Patents Examined by Justin Seo
  • Patent number: 11975538
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a plurality of ejecting unit groups each including nozzles configured to eject liquid. The ejecting unit group configured to eject a liquid to be used in the printing is referred to as a to-be-used ejecting unit group. The ejecting unit group configured to eject a liquid not to be used in the printing is referred to as the non-use ejecting unit group. In a print mode with a non-use nozzle group in which any of the plurality of kinds of liquids is not used, the driving elements of the to-be-used ejecting unit group is supplied with the in-printing micro-vibration pulse in a period without ejection of the ink, and the driving elements of the non-use ejecting unit group is not supplied with the micro-vibration pulse even in the period without ejection of the ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichiro Matsuo
  • Patent number: 11975939
    Abstract: A sheet suction device includes a drum having multiple suction ports in a circumferential surface of the drum, the drum configured to bear a sheet on the circumferential surface and rotate in a circumferential direction of the drum, and a suction device configured to suck the sheet through the multiple suction ports to attract the sheet on the circumferential surface. The drum includes multiple suction regions aligned in the circumferential direction on the circumferential surface, each of the multiple suction regions includes the multiple suction ports aligned in the circumferential direction and in an axial direction of the drum on the circumferential surface, the multiple suction regions include an upstream region, a middle region, and a downstream region in the circumferential direction, and the middle region has the multiple suction ports at both outer sides in the axial direction of the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroaki Miyagawa
  • Patent number: 11970013
    Abstract: A recording device includes a main body including a recording unit configured to perform recording on a medium pulled out from a roll body including the medium wound around a core member, and a leg part configured to support the main body from an installation surface on which the main body is installed. The leg part includes contact parts configured to make contact with the installation surface at respective positions different from each other. The contact parts include three reference contact parts located on a same plane and one movable contact part. The movable contact part is coupled with the main body through an elastic member that is elastically deformable in a direction that intersects the plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keiichi Yato, Yosuke Nakano, Atsuhiko Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11970012
    Abstract: The inkjet printing device includes a dark ink container containing a dark ink of a color, a light ink container containing a light ink of the color, a dark ink discharging nozzle group for discharging the dark ink, and a light ink discharging nozzle group for discharging the light ink, wherein the light ink discharging group is disposed upstream of the dark ink discharging group in a sub-scanning direction, wherein the following Relationship 1 is satisfied: 10/100?a ratio of a pigment content in the light ink to a pigment content in the dark ink?40/100 Relationship 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Ken Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 11964500
    Abstract: The present invention is a tile and mosaic printing kiosk that creates custom-designed, sanitary, green, and environmentally friendly tiles and mosaics. The tile printer kiosk is a modular system made up of multiple modules, including feeding, alignment, printing, coating, drying, registering, and packaging. The kiosk is made to fit into any retail home improvement business because of its modest footprint. It can quickly print any design submitted by a customer on tiles and mosaics. Additionally, it applies an antibacterial coating to the tiles for cleaner and better indoor air quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Inventors: Mohammad Kazem Forouhari, Siamak Khosravi Kamrani, Mohammad Javad Mohammadnejad Shirazi, Reza Golkar, Mojtaba Falahatinezhad
  • Patent number: 11964503
    Abstract: A machine for printing substrates and a method for printing substrates using the machine, which has a print head, the print head having at least one ejection nozzle for ejecting a product on the substrate; translation device with a movable part, the translation device configured for supporting and translating the substrate by the movable part; positioning device for establishing and fixing a relative position between the substrate and the print head. The machine additionally has guiding device for guiding the movable part; and holding device for fixing the substrate with respect to the movable part; with the substrate being fixed to the movable part and the movable part guided by the guiding device, the substrate can be translated to receive the product being ejected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Inventor: Jesus Francisco Barberan Latorre
  • Patent number: 11964467
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a liquid discharge head, an irradiation unit, a carriage, and a moving unit. The liquid discharge head discharges a liquid including a metallic ink and a color ink onto a recording medium. The irradiation unit irradiates the liquid on the recording medium with light. The liquid discharge head and the irradiation unit are mounted on the carriage. The moving unit perform a main scanning movement and a sub-scanning movement. The liquid discharge head discharges the metallic ink in a region of the recording medium in the main scanning movement and discharges the color ink in the region in which the metallic ink has been discharged, in the same main scanning movement in which the metallic ink is discharged. The irradiation unit irradiates the region in which the metallic ink and the color ink have been discharged, with the light in the same main scanning movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuki Tsuchiya, Yuusuke Matsuki, Daisuke Mezaki, Kiyoshi Tsukamura
  • Patent number: 11958288
    Abstract: A printing system comprises an intermediate transfer member (ITM), an image forming station, a conveyer for driving rotation of the ITM, and a treatment station disposed downstream of the impression station and upstream of the image forming station configured for coating the ITM surface with a layer of a liquid treatment formulation, the treatment station comprising an applicator for applying the liquid treatment formulation to the ITM, a coating thickness-regulation assembly comprising a plurality of blades, a blade-replacement mechanism, and a blade-replacement controller for controlling the blade-replacement mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: LANDA CORPORATION LTD.
    Inventors: Uriel Pomerantz, Vitaly Burkatovsky
  • Patent number: 11958285
    Abstract: A printer includes a platen roller, a substrate, a heating element, a first defining part, and a second defining part. The platen roller conveys a medium in a conveyance direction. The substrate has a front surface which faces the platen roller in a facing direction intersecting an axis direction of the platen roller and the conveyance direction. The heating element is provided on the front surface of the substrate. The heat sink is in contact with a back surface of the substrate. The first defining part and the second defining part define the conveyance path. The first defining part is provided on a further upstream side than the heating element in the conveyance direction. The second defining part is provided at the heat sink on a further downstream side than the substrate in the conveyance direction. and has a contact surface with which the medium comes into contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Koshiro Shimoda
  • Patent number: 11958296
    Abstract: A fluid interconnect system including a mating component having an inlet port and a liquid outlet, the inlet port configured to support an interconnector and the liquid outlet configured to engage with a print cartridge so that liquid flows from a liquid source, through the interconnector and the inlet port, and out of the liquid outlet into the print cartridge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: FUNAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Steven R. Komplin
  • Patent number: 11945226
    Abstract: A printer includes an ejecting head that ejects ink, a glued belt including a support surface, a first fan and a second fan configured to blow air toward the support surface, and a facing portion facing a portion of the first fan and a portion of the second fan. The facing portion includes an opening that opens in the Z direction. The opening is located between the first fan and the second fan in the X direction when viewed in the Z direction. When a spacing in the X direction at a first position in the +Y direction is defined as the first spacing and a spacing in the X direction at a second position upstream of the first position in the +Y direction is defined as the second spacing, the second spacing is larger than the first spacing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Takishima, Hirokazu Fujii
  • Patent number: 11945243
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a technique that improves material efficiency in generating garments and textiles that include graphics. A given product is sorted into cut patterns used to assemble the product. Graphics are digitally applied to each cut pattern in order to generate abstract cut patterns including aligned graphics. Blank cut patterns are nested across a virtual sheet of fabric in a 2D space without any consideration to the graphics. The nested cut patterns implement the abstract cut patterns that include graphics. The graphics are aligned to the positions of the cut patterns according to the nesting scheme. Print instructions including nested cut patterns with aligned graphics are delivered to a printer that executes the print job. The cut patterns are cut away from the fabric sheet including graphic designs that are aligned with the cut patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: FIERY, LLC
    Inventor: Ghilad Dziesietnik
  • Patent number: 11945677
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet conveyance device; an image forming device including a sheet conveyance roller and a pressure roller; a memory; and a controller. The memory stores profile data indicating variation in conveyance amount in a circumferential direction due to eccentricity of the conveyance roller. The controller calculates, in intermittent conveyance processing, a correction value based on corresponding profile data for each of positions included in a width of an image to be formed in next image forming processing, the correction value being a difference between a predetermined conveyance amount and an actual conveyance amount; corrects a reference amount of rotation by a representative value of calculated correction values to calculate a corrected amount of rotation, the reference amount being an ideal amount of rotation of the conveyance roller that conveys a sheet by the predetermined conveyance amount; and rotates the conveyance roller by the corrected amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Suguru Masunaga
  • Patent number: 11941308
    Abstract: In some implementations, a device may receive print data associated with a printer. The device may receive an image that depicts content that is printed on media by the printer. The device may determine, using a printhead analysis model, a status of a printhead of the printer based on the print data and a characteristic of the content, wherein the printhead analysis model is trained based on reference data associated with historical printing operations associated with one or more printers, wherein the reference data includes reference images associated with printed content from the historical printing operations and corresponding resistance measurements for one or more respective printheads of the one or more printers. The device may perform, based on the status, an action associated with the printhead of the printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Ryan E Brock, Yan Zhang
  • Patent number: 11938735
    Abstract: A printer includes a head, a lamp, a first sensor, and a processor. The head is configured to eject photocurable ink onto the object to be printed. The lamp is configured to irradiate light onto the object to be printed. The first sensor is configured to detect a temperature inside the printer. The processor causes the first sensor to acquire the temperature inside the printer. The processor acquires, based on the print data, a duty ratio indicating a printing ratio when ejecting the ink onto an ejection region of the object to be printed. The processor increases a number of times of a flushing operation compared to a predetermined reference number of times, when the acquired duty ratio is a low duty ratio lower than a predetermined reference duty ratio, and the temperature detected by the first sensor is higher than a predetermined reference temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akihiro Kobayashi, Kosuke Nukui
  • Patent number: 11932007
    Abstract: A vacuum system for a printing apparatus comprises a structural member. The structural member comprises a fluid conduit to be connected to a vacuum source. The vacuum system comprises a coupling. The coupling comprises a first end and a second end defining a fluid passage therebetween. The coupling is attached to the structural member at its first end thereby connecting the fluid passage of the coupling to the fluid conduit of the structural member. The second end of the coupling comprises a resiliently deformable material. The second end is to connect to a vacuum chamber of a print unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Pablo Arteaga del Arco, Martin Urrutia Nebreda, David Melero Cazorla
  • Patent number: 11932008
    Abstract: A valve assembly for controlling airflow along sheet edges on a vacuum transport assembly including a platen including one or more holes arranged in rows in a cross process direction, and a belt displaceable with respect to the platen in a process direction, the valve assembly including a flexible plate, including a first end, a second end, a first top surface, and a first bottom surface, and a first actuator connected to the second end and operatively arranged to displace the flexible plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Carlos M. Terrero, Brian J. Dunham, Michael T. Leckinger
  • Patent number: 11932006
    Abstract: A recording device includes: a transport unit configured to transport a medium along a transport path, a recording unit configured to perform recording on the medium transported, a wrinkle forming mechanism configured to form wrinkles on a portion of the medium on the transport path before recording is performed, a detection unit configured to detect a state of the wrinkles, and a control unit, wherein the control unit is configured to calculate a rigidity characteristic of the medium based on detection data of the detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroki Aoki, Tsuneyuki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11919314
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes a tank, a recording head, a cover, a monitor, a cover sensor, an operation panel, and a controller. The cover is movable to cover a plurality of injection inlets associated with a plurality of ink chambers and to expose the plurality of injection inlets. The cover sensor outputs signal depending on position of the cover. The controller controls the monitor to display one of inquiry information and notification on the monitor depending on receipt of the signal from the cover sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenta Horade, Mana Honoki
  • Patent number: 11912015
    Abstract: An air knife assembly is provided to jet an air current to control the landing of sheet of print media during transfer between two adjacent conveyors in a printer. The air knife forming unit is configured for jetting an air curtain formed such that said air curtain and air currents resulting from it flow substantially perpendicular to a transport direction of the conveyors. Thereby, lifting and consequently wrinkling of the leading edge during transfer and landing may be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: CANON PRODUCTION PRINTING HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Peter G. La Vos, Adrianus A. Draad, Hendrikus G. M. Ramackers