Patents Examined by Stephen Meier
  • Patent number: 9676197
    Abstract: A liquid container 16 mountable to a printing apparatus 11 that performs printing by discharging a liquid and capable of storing a liquid supplied in a pressurized state is provided with a liquid introduction part 47 through which the liquid is introduced, a tank 38 capable of storing the liquid introduced from the liquid introduction part 47, and a liquid supply part 48 that supplies the liquid in the tank 38 to a printing apparatus 11, and the tank 38 is molded to have flexibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiro Karasawa, Satoru Kobayashi, Hiroshi Nose, Naoki Naito, Ryoji Fujimori, Takeshi Iwamuro, Yuji Aoki
  • Patent number: 9676199
    Abstract: There is provided a tank system including a tank and a liquid injection container. The tank has a liquid storage chamber; and a cylindrical wall extending from an outer wall in a first direction. The tank is formed with inlet and outlet ports each communicating the liquid storage chamber with the outside of the tank. The liquid injection container includes: a liquid storing portion; a liquid discharging portion; an arm; and a craw. The cylindrical wall has: a first portion, a second portion located between the first portion and the outer wall and having outer diameter smaller than that of the first portion, and a connecting surface connecting the outer circumferential surface of the first portion to that of the second portion. The craw contacts the connecting surface of the cylindrical wall toward the first direction in a state that the liquid discharging portion is inserted into the inlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiro Hayashi
  • Patent number: 9669633
    Abstract: Ink port adapters for multi-color inkjet heads. In one embodiment, the ink port adapter includes two hose fittings for connecting to hoses, and four openings that align with four ink ports of a four-color inkjet head. The adapter includes one ink path that connects one of the hose fittings to two of the openings, and another ink path that connects the other hose fitting to the other two openings. The adapter therefore converts the four-color inkjet head into a two-color inkjet head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Nishimura
  • Patent number: 9662879
    Abstract: A method for stabilizing a print quality in an inkjet printing system is described. The inkjet printing system can include a nozzle arrangement that may be activated with a number of control signals that can be used to fire ink droplets with corresponding different droplet sizes onto a recording medium. In the method for stabilizing a print quality in an inkjet printing system, a rastered image for an image template can be created. The rastered image can be printable by the inkjet printing system using a subset of the different droplet sizes. Further, the nozzle arrangement can be activated with a control signal for an unused droplet size of the different droplet sizes to induce the nozzle arrangement to generate a prefire pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Océ Printing Systems GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Ulrich Stoeckle, Harald Myllek, Philippe Koerner, Werner Zollner
  • Patent number: 9662898
    Abstract: A liquid storage container supplies ink to a printer which consumes the ink, and includes a liquid storage body which includes a liquid lead-out port communicating with the printer and a filler port formed to pour the liquid to the liquid storage container, an auxiliary holding member which is mounted to be slidable to a side in which the filler port is formed, and a memory unit holding member which is detachably configured to the auxiliary holding member and includes a memory unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Iwamuro, Hidetoshi Kodama
  • Patent number: 9662878
    Abstract: Heating is stopped in between recordings in a first recording mode where the time between recordings is relatively long, while heating is continuously performed in between recordings in a second recording mode where the time between recordings is relatively short.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazunori Yamauchi, Masashi Hayashi, Daisuke Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9662902
    Abstract: A medium supporting unit includes a supporting portion that supports a medium and a holding portion that holds the medium that is in a state of being supported by the supporting portion, and the holding portion includes a first portion that is a portion at one side of a straight line passing on a center of the holding portion in a plan view of the holding portion, and a second portion that is a portion at the another side of the straight line, a weight of the first portion being different from a weight of the second portion. This configuration of the medium supporting unit enables suppression of floating of the medium without impairing the ease of handling of the medium supporting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Sumito Anzai, Norihiro Yamashita
  • Patent number: 9662907
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes: a transport unit that transports a medium in a transport direction; a medium support that supports the medium; a medium pressing unit that has a first regulation section that regulates bending of an end portion of the medium from the medium support in a width direction intersecting with the transport direction and a second regulation section that regulates moving of the end portion of the medium to an outer side in the width direction; and a printing unit that performs printing on the medium supported on the medium support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Mikio Kitagishi
  • Patent number: 9656487
    Abstract: A print media holder device has first and second grip members. Permanent magnets are attached to the first and second grip members. An electromagnet is disposed between the first and second grip members, where when the electromagnet is selectively energized the permanent magnets attached to the first and second grip members are repelled in a manner that increases the outer dimension of the print media holder device to grip a media core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Intermec Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Wai Kit Ho, Harry Nicholas Makabali Lansangan, Ling Siong Chwa
  • Patent number: 9650202
    Abstract: A technique is provided to facilitate connection of a fluid container with a fluid consuming device and disconnection of the fluid container from the fluid consuming device by a simple configuration. There is provided a fluid container detachably connectable with a fluid consuming device. The fluid container comprises: a fluid container body at least partly made of a material having flexibility and configured to contain a fluid; a fluid supply structure located at one end portion of the fluid container body and configured to be connectable with a fluid introducing structure provided in the fluid consuming device; and a container-side electrical connection structure linked with the fluid supply structure and configured to have a contact arranged to come into contact with a device-side electrical connection structure provided in the fluid consuming device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tokujiro Okuno, Katsutomo Tsukahara
  • Patent number: 9643422
    Abstract: A cartridge comprises a liquid container that is at least partly made of a flexible material and is configured to contain a liquid therein; a recess that is configured to be open toward a mounting direction of the cartridge to a liquid ejection apparatus; and a fluid receiving portion that is placed inside of the recess and is configured to receive supply of a pressurized fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Koizumi, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Ayumi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 9643419
    Abstract: An adaptor includes an adaptor main body capable of being mounted with respect to a liquid accommodation body mounting portion of a printer to which an ink cartridge configured to accommodate ink is mounted in an attachable or detachable manner; a memory cell MC that is updated by a control portion of the printer, and maintains information about whether or not the printing operation is possible in the printer; an electrical terminal that is used in communication between the memory cell and the printer; and an operation button that outputs an update signal that updates information about whether or not the printing operation is possible to information permitting the printing operation of the printer with respect to the memory cell, when the information about whether or not the printing operation is possible maintained in the memory cell does not permit the printing operation of the printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Koizumi
  • Patent number: 9643403
    Abstract: An intermediate transfer member (ITM) for use in a printing system to transport an ink image from an image forming station to an impression station for transfer of the ink image from the ITM onto a printing substrate, wherein the ITM is an endless flexible belt of substantially uniform width which, during use, passes over drive and guide rollers and is guided through at least the image forming station by means of guide channels that receive formations provided on both lateral edges of the belt, wherein the formations on a first edge differ from the formations on the second edge by being configured for providing the elasticity desired to maintain the belt taut when the belt is guided through their respective lateral channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: LANDA CORPORATION LTD.
    Inventors: Benzion Landa, Aharon Shmaiser, Itshak Ashkanazi
  • Patent number: 9643432
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a transporting unit which can transport a medium along a first direction; an ejecting unit which can eject liquid; a cutting unit which is provided on a downstream side in the first direction compared to the ejecting unit, and can cut the medium; and a control unit which can execute an ejecting operation in which the liquid is ejected onto the medium using the ejecting unit, and a cutting operation in which the medium is cut using the cutting unit, in which the control unit executes a post-cutting transport operation in which the medium is transported using the transporting unit between executing of the cutting operation and executing of the ejecting operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hidemasa Kanada, Kenichi Tanioka
  • Patent number: 9643406
    Abstract: In some examples, a system includes a printhead including a printer fluid nozzle, an air valve in fluid communication with a channel of the nozzle to: (1) create back pressure in the channel when the air valve is closed and printer fluid is ejected through the nozzle and (2) release back pressure in the channel when the air valve is open, an ejector to eject printer fluid through the nozzle to form a meniscus of printer fluid in the channel when the air valve is closed, a pressure sensor to measure pressure within the channel, and an indicator in electrical communication with the pressure sensor. The indicator can, for example, indicate whether there is an air leak in the channel by determining whether the pressure in the channel is within a predetermined pressure range after a predetermined idle time following the formation of the meniscus in the nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing LTD.
    Inventors: Semion Gengrinovich, Ran Vilk, Moti Balaish
  • Patent number: 9636931
    Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises a maintenance unit configured to execute a maintenance operation between a completion of printing on a preceding sheet serving as the printing sheet fed from a stacking unit first and a start of printing on a succeeding sheet serving as the printing sheet fed from the stacking unit next, and a determination unit configured to determine whether to execute the maintenance operation, wherein the determination unit determines, based on a feeding method of the succeeding sheet, whether to execute the maintenance operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akiyoshi Sahara, Tetsuya Edamura, Atsushi Takahashi, Tomofumi Nishida, Toshiyuki Kuroda
  • Patent number: 9636933
    Abstract: A printing apparatus is provided with a transport mechanism section that transports work, a printing mechanism section that has multiple nozzle groups, which perform printing by discharging an ink onto the work as liquid droplets, and control section that controls the actions of the transport mechanism section and the printing mechanism section. In addition, the printing mechanism section includes a first nozzle row that forms a first printing region, a second nozzle row that forms a second printing region, and an overlapping section in which the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row overlap. Further, the control section prohibits overlapping of the first printing region with the second printing region on the work when forming the third printing region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuaki Sakurada, Takamitsu Kondo, Seigo Momose, Akira Yamada
  • Patent number: 9630417
    Abstract: In one example, a flexible circuit for a fluid cartridge includes a single flexible substrate, an electronic memory on the substrate, an authentication code stored on the memory, first electrical connector pads on the substrate connected to the memory, and second electrical connector pads on the substrate, not connected to the memory, to connect to a fluid dispensing die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Iain Campbell-Brown, Mark Walsh, John Oliver, Jefferson P. Ward, Amy Shipman
  • Patent number: 9630430
    Abstract: A conveyor includes: a slide gear and a clutch gear including a first gear and a second gear. The clutch gear includes: a first surface and a second surface provided on one of the first and second gears and facing each other; and a contact member provided on the other of the first and second gears and located between the first surface and the second surface. A controller is configured to: control a motor in a state in which the slide gear and the first gear are in mesh with each other, to rotate the clutch gear to establish a state in which the contact member is not in contact with the first surface or the second surface; and control a sliding mechanism to slide the slide gear in the state in which the contact member is not in contact with the first surface or the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hirotaka Aoki, Kenji Samoto, Shohei Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 9630407
    Abstract: A print head includes a backup plate and a nozzle plate. The backup plate has a non-planar lower surface. The nozzle plate also has a non-planar lower surface. The nozzle plate is coupled to the lower surface of the backup plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: James J. Spence, Mark A. Atwood, Jack Gaynor Elliot, Marc D. Daniels