Abstract: Process for compensation of a defect in the advance of a print substrate by modifying the arrival position of ink droplets with a variable electrical charge on the substrate (27), these droplets being charged in a variable and sequential manner, the paths of the droplets being affected by deviation electrodes (23, 24) deviating the droplets to one of N positions defined by their row j (1≦j≦N), the N positions defining a frame obtained by a burst of droplets in the form of a straight line segment parallel to an X direction along which the substrate advances.

Abstract: The invention provides a printing apparatus for printing an image having a spatial resolution onto a print medium. The printing apparatus includes a printhead having a plurality of printing elements for ejecting ink droplets having a mass onto the print medium, and a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the printhead, producing a temperature signal. The apparatus also includes a media sensor for determining what type of print medium is loaded in the printer and producing a print medium signal based on the type of print medium installed in the printer. A plurality of heating devices are located adjacent the printhead for adjusting the temperature the printhead.

Abstract: An apparatus for driving a printhead has a timer, a power supply, and a controller. The power supply applies a drive voltage to the printhead to eject ink drops from the printhead. The timer counts an elapsed time during which the printhead does not eject ink drops. The controller performs an ejection test where the drive voltage drives the printhead a plurality of times to eject a plurality of ink drops. The controller drives the power supply to increase the drive voltage in accordance with a length of the elapsed time. The ejection test is performed at a predetermined length of the elapsed time, the drive voltage and the predetermined length of the elapsed time are selected in accordance with a decrease in an ejection speed of the ink drops. The controller controls the drive voltage such that the surface of meniscus of ink in the orifice is subjected to fine vibration before the ink drop is ejected.

Abstract: An ink-jet recording method includes a step of applying each of a plurality of ejection signals to an ejecting device. Each of the ejecting signals is generated in such a manner that at least one of a quantity of energy to be fed to the ejecting device per unit time and a total quantity of energy differs from the other one. It is preferable that when a plurality of ink droplets are shot onto a recording medium at the substantially same location on the latter, an ejection signal for allowing at least one of a quantity of energy to be fed to the ejecting device and a total quantity of energy to be maximized is selected from a plurality of ejection signals, and subsequently, it is applied to the ejecting device.

Abstract: A method for transporting an ink-jet head in an ink-jet printing system to the home position by use of driving voltage charged in the ink-jet printing system in the ink-jet printing system when power supply is cut off. The method for transporting the ink-jet head in the printing system to the home position when the power supply is cut off, by charging a storage unit with power from a power supply, when a level of the voltage drops to less than a reference voltage level during the printing operation, by stopping the printing operation, and transferring the ink-jet head to its home position by use of the storage units charged voltage.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording head having a pressure generating chamber communicating with a nozzle aperture for jetting an ink droplet. A portion of the pressure generating chamber is composed of a diaphragm. An ink droplet is jetted by the displacement of a piezoelectric layer formed on the surface of the diaphragm. A connection between a lead electrode, for applying voltage to a piezoelectric element including a lower electrode, the piezoelectric layer and an upper electrode are respectively formed in an area corresponding to the pressure generating chamber. The piezoelectric element is provided in an area opposite to a passage communicating with the pressure generating chamber other than an area opposite to the pressure generating chamber. The ink-jet recording head is mounted in an ink-jet recording device and is used for recording on a recording medium.

Abstract: The intermediate medium is an endless belt wound around and spans intermediate medium transport rollers and a transfer roller. Ink jet heads are disposed outside of the loop, their nozzles facing to the intermediate medium. A phase-changeable ink is ejected from the ink jet heads onto the intermediate medium to form an intermediate image. The intermediate image is pressed against a recording medium and transferred onto the recording medium whose surface to be recorded is directly heated in advance, and a final image is obtained. In this way, double-sided printing can be performed without any damage on the printed side.

Abstract: An ink-jet hard copy apparatus provides a flow of air across the printing surface of a sheet of print media during printing operations. The airflow scrubs the boundary layer of the printing surface such that paper cockle is reduced by resultant improvement in drying time. A writing instrument deflector is used to prevent substantial interference with ink droplet flight trajectories due to positive airflow through the print zone.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus, a printing apparatus, an information processing method and a printing method can print high quality images without lowering throughput by correcting density variations to within a range where they can hardly be perceived by the human eye as stripes or unevenness. With this invention, a print head having a plurality of nozzles capable of ejecting ink is used to print a test pattern based on image data with a predetermined gradation level. Then, based on read data of the test pattern, a temporary correction value &agr;′[N] is calculated which will made the print density of rasters corresponding to each of the plurality of nozzles constant. The temporary correction value &agr;40 [N] is limited by the upper limit &agr;U and the lower limit &agr;L so that it is limited to within a range between &agr;U and &agr;L.

Abstract: According to the position information, based on the encoder signal, about the print heads during movement which is obtained in connection with the print start timing of the signal used by the print heads to print the registration adjust patterns, the amount of registration deviation between the print heads are determined. Then, the differences between the print start time of the signal and the leading and trailing edge of the encoder signal are determined for each print head. The difference between these differences is adjusted as the deviation amount between the heads to adjust the ejection timing of each head. This can correct the print position deviations between the plurality of the heads with high precision without being influenced by variations in the head movement speed.

Abstract: An ink container for holding a supply of liquid ink for use in an inkjet printing system. The container includes a collapsible ink reservoir for holding a supply of liquid ink, and a multiple functioned chassis. The chassis rigidly supports an air inlet for receiving pressurized air from the printing system and an ink outlet for delivering pressurized ink to the system. The chassis supports a collapsible ink container by providing an attach surface over which the collapsible container is attached. The attach surface allows a relatively simple pleated bag construction to be used by providing a surface whose normal is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the container. The chassis is adapted to engage with a pressure vessel opening, providing a seal that separates the pressure vessel from an outside atmosphere.

Abstract: In a known printer that may create different types of dots having different densities or different ink quantities, there is a problem that the types of dots to be created in the respective pixels included in an image are not determined by taking into account the restriction of ink duty. A printer of the present invention has a head that provides two inks of different densities, that is, a higher-density ink and a lower-density ink, with respect to at least one hue, and may create dots of different ink quantities. The technique of the present invention provides a table that stores expected quantities of inks to be spouted for respective color components of image data corresponding to tone values regarding the respective color components of the image data. The technique refers to the table and sets an expected quantity of ink to be spouted for each color component in each pixel based on input image data, in order to keep the restriction of ink duty.

Abstract: An air vane directs air to cool the printhead of thermal inkjet printers having one or more movable carriages. A passive air vane is mounted on or molded to some portion of the carriage, printhead, ink tank or ink tank holder so that it moves with the movable carriage. Moving the air vane significantly increases the flow of air over the printhead, increasing the flow of heat away from the printhead and, consequently, improving the performance of the printer.

Abstract: A printhead temperature monitoring system includes a processor having a top priority interrupt input, a normal priority interrupt input, and at least one input for receiving temperature related signals. The processor is programmed or otherwise operable to calculate a printhead temperature based at least in part upon temperature related signals read on the input. A single timer circuit provides interrupt signals to the interrupt inputs of the processor. An interrupt control circuit is connected between the single timer circuit and the processor for selectively controlling application of timer circuit interrupt signals to the top priority interrupt of the processor and the normal priority interrupt of the processor.

Abstract: An inkjet printhead chip structure and a method of estimating the working life through the detection of any defect on the chip structure. The method includes laying a metallic layer such as a tantalum layer over the chip and then shaping the metallic layer into a protective layer circuit. A portion of the metal protective layer covers the heating elements embedded in the chip. In printing, the heating elements heat up the ink to produce jets of ink. However, a portion of the heat is transferred to the metal protective layer thereby raising its temperature. Heat on the metal protective layer combined with any strayed residual ink bubbles that impinge upon the surface of the metal protective layer causes the metal to age. Since resistance of the metal protective layer will increase proportionally to the amount of aging, a measurement of the resistance is capable of estimating how much longer a given chip is suitable for use.

Abstract: The present invention provides a short circuit detection system and method for determining a short circuit in a print system. The short circuit detection system includes a parameter sensing circuit in the print system, a parameter usage estimator, and a comparator. The parameter sensing circuit provides a sensed measurement of a predetermined parameter across the sensing unit. The parameter usage estimator is coupled to receive nozzle firing data and a desired unit parameter, and is used for determining an estimated parameter usage value. The comparator is coupled to receive the sensed measurement of the predetermined parameter and the estimated parameter usage value. The comparator determines if the sensed measurement of the predetermined parameter is greater than the estimated parameter usage value. If the sensed measurement of the predetermined parameter is greater than the estimated parameter usage value, the comparator outputs a signal indicating a short circuit condition.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a test pattern used in the alignment of an ink-jet pen which deposits fixer fluid, or other clear ink precursor fluid, or even colored ink fluid, on print media incorporates a colorless chemical marker in the fixer that is either infrared- or ultraviolet-sensitive and can either be observed using IR-sensitive detectors or visually, respectively, upon application of IR (or near-IR) radiation or UV radiation, respectively. Thus, data may be obtained with respect to deviations in a carriage-scan x-axis and a paper scan y-axis. Thus, the teachings of the present invention permit a determination of the extent of misdirected or missing nozzles.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a nozzle testing method of an inkjet printer, and specifically, to a nozzle testing method which tests for a defects in each nozzle of a print head by operating every nozzle of a print head in order, and displaying 1) an error message that at least one nozzle is malfunctioning, 2) the quantity of malfunctioning nozzles in a print head, 3) the quantity of functioning nozzles in a print head, and 4) which nozzles are malfunctioning, if any. The present invention includes an inkjet printer that sends a nozzle operating signal to each nozzle for operating each nozzles in order. When each nozzle is in operation, a corresponding logic level of voltage from a head installation sensing circuit is produced to be examined for a defect in a nozzle. The result is indicated on a display. As a result, instead of finding a defect manually, a user can be alarmed when there is a defect automatically to take appropriate steps to correct the problem.

Abstract: The individual monochromatic printheads mounted simultaneously on the scanning carriage of an ink jet printer are provided with an opto-electronic position detector of the four-quadrant type, which is integrated directly in the chip of each head by means of the same MOS technology used for the circuits for selection and driving of the emission resistors; an illumination device fixed onto the printer focuses a light spot on the position detector which thus provides the electronic control unit of the printer with a measurement of both the vertical and horizontal misalignment of each head, a measurement which is subsequently used in order to compensate automatically for the misalignment thereof.

Abstract: A flexible circuit on an ink jet print head cartridge provides electrical connection between a control circuit in an ink jet printer and electrical contacts on a print head integrated circuit. During operation of printer, the contacts and the flexible circuit are exposed to a corrosive ink contained in the cartridge. The flexible circuit includes a first conductor for electrically connecting to a contact on the print head integrated circuit. The first conductor carries a first voltage when the flexible circuit is connected to the control circuit. A second conductor is disposed adjacent the first conductor for electrically connecting to another contact on the print head integrated circuit. When the flexible circuit is connected to the control circuit the second conductor carries a second voltage which is different from the first voltage. Thus, a voltage difference exists between the first conductor and the second conductor.