Patents Examined by Alexander D. Shenderov
  • Patent number: 11179943
    Abstract: A liquid container includes a liquid containing portion containing a liquid, a liquid supply port through which the liquid of the liquid containing portion flows out, a container-side electrical coupling portion that is disposed on the ?X direction side of the liquid supply port, a first receiving portion that is disposed on the ?X direction side of the liquid supply port, and that is configured to receive insertion of a first positioning portion provided in the liquid ejecting apparatus, a second receiving portion that is disposed on the +X direction side of the liquid supply port, and that is configured to receive insertion of a second positioning portion provided in the liquid ejecting apparatus, and a third receiving portion configured to receive insertion of a third positioning portion provided in the liquid ejecting apparatus, on the +Y direction side of the liquid containing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mao Otashiro, Takumi Nagashima, Tomoyuki Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 11155096
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting unit includes: a first chamber; a second chamber; a third chamber; a fourth chamber; a first liquid passage for supplying a first type of liquid to the first chamber and the third chamber; a second liquid passage for supplying a second type of liquid to the second chamber and the fourth chamber, the second type of liquid differing from the first type of liquid; a first fluid passage for supplying fluid to the first chamber and the second chamber; and a second fluid passage for supplying the fluid to the third chamber and the fourth chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiko Sato, Hiroyuki Hagiwara, Hironori Matsuoka, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Takahiro Kanegae
  • Patent number: 11155081
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head includes an actuator and a drive circuit. The actuator is configured to expand and contract a pressure chambers. The drive circuit is configured to apply a first drive waveform to cause the actuator to discharge a liquid droplet at a first speed, and then a second drive waveform after the first drive waveform to cause the actuator to discharge a liquid droplet at a second speed slower than the first speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shota Ito
  • Patent number: 11141986
    Abstract: A liquid housing body includes a bag that is flexible and that houses a liquid therein, a liquid lead-out member that is attached to an end of the bag and that includes a liquid lead-out portion for leading the liquid in the bag to a liquid ejecting apparatus, a spacer member disposed in the bag, and a filter unit that has a thickness smaller than the spacer member, that is disposed between the liquid lead-out member and the spacer member in the bag, and that supplies the liquid to the liquid lead-out member through a filter, in which, in a use state of the liquid housing body, the liquid lead-out member, the filter unit, and the spacer member are aligned in a horizontal direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kiyoteru Katsuki
  • Patent number: 11142004
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an imaging apparatus (100) comprising a scanning printer carriage (110), a carriage motor (120), a transmission belt (130) between the carriage motor (120) and the scanning printer carriage (110), a data control unit (140) to provide print data (200) to the carriage motor (120) and the scanning printer carriage (110), and a power source (150) to provide power (300) to the carriage motor (120), and the scanning printer carriage (110). The data control unit (140) transmits print data (200) to the scanning printer carriage (110) by wireless data transfer (201), and the power source (150) transmits power (300) to the scanning printer carriage (110) through an electrically conductive element (302) in the transmission belt (130).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jaime Abel Blanco Gabella, Sergio Villar Garcia, Alvaro Ponce Arevalo
  • Patent number: 11141989
    Abstract: An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing apparatus or system may include circulation of printing fluid to minimize or eliminate clogging in a nozzle. An exemplary nozzle comprises at least two ink channels—one allowing flow to a droplet emitting opening and one allowing flow away from the droplet emitting opening—configured for circulating ink. The nozzle may transfer ink to a substrate with an EHD technique involving voltage or current modulation. For example, an electric field may be applied between the nozzle and printing substrate such that the ink meniscus changes shape and releases ink from the tip of the liquid cone. A multi-channel nozzle may take a variety of configurations, including two co-axially aligned capillaries, side-by-side parallel capillaries, or capillaries arranged at an angle with respect to one another but converging at a single point where the conical meniscus is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Daren Chen, Hong Zhao
  • Patent number: 11124005
    Abstract: With a conventional method of estimating an application amount of a clear recording material from a color of a patch, it is difficult to realize high accuracy, similar colors are sometimes exhibited in measurement results even if there is a significant difference in the application amount of a clear ink. In contrast, with a disclosed configuration of estimating an application amount of a clear recording material from a reflection intensity of a patch, measurement results that exhibit a one-dimensional increase of a relationship between the application amount of the clear recording material and the reflection intensity are acquired, so that the accuracy of application amount estimation increases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Naoko Baba
  • Patent number: 11124004
    Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises a main body, an operation panel configured to pivot about a pivot shaft, a stopper that has one end pivotably connected to the operation panel, and has a cam face on a surface thereof; a guide member that is provided on the main body and is configured to guide the stopper such that the stopper is slidable in a longitudinal direction of the stopper; and a pressing member that has a contact portion that comes into contact with the cam face, wherein the cam face has a plurality of divided cam faces that are provided in a shorter direction of the stopper, and the contact portion of the pressing member has a width that spans the plurality of divided cam faces in the shorter direction of the stopper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kosuke Umehara, Yasuhito Tsubakimoto, Yasuhiro Ota, Kaneto Tokuyama
  • Patent number: 11124007
    Abstract: An ink jet recording method includes an ink attachment step, in which an aqueous ink composition is ejected from a recording head and attached to a recording medium, and a treatment liquid attachment step, in which a treatment liquid containing a flocculant is ejected from a recording head and attached to the recording medium. The recording head for ejecting the treatment liquid has a circulation channel in which the treatment liquid is circulated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Inventor: Kenichi Seguchi
  • Patent number: 11117381
    Abstract: A printer includes a platen that supports a print medium, an ejection head that ejects a liquid as a droplet toward the supported print medium, a carriage that mounts the ejection head, a guide shaft that movably supports the carriage, a first frame, and a second frame disposed opposite to the first frame. One end portion of the guide shaft is fixed to the first frame and another end portion of the guide shaft is fixed to the second frame. One end portion of the platen in a direction along the guide shaft is fixed to the first frame and another end portion of the platen in the direction along the guide shaft is fixed to the second frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Shoichi Nagamatsu
  • Patent number: 11117396
    Abstract: A print engine includes: a media support chassis having a plurality of guide rollers mounted between opposite sidewalls thereof, the plurality of guide rollers defining a curved media feed path; a plurality of spittoons, each spittoon being positioned between a neighboring pair of guide rollers and each spittoon having an upper guide portion; and a plurality of printheads, each printhead opposing a respective spittoon. The upper guide portion of each spittoon has an upstream leading edge sloped towards the media feed path and a downstream trailing edge sloped away from the media feed path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Inventor: Mark Profaca
  • Patent number: 11110714
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a print head coupled to a substrate to dispense fluid from the substrate in response to a command. A reservoir coupled to the substrate transports the fluid to the print head. A preloaded storage container mounted on the reservoir stores the fluid and provides the fluid to the reservoir in response to pressure applied to the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jeffrey A. Nielsen, Michael W. Cumbie, Chien-Hua Chen
  • Patent number: 11110713
    Abstract: A transfer device includes: a first container including a bag portion configured to house liquid; a second container configured to house the liquid transferred from the first container; a transfer unit configured to transfer the liquid from the first container to the second container; and a controller configured to control the transfer unit to intermittently and repeatedly execute a transfer operation of starting transfer of the liquid and then completing the transfer before a side of the bag portion toward the transfer unit transitions to a suction contact state upon transferring the liquid from the first container to the second container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takehiro Yamori
  • Patent number: 11104146
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head including a first-liquid ejecting portion, a second-liquid ejecting portion, a common supply flow path being supplied a liquid from a liquid reservoir, a first-individual supply flow path communicating the common supply flow path and the first-liquid ejecting portion to each other, a second-individual supply flow path communicating the common supply flow path and the second-liquid ejecting portion to each other, a first-filter provided in the first-individual supply flow path, and a second-filter provided in the second-individual supply flow path. In the liquid ejecting head, regarding flow path resistance in the first-individual supply flow path, flow path resistance in the first-filter is the largest, regarding flow path resistance in the second-individual supply flow path, flow path resistance in the second-filter is the largest, and the flow path resistance in the first-filter and the flow path resistance in the second-filter are the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Kanegae, Katsuhiro Okubo, Hiroyuki Hagiwara
  • Patent number: 11097529
    Abstract: Methods for fabricating three-dimensional objects by 3D-inkjet printing technology are provided. The methods utilize curable materials that polymerize via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) for fabricating the object. Systems suitable for performing these methods and kits containing modeling material formulations usable in the methods are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Stratasys Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuval Vidavsky, Ira Yudovin-Farber
  • Patent number: 11097538
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head includes a supply manifold, a plurality of supply throttle channels, a plurality of pressure chambers, and a plurality of nozzles. The supply manifold includes a supply opening through which liquid is supplied from an exterior. The supply manifold extends in a first direction. Each of the supply throttle channels is connected, at one end thereof, to the supply manifold, and extends in a second direction. Each of the pressure chambers is connected to the other end of a corresponding one of the supply throttle channels, and extends in a third direction different from the first direction. Each of the nozzles communicates with a corresponding one of the pressure chambers. The second direction in which each of the supply throttle channels extends has a component of the first direction and a component of the third direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keita Hirai, Shohei Koide, Keita Sugiura, Hiroshi Katayama
  • Patent number: 11097488
    Abstract: A printer and method having a print assembly movable over a print zone, and a controller associated with the print assembly. The printer is capable to receive a second print assembly with an associated second controller. The first controller positions the first print assembly over the print media and to position the second print assembly over the print media. The first controller directs the first print assembly in printing. The second controller to direct the second print assembly in printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Axten, Thomas Griffiths, Matthew A. Shepherd, Thieu X. Dang
  • Patent number: 11096833
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for printing and drying inks on substrates. Printing systems may include a metering device positioned between a printing station and a light source. During operation, the printing station deposits ink onto a substrate to define a printed region. And the light source directs infrared light onto the substrate to define an illumination zone. The printed region is advanced from the printing station to the metering device and from the metering device through the illumination zone, wherein the ink is dried with infrared light traveling from the light source, which also heats the substrate and changes the modulus of elasticity of the substrate. In turn, the metering device isolates the printing station from the change in the modulus of elasticity to help reduce phase shifts caused by changes in the modulus of elasticity resulting from heat in the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
    Inventor: Kasey Marie Hudson
  • Patent number: 11090943
    Abstract: An ink mist recovery device allows suction of ink mist with uniform suction force irrespective of a position on a confronting sheet. The ink mist recovery device includes a recovery casing having multiple suction ports confronting a sheet, and a suction unit connected to the recovery casing. At least one of a size of each of the suction ports and a first suction distance from each of the suction ports to a suction slit is set in accordance with a second suction distance from the suction unit to the suction slit via each of the suction ports so that the suction force is kept uniform at the respective positions on the sheet corresponding to the suction ports. The mist suction force is made uniform over the entire width of the suction slit to improve quality of the printed image without sucking ink droplets required to land.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shunta Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11090932
    Abstract: An object of the present disclosure is to reduce density unevenness and streaks of an image that is printed in a case where it is not possible to implement sufficient correction only by the correction for a defective nozzle. One embodiment of the present invention is an image processing apparatus that performs processing for an input image for an image forming apparatus performing printing on a printing medium by using a print head in which a plurality of printing elements is arrayed, the image processing apparatus including: a storage unit configured to store density characteristic information indicating an output density for each tone for each of the printing elements; a target value acquisition unit configured to acquire a target characteristic indicating a target value for each tone; and a first correction unit configured to correct the input image based on the density characteristic information and the target value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shoei Moribe