Abstract: A method of assembling a modular printhead assembly is provided. The method includes mounting printhead integrated circuits to fluid distribution members, where each printhead IC has nozzles for printing fluid onto print media and the fluid distribution members have apertures for distributing fluid to respective ones of the nozzles, fixedly attaching the fluid distribution members onto a support member with curable resin selectively deposited about fluid delivery channels of the support member and the apertures of the fluid distribution members, where the attachment is made so that the fluid delivery channels are in fluid communication with respective ones of the apertures, and curing the curable resin to seal the selective attachment of the fluid distribution and support members.

Abstract: A method for facilitating maintenance of an inkjet printer of a type having a pagewidth printhead, the method including the steps of providing the inkjet printer in at least first and second portions detachable from each other, the first portion requiring replacement more frequently than the second portion in use, wherein the first portion includes the pagewidth printhead.

Abstract: Techniques for spoofing an imaging device adapted for reading data from an electrical storage device to determine a volume of ink in an ink container include providing a replacement electrical storage device for use with the ink container, the replacement electrical storage device comprising memory locations; and responding, by the replacement electrical storage device, to reads of memory locations of the replacement electrical storage device by returning data to the imaging device which causes the imaging device to calculate an inaccurate initial volume of ink stored in the ink container.

Abstract: A testing method includes sorting inkjet heads into a plurality of groups on the basis of known information about ink flow, preparing basic driving waveform data corresponding to each of the groups and modification data that partially modifies the basic driving waveform data to individually store them in advance in a storing section, creating individual waveform information that instructs combinations of the basic driving waveform data with the modification data with respect to an inkjet head to be tested to apply a modified driving waveform, and repeating the modification of the individual waveform information until a recording state becomes good.

Abstract: The present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus and an ink jet printing method which are capable of stabilizing the amount of ink ejection and of printing a high-definition image by selecting a driving condition with heat conductivity of an electrothermal converter being taken into consideration. The heat conductivity from a heater to ink is classified into heater ranks, and, on the basis of the heater rank, a voltage of a drive pulse to be applied to the heater is changed.

Abstract: A thermal inkjet printhead 100 of the present invention includes a heating element 110, an ink chamber, control circuitry 108, an ink reservoir, and a memory array 106. The control circuitry 108 causes the heating element to generate thermal energy thereby causing ink within the ink chamber to generate bubbles of ink, which are then expelled through a nozzle. The ink reservoir replenishes used ink in the ink chamber. The memory array 106 stores and provides the identification parameters for the thermal inkjet printhead 100. The identification parameters are typically provided during initialization of the printer and include color(s) of ink (e.g., black, green, red, blue), a number of nozzles on the thermal inkjet printhead, an addressing frequency, nozzle spacing, heating architecture, and the like.

Abstract: An ink jet printing device comprises a head unit, a head-unit moving unit, a recording-medium moving unit, and a control unit controlling the head unit, the head-unit moving unit, and the recording-medium moving unit. The control unit is configured to carry out printing so that a rear-end portion of discharge nozzles in an array direction after printing of a printing region and a front-end portion of the discharge nozzles in the array direction before printing of a non-printed region overlap each other with respect to a sub-scanning direction, and invalid nozzles that do not discharge ink drops are determined from among arbitrary ones of overlapping discharge nozzles including a front-end portion and a rear-end portion in the array direction of the discharge nozzles.

Abstract: An ink refill unit is provided for replenishing an ink cartridge in an inkjet printer. The ink cartridge has an interface for engaging the ink refill unit and the ink refill unit has a body containing a quantity of ink, and an ink outlet for engaging an ink inlet in the interface. A feature of the ink refill unit and a feature of the interface form a pair of complementary features that have a keyed connection with each other when the ink refill unit engages the interface.

Abstract: An ink jet printing apparatus carries out printing using a connecting head formed of a plurality of chips connected together, each having an array of nozzles through which ink is ejected. Potential white stripes, which are attributed to connecting portions in each chip, can be suppressed. Each nozzle array is provided with connecting portion nozzles and non-connecting portion nozzles. The connecting portion nozzles in one of the nozzle arrays overlaps the corresponding non-connecting portion nozzles in another nozzle array in a direction in which the nozzle arrays are arranged. Ejection of ink droplets from the non-connecting portion nozzles is controlled in accordance with printing conditions.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an ink ejection device which ejects droplets of a radiation-curable ink onto a recording medium; a conveyance device which causes the ink ejection device and the recording medium to move relatively to each other in a relative movement direction by conveying at least one of the ink ejection device and the recording medium; a radiation irradiation device which irradiates radiation to the droplets deposited on the recording medium by the ink ejection device; a dot formation conditions determination device which determines a dot size of dots and a pitch between adjacent dots to be formed by the ejected droplets, according to print data; and a droplet ejection timing control device which sets an ejection interval between the droplets according to information relating to the dot size and the dot pitch determined by the dot formation conditions determination device, and controls an ejection timing of a subsequent droplet ejected subsequently in an overlapping fashion, in such a

Abstract: There is disclosed an ink-droplet ejecting apparatus including a pressure chamber filled with an ink, an actuator which varies an inner volume of the pressure chamber, and a control unit which has a drive-signal generator. The drive-signal generator generates a drive signal and applies the drive signal to the actuator when a droplet of the ink is to be ejected onto a recording medium The drive signal is generated to be in one of at least one waveform including a waveform including a main pulse Pm in order to eject the ink droplet, and a stabilizing pulse Ps applied after the main pulse Pm in order not to eject an ink droplet. A pulse width Ts of the stabilizing pulse Ps is smaller than a rising time of the stabilizing pulse Ps.

Abstract: Installed are intermediate tank 12 with damping function against pressure fluctuation for temporarily storing ink in a position within ink supplying pipe 9a which supplies ink from main tank 11 to recording head 7, liquid supplying pump 23 between main tank 11 and intermediate tank 12 for supplying ink to intermediate tank 12 and controller 25 actuating liquid supplying pump 23 to supply ink from main tank 11 to intermediate tank 12 when membrane surface detecting sensor 19 detects that the quantity of remaining ink in intermediate tank 12 is less than a prescribed one. When liquid supplying pump is actuated and no increase of quantity of remaining ink in intermediate tank 12 is detected, controller 25 judges that that there is no remaining ink in main tank 11 and a result of the judgment is notified by display section 28.

Abstract: An ink cartridge used in a color printer, comprises at the surface, a convexity or convexities (identifying section) that correspond to a color of an ink, and that can be identified by tactile sense. A cartridge setting section of the color printer comprises at the surface, a convexity or convexities (identifying section) that correspond to the color of the ink of the ink cartridge that is to be set, and that can be identified by tactile sense. The user can identify the color of the ink of the ink cartridge, by touching the ink cartridge with his/her hand, and obtain information of the position where that ink cartridge should be set, by touching the cartridge setting section with his/her hand.

Abstract: An inkjet printer cartridge including one or more printing fluid reservoirs; a printing fluid delivery member defining one or more printing fluid delivery channels; and a pagewidth printhead in fluid communication with the one or more printing fluid reservoirs by means of the one or more printing fluid delivery channels.

Abstract: The inkjet recording apparatus comprises: a recording head including a plurality of nozzles which eject a plurality of ink droplets two-dimensionally in a sub-scanning direction that is a direction of relative conveyance of a recording medium and the recording head, and in a main scanning direction that is orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction, wherein the nozzles are arranged in such a manner that, taking Pmin to be a minimum pitch of the nozzles in the sub-scanning direction, and taking Pts to be a pitch in the sub-scanning direction between the nozzles that eject ink droplets deposited adjacently in an overlapping fashion in the main scanning direction on the recording medium, a relationship Pts>Pmin is satisfied.

Abstract: An ink cartridge for an inkjet printer is provided. The cartridge has an ink storage compartment having opposed wall sections connected by a flexible wall arrangement to define a variable ink storage volume, and an ink feed system for supplying ink to a printhead with an array of nozzles. One of the opposed wall sections is displaceable and biased to expand the variable ink storage volume to create a negative pressure in the ink storage compartment for avoiding inadvertent ink leakage from the nozzles.

Abstract: Ejection of a clear-ink nozzle is inspected with ease. When forming an ejection-test pattern for a clear ink, for example, the clear ink is ejected toward a medium from a clear-ink nozzle to form the ejection-test pattern, and a color ink is ejected toward a region in which the clear ink is to adhere from at least two color-ink nozzles to form the ejection-test pattern.

Abstract: An increase in energy applied to a heating element can be prevented and the service life of a printhead can be prolonged even when the temperature of the printing element having a negative temperature coefficient rises and the resistance of the heating element decreases upon controlling a switching element for controlling a current flowing through the heating element so as to make energy as constant as possible.

Abstract: It is an object of the invention to provide a droplet ejection apparatus and a method of detecting an ejection failure in droplet ejection heads capable of detecting an ejection failure in the droplet ejection heads by counting the number of reference pulses generated for a predetermined time period after a droplet ejection operation. The droplet ejection apparatus of the invention includes: a plurality of droplet ejection heads, each of the droplet ejection heads including a diaphragm, an actuator which displaces the diaphragm; a driving circuit which drives the actuator of each droplet ejection head; pulse generating means for generating reference pulses; a subtraction counter for counting the number of reference pulses generated for a predetermined time period; and ejection failure detecting means for detecting an ejection failure of the droplets on the basis of the count value of the counter counted for the predetermined time period.

Abstract: A method of driving a droplet jetting head comprising nozzle orifices to jet droplets, pressure generating chambers each of which can store liquid and communicate with one of the orifices, and pressurizing devices to change the pressures of the pressure generating chambers, comprising the steps of increasing the pressure in the pressure generating chamber by the pressurizing device and protruding liquid in the pressure generating chamber from the nozzle orifice as a droplet, and separating the liquid which protrudes from the nozzle orifice when ?/? is equal to or less than 1/3 where ?(?m) is the diameter (in micrometers) of an liquid pillar (protruded from the nozzle orifice) at the front end of the nozzle orifice and ?(?m) is the maximum diameter (in micrometers) of the liquid pillar.