Patents Examined by Scott A Richmond
  • Patent number: 11148434
    Abstract: The invention discloses various methods of controlling or monitoring the performance of a continuous inkjet printer based on monitoring vacuum levels and/or noise in the gutter line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Inventors: Stuart Mark Walkington, Richard Thomas Calhoun Bridges, Colin Jon Partridge, Justin Chase
  • Patent number: 11142009
    Abstract: A cleaning unit includes a pressing roller for pressing a web for removing ink adhering to a conveying surface of a resist roller that conveys a sheet on which the ink has been discharged, against the conveying surface. A cleaning liquid supply unit supplies a cleaning liquid to an unused portion of the web. A web drive mechanism supplies the unused portion of the web to the nip region between the pressing roller and the conveying surface. A controller supplies the unused portion to which the cleaning liquid has been supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit to the nip region by using the web driving mechanism thereby removing the ink from the conveying surface, and subsequently supplies the unused portion to which the cleaning liquid has not been supplied to the nip region by the web driving mechanism thereby removing the cleaning liquid remaining on the conveying surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Kei Maruyama
  • Patent number: 11141993
    Abstract: The invention provides a good inking quality and high inking efficiency lens digital inking device in drum layout. It includes a rotating unit, a lens height adjustment unit, invisible mark recognition unit and print head, utilizing the rotating circumference of the same drum, to completely or partially compensating for the curvature of the front surface of the lens, making the distance between print head to the center or edge of the lens edge reduced, which improves the print quality. This invention is suitable for all kinds of lens inking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: TOPLENS HANGZHOU INC.
    Inventors: Donghui Chen, Hongxiang Meng
  • Patent number: 11130350
    Abstract: An application apparatus includes a first roller configured to apply a treatment liquid to a recording medium conveyed; and a second roller disposed in contact with the first roller and forming, with the first roller, a conveyance nip in which the recording medium is nipped. The application apparatus further includes a third roller disposed in contact with the first roller at a position different from the conveyance nip, and a fourth roller disposed in contact with the second roller at a position different from the conveyance nip. The third roller has a rigidity higher than a rigidity of the first roller, and the fourth roller has rigidity higher than a rigidity of the second roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kenji Nozawa
  • Patent number: 11123979
    Abstract: Described herein is a printing template for use during an aqueous inkjet printing process in which ink is transferred onto a printable layer. The printing template includes a printable layer having a first side, a second side opposite the first side, and a shaped perimeter, the first side defining a printable surface. The printing template further includes a carrier layer sized and configured to entirely encompass the shaped perimeter of the printable layer. The carrier layer includes a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The first side includes an adhesive coating causing the first side of the carrier layer securely associated with the second side of the printable layer during the printing process, and is thereafter allowing removal of the carrier layer from the printable layer after completion of the printing process. Further, a predefined number of parts in a desired shape are die cut through the printable layer up until the carrier layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Inventor: Christian Carter Noterman
  • Patent number: 11117376
    Abstract: A printhead assembly may include a first set of distinct parallel printhead dies in a second set of distinct parallel printhead dies. The first set of distinct parallel printhead dies may have respective major dimensions extending in a longitudinal direction and respective ends that are aligned in a transverse direction. The second set of distinct parallel printhead dies may have respective major dimensions extending in the longitudinal direction and respective ends aligned in the transverse direction. The second set of distinct parallel printhead dies may partially overlap the first set of distinct parallel printhead dies in the transverse direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Si-lam J. Choy, Devin Mourey, Eric L. Nikkel
  • Patent number: 11117369
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus includes: an ejection head; a head scanning mechanism; a controller; and a storage, wherein the controller is configured to: perform, in a case where viscosity of the liquid satisfies a first condition, a first printing process of: discarding the liquid at a discard position and then printing a partial image; perform, in a case where viscosity of the liquid does not satisfy the first condition, the controller performs a second printing process of: printing the partial image on the recording medium, without discarding the liquid; perform, a division process of dividing the image data corresponding to at least first one pass of the image data into a first division data and a second division data; and, in the second printing process, the controller controls to eject the liquid based on the first division data and eject the liquid based on the second division data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shin Hasegawa, Yoshiharu Furuhata
  • Patent number: 11104165
    Abstract: Previously, a customer may not have known which information was acquired and may have felt anxiety. In addition, only internal data of the apparatus was previously acquired. However, in order to determine a trouble in the inkjet printer with high precision, visual information such as a state of a printer mechanism or a conveyance line and a print result is also necessary to determine the apparatus state. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a maintenance system capable of acquiring such information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroko Kurihara, Takashi Kawano, Nobuhiro Harada, Kenjiro Fujii, Tomohisa Kohiyama, Makiko Naemura
  • Patent number: 11104162
    Abstract: Methods, Apparatus, Devices and Systems herein load a firing distance into a distance counter of a printing device. The firing distance is the distance from the current position of a printhead of the printing device to a marking location on a substrate and the distance is calculated based on an angular encoder operatively associated with a roller used to transport a marking media to the printhead for marking. These devices and methods count the firing distance in angular distance increments as a function of the encoder angular position to correct for encoder roller runout using the distance counter, based on relative movement of the substrate and printhead. When the distance counter reaches the last discrete distance increment corrected for encoder roller runout of the firing distance, these devices and methods load the fractional remaining distance of the firing distance into a time counter of the printing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventor: Patricia Joanne Donaldson
  • Patent number: 11090954
    Abstract: An image printing apparatus has a first side plate and a second side plate that are part of a frame body housing an image printing unit and face each other in a widthwise direction crossing a discharging direction. The image printing apparatus also has a movable tray that is movable between the first side plate and the second side plate and receive a discharged print medium a support member that supports the movable tray in a movable manner. Further, the image printing apparatus has a drive unit that moves the movable tray and a frame that is fixed so as to couple the first side plate and the second side plate together in the widthwise direction, the support member and the drive unit being provided on the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuki Emoto, Kosuke Yamamoto, Norio Sakurai, Toshiaki Somano
  • Patent number: 11090962
    Abstract: A cleaning device includes a cleaning unit, a movement mechanism, and a unit mounting portion. The cleaning unit includes a cleaning part having a contact surface brought into contact with a surface of a conveyance roller. The movement mechanism moves the cleaning unit between a cleaning position at which the cleaning part comes in contact with the conveyance roller, and a mounting and removing position at which the cleaning part is located below the conveyance roller in a separated manner and the cleaning unit is allowed to be mounted and removed on and from the apparatus body. The unit mounting portion houses the cleaning unit disposed at the mounting and removing position. The cleaning unit is configured such that the cleaning unit in a state of being housed in the unit mounting portion is mounted and removed, together with the processing unit, on and from the apparatus body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Inventors: Shinobu Ohata, Naoto Miyakoshi, Shunsuke Yamasaki, Hiroatsu Tamai, Yasuhiro Michishita, Takeshi Watanabe, Hiroki Sakane, Kenichi Satake, Masato Usui, Yuzuru Yuasa, Yusuke Tamekuni
  • Patent number: 11090929
    Abstract: A printhead may include a nozzle, a firing chamber fluidly coupled to the nozzle, a printing fluid slot fluidly coupled to the firing chamber, and a sensor to detect a plurality of complex impedance values of a printing fluid at the printhead over a plurality of frequencies and create a printing fluid signature of the printing fluid. A method of determining at least one characteristic of a printing fluid provided to a printhead ma include, with a number of sensors, applying an alternating current at a plurality of frequencies over time to the printing fluid to receive a plurality of complex impedance values and comparing the plurality of complex impedance signals to a number of stored signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Chien-Hua Chen, Michael W. Cumbie, Devin Alexander Mourey
  • Patent number: 11077673
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electrostatic printing apparatus that can produce a conductive transparent electrode substrate for use in an organic EL device or the like, which is inexpensive and highly reliable. The electrostatic printing apparatus of the present invention includes a power supply (13), a conductive ejection unit (11) that ejects an ink for forming an insulating film to a target electrode (22), a control unit (12) that applies a bias voltage to the conductive ejection unit (11), and a pulse control unit (14) that applies a pulse voltage to the target electrode (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: HotaluX, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshikazu Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 11077667
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head configured to discharge a liquid, a sub tank configured to hold the liquid to supply the liquid to the liquid discharge head, a liquid cartridge configured to hold the liquid to be supplied to the sub tank, a supply channel configured to connect the sub tank and the liquid cartridge to supply the liquid from the liquid cartridge to the sub tank in a supply direction, a first channel opening-and-closing mechanism disposed in the supply channel to switch connection and disconnection of the supply channel, a second channel opening-and-closing mechanism disposed downstream of the first channel opening-and-closing mechanism in the supply direction in the supply channel, and circuitry configured to operate the first channel opening-and-closing mechanism to connect the supply channel, and operate the second channel opening-and-closing mechanism to feed the liquid from the liquid cartridge to the sub tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Noda, Yuki Nagatsuka
  • Patent number: 11077662
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge head including: a plurality of pressure chambers aligned in a first direction so as to form first and second pressure chamber groups arranged side by side in a second direction crossing the first direction; a first common channel communicating with pressure chambers constructing the first pressure chamber group; a second common channel communicating with pressure chambers constructing the second pressure chamber group; a first connecting channel connecting one end in the first direction of the first common channel and one end in the first direction of the second common channel; and a second connecting channel connecting the other end in the first direction of the first common channel and the other end in the first direction of the second common channel. Each of the first and second connecting channels overlaps, in a third direction, with any one of the plurality of pressure chambers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Taisuke Mizuno
  • Patent number: 11072398
    Abstract: A system is provided that includes a print head, a conveyance system, an encoding sensor, and at least one processor. The print head defines a print zone, and is configured to print on objects within the print zone. The conveyance system passes through the print zone, and is configured to translate a pallet through the print zone. The encoding sensor is disposed proximate to the conveyance system, and is configured to be oriented toward the pallet and to acquire positional information regarding the pallet. The at least one processor is operably coupled to the print head and the encoding sensor, and is configured to: receive the positional information from the encoding sensor; determine timing information corresponding to when a substrate disposed on the pallet will be in the print zone; and control the print head to print on the substrate when the substrate is in the print zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC.
    Inventors: Tracy Kucaba, Paul Konrath, Jared Herring
  • Patent number: 11072194
    Abstract: A cleaning device includes: a cleaning unit including a cleaning part and a cleaning housing; and a movement mechanism that is capable of moving the cleaning unit between a cleaning position and a mounting and removing position below the cleaning position. The cleaning housing includes a pair of wall portions and a pair of housing shaft portions. The movement mechanism includes a unit housing portion, a pair of support members, a rotation drive unit, and a positioning portion. The positioning portion is configured to be brought into contact with the cleaning unit at the cleaning position and is configured to position the cleaning unit such that the cleaning part is capable of cleaning the conveyance roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Inventors: Shinobu Ohata, Naoto Miyakoshi, Shunsuke Yamasaki, Hiroatsu Tamai, Yasuhiro Michishita, Takeshi Watanabe, Kenichi Satake, Hiroki Sakane, Masato Usui, Yuzuru Yuasa, Yusuke Tamekuni
  • Patent number: 11072192
    Abstract: A printing unit includes a head unit; a platen unit separately combined with the head unit; a fixed blade provided to the platen unit; a movable blade, which is provided to the head unit and is relatively movable with respect to the fixed blade; a drive mechanism, which includes a drive rack coupled to the movable blade, and moves the movable blade between a standby position being separated from the fixed blade and a cutting position at which the movable blade rides on the fixed blade; an operation lever being movable between a lock position and a releasing position; and a return mechanism configured to move the movable blade from the cutting position toward the standby position side through intermediation of the drive rack in association with the operation lever.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO INSTRUMENTS INC.
    Inventors: Masashi Kitamura, Tomohiro Murata, Akio Naito, Kouji Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 11065894
    Abstract: In some examples, a fluid ejection assembly is removably mountable in a system, and includes a fluid ejection device, and a removable frame on which the fluid ejection device is mounted. The removable frame includes a plurality of fluid interface members that share a common design to releasably engage with a plurality of fluid interface connectors together as the removable frame is brought into engagement with a support structure in the system and on which the plurality of fluid interface connectors are mounted. Engagement of a first fluid interface member with a first fluid interface connector establishes a gas path through the first fluid interface member and the first fluid interface connector, and engagement of a second fluid interface member with a second fluid interface connector establishes a liquid path through the second fluid interface member and the second fluid interface connector, the liquid path to deliver a liquid to the fluid ejection device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Rosanna L. Bigford, David N. Olsen, Christopher John Arnold, Paul Allan Osborne
  • Patent number: 11066781
    Abstract: Disclosed is a process for printing on cotton fabric comprising (1) contacting cotton fabric with an aqueous solution comprising (A) 40% to 70% by weight of at least one multivalent cationic salt; (B) optionally 0.1% to 5% by weight of a blocked isocyanate crosslinking agent, and (C) 3% to 40% by weight of a waterborne resin, all percentages based on the weight of the aqueous solution; (2) drying the cotton fabric to remove the water from the cotton fabric; and (3) digitally printing the pretreated and coated cotton fabric with a water-based textile ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: EASTERN TECH LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Chen, James DeMarco, Shawn Liu, Gerald Cantalupo, Jr.