Patents by Inventor Ziling Zhang

Ziling Zhang 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).

  • Publication number: 20260200229
    Abstract: System, method, and software for determining flushing quality in an image forming apparatus. In an embodiment, a flushing quality manager is configured to perform at least one flushing quality check regarding a flushing operation of nozzles in at least one printhead. The at least one flushing quality check comprises identifying nozzle defects in the nozzles, computing a rate of nozzle defect formation based on the nozzle defects, and initiating a corrective action directed to modifying the flushing operation when the rate of nozzle defect formation exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2025
    Publication date: July 16, 2026
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Walter F. Kailey, Ziling Zhang, Scott R. Johnson
  • Publication number: 20260200230
    Abstract: System, method, and software for determining flushing quality in an image forming apparatus. In an embodiment, a flushing quality manager is configured to perform at least one flushing quality check regarding a flushing operation of nozzles in at least one printhead according to a flushing setting of variable flushing settings. The at least one flushing quality check comprises monitoring nozzle defects in the nozzles in jetting of a print liquid, and automatically adjusting the flushing setting when a degree of the nozzle defects exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2025
    Publication date: July 16, 2026
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Walter F. Kailey, Ziling Zhang, Scott R. Johnson
  • Patent number: 12459264
    Abstract: Systems and methods of recommending replacement of printheads. In an embodiment, a system trains a first neural network to generate anomaly scores for printheads using an unsupervised learning algorithm based on first training samples of conforming printhead data from a pool of conforming printheads. The system generates a training dataset for a recurrent second neural network by identifying training printhead data for a pool of training printheads, inputting second training samples of the training printhead data into the first neural network to generate training anomaly scores for the training printheads over a plurality of time units, and formatting third training samples for the training printheads. The system trains the recurrent second neural network to generate scaled anomaly scores for printheads using a supervised learning algorithm based on the second training dataset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2025
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Farnaz HajiahmadiFoomani, Ziling Zhang, Scott R. Johnson, William Edward Manchester
  • Publication number: 20250291526
    Abstract: A system is disclosed. The system includes at least one physical memory device to store inspection logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the inspection logic to receive one or more page images of a processed print job, analyze the page images to identify print objects and determine corresponding inspection regions in the corresponding page images at which the print objects are located and generate an inspection template including the inspection regions, wherein the inspection regions comprise regions to be inspected during document inspection of the printed print job.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2024
    Publication date: September 18, 2025
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Danish Ahmed, Scott R. Johnson, Farnaz HajiahmadiFoomani, Ziling Zhang
  • Publication number: 20250284912
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive print response measurement data corresponding to print image printed on a print substrate with a transfer function applied to print image data that defines the print image, generate first processed print response data based on the print response measurement data, determine whether an absolute difference between the first processed print response data and a target response exceeds a first threshold and generate an updated compensation transfer function based on the first processed print response data and the target response upon a determination that the absolute difference exceeds a first threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2024
    Publication date: September 11, 2025
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Scott R. Johnson, Pallavi Premkumar, Ziling Zhang, Mikel Stanich
  • Publication number: 20250259300
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for. One embodiment is a system that includes an interface configured to receive an image of media printed on with print data, and memory configured to store defect reference data of nozzles belonging to printheads of a printer. The system also includes a print defect controller configured to detect a nozzle defect in the image based on a comparison of the image with the print data, and to determine a type of the nozzle defect based on a comparison of the nozzle defect with the defect reference data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2025
    Publication date: August 14, 2025
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nikita Gurudath, Scott R. Johnson, Nathan Young, Ziling Zhang
  • Patent number: 12315139
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for. One embodiment is a system that includes an interface configured to receive an image of media printed on with print data, and memory configured to store defect reference data of nozzles belonging to printheads of a printer. The system also includes a print defect controller configured to detect a nozzle defect in the image based on a comparison of the image with the print data, and to determine a type of the nozzle defect based on a comparison of the nozzle defect with the defect reference data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2025
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nikita Gurudath, Scott R. Johnson, Nathan Young, Ziling Zhang
  • Patent number: 12240254
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of pel forming elements in adjacent printheads and a plurality of tint levels, wherein the plurality of pel forming elements comprise gap adjacent pel forming elements that print with applied compensation transfer functions and non-gap adjacent pel forming elements, associate measurement data values with the gap adjacent pel forming elements, the applied compensation transfer functions and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensation transfer functions that have corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Patent number: 12240252
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, a plurality of functioning pel forming elements and a plurality of tint levels; wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of functioning pel forming elements print with compensated halftone designs applied to pels adjacent to the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, associate measurement data with the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, corresponding compensated halftone designs and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensated halftone designs that have corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Patent number: 12090767
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store defective print element determination logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the defective print element determination logic to receive a print image comprising evaluation marks and locator marks applied to a print medium by a plurality of pel forming elements according to print instructions and identify pel forming elements associated with print defect pels in the print image among the plurality of pel forming elements based on the evaluation marks, the locator marks and the print instructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Jiwon Gim, Scott R. Johnson, Ziling Zhang, Mikel Stanich
  • Publication number: 20240294012
    Abstract: Systems and methods of recommending replacement of printheads. In an embodiment, a system trains a first neural network to generate anomaly scores for printheads using an unsupervised learning algorithm based on first training samples of conforming printhead data from a pool of conforming printheads. The system generates a training dataset for a recurrent second neural network by identifying training printhead data for a pool of training printheads, inputting second training samples of the training printhead data into the first neural network to generate training anomaly scores for the training printheads over a plurality of time units, and formatting third training samples for the training printheads. The system trains the recurrent second neural network to generate scaled anomaly scores for printheads using a supervised learning algorithm based on the second training dataset.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2023
    Publication date: September 5, 2024
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Farnaz HajiahmadiFoomani, Ziling Zhang, Scott R. Johnson, William Edward Manchester
  • Publication number: 20240294022
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of pel forming elements in adjacent printheads and a plurality of tint levels, wherein the plurality of pel forming elements comprise gap adjacent pel forming elements that print with applied compensation transfer functions and non-gap adjacent pel forming elements, associate measurement data values with the gap adjacent pel forming elements, the applied compensation transfer functions and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensation transfer functions that have corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2023
    Publication date: September 5, 2024
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Publication number: 20240296310
    Abstract: Systems and methods of recommending replacement of printheads. In an embodiment, a system identifies deployed printhead data for a plurality of deployed printheads, operates a first neural network trained to generate deployment anomaly scores for the deployed printheads, operates a recurrent second neural network trained to scale the deployment anomaly scores generated by the first neural network to produce scaled anomaly scores for the deployed printheads, and provides a replacement recommendation for one or more of the deployed printheads based on the scaled anomaly scores for the deployed printheads.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2023
    Publication date: September 5, 2024
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Farnaz HajiahmadiFoomani, Ziling Zhang, Scott R. Johnson, William Edward Manchester
  • Publication number: 20240278585
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, a plurality of functioning pel forming elements and a plurality of tint levels; wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of functioning pel forming elements print with compensated halftone designs applied to pels adjacent to the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, associate measurement data with the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, corresponding compensated halftone designs and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensated halftone designs that have corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2023
    Publication date: August 22, 2024
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Publication number: 20240109334
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store defective print element determination logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the defective print element determination logic to receive a print image comprising evaluation marks and locator marks applied to a print medium by a plurality of pel forming elements according to print instructions and identify pel forming elements associated with print defect pels in the print image among the plurality of pel forming elements based on the evaluation marks, the locator marks and the print instructions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2022
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Jiwon Gim, Scott R. Johnson, Ziling Zhang, Mikel Stanich
  • Patent number: 11900187
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of pel forming elements in adjacent printheads and a plurality of tint levels, wherein the plurality of pel forming elements comprise gap adjacent pel forming elements that print with applied compensation halftone design and non-gap adjacent pel forming elements, associate measurement data values with the gap adjacent pel forming elements, the applied compensation halftone design and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensation halftone design that has corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Patent number: 11900189
    Abstract: A printing system is disclosed. The printing system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to receive measurement data corresponding to a print medium printed with a plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, a plurality of functioning pel forming elements and a plurality of tint levels; wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of functioning pel forming elements print with compensation transfer functions applied and are located adjacent to the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, associate measurement data with the plurality of non-functioning pel forming elements, the compensation transfer functions and the plurality of tint levels and determine optimal compensation by selecting the compensation transfer functions that have corresponding measurement data values closest to compensation target values for each of the plurality of tint levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ziling Zhang, Farnaz Hajiahmadi Foomani, Mikel Stanich
  • Patent number: 11831844
    Abstract: A system is disclosed. The system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to generate transfer functions for each of a plurality of color planes to compensate for overlapping pel forming elements of adjacent printheads, wherein the transfer functions are generated based on ink deposition functions for groups of pel forming elements including non-overlapping pel forming elements and the overlapping pel forming elements, wherein the transfer functions transform input digital counts, and wherein the ink deposition functions represent output ink amount versus input digital count.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mikel Stanich, Walter F. Kailey, Nikita Gurudath, Ziling Zhang, Brandon Skogen
  • Patent number: 11818318
    Abstract: A system is disclosed. The system includes at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the compensation logic to generate transfer functions for each of a plurality of color planes to compensate for non-functioning pel forming elements, wherein the transfer functions are generated based on ink deposition functions for groups of pel forming elements including functioning pel forming elements and the non-functioning pel forming elements, wherein the transfer functions transform input digital counts and the ink deposition functions represent output ink amount versus input digital count.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mikel Stanich, Walter F. Kailey, Nikita Gurudath, Ziling Zhang, Brandon Skogen
  • Publication number: 20230351583
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for. One embodiment is a system that includes an interface configured to receive an image of media printed on with print data, and memory configured to store defect reference data of nozzles belonging to printheads of a printer. The system also includes a print defect controller configured to detect a nozzle defect in the image based on a comparison of the image with the print data, and to determine a type of the nozzle defect based on a comparison of the nozzle defect with the defect reference data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 4, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nikita Gurudath, Scott R. Johnson, Nathan Young, Ziling Zhang