 may be a display unit of an image forming apparatus or a display unit of another terminal connected to the image forming apparatus, such as a mobile phone. The display unit of the image forming apparatus may be an operation panel, the display unit of the terminal may be a display screen, and specifically, information may be displayed on a user interface of software installed in the terminal.

This application is through being provided with agent chip, if equipment sales or other equipment manufacturers want to modify the relevant tactics of consumptive material management, can modify the relevant tactics in order to modify consumptive material management to the chip of burying instead by oneself, and need not to modify engine controller through original equipment designer, has saved time cost to can prevent revealing of consumptive material management tactics.

In this embodiment, the agent chip 1 is a single chip, which is disposed on the image forming apparatus and located on the same board as the main control chip, and the agent chip 1 is electrically connected to the main control chip and the consumable chip through the communication bus. It is understood that, in other embodiments, the agent chip 1 may also be disposed on the consumable, and the agent chip 1 may also be electrically connected to the main control chip and the consumable chip respectively in other manners, or the agent chip may also be a core in the main control chip.

According to the application, the agent chip 1 is arranged, the agent chip 1 is used for managing and controlling the consumable system, the agent chip is used for integrating all safety characteristics, states and corresponding information of the consumable and feeding back results to the main control chip through a protocol agreed by the main control chip; on one hand, the printing control system and the consumable management system can be separated, the coupling of the modules is reduced, the independence of the modules is enhanced, the risk of increasing the whole machine modification caused by the requirement of a specific user is reduced, and on the other hand, the customization requirement of an equipment seller or an equipment manufacturer can be facilitated.

In addition, because the agent chip is directly communicated with the data controller, the state related to the consumable supplies can be transmitted to the data controller through the agent chip, the communication efficiency is higher, and the error probability is lower; for equipment marketers or other equipment manufacturers, when the management strategy related to the consumable items is modified, interaction with an original equipment provider is not needed, time is saved, leakage of the consumable item management strategy per se is effectively avoided, and user experience is good; for original equipment providers, the operation of modifying related consumable management strategies is omitted, and labor and time are saved.

Correspondingly, the application also discloses a consumable which comprises a consumable chip and the agent chip in the embodiment.

Based on the above-mentioned proxy chip, the present application further discloses an image forming apparatus, and fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating connection between the proxy chip, the main control chip, the consumable chip, and the display unit in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application. The image forming device comprises an agent chip 1 and a main control chip 2, consumable materials are detachably mounted in the image forming device and comprise a consumable body and a consumable chip 3 detachably connected to the consumable body. The agent chip 1 is electrically connected with the main control chip 2 and the consumable chip 3 respectively so as to isolate the direct communication between the main control chip 2 and the consumable chip 3 through the agent chip 1.

Specifically, the agent chip 1 is used for performing management operations on consumables, for example, the agent chip 1 is used for performing authentication operations on consumables or acquiring use state information of consumables and feeding back the use state information to the main control chip 2. When the agent chip 1 receives the consumable chip authentication instruction transmitted by the main control chip 2, it is possible to perform an authentication operation on the consumable based on the received consumable chip authentication instruction, or the agent chip is able to autonomously perform an authentication operation on the consumable. When the agent chip 1 receives the consumable use state acquisition instruction sent by the main control chip 2, the consumable use state information acquired by the consumable use state acquisition instruction can be fed back to the main control chip 2 based on the received consumable use state acquisition instruction, or the agent chip 1 can autonomously acquire the consumable use state information and feed back to the main control chip 2, and then the consumable use state information is displayed through the display unit 4.

Further, the main control chip 2 includes a data controller 21 and an engine controller 22, the engine controller 22 is electrically connected to the data controller 21, the data controller 21 is configured to receive data to be printed and convert the data to be printed into data recognizable by the image forming apparatus, and the engine controller 22 is configured to control an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation based on the data recognizable by the image forming apparatus. The agent chip 1 is electrically connected with the data controller 21 and the consumable chip 3 respectively, so as to isolate direct communication between the data controller 21 and the consumable chip 3 through the agent chip 1, and authenticate the consumable through the agent chip 1 and feed authentication state information back to the display unit 4 for displaying, wherein the display unit 4 can be a display unit of an image forming apparatus or a display unit of other terminals connected with the image forming apparatus, such as a mobile phone.

According to the application, the agent chip 1 is arranged, the agent chip 1 is used for managing and controlling the consumable system, the agent chip is used for integrating all safety characteristics, states and corresponding information of the consumable and feeding back results to the main control chip through a protocol agreed by the main control chip; on one hand, the printing control system and the consumable management system can be separated, the coupling of the modules is reduced, the independence of the modules is enhanced, the risk of increasing the whole machine modification caused by the requirement of a specific user is reduced, and on the other hand, the customization requirement of an equipment seller or an equipment manufacturer can be facilitated.

In addition, because the agent chip is directly communicated with the data controller, the state information (such as authentication state information and use state information) related to the consumable supplies can be transmitted to the data controller through the agent chip, the communication efficiency is higher, and the error probability is lower; for equipment marketers or other equipment manufacturers, when the management strategy related to the consumable items is modified, interaction with an original equipment provider is not needed, time is saved, leakage of the consumable item management strategy per se is effectively avoided, and user experience is good; for original equipment providers, the operation of modifying related consumable management strategies is omitted, and labor and time are saved.

Continuing to refer to fig. 5, the image forming apparatus further includes a display unit 4, and the display unit 4 is electrically connected to the data controller 21 for displaying authentication status information, use status information, and the like of the consumables. Among them, the display unit 4 may be a display unit of a printing apparatus or a display unit of another terminal such as a mobile phone connected to the image forming apparatus.

The above description is only for the preferred embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present application should be covered within the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.