Patents Examined by Jason Uhlenhake
  • Patent number: 9701124
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a line head which ejects liquid from a plurality of nozzles with respect to a medium, a wiping member that is able to wipe a nozzle forming surface on which the nozzles are formed, and an electronic mounting member that governs an electronic control, in which the wiping member is attachable and detachable with respect to the liquid ejecting apparatus, and the electronic mounting member is disposed at a location which is different from below an attachment/detachment path when the wiping member is attached and detached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hirokazu Ono, Kazuhiko Sato, Toru Tanjo, Yuichi Segawa
  • Patent number: 9694574
    Abstract: An apparatus detects inoperative inkjets during printing. The apparatus operates the printhead or printheads in the printer to form test pattern on a thermal substrate. The heat of the materials used to form the test pattern increase the optical density of the areas where the materials land. The area where the test pattern is formed is imaged and the image data are analyzed to identify inoperative inkjets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Patricia J. Donaldson, William H. Wayman
  • Patent number: 9683116
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a way to appropriately decorate a heat-resistant member. This is achieved by a method for producing a painted heat-resistant member which is a heat-resistant member having an image drawn thereon. The method includes a drawing step of ejecting an ink onto a heat-resistant member medium in droplets with an inkjet head, and irradiating the ink landed on the medium with UV light to draw an image on the medium, the ink containing at least a pasty liquid containing an organic substance, an UV-polymerizable organic substance which is an organic substance that polymerizes upon being irradiated with UV light, and an inorganic pigment dispersed in the pasty liquid; and an organic substance removal step of heating the medium having the image drawn thereon to remove the organic substance component contained in the ink on the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9682561
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes: a carriage that has a housing in which a recording head is provided; a guide member that guides the carriage; a gap adjusting unit that adjust a gap between the medium and the recording head; and a cap member by which the recording head is capped. The gap adjusting unit includes a sliding member that slides over the guide member, a cam member that is interposed between a part of the housing and the sliding member and has a shape with which the housing is caused to shift in the direction in which the gap is changed, by moving in the first direction relative to the housing and the sliding member, and a pressing member that presses the cam member to the housing of the carriage in a second direction intersecting with the first direction and the direction in which the gap is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Matsuzaki, Kazuhiro Nishiyama, Tetsuji Yatsunami
  • Patent number: 9656461
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a modulation circuit that generates a modulated signal obtained by performing pulse modulation on a source signal; a transistor that amplifies the modulated signal to generate an amplified modulated signal; a lowpass filer that smoothes the amplified modulated signal to generate a driving signal; a piezoelectric element that is displaced when the driving signal is applied; and a circuit substrate on which the modulation circuit, the transistor, and the lowpass filter are mounted. The transistor includes a die, a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, a conductive die pad, a first lead which is electrically connected to the second electrode by a bonding wire, and a second lead which is electrically connected to the third electrode by a bonding wire. The die pad, the first lead, and the second lead are electrically connected to different wiring patterns of the circuit substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Abe, Hiroshi Sugita
  • Patent number: 9656469
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a fluid flow structure includes a micro device embedded in a molding. A fluid feed hole is formed through the micro device, and a saw defined fluid channel is cut through the molding to fluidically couple the fluid feed hole with the channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Chien-Hua Chen, Michael W. Cumbie, Arun K. Agarwal
  • Patent number: 9659241
    Abstract: A method for operating a portable large format inkjet printer includes determining an output image size of an output image to be printed on a stationary flat media; selecting a source image to serve as the output image; displaying a preview of the output image superposed with an output image grid defining a plurality of output image area portions; selecting a serial order of printing each of the output image area portions; selecting a next output image area portion based on the serial order; printing the selected next output image area portion at a media print area of the stationary flat media; and repeating the acts of selecting the next output image area portion and printing, for each of the plurality of output image area portions, until an entirety of the output image area has been printed at the media print area of the stationary flat media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: FUNAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sam Norasak, Michael A. Marra, III, Bruce A. Deboard
  • Patent number: 9649850
    Abstract: An ink jetting digital printing apparatus supporting double-side printing is provided. The ink jetting digital printing apparatus comprises: a first sprayer module and a corresponding first group of color plane control servers, a second sprayer module and a corresponding second group of color plane control servers, a rasterization image processing server, and a system control server. The first and second sprayer modules comprise a group of sprayers of the same two or more colors; the first group comprises color plane control servers in one-to-one correspondence with sprayers in the first sprayer module; the second group comprises color plane control servers in one-to-one correspondence with sprayers in the second sprayer module; the first group color plane control servers parallel with the second group color plane control servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignees: PEKING UNIVERSITY FOUNDER GROUP CO., LTD., FOUNDER INFORMATION INDUSTRY HOLDINGS CO., LTD., BEIJING FOUNDER ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiaoxiao Xing, Xingxin Sun, Weiping Huang
  • Patent number: 9623654
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid ejecting control method for outputting an image without an influence of ejection amount variations. Therefore among a plurality of drive modes in which an amount of liquids ejected from one nozzle is different from each other, control information indicating a drive mode to be associated is obtained, and a drive signal to an individual pixel is generated according to the control information and image data that is input for each pixel. The control information sets a drive mode in which an ejection amount closer to a target ejection amount is obtained, among the plurality of drive modes. In addition, a difference between the target ejection amount and the ejection amount to be realized in the set drive mode is found, and this difference is used to correct a target ejection amount of the other pixel in which the drive mode is not set yet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yasuyuki Tamura
  • Patent number: 9623685
    Abstract: Disclosed is an inspecting chart including a reference pattern containing a first line segment group and a second line segment group, a first-side deviation pattern, and a second-side deviation pattern. The first line segment group is formed by a plurality of first line segments printed by a reference printing head at a first given interval. The second line segment is formed by second line segments printed by a printing head on a center between two adjacent first line segments or a center of each of the first line segments, the printing head being spaced away from the reference printing head in the transportation direction of a print medium. The first-side deviation pattern and the second-side deviation pattern are printed with various deviations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignees: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd., RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuji Kurokawa, Takaharu Yamamoto, Kazuyuki Tanoue, Hiroaki Kishida, Kunio Muraji
  • Patent number: 9616684
    Abstract: The invention relates to a direct printing method for enamelling and/or decorating on surfaces in general (ceramic, glass or metallic materials, inter alia), which are subjected to heat treatment following printing, consisting of transferring an enamel/ink, by means of the use of a device for emitting energy in the form of electromagnetic waves, preferably laser, from a carrier vehicle to the printing surface without any contact between said vehicle and the printing surface. The heat treatment, which is carried out at temperatures higher than 500° C., is used for the adherence of the enamel/ink to the substrate, producing the final ceramic and/or chromatic effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: TORRECID, S.A.
    Inventors: Oscar Ruiz Vega, Carlos Concepcion Heydorn, Juan Vicente Corts Ripoll, Francisco Sanmiguel Roche
  • Patent number: 9604483
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus for printing an image on an absorbent substrate includes a print head unit and a dust removal device. The absorbent substrate includes a print side and an opposite side and is conveyed between the print-head unit and the dust removal device. The print head unit defines a print zone on the print side. The dust removal device includes a pumping chamber formed of a pre-pumping sub-chamber, a print zone sub-chamber, and a post-pumping sub-chamber, said chambers being positioned at the opposite side. The pre-pumping sub-chamber is positioned substantially upstream from the print zone. The print zone sub-chamber is positioned substantially at the print zone. The post-pumping sub-chamber is positioned downstream from the print zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: SCA TISSUE FRANCE
    Inventors: Matti Ellonen, Yoann Denis, Donald Barredo, Damien Brendle
  • Patent number: 9604459
    Abstract: In one example, a multi-part body for a printhead assembly includes a first body part and a second body part joined to one another with no intervening body parts. Each body part includes one or more of a group of datum points used to position the printhead assembly in a printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventor: Joseph R. Elliot
  • Patent number: 9597904
    Abstract: A droplets ejecting apparatus includes: an ejection head that ejects droplets to a predetermined ejection direction toward a recording medium being fed in a predetermined feeding direction; a support unit that supports the ejection head; moving members that are provided for a first-side portion and a second-side portion between which an ejection region of the ejection head is interposed in the feeding direction in a view as viewed in the ejection direction, and that move the first-side portion and the second-side portion in a crossing direction that is perpendicular to the ejection direction and the feeding direction; and a control unit as defined herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshihira Rai
  • Patent number: 9597878
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head that has an ink discharge surface and that discharges ink onto a recording medium, a wiper blade that cleans the ink discharge surface of the recording head, and a controller. The controller causes the wiper blade to wipe ink off the ink discharge surface by causing the wiper blade to be pushed against the ink discharge surface and move in a predetermined movement direction. The wiper blade includes a protrusion protruding in the predetermined movement direction. The protrusion has an ink retaining surface that faces the ink discharge surface at a predetermined distance while the wiper blade wipes ink off the ink discharge surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: So Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9597888
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus performing a printing operation using a main tank for storing ink and a sub tank for storing the ink supplied from the main tank to supply the ink to the print head includes a detection unit for detecting the ink amount in the sub tank and an ink filling unit for driving a driving unit for supplying ink from the main tank to the sub tank to subject the sub tank to an ink filling operation. The ink filling unit is configured, when the ink amount detected by the detection unit is determined to be equal to or lower than the first predetermined amount, the second ink filling operation is performed. The second ink filling operation performs a driving longer than the drive time of the driving unit in the first ink filling operation performed when the main tank is attached to the inkjet printing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsushi Takahashi, Kei Kosaka, Tomoyuki Tenkawa, Naozumi Nabeshima
  • Patent number: 9592677
    Abstract: A dot recording apparatus forms dots on a recording medium while relatively moving a recording head that includes a plurality of nozzles and the recording medium in a main scanning direction. The dot recording apparatus performs multi-pass recording in which dot recording on a main scanning line is completed by a plurality of main scanning passes. In dot recording in each main scanning pass, the dot recording is performed using a plurality of super cell regions that include m types of super cell regions having different sizes, the super cell region being formed as one dot group by some of the plurality of nozzles and having a boundary line portion which is not parallel to either the main scanning direction or a sub-scanning direction that intersects the main scanning direction in at least a portion of a boundary line between the super cell region and another super cell region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Naoki Kayahara
  • Patent number: 9592676
    Abstract: An ink cartridge chip includes an interface unit, a control unit, and a storage unit, wherein the interface unit is configured to receive a light control command sent from an imaging device, and the light control command includes ink cartridge identification information; the storage unit is configured to store autogenic identification information and a state flag, and the state flag includes an executable state or a non-executable state; the control unit is configured to execute the light control command; and the control unit is is configured to, when the interface unit receives the light control command, control the light-emitting unit to execute the light control command based on the type of the light control command and the state flag in the storage unit to re-determined the state flag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Apex Microelectronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Wei Zhou, Juhui Li, Hao Chen, Yanhui Luo
  • Patent number: 9561649
    Abstract: An apparatus detects inoperative inkjets during printing. The apparatus operates the printhead or printheads in the printer to form test pattern on a thermal substrate. The heat of the materials used to form the test pattern increase the optical density of the areas where the materials land. The area where the test pattern is formed is imaged and the image data are analyzed to identify inoperative inkjets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Patricia J. Donaldson, William H. Wayman
  • Patent number: 9555625
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a power supply unit that boosts a single voltage and includes multiple voltage boosting circuits which generate power supply voltages different from each other; a drive circuit that amplifies an original drive signal based on a power supply voltage which is generated by at least one of the multiple voltage boosting circuits and generates a drive signal that is applied; and an ejecting unit that includes a piezoelectric element which becomes displaced in accordance with the drive signal, in which the power supply unit controls the voltage boosting circuit, which generates the power supply voltage that is not used for amplification, to stop voltage boosting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Abe