Patents by Inventor Mark S. Hickman

Mark S. Hickman has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7108344
    Abstract: A printmode for an inkjet printer including a plurality of print nozzles and an edge guide projecting into a printzone into which at least one of the plurality of print nozzles may be transported for deposition of a fluid onto a print media, the printmode including a printmask defining a print disable zone corresponding to a pre-selected area of the printzone that includes an area of the edge guide that projects into the printzone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Devleopment Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Robert M. Yraceburu, Mark S. Hickman, Steve O. Rasmussen
  • Patent number: 7014295
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for producing efficient ink drop overlap filled with a pseudo hexagonal grid pattern. In general, the present invention can include an inkjet printhead assembly that incorporates a preprogrammed correction scheme or schemes [1-n] (herein correction scheme will refer to all applications), for correcting systematic ink drop placement errors of the inkjet printhead. The printing system of the present invention uses a unique ink dot pattern, called a pseudo-hexagonal close pack system. The present invention optimizes the addressable grid for dot placement, pseudo hexagonal close pack system, with an efficient geometry for packing circles to fill an area, similar to the hexagonal close pack system. However, the present invention in creating dots on a non-symmetric grid is supported by available software and is not computationally complex.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2006
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mark S. Hickman, Wayne M. Richard, Jorge Castano, John A. Underwood, Xavier Bruch
  • Publication number: 20040095421
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for producing efficient ink drop overlap filled with a pseudo hexagonal grid pattern. In general, the present invention can include an inkjet printhead assembly that incorporates a preprogrammed correction scheme or schemes [1-n] (herein correction scheme will refer to all applications), for correcting systematic ink drop placement errors of the inkjet printhead. The printing system of the present invention uses a unique ink dot pattern, called a pseudo-hexagonal close pack system. The present invention optimizes the addressable grid for dot placement, pseudo hexagonal close pack system, with an efficient geometry for packing circles to fill an area, similar to the hexagonal close pack system. However, the present invention in creating dots on a non-symmetric grid is supported by available software and is not computationally complex.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2003
    Publication date: May 20, 2004
    Inventors: Mark S. Hickman, Wayne M. Richard, Jorge Castano, John A. Underwood, Xavier Brunch
  • Publication number: 20040061730
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for using lower data rates and less memory, for high nozzles per inch printheads. The printing system of the present invention includes a printhead assembly and an ink supply for printing ink on print media. The printhead assembly includes a printhead body, ink channels, a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, a nozzle member and a barrier layer located between the wafer and nozzle member. The nozzle member has plural nozzles coupled to respective ink channels and is secured at a predefined location to the printhead body with a suitable adhesive layer. The printhead has a controller which can be firmware, software or any suitable processor that can control the ejection of ink from the plural nozzles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2003
    Publication date: April 1, 2004
    Inventors: Ronald A. Askeland, Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6659589
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for producing efficient ink drop overlap filled with a pseudo hexagonal grid pattern. In general, the present invention can include an inkjet printhead assembly that incorporates a preprogrammed correction scheme or schemes [1-n] (herein correction scheme will refer to all applications), for correcting systematic ink drop placement errors of the inkjet printhead. The printing system of the present invention uses a unique ink dot pattern, called a pseudo-hexagonal close pack system. The present invention optimizes the addressable grid for dot placement, pseudo hexagonal close pack system, with an efficient geometry for packing circles to fill an area, similar to the hexagonal close pack system. However, the present invention in creating dots on a non-symmetric grid is supported by available software and is not computationally complex.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mark S. Hickman, Wayne M. Richard, Jorge Castano, John A. Underwood, Xavier Bruch
  • Patent number: 6655770
    Abstract: An ink jet printer (101) print head having multiple, redundant ink energizing elements arranged into clusters or groups (812), each of which attempts to expel ink onto media in a predetermined sequence. The effects of an ink energizing element failure are mitigated by using redundant elements, each of which fires in response to the same data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daryl E. Anderson, Mark S. Hickman, Michael J. Barbour, George H. Corrigan
  • Patent number: 6648440
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for using lower data rates and less memory, for high nozzles per inch printheads. The printing system of the present invention includes a printhead assembly and an ink supply for printing ink on print media. The printhead assembly includes a printhead body, ink channels, a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, a nozzle member and a barrier layer located between the wafer and nozzle member. The nozzle member has plural nozzles coupled to respective ink channels and is secured at a predefined location to the printhead body with a suitable adhesive layer. The printhead has a controller which can be firmware, software or any suitable processor that can control the ejection of ink from the plural nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Ronald A. Askeland, Mark S. Hickman
  • Publication number: 20030016268
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for producing efficient ink drop overlap filled with a pseudo hexagonal grid pattern. In general, the present invention can include an inkjet printhead assembly that incorporates a preprogrammed correction scheme or schemes [1-n] (herein correction scheme will refer to all applications), for correcting systematic ink drop placement errors of the inkjet printhead. The printing system of the present invention uses a unique ink dot pattern, called a pseudo-hexagonal close pack system. The present invention optimizes the addressable grid for dot placement, pseudo hexagonal close pack system, with an efficient geometry for packing circles to fill an area, similar to the hexagonal close pack system. However, the present invention in creating dots on a non-symmetric grid is supported by available software and is not computationally complex.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2001
    Publication date: January 23, 2003
    Inventors: Mark S. Hickman, Wayne M. Richard, Jorge Castano, John A. Underwood, Xavier Bruch
  • Publication number: 20030001915
    Abstract: The present invention is embodied in a system and method for using lower data rates and less memory, for high nozzles per inch printheads. The printing system of the present invention includes a printhead assembly and an ink supply for printing ink on print media. The printhead assembly includes a printhead body, ink channels, a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, a nozzle member and a barrier layer located between the wafer and nozzle member. The nozzle member has plural nozzles coupled to respective ink channels and is secured at a predefined location to the printhead body with a suitable adhesive layer. The printhead has a controller which can be firmware, software or any suitable processor that can control the ejection of ink from the plural nozzles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2001
    Publication date: January 2, 2003
    Inventors: Ronald A. Askeland, Mark S. Hickman
  • Publication number: 20020163549
    Abstract: An ink jet printer (101) print head having multiple, redundant ink energizing elements arranged into clusters or groups (812), each of which attempts to expel ink onto media in a predetermined sequence. The effects of an ink energizing element failure are mitigated by using redundant elements, each of which fires in response to the same data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2001
    Publication date: November 7, 2002
    Inventors: Daryl E. Anderson, Mark S. Hickman, Michael J. Barbour, George H. Corrigan
  • Patent number: 6457806
    Abstract: Micro-stepping a print media transport in an ink-jet hard copy apparatus such that the steps are smaller than the nozzle spacing of the drop generators on a printhead when using multiple printheads per colorant provides a resulting higher resolution pixel placement grid and allows choosing which nozzle to fire on which printing pass in order to optimize drop-to-drop alignment between the like colorant printheads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2002
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6336701
    Abstract: Micro-stepping a print media transport in an ink-jet hard copy apparatus such that the steps are smaller than the nozzle spacing of the drop generators on a printhead when using multiple printheads per colorant provides a resulting higher resolution pixel placement grid and allows choosing which nozzle to fire on which printing pass in order to optimize drop-to-drop alignment between the like colorant printheads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2002
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Mark S. Hickman
  • Publication number: 20020001013
    Abstract: A color ink jet printer including a print carriage movable along a carriage scan axis and a plurality of color producing ink jet printheads supported by the print carriage and offset relative to each other so that their nozzle arrays are non-overlapping along the media scan axis, such that the nozzle arrays of the ink jet printheads traverse non-overlapping regions as the carriage is scanned along the carriage scan axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 1998
    Publication date: January 3, 2002
    Applicant: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: BRENT W. RICHTSMEIER, ALPHA DOAN, MARK S. HICKMAN
  • Publication number: 20010050699
    Abstract: Micro-stepping a print media transport in an ink-jet hard copy apparatus such that the steps are smaller than the nozzle spacing of the drop generators on a printhead when using multiple printheads per colorant provides a resulting higher resolution pixel placement grid and allows choosing which nozzle to fire on which printing pass in order to optimize drop-to-drop alignment between the like colorant printheads.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2001
    Publication date: December 13, 2001
    Inventor: Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6309062
    Abstract: In accordance with the invention, an ink-jet printing system and fluid supply configuration are disclosed that utilize the advantages of reactive fluids while allowing for maximum flexibility in the design and architecture of the ink-jet printing system. The ink-jet-printing apparatus includes a printhead portion having at least one integral printhead portion, the printhead portion having at least two ejector portions; and at least one reservoir portion associated with the printhead portion, the reservoir portion having at least two reservoir chambers, each reservoir chamber for providing fluid to one of the at least two ejector portions, one of the chambers including a reactant fluid and the other chamber including at least one ink non-reactive with the reactant fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2001
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Mark S. Hickman, Ronald A. Askeland
  • Patent number: 6299287
    Abstract: Non-black ink jet printheads are arranged in a printer carriage such that the printhead nozzle arrays are non-overlapping in the carriage swath direction. A fixer printhead is positioned such that the print medium is first advanced past the fixer printhead prior to reaching any of the other printheads. The printheads are selectively driven during each direction of a bi-directional carriage movement, and the print medium is incrementally advanced before each change in carriage movement direction. The order of laying down droplets of different colors is the same during the movement in each direction, thereby eliminating bi-directional hue shifting print artifacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Kenneth R Williams, Mark S Hickman, Steve O Rasmussen
  • Patent number: 6257693
    Abstract: A method of automatically optimizing the controllable parameters related to producing printed material on a hardcopy output device is provided, along with a hardcopy output device configured for implementing this method. Users require different types of printed objects to have different characteristics. Specifically, business graphics need to be sharp and vivid, photographic images should look realistic, and text must be black, crisp and clear. By extracting, analyzing and conditioning data generated during a printing stream, the various regions of text, graphics and photographic images on a sheet are distinguished, characterized, and printed. The resulting hardcopy output has a custom balancing of color which is pleasing to the human eye for each type of image printed, and which has print characteristics tailored for the specific elements on the page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2001
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Steven O. Miller, William J. Allen, David M. Wetchler, Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6244688
    Abstract: A multi-swath, ink-jet pen carriage and pen arrangement provides optimization for redundant colorant pens. Packing of electrical and fluidic interconnects enables an increased printing throughput with increased color combinations in an apparatus that minimizes product size for a given number of pens in the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2001
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6154240
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining media size and width and position by detection on a vacuum platen. Detection is provided by using electrical signals from vacuum ports arranged in an X-Y array in the platen. The electrical signals are capable of interfacing with digital circuitry. The X-Y array of vacuum ports with associated detectors permit the determination of media size, shape, and position with reference to the platen, allowing printing to be contained within the media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Mark S. Hickman
  • Patent number: 6154232
    Abstract: Inkjet pens are combined in a printer so that the swaths printed by individual pens are combined into a resultant, wide swath that increases printer throughput. The print medium is carried on a drum and advanced through the printer. In a preferred embodiment, sets of two pens, each set having the same color of ink, are carried near the drum with the two pens arranged such that the swath of one pen is adjacent to the swath of the other pen in a direction that is parallel to the drum axis. Also provided is a carriage assembly for carrying the pens in the just mentioned arrangement for combining the swath widths of the individual pens. The components of the carriage assembly are such that two pens of the same color ink are precisely positioned relative to each other, thereby to meet a very close tolerance requirement for arranging two pens of the same color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Mark S Hickman, Steve O Rasmussen, Kenneth R Williams