Array Patents (Class 347/12)
  • Patent number: 10857786
    Abstract: A fluid ejection device may include a substrate, a first group of fluid drivers on the substrate, a second group of fluid drivers on the substrate, a memory element storing a predetermined offset value and electronics to receive an address of one of the fluid drivers of the first group for actuation control. The electronics may select one of the fluid drivers of the second group for actuation control based on the address and the stored offset value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Vincent C Korthuis, Eric T Martin
  • Patent number: 10850503
    Abstract: Disclosed is a print head driving apparatus including: a print head unit having a plurality of heater resistors arranged therein, the plurality of heater resistors being divided into sub groups; a counter configured to sequentially generate code signals corresponding to the sub groups, using a driving clock signal; a driving signal generation unit configured to generate a driving signal for the heater resistors included in each of the sub groups, using the code signal; and a head control unit configured to extract heater resistors to which the driving signal is inputted, among heater resistors corresponding to input image data, and drive the extracted heater resistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: WOOSIM SYSTEM INC.
    Inventors: Il Bok Lee, Kwang Il Koo, Jae Kwang Lee
  • Patent number: 10821724
    Abstract: The present application is in at least one aspect directed to solving a problem of providing an inkjet recording device and an inkjet head driving method, in which instantaneous power consumption of a plurality of drive waveform generation circuits can be reduced while not requiring correction of an ink landing position without a complex structure. The problem is solved by dividing a plurality of pressure generating elements into first to n-th sets (n is an integer of 2 or more), and applying drive pulses to the pressure generating elements in the respective sets per every pixel period. The drive pulse combines any one of n time sharing drive waveforms (time sharing drive 1, 2, 3) with a common drive waveform (COM) as a rendering waveform, and the n time sharing drive waves are obtained by delaying a part of the rendering waveform by a time different from each other and have application timing deviated from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yasuhiko Suetomi, Takakazu Kuki, Keiji Handa, Yuusuke Kimura
  • Patent number: 10807380
    Abstract: An image processing device causing a printing execution unit to: in a first case where a specific condition indicating that ink supply from an ink supply unit to a printing head may be delayed in partial printing is not satisfied, print a partial image by single partial printing; in a second case where the specific condition is satisfied, print the partial image by partial printings including a first partial printing and a second partial printing; in the first case, form a dot having a specific size by the single partial printing, as a dot corresponding to a specific pixel in the partial image; and in the second case, form a dot having a size smaller than the specific size by the first partial printing and form a dot having a size smaller than the specific size by the second partial printing, as the dot corresponding to the specific pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoru Arakane, Masashi Kuno, Shota Morikawa, Shin Hasegawa, Yoshiharu Furuhata
  • Patent number: 10807360
    Abstract: Examples include a fluid ejection die. Examples comprise an array of nozzles, where each respective nozzle includes a respective fluid ejector. Examples further include at least one die sensor. Furthermore, the examples include signal control logic to suppress transmission of a first set of signals for the fluid ejection die during sensing of die characteristics with the at least one die sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daryl E Anderson, Eric Martin, James Gardner
  • Patent number: 10786987
    Abstract: In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, a fluid ejection die is described. The die includes a number of actuator sensors disposed on the fluid ejection die to sense a characteristic of a corresponding actuator and to output a first voltage corresponding to the sensed characteristic c. Each actuator sensor is coupled to a respective actuator and multiple coupled actuator sensors and actuators are grouped as primitives on the fluid ejection die. The die also includes an actuator evaluation die per primitive to evaluate an actuator characteristic of any actuator within the primitive Based on the first voltage and a threshold voltage. The die also includes a time-shift chain component to communicate a delayed evaluation signal, which delayed evaluation signal delays an evaluation of the actuator characteristic a predetermined amount of time following an activation event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daryl E Anderson, Eric Martin
  • Patent number: 10780705
    Abstract: A fluid ejection device includes a fluid slot, two laterally adjacent fluid ejection chambers each having a drop ejecting element therein, a fluid circulation path communicated with the fluid slot and each of the two laterally adjacent fluid ejection chambers, and a fluid circulating element within the fluid circulation path, with the fluid circulating element laterally adjacent at least one of the two laterally adjacent fluid ejection chambers, and the two laterally adjacent fluid ejection chambers to substantially simultaneously eject drops of fluid therefrom such that the drops of fluid are to coalesce during flight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Nicholas McGuinness, Alexander Govyadinov, Tsuyoshi Yamashita, Erik D Torniainen, David P Markel
  • Patent number: 10766286
    Abstract: Provided is technology enabling efficient printing based on the type of printing device. A print control device that communicates with a management device, which manages a printing device, includes: an acquisition unit configured to acquire from the management device printing device information indicating whether a printing device the management device manages is a first printing device, which processes first band data of bands that are long in a first direction of a print object, or a second printing device, which processes second band data of bands that are long in a second direction intersecting the first direction of the print object; a band data generator configured to determine the length direction of band data based on the acquired printing device information, and generate band data in the determined length direction from the print object; and a transmitter configured to send the band data to the management device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yuji Kohama
  • Patent number: 10766252
    Abstract: A heater includes: a planar heat generator; a power supply circuit that controls supply of power to the planar heat generator; a plurality of temperature sensors that is provided on the planar heat generator and measures a temperature; and a hardware processor that detects abnormality of the temperature sensor in a case where a difference in temperature measured by each of two of the temperature sensors out of the plurality of temperature sensors exceeds an abnormality threshold value after a predetermined waiting time has elapsed since the supply of power to the planar heat generator is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Ishihara, Yuhei Tatsumoto, Toshikazu Higashi, Makoto Shimazoe
  • Patent number: 10744787
    Abstract: A liquid droplet discharging apparatus includes a plurality of nozzles to discharge a liquid droplet onto a medium and a liquid droplet discharging controller to receive image data. The liquid droplet discharging controller controls each of the nozzles to discharge the liquid droplet in an amount defined by the image data onto a target discharging position on the medium, which corresponds to a pixel position defined by the image data. The liquid droplet discharging controller controls at least one of the nozzles to discharge the liquid droplet for a controlled number of times smaller than a number of times N representing an integer not smaller than 2 in an amount greater than the amount defined by the image data onto the target discharging position on the medium. A frequency recorder records the controlled number of times of discharging for each of the at least one of the nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasunari Harada, Jun Watanabe, Tetsuyoshi Nakata, Hideaki Iijima, Toshiaki Hosokawa, Shunsuke Shitaoka
  • Patent number: 10740056
    Abstract: A printing apparatus conveys a printing medium in a first direction, and includes an encoder that outputs a predetermined signal in accordance with a conveyance amount of the printing medium in the first direction, and a print head having a plurality of nozzle rows, each of which includes a plurality of nozzles ejecting ink, arrayed in a second direction intersecting with the first direction. In addition, a print engine is connected with the print head and performs conversion processing from image data into print data. The print engine has a first buffer storing the image data, has a second buffer storing the print data, and converts image data stored in the first buffer into print data in response to a first interrupt signal based on the predetermined signal output from the encoder, and stores the print data in the second buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yukinori Nishikawa
  • Patent number: 10730295
    Abstract: A bifurcation path and a flow path which communicates with the head main body through the bifurcation path are provided. The bifurcation path includes an upstream-side path and a downstream-side path. In a plan view of a flow-path forming surface including the bifurcation path and the flow path, the flow path is disposed in a state where an angle between a flowing direction in the flow path and a flowing direction in the downstream-side path is an acute angle. In addition, an angle between a first wall surface of the flow path, which is the wall surface located downstream from the upstream-side path, and a second wall surface of the upstream-side path, which is the wall surface connected to the first wall surface, is equal to or less than 90°. Furthermore, the second wall surface of the upstream-side path has an R shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Isamu Togashi
  • Patent number: 10723124
    Abstract: When an overlap image is recorded that includes a first dot group in which first dots are successively formed by a first nozzle group at a predetermined interval in a first direction, a second dot group in which second dots are successively formed by a second nozzle group at the predetermined interval in the first direction, and a third dot group including the first dots and the second dots, which are arrayed at an interval longer than the predetermined interval, the first dot group and the second dot group are arranged at mutually exclusive positions, and the third dot group is arranged at at least one of positions adjacent, in a second direction that intersects with the first direction, to the first dot group and the second dot group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomonaga Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 10688784
    Abstract: A head unit control circuit controls a head unit. The head unit includes: an ejector, a determination circuit, and an ejection limit circuit. The injector includes a displaceable piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is displaced by changing a drive signal potential. The determination circuit determines whether the piezoelectric element has a predetermined electrical storage capability. The ejection limit circuit stops the drive signal to limit the ejection of the liquid based on the determination. The head unit control circuit supplies an instruction signal, a first designation signal, and a second designation signal to the head unit. The instruction signal instructs the head unit to execute the determination. The determination circuit executes the determination during a period in which the first designation signal is set to a high level, the second designation signal is set to a low level, and the instruction signal is supplied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Ryota Furukawa
  • Patent number: 10675896
    Abstract: There is provided an image recording apparatus, including: a conveyer; a carriage; a recording head having at least three nozzle rows; and a controller. When a moving direction of the carriage in one of two continuous recording passes is different from that in the other of the two continuous recording passes, the image recording apparatus conveys a recording medium in the conveyance direction so that two recording areas partially overlap with each other. When a line image, which belongs to an overlap area, is recorded, the image recording apparatus executes recording so that the two continuos recording passes complement each other, and forms at least part of dots in the line image in accordance with a landing order different from a landing order used when the image is recorded in a non-overlap area included in the recording areas and different from the overlap area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoru Arakane
  • Patent number: 10661564
    Abstract: Printheads and printers are described herein. In one example, a printhead includes a plurality of nozzles configured to eject ink drops of different sizes wherein a low drop weight (LDW) drop is ejected through a nozzle with a circular bore (CB), and a high drop weight (HDW) drop is ejected through a nozzle with a non-circular bore (NCB).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Lawrence H White, Arun K Agarwal, Ron Burns
  • Patent number: 10647109
    Abstract: A printing apparatus including a code information detecting unit configured to detect code information in image data, and a printing controller configured to control bidirectional printing to repeat a first scan including ink ejection in accordance with movement of a printing head to a first side in a main scanning direction, a second scan including ink ejection in accordance with movement of the printing head to a second side in the main scanning direction, and medium transport performed between the first scan and the second scan. The printing controller is configured to perform printing by any one of the first scan or the second scan in an area of the code information detected by the code information detecting unit, during the bidirectional printing based on the image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasutoshi Takeuchi, Masaya Usui, Naoki Sudo
  • Patent number: 10647136
    Abstract: A print bar for a for a multi-pass printer, the print bar comprising a static part configured to extend across a print area of a print target and a moveable part comprising a print bar beam and printer comprising such a print bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Hewett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Joan Sanjuan, Fernando Juan, Eduardo Ruiz Martinez
  • Patent number: 10639841
    Abstract: A three-dimensional object printer is configured to enable the density of material ejected by at least one printhead onto a rotating platen near its circumferential edge to be approximately the same as the density of the material ejected onto the rotating platen near the center of the platen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Patricia J. Donaldson, Jeffrey J. Folkins
  • Patent number: 10596822
    Abstract: A printing apparatus performing printing by an inkjet scheme includes: an inkjet head; and a controller, configured to control the operation of a main scan driver and a sub scan driver to perform a main scanning operation multiple times on each position on a medium. In the main scanning operation, for at least part of ejection positions serving as ejection targets of ink droplets in the main scanning operation, the controller causes the inkjet head to eject an ink droplet in accordance with a mask for selecting part of the at least part of ejection positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eiichi Ohara, Akira Takatsu
  • Patent number: 10594896
    Abstract: There are provided a printing system, a method of generating a halftone processing rule, a method of acquiring a characteristic parameter, image processing device and method, a halftone processing rule, a halftone image, a method of manufacturing a printed material, an ink jet printing system, and a program which are capable of reducing an operation load of a user and acquiring a halftone processing rule appropriate for the printing system. A characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100) including a pattern for acquiring characteristic parameters related to characteristics of the printing system is output, and the output characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100) is read by image reading means. The characteristic parameters are acquired by analyzing the read image of the characteristic parameter acquisition chart (100), and halftone processing rules that define the processing contents of halftone processes used in the printing system are generated based on the acquired characteristic parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kimito Katsuyama
  • Patent number: 10567617
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes (A) a dither processing unit to perform dither processing on first image data to generate second image data, the second image data including a target pixel and an adjacent pixel, each of the pixels having a density value, the density value of the target pixel being greater than that of the adjacent pixel, and the density value of the adjacent pixel being not greater than a predetermined density, (B) a diffusing unit (a) to determine an error value resulting at the target pixel, (b) to diffuse the error value to pixels subsequent to the target pixel, and not to diffuse an error value resulting at the adjacent pixel to pixels subsequent to the adjacent pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shoji Takeda
  • Patent number: 10563078
    Abstract: An ink set includes a reaction liquid containing coagulant; a first ink containing a color material; and a second ink containing a color material. The ink set is used for recording on a non-absorptive recording medium or a low-absorptive recording medium and for imparting the reaction liquid, the first ink, and the second ink to the recording medium in a superimposed manner in this order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Ippei Okuda, Tetsuya Aoyama
  • Patent number: 10556419
    Abstract: A method for operating a three-dimensional object printer compensates for inoperative ejectors. The method identifies image data values associated with an inoperative ejector that stored in a memory with other image data values for a three-dimensional object to be printed by the three-dimensional object printer. The method replaces the image data values associated with the inoperative ejector with image data values associated with an operative ejector that correspond to a material that is different than a material ejected by the inoperative ejector and operates a plurality of ejectors with reference to the other image data values and the replaced image data values to enable the operative ejector to eject drops of the material that is different than the material ejected by the inoperative ejector into the three-dimensional object at positions where the inoperative ejector would have ejected material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: David A. Mantell, Stuart A. Schweid
  • Patent number: 10549306
    Abstract: An apparatus for depositing and/or jetting viscous medium on a surface of a workpiece includes at least two depositing head assemblies. The at least two depositing head assemblies are configured to move in three dimensional space. The at least two depositing head assemblies are also configured to at least one of concurrently and simultaneously deposit the viscous medium on the workpiece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: MYCRONIC AB
    Inventors: Gustaf Martensson, Andreas Bergstrom, Thomas Kurian, Anders Emthen
  • Patent number: 10532592
    Abstract: A head position adjustment mechanism including: a head fixing section for fixedly supporting a head section; a linear-motion mechanism to which the head fixing section has been attached; and a bracket to which the linear-motion mechanism has been attached, the bracket has a tapered pin attached to the bracket and a plunger attached to the bracket, the tapered pin and the plunger facing each other, the tapered pin has its tapered part brought into contact with a first side end of the head fixing section in the X-axis direction, the plunger biases a second side end of the head fixing section in the X-axis direction toward the tapered pin, and moving up and down the tapered pin causes the head fixing section to linearly move in the X-axis direction so that the position of the head fixing section is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: MIYAKOSHI PRINTING MACHINERY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideo Izawa, Kouichi Ooyama, Ayumu Sasaki
  • Patent number: 10532565
    Abstract: In a print element substrate: if an amount of a voltage drop when the number of print elements driven simultaneously in a state in which the predetermined voltage is applied with respect to one print element array is largest is set as an amount of a voltage drop of the print element array, and a sum of amounts of voltage drops of the print element arrays assigned to one group is set as an amount of a voltage drop of the group, a difference between a largest value and a smallest value of the amounts of the voltage drops of the M groups is smaller than a largest value of the amounts of the voltage drops of the N print element arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yohei Osuki, Masataka Sakurai, Ryo Kasai, Kengo Umeda, Hidenori Yamato
  • Patent number: 10525729
    Abstract: A printing device comprises a droplet generator for generating a droplet of printing fluid, a droplet detector for detecting a generated droplet of printing fluid, and a controller. The droplet detector is moveable along an axis. The controller is to cause the droplet detector to be positioned at a known location along the axis, cause the droplet generator to generate a droplet, receive a measurement signal from the droplet detector, and determine a location of the droplet generator based on the received measurement signal and the known location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: David Peinado, Jordi Bas
  • Patent number: 10474936
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed to improving the precision of color reproducibility in a whole image region of any product provided with a base layer(s) regardless of any form of the base layer(s). The RIP (Raster Image Processor) device includes a color conversion processor that applies a color conversion process adapted for presence or absence of a base layer and for a base color to content data representing part or all of details of an image layer at a respective one of positions in an image region indicated by the image layer, and an image layer data generator that generates image layer data representing ejection-related information of ink droplets of a plurality of colors using the content data that has been subjected to the color conversion process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kenji Harayama
  • Patent number: 10464353
    Abstract: A printing apparatus including a plurality of printing units along one guide can read test patterns printed with a plurality of types of conveying amount of a recording medium and determine a conveying amount based on the reading result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Nakamura, Akitoshi Yamada, Kentaro Yano
  • Patent number: 10464318
    Abstract: A printing device includes a discharge control unit configured to, with a first movement of a printing head, among a one end side nozzle group using nozzles of one end side of a nozzle row, an other end side nozzle group using nozzles of an other end side of the nozzle row, and a center nozzle group using nozzles of the nozzle row that do not correspond to the one end side nozzle group and the other end side nozzle group, discharge ink on a designated area on a print medium from the nozzles included in the center nozzle group and the other end side nozzle group, and with a second movement which is the movement of the printing head the next time after the first movement, discharge the ink on the designated area from the nozzles included in the center nozzle group and the one end side nozzle group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10449780
    Abstract: A printer includes a liquid discharge head and a processor. The liquid discharge head includes a plurality of nozzles. The plurality of nozzles include a line of first nozzles to discharge first liquid and a line of second nozzles to discharge second liquid. The processor is configured to change a print speed in a print mode in which a preceding image is formed with at least the first liquid and a subsequent image to be superimposed on the preceding image is formed with the second liquid, in accordance with an amount of liquid applied to a recording medium to form the preceding image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Tashiro, Masahiro Kido
  • Patent number: 10434765
    Abstract: A specifying section specifies in printing data a first dot position at which a defective nozzle discharges an ink droplet to print the ink droplet on a medium when the defective nozzle is not defective, but is normal, and specifies in printing data a second dot position different from the first dot position based on priority information in which priority is set for each pixel. A data correcting section corrects the printing data. The collecting corresponds to allocating an amount of ink of the first dot position to the second dot position. When the first dot position at which the ink droplet is provided to the medium if the defective nozzle is not defective is specified, a neighboring second dot position different from the first dot position is specified based on the preset priority information, and the data correcting section corrects the printing data so as to allocate the amount of ink to the second dot position based on the mount of ink of the first dot position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Masahiro Fukazawa
  • Patent number: 10427354
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention may be related to a system and method of printing a three-dimensional (3D) object and a support construction for the 3D object. The system may include a printing unit and a supply system for supplying a body material and a support material to the printing unit. The system may further include a controller be configured to: generate 3D cross sectional digital data comprising a set of horizontal slices, to manipulate the 3D digital data to create a set of shifted slices by performing vertical shifts between body regions and support regions of a same horizontal slice to create printing digital data and to control the printing unit to deposit, in layers, the body material and the support material based on the printing digital data, wherein in a single scan, droplets of the support material and droplets of the body material travel different distances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: STRATASYS LTD.
    Inventors: Daniel Dikovsky, Eduardo Napadensky, Shai Hirsch, Evgeni Levin, Yoav Bressler
  • Patent number: 10427403
    Abstract: Regarding an image forming apparatus for printing an input image and including a print head having a head sensor configured to sense information from the input image printed on a print medium, there is a method of determining a head sensor position parameter in the image forming apparatus. The method includes printing a first swath of the input image on the print medium and determining the head sensor position parameter by performing a sub-method. The sub-method includes capturing, via the head sensor, a target image from the printed first swath, comparing the target image to a reference image for the first swath based upon the input image, and determining the head sensor position parameter based on a relative shift between the target image and the reference image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Jumpei Ashida, Hisashi Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 10425557
    Abstract: A frequency adaptive descreening method includes obtaining a scan image of an original document, dividing a region of the scan image by analyzing frequency characteristics of the obtained scan image, estimating a resolution with respect to each of regions resulting from dividing the region according to the analyzed frequency characteristics, and adaptively performing filtering on the regions resulting from dividing the region by using the estimated resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyun-seung Lee, Ji-young Yi
  • Patent number: 10419635
    Abstract: A controller for a printing device includes print mode controller to determine whether a first or second print mode is to be used for a print job, and temperature controller to control a printhead temperature at least one of prior to and during printing the print job, the temperature controller to activate a printhead heater to cause the printhead temperature to be raised to a first temperature if the print mode controller determines that the first print mode is to be used, and the temperature controller to activate the printhead heater to cause the printhead temperature to be raised to a second temperature if the print mode controller determines that the second print mode is to be used, the second temperature different from the first temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Li Qian, Andrei Dafinoiu, Oscar Martinez Bailac, Chandrasekhar Nadimpalli
  • Patent number: 10397447
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a storage unit in which plural colorimetric values obtained by measuring a target-color image having a glittering characteristic from plural directions are stored for each target color; a color information receiving unit that receives color information for specifying a target color to be printed; a display controller that reads out plural colorimetric values stored corresponding to the target color of the color information from the storage unit and causes the plural colorimetric values to be displayed on a display; a change receiving unit that receives a change of the plural colorimetric values displayed on the display by the display controller; and a converter that converts the plural colorimetric values reflecting the change into color values including a value indicative of an amount of a glittering color material and a value indicative of an amount of a color material other than the glittering color material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masahiko Kubo, Kaoru Yamauchi, Ayako Watanabe, Yosuke Tashiro, Kaori Iwaki
  • Patent number: 10384443
    Abstract: A flat bed printer includes a flat bed, a print head assembly, a drive system arranged to move the print head assembly over the bed, a controller arranged to control operations of the print head assembly and the drive system, and an obstacle detection system arranged to detect obstacles in a region of movement of the print head assembly. The controller has a split-bed mode of operation in which the movements of the print head assembly are confined to only a part of the bed while another part of the bed is left idle, and the controller is arranged to calculate, when an obstacle is detected in the split-bed mode of operation, an expected time to collision after which the print head assembly will collide with the obstacle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: OCÉ HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Daniel-Samuil Voina, Violeta Iacob
  • Patent number: 10377123
    Abstract: An image processing device includes a data receiver to receive three-dimensional object data of an object and a circuitry to create three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional object data when coloring at least part of a surface of the object, to conduct the coloring to the outer layer of the surface and multiple inner layers of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Shinichi Hatanaka
  • Patent number: 10363745
    Abstract: Examples described herein include a printhead assembly that includes a housing having a printing material reservoir and a print nozzle array disposed in a side of the housing. The print nozzle array is coupled to the printing material reservoir through a first channel. The printhead assembly can also include a pressure equalization element disposed in the side of the housing and coupled to the printing material reservoir through a second channel to allow air to enter the printing material reservoir when a pressure in the printing material reservoir changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: HEWLETT -PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Garrett E. Clark, Michael W. Cumbie, Mark H. MacKenzie
  • Patent number: 10336075
    Abstract: A liquid jetting apparatus jetting a liquid onto a recording medium conveyed in a first direction includes head units arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. One head unit includes nozzle chips; one nozzle chip has a nozzle arrangement area wherein nozzles are aligned in a third direction crossing the first and second directions. The nozzle chip is arranged to be shifted relative to another nozzle chip in a direction crossing the first and second directions and different from the third direction. The head unit has a first overlapping portion wherein nozzle arrangement areas of first and second nozzle chips included in the nozzle chips partially overlap with each other in the first direction. The liquid jetting apparatus has a second overlapping portion wherein nozzle arrangement areas of third and fourth nozzle chips included in the head units partially overlap with each other in the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Taisuke Mizuno, Hideki Hayashi, Keita Sugiura
  • Patent number: 10315417
    Abstract: A printhead including an address line for communicating a set of addresses and a number of primitives, each primitive including a plurality of controllable activation devices coupled to the address line, each switch corresponding to at least one address of the set of addresses, each address corresponding to one of a number of primitive functions. A buffer receives a series of data packets, each data packet including address bits representative of one address of the set of addresses. Address logic receives the address bits from the buffer, wherein for each data packet the address logic encodes the address represented by the address bits onto the address line, and wherein the at least one switch corresponding to the address activates the primitive function corresponding to address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Inventors: Chris Bakker, Eric T Martin, Adam L Ghozeil
  • Patent number: 10308044
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording head that includes a plurality of recording devices containing ink, first and second heating devices, and first and second detection devices. The recording devices each generate energy for ejection of the ink, the first and second heating devices respectively heat the ink in a vicinity of recording devices located at first and second positions of the recording devices, and the first and second detection devices respectively detect temperatures in the vicinity of the recording devices located at the first and second positions. The recording apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information relating to a representative temperature of the temperatures detected by the first and second detection devices, and a decision unit configured to decide an upper limit of driving power of each of the first and second heating devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yutaka Kano, Yuhei Oikawa, Toshiyuki Chikuma
  • Patent number: 10308058
    Abstract: According to an aspect of the present invention, a printing apparatus includes a plasma treatment unit configured to acidify at least a surface of a print medium by applying plasma treatment to the surface of the print medium, a first primer applying unit configured to apply primer treatment by applying treatment liquid to the surface of the print medium having undergone the plasma treatment, and a first recording unit configured to perform recording by inkjet recording on the print medium having undergone the primer treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroyoshi Matsumoto, Junji Nakai, Masakazu Yoshida, Toshitaka Osanai
  • Patent number: 10300691
    Abstract: A wide array printhead module includes a plurality of printhead die, each of the printhead die includes a number of nozzles. The nozzles form a number of primitives. A nozzle firing heater is coupled to each of the nozzles. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) controls a number of activation pluses that activate the nozzle firing heaters for each of the nozzles associated with the primitives. The activation pulses are delayed between each of the primitives via internal delays and external delays to reduce peak power demands of the printhead die. The ASIC determines the internal delays within each printhead die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Peter James Fricke, Michael W. Cumbie, Scott A. Linn
  • Patent number: 10300694
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a time-division driving unit configured to divide a plurality of printing elements into a plurality of blocks, and between a target reference signal and the next reference signal, and to drive the plurality of printing elements at a time interval for each of the blocks on a basis of the target reference signal to thereby perform one column of printing. In a case where, in a first column, a time, which is after the target reference signal is acquired and until the next reference signal is acquired, is shorter than a time required for one column of printing, the time-division driving unit drives the plurality of printing elements so that a time required for printing the second column, in which the next printing is performed, becomes shorter than a time required for one column of printing in the first column.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kaburagi, Kazuya Koizumi
  • Patent number: 10293620
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus uses a printing head including a plurality of nozzle arrays each including a plurality of nozzles arrayed in a first direction, the nozzle arrays being arranged in a second direction. A compensating unit compensates for an ejection failure of a defective nozzle by causing a compensating nozzle to eject ink to a predetermined pixel area in a case where the print data corresponding to the defective nozzle indicates ink ejection to the predetermined pixel area. The compensating unit determines the compensating nozzle such that the compensating nozzle satisfies both a first condition that the compensating nozzle is not a defective nozzle and a second condition that the print data indicates that nozzles belonging to the nozzle array including the compensating nozzle do not eject ink to a pixel area corresponding to N pixels (N is a positive integer) around the predetermined pixel area in the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Murayama, Satoshi Kitai, Masahiko Umezawa
  • Patent number: 10293603
    Abstract: A multi-directional single pass printing apparatus may include a print head comprising a collection of slots. The collection of slots may include a central slot for delivering a central slot fluid type, a first serial arrangement of first slots on a first side of the central slot to deliver a first series of respective fluid types and a second serial arrangement of second slots on a second side of the central slot opposite the first side. The second series of slots are to deliver a second series of respective fluid types, wherein the second series of respective fluid types mirror the first series of respective fluid types with respect to the central slot fluid type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Vincent C Korthuis, Donald J Milligan, Dennis Schloeman
  • Patent number: 10286667
    Abstract: A recording device includes, when a transporting direction of a medium is set to a first axis and a direction intersecting with the transporting direction is set to a second axis, a head which includes a nozzle column along the first axis; a pair of heads in which the heads discharging droplets of the same color are paired; and a head unit which includes a plurality of pairs of heads along the second axis. The pair of heads include a predetermined overlapping portion in which the nozzle columns are overlapped with each other in a side view from the second axis, the overlapping portion includes a plurality of nozzle regions divided along the second axis, and a position of the nozzle region which is used in discharge of the droplets is different from a position of the nozzle region of another pair of heads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuaki Sakurada, Toru Fujita, Takamitsu Kondo, Seigo Momose, Akira Yamada, Masahisa Otake