Patents Examined by An Do
  • Patent number: 10421289
    Abstract: White-balance is improved when printing on colored media, while minimizing the time and use of costly materials required by present approaches. In an embodiment, the typical solid white fill or background layer is altered by including in the white layer one or more of the other colors already available in the printer to shade this layer. Thus, a small amount of cyan, for example, helps balance a pink-ish (red) media; yellow is used for blue media; and magenta is used for green media; as well as combinations thereof. A combination of transparent process inks and opaque white helps to maintain brightness (luminosity).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Peter Heath, Joseph A. Lahut, Dwight Cram, Bryan Ko
  • Patent number: 10309812
    Abstract: A system and method for parameter estimation of steady state flow in heterogeneous aquifers, and more particularly to a method and system for reducing uncertainty in calibrating aquifer flow and estimating aquifer hydraulic conductivities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Inventors: Ye Zhang, Jianying Jiao, Juraj Irsa
  • Patent number: 10259230
    Abstract: A printing material container detachably attachable to a printing apparatus having apparatus-side terminals. The container can comprise an electrical device, a memory device and a plurality of terminals. First and second terminals can be coupled to the electrical device and a plurality of memory terminals can be coupled to the memory device. Terminal contact portions are present where the terminals contact a respective apparatus side contact forming member. A short detection contact portion can be positioned to contact a contact forming member that itself is coupled to a short detection circuit of the printing apparatus. The terminals can be arranged with the memory terminal contact portions located to the left of the second terminal contact portion and to the right of the first terminal contact portion. The contact portion that is second farthest to the right can be the third contact portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Noboru Asauchi
  • Patent number: 10245857
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus, including: a main body; an image recorder; a sheet supporter movable between an opposed position and a retracted position; a cap movable between a contact position and a distant position; a distance-defining member movable between a first position and a second position and configured to define a distance between an upper surface of a sheet and a lower surface of the recorder, the first position being a position where the member partially overlaps a region of the cap at the contact position, the second position being a position where at least a part of the member does not overlap the region; and a controller to control the cap to move from the distant position to the contact position after the supporter has been moved from the opposed position to the retracted position and the member has been moved from the first position to the second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shota Iijima
  • Patent number: 10239718
    Abstract: A contact member swingably moves about a swing axis to contact a recording medium stacked on a medium tray, and shifts to different states depending on volume of medium. A controller performs: a detection process of detecting the stacked volume based on signals of M times outputted from the sensor, the M times being a number of times that is larger than or equal to two times; a stack determination process of determining whether the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray based on signals of N times, the signals of N times being a part of the signals of the M times outputted from the sensor, the N times being a number of times that is smaller than M; and a sheet feeding process of controlling the feed roller to feed the recording medium, in response to determining that the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yuki Matsui
  • Patent number: 10239312
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head includes a plurality of nozzles from which a liquid is discharged, a plurality of pressure chambers communicating with the plurality of nozzles, respectively, a substrate in which the plurality of pressure chamber is arranged in a predetermined direction, a diaphragm provided on a first side of the substrate opposite a second side of the substrate facing the plurality of nozzles, the diaphragm forming walls of the plurality of pressure chambers, and a plurality of electromechanical transducer elements provided on the diaphragm corresponding to the plurality of pressure chambers, respectively. A groove is formed in the substrate on an end side of the plurality of pressure chambers in the predetermined direction, and the groove includes an opening that opens toward a direction opposite to the diaphragm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoshi Mizukami
  • Patent number: 10235339
    Abstract: A measurement instrument receives an analog input signal from a measurement target, converts the input signal into a digital signal, scans the digital signal and comparing the scanned digital signal with a pattern signature using a flexible matching procedure implemented by hardware, and triggers the measurement instrument according to a result of the flexible matching procedure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Keysight Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Robert Lehane, Antony Kirkham, Martin Ware Curran-Gray
  • Patent number: 10226955
    Abstract: A method for setting up and carrying out a print job on an inkjet printing machine having print heads and a thermal dryer includes printing onto a substrate using water-based black and chromatic inks. First test prints of a first test chart with different area coverage test patches are generated on the substrate using black ink, thermally drying the first test prints at different temperatures and evaluating dried first test prints to determine a dryer operating temperature during the print job. A second test print of a second test chart with different ink amount test patches is generated on the substrate using chromatic inks, thermally drying the second test print at the temperature, and evaluating the dried second test print to determine a total ink amount for operating the print heads during the print job. The machine receives temperature and total ink amount and prints the print job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Axel Hauck, Sabine Roehl, Michael Kaiser, Rolf Mueller, Nikolaus Pfeiffer
  • Patent number: 10207517
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus is configured to record an image which includes multi-pass recording of completing a line image by performing a recording pass a plurality of number of times. The recording processing is configured to be executed in: a first recording mode in which the multi-pass recording of completing the line image is executed by performing the recording pass a first number of times, the recording pass being performed only when moving a carriage toward one side in a scanning direction; and a second recording mode in which the multi-pass recording of completing the line image is executed by performing the recording pass a second number of times larger than the first number of times, the recording pass being performed when moving the carriage toward the one side in the scanning direction and another side in the scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoru Arakane
  • Patent number: 10209381
    Abstract: Systems and methods for wireless data acquisition in seismic monitoring systems are disclosed. The method includes obtaining a signal table for an emitted seismic signal, receiving seismic signal data from a receiver configured to transform seismic signals into seismic signal data, and storing the seismic signal data on a storage system. The method also includes determining a time span for the seismic signal data and generating a reduced data set based on the seismic signal data, the signal table, and the time span.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: CGG SERVICES SAS
    Inventors: Eric Forgues, Peter Maxwell, Jason Jurok, Julien Cotton
  • Patent number: 10212295
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes: a housing including a recording-mechanism unit provided with a recording device that performs recording on a recording medium, peripheral walls of the housing being formed of a panel section, side-surface sections, and a rear-surface section; and a reading-mechanism unit that reads a document and covers and uncovers the top of the housing. The reading-mechanism unit includes a main body section having a document bed on which a document is mounted and an opening/closing body that covers and uncovers the document bed and has side surfaces. At least the main body section unit is accommodated in the interior of the peripheral walls of the housing when the reading-mechanism unit is closed. Each of the side surfaces of the opening/closing body and a corresponding one of the panel section and the side-surface sections are continuous with each other to form a single plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichi Shirota, Yoshiyuki Okazawa
  • Patent number: 10202516
    Abstract: A printed matter is provided. The printed matter comprises a print medium and a print layer on the print medium. The print medium comprises a porous layer having an average pore diameter of from 100 to 400 nm and an average thickness of from 1 to 50 ?m. The print layer comprises silver and an aliphatic compound having amino group and hydroxyl group, and has an average thickness of from 50 to 300 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Tomura, Yoshimasa Miyazawa, Takuya Fujita
  • Patent number: 10195847
    Abstract: A liquid jetting apparatus includes: a head including nozzles and driving elements arranged to correspond to the nozzles; a power source connected to the driving elements; and a control circuit connected to the power source. The control circuit determines whether an output voltage value of the power source is changed from a first voltage value to a second voltage value. When the control circuit has determined that the output voltage value is changed from the first voltage value to the second voltage value, the control circuit calculates an absolute value of a difference between the first voltage value and the second voltage value and compares the absolute value of the difference and a threshold value. When the absolute value of the difference is equal to or more than the threshold value, the control circuit determines a calculation voltage value smaller than the absolute value of the difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Fumika Hatta
  • Patent number: 10189257
    Abstract: In one example, a print bar structure includes a beam having two flanges connected by a web and a planar surface along a longitudinal edge of each flange, a printhead mounting structure attached to the beam along the planar surfaces to mount a printhead, and a fluid flow structure positioned between the flanges to carry printing fluid to the printhead mounting structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Silam J. Choy, Rhonda Lynn Wilson
  • Patent number: 10191118
    Abstract: The state of charge of a rechargeable battery is determined by calculating the DC impedance of the battery. The impedance is calculated by: performing a two different constant current discharges of the battery at a first and second C-rates, respectively; measuring the voltage and current during the interval of each constant current discharge and calculating the amount of charge extracted from the battery up to a point where the battery voltage drops to a threshold value; calculating the state of charge of the battery; and calculating the DC impedance of the battery as a function of the difference between the battery voltages and discharge currents for the two different discharges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics International N.V.
    Inventor: Daniel Ladret
  • Patent number: 10189278
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a high-speed, closed-loop fabric printer comprises a plurality of consecutive stations that can be managed by a single operator. In particular, shirts or other fabric garments may be individually loaded and secured on a pallet by an operator, and the loaded pallets may then cycle through a plurality of unmanned stations positioned along a contiguous path (e.g., oval). The stations may be configured for pretreating the fabric surface, drying and pressing the pretreated fabric with heat, and then inkjet printing a selected image, among others. In this manner, a “wet-to-dry-to-wet” direct to garment (DTG) printing process may thus be achieved, along with optimal controls for maximum adaptability. Furthermore, due to the closed-loop design, a recently printed fabric product returns to the operator to be unloaded at the position in which a new unprinted fabric is loaded, allowing for increased throughput and minimal operator requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Inventors: Kris Otto Friedrich, Blair Kristine Dorsey
  • Patent number: 10184806
    Abstract: A rotation angle detection device includes resolvers 2a and 2b for detecting the rotation angle of a rotating body, and a signal processing circuit 10 for processing the output signals of the resolvers. The signal processing circuit 10 includes a detection signal processing section 30 for obtaining, from the output signals of the resolvers, electrical angle signals A1 and A2 corresponding to the electrical angles of the resolvers, and an abnormality detection section 50 capable of detecting an abnormality of the input signal from at least one of the resolvers. The abnormality detection section 50 performs comparison determination processing for comparing the electrical angle signal A1 and the electrical angle signal A2 obtained from the resolvers at the same time, and comparison determination processing for comparing the electrical angle signals A1 and the electrical angle signals A2 in a continuous time series at time points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: MINEBEA CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takahiko Komatsu
  • Patent number: 10183514
    Abstract: Examples described herein include method for calibrating LED modules in a curing engine. The method of calibrating UV curing modules includes receiving an uncured calibration image and initiating a curing operation that includes operating the curing modules according to a plurality of corresponding initial power level settings to apply radiant energy to the uncured calibration image to generate a cured calibration image. The method further includes receiving user input or information about an image characteristic of the cured calibration image from a user. The method then includes analyzing the user input to generate adjustments to the corresponding initial power level settings, and then applying the adjustments to the corresponding initial power level settings to generate a plurality of corresponding adjusted power level settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: HP SCITEX LTD.
    Inventors: Eyal Kotik, Alon Levin
  • Patent number: 10173425
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head includes: actuator plates having discharge channels to be filled with an ink; sub-plates stacked on the ?Z-direction end surfaces of discharge channels in the actuator plates along a flow direction of the ink and having communication paths communicating with the discharge channels; and a nozzle plate stacked on the ?Z-direction end surfaces of the communication paths in the sub-plates along the flow direction and having nozzle holes communicating with the discharge channels through the communication paths. The ?Z-direction end surfaces of the sub-plates are polished.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: SII PRINTEK INC.
    Inventor: Daiki Irokawa
  • Patent number: 10173430
    Abstract: There is provided a printing apparatus which performs printing by ejecting ink from a nozzle, including: a wiper blade that abuts on a nozzle surface on which an opening of the nozzle is formed, and moves in a first direction to wipe the ink adhering to the nozzle surface; and a cleaner that abuts on the moving wiper blade and scrapes off the ink adhering to the wiper blade, in which the wiper blade includes a blade member which protrudes in a second direction which is substantially orthogonal to the first direction, and in which the cleaner includes a scraping member which protrudes in a third direction which is a direction opposite to the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Urabe, Kazushi Arafuka, Ken Inoue