Patents Examined by Anh T. N. Vo
  • Patent number: 10160198
    Abstract: A printer includes a page wide array of printing elements extending in a first orientation and co-located with a media path extending in a second orientation generally perpendicular to the first orientation. The printer is selectively operable according to a calibration involving current calibration values for a first subset of the page wide array of printing elements and a substitute calibration value for at least one non-first subset printing element of the page wide array immediately adjacent to at least one of the first subset printing elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Marcos Casaldaliga Albisu, Marti Rius Rossell
  • Patent number: 10155396
    Abstract: An ion writing unit includes an ion generator and an array of electrode nozzles aligned to receive and guide generated ions. An air flow source causes an air flow adjacent the ion generator or in an orientation adjacent the electrode nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Henryk Birecki, Napoleon J Leoni, Omer G Gila
  • Patent number: 10155395
    Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment, an ink circulation device comprises an ink supply section, an ink return section, an ink circulation pump, a filter and a bypass section. The filter partitions an upstream side ink flow path arranged between an ejection section of the ink circulation pump and the ink supply section into a first flow path communicating with the ejection section of the ink circulation pump and a second flow path communicating with the ink supply section. The bypass section is arranged at the upper part of a vertical direction with respect to the filter, directly communicates the first flow path with a downstream side ink flow path arranged between the ink return section and a suction section of the ink circulation pump. An inkjet recording device of the present embodiment comprises the foregoing ink circulation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Hara, Yoshiaki Kaneko
  • Patent number: 10150296
    Abstract: An inkjet recording device includes a recorder which discharges ink from a plurality of recording elements disposed in each of a plurality of recording heads onto a recording medium, the ink changing a phase between a solid and a liquid; a mover which causes the recording medium and the plurality of recording heads to move relative to each other; and a hardware processor which performs record control causing each of the plurality of recording elements disposed in the plurality of recording heads of the recorder to perform an output operation of discharging or not discharging ink onto the recording medium which moves relative to the recording heads in a predetermined movement direction according to a pixel value of image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Mizutani
  • Patent number: 10150312
    Abstract: A control apparatus includes a grouping unit configured to divide a plurality of sheets, each associated with a plurality of pages included in a processing target job into groups, and a control unit to control feeding of a sheet from a feeding unit onto a conveyance path and refeeding of a sheet that has been conveyed on the conveyance path onto the conveyance path. The grouping unit sets a group size that is not less than a maximum sheet size used in the processing target job, and the grouping unit decides the group of the predetermined page as the first group. The grouping unit also decides the group of the predetermined page as a second group different from the first group, and the control unit controls feeding and refeeding for each group grouped in the grouping unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takayoshi Noguchi
  • Patent number: 10144214
    Abstract: In a control device, a controller is configured to perform: acquiring target image data; and controlling a printer to execute a first forming process forming dots on a first scanning range and a second forming process forming dots on a second scanning range. The first scanning range overlaps the second scanning range at an overlapping area. The overlapping area includes a first position corresponding to a first pixel and a second position corresponding to a second pixel. In a case where both a first pixel value and a second pixel value indicate forming a dot and the target image data satisfies a condition requiring that density in a region including the first pixel is equal to or more than a reference, the first forming process forms a dot at the first position and the second forming process forms a dot at both the first position and the second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yasunari Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10149382
    Abstract: A wiring substrate includes a plurality of wiring patterns, a protective layer to cover the plurality of wiring patterns and regions between the plurality of wiring patterns, and a plurality of terminals communicating with the plurality of wiring patterns, respectively, the plurality of terminals not covered by the protective layer. Pitch between the plurality of terminals adjacent to each other includes a first pitch and a second pitch wider than the first pitch. At least one of the plurality of wiring patterns, the terminals of which are adjacent to each other at the second pitch, includes a portion of expanded width having a width wider than a width of the plurality of terminals. The portion of expanded width is covered with the protective layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hitoshi Kida
  • Patent number: 10144233
    Abstract: A gap adjustment method of an ink jet device includes a head unit with an ink discharge port that discharges ink, a carriage that is provided with the head unit and moves in a main scanning direction, a print medium provided with a gap with respect to the ink discharge port, and a gap driving unit that adjusts a length of the gap. The gap adjustment method includes a discharging process (step ST4) and a gap adjusting process (step ST5 to step ST56). In the discharging process (step ST4), ink is discharged in each of a forward path and a backward path while reciprocating the carriage in the main scanning direction. In the gap adjusting process, a forward path landing position and a backward path landing position, and an optimum landing position determined in advance are compared, and the length of the gap is adjusted with the gap driving unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Akihiro Onodera
  • Patent number: 10144222
    Abstract: A printing system comprising two or more groups of ink, wherein each group of ink includes ink based upon a unique formulation. This enables a user to select an ink type for printing an image without requiring extra printers or replacement of printing components. Additionally, the user can print a single image using inks of two different base formulations. The system comprises at least two groups of ink storage containers, each group containing a group of ink volumes, each group of ink volumes having a unique ink base formulation. The system further comprises at least two groups of ink formulation specific print heads, each group being associated with the compatible ink formulation. A controller enables the user to selectively print an image using ink having one or more ink base formulations. The system can use any configuration of ink storage configurations and print heads arrangements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Inventor: Shahar Turgeman
  • Patent number: 10137694
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid supply unit provided with a liquid container that is configured to supply a liquid to a liquid consuming apparatus. The liquid supply unit includes a unit housing located below the liquid consuming apparatus and configured to be detachably mounted to the liquid consuming apparatus; the liquid container configured to be placed inside of the unit housing and provided with a liquid supply portion that is arranged to flow out the liquid; and a liquid introduction portion configured to be connected with the liquid supply portion and to flow the liquid from the liquid supply portion to the liquid consuming apparatus, the liquid introduction portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Katsutomo Tsukahara
  • Patent number: 10134976
    Abstract: The piezoelectric body is configured to have a layered structure such that a plurality of unit layers are stacked in a film thickness direction, and each of the unit layers is formed of a first layer on which the displacement is relatively easy to occur, and a second layer which has a high concentration of Zr as compared with the first layer. In addition, when composition ratio Ti/(Zr+Ti) of Zr to Ti in each of the first layer and the second layer is set as Cr1 and Cr2, the composition ratio of each layer is adjusted so as to satisfy the following conditions (1) to (3): 0.41?Cr1?0.81??(1) 0.1?Cr1?Cr2?0.3??(2) Cr1>Cr2??(3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Motoki Takabe, Eiju Hirai, Toshihiro Shimizu, Naoto Yokoyama, Eiji Osawa
  • Patent number: 10131167
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes an ink tank, a recording head, a monitor, an operation panel, and a controller. The ink tank forms an ink chamber and including an injection inlet. The recording head ejects ink from the ink chamber to record an image on a sheet. The operation panel receives user input. The controller controls operation of the recording head, the monitor, and the operation panel. The controller performs receiving a completion signal indicating completion of ink injection, decision processing deciding whether an initial processing has been completed, and inquiry processing based on receipt of the completion signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Mana Honoki, Kenta Horade
  • Patent number: 10131142
    Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment, an inkjet head comprises a pressure chamber, an actuator and a control section. The pressure chamber houses ink. The actuator is driven to expand or contract the volume of the pressure chamber in order to eject the ink from an opening of the pressure chamber. The control section applies an expansion pulse of which the width is 0.4 times-0.9 times as large as an AT which is half a natural vibration period during which nozzle negative pressure is changed in the pressure chamber and which expands the pressure chamber to the actuator, and applies a contraction pulse which contracts the pressure chamber to the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masaya Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 10118398
    Abstract: There is provided a plug member that is detachably mounted to a liquid inlet to close the liquid inlet. The plug member comprises a sealing part configured to close the liquid inlet, such that at least part of the sealing part is inserted in the liquid inlet; and a cover part arranged around at least part of circumference of the sealing part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Nishimaki, Naomi Kimura, Shoma Kudo, Shoichi Ishizawa, Yoshiyuki Tanaka, Koji Kawai, Makoto Omuro
  • Patent number: 10118412
    Abstract: A scanning inkjet printing method comprises arranging a recording medium on a print surface; moving a carriage supporting at least one inkjet print head over the recording medium on the print surface in a scanning direction, while image-wise applying droplets of a liquid to the recording medium to form a first swath of printed dots on the recording medium; moving the recording medium and the carriage relative to each other in a transport direction, wherein the transport direction is transverse to the scanning direction; moving the carriage over the recording medium on the print surface in the scanning direction, while image-wise applying droplets of the liquid to the recording medium to form a second swath of printed dots on the recording medium; detecting a position of the first swath; determining a sub-carriage movement relative to the carriage in response to the detected position of the first swath to position the second swath relative to the first swath, wherein the sub-carriage is supported by the carria
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: OCÉ HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Brian A. J. Albert, Glen Field, Maarten J. H. Elferink, Matthew Rektor
  • Patent number: 10118383
    Abstract: A recording apparatus is provided with a droplet discharging head having a nozzle forming portion and a charging unit. The nozzle forming portion includes nozzles formed therein. The charging unit is configured to impart an electrical charge to the medium. The charging unit imparts, to the medium, an electrical charge having the same polarity as an electrically charged state of the nozzle forming portion after the droplets are discharged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Osamu Murayama, Takehito Washizawa, Yoshiyuki Konishi
  • Patent number: 10114053
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a pulse frequency measurement device and method and a control system, the device including: a hardware counter configured to perform a counting operation on an input pulse sequence to output a counting result; and a processing unit configured to obtain number of pulses from the counting result outputted by the hardware counter and measure a first time period during which the obtained number of pulses occupy, in which the processing unit includes a frequency calculation module configured to calculate a frequency of the input pulse sequence based on the obtained number of pulses and the first time period. According to the invention, it is possible to achieve adaptive pulse frequency measurement and multi-channel sampling for multiple input pulse sequences with a relatively low cost while ensuring the accuracy of the measurement result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Lilei Zhai, Wei Liu, Axel Lohbeck
  • Patent number: 10112403
    Abstract: There are provided a liquid container including a plug member which prevents leakage of a liquid from the liquid container and can be opened without scattering the liquid and a liquid ejection apparatus including the liquid container. For that purpose, a projecting portion in the plug member is provided below a center part of the plug member in a gravity direction in an attitude at the time of use of the liquid ejection apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Norihiro Ikebe, Ryo Shimamura, Akira Shiba, Kazuya Yoshii, Takeho Miyashita, Tomoki Yamamuro, Atsushi Arai, Masatoshi Ohira, Tatsuaki Orihara, Hirofumi Okuhara, Kazumasa Matsushita, Misato Furuya
  • Patent number: 10105947
    Abstract: In some examples, a printing system includes a printhead comprising a nozzle array including plural columns of nozzles to deliver printing fluid to a print medium, wherein nozzles in a first column of the columns are offset from nozzles in a second column of the columns. A controller is to control printing onto the print medium using the printhead by, for each respective pass of a plurality of passes of the printhead over the print medium, controlling an advance of the print medium for a print mask pattern that controls firing of the nozzles of the printhead, where the controlled advance of the print medium causes nozzles from different columns of nozzles of the nozzle array to deliver dots of printing fluid to a given row of a swath in successive passes of the plurality of passes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Andreas Muller, Utpal Kumar Sarkar
  • Patent number: 10105948
    Abstract: An image inspection device analyzes data of a first read image obtained by reading a defective nozzle detection pattern which is recorded in a first region of a recording medium by a single pass ink jet printing apparatus to detect a defective nozzle of a line-type ink jet head used to record the defective nozzle detection pattern and stores a history of the detection result of the defective nozzle in a history information storage unit. The image inspection device analyzes data of a second read image of a printed image recorded in a second region of the recording medium to detect an image defect of the printed image and collates information about the detected image defect with history information stored in the history information storage unit to specify a defective nozzle causing the image defect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Masashi Ueshima