Abstract: A modular roll bar assembly for use in a continuous web imaging device includes a plurality of roll bars and a support frame configured to operably support the plurality of roll bars such that the plurality of roll bars define a web path having a non-linear shape with an entrance end and an exit end. The entrance end is configured to receive a substantially continuous web of substrate material, and the plurality of roll bars is configured to guide the continuous web past the exit end. A load cell is operably coupled to the support frame and configured to generate a signal indicative of a down force applied to the support frame. A controller is operably coupled to the load cell to receive the signal and to correlate the down force applied to the support frame indicated by the signal to a tension measurement value for the continuous web.

Abstract: An ink comprising an ink vehicle; pigment particles; and a dispersant; wherein the dispersant stabilizes the pigment particles; and wherein the dispersant is a compound of the formula or a mixture thereof, wherein R and R? are independently selected from alkyl, arylalkyl, or alkylaryl with from about 18 to about 60 carbon atoms and wherein m is an integer of from about 1 to about 30.

Abstract: An ink delivery and recovery system includes a first reservoir for containing ink for delivery to a plurality of ink jets of an imaging device, a second reservoir spaced apart from the first reservoir for containing ink for delivery to the first reservoir, and a third reservoir for capturing ink emitted from the plurality of ink jets. A first conduit is connected to the first reservoir and configured to permit flow of ink in a single direction toward the first reservoir. A second conduit is connected to the third reservoir and configured to permit flow of ink in a single direction away from the third reservoir. A third conduit is connected between the second reservoir and the first conduit and second conduit, the third conduit being configured to permit bidirectional flow of ink from the second reservoir toward the first and second conduits and from the first and second conduits toward the second reservoir. A bidirectional pump is associated with the third conduit.

Abstract: A photoconductor that includes a supporting substrate, an optional ground plane layer, an optional hole blocking layer, an optional adhesive layer, a photogenerating layer, and at least one charge transport layer, and where the charge transport layer or layers contains a sulfonamide.

Abstract: A radiation curable solid ink composition comprising at least one curable wax that is curable by free radical polymerization; at least one monomer, oligomer, or prepolymer; at least one non-curable wax; at least one free-radical photoinitiator or photoinitiating moiety; and a colorant; wherein the components form a curable ink composition that is a solid at a first temperature of from about 20 to about 25° C.; and wherein the components form a liquid composition at a second temperature of greater than about 40° C.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described that facilitate compensating for slow scan direction displacement (e.g., skew and/or bow) defects in a raster line using slow-scan electronic registration. Input image data is buffered at low-resolution (e.g., 600 spi or the like). Displacement compensation is performed as the low-resolution contone image data is converted to high-resolution (e.g., 2400 spi or the like), and a displaced (e.g., staggered) halftoning threshold array is indexed to account for detected displacement. Displacement compensation is again performed during conversion of the high-resolution contone image data to high-resolution binary image data that is used to generate an output image.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a novel system and method for generating a spectral matching guide for spot color print applications. Spectral matching values are determined for spot colors obtained from a library of spot colors. A spectral matching guide is created from the spot colors and their respective spectral matching values in a manner more fully disclosed herein. Thereafter, when a user desires to render a job in a particular spot color, the associated spectral matching value for that spot color can be obtained from the spectral matching guide. In other embodiments, recommendations in the form of a suggested printer to use, a media type, a halftone screen, and other meaningful assistance can be provided for selection of spot colors for a given print/copy job that are less sensitive to varying illuminations. The present spectral matching guide provides meaningful extensions in spectral color reproduction in print/copy job environments.

Abstract: A method and system generate a workflow for the production of a three-dimensional document. A knowledge base contains production rules for several dimensional documents. The production rules relate to a plurality of jobs, i.e., units of work involved in the production of a dimensional document. The rules also identify human and/or mechanical resources required to complete each job. The system receives, from multiple service providers, capability information corresponding to each service provider's available resources. The capability information is associated with the production rules and stored in the knowledge base. When a user selects a dimensional document to be produced, the system selects appropriate production rules for the document, accesses the associated capability information, and automatically generates a workflow for the document. The system distributes various jobs in the workflow among at least two different service providers.

Abstract: A method for dicing a semiconductor wafer, including: cutting a reference slot in a back main surface of the wafer; cutting a back slot in the back main surface, the back slot positioned with respect to the reference slot; determining a desired location for a chip edge with respect to the reference slot; and applying radiant energy in a path such that a series of reformed regions are formed within the wafer along the path. A crystalline structure of the wafer is modified in the series of reformed regions and an alignment of an edge of the laser is with respect to the desired location for the chip edge and in alignment with the back slot. The method includes separating the wafer along the series of reformed regions to divide portions of the wafer on either side of the series of reformed regions.

Abstract: A method and apparatus that evaluates an image registration for image processing is disclosed. The method may include outputting one or more test patterns to a user, receiving misregistration level input parameters from the user, calculating misregistration using the misregistration level input parameters from the user by adding a first edge of a page perceptibility threshold and a second edge of the page perceptibility threshold and dividing the result of the addition by two, determining if the calculated misregistration is acceptable, wherein if the calculated misregistration is not acceptable, making corrections to the image registration, otherwise using the image registration for image processing based on the calculated misregistration.

Abstract: According to aspects of the embodiments, there is provided a method of optimizing an electro-photographic reproduction machine having a fusing subsystem and an air knife. The methods acquire at least one electro-photographic reproduction machine objective and media characteristic; and the acquired objective and characteristic are used to determine values for the pressurized air emitted from the air knife, the position of the air knife, and the rotation of the air knife relative to a fuse roll in the fusing subsystem. The methods further disclose acquiring the leading edge of the media being stripped and then using the beam strength of the media to assist in stripping the body of the sheet. The air knife can be controlled by a controller or a processor based on determined optimization parameter values that relate to objectives and media characteristics.

Abstract: A transfer apparatus includes a transfer belt that conveys a toner image which has been transferred to an outer periphery face thereof; a transfer member that, at a contact portion, causes the toner image to be transferred from the outer periphery face of the transfer belt to a recording medium; an opposing roller that is disposed to oppose the transfer member at an inner periphery side of the transfer belt; an opposing belt that is wound round the opposing roller; and a tension member that is disposed at an upstream side of a conveyance direction of the transfer belt relative to the opposing roller, the opposing belt being wound round the tension member, and the tension member causing the opposing belt to touch against the inner side of the transfer belt at the upstream side relative to the contact portion.

Abstract: An imaging member with a unique overcoat composition adapted for forming protective, scratch-resistant overcoats is disclosed. The overcoat composition comprises a binder component that includes particular proportions of a acrylated polyol and propylene glycol. The overcoat composition also comprises a transport agent and a crosslinking agent.

Abstract: A circuit which uses a compressor to divide each separation image into 8-line strips, and to independently compress each strip, a single decompressor to decompress two or more color image separations, strip by strip, by interleaving them, and to apply them to two or more print heads, one for each color separation. DMA from a main memory is used to apply both separations to the decompressor, and the decompressor output is demultiplexed into two print heads, one for each separation. This is done to drive each color separation simultaneously in a single-pass color printer. Multiplexing logic controls the DMA into the decompressor and the output of the decompressor into separate buffers for each color separation. Additional logic uses the page and line sync from each print head to synchronize the accessing of the correct image raster from buffers at the output of the decompressor to the associated print head.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a job execution unit, a log generation unit, a log storage unit, a feature amount extraction unit and a replacement unit. The job execution unit executes a processing job of image data. Te log generation unit generates image log information for identifying the executed processing job and identifying the processed image data. The log storage unit stores the generated image log information. The feature amount extraction unit extracts a feature amount of the image data identified by the image log information. The identity determination unit compares feature amounts extracted from pieces of the image data identified by pieces of the image log information, to determine identity among the image data. The replacement unit replaces information to identify a piece of the image data, which are determined to be identical, with information to identify another piece of the image data.

Abstract: A media sheet inverter apparatus and method is disclosed. The media sheet inverter, according to one embodiment of the disclosure, comprises an input nip configured to receive a media sheet and a reversing roll nip configured to receive a media sheet from the input nip. The media sheet is subsequently held within the inverter for a predetermined time before being ejected to an output nip configured to receive the media sheet from the reversing roll nip. The inverter apparatus and method is especially suited to inverting alternating media sheets.

Abstract: A vacuum control assembly for use in an image production device is provided. The assembly has a plenum having a vacuum inlet; a perforated plate fluidly connected to the plenum, the perforated plate having a plurality of perforations; a baffle plate connected to an inside of the plenum such that the baffle plate can slide relative to the perforated plate and can pivot relative to the perforated plate; and a protrusion on the inside of the plenum. The baffle plate is capable of sliding relative to the perforated plate between a closed position and an open position, the closed position being where the baffle plate causes the vacuum inlet to be fluidly connected to a first plurality of the perforations, and the open position being where the baffle plate is pivoted away from the perforated plate, causing the vacuum inlet to be fluidly connected to a maximum number of the perforations.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section forming an image on a recording medium; first and second storage parts storing waste powder discarded from the image forming section; a transport path of the waste powder; first and second discharging parts provided on the transport path and discharging the waste powder to the first and second storage parts, respectively; a transporting section provided along the transport path between both discharging parts, and transporting the waste powder toward the second and first discharging parts in first and second operating states, respectively; a feeding section feeding the waste powder from the image forming section to the transport path between both discharging parts; and a controller making the transporting section operate in both operating states, and stopping the feeding section or reducing its output when switching a transporting direction of the waste powder by switching from the first to second operating state.

Abstract: A system for electronically distilling information from a business document uses a network scanner to electronically scan a platen area, having a business document thereon, to create a bitmap. A network server carries out a segmentation process to segment the scan generated bitmap into a bitmap object, the bitmap object corresponding to the scanned business document; a bitmap to text conversion process to convert the bitmap object into a block of text; a semantic recognition process to generate a structured representation of semantic entities corresponding to the scanned business document; and a document generation process to convert the structured representation into a structure text file.

Abstract: A show-through reduction method is disclosed. The method is designed to deal with both light and severe show-through. The method focuses mostly on text documents, with characters possibly appearing in multiple gray levels, although the method can also be extended to color documents. As in the prior art, the front and back pages are processed in pairs. However, no perfect page alignment is assumed here, since we are dealing with real images. Instead, a front and back registration is performed as the first step before the pages are further analyzed. In this method, we are aligning the front page content with its show-through appearing in the back side, and the back page content with its show-through appearing in the front side. Once the two sides are aligned, masks are generated for both sides to differentiate severe show-through and light color content regions. Finally, different TRCs are applied to different regions. The show-through is reduced and the page contents are retained.