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1. An ink cartridge accommodating device comprising:an accommodating portion which is configured to accommodate a plurality of ink cartridges arranged in an arrangement direction; anda plurality of sensors which are provided correspondingly to the plurality of ink cartridges, and which optically detect information related to the plurality of ink cartridges, respectively,wherein each of the sensors includes a light-emitting element which emits light and a light-receiving element which receives light, andwherein the light-emitting elements or the light-receiving elements of adjacent sensors are arranged adjacent to each other.
2. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1,wherein in each of the sensors, the light-emitting element emits light to a specific portion of the corresponding one of the ink cartridges and the light-receiving element receives light passing through the specific portion to detect the information related to the corresponding one of the ink cartridges.
3. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1,wherein in each of the sensors, the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element are arranged so that an optical path from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element is aligned in the arrangement direction.
4. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1, further comprising a partition plate which has a cutout provided in a portion corresponding to the sensors, and which partitions an inner space of the accommodating portion into spaces for the respective ink cartridges.
5. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 2; wherein each of the ink cartridges comprises:an arm member supported to be pivotable according to an amount of ink therein;a first end portion which is provided at one end of the arm member and is movable between a first position where the first end portion is located inside the specific region and a second position where the first end portion is located outside the specific region, according to the pivoting of the arm member; anda second end portion which is provided at the other end of the arm member and is movable according to the amount of ink therein.
6. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1,wherein the information related to the ink cartridge includes information on an amount of ink in the ink cartridge
7. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1,wherein the information related to the ink cartridge includes information on an accommodated state of the ink cartridge in the accommodating portion.
8. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit which controls the light-emitting elements to emit light to the light-receiving elements, respectively, at the same time.
9. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1, further comprising:a first supply unit which supplies power to the light-emitting elements of the sensors so that the light-emitting elements of adjacent sensors emit light at the same time; anda first output unit which outputs signals from the light-receiving elements of the sensors through a plurality of lines connected to the light-receiving elements of the sensors, respectively.
10. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 9,wherein the light-emitting elements of the sensors are connected in series to one another.
11. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 1, further comprising:a second supply unit which supplies power to the light-emitting elements of the sensors so that the light-emitting elements of the sensors emit light at different timings; anda second output unit which outputs singals from the light-receiving elements of the sensors through a common line connected to the plurality of light-receiving elements.
12. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 11,wherein the light-receiving elements of the sensors are connected in parallel to one another, andwherein the common line includes a first common line connected to first terminals of the light-receiving elements of the sensors and a second common line connected to second terminals of the light-receiving elements of the sensors.
13. An ink cartridge accommodating device comprising:an accommodating portion which is configured to accommodate a plurality of ink cartridges arranged in a first direction; anda plurality of sensors, each including: a light-emitting element which emits light; and a light-receiving element which receives light and faces the light-emitting element in the first direction with a portion of the corresponding one of the ink cartridges being therebetween,wherein a direction from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element of one of the sensors is opposite to a direction from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element of another one of the sensors adjacent to the one of the sensors.
14. The ink cartridge accommodating device according to claim 13,wherein the accommodating portion includes a plurality of housings which hold the plurality of sensors, respectively, andwherein the housings for adjacent sensors are spaced apart by a distance without any member therebetween. |
