Patents Assigned to FUJIFILM/Dimatix Inc.
  • Variable resolution in printing system and method
    Patent number: 8393697
    Abstract: In one aspect, the invention features a method for operating a printing system with variable laydown, including providing the system with print job information, selecting an ink laydown based on the print job information, generating firing instructions for the printing system based on the ink laydown, and printing an image on a substrate at the ink laydown.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaan T. Laaspere, Brian Walsh, Sandra Graveson
  • Printing objects using a rolling buffer
    Patent number: 8395798
    Abstract: An electronic architecture for an imaging data path allows for printing on objects that are unevenly spaced. The architecture uses a rolling image buffer into which images are copied. A hardware trigger can optionally be used in conjunction with the rolling image buffer to prevent any printing mismatches that could otherwise be caused by a software delay. The trigger relates the physical location of the object to a virtual location in the image buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventor: Deane A. Gardner
  • Print head nozzle formation
    Patent number: 8377319
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for forming nozzles in a microelectromechanical device. The nozzles are formed in a layer prior to the layer being bonded onto another portion of the device. Forming the nozzles in the layer prior to bonding enables forming nozzles that have a desired depth and a desired geometry. Selecting a particular geometry for the nozzles can reduce the resistance to ink flow as well as improve the uniformity of the nozzles across the microelectromechanical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhenfang Chen, Andreas Bibl, Paul A. Hoisington
  • Method of printing
    Patent number: 8333468
    Abstract: A method of printing an image on a substrate in a printing machine having at least a first printing unit and an inkjet printing unit, includes moving the substrate through the printing machine. A raster image formed of image dots is printed on the substrate at a first moment using at least the first printing unit. At least one contiguous area of inkjet dots in the raster image is printed at a second moment, after the first moment, using the inkjet printing unit. Substantially all inkjet dots forming the contiguous area are printed at dot locations having similar surface wetting properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaan Thomas Laaspere, James R. Freedman
  • Method and apparatus to provide variable drop size ejection by dampening pressure inside a pumping chamber
    Patent number: 8317284
    Abstract: Described herein is a method and apparatus for driving a droplet ejection device with multi-pulse waveforms. In one embodiment, a method for driving a droplet ejection device having an actuator includes applying a multi-pulse waveform having two or more drive pulses and a cancellation pulse to the actuator. The method further includes generating a pressure response wave in a pumping chamber in response to each pulse. The method further includes causing the droplet ejection device to eject a droplet of a fluid in response to the drive pulses of the multi-pulse waveform. The method further includes canceling the pressure response waves associated with the drive pulses with the pressure response wave associated with the cancellation pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: William R. Letendre, Jr., Robert Hasenbein
  • Imaging Jetted Ink
    Publication number: 20120287198
    Abstract: In general, in an aspect, a laser produces a coherent beam to illuminate ink jetted from an orifice of an inkjet, for use in imaging the jetted ink, and a device is used to reduce an effect of speckle caused by the coherent beam in the imaging of the jetted ink.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2011
    Publication date: November 15, 2012
    Applicant: Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven H. Barss
  • Phase-Change Ink Jetting
    Publication number: 20120262520
    Abstract: Among other things, ink is jetted onto a substrate, the ink includes (a) a pigment and (b) a wax, and the jetted ink on the substrate is heated to fire the pigment on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2011
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Dimatix. Inc.
    Inventor: Howard T. Baldwin
  • Drop ejection assembly
    Patent number: 8287093
    Abstract: A drop ejection device including a flow path in which fluid is pressurized to eject drops from a nozzle opening on a surface, a piezoelectric actuator for pressurizing said fluid, and one or more waste fluid control apertures on the surface proximate the nozzle opening, the one or more apertures being isolated from the flow path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul A. Hoisington, John A. Higginson, Andreas Bibl
  • Introducing material into a printhead enclosure
    Patent number: 8277019
    Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises a jetting assembly including a plurality of nozzles for ejecting droplets on a substrate; an enclosure defining a print zone within which the jetting assembly prints on the substrate, the enclosure including an inlet for introducing a material associated with controlling an environment of the enclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Baker, Edward R. Moynihan
  • Single-pass inkjet printing
    Patent number: 8267500
    Abstract: A single-pass print head has multiple orifice plates each serving some but not all of the area to be printed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: David Grose, Nathan Hine, Paul Hoisington, Peter Wallis, Yong Zhou
  • Data pump for printing
    Patent number: 8259334
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for printing on a workpiece. In one implementation, a data pump is used to create a packet of image data for a print head assembly. The data pump includes multiple state machines to receive image data from an image buffer on a computer, and a serializer to gather image data from each of the state machines. Each of the state machines is configured to send image data to the serializer at a different instance in time. The serializer is configured to arrange the gathered image data according to when the serializer received the image data from each of the state machines. The data pump also includes an optical fiber communication interface to connect with a communication channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Deane A. Gardner, Philip Hsueh
  • Individual jet voltage trimming circuitry
    Patent number: 8251471
    Abstract: Apparatus including a plurality of droplet ejection devices, an electric source and a controller. Each droplet ejection device includes a fluid chamber having an ejection nozzle, an electrically actuated displacement device associated with the chamber, and a switch having an input connected to the electric source, an output connected to the electrically actuated displacement device, and a control signal input that is controlled by the controller to control whether the input (and thus the electric source) is connected to the output (and thus the electrically actuated device). The electrically actuated displacement device moves between a displaced position and an undisplaced position to change the volume of the chamber as a capacitance associated with the electrically actuated displacement device changes in charge between an actuated condition and an unactuated condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard E. Fontaine, Scott Leger, Daniel Cote, Paul A. Hoisington, Melvin L. Biggs, Todd W. Boucher
  • PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCERS USING MICRO-DOME ARRAYS
    Publication number: 20120206014
    Abstract: An ultrasonic piezoelectric transducer device includes a transducer array consisting of an array of vibrating elements, and a base to which the array of vibrating elements in the transducer array are attached. The base include integrated electrical interconnects for carrying driving signals and sensed signals between the vibrating elements and an external control circuit. The base can be an ASIC wafer that includes integrated circuitry for controlling the driving and processing the sensed signals. The interconnects and control circuits in the base fit substantially within an area below the array of multiple vibrating elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2012
    Publication date: August 16, 2012
    Applicant: FUJIFILM DIMATIX, INC.
    Inventors: Andreas Bibl, Hung-fai Stephen Law, Kevin Von Essen, Mats G. Ottosson
  • Fluid Circulation
    Publication number: 20120200619
    Abstract: Among other things, an apparatus for use in fluid jetting is described. The apparatus comprises a printhead including a flow path and a nozzle in communication with the flow path that has a first end and a second end. The apparatus also includes a first container fluidically coupled to the first end of the flow path, a second container fluidically coupled to the second end of the flow path, and a controller. The first container has a first controllable internal pressure and the second container has a second controllable internal pressure. The controller controls the first internal pressure and the second internal pressure to have a fluid flow between the first container and the second container through the flow path in the printhead according to a first mode and a second mode. In either mode, at least a portion of the fluid flowing along the flow path is delivered to the nozzle when the nozzle is jetting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Publication date: August 9, 2012
    Applicant: FUJIFILM DIMATIX, INC.
    Inventor: Andreas Bibl
  • Ink jetting
    Patent number: 8235489
    Abstract: Among other things, for jetting ink droplets on a substrate during relative motion of an apparatus and the substrate along a process direction, a first and second jetting assemblies at least partially overlap in a direction perpendicular to the process direction so that some jets in the first jetting assembly align with some jets in the second jetting assembly along the process direction to form one or more pairs of aligned jets. A mechanism enables, in at least one pair of the aligned jets, one jet to jet a first ink drop that has a size smaller than a size of an ink drop the jet would otherwise be required to jet to form a desired pixel and the other jet to jet a second ink drop that has a size sufficient to form the desired pixel in combination with the first ink drop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaan T. Laaspere, Shubh Halwawala, Samuel Darby, Sandra Graveson
  • Droplet ejection apparatus alignment
    Patent number: 8231202
    Abstract: In general, in a first aspect, the invention features assemblies for mounting a printhead module in an apparatus for depositing droplets on a substrate. The assemblies include a frame having an opening extending through the frame and configured to expose a surface of the printhead module mounted in the assembly, and a spring element adapted to spring load the printhead module against an edge of the opening when the printhead module is mounted in the assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Andreas Bibl, John A. Higginson, Alan Menard, Sandra Graveson
  • Non-wetting coating on a fluid ejector
    Patent number: 8226208
    Abstract: A fluid ejector having an inner surface, an outer surface, and an orifice that allows fluid in contact with the inner surface to be ejected. The fluid ejector has a non-wetting monolayer covering at least a portion of the outer surface of the fluid ejector and surrounding an orifice in the fluid ejector. Fabrication of the non-wetting monolayer can include removing a non-wetting monolayer from a second region of a fluid ejector while leaving the non-wetting monolayer on a first region surrounding an orifice in the fluid ejector, or protecting a second region of a fluid ejector from having a non-wetting monolayer formed thereon, wherein the second region does not include a first region surrounding the orifice in the fluid ejector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshimasa Okamura, Jeffrey Birkmeyer, John A. Higginson, Gregory De Brabander, Paul A. Hoisington, Andreas Bibl
  • Tailoring image data packets to properties of print heads
    Patent number: 8199342
    Abstract: Techniques, systems, and computer program products that facilitate tailoring image data packets to properties of print heads in a printing system. Control software in the printing system remote from the print head(s) may send a query to a print head over a control channel and receive a reply include information characterizing parameters of the print head, e.g., specific configuration information or a part number. The control software may use the information characterizing the properties of the print head to look up specification details of the layout of print elements in the print head and use that information to configure image data packet generating components in the control software for the particular print head layout.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Martin
  • Carbon Nanotube Ink
    Publication number: 20120141678
    Abstract: Carbon nanotube inkjet solutions and methods for jetting are described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2007
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: FUJIFILM DIMATIX, INC.
    Inventor: Jan Sumerel
  • Depositing drops on a substrate carried by a stage
    Patent number: 8191979
    Abstract: A device for depositing drops includes a head configured to eject drops on a region of a substrate; a stage configured to hold the substrate while the head ejects drops on the region of the substrate; a first transporting device configured to transport the substrate in a transporting direction onto the stage; and a second transporting device configured to transport the substrate in the transporting direction off the stage. The stage and at least one of the first transporting device or the second transporting device are movable together in the transporting direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Nobuo Matsumoto, Andreas Bibl, Martin Schoeppler, Deane A. Gardner, John C. Batterton