Patents Examined by Scott A Richmond
  • Patent number: 12208631
    Abstract: A machine for digital printing of glass sheets on their entire surface, including their border, comprising a printing table (1), a printing carriage (2) that travels along the printing table (1) on a number of travel guides (3), and a printing bridge (4) associated with the printing carriage (2) on which printing modules or heads (5) travel, characterized in that it has a head controller (6) that manages up to four encoders, which allows four simultaneous printing modes: Modality 1 along the X axis in single pass. Modality 2 along the Y axis in single pass. Modality 3 along the X axis in multipass. Modality 4 along the Y axis in multipass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: TECGLASS SL
    Inventors: Juan Javier Fernández Vázquez, José Manuel Barros López
  • Patent number: 12208638
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object printing apparatus includes a head that discharges a liquid to a three-dimensional workpiece, and a robot that includes an arm and a base portion coupled to one end of the arm, and changes relative positions of the workpiece and the head. The arm includes a plurality of joints and a tip portion that is the other end of the arm and supports the head, a first printing operation in which the robot moves a position of the head while the liquid is discharged from the head is executed, and the head moves away from the base portion during the execution of the first printing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kenju Mochizuki
  • Patent number: 12208614
    Abstract: The disclosure more appropriately creates a product of printing closer to the target state. A printing system (10) that creates a product of printing includes a printer (16) that is a printing apparatus that executes a printing step, a steaming machine (18) that is a device for a predetermined step that is a device that executes a predetermined step, and a control device (12); where the control device (12) acquires printed matter information that is information indicating a state of a printed matter obtained by performing the printing step by the printer (16), and adjusts a condition of a step to be executed in the steaming machine (18) based on information indicating a state of the target product and the printed matter information such that a product in a state closer to a state indicated by target product information is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuhei Horiuchi
  • Patent number: 12202272
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a container, a passage, first and second cover portions, and a valve unit. Liquid is injected into the container through an injection portion and supplied from the container through the passage to the liquid discharge head. The first cover portion pivots on a first axis as a center between an open position to allow access to the injection portion and a close position to not allow access to the injection portion. The second cover portion pivots on a second axis intersecting the first axis and as a center between an open position of the second cover portion to expose the first cover portion and a close position of the second cover portion to cover the first cover portion. The valve unit switches to an open state to open the passage when the second cover portion pivots from the open position to the close position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahito Yoshida, Kouhei Tokuda
  • Patent number: 12202276
    Abstract: To improve convenience in use of a laser marking apparatus that performs marking on a workpiece to which an alignment mark is affixed. The laser marking apparatus includes a setting section, a second IF section, a movement amount monitoring section, and a marking control section, and the setting section causes a display section to display a setting-assist image, which visually indicates the alignment mark on the flexible workpiece and a trigger delay, and receives a user input for setting the trigger delay in a state where the setting-assist image is displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: KEYENCE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Ito, Hayato Funahashi, Hiromi Endo, Takanori Ando
  • Patent number: 12202269
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a head including a nozzle from which a liquid is discharged; a cap configured to cover a nozzle surface having the nozzle; a first container configured to store a moisturizing liquid; a pump connected to the cap, the pump configured to generate a negative pressure in a space formed between the cap and the nozzle surface; a second container; and a waste liquid path connecting the cap and the second container, and the first container connected to the waste liquid path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Ichinowatari, Hiroyuki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 12194743
    Abstract: A printing platform includes a printing engine with one or more printheads arranged such that the ink drops are jetted vertically upwards against the action of gravity; and a substrate transportation system where the normal to the surface in contact with the substrate is parallel and with opposite direction to the travelling direction of the jetted ink drops. It is necessary to counteract the weight of the substrate during the printing process to avoid it from falling under the action of gravity. This is achieved through any of a mechanical element that interferes with the falling of the substrate and that keeps it in place; or a system that generates adhesion forces between the element that transmits the motion to the substrate, typically a conveyor belt, and the substrate through the action of electrostatic forces, an air pressure differential between both faces of the substrate, or any other suitable mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Eduardo Bueno Espinal, Juan Escudero Gonzalez
  • Patent number: 12194747
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus including: a liquid ejecting head having an ejection surface including a first nozzle row configured to eject a first ink and a second nozzle row configured to eject a second ink; and a support configured to support the liquid ejecting head in an inclined posture in which the ejection surface is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, in which the first nozzle row is positioned above the second nozzle row with respect to a vertical direction in a state where the support supports the liquid ejecting head in the inclined posture, and a thickening resistance of the second ink is higher than a thickening resistance of the first ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junichiro Matsushita
  • Patent number: 12194741
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a first discharge section that has a first piezoelectric element and discharges liquid by driving the first piezoelectric element with a driving signal; a driving signal generation section that generates the driving signal; a first selection section that performs a selection operation of selecting whether or not to apply each voltage of a plurality of driving waveforms included in the driving signal to the first piezoelectric element, based on a print data signal; a residual vibration detection section that detects residual vibration of the first discharge section after a voltage of a first driving waveform among the plurality of driving waveforms is applied to the first piezoelectric element; and a control section that generates the print data signal, in which the control section stops the driving signal generation section when causing the residual vibration detection section to detect the residual vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Nishihara, Toru Matsuyama
  • Patent number: 12187034
    Abstract: A printing platform includes a printing engine with one or more printheads arranged such that the ink drops are jetted vertically upwards against the action of gravity; and a substrate transportation system where the normal to the surface in contact with the substrate is parallel and with opposite direction to the travelling direction of the jetted ink drops. It is necessary to counteract the weight of the substrate during the printing process to avoid it from falling under the action of gravity. This is achieved through any of a mechanical element that interferes with the falling of the substrate and that keeps it in place; or a system that generates adhesion forces between the element that transmits the motion to the substrate, typically a conveyor belt, and the substrate through the action of electrostatic forces, an air pressure differential between both faces of the substrate, or any other suitable mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2024
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Eduardo Bueno Espinal, Juan Escudero Gonzalez
  • Patent number: 12179473
    Abstract: The invention relates to a system and a method for manufacturing a medical package, in particular a foil bag made of plastic. A print image with variable information comprising blank spaces is first applied by means of a thermal transfer printer. The blank spaces are filled by means of a hot stamp printing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: Fresenius Kabi Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Brückner, Benjamin Fritz, Gerald Wegner, Stefan Faber, Alexander Stojmanovski, Marko Krenzlin
  • Patent number: 12172443
    Abstract: An inkjet head contains a silicon nozzle substrate having an ink channel surface and an ink ejection surface facing the channel surface, and having a nozzle penetrating from the channel surface to the ejection surface; a channel substrate bonded to the channel surface of the silicon nozzle substrate, and including an ink channel and a substrate body that forms the ink channel; and a liquid-repellent film provided on the ejection surface of the silicon nozzle substrate. The channel substrate includes a through channel that penetrates the substrate body so as to face the nozzle, n-number of individual circulation channels that communicate with the through channel, extend in a direction away from the nozzle, and have a portion overlapping the substrate body in a plan view. A positional relationship between each of the individual circulation channels and the nozzle satisfies a specific Expression 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2024
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yohei Sato, Akihisa Shimomura, Yoshinori Yoshida, Hiroaki Kozai
  • Patent number: 12168355
    Abstract: A recording method according to the present disclosure is a recording method that performs recording on a recording medium, the recording method including a white ink adhesion step of adhering a white ink composition containing a white color material to the recording medium and a non-white ink adhesion step of adhering a non-white ink composition containing a non-white color material to the recording medium, in which the white ink adhesion step and the non-white ink adhesion step are performed by relative scanning between a recording head and the recording medium, the white ink adhesion step and the non-white ink adhesion step are performed by the same relative scanning on the same scanning region of the recording medium, and in the recording region to which the white ink composition and the non-white ink composition are adhered, an adhesion amount of the white ink composition is 60% by mass or less with respect to 100% by mass of an adhesion amount of the non-white ink composition per unit region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kenichi Seguchi
  • Patent number: 12168360
    Abstract: The present invention addresses the problem of printing a high-resolution inkjet image on an article to be printed made of a metal or a resin by adjusting wet-spreading of an ink. The problem is solved by a method for producing a printed article which is an inkjet-printed product of an article to be printed made of a metal or a resin, the method including: an underlying layer forming step of forming an underlying layer containing a crosslinkable resin on at least a part of a surface of the article to be printed; a semi-crosslinking step of semi-crosslinking the crosslinkable resin contained in the underlying layer; and a printing step of performing inkjet printing on at least a part of a surface of the underlying layer after the semi-crosslinking step to form an inkjet-printed layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: TOYO SEIKAN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shigenobu Murakami, Yukiko Saito, Kouji Yamada
  • Patent number: 12168358
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording unit configured to perform recording on a recording medium placed at a first position, a placement unit configured to place the recording medium on the placement unit, and a pressing member configured to apply a pressing force to the recording medium placed on the placement unit toward the placement unit in a case where the recording medium is at the first position, and to release the pressing force in a case where the recording medium moves from the first position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuka Tani, Toshiaki Tokisawa, Soma Nakai, Keisuke Arita
  • Patent number: 12162295
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of managing a printing apparatus including a thermal print head. The method of managing a printing apparatus includes: starting, by the controller of a printing apparatus, the cleaning of a thermal print head when a predetermined condition is satisfied; selecting, by the controller, a cleaning method based on at least one the satisfied condition and previously stored information; and cleaning, by the controller, the thermal print head by driving at least one of heating elements, included in a plurality of recording elements constituting the thermal print head, according to the selected cleaning method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: BIXOLON CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Junho Hwang, Jin Kook Kim, Chan Wook Kang, Seung Yong Kim
  • Patent number: 12162269
    Abstract: An inkjet printer (500) for printing on cloth (300) comprising a first vacuum belt (150) for conveying an unwoven fabric (200) which is, configured as a second vacuum belt, for conveying under an inkjet print head (505) a cloth (300); and a device for applying pressure to said cloth (300) on said second vacuum belt; wherein said device comprises a portion for traversing said cloth (300) with a rub by a relative movement between said pressure device and said second vacuum belt, carrying said cloth (300).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: Agfa NV
    Inventor: Luc De Roeck
  • Patent number: 12162277
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device in which a drive circuit substrate that outputs a first drive signal supplied to a first electrode, a substrate, a first drive circuit that has a first circuit element in which a ground potential is supplied to one end and outputs the first drive signal, a first capacitor in which one end is electrically coupled to the second electrode and a ground potential is supplied to the other end, and a second capacitor in which one end is electrically coupled to the second electrode and a ground potential is supplied to the other end, the substrate includes a first surface and a second surface, the first capacitor is a chip capacitor, the second capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, the first circuit element and the first capacitor are provided on the first surface, and the second capacitor is provided on the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Toru Kashimura
  • Patent number: 12157321
    Abstract: An inkjet printer prints on a first side of a media sheet less than all of the color separations in an image, generates a first set of image data of the printed color separations to identify image features, returns the partially printed media sheet to a position that precedes the print zone in the printer, generates a second set of image data of the partially printed media sheet before it reenters the print zone to identify the image features, compares the positions of the image features in the first set of image data to the positions of the image features in the second set of image data to register one or more color separations remaining to be printed with the color separations printed on the first side of the media sheet, and prints the remaining registered color separations on the first side of the partially printed media sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas K. Herrmann, Seemit Praharaj, Jason M. LeFevre, Jorge A. Alvarez, Chu-Heng Liu
  • Patent number: 12151485
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a support member having a bearing portion, and includes a locking member including a shaft portion fitted to the bearing portion and a biasing member arranged to bias the support member and the locking member in a first direction. The support member supports a printing member that prints on a printing medium. The locking member is pivotally mounted to the support member. The shaft portion is a pivot center. The locking member fixedly holds the printing member relative to the support member. The first direction forms an angle from 0 degree to smaller than 45 degrees relative to an upper surface of the printing member in a first state in which the printing member is fixedly held relative to the support member by the locking member. Movement of the shaft portion fitted to the bearing portion in the first direction is restricted by the biasing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ken Takenaga, Tetsu Hamano