Responsive To Condition Patents (Class 347/14)
  • Patent number: 8988734
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus for forming an image by performing a plurality of times of recording on a same region of a recording medium by using a recording head including a plurality of recording elements for each of a first color material and a second color material, and a generation unit configured to generate recording data corresponding to each scan of the first color material and the second color material, wherein the generation unit generates, in a case where a defective recording element occurs among the plurality of recording elements for recording the first color material, recording data corresponding to each scan of the first color material by complementing a recording amount assigned to the defective recording element so that impact order between the first color material and the second color material is not changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shoei Moribe
  • Patent number: 8985724
    Abstract: Disclosed is an image forming apparatus that includes a recording head for forming an image by discharging single color ink from plural nozzle sequences. The image forming apparatus includes a profile generating unit configured to generate a profile including discharging characteristics of the corresponding nozzle sequences and information indicating a positional relationship among the plural nozzle sequences, based on individual images of a predetermined pattern that have been formed by the corresponding nozzle sequences and images that have been formed by the nozzle sequences; and a driving condition determination unit configured to determine drive conditions of the corresponding nozzle sequences by referring to the profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasunobu Takagi, Toshihito Kamei, Takashi Kimura, Yoshimi Nemoto
  • Patent number: 8985723
    Abstract: A method of compensating for a defective inkjet in an inkjet printer has been developed. A controller identifies pixels in binary image data corresponding to the defective inkjet. The controller identifies alternative pixel locations for non-defective inkjets to print ink drops proximate to the locations of the defective pixels. When an overlap parameter value identified between ink drops in alternative pixel locations and other ink drops around the alternative pixel locations exceeds a predetermined value, the controller changes the alternative pixel location for at least one ink drop to reduce overlap and improve image quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: David Jon Metcalfe, Joel Chan
  • Publication number: 20150077454
    Abstract: A method for printhead location identification includes identifying a plurality of amplitudes for a portion of pixel columns in image data generated from a portion of an image receiving surface in which marks formed by an inkjet in the printhead are printed. The amplitudes are generated from a portion of each pixel column including expected locations for a portion of the printed marks in a process direction. The method further includes identifying a cross-process location of the inkjet from a pixel column corresponding to a pixel column with a maximum local amplitude value and storing the location of the inkjet in a memory for printhead registration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Applicant: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Patricia J. Donaldson
  • Publication number: 20150077455
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head, including: a plurality of ejection ports from which a liquid is ejected; a plurality of pressure chambers which communicate with the plurality of ejection ports and are constituted by piezoelectric portions that eject a liquid from the ejection ports by shrink-deforming; and a control unit configured to drive the piezoelectric portions so that the pressure chambers shrink-deform, wherein the control unit controls driving timing of the piezoelectric portions such that, after any of the plurality of pressure chambers is made to shrink-deform, a pressure chamber disposed not to adjoin the shrink-deformed pressure chamber is made to shrink-deform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Morita, Toru Nakakubo
  • Patent number: 8979237
    Abstract: A recording head control method prevents head coil burnout caused by heat output while suppressing a drop in printer throughput. A control method for a recording head 18 of a dot impact printer 100 that prints information on a recording medium S by driving the recording wires 9 of a recording head 18 that has a plurality of recording wires 9 while a carriage 19 that carries the recording head 18 traverses the recording medium S, each of the recording wires 9 being allocated to printing one dot line in the scanning direction of the carriage 19, the control method including steps of: during dot line printing, determining before printing if the number of previously defined specific dot patterns P1, P2 contained in the dot line to be printed is greater than or equal to a reference number N of 2 or more; and printing the dot line based on the result of the decision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takefumi Yamada
  • Patent number: 8979238
    Abstract: Provided are an inkjet printing apparatus and inkjet printing method that can, regardless of an ejection frequency of a print head, stabilize density of an image expressed on a print medium. For this purpose, an ink concentration integrated value is obtained according to the ejection history of each nozzle so as to be increased by data indicating non-ejection of the nozzle or decreased by data indicating ejection. Then, image data on the target pixel is corrected such that density of the target pixel is further reduced as the pixel is subjected to printing by a nozzle having a higher ink concentration integrated value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hitoshi Nishikori, Satoshi Masuda, Tomoki Yamamuro, Osamu Iwasaki, Norihiro Kawatoko, Atsuhiko Masuyama, Fumiko Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8979231
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording head, a roller configured to convey a recording medium, an acquisition unit configured to acquire information about a conveyance amount for conveying the recording medium per a predetermined rotation amount of the roller, a recording timing generation unit configured to generate a plurality of timing signals for performing recording for one raster line according to a rotation of the roller during one rotation thereof, and a drive signal generation unit configured to generate a drive reference signal for performing the recording for the one raster line on the recording medium at a predetermined interval based on the conveyance amount information and the timing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kengo Nieda, Kazuya Koizumi, Satoshi Azuma, Koichiro Kawaguchi, Toshiki Takeuchi, Shigeru Toriihara
  • Patent number: 8979233
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a first image forming unit configured to form an image with erasable first ink; a second image forming unit configured to share a conveying path with the first image forming unit and form an image with not erasable second ink; a recording unit configured to record a level of use of a recording medium on the recording medium; a detecting unit configured to detect the level of use; and a control unit configured to control the first image forming unit or the second image forming unit according to a detection result of the detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kaneko, Minoru Yoshida, Takeshi Watanabe, Takeshi Kado
  • Publication number: 20150070429
    Abstract: An inkjet printer is provided which can alleviate the degradation of print quality caused by the deviation of ink temperature from a proper temperature range. A controller performs printing while controlling the correspondence of ejection data to nozzle rows so that the ink temperature difference between regions caused by ink ejection operations may be smaller than that in the case where printing is performed with the correspondence of upstream nozzle row ejection data and downstream nozzle row ejection data to an upstream nozzle row and a downstream nozzle row fixed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Hisayuki TAKAHASHI, Yoshiyuki OKADA
  • Publication number: 20150070428
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a print head, a nozzle position specifying section and a print control section. The print head includes a plurality of nozzles to eject ink. The nozzle position specifying section is configured to specify a position of a first nozzle that exhibits defective ejection. The print control section is configured to print dots in a plurality of sizes. The print control section is configured to change a dot size of a dot to be printed by a second nozzle, which is positioned adjacent to the first nozzle, to a larger size than a dot size specified in an image data, and to change a dot size of a dot to be printed by a third nozzle, which is positioned adjacent to the second nozzle, to a smaller size than the dot to be printed by the second nozzle after the change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Naoki SUDO, Akito SATO
  • Publication number: 20150070430
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for operating an inkjet device, the inkjet device comprising a piezo-electric element. The inkjet device may be configured to operate in a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising a first mode, wherein the inkjet device is in an off state; a second mode, wherein the inkjet device is in a standby state; and a third mode, wherein the inkjet device is in an operative state. Depending on the state of the inkjet device, the BIAS voltage applied to the piezo-electric element is selected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Applicant: OCE-TECHNOLOGIES B.V.
    Inventors: Paul KUIPER, Hendrik J. STOLK, Robert P. FAESSEN
  • Patent number: 8974030
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus may have a head with a plurality of head units. Each head unit may include a driver IC. An ejection timing signal (FIRE) may be transmitted from a control device to each of the driver ICs through an ejection timing signal line, which may be connected to the control device as a single line and split on its way to the driver ICs. The control device may further output delay information indicating a delay amount for the FIRE signal to the driver ICs through a control signal line through which a waveform pattern selection signal (SIN) is also transmitted. Each of the driver ICs may include a delay circuit that delays the FIRE signal by the delay amount indicated by the delay information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Katsuaki Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8974029
    Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus and printing control method are provided in which when a moving speed of a printing object is changed, a difference in writing start position is reduced and printing quality is improved. The apparatus includes an ink container, a nozzle connected to the container for ejecting ink, a charging electrode to charge the ejected ink, a deflecting electrode to deflect the charged ink, a gutter to collect ink not used for printing, a writing start timing control circuit to generate a first line clock signal, a printing width control circuit to generate a second line clock signal, and a control part. The control part controls print start timing based on the first clock signal, and when the printing object reaches the printing start timing, the control part performs a width adjustment of a character string of printing content based on the second clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: An Qiu, Tsuneaki Takagishi, Takashi Kawano, Nobuhiro Harada, Shinichi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8974031
    Abstract: An inkjet printer including a body, a carriage, a recording head, a bendable connecting member, and a controller is provided. The controller executes a moving step to move the carriage in an orientation after the carriage is halted for a length, a measuring step to measure the period, and a discharging step to manipulate the recording head to discharge ink at a sheet. In the discharging step, if the measured period is within a first length, the recording head is manipulated to discharge the ink at a first discharging timing, and if the measured period is within a second length which is longer than the first length, the recording head is manipulated to discharge the ink at a second discharging timing, which is advanced to be earlier than the first discharging timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Taketo Numata
  • Patent number: 8974022
    Abstract: In an inkjet printer, an ejecting part for K color is previously selected as an ejecting part for outputting three values used for formation of a large dot, formation of a medium dot, and non-ejection (step S12). In the course of image recording (steps S13, S14, and S15), three values are output regarding K color, and four values used for formation of a large dot, formation of a medium dot, formation of a small dot, and non-ejection are output regarding C, M, and Y colors. Thus, even if the quality of a dot in K color is reduced at the time of outputting four values, a high-quality dot can be formed regarding K color, so that the quality of a recorded image can be improved in a case where line drawing or a character or the like is recorded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignees: Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kiyoomi Mitsuki
  • Patent number: 8976410
    Abstract: According to one example, there is provided a method of controlling a printing system. The method comprises: obtaining a print job to print on a substrate; obtaining a value of a factor material to an undesirable condition occurring; determining a quantity of printing fluid to be deposited on a substrate when printing a portion of the print job; determining, based on the obtained value and the determined quantity of printing fluid to be deposited, whether the undesirable condition is likely to occur whilst printing the portion of the print job; and temporarily reducing the throughput of the printing system whilst printing the portion of the print job where it is determined that the undesirable condition is likely to occur whilst printing the portion of the print job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Marina Cantero Lázaro, Joan Albert Jorba Closa, Antonio Gracia Verdugo
  • Publication number: 20150062225
    Abstract: A printing apparatus, including: printing unit; conveying unit; print control unit; correcting unit configured to determine, in printing an image on each of a plurality of sets of the same type of print medium, a correction value for correcting printing position shift between a plurality of nozzle arrays based on an inspection pattern printed on a preceding region of the print medium, and to correct the printing position between the plurality of nozzle arrays in the subsequent region of the print medium by using the determined correction value, wherein the correcting unit corrects, in printing on a leading end region of a set of print medium subsequent to the preceding set of print medium, the printing position shift by using the correction value used in printing on the preceding set of print medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventors: Atsushi Sakamoto, Susumu Hirosawa, Satoshi Masuda, Toshiki Takeuchi, Kengo Nieda
  • Publication number: 20150062223
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided, that includes a recording head including a plurality of nozzles to discharge droplets; and a droplet discharge sensor unit to detect whether a droplet has been discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the recording head or not. The droplet discharge sensor unit includes a resistor, on which the droplets discharged from the nozzles of the recording head lands, the resistor disposed opposite the recording head; and a sensor to detect a change in electrical resistance of the resistor when the droplets discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the recording head landed on the resistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Shotaro Takeuchi, Shingo MASAOKA, Masahiko HISADA, Kyohei MATSUMURA
  • Publication number: 20150062227
    Abstract: A print control apparatus is configured to control a print head adapted to discharge ink droplets of a plurality of sizes to execute printing. The print control apparatus includes a print control unit configured to acquire a gradation value of an ink color based on image data and to determine whether or not to discharge an ink droplet of one of the plurality of sizes based on the gradation value. The print control unit is configured to determine that the ink droplet to be discharged is the ink droplet of a first size or smaller when the gradation value belongs to a maximum value-side partial range including a maximum value, and to determine that the ink droplet to be discharged is only the ink droplet of the first size when the gradation value belongs to a range towards a minimum value-side than the partial range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventors: Tetsuya MATSUMURA, Naoki SUDO
  • Publication number: 20150062224
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and method. In an aspect of the present invention, uneven concentration correction and non-ejection correction are performed at the time of drawing an image. In the non-ejection correction, a non-ejecting nozzle and a deflected ejection nozzle are detected as a defective nozzle, the detected defective nozzle is not allowed to eject ink to perform the non-ejection correction. When a deflected ejection nozzle is detected, an allowable value range of a deflected ejection amount of each of nozzles with respect to a deflected ejection amount of each of nozzles at the time of creating an uneven concentration correction parameter is determined. A nozzle in which a deflected ejection amount exceeds the allowable value range so that the deflected ejection occurs is detected as a deflected ejection nozzle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masashi UESHIMA
  • Publication number: 20150062226
    Abstract: There is provided a line printer including: a nozzle that discharges liquid; a pressure chamber that communicates with the nozzle; a piezoelectric element that is provided to correspond to the pressure chamber and to discharge liquid; a pulse generation unit that generates a drive pulse to discharge liquid from the nozzle and an inspection pulse to inspect a liquid discharge state; and a residual vibration detection unit that detects residual vibration in the pressure chamber, which occurs after the inspection pulse is applied to the piezoelectric element. The drive pulse is caused to be applied to the piezoelectric element and the inspection pulse is caused not to be applied to the piezoelectric element at a first printing speed. The drive pulse and the inspection pulse are caused to be applied to the piezoelectric element at a second printing speed. The second printing speed is slower than the first printing speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventor: Kenji OTOKITA
  • Patent number: 8967750
    Abstract: According to the inkjet recording apparatus and the image recording method of the present invention, since the droplet volume of droplets ejected from ejection abnormality nozzles is limited to not greater than a prescribed upper limit value, and the droplet volume of droplets ejected from other normally functioning nozzles is corrected on the basis of correction values used for correction of non-uniformities in the image caused by ejection abnormality nozzles, then in even in cases where the interval between droplets ejected from adjacent nozzles which are adjacent to an ejection abnormality nozzle becomes larger due to landing interference, in particular, it is possible to perform image recording by using droplets ejected from deflecting nozzles. As a result of this, the occurrence of non-uniformities (stripe non-uniformities) in the image can be suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Masashi Ueshima
  • Patent number: 8970903
    Abstract: Disclosed is a printing apparatus that forms a color image and a background image on a medium by repeating a dot formation operation of causing ink to be discharged from a first nozzle array and a second nozzle array moving in a moving direction so as to form the color dot and the background dot on the medium and a transport operation of transporting the medium in a transport direction, wherein a pixel in which the background dot is formed on the color dot and a pixel in which the color dot is formed on the background dot are mixed so as to form an area where the color image and the background image overlap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hirotaka Matsunaga
  • Patent number: 8967770
    Abstract: In a head (21) of an inkjet printer, a plurality of outlet rows are arranged in a scanning direction, the plurality of outlet rows each having a plurality of outlets arranged in a direction intersecting the scanning direction. The plurality of outlets are each capable of forming dots of a plurality of sizes on printing paper upon receiving different driving signals from an ejection control part (44). In the inkjet printer, under control of the ejection control part (44), some of the outlet rows form dots of only one size out of the plurality of sizes, and the other outlet rows form dots of only another size. In this way, causing the plurality of outlets in each outlet row to form dots of only one size makes it possible to reduce the occurrence of satellite droplets or the like and improve print quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masayuki Nakano
  • Patent number: 8967749
    Abstract: To reduce noise during paper conveyance while ensuring printing efficiency of an inkjet printer, a printing device is equipped with a control unit for moving a recording head back and forth in the scan direction according to the rotation of a carriage motor, a conveyance unit for extracting and feeding paper, conveying the paper in the sub scan direction to match the movement of the recording head to print the fed paper, and ejecting the printed paper according to the rotation of a conveyance motor, a paper reversal unit for coordinating with the rotation of the rotation means of the conveyance motor to reverse the front and back of the paper, and a printing control unit for controlling spraying of the ink from the recording head, as well as controlling the carriage motor and the conveyance motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yohei Nunokawa, Yasuhiko Yoshihisa, Hitoshi Igarashi
  • Publication number: 20150054876
    Abstract: An ink jet printer is provided with a piezoelectric element which is provided corresponding to a pressure chamber in order to discharge liquid droplets, a driving signal generating section which generates a driving signal, a residual vibration detecting section which detects changes in an electromotive force of the piezoelectric element in accordance with the residual vibration inside the pressure chamber which occur after the driving signal is applied, a first switch which switches whether or not a driving signal is applied to the piezoelectric element, and a second switch which switches whether or not a change in the electromotive force is supplied to a first high-pass filter, where the second switch and the residual vibration detecting section are connected via a first capacitor of the first high-pass filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2014
    Publication date: February 26, 2015
    Inventors: Yoshio NAKAZAWA, Kazuhito FUJISAWA, Masahiko YOSHIDA, Atsushi AKIYAMA, Osamu SHINKAWA
  • Publication number: 20150054875
    Abstract: A liquid discharging technique is provided that conveniently carries out recording (printing) with a desired coloring relative to media (fabric or the like) with various characteristics such as an ink color development property. A textile printing apparatus 100 is a liquid discharging apparatus which discharges a liquid (an ink) onto a recording medium (a fabric 1) and records an image and includes a liquid discharging section (a head 41) which discharges the ink onto the fabric 1 based on correction image information which is corrected according to coloring information for the fabric 1 which is obtained from the fabric 1 which is supplied to the textile printing apparatus 100.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2014
    Publication date: February 26, 2015
    Inventor: Yuya HAYAFUCHI
  • Publication number: 20150054874
    Abstract: Color separation processing is performed on the input image data to generate material amount data representing the recording amount of each recording material. Halftone processing of generating binary data for each recording scan in an image recording apparatus is performed based on the material amount data. A discharge of a colored material in a first recording scan of recording the colored material and a discharge of a high transmissivity material in a second recording scan of recording the high transmissivity material are represented by the binary data for each recording scan. The high transmissivity material is recorded at a predetermined thickness on a recording layer of the colored material after the first recording scan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Publication date: February 26, 2015
    Inventor: Tomokazu Yanai
  • Patent number: 8960845
    Abstract: Techniques related to color analysis are disclosed herein. In an example, substrate locations on a printed pattern are selected based on a set of measurements related to substrate-height. Further, color of the printed pattern is determined at the selected locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jordi Arnabat Benedicto, Jan Morovic, Juan Uroz Soria
  • Patent number: 8960836
    Abstract: A method of making edible substrates that have an image registered on them in a consistent manner. The method comprises the steps of providing an edible substrate sheet, and an image source, wherein the image source has at least one image. Further, a trigger pulse signal is provided, which relays the frequency of a process element that is communicated to an image disposal device. The image disposal device uses the trigger pulse signal to determine when to dispose an image from the image source. Then an image is disposed on the edible substrate sheet with the image disposal device to form an image-disposed edible substrate sheet. And then a portion of the edible substrate sheet that comprises an image is separated into an individual piece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kellogg North America Company
    Inventor: Jeffrey Wes Martin
  • Patent number: 8960838
    Abstract: A printer includes a print unit that ejects ink droplets of at least one ink color onto the sheet, at least one roller that feeds the printed sheet, and a controller that controls the print unit to print the sheet based on image data that defines an ink provision amount of each ink color for every dot according to a print resolution. The controller detects, based on the image data, a broad solid area, and carries out a print setting change with respect to the broad solid area by making the print resolution in the image data lower and making the ink provision amount of each ink color in the image data larger according to the print resolution that is made lower. According to the printer, stains on the printed sheet can be restricted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Riso Kagaku Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Shimomura, Hiroshi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8960848
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head includes: a nozzle plate formed with a nozzle aperture through which liquid is ejected; and a flow channel plate formed with at least a flow channel connected to the nozzle aperture, the flow channel plate being bonded to the nozzle plate with the flow channel aligned to the nozzle aperture in the nozzle plate, wherein the nozzle plate is provided with a detection element configured to detect a mechanical abnormality in the nozzle plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Tsutomu Yokouchi
  • Patent number: 8960835
    Abstract: A disclosed image forming apparatus includes a reading unit including a light emitting element for emitting light to a record medium, and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light; a print data storing unit storing print data of a uniform pattern which has a color different from a color of the test pattern and is provided in an area including the test pattern, a pattern forming unit printing the test pattern on the uniform pattern after the uniform pattern is printed, a relatively moving unit moving the record medium or the reading unit relatively at a constant speed, a first detection data obtaining unit obtaining first detection data received as the reflection light while the light moves and impinges on the test pattern, and a position detecting unit providing a calculation for determining a position of a line of the test pattern to detect the test pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Yamazaki, Tatsuhiko Okada, Mamoru Yorimoto, Daisaku Horikawa, Makoto Moriwaki
  • Patent number: 8960846
    Abstract: A printer for inkjet printing on a flexible substrate. It has a print-head for printing on the flexible substrate in a printing area, and a transport and tensioning mechanism for transporting the flexible substrate in a feed direction relative to the printing area and applying tension to it. The tension applied to the flexible substrate causes a substrate elongation. The printer is arranged to measure the substrate elongation caused by the tension applied to the flexible substrate and compensate for the substrate elongation by at least one of modifying the defined transport of the flexible substrate, and translating the print-head relative to the printing area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Ltd.
    Inventor: Yuval Dim
  • Patent number: 8960888
    Abstract: An image formation device of the present invention has: a recording medium supplying section that supplies a recording medium; a conveying section that conveys the recording medium supplied from the recording medium supplying section; an image formation section that ejects droplets and forms an image on the recording medium that is being conveyed; an image conversion section that converts an inputted image into dot data; a printing processing section that, from inputted print information, outputs continuously printed number of sheets information that causes the image formation section to continuously print output images, and prints the recording media corresponding to the continuously printed number of sheets, and, thereafter, carries out processing that temporarily stops printing of the output images; and a control section that, during a stoppage time of the printing, stops at least formation of images at the image formation section, and continues to drive the conveying section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Jun Yamanobe
  • Patent number: 8960834
    Abstract: The memory size and processing time for the correction of image data carried out to reduce image deterioration caused by nozzle ejection characteristic variation in an inkjet printing apparatus can be minimized. Print heads are provided with pluralities of chips that have nozzle arrays formed from a plurality of nozzles. Overlap portions and non-overlap portions are formed on each chip. An image processing apparatus sets input image data, corresponding to nozzle regions that are defined in nozzle arrays along the alignment direction of the nozzles of the print head and that are composed of a plurality of nozzles, as processing blocks. The input image data is processed according to parameters defined for each of those processing blocks. The boundaries of the nozzle regions corresponding to the input image data of the processing blocks are established according to the boundaries of the overlap portions and the non-overlap portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Fumitaka Goto, Nobutaka Miyake, Tohru Ikeda, Akitoshi Yamada, Mitsuhiro Ono, Ryosuke Iguchi, Hidetsugu Kagawa, Tomokazu Ishikawa, Junichi Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8960837
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a transport roller that transports a sheet by a predetermined transportation amount along a transportation path, a printing unit that records an image on the sheet being transported in synchronization with driving of the transport roller, a position detecting mechanism that detects whether an installation position is vertical installation or horizontal installation, and a transportation amount correcting unit that corrects a transportation amount depending on the detection result of the position detecting mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takehiko Saito, Sanshiro Takeshita
  • Patent number: 8955939
    Abstract: An ink jet printing method includes providing an ensemble of dots to be printed. A current run is made of through the ensemble of dots to be printed, which includes, for each of dot of the ensemble of dots, deleting all neighboring dots from the current run having a distance less than at least one predetermined value and keeping non-deleted dots as remaining dots in the current run. The remaining dots are assigned to a certain layer corresponding to the current run. The remaining dots of the current run are then removed from the ensemble of dots. The foregoing steps are repeated until there are no further dots in the ensemble of dots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: SICPA Holding SA
    Inventors: Serge Cattarinussi, Ana Dimitrijevic, Yves-Julien Regamey
  • Patent number: 8955938
    Abstract: An inkjet recording device includes: first and second pairs of rollers for conveying a sheet while nipping the sheet; and a recording head disposed between the first and seconds pairs of rollers. The recording head performs an image recording on the sheet by ejecting ink droplets onto the sheet when the sheet is stopped in an intermittent conveyance of the sheet. The recording head performs the image recording in accordance with a first image-recording data, before a trailing end of the sheet passes through the first pair of rollers that is disposed on an upstream side of the second pair of rollers. The recording head performs the image recording in accordance with a second image-recording data which is based on the first image-recording data and which has a higher image resolution than the first image-recording data, after the trailing end of the sheet passes through the first pair of rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Isao Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8955936
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a first control unit that controls execution of a first temperature adjusting operation in which heating is performed in a region in which all of orifices are arranged; a second control unit that controls execution of a second temperature adjusting operation in which, compared to a predetermined region in which a predetermined number of orifices from respective ends in an orifice arrangement direction are arranged in the orifice arrangement direction, heating is performed with a lower extent of heating in a region in which the orifices outside the predetermined region are arranged; and a temperature adjusting control unit that controls execution of a multi-stage temperature adjusting operation performed on a printhead that includes the first temperature adjusting operation and the second temperature adjusting operation by controlling the first control unit and the second control unit before printing starts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takuya Yoshimoto
  • Patent number: 8955934
    Abstract: A fluid ejecting apparatus includes first and second rows of nozzles for ejecting first and second fluids respectively, a mechanism that transports the medium in the row direction, a mechanism that moves the nozzle rows in a direction intersecting the direction of the rows, and a controller that repeats an image formation operation while the medium is transported and the rows of nozzles moved. After forming a first image using the first row of nozzles, a second image is formed on the first image using the second row of nozzles in another image formation operation. For normal image formation, the second nozzles are set further downstream in the nozzle row direction than the first nozzles, and for image formation on a lower end portion of the medium, the second nozzles are set further upstream in the nozzle row direction than they are during normal image formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Bunji Ishimoto, Yumiko Takeda
  • Patent number: 8955937
    Abstract: In an inkjet printer, a method for compensating for an inoperable inkjet includes identifying a density of image data in a region having a predetermined length in a process direction and at least one pixel corresponding to the inoperable inkjet. One other inkjet in the printer is operated to print ink drops onto an image receiving surface at a plurality of locations corresponding to the plurality of activated pixels for the inoperable inkjet in response to the identified density for the region exceeding a predetermined density threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: David Jon Metcalfe, Joel Chan
  • Publication number: 20150042714
    Abstract: Included are embodiments for image distortion reduction in web printing. Some embodiments are configured for determining an ink drop speed of ink from a printer and determining a web travel speed of a web of material, where the web of material engages with a folding board during printing that manipulates a plane of the web of material such that a projection of the web width is effectively reduced. Some embodiments may be configured for determining an altered web geometry of the web of material while engaging with the folding board, receiving a desired image for printing on the web of material, and calculating a pixel displacement of the plurality of pixels. Some embodiments may be configured for creating an altered image that utilizes the pixel displacement from the desired image and sending data related to the altered image for printing on the web of material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Applicant: The Procter & Gamble Company
    Inventors: Claudio Antonio Matos, David Christopher Oetjen
  • Publication number: 20150042716
    Abstract: A method prints an object, for example a vehicle and specifically the body thereof, wherein at least one area of the surface of the object is printed. The method includes: providing an image; three-dimensionally measuring at least the area; generating a number of spatial points in correspondence with the area; generating a three-dimensional net corresponding with the area; generating path data, i.e. a three-dimensional path for moving a robot for an inkjet printer head; generating raster data, i.e. a raster matrix, in particular a three-dimensional or higher raster matrix, for actuating the inkjet printer head; moving the robot, for example an articulated arm robot, utilizing the path data; and printing the image by the inkjet printer head utilizing the raster data. The method permits multi-color printing of any image onto so-called 3D surfaces of any shape.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventors: BERNARD BEIER, HEINER PITZ, MATTHIAS SCHLOERHOLZ, THOMAS WOLF
  • Publication number: 20150042717
    Abstract: An image processing method includes: applying mask processing to an abnormal recording element based on abnormal recording element information; converting input image data such that a pixel to be formed by the abnormal recording element is excluded; applying quantization processing that converts the converted input image data to image data having a gradation number less than a gradation number of the converted input image data; and assigning each pixel forming image data after quantization processing to a normal recording element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Applicant: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroyuki SHIBATA
  • Publication number: 20150042715
    Abstract: The present invention provides a printing apparatus including, a printhead; a preliminary discharge unit; a detecting unit detecting a size of a printing medium; and a scaling process unit. The scaling process unit scales an image to be formed on the printing medium in accordance with a detected size when a size of a printing medium indicated by size setting information and the detected size do not match each other. The preliminary discharge unit causes the printhead to perform preliminary discharge in accordance with a scaling result of the scaling process unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2014
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Inventors: Yuji Hamasaki, Atsushi Takahashi, Kei Kosaka, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Tomoyuki Tenkawa
  • Patent number: 8950845
    Abstract: A printing apparatus conducts inspection associated with printing by changing a relative positional relationship between a line print head and a sheet feeding position for a sheet in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the sheet is fed, forming an image on the sheet using the line print head a plurality of times, and reading the formed images using a reading unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeyasu Nagoshi, Makoto Torigoe, Yoshiaki Murayama, Satoshi Azuma, Kei Kosaka
  • Patent number: 8950841
    Abstract: A printing apparatus that discharges liquid droplets onto a recording medium, includes a movable carriage; discharging units, which are installed on the carriage and include nozzles that discharge a liquid, pressure chambers that communicate with the nozzles, and piezoelectric elements provided for each of the pressure chambers; a first circuit substrate, which is installed outside of the carriage, and on which is installed a control signal supply unit that generates control signals; a second circuit substrate, which is installed on the carriage, and on which are installed a booster circuit that generates a plurality of voltages; in which a path length of the control wiring between the first circuit substrate and the second circuit substrate is longer than the path length of the wiring between the second circuit substrate and the piezoelectric elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shuji Otsuka, Tadashi Kiyuna, Toshifumi Asanuma
  • Patent number: 8950843
    Abstract: There is an object of providing a printing apparatus which can restrict a variation in ejection characteristic of an ink droplet due to a temperature change of a printing head to restrict degradation in an image. The printing apparatus adjusts temperatures of the print head to first and second temperature so as to measure ejection characteristics of the print head at the first and second temperature. Then, a driving condition is generated based on the measured ejection characteristics and a printing is performed based on the measured ejection characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuhei Oikawa, Taku Yokozawa, Kazuo Suzuki, Satoshi Hayashi