Patents Examined by Henok Legesse
  • Patent number: 9855765
    Abstract: There is provided an ink-jet recording method including: formation of an achromatic color recording area in a recording medium by using an achromatic color-ink; formation of a chromatic color recording area in the recording medium by using at least one chromatic color-ink; and formation of a boundary area including a first achromatic color boundary area formed by the achromatic color-ink and the chromatic color-inks, and a second achromatic color boundary area formed by the chromatic color-inks, wherein the first achromatic color boundary area is located to be adjacent to the achromatic color recording area, and the second achromatic color boundary area is located to be adjacent to the chromatic color recording area; and the boundary area is formed to have a width of not more than 340 ?m, and the second achromatic color boundary area is formed to have a width of not more than 170 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenta Hayashida
  • Patent number: 9844963
    Abstract: Various of the disclosed embodiments concern printing systems configured to deposit flexible dye sublimation inks onto flexible transfer materials. Together, the flexible ink and transfer material allow images to be transferred onto complex-shaped, i.e. non-planar, surfaces of a substrate. The flexible ink may be, for example, a thermoformable UV dye sublimation ink or a superflexible UV dye sublimation ink. In order to transfer an image onto the substrate, the transfer material is pressed onto the surface of the substrate. The substrate, transfer material, or both are heated to a temperature sufficient to cause the ink to sublimate. During the sublimation process, dye is able to permeate the substrate and form a transferred image. The flexible ink formulation may also include a soluble or solvent-sensitive component. In such embodiments, a solvent can be jetted onto the substrate and/or transfer material to remove residual ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING, INC.
    Inventor: Paul Andrew Edwards
  • Patent number: 9833990
    Abstract: A method for inkjet printing an image onto a curved region of an object surface includes applying a screen of ink drops to the region to create print dots, calculating the screen using a computer and generating and applying ink drops to the region using a print head having nozzles on a nozzle surface. The steps include a) providing data representing the print image, b) providing or calculating data representing the region, c) providing or calculating path data on paths for the print head or object, d) calculating application locations of ink drops using data from steps b) and c), e) calculating data based on tiling the region using data from step d), f) calibrating tone values using data from step e), g) screening the print image using data from step f), and h) printing the screened image onto the region. A device implementing the method is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Andreas Rupprecht, Michael Fuener, Tobias Mueller
  • Patent number: 9834009
    Abstract: A rotating handling carousel includes a transfer device arranged on the outer circumference of the handling carousel. The transfer device includes a carry-along element which receives and transports an article and a guide element. The guide element is arranged in such a way that the article transported by the carry-along element is guided into or out of a handling station, for which the guide element extends into an area of the handling station in such a way that the guide element does not collide with the handling device at the transfer position. A sensor detects whether a handling device or the article are not in the transfer position, and/or whether the article is located in the handling station at all, and, after such a determination, issues a collision signal based on a kind of the transfer device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: TILL GMBH
    Inventor: Volker Till
  • Patent number: 9835772
    Abstract: A lens array comprises a plurality of lenses disposed on a transparent substrate, and a light-shielding film disposed on the transparent substrate around the plurality of lenses, wherein the light-shielding film comprises a cured uv-curable ink containing a thermal acid generator. A method of manufacturing a lens array includes forming a plurality of lenses on a transparent substrate, depositing a uv-curable ink on the transparent substrate around the plurality of lenses, and curing the uv-curable ink to form a light-shielding film disposed on the transparent substrate around the plurality of lenses, wherein the inside of the light-shielding film is heated after the uv-curable ink is cured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsushi Kubota, Ryozo Akiyama
  • Patent number: 9827772
    Abstract: An inkjet device includes: multiple coating heads; a supply tank that is connected to the multiple coating heads through a supply pipe; a first controller that controls the pressure inside the supply tank; and a second controller that causes at least one coating head of the multiple coating heads to come close to an object. An inkjet method includes: (i) selecting at least one coating head from multiple coating heads; (ii) causing the at least one coating head to come close to an object; (iii) increasing a channel resistance of a supply pipe that supplies an ink to the coating head that has been caused to come close to the object; and (iv) coating the ink onto the object from the coating head that has been caused to come close to the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazutoshi Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 9827764
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head includes a pressure chamber substrate in which a pressure chamber space is formed, a flow path substrate having a first surface on which the pressure chamber substrate is installed and a second surface that is on the opposite side to the first surface, and in which a first space, a supply hole that enables communication between the first space and the pressure chamber space, and a communication hole that communicates with the pressure chamber space are formed, a nozzle plate that is installed on the second surface and in which a nozzle that communicates with the communication hole is formed, a second space that is installed on the first surface and that communicates with the first space of the flow path substrate, a housing unit in which an opening portion that communicates with the second space is formed, a compliance unit that is flexible and installed on the second surface and that seals the communication hole and the first space, and a beam-like portion that extends between inner wa
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Fumiya Takino, Shunsuke Watanabe, Kenta Anegawa
  • Patent number: 9827795
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a printing section that performs printing by discharging an ink onto a sheet of paper, a plurality of transport members that are respectively disposed in a plurality of locations in a transport pathway of the sheet of paper, and that are capable of transporting the sheet of paper along the transport pathway by rotating in contact with the sheet of paper, and a single cleaning unit that is used commonly during cleaning of the respective plurality of transport members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Hara, Kazunori Mori
  • Patent number: 9821560
    Abstract: Provided is an ink supply set configured to detach from a liquid supply apparatus and includes an ink containing portion, an ink guiding unit including an engaging portion, a flow path unit that guides the ink in the ink containing portion to the ink guiding portion, a circuit board, and a substrate installation portion that is independent from the ink guiding unit. The liquid supply apparatus includes a liquid introduction portion and a movable support portion. In a state in which the engaging portion and the substrate installation portion are respectively engaged with a first engaged portion and a second engaged portion formed in the movable support portion, the circuit board comes into contact with an electrical connection portion provided in the liquid supply apparatus, and in the removed position, the circuit board is separated from the electrical connection portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Taku Ishizawa, Hiroyuki Kawate
  • Patent number: 9821574
    Abstract: A medium holding device includes a large tray having a medium mounting surface; an intermediate tray having a medium mounting surface smaller than that of the large tray; a tray mounting section on which the large tray and the intermediate tray are selectively mounted; a frame body that holds a recording medium with the large tray if the large tray and the intermediate tray have separate configuration and the large tray is mounted on the tray mounting section; and a first attachment that is mounted on an inside of the frame body and holds the recording medium with the intermediate tray if the intermediate tray is mounted on the tray mounting section, and is separated from the frame body if the large tray is mounted on the tray mounting section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Naoyuki Fujimori
  • Patent number: 9815298
    Abstract: A color image processing device uses a dither pattern of blocks, each including a plurality of dots representing the gradations of each pixel of an image in a prescribed region. The dither pattern includes a plurality of dot groups stacked, each dot group including dots arranged in a direction where a printing element moves relative to a recording medium, and the beginning of each group is set off by one or more dots in the movement direction, and a halftone image including the pixels is recorded, using variations in density, with the growth order going either from the first dot of the uppermost row of the dither pattern to the last dot of the lowermost row, or from the first dot of the lowermost row to the last dot of the uppermost row.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignees: TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD, CANON FINETECH NISCA INC.
    Inventor: Rie Haramoto
  • Patent number: 9815282
    Abstract: A fluid ejection structure can include thermal resistors, a substrate, layers on the substrate, wherein said layers can include a region proximate to the resistor that has reduced field oxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Bradley D. Chung, Galen P. Cook, Michael H. Hayes, Adam L. Ghozeil, Chantelle Elizabeth Domingue, Valerie J. Marty, Anthony M. Fuller, Sterling Chaffins
  • Patent number: 9815300
    Abstract: A printing device (1) is provided with: a can body conveying mechanism (100) for sequentially conveying can bodies (10); and a can body moving mechanism (200) for moving the can body (10) while forming an image onto the outer circumferential surface of the can body (10) conveyed by the can body conveying mechanism (100). The can body moving mechanism (200) is provided with a rotating member (210) formed in a disc shape and rotating in a clockwise direction in the drawing. The can body moving mechanism (200) is also provided with plural image forming units (220) provided on the rotating member (210) and forming an image onto the outer circumferential surface of the can body (10) while moving the can body (10). The image forming units (220) are each provided with plural ink ejection devices for ejecting ink onto the outer circumferential surface of the can body (10). This provides an image forming device capable of increasing the number of can bodies on each of which an image can be formed per unit time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: SHOW A ALUMINUM CAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasushi Tashiro, Shinichi Ojima, Kazunori Ikeda, Kenyu Muraoka, Tetsuo Kashiwazaki, Asumi Suwa
  • Patent number: 9809029
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head which ejects liquid from a nozzle that is disposed on a nozzle surface, and an absorption member which is able to contact the nozzle surface, in which it is possible to perform a first contact operation which causes the absorption member to contact the nozzle surface at a position which corresponds to a nozzle region that includes an opening region of the nozzle, and a second contact operation which causes the absorption member to contact the nozzle surface at a position which corresponds to a non-nozzle region that is a region outside of the nozzle region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shigeki Suzuki, Koji Harada, Tsuyoshi Hayashi, Kazuhiko Hara, Yasunori Koike, Ryo Oguchi
  • Patent number: 9809038
    Abstract: A droplet drying device includes a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in a two-dimensional manner to irradiate droplets with light to dry the droplets, the droplets being ejected on a recording medium by an ejection unit, a regular irradiation capability portion provided in a region corresponding to an image forming region of the recording medium where an image is formed, the regular irradiation capability portion having a predetermined light irradiation capability, and a low irradiation capability portion provided in a region corresponding to a region of the recording medium set to have a lower image-forming density than the image forming region, a light irradiation capability of the low irradiation capability portion being lower than the predetermined light irradiation capability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuma Ishihara, Takeshi Zengo, Takehiro Niitsu, Akira Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 9809034
    Abstract: A liquid supply unit configured to supply a liquid to a liquid inlet of a liquid jet apparatus. The liquid supply unit includes a liquid housing part configured to house a liquid, a liquid outlet configured to draw the liquid from inside the liquid housing part to outside the liquid housing part, and a filter provided upstream of the liquid outlet in a channel of the liquid that is drawn from inside the liquid housing part to outside the liquid housing part via the liquid outlet. The filter includes a first filter and a second filter that are constituted by a plurality of fibers laminated in a flow direction of the liquid. The first filter is provided upstream of the second filter in the channel of the liquid, and the first filter and the second filter differ in coarseness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Aoki, Masahiro Karasawa, Kazuyuki Hirata
  • Patent number: 9809033
    Abstract: A liquid container including: a liquid container part; a liquid injection part; an air introduction part; and a buffer part that is in communication with the liquid container part via a first communication path, and in communication with the air introduction part via a second communication path. the buffer part, when the liquid container is in a second orientation that is rotated from the first orientation by 180°, is configured to store the liquid having a volume that is equal to or larger than a volume of the liquid in the liquid container part such that a surface of the liquid is located below a second opening end of the first communication path in the buffer part and a third opening end of the second communication path in the buffer part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takanori Matsuda, Shoma Kudo, Munehide Kanaya
  • Patent number: 9796867
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a coating composition for a heat sealable, inkjet printable image transfer material, an article comprising said coating composition in form of at least one heat sealable, inkjet printable layer, a method for applying graphical information to a surface of an object using a heat sealable, inkjet printable image transfer material comprising said coating composition and a method of making such a coating composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: SIHL GMBH
    Inventors: Axel Niemoeller, Manfred Schaefer, Roy Keulders
  • Patent number: 9796185
    Abstract: There is provided a recording apparatus in which a case, in which a liquid container is accommodated, is reliably fixed to a housing with sufficient strength. A printer includes: a liquid ejecting head that ejects ink and performs recording on a sheet; a housing in which the liquid ejecting head is accommodated; a liquid container in which ink is contained; and a case 141 in which the liquid container is accommodated. In the printer, a metal member is attached to at least one of a wall surface of the housing, which is made of a resin or a wall surface of the case, which is made of a resin, and the metal member reinforces the strength of an attachment portion of the housing with the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Satoshi Iwaya
  • Patent number: 9796180
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a piezoelectric transducer having a plurality of pressure chambers, a plurality of partitions dividing the plurality of pressure chambers, and a plurality of electrodes formed in the plurality of pressure chambers, respectively. The plurality of partitions each includes a first side wall and a second side wall that is positioned on a back surface side of the first side wall. The first side wall includes a first wall surface positioned at an upper portion thereof, the first wall surface being positioned so as to be set back in a normal direction from a second wall surface positioned below the first wall surface. A first electrode is formed on the second wall surface, and a second electrode is formed on the second side wall. An upper end of the second electrode is higher than an upper end of the first electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Kitani, Hidehiko Fujimura, Shumpei Tatsumi