Patents Examined by Lisa M. Solomon
  • Patent number: 9329357
    Abstract: An imaging unit is provided with a cylindrical lens barrel, and an object-side lens which is disposed in the lens barrel and is fixed to the lens barrel using an adhesive. The lens barrel includes three abutting portions and three adhesive portions. The object-side lens abuts the three abutting portions in an optical axis direction of the object-side lens, and the adhesive portions are formed between an outer circumferential surface of the object-side lens and an inner circumferential surface of the lens barrel, and the adhesive is injected therein. The three adhesive portions are formed at an interval in a circumferential direction. The three adhesive portions and the three abutting portions do not overlap each other in plan view as seen from a vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kataoka, Mitsutaka Ide, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9321268
    Abstract: A printer includes a surface preparatory material remover. The remover is configured with a pad mounted to a roller to engage selectively the surface preparatory material on a surface of a rotating member to remove a portion of the surface preparatory material outside of an area where an ink image is formed to reduce the adhesion of media to the rotating member surface as the media exits a nip in which the ink image is transferred to the media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce E. Thayer, Linn C. Hoover, Robert A. Clark
  • Patent number: 9315017
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row. A part of nozzles of the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row are overlapped in a predetermined alignment direction. A defective nozzle is included in the nozzles of the first nozzle row. The recording apparatus includes a processing unit that causes the nozzle closest to the defective nozzle in one side of the opposite sides in the alignment direction to be selected as a first complementary nozzle and the closest nozzle in the other side thereof to be selected as a second complementary nozzle among the nozzles in an overlap section of the second nozzle row with the first nozzle row, and complementary dots that complement a dot which is supposed to be formed by the defective nozzle to be formed by the first complementary nozzle and the second complementary nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiro Fukazawa, Naoki Sudo, Akito Sato
  • Patent number: 9315025
    Abstract: In a liquid ejecting head that includes a pressure generating element which generates pressure fluctuations in a liquid inside a pressure chamber by applying a voltage to an electrode and a wiring member which has a wiring terminal electrically connected to the electrode, and that ejects the liquid through a nozzle by applying the voltage to the electrode and driving the pressure generating element, the liquid ejecting head includes an electrode terminal that is connected to the electrode and is formed in a series over at least a partial region in a bonding region to which the wiring terminal is bonded. The wiring terminal has multiple terminals which are formed by being spaced apart from one another in the bonding region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Okui, Shunsuke Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9309428
    Abstract: There is provided an ink jet recording method for printing a pigment in which a pigment printing ink composition including at least pigment as a colorant is discharged from a nozzle opening as an ink droplet having an amount of the ink of the ink droplet of 9 ng or less with an average discharging speed V of 5 m/s or greater at a distance in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm in the direction from the nozzle opening to cloth, and whereby the pigment printing ink composition is adhered to the cloth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru Saito, Tomoki Shinoda, Masakazu Ohashi, Masashi Kamibayashi, Yoshihiro Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9308729
    Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus includes an ink composition including a pigment and a resin and not substantially including an alkyl polyol with a standard boiling point of 280° or higher; a recording head including a plurality of nozzles that discharge the ink composition, and a nozzle forming surface having the discharge ports of the plurality of nozzles; an absorption member that absorbs the ink attached to the discharge ports of the nozzles and the nozzle formation surface; and a driving mechanism that performs a cleaning operation by relatively moving at least one of the absorption member and the recording head, and removing the ink composition attached to the nozzle forming surface with the absorption member, where the resin is a core-shell resin provided with a core polymer and a shell polymer, and a glass-transition temperature of the shell polymer is higher than a glass-transition temperature of the core polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Mizutani
  • Patent number: 9302482
    Abstract: An inkjet printing device allows separation of ink solvent liquefied in an exhaust passage from exhaust gas, and prevents the separated exhaust gas from contaminating the inside of the print head. When ink fed from a container is jetted from a printing nozzle, ink that has not been used for the printing is drawn by a gutter along with air and collected in the container. Air mixed with the ink solvent and collected is discharged as exhaust gas into an exhaust passage from the container. The ink solvent that has been liquefied in the exhaust passage is separated from the gas by retaining the liquid using capillary action in a gas-liquid separator, and the separated liquefied ink solvent is collected. The trace amount of the ink solvent leaking on the exhaust side of the gas-liquid separator is prevented from dripping into the print head by a drip prevention unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mamoru Okano, Tomohiro Inoue, Takahiro Arima, Mitsuo Igari
  • Patent number: 9302518
    Abstract: An apparatus detects inoperative inkjets during printing of three-dimensional objects. The apparatus includes a reversible thermal substrate that changes optical density in areas where material drops are ejected onto the substrate. An optical sensor generates image data of the substrate after material drops are ejected onto the substrate and these image data are analyzed to identify inoperative inkjets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Victoria L. Warner, James L. Giacobbi, Matthew R. McLaughlin
  • Patent number: 9284469
    Abstract: Provided is a coating composition for an image transfer member in an aqueous ink imaging system. The coating composition can include at least one hydrophilic polymer, at least one of hygroscopic plasticizer, at least one surfactant, and water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Guiqin Song, Gordon Sisler, Suxia Yang, Qi Zhang, Brynn Dooley, James D. Mayo, Gabriel Iftime, Chu-Heng Liu, Biby Esther Abraham
  • Patent number: 9277799
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for applying a coloring substance preferably henna on at least one surface of the human body. The device comprises a scanning device configured to scan the body surface and detect movements of the body surface, a color applicator unit to apply the coloring substance onto at least one surface of human body and the controller to coordinate the scanning device and the color applicator unit to work cooperatively to ensure that an accurate replica of the desired design is formed on the surface of the human body. The system has an added advantage of being able to halt the color application process on detecting the displacement of the body surface during the color application process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: United Arab Emirates University
    Inventor: Effat Takaleh
  • Patent number: 9278474
    Abstract: A material level detecting mechanism of three-dimensional system includes a bracket, a printing head, first piston, a second piston, a first detecting unit and a second detecting unit. The bracket includes an aligner holder and a supporter. The printing head detachably located in the aligner holder, and including a nozzle with an outlet for extruding the modeling material. The first piston includes a piston rod attached to a piston head, and the second piston slidably located inside the cartridge is adapted to be pushed by the first piston toward the direction of the outlet. The first detecting unit is adapted to detect the home position of the first piston and the second detecting unit is adapted to detect the touching of the first piston and the second piston which provide the initial amount of material present in the cartridge which is subject to print.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignees: XYZprinting, Inc., Kinpo Electronics, Inc., Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited
    Inventors: Jui-Feng Chang, Chia-Ming Chang, Clyde Ventolina Cordero
  • Patent number: 9272557
    Abstract: Provided is an image forming method, including: applying a treatment liquid to a recording medium; and applying a recording ink to the recording medium. The treatment liquid is free from a colorant, and contains an organic acid salt or a cationic resin or both thereof, a water-soluble organic solvent, and water. The water-soluble organic solvent contains one or more selected from sodium poly-?-glutamate, N-acyl fatty acid-sodium L-glutamate, sodium N-lauroyl-L-aspartate, and a compound represented by General Formula 1 below. The recording ink contains a colorant, a water-soluble organic solvent, a surfactant, a carboxyl group-containing resin, and water. where in General Formula 1 above, Ac represents an acetyl group, and R1 and R2 each represent a fatty acid residue having 8 to 14 carbon atoms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Koji Katsuragi
  • Patent number: 9272545
    Abstract: In a recording apparatus, a first path and a module path of a first recording module for conveying and recording of a recording medium are formed such that a distance between the most downstream ejection opening and a joining position of the first path and a second path is less than a length of a recording medium. The controller executes: a first determination processing for determining whether there is a recording medium which should be conveyed through a join determination position before the recording medium having been supplied to the first recording module; and a wait processing for causing the recording medium having been supplied to the first recording module to wait in a state in which its leading edge is located upstream of the most upstream shared conveyor on the first path, when the controller determines that there is a recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yasuhito Shikama, Kohei Terada, Shinya Yamamoto, Akihito Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9272541
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention take advantage of the change in gloss caused by overprinting a printed image with clear ink. Embodiments of the invention thus implement gloss control functionality in a printer without the requirements of a pin and cure or other known systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING, INC.
    Inventor: Peter Heath
  • Patent number: 9272522
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a main tank for containing ink; a sub tank for containing ink supplied from the main tank and containing ink to be supplied to a print head; a detection unit configured to detect an ink amount in the sub tank; and a filling unit configured to perform ink filling operation that fills the sub tank with ink from the main tank by driving a driving unit, in a case where the detection unit detects the ink amount in the sub tank that is less than a first predetermined amount, wherein in a case where the ink amount in the main tank is less than a second predetermined amount, the filling unit drives the driving unit at smaller drive amount than that in a case where the ink amount in the main tank is greater than the second predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kei Kosaka, Atsushi Takahashi, Tomoyuki Tenkawa, Akiyoshi Sahara, Toshiyuki Kuroda, Kei Takarabe
  • Patent number: 9266321
    Abstract: In one example implementation, a replaceable printing component includes a fluid supply chamber, and a printhead on the fluid supply chamber. The printhead includes a memory storing a factory identification code that comprises a combination of digitized analog performance parameters. The printhead also includes electronic test components from which the analog performance parameters have been measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daryl E. Anderson, Andrew L. Van Brocklin, Jefferson P. Ward
  • Patent number: 9266357
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a thermally conductive endless belt configured to carry media past at least one printhead with a plurality of inkjets that are configured to eject ink onto a first surface of the media, a plurality of micro-heaters configured to direct heat to a second surface of the media, and a controller. The controller is operatively connected to the at least one printhead and the plurality of micro-heaters, and is configured to operate the inkjets in the at least one printhead to eject ink onto the first surface of the media and to operate the micro-heaters to direct heat into the thermally conductive endless belt to transmit heat to different positions on the second surface of the media selectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Charles T. Facchini, II, David R. Kamprath, Eliud Robles Flores
  • Patent number: 9268023
    Abstract: A system for drop detection of fluid drops ejected by a printing device includes a drop detector comprising a radiation source and radiation sensor for illuminating a region in which drops are ejected by a print bar and detecting radiation from the radiation source that is reflected by backscattering from the drops to the radiation sensor; and a controller for controlling the drop detector and the print bar, wherein the controller uses a signal output by the drop detector to determine whether nozzles of the print bar are operating properly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Ernesto Garay, David Miller Lowe, Trudy Benjamin, Mark H. MacKenzie, Gregory N. Burton
  • Patent number: 9266361
    Abstract: In a method for providing a substrate with an imprint, in which liquid printing ink is first printed on a strip and there made to dry at least partially, and in which the at least partially dried printing ink is transferred from the strip (B) to the substrate (S), in addition to the printing ink a transfer coating (F), in particular a decorative transfer coating, is also applied to the substrate (S). In particular, the transfer coating (F) can likewise be applied to the strip (B) first and transferred from the strip (B) to the substrate (S). Printing ink can be provided on the strip (B) next to, but also under or over the transfer coating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: LEONHARD KURZ STIFTUNG & CO. KG
    Inventors: Ulrike Plaia, Klaus Pforte
  • Patent number: 9266224
    Abstract: A vacuum hole array including a dense array of vacuum holes and a sparse array of vacuum holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Ltd
    Inventors: Alex Veis, Yuval Dim