Patents Examined by Lisa Solomon
  • Patent number: 11465416
    Abstract: An inkjet head may include the following. A plurality of ink emitters, each including, an ink storage, a pressure changer which changes pressure in the ink stored in the ink storage, a nozzle which is connected to the ink storage and which emits ink according to a change in pressure in the ink in the ink storage, a plurality of precedent stage individual discharge flow paths which are connected to one ink storage and through which ink discharged without being supplied from the ink storage to the nozzle passes, and a subsequent stage individual discharge flow path to which, the plurality of precedent stage individual discharge flow paths join. A common discharge flow path may be connected to the plurality of subsequent stages individual discharge flow paths included in the plurality of ink emitters, and the ink which passes through the plurality of subsequent stage individual discharge flow paths flows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Hikaru Hamano
  • Patent number: 11458730
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head includes a diaphragm, a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode in this order in a first direction, and ejects liquid. The second electrode includes a first portion that is next to the piezoelectric layer in the first direction and is electrically conductive. A length in the first direction is defined as a thickness. One position in a second direction intersecting with the first direction is defined as a first position. Another one position is defined as a second position that is closer to an end of the second electrode in the second direction than the first position is. Given the definition, the thickness of the first portion at the second position is less than the thickness of the first portion at the first position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Motoki Takabe, Masanori Mikoshiba, Masaki Mori
  • Patent number: 11458728
    Abstract: In a method of controlling a liquid ejecting apparatus, where the liquid ejecting apparatus includes a pressure chamber that communicates with a nozzle that ejects a liquid, a drive element that changes a pressure of the liquid in the pressure chamber, and a drive circuit that supplies the drive element with an ejection pulse that generates a change in the pressure that ejects the liquid from the nozzle, the method includes specifying a viscosity of the liquid in the nozzle and a surface tension of the liquid in the nozzle from a residual vibration when the pressure of the liquid in the pressure chamber is changed, and controlling a waveform of the ejection pulse according to the viscosity and the surface tension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiromu Miyazawa, Kinya Ozawa, Jiro Kato
  • Patent number: 11450801
    Abstract: Provided is a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric element in which, at a time when the piezoelectric element is manufactured, a piezoelectric material is prevented from being exposed to a temperature higher than a Curie temperature thereof to be depolarized, to thereby significantly decrease piezoelectric properties. The method of manufacturing a piezoelectric element includes a first step of arranging a plurality of electrodes on a piezoelectric material, electrically short-circuiting two or more electrodes of the plurality of electrodes, and subjecting the piezoelectric material to heat treatment, and a second step of, after the first step, electrically opening the short circuit of the two or more electrodes at a time when a temperature of the piezoelectric material decreases to less than a temperature of the piezoelectric material at a time of the heat treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Uebayashi, Tatsuo Furuta, Kanako Oshima, Takayuki Watanabe, Jumpei Hayashi, Satoshi Fujita, Yuki Iitsuka
  • Patent number: 11446927
    Abstract: A method of bonding printed circuit sheets to one another, each of the printed circuit sheets having a pattern of electrically conductive tracks, and the bonding being carried out by applying an adhesive to one of the sheets in a connection zone where the tracks on the one sheet are to be connected to corresponding tracks on the other sheet, superposing the sheets in the connection zone such that the adhesive is sandwiched between the sheets, and aligning the sheets such that corresponding tracks on the two sheets are aligned with one another. The method includes a preparatory step of forming extra tracks on the two sheets such that, in the alignment and compression steps, the extra tracks are brought into engagement with one another and constitute a barrier for the adhesive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: CANON PRODUCTION PRINTING HOLDING B.V.
    Inventor: Peter J. M. Janssen
  • Patent number: 11440324
    Abstract: An ink discharge device includes one or more recording heads discharging an ink and a damper. The recording head includes a head side coupling. The damper includes a damper side coupling which is connected to the head side coupling along a connecting direction. The damper side coupling is provided so as to be movable along the connecting direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kikunosuke Tsuji
  • Patent number: 11433682
    Abstract: There is provided a tank including: a wall defining a liquid storage chamber, the wall including: an upper wall defining an upper end of the liquid storage chamber, a lower wall defining a lower end of the liquid storage chamber, and an erected wall between the upper wall and the lower wall and through which the liquid inside the liquid storage chamber is visible from outside of the tank; an inlet penetrating through the upper wall or the erected wall; and an outlet, wherein the lower wall includes an upper stage wall making contact with the erected wall; a lower stage wall located at a position separated and away from the erected wall and below the upper stage wall; and a connecting wall connecting the upper and lower stage walls; and the outlet is disposed below the upper stage wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Akinori Igarashi
  • Patent number: 11433691
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a medium mounting section on which a medium is to be mounted, a reverse-feeding path for reversing the medium that has been fed from the medium mounting section, a recording unit configured to perform recording onto the medium that has been reversed by the reverse-feeding path, and a reverse-discharging path for reversing the medium on which recording has been performed by the recording unit and for discharge the medium to a discharge section configured to discharge the medium, in which when viewed in a medium width direction intersecting a medium transport direction, a path section for reversing the medium in the reverse-feeding path and a path section for reversing the medium in the reverse-discharging path have portions overlapping each other in the vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Otsuka, Kazuhisa Takeda, Satoshi Kawamura, Haruna Takahashi, Keisuke Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11433674
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head comprising a substrate comprising a liquid feeding port and an energy generating element for liquid discharge, and a flow channel member comprising, on the substrate, a discharge port through which a liquid is discharged and a liquid flow channel communicating with both the liquid feeding port and the discharge port, wherein the flow channel member comprises a flow channel member (1) not comprising a surface in contact with the liquid and a flow channel member (2) comprising a surface in contact with the liquid, a film stress S1 and S2 of the flow channel members (1) and (2), respectively, satisfy S1<S2, a film thickness L1 and L2 of the flow channel member (1) and (2), respectively, in a direction perpendicular to the substrate, satisfy L1<L2, and satisfying 470 MPa·?m<[L1×S1+(L2?L1)×S2]<1200 MPa·?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Isamu Horiuchi, Kazunari Ishizuka, Satoshi Tsutsui, Yohei Hamade, Miho Ishii
  • Patent number: 11426999
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head is provided which has a substrate, a flow channel forming member provided on a substrate surface of the substrate and forming a flow channel of a liquid, and a discharge port forming member provided on the flow channel forming member and having a discharge port through which a liquid is discharged, wherein the discharge port forming member and the flow channel forming member are formed of materials different from each other, a thickness of the flow channel forming member is greater than a thickness of the discharge port forming member in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, the discharge port forming member is a cured product of a photosensitive resin composition, and the flow channel forming member contains at least one resin selected from the group consisting of a polyether amide resin, a polyether imide resin and a polyether amide-imide resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Tsutsui, Kazunari Ishizuka, Isamu Horiuchi, Yohei Hamade, Miho Ishii
  • Patent number: 11420440
    Abstract: An inkjet head having a metal wiring on a board in an ink flow path or an ink tank includes a base layer and an organic protective layer on the metal wiring, arranged in an order of the metal wiring, the base layer, and the organic protective layer. The base layer has an interface that is in contact with the metal wiring and that includes at least one of a metal oxide and a metal nitride. The base layer has an interface that is in contact with the organic protective layer and that includes at least one of a silicon oxide and a silicon nitride.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yohei Sato, Shinichi Kawaguchi, Akihisa Yamada
  • Patent number: 11420441
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes: power supply circuits including at least first and second power supply circuits; a head including nozzles, the nozzles forming groups arranged in a first direction, each of the groups including nozzle arrays arranged in the first direction, each of the nozzle arrays extending in a second direction intersecting with the first direction, and each of the nozzles being associated with any of the power supply circuits; and a memory storing information. The information indicates correspondence relationships between the nozzles and the power supply circuits, between the nozzles and the groups, and between the nozzles and the nozzle arrays. Printing is performed by driving the head based on the information. The groups include a first group and a second group adjacent to each other in the first direction. The first group includes a first nozzle array adjacent to the second group in the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Haru Inoue, Hiroto Sugahara, Taro Nagano, Daiki Kato
  • Patent number: 11407220
    Abstract: A print component integrated circuitry package includes a number of temperature sensors where each of the plurality of the temperature sensors is disposed in a corresponding temperature region of an integrated circuitry. In an example, an analog sense bus conductively connects to all of the plurality of temperature sensors and an external sensor pad that is to connect to a corresponding print controller contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Michael W. Cumbie, Robert N. K. Browning, James Michael Gardner
  • Patent number: 11407224
    Abstract: In a liquid ejecting head, an electrical connection portion between an element substrate and a wiring substrate can be satisfactorily sealed, and a decrease in yield and an increase in manufacturing cost can be suppressed. The liquid ejecting head includes the element substrate having a plurality of energy generating elements and a plurality of electrodes, and the wiring substrate having a plurality of electrode terminals connected to the plurality of electrodes. The element substrate and the wiring substrate are overlapped with each other in a state where the electrode and the electrode terminal face each other, a connection portion is surrounded by a resin layer, and the resin layer is covered with a sealing resin. The resin layer is divided into a plurality of portions by a gap provided in a portion between both end portions of the electrode terminal in an arrangement direction. An inside of the gap is filled with the sealing resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toshio Kashino
  • Patent number: 11407242
    Abstract: When an image recording apparatus records an specific image over a boundary between a first dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a preceding recording operation of two consecutive recording operations and a second dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a subsequent recording operation of the two consecutive recording operations, the apparatus sets, as a correction portion, an end portion in a scanning direction of a specific region including at least one of a first boundary region adjacent to the second dot formation range and a second boundary region adjacent to the first dot formation range in the specific image, and forms the dot placed at the correction portion by discharging liquid of a discharge amount smaller than the discharge amount set for a dot element corresponding to the dot from nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masao Mimoto, Kengo Noda, Shohei Ichikawa, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi, Tsuyoshi Ito
  • Patent number: 11400710
    Abstract: A droplet ejector for a printhead comprises: a substrate having a mounting surface and an opposite nozzle surface; a nozzle-forming layer formed on at least a portion of the nozzle surface of the substrate; a fluid chamber defined at least in part by the substrate and at least in part by the nozzle-forming layer, the fluid chamber having a fluid chamber outlet defined at least in part by a nozzle portion of the said nozzle-forming layer, the said nozzle portion comprising an inner portion located closer to the fluid chamber outlet and an outer portion located closer to a periphery of the nozzle portion; and either or both of an inner actuator arrangement formed on the inner portion of the nozzle portion of the nozzle-forming layer and an outer actuator arrangement formed on the outer portion of the nozzle portion of the nozzle-forming layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: 3C PROJECT MANAGEMENT LIMITED
    Inventor: Gregory John McAvoy
  • Patent number: 11400709
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge head, including: a channel member that includes a first plate and a second plate and is formed having individual channels and a common channel. The first plate is formed having nozzles. The second plate has a first surface and a second surface at a side opposite to the first surface. The second surface of the second plate is joined to the first plate. The second plate has through holes passing through the second plate from the first surface to the second surface. The second plate is formed having first recesses having ends connected to the through holes. The individual channels include: the nozzles; pressure chambers; descenders defined by the through holes and connecting the nozzles and pressure chambers; and communication channels defined by the first recesses and allowing the descenders to communicate with the common channel. The first recesses are formed in the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Taisuke Mizuno
  • Patent number: 11396180
    Abstract: An inkjet head manufacturing method for an inkjet head that includes a head chip including: a nozzle ejecting ink; and a flow path substrate including an ink flow path which communicates with the nozzle and through which the ink flows, the method including: composite substrate manufacturing that is manufacturing a composite substrate including a plurality of regions which forms flow path substrates by being split; first protective film forming that is forming a first protective film on a surface of the composite substrate and an inner wall surface of the ink flow path; splitting that is splitting the composite substrate into the flow path substrates; and second protective film forming that is forming a second protective film on at least an exposed face in a split face of the flow path substrate generated in the splitting, the exposed face being exposed in a surface of the head chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yohei Sato, Akihisa Shimomura, Hikaru Hamano
  • Patent number: 11396179
    Abstract: There is provided a head unit including: head modules; a plurality of first tubes; and a plurality of second tubes. Each of the head modules includes: energy-applying mechanisms; supply buffer chambers; and return buffer chambers. The supply buffer chambers of the plurality of head module are connected in series via the plurality of first tubes. The return buffer chambers of the plurality of head modules are connected in series via the plurality of second tubes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keita Sugiura, Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 11384251
    Abstract: A hydrophilic coating material including an alginic acid compound and a resin, in which the alginic acid compound is granulated and dispersed in the resin. In a coating film using the material, it is preferred that the granulated alginic acid compound is exposed on the surface. Such a hydrophilic coating film is suitable as a hydrophilization treatment film of a nozzle face surface of an inkjet recording head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yohei Hamade, Satoshi Tsutsui, Isamu Horiuchi, Kazunari Ishizuka, Miho Ishii