Patents Examined by Henok D Legesse
  • Patent number: 11413867
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, a piezoelectric pump includes a pressure chamber and a buffer chamber. The buffer chamber is provided for at least one of an inlet of the pressure chamber in which liquid flows or an outlet of the pressure chamber from which the liquid is discharged. The buffer chamber includes a wall portion that forms a gas chamber that retains gas from the liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Taiki Goto, Kazuhiro Hara
  • Patent number: 11407243
    Abstract: An image forming system, having a recording head, a sheet conveyer, an inverting mechanism, and a controller, is provided. The sheet conveyer conveys a sheet in a sheet-conveying direction. The sheet is nipped at nipping points located at positions upstream and downstream in the sheet-conveying direction with respect to a discharging position. The inverting mechanism inverts the sheet from a first side to the second side. The controller determines an initial arrangement of the sheet in the sheet conveyer where image-forming on the second side starts, and controls a length of a period between time, when image-forming on the first side of the sheet in the posture with the first side facing the recording sheet is completed, and time, when the image-forming on the second side of the sheet inverted and refed to the sheet conveyer starts, based on the determined initial arrangement of the sheet in the sheet conveyer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Ito, Masao Mimoto, Yasuo Ono, Satoru Arakane, Hirotoshi Maehira
  • Patent number: 11400737
    Abstract: An upper supply tray is mounted at an upper mount position in a housing. A lower supply tray is mounted at a lower mount position lower than the upper mount position in the housing. A first print engine records an image on a sheet conveyed from the upper supply tray. A second print engine records an image on a sheet conveyed from the lower supply tray. A lower discharge tray supports the sheet on which the image is recorded by the first print engine. An upper discharge tray supports the sheet on which the image is recorded by the second print engine. The upper discharge tray is located at a higher position than the lower discharge tray. A first display displays at least: a first correspondence between the lower discharge tray and the upper supply tray; or a second correspondence between the upper discharge tray and the lower supply tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Satoshi Miyase
  • Patent number: 11400734
    Abstract: There is provided image recording apparatus including: memory and controller. The controller is configured to store, in the memory, first identification information for identifying recorded image and minimum margin value being a minimum value of partial image margins of recorded partial images. The controller is configured to obtain second identification information for identifying image-to-be-recorded. In a case that second identification information is same as first identification information stored, the controller is configured to determine whether the minimum margin value is smaller than threshold or not, and then: in a case that the minimum margin value is smaller than threshold, the controller is configured to derive an edge position of the sheet, and then execute ejection based on the derived edge position; and in a case that the minimum margin value in not smaller than threshold, the controller is configured to execute the ejection without deriving the edge position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoru Arakane
  • Patent number: 11396189
    Abstract: A printing apparatus is provided with: a support member supporting a can body; a movement route in which the support member moves, the movement route being formed into an annular shape and partially including a linear part, which is a linear-shaped movement route; and plural inkjet heads forming an image onto the can body supported by the support member positioned at the linear part. Thus, it is possible to suppress degradation of image quality that may happen in the case of forming a movement route of can bodies into an annular shape when an image is to be formed on a can body by use of the plural inkjet heads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: SHOWA ALUMINUM CAN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Ojima, Kazunori Ikeda
  • Patent number: 11396194
    Abstract: A printer includes: a printing head configured to perform printing on a medium; a conveyor configured to convey the medium in a conveying direction; a cutter configured to cut the medium to provide a segmented medium; a discharge roller; a counter roller configured to nip the medium in cooperation with the discharge roller; a driver configured to rotate the discharge roller in a discharging direction; and a controller configured to perform: (a) controlling the printing head and the conveyor to perform the first print control based on a first print instruction to perform printing on the medium; (b) driving the driver to stop rotation of the discharge roller with the medium nipped between the discharge roller and the counter roller; and (c) driving, when a second print control subsequent to the first print control is allowed, the driver to rotate the discharge roller in the discharging direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiromitsu Mizutani
  • Patent number: 11376877
    Abstract: It is hereby disclosed a carriage arrangement, in particular, a carriage arrangement suitable for a printing system comprising: a carriage; a carriage beam; and a drive mechanism; wherein the carriage is to move along a longitudinal direction of the carriage beam upon action by the drive mechanism and wherein the carriage arrangement comprises a beam compensation mechanism to exert a variable compensating force on the carriage beam, the variable compensating force depending on a deformation amount of the carriage beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daniel Gonzalez Perello, Nestor Luid Pinol, Adria Olmos Marin
  • Patent number: 11376870
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid ejecting device that includes an endless transporting belt that is stretched over a plurality of rollers and transports a medium in a transport direction by rotating while supporting the medium at a support surface that is a surface on an opposite side from a contact surface with the rollers, and a liquid ejecting unit that ejects a liquid onto the medium supported by the support surface. At the contact surface, recesses and protrusions are regularly formed in the circumferential direction of the transporting belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kenichiro Kaneko, Seijun Horie, Tsuneyuki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11376871
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes: a printing unit; a discharge unit configured to discharge a printed material on which the printing unit has performed printing and configured not to completely discharge but to hold the printed material; a detection unit configured to detect removal of the printed material that has been held by the discharge unit; and a control unit configured to control notification by a notification unit to a user. In response to detection by the detection unit of the removal of the printed material, the control unit is configured to control the notification unit to notify a user that the printed material has been removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takumi Iko
  • Patent number: 11364731
    Abstract: A printer includes a substrate support, a printhead assembly, first and second actuators, and a controller. The printhead assembly deposits material on a substrate supported on the substrate support. The first actuator is disposed at a side of the substrate support and coupled to a first linear track disposed along the side of the substrate support and oriented in a first direction. The second actuator is disposed at an end of the substrate support and coupled to a second linear track disposed along the end of the substrate support and oriented in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The first and second actuators are positioned to engage with the substrate simultaneously. The controller moves the first and second actuators together to rotate the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Kateeva, Inc.
    Inventors: Eashwer Chandra Vidhya Sagar Kollata, Digby Pun, Cormac McKinley Wicklow, Gregory Lewis
  • Patent number: 11358401
    Abstract: A post-processing device includes a transport path along which a medium printed with liquid ejected by a liquid ejecting portion is transported, an intermediate tray on which the medium is stacked, a first transporting member starting a first transporting operation of transporting the medium upstream in a transport direction after a rear end of the medium passes through the transport path, a rear-end alignment portion that comes into contact with the rear end of the medium transported by the first transporting member and that aligns the medium, a control portion controlling an operation of the first transporting member, and a detection portion detecting a transporting state of the medium in the intermediate tray, in which when the control portion determines, from an output of the detection portion, that the medium reaches the rear-end alignment portion, the control portion regulates the first transporting operation of the first transporting member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusaku Amano, Shota Sakagami, Yu Tsumuraya
  • Patent number: 11351799
    Abstract: A recording device includes a recording unit configured to perform recording on a first surface of a medium, a holding unit configured to hold a roll body obtained by rolling the medium, a transport unit configured to transport the medium unwound from the roll body, and a knocking unit configured to knock on a second surface of the medium between the holding unit and the recording unit, the second surface being a surface opposite the first surface. The knocking unit knocks on the second surface by moving between a spaced position for being spaced apart from the second surface and a contact position for making contact with the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Washio, Seijun Horie
  • Patent number: 11345170
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus may include a mechanism for forming a corrugated shape in a sheet to be conveyed. The mechanism may include various components include one or more pressing portions, one or more ribs, one or more discharge rollers, a switching mechanism and the like. In one arrangement, ribs and pressing portions configured to create the corrugated shape may be disposed at various locations upstream or downstream of the platen, recording portion and/or nozzles thereof. In one example, pressing portions may be disposed both upstream and downstream of the nozzles of the recording portion to maintain a corrugated shape in the conveyed sheet. Various other configurations may be used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Ito, Yuji Koga, Wataru Sugiyama, Kenji Samoto
  • Patent number: 11345172
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a tray on which a sheet is to be stacked, a container configured to store the tray such that the tray can be pulled out, a first guide unit configured to guide a slide of the tray in a pull-out direction, a second guide unit spaced apart from the first guide unit in a widthwise direction, a first regulating portion provided in the container and configured to regulate, by abutting against the tray, a tilt of the tray to one direction in the widthwise direction; and a second regulating portion provided in the container and configured to regulate, by abutting against the tray, a tilt of the tray to the other direction in the widthwise direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Saito, Yasushi Ishida, Tomohiko Yata, Masaaki Ishihara
  • Patent number: 11338596
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus includes a recording section which is provided over a transport passage for transporting a sheet in a transport direction and which has nozzles for discharging an ink onto the sheet; a platen which is provided under the recording section with the transport passage intervening therebetween and which has a plurality of ribs provided to support the sheet while being separated from each other in a widthwise direction of the transport passage perpendicular to the transport direction, the respective ribs protruding upwardly and extending in the transport direction; and a plurality of holding members which are provided to be positioned between the plurality of ribs in the widthwise direction of the transport passage over the platen on an upstream side in the transport direction from the nozzles and which abut against an upper surface of the sheet and press the sheet toward the platen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Ito
  • Patent number: 11338595
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink ejection unit configured to eject ink to a print medium, a transport belt on which the print medium is mounted, a driving section configured to transport the print medium by moving the transport belt, a specifying section configured to specify a print head to be adjusted using a test pattern, markers configured to indicate a position of the print medium when the test pattern is printed on the print medium, and a driving controller configured to control the driving section. The driving controller controls the driving section in accordance with the print head to be adjusted specified by the specifying section so as to adjust a position of the print medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Nobutada Mizusawa
  • Patent number: 11325403
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a thermal head, a paper feed unit, a paper detection unit, an ink ribbon take-up unit, an detection unit, and a control unit. The thermal head transfers ink applied to an ink ribbon onto paper. The paper feed unit feeds paper stacked on a paper stacking unit and conveys the paper. The paper detection unit detects the fed paper. The ink ribbon takes-up unit take up the ink ribbon. The detection unit detects a printing start position of the ink ribbon. The control unit controls feeding of the stacked paper from the paper stacking unit, suspend the conveyance of the paper upon detection of the fed paper, take up the ink ribbon with the ink ribbon take-up unit, stop the ink ribbon take-up upon detection of the printing start position of the ink ribbon, and restart the conveyance of the paper with the paper feed unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masaki Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11325404
    Abstract: A recording apparatus is configured to support a roll body on which a medium is wound in a rolled form, and to perform recording on the medium fed out from the roll body, the recording apparatus including a housing, and a roll unit configured to support the roll body, in which the roll unit is configured to transition to a first mode in which the roll unit is stored inside the housing in a state of not supporting the roll body, and to a second mode in which the roll unit is drawn out from inside the housing to outside the housing where the roll unit is configured to support the roll body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Kinoshita, Hitoshi Igarashi
  • Patent number: 11318769
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a pair of conveyance rollers, a conveyance member, and a cleaning unit. The image forming portion forms an image on a sheet. The pair of conveyance rollers conveys the sheet at a predetermined timing to an image formation position at which the image is formed by the image forming portion. The conveyance member conveys the sheet at the image formation position. The cleaning unit includes a cleaning member that is configured to come in contact with a target roller and the conveyance member, the target roller being one of the pair of conveyance rollers that comes in contact with the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kaori Kitayama
  • Patent number: 11312155
    Abstract: In one example, a heated pressure roller can include a structural element positioned within a belt roller, a platen coupled to the structural element, wherein the platen comprises: a first side to guide a belt of the belt roller to form a first angle on the first side, and a second side to guide the belt of the belt roller to form a second angle on the second side that is different than the first angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Matthew Raisanen, Richard Lee Brinkly, Kevin Lo