Responsive To Condition Patents (Class 347/23)
  • Patent number: 12259676
    Abstract: A transport device includes a transport belt having a support surface configured to support a medium, a cleaning roller including an absorbent member configured to absorb cleaning liquid, and configured to clean the support surface as the absorbent member comes into contact with the support surface, a supply unit configured to supply the cleaning liquid to the cleaning roller, and a squeeze member to squeeze the absorbent member as the cleaning roller rotates in a state in which the squeeze member is in contact with the absorbent member. The supply unit is configured to be switched between a supply state in which the cleaning liquid is supplied to the cleaning roller and a non-supply state in which the cleaning liquid is not supplied to the cleaning roller, and the squeeze member squeezes the absorbent member while the supply unit is in the non-supply state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Sato, Yoshihisa Horikawa
  • Patent number: 12246540
    Abstract: Fluidic usage data over time is received from a printing device. A profile governing servicing maintenance of fluidic printhead nozzles of the printing device is determined based on the received fluidic usage data over time. The profile is transmitted to the printing device. The printing device performs spit-wipe-prime operations on the fluidic printhead nozzles according to the profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jeffrey D Langford, Dean H Ouchida, Kris M English
  • Patent number: 12233651
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid consuming apparatus including: a tank having a liquid storing chamber, an erected wall through which the liquid inside the liquid storage chamber is visible from outside of the tank, and an inlet which is formed to penetrate through the erected wall and via which the liquid is poured into the liquid storage chamber; a liquid consuming section which consumes the liquid stored in the liquid storing chamber; and a cover. A transmitting section and a checking section are formed in an upper surface, of the cover, under a condition that the cover is in the exposure position, the transmitting section configured to transmit information optically to a user of the liquid consuming apparatus and the checking section configured to prevent the liquid moving on a particular surface of the cover from arriving at the transmitting section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Tomohisa Higuchi
  • Patent number: 12115775
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording portion configured to record an image on a recording medium; a housing having an ejection opening on the side of the housing, the recording medium recorded with the image being ejected from the ejection opening in the ejection direction; and a receiver that receives the recording medium ejected from the ejection opening. The recording apparatus further includes a guide provided inside the ejection opening of the housing, and the receiver has an end on an upstream side of the receiver with respect to the ejection direction such that the end is held at a position overlapping with the guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Asai, Hideyuki Nozawa, Hiromasa Yoneyama, Kota Uchida
  • Patent number: 12109816
    Abstract: A printer includes a head, a flushing receiving member, a cap, a processor, and a memory. The head is provided with a nozzle surface intersecting a discharge direction and configured to move in a main scanning direction. The flushing receiving member is positioned in the discharge direction with respect to a movement path of the head in the main scanning direction. The cap is configured to closely adhere to the nozzle surface. The cap and the flushing receiving member are arranged in the main scanning direction. The memory stores computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to perform a process including flushing processing including a first flushing operation of discharging ink from the head toward the cap, and a second flushing operation of discharging the ink toward the flushing receiving member while moving the head in the main scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Noriyuki Kawamata
  • Patent number: 12103302
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording portion configured to record an image on a recording medium; a discharge port configured to discharge the recording medium, on which the image is recorded, in a discharge direction; and a receiving member located below the discharge port in a direction of gravity and configured to receive the recording medium discharged from the discharge port. The recording apparatus further includes a housing portion configured to be movable between a receiving position which is on a side spaced apart from the discharge port in the discharge direction and in which the housing portion holds one end of the receiving member to receive the recording medium, and a housing position which is on a side further toward the discharge port than the receiving position. The housing portion is configured to house at least a part of the receiving member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiromasa Yoneyama, Yasuyuki Asai, Hideyuki Nozawa, Kota Uchida
  • Patent number: 12070951
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge apparatus. A discharge head is provided with a discharge port that discharges a liquid. A retention portion is facing the discharge head, and retains the liquid between the discharge head and the retention portion. A detection unit detects that the discharge port is covered with the liquid after the liquid is supplied between the discharge head and the retention portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hisashi Namba, Noriyasu Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 12070942
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus includes a print head configured to print an image on a printing medium using a printing element configured to eject ink with thermal energy, a scanning unit configured to cause the print head to scan the printing medium, and a control unit configured to control scanning by the scanning unit and image printing by the print head based on an image printing instruction, wherein the control unit performs a control operation including executing a preliminary ejection to eject, from the print head, ink that does not contribute to image printing before an image is printed in one scanning operation, and determining an amount of ink to be ejected in the preliminary ejection based on a difference between a target temperature and a scanning start temperature, which is a temperature of the print head acquired in response to an instruction to start the one scanning operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Taku Yokozawa, Kazuhiko Sato, Noboru Kunimine, Takeshi Murase, Hiroshi Taira, Hiroshi Kawafuji, Sae Mogi, Akiko Aichi
  • Patent number: 12036728
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a paper-based 3D printing device and a printing method. The paper-based 3D printing device comprises a printing platform, a three-axis linkage platform, a cutting head and an inkjet head. The printing platform is used for placing paper, and the three-axis linkage platform is arranged to, firstly, drive the cutting head to cut the corresponding paper along the contour of a preset model to form a cutting seam, and then drive the inkjet head to inkjet color toward the cutting seam along the contour of the preset model. The paper-based 3D printing device and the printing method save ink, and can directly spray the ink at the cutting seam, which is equivalent to coloring the outer surface of the model, effectively improving the coloring effect, making the coloring of the outer surface of the model uniform, eliminating the step of printing one by one.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: SOUTH CHINA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Guangxue Chen, Ling Cai, Linyi Chen, Qifeng Chen, Jiangping Yuan, Xiaochun Wang
  • Patent number: 12011930
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge apparatus. A discharge head is provided with a discharge port that discharges a liquid. A retention portion is facing the discharge head, and retains the liquid between the discharge head and the retention portion. A detection unit detects that the discharge port is covered with the liquid after the liquid is supplied between the discharge head and the retention portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hisashi Namba, Noriyasu Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 11999111
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a three-dimensional shaped object includes: a stacking step of stacking a layer by discharging a shaping material from a nozzle while moving the nozzle with respect to a stage in accordance with shaping data with which a three-dimensional shaped object is shaped, the shaping data including path information indicating a movement path of the nozzle with respect to the stage and discharge amount information indicating a discharge amount of the shaping material in the movement path; and a data changing step of adding a cleaning command for cleaning the nozzle to the shaping data based on information included in the shaping data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Satoshi Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 11981140
    Abstract: When printing is performed on a recording medium of a second size larger than a first size, a control portion, after passage of the recording medium of the first size at a position opposite a recording head before arrival of the recording medium of the second size at the position opposite the recording head, makes the recording head perform preparatory flushing processing in which ink is ejected toward openings from first nozzles that have not been set as target nozzles during printing on the recording medium of the first size but will be newly set as the target nozzles during printing on the recording medium of the second size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Takeshi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11926159
    Abstract: A control portion makes a recording head perform flushing processing every time a flushing area that does not overlap a recording medium faces the recording head but makes the recording head perform no flushing processing when a flushing area that at least in a part of it overlaps a recording medium faces the recording head. The longer a non-flashing period between the previous and present sessions of flushing processing, the larger the control portion makes the amount of ink ejected by each of nozzles in the present session of flushing processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Takeshi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11858279
    Abstract: A recording device includes a recording unit configured to perform recording by discharging a droplet to a medium a conveyance belt disposed facing the recording unit and convey the medium, and a cleaning unit including a scrape unit configured to make contact with the conveyance belt and scrape off a residual at the conveyance belt. The cleaning unit includes a pressing part configured to push the scrape unit against the conveyance belt, and the scrape unit includes a sponge member configured to be pressed against the conveyance belt to scrape off the residual and a contact part of the sponge member that is brought into contact with the conveyance belt is worn.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ikagawa, Koji Hara, Hiroyuki Maeda
  • Patent number: 11840094
    Abstract: A printing apparatus on which an ink tank containing ink to be used for printing is mounted, the printing apparatus including: a cover configured to be opened in a case where the ink tank is replaced; an operation unit configured for shifting to a replacement state in which the ink tank can be replaced; and a control unit configured to display a screen for guidance of a user operation for shifting the ink tank to the replacement state on a display unit if the cover is opened in a case where the ink tank can be replaced and shift the ink tank to the replacement state in a case where the operation unit is operated in a state where the screen is displayed on the display unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ryuhei Hamada
  • Patent number: 11801692
    Abstract: A printing device includes a liquid composition having a viscosity of from 2 to 15 mPa·s and a static surface tension of from 20 to 50 mN/m. A liquid composition container contains the liquid composition, a liquid composition applying device is configured to apply the liquid composition to a contact-target member, and a contact member is configured to make contact with a region to which the liquid composition has been applied in the contact-target member. The contact member includes a liquid composition holding layer configured to hold the liquid composition, an adhesive layer that fixes the liquid composition holding layer, and a core, in this order from a side that makes contact with the region. The liquid composition holding layer has a thickness of from 200 to 1,300 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuuki Mizutani, Motoaki Saitoh
  • Patent number: 11667120
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharger, a discharge receptacle, and circuitry. The liquid discharger includes a nozzle configured to discharge liquid. The discharge receptacle is configured to receive the liquid discharged from the liquid discharger. The circuitry is configured to control a flushing operation of the liquid discharger. The circuitry is configured to cause the liquid discharger to perform flushing to the discharge receptacle and a sheet to which the liquid is applied, with a first flushing amount and a second flushing amount different from the first flushing amount, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Yoda, Yosuke Fukuda
  • Patent number: 11529810
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus including: a head having a nozzle; a carriage; a receiver; and a controller. The controller is configured to execute: a first flushing processing; a second flushing processing including at least one of a discharge flushing driving and a non-discharge flushing driving of driving; and a printing processing. The first flushing processing is executed in a case that a first count value is not less than a first threshold value, the first count value being an elapsed time since a completion of the first flushing processing. The second flushing processing is executed in a case that a second count value is not less than a second threshold value, the second count value being an elapsed time since a completion of the printing processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoru Arakane, Shotaro Iida, Shin Hasegawa, Yasuhiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 11498337
    Abstract: Printing liquid is spat from ai least one printhead nozzle onto a printing medium in a spitting zone when the printhead traverses the spitting zone during printing. The spitting zone is an area of the printing medium located at least partially in a second half of the printing medium in the direction of printhead travel, and wherein a centre point of the spitting zone is located in the second half of the printing medium in the direction of printhead travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Li Qian, Marc Bautista, Francisco Guerrero
  • Patent number: 11485141
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head having a nozzle face in which a plurality of nozzles is opened, the plurality of nozzles ejecting liquid as a droplet, a cleaning unit configured to clean the nozzle face, an information receiving unit configured to receive input of a cleaning information that is information related to a frequency of cleaning of the nozzle face by the cleaning unit, and a controller configured to instruct the cleaning unit to perform the cleaning in accordance with the cleaning information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Ryota Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 11465350
    Abstract: An ejection device includes: an ejection unit provided with an ejection port configured to eject an ejection material; a piezoelectric element configured to cause the ejection material to be ejected from the ejection unit; a first liquid chamber connected to the ejection unit and configured to supply the ejection unit with the ejection material; a pressure control unit configured to control a pressure in the ejection unit by controlling a pressure in the first liquid chamber; and a detection unit configured to detect a wetness of an ejection port side surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Iimura, Noriyasu Hasegawa, Yoshimasa Araki
  • Patent number: 11427003
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces clogging of nozzles, while at the same time avoid a decrease in productivity of the recording medium, and reduces situations in which the recording medium becomes stained due to the staining of opening portions and splashing due to ink ejected during flushing. A conveyor belt of the inkjet recording apparatus has a plurality of opening portion groups. The control unit determines the pattern of the plurality of opening portion groups used for flushing in one cycle of the conveyor belt according to the size of the recording medium. The control unit causes the recording medium to be supplied from the recording medium supply unit between the plurality of opening groups arranged in the conveying direction in the above pattern on the conveying belt and at positions separated from the opening portion groups by a specific distance or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Masaaki Maruta, Tomoya Hotani, Yuki Tamura
  • Patent number: 11427009
    Abstract: The image formation device includes a tank, a hollow member, and a sensor. The tank is configured to store ink. The hollow member is disposed inside the tank, and extends in an up-down direction. The sensor is disposed outside the tank and above the hollow member, and is configured to detect a pressure inside the hollow member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shumei Mori, Yohei Kuno, Sho Mishima
  • Patent number: 11400725
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus that prevents a user's hand from becoming dirty when attaching and detaching a liquid holding container, the liquid ejection apparatus includes a space portion that is open on a side surface of a housing, a liquid holding container that is detachably mounted to the space portion and includes an introduction port for introducing liquid to an inside thereof, on an upper surface, and a discharge portion that is provided at a position facing the introduction port inside the space portion in a state in which the liquid holding container mounted and includes a discharge port for discharging the liquid to the inside of the liquid holding container, in which the discharge portion is configured such that at least the discharge port is movable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keiji Watanabe, Kenji Tamamori, Takashi Sugawara
  • Patent number: 11400721
    Abstract: Methods to wipe a print head are described. In an example of a method, an amount of treatment fluid is determined based on a temperature of the print head and the print head is wiped with the determined amount of treatment fluid and a wiping medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mauricio Seras Franzoso, Sheila Cabello Cabrera, Aleix Fort Filgueira
  • Patent number: 11390084
    Abstract: Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus that reduces situations in which the recording medium becomes stained during flushing. A conveyor belt of the inkjet recording apparatus has a plurality of opening portion groups in a conveying direction of the recording medium in which opening portions for allowing ink ejected from each of the nozzles of the recording head to pass during the flushing are arranged in a belt width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium. A control unit determines a pattern of a plurality of opening portion groups used in flushing in one cycle of the conveyor belt according to the size of the recording medium, and causes the recording medium to be supplied from a recording medium supply unit between the opening portion groups arranged in the conveying direction in the pattern on the conveyor belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Tomoya Hotani, Yuki Tamura, Masaaki Maruta
  • Patent number: 11358404
    Abstract: A printer includes a head having nozzles, a carriage with the head mounted thereon, a carriage motor to move the carriage along a scanning direction, an encoder including a scale having reference marks formed thereon along a particular direction, and a sensor to detect the reference marks while moving relative to the scale along with movement of the carriage along the scanning direction, and a controller configured to perform liquid discharging to control the head to discharge liquid from the nozzles toward a recording medium while performing feedback control of the carriage motor based on velocity information such that the carriage moves at a target velocity along the scanning direction, the velocity information representing a carriage velocity based on detection results of the sensor, and interrupt the liquid discharging when the carriage velocity exceeds an overshoot threshold higher than the target velocity during the liquid discharging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Kuwayama, Satoru Arakane, Kenji Kawamoto, Shoji Sato, Shoko Ota
  • Patent number: 11331926
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid consuming apparatus including: a tank having a liquid storing chamber, an erected wall through which the liquid inside the liquid storage chamber is visible from outside of the tank, and an inlet which is formed to penetrate through the erected wall and via which the liquid is poured into the liquid storage chamber; a liquid consuming section which consumes the liquid stored in the liquid storing chamber; and a cover. A transmitting section and a checking section are formed in an upper surface, of the cover, under a condition that the cover is in the exposure position, the transmitting section configured to transmit information optically to a user of the liquid consuming apparatus and the checking section configured to prevent the liquid moving on a particular surface of the cover from arriving at the transmitting section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Tomohisa Higuchi
  • Patent number: 11247471
    Abstract: The object of the present disclosure is to optimize the time necessary for filling and the ink consumption. One embodiment of the present disclosure is a printing apparatus having: a storage unit; a print head having an ejection port from which ink supplied from the storage unit is ejected; an ink supply path that connects the storage unit and the print head; a suction unit configured to perform suction at the ejection port; and a supply control unit configured to supply ink stored in the storage unit to the ink supply path and the print head by performing suction at the ejection port by the suction unit, and the printing apparatus has an acquisition unit configured to acquire information relating to ink discharge from the ink supply path and the supply control unit determines the number of times of suction by the suction unit based on the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuki Narumi, Masataka Kato, Toshimitsu Danzuka, Yasunori Fujimoto, Shin Genta, Tomoki Yamamuro, Hiroto Kango, Kazuhiko Sato, Kazuo Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11192357
    Abstract: Although a conventional method of inspecting an ink discharge state in which the temperature change of the heater is detected enables accurate and high-speed inspection, due to the situation in which the inspection was performed, appropriate post-processing depending on the situation cannot be executed based on a result of the inspection. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the ink discharge state in detail. A plurality of modes are provided in accordance with the purpose of performing an inspection of the ink discharge state, and a discharge inspection threshold is provided for each of these modes. By selectively executing or continuously executing these modes, it is possible to determine the ink discharge state in more detail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuhei Oikawa, Yutaka Kano, Kohei Sato, Takuya Fukasawa
  • Patent number: 11104156
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a print head having a heat generation element, a generation unit that generates print data for driving the heat generation element to form an image on a print medium and a drive unit that drives the heat generation element on a basis of the print data generated by the generation unit. The print medium includes a laminate of a plurality of image forming layers that generate develop mutually different colors by receiving heat. The generation unit generates the print data depending on a type of the print medium among a plurality of print medium types that differ from each other in order of lamination of the plurality of image forming layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Okinori Tsuchiya, Takashi Fujita, Takeru Sasaki, Hiroaki Ogawa, Akitoshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 11084280
    Abstract: A learning device targeted for a printer including a printer head that discharges ink, the learning device includes: an information obtaining section configured to obtain a parameter that affects ink discharge failures of the print head; an event data obtaining section configured to obtain event data regarding an occurrence state of the ink discharge failures; and a learning section configured to perform machine learning on a prediction condition of an occurrence interval of the ink discharge failures in accordance with a learning data set created based on the parameter and the event data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takayuki Nishikawa
  • Patent number: 11078350
    Abstract: Provided is a cleaning member including a urethane rubber, wherein the urethane rubber has a cyclic structure portion in which a fluorine atom is directly bonded to the cyclic structure portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Taiki Amemiya, Yukio Hosoya, Kunihiro Ogura
  • Patent number: 11020963
    Abstract: A fluidic die may include at least one fluidic passageway, at least one electrode disposed within the at least one fluidic passageway, and control circuitry to activate the electrode within the fluidic die. An impedance sensed at the electrode corresponds to a particle concentration within the fluid. The control circuitry activates the electrode during a separate pulse group assigned to the activation of the electrode among at least one other pulse group assigned to an activation of at least one fluid actuator within a column group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Eric Martin, Daryl E. Anderson
  • Patent number: 10994542
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus includes a print head, to which a protective member configured to protect an ejection opening surface is attachable, and a head holder configured to hold the print head detachably. The inkjet printing apparatus further includes a guide portion provided in the head holder and configured to guide, in a width direction, the print head with the ejection opening surface protected by the protective member. The guide portion guides the print head with the protective member attached up to a predetermined position in the width direction and guides only the print head ahead of the predetermined position to prevent the protective member from exceeding the predetermined position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tetsuji Kurata, Takuya Iwano, Hiromasa Amma
  • Patent number: 10981387
    Abstract: A printer includes a head including a plurality of ink ejecting units for ejecting different types of inks from nozzles, a waste liquid flow path that is a flow path of ink sucked from the nozzles, a suction unit that performs an ink suction operation of sucking the ink from the nozzles of the ink ejecting units via the waste liquid flow path, and a cleaning operation of sucking the cleaning liquid from nozzles via the waste liquid flow path, and a control unit that controls the suction unit so as to vary a suction amount of the cleaning liquid depending on the type of the ink sucked by the ink suction operation when the cleaning operation is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroya Fukuta, Takeshi Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10926542
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for adaptive ink flushing of a printer. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes an adaptive ink flushing controller configured to obtain nozzle firing data for a nozzle of a printhead, to analyze the nozzle firing data to determine an inactive firing span of the nozzle, and, in response to determining that the inactive firing span of the nozzle exceeds a threshold, to transmit a firing instruction for ejecting ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Vincent William Ferreri, Walter F. Kailey
  • Patent number: 10894401
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a drive signal generation circuit generating a drive waveform signal, a liquid ejecting head including a vibration plate, a drive element displacing the vibration plate by being supplied with the drive waveform signal, a cavity that is filled with a liquid and of which an internal pressure changes by the displacement of the vibration plate, and a nozzle that communicates with the cavity and that ejects the liquid by the change in internal pressure of the cavity, and an ejecting malfunction detection circuit that detects, specifies a cause of the ejecting malfunction based on the residual vibration signal. The ejecting malfunction detection circuit includes a detection unit detecting the residual vibration signal, an obtaining unit obtaining information indicating an ejecting state of the liquid ejected from the nozzle, and a learning unit machine learning a relationship between the residual vibration signal and the ejecting state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masashi Kamiyanagi, Toru Matsuyama
  • Patent number: 10882323
    Abstract: A controller causes a notification device to provide a first alert in response to receipt of a first signal from a liquid level sensor. After the controller determines that a cartridge is located at a particular position in an installation case, the controller clears the first alert in response to receipt of a second signal from the liquid level sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenta Horade
  • Patent number: 10850528
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid consuming apparatus including: a tank having a liquid storing chamber, an erected wall through which the liquid inside the liquid storage chamber is visible from outside of the tank, and an inlet which is formed to penetrate through the erected wall and via which the liquid is poured into the liquid storage chamber; a liquid consuming section which consumes the liquid stored in the liquid storing chamber; and a cover. A transmitting section and a checking section are formed in an upper surface, of the cover, under a condition that the cover is in the exposure position, the transmitting section configured to transmit information optically to a user of the liquid consuming apparatus and the checking section configured to prevent the liquid moving on a particular surface of the cover from arriving at the transmitting section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Tomohisa Higuchi
  • Patent number: 10828902
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus includes a cap member contacting an ejection opening surface of a liquid ejection unit and covering the ejection opening surface, and a drive motor configured to cause the ejection opening surface and the cap member to contact or separate from each other. Furthermore, the liquid ejection apparatus includes a negative pressure generation unit configured to bring a space surrounded by the ejection opening surface and the cap member into a negative pressure state, and a control unit configured to drive the negative pressure generation unit to bring the space into a negative pressure state under a separation instruction to separate the cap member and the liquid ejection unit, and subsequently cause the drive motor to separate the liquid ejection unit and the cap member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Sasaki, Noriko Sato, Takahiro Kiuchi
  • Patent number: 10688790
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid jetting apparatus including: a liquid jetting head having a nozzle; a supply channel; a cap configured to cover the nozzle; a discharging section; a switching mechanism switching a state of the cap between a capping state and an uncapping state; and a controller. The controller is configured to perform: controlling the discharging section, based on both of a supply evaporation rate according to an evaporation rate of water content in the liquid inside the supply channel and a cap evaporation rate which is an evaporation rate of the water content in the liquid remaining in the cap, so as to cause the liquid to be discharged from the nozzle; and controlling the discharging section, based on one of the supply evaporation rate and the cap evaporation rate, to cause the liquid to be discharged from the nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shotaro Iida
  • Patent number: 10682857
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for adaptive ink flushing of a printer. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes an adaptive ink flushing controller configured to obtain nozzle firing data for a nozzle of a printhead, to analyze the nozzle firing data to determine an inactive firing span of the nozzle, and, in response to determining that the inactive firing span of the nozzle exceeds a threshold, to transmit a firing instruction for ejecting ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Vincent William Ferreri, Walter F. Kailey
  • Patent number: 10661579
    Abstract: A printing apparatus comprises: a transport mechanism that transports a recording medium; a first line head group including a first line head in number of N that ejects first ink; a second line head group including a second line head in number of M that ejects second ink; and a controller, where M is a natural number larger than N. The line heads form images along lines extending in a width direction along a surface of the recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles aligned in the width direction. In a first printing step, the controller makes each of the first line head in number of N perform printing process on every N-th line, while making each of the second line heads in number of M perform the printing process on every M-th line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Yasuda, Tetsuya Ishida, Masayuki Nakano
  • Patent number: 10638010
    Abstract: A control device that controls an image former, includes: a second power supply that performs power feeding to a detector during a power feeding suspension period during which power feeding from a first power supply to the image former and the detector is not performed, the detector detecting an environment variable around the image former, the environment variable affecting quality of an image formed by the image former; and a determiner that determines a control condition for the image former in accordance with a result of detection performed by the detector during the power feeding suspension period, when power feeding from the first power supply to the image former is started at an end of the power feeding suspension period and the image former enters an image formation ready state in which the image former can perform image formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventors: Katsuyuki Ikuta, Takeshi Tamada, Yoshihito Sasamoto, Masahiro Kamiya, Shota Igo
  • Patent number: 10576766
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a printing unit that prints an image based on image data, and an inspection pattern including a first patch, and a second patch different in color or having the same color and different in density than the first patch, each of the first and second patches being printed so as to extend in the first direction on the printing medium, and the first patch and the second patch being arranged in the second direction. A scanning unit includes a plurality of detection elements arranged in the second direction, and scans the inspection pattern, and a correcting unit corrects the image data based on a scanning result. The scanning unit scans the first patch using a first detection element and scans the second patch by using a second detection element which is farther away from a lens than the first detection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Kubozono, Takuya Tsunemi, Shinsuke Ikegami, Satoshi Tada
  • Patent number: 10569551
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid jetting apparatus including: a liquid jetting head; a cap; a switching mechanism configured to perform switching of a state of the cap between a capping state and an uncapping state; a timer; a purge mechanism; and a controller. The controller performs: calculating a value of a capping-time parameter; and measuring a capping time with the timer. In a case that a purge condition regarding the capping time and the value of the capping-time parameter is satisfied, the controller causes the purge mechanism to perform a purge, and then causes the liquid jetting head to perform a jetting operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shotaro Iida
  • Patent number: 10513121
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus performs ejection in which droplets are deposited onto a medium and flushing in which droplets are not deposited onto the medium. The apparatus includes a recording head configured to eject the droplets, a presentation unit configured to present at least one condition selected from a number of times of ejecting droplets in the one flushing, a weight per one of the droplets in the flushing, and a timing of the flushing to be changeable, and a flushing controller configured to control the recording head to perform the flushing based on the condition changed via the presentation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Ryota Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 10500848
    Abstract: A printer includes a printhead assembly, a service station assembly, and a controller. The printhead assembly includes nozzles to eject fluid drops. The nozzles are divided into a least two groups with each group assigned a burst drop count, a post-burst delay, and a burst order. The service station assembly is to receive fluid ejected from the nozzles during spits. The controller is to control a spit of the printhead assembly by ejecting fluid from the nozzles of each group based on the burst drop count, the post-burst delay, and the burst order of each group until a target drop count for the spit is reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Lisa Michels, Randal J Morrison, Kyle Mannari, Cristopher Royce Jansson
  • Patent number: 10486417
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a transfer member that rotates, a printhead that forms an image on the transfer member, and a transfer unit that transfers the image to a print medium. An application unit, provided at a downstream side of an area, at which the transfer unit transfers the image to the print medium, in a rotation direction of the transfer member, applies a cleaning liquid to a region on the transfer member after the image is transferred to the print medium. In addition, a collecting unit, provided between the printhead and the application unit, in the rotation direction of the transfer member, includes a collection roller that rotates in contact with the transfer member, in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the transfer member, for collecting the cleaning liquid applied to the transfer member by the application unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ippei Tsushima, Ryosuke Sato, Yusuke Nakaya, Toshiki Takeuchi, Kengo Nieda, Kenji Sugiyama, Futoshi Hirose, Atsushi Sakamoto, Susumu Hirosawa