Array Patents (Class 347/12)
  • Patent number: 10272674
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a recording apparatus, wherein a quantization pattern is applied to a unit area in an end part area located at a boundary with a central area while being offset so as to correspond to an end part of the quantization pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ayako Ohta, Takeshi Yazawa, Hidehiko Kanda, Eiji Komamiya
  • Patent number: 10274884
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus connected to one or more other image forming apparatuses, the image forming apparatus comprises: a detecting unit that detects a characteristic of a recording material; an obtaining unit that obtains a detection result by the detecting unit in each of the one or more other image forming apparatuses; and a determining unit that determines a type of a recording material used for image formation in the image forming apparatus based on the detection result by the detecting unit and the detection result obtained by the obtaining unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tadashi Okanishi
  • Patent number: 10265950
    Abstract: An inkjet head control apparatus includes a mother substrate, a plurality of daughter substrates connected to a plurality of connectors of the mother substrate, each daughter substrate having a different built-in address, and a communication circuit on the mother substrate and configured to select an address of one of the plurality of daughter substrates, and transmit a control signal including the selected address and information for controlling power supply to an inkjet head to the plurality of connectors. Each of the plurality of daughter substrates includes a determination circuit configured to determine whether or not the selected address corresponds to the built-in address of the daughter substrate, and a voltage generating circuit configured to generate a direct current (DC) voltage for driving the inkjet head based on the control signal when it is determined that the selected address corresponds to the built-in address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryuta Nagane
  • Patent number: 10252522
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejection head, a plurality of amplifiers, and a plurality of signal line sets. The liquid ejection head has a plurality of actuators. The plurality of amplifiers is configured to amplify driving signals supplied to each of the plurality of actuators. The plurality of signal line sets is provided for respective ones of the plurality of amplifiers. Each of the plurality of signal line sets includes a supply line and a return line. The supply line is configured to supply the driving signals amplified by a corresponding one of the plurality of amplifiers to the plurality of actuators. The return line is configured to return the driving signals to the corresponding one of the plurality of amplifiers. Each of the plurality of amplifiers is electrically floating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shuhei Hiwada
  • Patent number: 10245827
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device includes: an ejection section having a piezoelectric element that ejects liquid by being displaced upon application of a drive signal; a comparator having a first comparator section and a second comparator section, receiving an input signal and the drive signal, and outputting first and second control signals; and a transistor pair having a first transistor controlled with the first control signal and a second transistor controlled with the second control signal, and outputting the drive signal, the first comparator section comparing first and second comparison signals and outputting the first control signal, the first comparison signal being obtained by offsetting one of the input signal and the drive signal, the second comparator section comparing third and fourth comparison signals and outputting the second control signal, and the third comparison signal being obtained by offsetting one of the input signal and the drive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Abe
  • Patent number: 10241414
    Abstract: An image forming device in which a plurality of nozzles are aligned in a designated alignment direction, wherein a plurality of pixels constituting a formed image includes dot omission pixels continuous in a scan direction by a defective nozzle included in the plurality of nozzles, and neighboring pixels within a designated distance in the alignment direction from the dot omission pixels, the image forming device comprising a pattern determining unit configured to determine a dot pattern after supplementation formed on neighboring pixels within designated range based on at least the number of dots to be formed on the pixels within the designated range including a portion of the dot omission pixels and a portion of the neighboring pixels according to recording data before supplementation of dots by the defective nozzle, and a pattern forming unit configured to form the dot pattern after supplementation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akito Sato, Naoki Sudo
  • Patent number: 10242298
    Abstract: A method of controlling a printer is described, for printing a pattern from a first row of fluid ejection nozzles and a second row of fluid ejection nozzles in a multi-pass printing mode. The first and second rows of fluid ejection nozzles eject fluid of a first type and fluid of a second type, respectively. The method comprises: assigning respective parts of the pattern to be printed to the first and second rows of fluid ejection nozzles; applying a first mask to the first row of said ejection nozzles and a second mask to the second row of fluid ejection nozzles for printing with selected nozzles of each of the rows of fluid ejection nozzles during each pass; wherein the first mask comprises a mesa portion and the second mask comprises a mesa portion wherein the mesa portion of the first mask includes at least a first peak and the mesa portion of the second mask includes at least a second valley, the first peak overlapping with the second valley.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Antonio Gracia, Joan Jorba, Marina Cantero
  • Patent number: 10232607
    Abstract: There is a provided a liquid droplet discharging control device which causes a liquid droplet discharging apparatus including a head, in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in a predetermined direction, to perform printing and which is capable of executing a nearby compensation process in which, on the basis of a dot position on which a predetermined nozzle for black ink forms a dot, a nearby nozzle that forms a dot in the vicinity of the dot forms a dot and executing a composite compensation process. The liquid droplet discharging control device includes a parameter acquiring unit that acquires parameters corresponding to the degree of liquid spreading toward a periphery after adhesion of a liquid droplet to a medium, and a compensation switching unit that switches between execution of the nearby compensation process and execution of the composite compensation process on the basis of the parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akito Sato, Naoki Sudo
  • Patent number: 10226955
    Abstract: A method for setting up and carrying out a print job on an inkjet printing machine having print heads and a thermal dryer includes printing onto a substrate using water-based black and chromatic inks. First test prints of a first test chart with different area coverage test patches are generated on the substrate using black ink, thermally drying the first test prints at different temperatures and evaluating dried first test prints to determine a dryer operating temperature during the print job. A second test print of a second test chart with different ink amount test patches is generated on the substrate using chromatic inks, thermally drying the second test print at the temperature, and evaluating the dried second test print to determine a total ink amount for operating the print heads during the print job. The machine receives temperature and total ink amount and prints the print job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Axel Hauck, Sabine Roehl, Michael Kaiser, Rolf Mueller, Nikolaus Pfeiffer
  • Patent number: 10207517
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus is configured to record an image which includes multi-pass recording of completing a line image by performing a recording pass a plurality of number of times. The recording processing is configured to be executed in: a first recording mode in which the multi-pass recording of completing the line image is executed by performing the recording pass a first number of times, the recording pass being performed only when moving a carriage toward one side in a scanning direction; and a second recording mode in which the multi-pass recording of completing the line image is executed by performing the recording pass a second number of times larger than the first number of times, the recording pass being performed when moving the carriage toward the one side in the scanning direction and another side in the scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoru Arakane
  • Patent number: 10201983
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording apparatus is provided, including a first transport section which transports a recording medium; a recording section which is formed with a plurality of nozzles and which records an image on the recording medium by discharging ink droplets from the nozzles; an interference member which is provided at a position separated from the recording section; and a control unit which controls the recording section so that only a part of the nozzles is used for a certain area of the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kohei Terada
  • Patent number: 10183487
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge apparatus including: first and second liquid discharge heads and a controller. The first liquid discharge head includes n of nozzles NA1-NAn and m of nozzles NB1-NBm. The second liquid discharge head includes m of nozzles NC1-NCm. The first and second liquid discharge heads include m of nozzle pairs (NB1, NC1)-(NBm, NCm) A difference of position between the nozzle NBj and the nozzle NCj in the first direction is smallest in the j-th nozzle pair (NBj, NCj), of them of nozzle pairs (NB1, NC1)-(NBm, NCm), and a difference between the use rate RBp of the nozzle NBp and the use rate RCp of the nozzle NCp is smallest in the p-th nozzle pair (NBp, NCp) different from the j-th nozzle pair (NBj, NCj), of the m of nozzle pairs (NB1, NC1)-(NBm, NCm).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Kanzaki, Kazunari Matsuura
  • Patent number: 10166763
    Abstract: A printing apparatus having a plurality of print element arrays including a plurality of printing elements that are time-share driven achieves both improvement of quality at an image edge, and maintenance of uniformity with respect to inclination error between print element arrays. In a case where the plurality of printing elements of the print element array that discharges ink having the highest density are driven, and dots of image data in the array direction of the printing elements are printed so that the dots are arranged along a specified line in the array direction of the printing elements. Whereas the plurality of printing elements of a different print element array are driven, and dots of the image data in the array direction of those printing elements are printed so that each dot is displaced by a displacement amount for the each dot with respect to the specified line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Honda, Hitoshi Nishikori, Atsuhiko Masuyama
  • Patent number: 10160204
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head includes a support member extending in a first direction, a print element board having an ejection port through which liquid is ejected, and first and second members arranged in the support member adjacent to each other along the first direction, each having a supply path extending in the first direction. The print element board element generates energy used for ejection of the supply paths supplied liquid. The first member includes an outlet port through which the supplied liquid flows out. The second member includes an inlet port through which the liquid from the outlet port flows. The outlet port is provided near a first member supply path end portion on the support member side on which the second member is provided. The inlet port is provided near a second member supply path end portion on the support member side on which the first member is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tatsurou Mori, Shuzo Iwanaga, Seiichiro Karita, Kazuhiro Yamada, Akio Saito, Zentaro Tamenaga, Shingo Okushima, Yumi Komamiya, Noriyasu Nagai, Takatsuna Aoki, Akira Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 10150296
    Abstract: An inkjet recording device includes a recorder which discharges ink from a plurality of recording elements disposed in each of a plurality of recording heads onto a recording medium, the ink changing a phase between a solid and a liquid; a mover which causes the recording medium and the plurality of recording heads to move relative to each other; and a hardware processor which performs record control causing each of the plurality of recording elements disposed in the plurality of recording heads of the recorder to perform an output operation of discharging or not discharging ink onto the recording medium which moves relative to the recording heads in a predetermined movement direction according to a pixel value of image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Mizutani
  • Patent number: 10144222
    Abstract: A printing system comprising two or more groups of ink, wherein each group of ink includes ink based upon a unique formulation. This enables a user to select an ink type for printing an image without requiring extra printers or replacement of printing components. Additionally, the user can print a single image using inks of two different base formulations. The system comprises at least two groups of ink storage containers, each group containing a group of ink volumes, each group of ink volumes having a unique ink base formulation. The system further comprises at least two groups of ink formulation specific print heads, each group being associated with the compatible ink formulation. A controller enables the user to selectively print an image using ink having one or more ink base formulations. The system can use any configuration of ink storage configurations and print heads arrangements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Inventor: Shahar Turgeman
  • Patent number: 10137683
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head substrate includes a first heater row including a plurality of heaters arranged in a first direction, a first transistor configured to drive a first heater of the plurality of heaters, and a second transistor configured to drive the first heater. The first heater is arranged between the first transistor and the second transistor in a second direction crossing the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuo Fujii
  • Patent number: 10062018
    Abstract: A print control system that controls a printing apparatus having a paper feed unit, the system includes one or more processors operating, to determine whether printing using print data can be performed, based on first paper information included in a print setting in the print data, second paper information that is set in the printing apparatus, and printability information indicating a printable combination of the first paper information included in the print setting and the second paper information set in the printing apparatus. The first paper information included in the print setting and the second paper information set in the printing apparatus each includes both of (i) information regarding a type of paper and (ii) information regarding a size of paper. The printing is controlled using the print data, based on a result of the determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuki Inoue, Kazuhisa Ebuchi
  • Patent number: 10029457
    Abstract: A nozzle firing cell may comprise a firing transistor and a pre-charge transistor having a source and drain coupled between a pre-charge line and a gate of the firing transistor wherein the pre-charge line is routed over the gate of the pre-charge transistor. A fluid ejection device may comprise a circuit comprising a nozzle firing cell, the nozzle firing cell comprising a firing transistor and a pre-charge transistor having a source and drain coupled between a pre-charge Sine and a gate of the firing transistor in which the pre-charge line is routed over the gate of the pre-charge transistor. A circuit may comprise a number of firing transistors and a number of pre-charge transistors each having a source and drain coupled between a pre-charge line and a gate of one of the firing transistors in which the pre-charge line is routed over each of the gates of the pre-charge transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Boon Bing Ng, Thida Ma Win, Ning Ge, Jose Jehrome Rando
  • Patent number: 10022967
    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: March 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Taisuke Mizuno, Hideki Hayashi, Keita Sugiura
  • Patent number: 10016974
    Abstract: A driver circuit for driving actuating elements for printing, has a switch for coupling a common drive signal to provide element drive pulses to drive each actuating element according to a print signal. A timing control circuit controls the switch during sloped transitions of the common drive signal, to trim an amplitude of the actuating element drive pulses according to a common offset configurable for at least two of the actuating elements in common, and according to an element specific offset, configurable for each of the actuating elements. The offsets can be dynamic or static, and some parts of the timing can be implemented in analog form. This enables more types of errors to be compensated, and can enable the element specific offset to be implemented with simpler circuitry with less heat dissipation or less space or needing less precision and thus less cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Xaar Technology Limited
    Inventors: Andrew L. van Brocklin, Stephen Mark Jeapes, Ian Anthony Hurst
  • Patent number: 10016978
    Abstract: A printing apparatus has a plurality of nozzles including preceding nozzles that discharge ink onto a printing medium before ink discharge of the other nozzles, and succeeding nozzles that discharge ink onto the printing medium after the ink discharge of the preceding nozzles, and if the amount of black ink discharged on the printing target region is larger than a predetermined amount, the printing apparatus discharges a smaller amount of chromatic ink than the amount of the discharged black ink onto the printing target region from the plurality of nozzles so that the amount of the chromatic ink discharged from the succeeding nozzles is larger than the amount of the chromatic ink discharged from the preceding nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Toshiaki Kakutani
  • Patent number: 10000080
    Abstract: Example implementations relate to random wave mask generation. Some examples may distribute data points in a mask area based on a probability density function. The probability density function may have a maximum probability density located at a first edge and a second edge of the mask area. Some examples may also identify a wave curve that fits the data points. The wave curve may include oscillating waveforms of varying amplitudes. Some examples may also generate a random wave mask based on the wave curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Xavier Farina Vargas, M. Isabel Borrell Bayona, Angel Martinez Barambio
  • Patent number: 9962950
    Abstract: Driving orders of driving blocks are controlled with regard to each of multiple types of ink so that landing positions of ink from the driving blocks differ in multiple scans, and in the mask patterns used, there is a relatively small number of superimposed pixels among pixels regarding which a large number of discharge permitted has been stipulated regarding a mask pattern corresponding to one type of ink and one scan and pixels regarding which a large number of discharge permitted has been stipulated regarding a mask pattern corresponding to another type of ink and the one scan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Mayuko Yamagata, Satoshi Seki, Hirokazu Tanaka, Gou Sasaki, Tsukasa Doi, Fumiko Suzuki, Kiichiro Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9956762
    Abstract: A full-overlap type recording apparatus includes a recording unit and a controller. In the recording unit, n pieces of recording heads are disposed in a main scanning direction, positions of the n pieces of recording heads are shifted from each other in a sub-scanning direction, and the n pieces of recording heads are disposed so as to form m sets in the sub-scanning direction. The controller determines a use head based on the image data, and the use head is a recording head used for forming dots on a recording medium. The controller determines the use head for all raster lines formed on the recording medium, so as to respectively use the n pieces of recording heads when the raster lines are formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Washio, Kazuyoshi Tanase
  • Patent number: 9925796
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and computer program product are described herein for controlling a printing device. In an example embodiment, a print line is divided into frames and frame dot states are determined based on neighboring frame dot states. Maximum motor speeds of the printing device may be adjusted so that actual motor speeds change gradually during printing. The print engine may detect a printhead type by sending a signal to the printhead and receiving a response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: ZIH Corp.
    Inventors: Patrick J. Hegarty, Michael L. Lamontagne
  • Patent number: 9928453
    Abstract: An imaging system includes an imaging station, an actuator for driving a medium roller for controllably displacing the medium along a media transport path, and a controller assembly. The controller assembly includes a sensor device for generating a position signal and a processor for processing the position signal. The actuator is actuated in response to an actuation command from the controller assembly, which actuation command is derivable from a feedback component and a feedforward component. The feedback component is based on a position error. The processor is further arranged for determining a time dependent status parameter, which status parameter represents a status of the medium on the medium roller. The processor is further arranged for deriving an actuation command estimate based on the status parameter, and wherein the feedforward component includes the actuation command estimate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: OCE-TECHNOLOGIES B.V.
    Inventors: Stefan A. C. J. Winteraeken, Rik W. J. Boonen
  • Patent number: 9908340
    Abstract: Provided is a method for inkjet image formation using a line head and an activating light beam-curing type ink, characterized in that the duration from the time, from a first ink lands on a recording medium, to the time that the first ink or a second ink of the same color series as the first color lands on the recording medium, is 25 ms or longer; the ink includes a gelling agent in an amount of 0.5-3.0 mass % to the entire mass of the ink; and the complex viscosity of the ink at the temperature at which the ink lands on the recording medium is 50-300 Pa·s. According to this method, even when an inkjet image is formed at high speed using ink that experiences a sol-gel phase transition, an image free from white spots and gloss differences in the overlap areas can be formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Takabayashi, Ai Kondo, Yuka Yazaki
  • Patent number: 9886587
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether data including identification information of a user satisfy a condition to conceal the identification information, the data being generated when the user uses an apparatus, the condition being stored in a condition storage; a concealing unit configured to execute a concealing process to conceal the identification information included in the data when the data satisfy the condition; and a data storage configured to store one of the data including the identification information and data including the concealed identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Daisuke Kamishiro
  • Patent number: 9886655
    Abstract: Provided is the image formation device which suppresses an occurrence of unevenness in density of the image and a time required to form the image. The image formation device forms images by moving the different ejection heads. One of the ejection heads ejects white ink from a first predetermined number of nozzles thereof. Another one of the ejection heads ejects color ink from the first predetermined number and a second predetermined number of nozzles thereof. The ejection heads that eject color ink move in a sub scan direction that is non-integral multiple of a distance between the adjacent nozzle holes and eject the color ink, and then move in the sub scan direction that corresponds to a length in the sub scan direction of an area of the ejection head in which the first predetermined number of the nozzles are arranged and eject the color ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshihisa Kayanaka
  • Patent number: 9878557
    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 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Isamu Togashi
  • Patent number: 9873256
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head unit includes: a fixing plate provided with a plurality of openings; a plurality of heads, each of which is provided for each of the openings; and a channel holder that is provided with a plurality of channels and that accommodates the plurality of heads in cooperation with the fixing plate. Each of heads has a nozzle plate provided with a nozzle row having a plurality of nozzles. The head is fixed to a first surface of the fixing plate. An ejection surface is defined by a second surface of the fixing plate and the nozzle plate. The fixing plate has a plurality of sets, each of which has the plurality of openings. Only a part of the openings constituting each of the sets are disposed to be overlapped in a second direction, and the openings are disposed not to be overlapped in a first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshige Owaki, Katsuhiro Okubo, Takahiro Kanegae
  • Patent number: 9862184
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting unit that includes a piezoelectric element which is displaced by application of a drive signal and ejects liquid according to displacement of the piezoelectric element; a comparison unit that includes a first comparator and a second comparator, receives an input signal and a feedback signal based on the drive signal, and outputs a first control signal and a second control signal; a pair of transistors that is configured by a first transistor which is controlled based on the first control signal and a second transistor which is controlled based on the second control signal, and outputs the drive signal from a coupling point of the first transistor and the second transistor; an output capacitor that has one terminal coupled to the coupling point; and a differentiation and integration circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Abe
  • Patent number: 9855743
    Abstract: Recording elements are driven by changing a driving pulse applied thereto in accordance with information regarding a total number of times the recording elements have been driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroshi Taira, Kazuhiko Sato, Taku Yokozawa, Hiroaki Shirakawa, Mitsutoshi Nagamura, Yuhei Oikawa, Yosuke Ishii, Satoshi Azuma, Hiroaki Komatsu
  • Patent number: 9849703
    Abstract: An untethered, arbitrary-surface printing device includes a housing, a print head, positioning means, locomotive means, and sensors configured to perform multi-pass high-precision printing (i.e. at least 300 dots per inch) on nearly any surface texture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Inventor: Rohit Priyadarshi
  • Patent number: 9840087
    Abstract: A printer includes an ejecting head, and a printing control section, in which the ejecting head ejects ink onto the sheet while performing scanning of a plurality of times with respect to a predetermined raster line which extends in the scanning direction. In addition, the printing control section sets a nozzle use rate of a first complementing nozzle which is higher than a nozzle use rate in normal operation as a nozzle use rate of a complementing nozzle which ejects ink to a pixel to which a defective nozzle should eject ink on the sheet, instead of the defective nozzle, when the defective nozzle is detected, and sets a nozzle use rate of a second complementing nozzle which is lower than that of the first complementing nozzle as a nozzle use rate of a supplementary complementing nozzle which is the peripheral nozzle of the complementing nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Jun Hoshii
  • Patent number: 9827793
    Abstract: A synchronous single/double-sided digital inkjet printer comprises a rack, feeding rollers (2, 23), take-up rollers (3, 22), two groups of inkjet printing carriages (9, 16) and driving rollers (5, 20). The two groups of inkjet printing carriages (9, 16) respectively make reciprocating motion on the two groups of track beams (10, 15) mounted on the rack, and are provided with print heads (8, 17). The lower parts of the two groups of inkjet printing carriages (9, 16) are provided with inkjet printing platforms (7, 19) mounted on the rack, and the lower parts of the two inkjet printing carriages (9, 16) are provided with the driving rollers (5, 20). The two driving rollers (5, 20) are driven to rotate in the opposite direction respectively by two independent driving devices mounted on the rack. A printing material winding method is applied to the inkjet printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Inventor: Jian Liang
  • Patent number: 9802421
    Abstract: A liquid droplet ejecting method which includes forming an image which is configured by a raster which is completed using liquid droplet ejecting operations of n times by alternately repeating a transport operation, and a liquid droplet ejecting operation in which liquid droplets are ejected on the medium while moving a first head which includes a plurality of nozzles, and a second head which aligns on the upstream side of the first head, in a scanning direction which intersects the transport direction in a scanning manner, in which, in a liquid droplet ejecting operation after a liquid droplet ejecting operation in which a first nozzle column and a second nozzle column are used in one liquid droplet ejecting operation, the number of times m (blank time) in which a liquid droplet ejecting operation of not using the second nozzle column is continuously executed is less than 0.5n.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Toru Miyamoto
  • Patent number: 9751325
    Abstract: Using a plurality of colors of inks comprising an oil-based ink containing a dye lake pigment and an oil-based ink containing a pigment other than dye lake pigments, and superposing the plurality of colors of inks when printing, the oil-based ink containing a dye lake pigment is ejected on a printing medium prior to the oil-based ink containing a pigment other than dye lake pigments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Shimomura, Hiroshi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 9754194
    Abstract: A calibration target is disclosed. The calibration target is created such that a color patch is sensitive to drop weight changes based on drop weight variations that show greater changes in color for a given change in drop weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Peter Morovic, Jan Morovic, Montserrat Solano Pallarol, Marti Rius Rossell, Juan Manuel Garcia Reyero Vinas
  • Patent number: 9751259
    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: October 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Patricia J. Donaldson, Jeffrey J. Folkins
  • Patent number: 9731452
    Abstract: A three-dimensional (3-D) printer and a method for adjusting a working coordinate of a platform thereof are provided. The 3-D printer includes a platform, a printing head and a control unit. The platform includes a carrying surface and adjustment points located on the carrying surface. The printing head disposed above the platform for moving along a datum plane and a normal direction of the datum plane. The control unit controls the printing head to move from the datum plane toward the platform to contact each of the adjustment points for obtaining a coordinate offset of the carrying surface corresponding to the datum plane, and adjusts a model coordinate of a digital 3-D model information according to the coordinate offset. The control unit moves the printing head according to the adjusted model coordinate to print a 3-D object related to the digital 3-D model information on the carrying surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignees: XYZprinting, Inc., Kinpo Electronics, Inc., Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited
    Inventors: Shih-Jer Din, Yang-Teh Lee, Kwan Ho
  • Patent number: 9707779
    Abstract: A printing device executes processes (a)-(c). In the process (a), first and second rollers convey a sheet a first amount, and a print head executes a printing operation while the sheet is in a state where the sheet is supported by the first and second rollers and a supporting unit disposed between the first and second rollers. In the process (b), the second roller conveys the sheet a second amount that is no larger than the first amount, and the print head executes a printing operation while the sheet is in a state where the sheet is supported by the supporting unit and the second roller. In the process (c), the second roller conveys the sheet a third amount that is larger than the first amount, and the print head executes a printing operation while the sheet is in a state where the sheet is supported by the second roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yasunari Yoshida, Tsuyoshi Ito
  • Patent number: 9702624
    Abstract: A drying apparatus includes: a heat drying section that heats a medium to which a liquid has been applied from a first surface side of the medium; a temperature adjusting section that adjusts a temperature of the medium from a second surface side of the medium, the second surface being on the opposite side to the first surface; and a control section capable of controlling the heat drying section and the temperature adjusting section. The control section controls the heat drying section and the temperature adjusting section individually in accordance with the type of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiro Toya, Jun Yamada
  • Patent number: 9701130
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for inspecting an inkjet print head can accurately inspect the ink ejection performance of the inkjet print head. A predetermined inspection pattern is printed on a printing medium by dividing a plurality of ejection openings into a plurality of blocks to subject the inkjet print head to time division driving so that ink ejection timing is staggered for each of the blocks. The inspection pattern is read. Image data of the inspection pattern is subjected to image processing. Then, position displacement amounts of dots formed on the printing medium by ink ejected through the ejection openings are acquired. The acquired position displacement amounts are corrected for each block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshinori Misumi
  • Patent number: 9701113
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a method implemented by a printer to control a fluid firing unit of a printhead, when said printhead is coupled to the printer, to operate according to any one of a normal printing mode and a recovery mode. According to the method, if the fluid firing unit is operated according to the normal printing mode, a first voltage is applied to the fluid firing unit to fire the fluid firing unit during a printing operation; and if the fluid firing unit is operated according to the recovery mode, a second voltage higher than the first voltage is applied to the fluid firing unit to clean the fluid firing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Ana Cristina Garcia Alvarez, Antonio Gracia Verdugo, Mauricio Seras Franzoso
  • Patent number: 9694575
    Abstract: A semiconductor device for a liquid discharge head is provided. The device includes first transistors configured to receive a first voltage at a first terminal and second transistors configured to receive a second voltage at a first terminal. The device further includes discharge elements configured to discharge a liquid. Each discharge element is connected between a second terminal of a first transistor and a second terminal of a second transistor. A first control circuit is configured to supply a first control signal for controlling a conductive state of the first transistors via a common signal. A stabilization circuit is configured to stabilize a voltage of at least one of the second terminal of the first transistor or the control terminal of the first transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazunari Fujii, Tetsunobu Kochi, Wataru Endo, Takaaki Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 9682550
    Abstract: The dither mask generation method includes: a nozzle ejection rate determination process of determining a nozzle ejection rate of each nozzle in a recording head; a corresponding nozzle specifying process of specifying the nozzle corresponding to individual pixels of a dither mask by making at least one nozzle in charge of recording at each pixel position correspond to the individual pixels of the dither mask; a nozzle ejection rate reflecting processing process of performing processing of reflecting the nozzle ejection rate on an evaluation index when individual thresholds of the dither mask are set; and a threshold setting process of setting the thresholds to the individual pixels of the dither mask on the basis of the evaluation index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Kimito Katsuyama
  • Patent number: 9669619
    Abstract: A first pattern and second patterns, having a plurality of sub-patterns, are formed while an ejector is moved in a forward direction, and a third pattern and fourth patterns are formed while the ejector is moved in a backward direction. The third pattern has sub-patterns deviating in sequence from the respective sub-patterns of the first pattern in the first directions by a first deviation amount. The fourth patterns each have sub-patterns deviating in sequence from the respective sub-patterns of the second patterns in the first directions by a second deviation amount. The positions of sub-patterns of a rough adjustment pattern, including the first and the third pattern, and the positions of sub-patterns of fine adjustment patterns, including the second and the fourth patterns, are associated with each other. In each fine adjustment pattern, image density periodically changes along the first directions and one or more cycles of periodic changes are included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: So Yokota
  • Patent number: 9662678
    Abstract: A method of depositing an imprintable medium onto a target area of a substrate for imprint lithography is disclosed. The method includes moving the substrate, a print head comprising a nozzle to eject an imprintable medium onto the substrate, or both, relative to the other in a first direction across the target area while ejecting a first series of droplets of imprintable medium onto the substrate and moving the substrate, the print head, or both, relative to the other in a second opposing direction across the target area while ejecting a second series of droplets of imprintable medium onto the substrate on or adjacent to droplets from the first series of droplets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: ASML NETHERLANDS B.V.
    Inventors: Ivar Schram, Johan Frederik Dijksman, Sander Frederik Wuister, Yvonne Wendela Kruijt-Stegeman, Jeroen Herman Lammers