Patents Examined by Sharon A. Polk
  • Patent number: 11413872
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces excessive or insufficient flushing of each of the nozzles by appropriately controlling the ink ejection amount in the next flushing for each nozzle based on the actual ink ejection state of each of the nozzles of a recording head during image formation. A control unit causes the recording head to execute flushing for ejecting the ink at a timing different from a timing that contributes to image formation on the recording medium. A conveyor belt has opening portions for allowing ink ejected from each of the nozzles of the recording head during flushing to pass. The control unit controls the ink ejection amount for each of the nozzles during the next flushing based on an integrated printing rate for each of the nozzles after the recording head has performed the previous flushing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Masaaki Maruta
  • Patent number: 11413873
    Abstract: To provide a liquid consuming device capable of causing liquid to flow smoothly and reducing contamination of the device and its surroundings, a first absorbent provided in a fixed waste liquid storage unit is connected to a second absorbent provided in a movable waste liquid storage unit by mating of a recessed portion with a protruding portion at the connecting portion between the first absorbent and the second absorbent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ryotaro Murakami
  • Patent number: 11400736
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes a moving unit, a movable connector, a fixed connector, a wire, a fixed wire guide and a movable wire guide. The moving unit is supported by a casing in an upwardly and downwardly moving manner. The movable connector is provided in the moving unit. The fixed connector is provided in the casing. Both ends of the wire are connected to the movable connector and the fixed connector. The wire has a length longer than a distance between the movable connector and the fixed connector at lifting of the moving unit. The fixed wire guide is supported on the bottom plate of the moving unit. The movable wire guide is supported on the bottom plate of the casing. At least one of the movable wire guide and the fixed wire guide is supported rotatably.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Naoki Yamane, Toshinori Muraoka, Satoru Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11400722
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus including: a liquid ejecting portion configured to eject a liquid from a nozzle disposed in a nozzle surface; a wiping mechanism configured to perform a wiping operation of wiping the nozzle surface by moving a strip-shaped member configured to absorb the liquid relative to the nozzle surface in a state in which the strip-shaped member is in contact with the nozzle surface; and a control portion configured to perform a pre-wiping operation of moving the strip-shaped member relative to the nozzle surface at a speed higher than a speed for the relative movement during the wiping operation in a state in which the strip-shaped member is not in contact with the nozzle surface and is configured to be brought into contact with the liquid adhering to the nozzle surface, prior to the wiping operation of wiping the nozzle surface with the strip-shaped member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masato Murayama, Atsushi Yoshida, Hiroki Matsuoka, Kazushi Arafuka
  • Patent number: 11400720
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting portion that has a nozzle opening surface on which a plurality of nozzles open, and that ejects a liquid from the nozzles to a medium in an inclined state in which the nozzle opening surface is inclined, a first cleaning portion that has a wiping member configured to wipe the nozzle opening surface by moving relative to the liquid ejecting portion in a state of being in contact with the nozzle opening surface, and a second cleaning portion that is formed of an absorbing member configured to absorb the liquid and that has an end portion cleaning member configured to wipe a lower end of the nozzle opening surface in the inclined state by moving relative to the liquid ejecting portion in a state of being in contact with the lower end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Satoru Kobayashi, Hitotoshi Kimura
  • Patent number: 11400730
    Abstract: A system for monitoring an inkjet printing device and predicting failures or maintenance needs. The system includes one or more memory devices; a print analysis engine stored in the one or more memory devices to monitor the print output from the inkjet printing device, operation of the inkjet printing device, or any combination thereof; and one or more processor devices to perform actions, including: monitoring print output from the inkjet printing device, operation of the inkjet printing device, or any combination thereof; based on the monitoring, predicting a failure or maintenance need of the inkjet printing device; based on the prediction, suggesting or performing maintenance on the inkjet printing device to address the predicted failure or maintenance need; and, after maintenance has been performed, monitoring the print output, operation of the printing device, or any combination thereof to determine whether the predicted failure or maintenance need has been resolved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: GLOBAL GRAPHICS SOFTWARE LIMITED
    Inventors: Daniel Hall, James Fox
  • Patent number: 11400721
    Abstract: Methods to wipe a print head are described. In an example of a method, an amount of treatment fluid is determined based on a temperature of the print head and the print head is wiped with the determined amount of treatment fluid and a wiping medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mauricio Seras Franzoso, Sheila Cabello Cabrera, Aleix Fort Filgueira
  • Patent number: 11400719
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting portion configured to eject a first liquid from a nozzle; a liquid receiving portion configured to receive the first liquid discharged from the nozzle for a purpose of maintenance of the liquid ejecting portion in a state that a second liquid is stored therein; and a discharge portion configured to discharge a liquid stored in the liquid receiving portion. The liquid receiving portion includes: a liquid storing portion that stores the second liquid; a maintenance portion that maintains a liquid surface of the liquid stored in the liquid storing portion at an upper limit position above a discharge port at which the discharge portion discharges the liquid from the liquid storing portion; and a lip portion configured to contact the liquid ejecting portion. The liquid receiving portion is configured to cap a space in which the nozzle opens with the lip portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Satoru Kobayashi, Hitotoshi Kimura
  • Patent number: 11396193
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a label printer for printing labels attached to a mount is provided. The label printer includes detection unit configured to detect a peel-off state of a label to be printed and a printing unit configured to control printing of labels on the mount according to the detected peel-off state of the label to be printed. When the detected peel-off state is total peel-off, the printing unit is configured to advance the mount to a next label on the mount, and when the detected peel-off state is partial peel-off, the printing unit is configured to not print on the label.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kota Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11390086
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus has a housing constituting the exterior and includes: a liquid ejecting head; a liquid container; a maintenance device; a waste liquid container; a supply tube; a waste liquid tube; and a guide along which the supply tube and the waste liquid tube are routed in parallel. Assuming that one side of the housing is a rear side and another side facing the one side is a front side in plan view, the maintenance device is disposed closer to a rear side than the liquid container is, the liquid ejecting head is disposed at a side of the maintenance device so as to be movable in the left-right direction, and the guide is disposed in an area between the maintenance device and the front side of the liquid container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Ochiai
  • Patent number: 11390085
    Abstract: A wiping device is equipped with a wiping blade that wipes an ink ejection surface of a nozzle row of an ink jet head, a cleansing tank that stores a cleansing solution and in which the wiping blade is immersed, and a shower unit that sprays the cleansing solution onto the wiping blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Matsunaga, Ami Nakata, Hirotaka Yamamoto, Moon-Ho Lee
  • Patent number: 11390084
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces situations in which the recording medium becomes stained during flushing. A conveyor belt of the inkjet recording apparatus has a plurality of opening portion groups in a conveying direction of the recording medium in which opening portions for allowing ink ejected from each of the nozzles of the recording head to pass during the flushing are arranged in a belt width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium. A control unit determines a pattern of a plurality of opening portion groups used in flushing in one cycle of the conveyor belt according to the size of the recording medium, and causes the recording medium to be supplied from a recording medium supply unit between the opening portion groups arranged in the conveying direction in the pattern on the conveyor belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Tomoya Hotani, Yuki Tamura, Masaaki Maruta
  • Patent number: 11376852
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head that ejects liquid to a medium transported in a transport direction on a transport path, a liquid container that includes a containing chamber for containing liquid to be supplied to the liquid ejection head and an inlet for pouring the liquid into the containing chamber, a carriage movable in a scanning direction that intersects the transport direction in a state where the liquid ejection head and the liquid container loaded on the carriage, and a mounting portion on which a waste liquid container that contains liquid as waste liquid discharged from the liquid ejection head is detachably mounted. When the liquid ejection head is located outside the transport path in the scanning direction, the carriage is disposed at a position that overlaps the mounting portion in the vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Naomi Kimura, Makoto Sawadaishi
  • Patent number: 11376853
    Abstract: A waste liquid recovery apparatus including a waste liquid tube through which waste liquid flows and a displacement mechanism. The displacement mechanism includes a driven portion that receives a driving force and operates owing to the driving force and a displacement portion that is displaced within a predetermined displacement range in conjunction with the operation of the driven portion. The waste liquid tube includes a flexible tube at least at a terminal end from which the waste liquid is issued. When the displacement portion is displaced within the predetermined displacement range, a contact depth of the displacement portion with respect to the contacted portion of the flexible tube, near the terminal end, changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Masaki Murashima
  • Patent number: 11376856
    Abstract: A cartridge for a printing system comprises a receptacle to receive waste printing material from the printing system, a floater to change its position based on a varying filling level of the waste printing material in the receptacle, and a flag mechanically coupled to the floater, wherein a position of the flag depends on the position of the floater and indicates, outside of the receptacle, the filling level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Santiago Forcada Pardo, Alejandro Mielgo Barba, Jeffrey Thielman
  • Patent number: 11364726
    Abstract: An example fluid dispensing system includes a printhead assembly comprising a printhead to dispense a given fluid in a printing process; and a first memory storing an identifier of the given fluid. The example fluid dispensing system further includes an accessory to interact with the printhead in a cleaning process or a storage process. The example fluid dispensing system further includes a second memory that is located with the accessory. The example fluid dispensing system further includes a read-write device to: read the identifier of the given fluid from the first memory; read the second memory; and, when the second memory does not store a fluid identifier, write the identifier of the given fluid to the second memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Jeffrey A. Nielsen
  • Patent number: 11358405
    Abstract: A droplet deposition head including a datum surface arrangement for alignment of the head relative to an external mounting component in either a vertical mounting mode in which the head is held against a vertical mounting plate or a horizontal mounting mode where the head is held against a horizontal mounting plate. The datum surface arrangement comprising at least seven datum surfaces (x1; y1, y2, y3; z1, z2, z3) provided on the head, wherein five of the seven datum surfaces are provided for alignment in both vertical and horizontal mounting modes, and wherein a sixth datum surface (z3) is provided for alignment exclusively in said horizontal mounting mode and a seventh datum surface (y3) is provided for alignment exclusively in said vertical mounting mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: XAAR TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventors: Ulrik Manfred Naunton, Stephen Mark Jeapes, Richard Hugh Lewis, Jesus Garcia Maza, Arturo Garcia Gomez, Robert John Charles Dunn
  • Patent number: 11351798
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a printing portion configured to perform printing on a printing surface of a medium, a transporting portion configured to transport the medium in a transport direction, a medium supporting portion located upstream of the printing portion in the transport direction, the medium supporting portion including a medium supporting surface configured to support the medium, a preprocessing portion configured to perform preprocessing on the medium supported by the medium supporting portion, and a mount portion facing the medium supporting surface, the mount portion being configured such that the preprocessing portion is detachably mounted thereto. The mount portion includes a position-setting mechanism configured to set a position of the preprocessing portion with respect to the medium supporting surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Ryosuke Ban, Naoki Oki, Yuki Moriya
  • Patent number: 11331905
    Abstract: A printing system and method print different colors onto a target object to form a machine-readable data representation having a symbol contrast of at least 40%. The printing system and method direct print heads to print the different colors by printing a base layer of a first color of the different colors on the target object and printing an upper layer of a different, second color of the different colors on top of the base layer of the first color, or by printing print the machine-readable data representation as an interdigitated data representation by printing the different colors onto the target object so that none of the different colors is printed on top of another color of the different colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Jay Liker, Donald MacKay, Yu Du, Tzer-Yi Chen
  • Patent number: 11331921
    Abstract: A facility for applying a coating product including a set of printing nozzles, each nozzle including an outlet channel emerging in the downstream direction by a coating product discharge orifice, the facility further including a cleaning station for at least one nozzle of the set of printing nozzles, the station including at least one cleaning fluid injector in the outlet channel of the printing nozzle, through its discharge orifice.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: EXEL INDUSTRIES
    Inventor: Philippe Provenaz