Patents Examined by Julian D. Huffman
  • Patent number: 11964494
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, having a cartridge detachably attached to the image forming apparatus and including a first compartment configured to store a colorant, a container configured to be connected with the cartridge and including a second compartment configured to store the colorant flowing from the cartridge, and a display configured to display a first object indicating a first remainder amount and a second object indicating a second remainder amount in a single screen, is provided. The first remainder amount is a remainder amount of the colorant stored in the first compartment, and the second remainder amount is a remainder amount of the colorant stored in the second compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shunsuke Minamikawa, Kenta Horade
  • Patent number: 11951752
    Abstract: A controller includes a print controller configured to cause the print execution engine to convey the print medium in a conveying direction and execute a plurality of partial printings. The print controller causes the print execution engine to execute first and second partial printings. On a print medium, first and second target ranges on which printing is to be performed by the first and second partial printings, respectively, form an overlapping range. The first and second target ranges include first and second non-overlapping ranges, respectively, that do not overlap the second and first target ranges, respectively. The print controller generates print data based on non-overlapping range data and overlapping range data. The generating the print data includes increasing a density of at least a portion of the image to be printed in the overlapping range as compared with a density of the images to be printed in the non-overlapping ranges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoru Arakane
  • Patent number: 11945238
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device includes: a printing unit including a liquid ejecting head configured to eject a liquid to a medium and a head holder configured to form an air cooling path, and a cooling mechanism configured to cause air in the air cooling path to flow therethrough to air-cool the liquid ejecting head, wherein the printing unit is provided so as to be movable with respect to a transport path along which the medium is transported, the cooling mechanism includes a first air hole and a second air hole that are configured to be coupled to the air cooling path, and the air cooling path is coupled to one of the first air hole and the second air hole corresponding to a position of the printing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Saka, Tetsuji Yatsunami, Yoshikane Tsuchihashi, Yoshinori Yanagisawa, Kohei Usuda
  • Patent number: 11938742
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes: a conveying roller which conveys a print medium in a conveying direction; a line head having first and second nozzle rows arranged in the conveying direction; and a controller. Each of the first and second nozzle rows includes nozzles aligned along a width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. The nozzles are configured to discharge liquid, and the nozzles in the first nozzle row and the nozzles in the second nozzle row are shifted in the width direction. The first nozzle row has: first nozzles forming a group; and second nozzles forming a group adjacently in the width direction to the group of first nozzles in the first nozzle row. The second nozzle row has: first nozzles forming a group; and second nozzles forming a group adjacently in the width direction to the group of first nozzles in the second nozzle row.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazunari Matsuura
  • Patent number: 11932033
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a printing section that performs printing on a medium containing calcium carbonate, a transport section that rotationally drives a transport belt that forms at least a portion of a transport path in which the medium is transported, a voltage supply section that supplies a charging voltage to a charging roller for charging the transport belt, a detection section that detects whether or not charging abnormality has occurred in the transport belt, and a determination section that determines whether abnormality has occurred in the voltage supply section or the transport belt, or abnormality has occurred in the voltage supply section and the transport belt, based on a rotation amount of the transport belt and the detection result of the detection section. The transport belt is coated with melamine resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Matsumoto, Toru Matsuyama
  • Patent number: 11932009
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a printing section that performs printing on a medium containing calcium carbonate, a transport section that rotationally drives a transport belt that forms at least a portion of a transport path in which the medium is transported, a voltage supply section that supplies a charging voltage to a charging roller for charging the transport belt, a detection section that detects whether or not charging abnormality has occurred in the transport belt, a determination section that determines whether a cause of the charging abnormality is abnormality of the voltage supply section or abnormality of the transport belt, and a machine learning section that performs machine learning of a determination condition in the determination section, based on a learning model in which a rotation amount of the transport belt and a detection result of the detection section are associated with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Matsumoto, Toru Matsuyama
  • Patent number: 11932039
    Abstract: A pretreatment device includes: a medium support portion configured to support a medium that is transported; a pretreatment-agent ejecting portion configured to eject a pretreatment agent; an absorbing-member support portion configured to support an absorbing member between the medium and the pretreatment-agent ejecting portion in a direction in which the pretreatment agent is ejected, the absorbing member being configured to absorb the pretreatment agent ejected from the pretreatment-agent ejecting portion; and a pressing unit configured to press, toward the medium, the absorbing member to which the pretreatment agent is ejected from the pretreatment-agent ejecting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masato Murayama, Kazuto Aoki
  • Patent number: 11932032
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a voltage supply section that supplies a charging voltage for charging a transport belt, a detection section that detects whether or not charging abnormality has occurred in the transport belt, and a determination section that determines a cause of the charging abnormality. The determination section determines that the cause of the charging abnormality is abnormality of the voltage supply section, when the movement period includes the period for which the detection section detects the charging abnormality and does not include the period for which the detection section does not detect the charging abnormality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Matsumoto, Toru Matsuyama
  • Patent number: 11932027
    Abstract: A media processing device includes: a housing; a cover rotatable between open and closed positions; a main logic board (MLB) supporting a controller, and having a slot extending into the MLB from an open end at a perimeter of the MLB, the slot traversing the MLB from an upper surface to a lower surface; a receiver affixed to the MLB on a first side of the slot, and an emitter affixed to the MLB on a second side of the slot, to emit radiation detectable by the receiver; and a tab movably coupled to the housing, to obstruct the slot and prevent detection of the radiation by the receiver when the cover is in a first one of the open and closed positions, and to clear the slot and permit detection of the radiation by the receiver when the cover is in the other of the open and closed positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Huanhua Liao, Yunbo Yuan, Zhong Gui Wang
  • Patent number: 11926152
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a carriage mounted with a printing unit; a first motor configured to move the carriage in a predetermined direction; a second motor configured to move the carriage in the predetermined direction; and a control unit. The control unit executes a first mode in which, when causing the printing unit to perform printing under a first printing condition, the first motor is driven in a first direction and the second motor is driven in the first direction, and a second mode in which, when causing the printing unit to perform printing under a second printing condition different from the first printing condition, the first motor is driven in the first direction and the second motor is driven in the first direction while changing an output ratio between the first motor and the second motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryohei Maruyama, Daigo Kuronuma, Masakazu Nagashima, Tomohito Abe, Kenta Iimura, Hiromasa Yoneyama, Naoaki Wada, Kichinosuke Hirokawa, Akira Fujikake, Toshiaki Yamaguchi, Hideyuki Nozawa
  • Patent number: 11926163
    Abstract: A printing consumable and an ink cartridge are provided in various embodiments of the present disclosure. The printing consumable includes an ink container, detachably installed on an ink cartridge main body; and further includes a first memory, disposed on the ink container, where the first memory is capable of being accessed by a printer and stores ink amount data related to an ink status in the ink container. The printer is configured to rewrite the ink amount data during an ink consumption process, where when ink is substantially used up, the printer is configured to rewrite a part of the ink amount data; and the rewritten part of the ink amount data is configured to be at a non-rewritable protected state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: GEEHY MICROELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Ming Gong
  • Patent number: 11919313
    Abstract: A print device may include a refill interface, a processor, and a computer readable medium. The refill interface may have an electrical interface for transmission and reception of signals between the print device and a refill container. And the computer-readable medium may have instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor are to cause the processor to fetch signals, via the electrical interface of the refill interface, from the refill container indicative of a licensed print functionality of the print device. The instructions may also be to enable the licensed print functionality on the print device responsive to the fetched signals and to maintain the licensed print functionality enabled subsequent to detachment of the refill container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jefferson P. Ward, David B. Novak, Erik Anderson
  • Patent number: 11904618
    Abstract: An information processing device includes an acquisition unit acquiring image data and status data, a transmission unit transmitting, to a server, the image data and the status data, a reception unit receiving, from the server, first data generated by the server based on the image data and the status data, a storage unit storing the first data received by the reception unit and second data, and a control unit, wherein the first data is data defining a learned model learned by machine learning, the learned model being configured to, when the image data and the status data are input, output fabric data indicating a feature value of the fabric, the second data indicates a correspondence relationship between the fabric data and a recommended parameter, and the control unit derives, based on the first data and the second data, the recommended parameter from the image data and the status data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroki Aoki, Tsuneyuki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11900188
    Abstract: There is provided a printer including: a printing part having: a conveyor configured to convey a medium in a conveying direction; a printing head having a plurality of nozzles from which an ink of a specified color is discharged and of which positions in the conveying direction are mutually different, the printing head being configured to discharge the ink from the plurality of nozzles to the medium so as to form dots in the medium; and a facing member configured to be capable of facing a print surface of the medium on an upstream side in the conveying direction with respect to the plurality of nozzles of the printing head; and a controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shingo Saito
  • Patent number: 11890885
    Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises a decision unit configured to decide a ratio of ink application amounts of the fluorescent ink and the other ink respectively in each of the plurality of scans. The decision unit decides the ratio of the ink application amount of the fluorescent ink in each of the plurality of scans so that the amount of the coloring material of the fluorescent ink in a surface of an ink layer of the printing medium is less than the amount of the coloring material of the fluorescent ink in an inside of the ink layer of the printing medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kouta Murasawa, Okinori Tsuchiya, Hiromitsu Yamaguchi, Hideki Kubo
  • Patent number: 11884086
    Abstract: A color inkjet printer includes an electrode that emits an electric field into a gap between a printhead and a media transport that carries media past the printhead. Image data generated by an optical sensor after an ink image is printed on the media is analyzed to measure at least one image quality metric. When the measured image quality metric is outside of a tolerance range, the voltage of a voltage source electrically connected to the electrode is adjusted to improve the wetting of the media type with the ink ejected by the printhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Palghat S. Ramesh, Jack T. LeStrange, Anthony S. Condello, Joseph C. Sheflin, Peter Knausdorf
  • Patent number: 11872810
    Abstract: An ink discharge apparatus includes a discharge head and a controller, the discharge head having a plurality of nozzle rows arranged in a first direction, each of the plurality of nozzle rows including a plurality of nozzles arranged to align in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The controller is configured to receive a print job and carry out a mode determining process to determine whether a print mode is a low gap print mode or a high gap print mode based on the print job, and a number of discharge reducing process to reduce the total number of discharging ink per unit time from the plurality of nozzles as compared with the case of the low gap print mode, if the print mode is determined as the high gap print mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Kanzaki, Shuhei Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11850861
    Abstract: A method analyzes image data of a test pattern printed on an image receiving member by a printer to identify split inkjets in the printheads of the printer. The test pattern is formed by operating each inkjet of a printhead to form a dash and the areas of the dashes are compared to an average dash area to identify split inkjets. Firing signal parameters for the split inkjets are adjusted and subsequent firing signals are generated using the adjusted parameters. Image data of the pixels formed by the split inkjets are analyzed after the split inkjets have been operated using the adjusted firing signal parameters. If the pixel size for a split inkjets indicates that the split inkjet has been remediated, then the firing signal parameters are returned to their nominal values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Seemit Praharaj, Thomas J. Wyble, Paul J. McConville
  • Patent number: 11840101
    Abstract: A plurality of test patterns are printed with different print conditions, the test patterns each being formed by two inks out of a plurality of inks and a reaction liquid and including a plurality of patterns among which ejection positions of the reaction liquid relative to ejection positions of the two inks are displaced by a predetermined amount at a time. The optical properties of the respective test patterns printed on the print medium are detected. A displacement amount of the relative ejection positions of the reaction liquid from the ejection positions of the plurality of inks is obtained based on the optical property of the test pattern in which an optical density difference between the patterns in the test pattern is greater than a predetermined value and which has an optical density of a lowest level among the optical properties of the test patterns detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Ushiyama, Hidehiko Kanda, Keiji Kuriyama, Akihiro Tomida, Takeshi Yazawa, Yoshinori Nakajima
  • Patent number: 11840060
    Abstract: In the technology of the present disclosure, multiple nozzles included in a printing head are stably driven while disparity in the usage frequency of each nozzle is suppressed. The dot counter scans the digital halftone data in the X direction and performs accumulation-counting on the pixel value Ixy (the number of printing dots) of each pixel for each address y with the accumulation counter CntCum(y). The signal value Gxy of the corresponding pixel address (x, y) is obtained from the division pattern memory unit. The nozzle selection unit selects the nozzle to be used for forming a printing dot, based on the counted values of the accumulation counter CntCum and the signal value Gxy of the division pattern. Then, the address n of the nozzle memory corresponding to the selected nozzle to form a printing dot is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryosuke Otani