Responsive To Condition Patents (Class 347/23)
  • Patent number: 6595611
    Abstract: An ink recorder and a method of tracking ink ejections from nozzles of a printhead in the ink recorder to bypass or reduce maintenance of the nozzles is provided. In one aspect, the ink recorder includes: a printhead with a plurality of ink ejecting nozzles arranged in a single column; a print controller with a first and a second raster buffer; a first and a second stroke buffer; a DMA channel; a print engine; and a maintenance controller. In another aspect, the method controls printhead nozzle maintenance during a print job in an ink recorder that prints an image using a plurality of color inks, wherein the single column of nozzles in the printhead includes a segment of active nozzles associated with each color ink and one or more inactive nozzles between each adjacent segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Charles A. Ruffino
  • Patent number: 6595616
    Abstract: There are provided a capping device capable of sealing a recording head mounted on a carriage and of sucking and discharging ink from the recording head, and a wiping member which advances to a moving path of the recording head and wipes waste ink off a nozzle forming surface of the recording head to clean the nozzle forming surface. A first drainage-amount integrating device for integrating and counting an amount corresponding to the waste ink to be wiped off the recording head by the wiping member is provided, and it is possible to prevent the contamination of the interior of the apparatus by excess waste ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaru Takahashi, Hitoshi Hayakawa, Kojiro Iizuka
  • Patent number: 6588873
    Abstract: An inkjet printing device comprising first and second pens and first and second service stations, the first and second service stations being arranged in a split servicing configuration and being arranged to service the first and second pens respectively, the device being adapted to detect the failure of a said pen and to print in a reserve mode in response to the detection, the device being further adapted to implement a modified servicing routine during reserve mode printing, the modified servicing routine being adapted to omit servicing of the failed pen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Simon Walsh, Ah Chong Tee, Bee Bee Ang
  • Publication number: 20030122891
    Abstract: An ink jet printing apparatus which performs printing by using a print head. The print head has at least a predetermined number of nozzles to eject ink. The apparatus includes first prefiring means for causing the print head to perform a prefiring operation to eject ink from nozzles of the print head for maintaining printing quality after a first time interval during a printing operation. The apparatus also includes driving means for driving nozzles of the print head based on data to be printed, and second prefiring means for causing the print head to perform the prefiring operation in a case where a number of the nozzles to be driven is changed. Preferably, the apparatus further includes shifting means for causing the driving means to drive the nozzles of the print head based on the first time interval during the printing operation so as to enhance a power of ejecting ink and continue the printing operation after the first time interval without performing the prefiring operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2003
    Publication date: July 3, 2003
    Applicant: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akihiko Hamamoto, Akitoshi Yamada, Hiromitsu Hirabayashi
  • Patent number: 6585345
    Abstract: A printing apparatus which may effectively manage information related to each ink cartridge and an ink cartridge therefor are provided. A printing apparatus having a cartridge mounting portion on which a plurality of ink cartridges are detachably mountable, each ink cartridge having an element which may be written with information, an accumulating means for accumulating a discharge amount of ink discharged for every ink cartridge mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, and a writing member for writing information into the element, in which the writing member writes information into an element in the ink cartridge selected according to an accumulated result of the accumulating means, out of the plurality of ink cartridges mounted on the cartridge mounting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yasuhiko Kosugi
  • Publication number: 20030117455
    Abstract: A method of servicing a pen comprising a printhead, having a plurality of nozzles, mounted in an inkjet printing device, comprising a servicing area and a drop detector comprising the following steps performing a drop detection on the printhead to check if any of the nozzles of the printhead are malfunctioning; storing the result of the more recent drop detection operation, together with the results of the previous drop detections to keep a history of the health status of each nozzle; deciding whether or not to execute a recovery service in the servicing area to attempt to recover the current malfunctioning nozzles, based on the more recent status of the nozzles and on the history of the health status of the nozzles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2002
    Publication date: June 26, 2003
    Inventors: Xavier Bruch, Xavier Girones, Antoni Murcia, Christopher Taylor, Ramon Vega
  • Publication number: 20030113729
    Abstract: Non-contact fluid deposition devices having multiple axis printhead adjusters are provided. The subject printhead adjusters are made up of a single rigid frame that holds at least one printhead housing, where in certain embodiments multiple printhead housings, e.g., two, are held in side-by-side configuration in the single rigid frame of the adjuster. Each housing is adjusted in said adjuster by its own set of axis adjustment elements, where the set includes a rotational axis adjustment element for each horizontal and/or vertical axis adjustment element that is present. In using the subject devices, a printhead present in the adjuster is loaded with a volume of fluid, which in many embodiments is a fluid that includes a biopolymer or precursor thereof. The loaded printhead is then placed in opposing relation to a surface of a substrate and actuated to deposit a volume of fluid on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2001
    Publication date: June 19, 2003
    Inventors: Lawrence J. DaQuino, Richard P. Tella
  • Publication number: 20030113730
    Abstract: Pulse jet printheads having multiple printhead dies and methods for their use in the deposition of fluids, typically fluids containing a biopolymer or precursor thereof, onto a substrate surface are provided. The subject printheads are characterized by having multiple printhead dies bonded to a surface of an orifice plate having multiple orifices to produce a printhead having at least one firing chamber, and typically a plurality of firing chambers. Also provided are printhead assemblies that include the subject printheads. In using the subject printheads and assemblies thereof, the firing chamber(s) is loaded with a volume of aqueous fluid that includes a biopolymer or precursor thereof. The loaded printhead is then placed in opposing relation to a surface of a substrate and actuated to deposit a volume of fluid on the substrate. The subject printheads and assemblies thereof find use in a variety of applications, including the production of biopolymeric arrays.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2001
    Publication date: June 19, 2003
    Inventors: Lawrence J. DaQuino, Michael P. Caren
  • Patent number: 6578949
    Abstract: A cap member (10) which is brought into contact with a nozzle forming surface of a recording head (15) to seal up the nozzle forming surface, and a wiping member (11) which may be brought into sliding contact with the nozzle forming surface of the recording head (15) are disposed on a cap holder (31). With progress of a cleaning operation in which ink is placed under a negative pressure, and sucked and discharged from the recording head, a cap retaining member (50) is moved upward and placed to a set state, whereby blocking the slanting and downward movement of the cap member (10). Then, the wiping member (11) located on the cap holder (31) slides on the nozzle forming surface to wipe the nozzle forming surface. To a flushing operation, the cap retaining member (50) is moved downward and placed to a reset state. In this state, the wiping member (11) does not slide on the nozzle forming surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaru Takahashi, Hitoshi Hayakawa, Kojiro IIzuka, Mitsugu Ota, Takashi Akase, Hideki Okumura
  • Patent number: 6572214
    Abstract: Disclosed is a pigmented fluid delivery system for an inkjet printing system. The pigmented fluid delivery system comprises a first printer component and at least a second printer component. The first printer component has a fluid outlet in fluid communication with a supply of pigmented fluid defined by particles suspended in a carrier fluid. The second printer component has a fluid inlet releasably connectable to the fluid outlet of the first printer component. The fluid inlet includes a filter compatible with the supply of pigmented fluid. The filter is an open weave screen defining a plurality of pores. The pores are sized to allow passage of the pigmented fluid while preventing clogging from flocculation of the particles and evaporation of the carrier fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: David R. Otis, Jr., Daniel W. Petersen, Donald L. Michael
  • Patent number: 6568789
    Abstract: A print head maintenance device is used in a printing device. The print head maintenance device cleans a print head of the printing device. The print head is movable on a horizontal track of the printing device. The print head has at least one linearly arranged nozzle array. When the print head moves across the maintenance device, the print head will connect with the maintenance device through the connecting device, making the connecting device capable of moving along the first track to slide the ink brush along the second track so as to clean remaining ink from the nozzle array of the print head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Acer Communications and Multimedia Inc.
    Inventors: Tsung-Te Lin, Ying-Hsien Kuo
  • Patent number: 6568788
    Abstract: The driving mechanism of the cleaner includes a drive shaft having a sun gear; a gear holding lever that is rotatably and pivotally supported between two rotation stop positions on the drive shaft and rotatably holds a planet gear, which is engaged with the sun gear; and a cleaner drive lever having an inner teeth that is juxtaposed on the gear holding lever, rotatably and pivotally supported on the drive shaft, and is engageable with the planet gear; wherein the cleaner drive lever is formed of a pivotally supporting lever that is caused to turn by engagement of the planet gear with the inner teeth by rotations of the sun gear in a rotation stop state of the gear holding lever and applies a driving force to the cleaner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Shimizu, Hitoshi Hayakawa, Norihiro Maruyama
  • Patent number: 6565185
    Abstract: It is an object of the invention to provide a technique for reducing the likelihood that cleaning will cause nozzle clogging. In periodic automatic cleaning of a printer that is not being used, the ejecting of ink droplets from each nozzle is tested prior to the cleaning to determine whether each nozzle is an operating nozzle capable of ejecting ink droplets or a non-operating nozzle incapable of ejecting ink droplets. The nozzles are only cleaned if non-operating nozzles are detected. The testing of the nozzles is also automatically carried out after cleaning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hironori Endo
  • Patent number: 6565184
    Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus detects loading of an ink cartridge into a loading portion based on information allocated to the cartridge. The cartridge carries characteristic information including information about manufacturing time of the cartridge. A recovery operation is executed by a discharge recovery device with the recovery operation being determined based on a time difference between the manufacturing time of the cartridge and the loading time when the cartridge is loaded into the loading portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Numata, Kazuyoshi Takahashi, Yoshiaki Takayanagi, Souhei Tanaka, Hiroshi Tajika, Noribumi Koitabashi, Hitoshi Sugimoto, Miyuki Fujita
  • Patent number: 6561622
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head 6 having a plurality of nozzles which are classified into at least two classes, and a driver 29 for causing ink to be jetted from the nozzles 15 to carry out a flushing operation. A setting unit 38 sets up volumes of ink which should be jetted from the nozzles 15 in such a manner that a volume of ink which should be jetted from a nozzle of a class is set up separately from a volume of ink which should be jetted from a nozzle of another class. A recovering operation controller 30 causes the driver to carry out the flushing operation of the nozzles 15 so that volumes of ink actually jetted from the nozzles 15 during the flushing operation are respectively coincident with the volumes of ink set up by the setting unit 38. The ink-jet recording apparatus can carry out the flushing operation more efficiently.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kazunaga Suzuki, Munehide Kanaya
  • Patent number: 6561612
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for monitoring print quality produced by a digital printing mechanism in real-time. Print quality is measured by: generating a background reflectance signal representative of the reflectance of a substrate; scanning the image to generate a post-print reflectance signal; comparing the reflectance signal with the post-print reflectance signal; and, if the post-print reflectance signal is greater than a predetermined fraction of said reflectance signal, generating an output signal indicative of poor quality. In one embodiment of the invention, the output signal is also generated if the post-print reflectance signal is less than a predetermined minimum value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventor: Kevin M. Minckler
  • Patent number: 6557969
    Abstract: An ink-jet printing apparatus and suction recovery control method which can minimize reduction in throughput while maintaining a printhead in the most appropriate condition, and can reduce the amount of wasted ink. According to the suction recovery control method, a printing period of predetermined printing operation is timed, and the number of print dots formed by discharging ink from a printhead during the predetermined printing operation is counted. Based on the timed printing period and counted number of print dots, the number of print dots per unit time is calculated. Then based on the calculated number of print dots per unit time, timing of suction recovery operation is determined, and suction recovery operation of the printhead is performed according to the determined timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shuichi Murakami, Toshiharu Inui, Yoshiyuki Touge, Masaya Uetsuki
  • Publication number: 20030081044
    Abstract: A method for determining service criteria for a printhead in a printer includes receiving an indication that service is needed, determining a calculated age of the printhead, and selecting a service procedure based on the determined calculated age. The selected service procedure has an impact on the long term life of the printhead that is proportional to the calculated age. The calculated age may be classified as a beginning of life phase, a middle of life phase or a maturity phase, and the service procedures may be selected such that the service procedure for the beginning of life phase has a low impact on the printhead's long term life, the service procedure for the middle of life phase has a moderate impact on the printhead's long term life, and the service procedure for the maturity phase has a severe impact on the printhead's long term life.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Inventors: Rosa Maria Gomez, Jose Jurjo
  • Publication number: 20030081045
    Abstract: There is disclosed an ink jet recording apparatus which performs printing on a recording medium to be subjected to processing such as pasting and folding after the printing, including an ink jet head in which a plurality of ink discharge nozzles are arranged to cross with respect to a conveyance direction of the recording medium, a spit position determining unit which determines a spit position based on size information and unexposed region information of the recording medium, and a spit control unit which controls spit of the ink jet head based on a spit position determining result of the spit position determining unit. Here, the unexposed region information defines regions on the recording medium surface which are unexposed or cut away after printing and processing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2002
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Applicant: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Megumi Shimizu, Atsushi Kubota
  • Publication number: 20030081036
    Abstract: A printhead for a hardcopy apparatus is calibrated by a separate device before being installed in the hardcopy apparatus. The calibration information produced is stored in a memory located in the printhead, in the device, in the hardcopy apparatus or in an external device. A carriage and several printheads may be calibrated simultaneously.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Inventor: Corrina Hall
  • Patent number: 6554392
    Abstract: A system and method for substantially optimizing print quality or throughput based upon user preferences through use of a left spittoon to perform servicing operations on the printhead of a printer. By virtue of the fact that print quality is inversely proportional to throughput, sacrificing one aspect yields an improvement in the other aspect. When a certain printmode is selected, e.g., draft, print, or the like, the throughput associated with printing according to the selected printmode may vary. Accordingly, a user may select to improve either the print quality, the throughput, or a combination thereof through implementation of the auxiliary spittoon to perform servicing operations on the printhead at various times during a printing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Ramon Vega, Xavier Girones, Xavier Bruch
  • Patent number: 6554393
    Abstract: To propose an ink-jet recording apparatus having a small-sized compact driving mechanism for driving an ink suction pump, an elastic blade for wiping a recording head, and a locking arm for locking a carriage. An ink suction pump 8, a locking arm for locking a carriage, and an elastic blade for wiping a recording head are driven by a driving mechanism for common use. The driving mechanism transmits the torque of a single motor via a driving gear to the ink suction pump. Moreover, the driving mechanism also converts the rotary motion into the locking movement of the elastic blade via a rotary cam plate frictionally engaging with the driving gear and further converts the locking movement of the elastic blade to the locking movement of the locking arm. The ink-jet recording apparatus can be made small-sized and compact by driving each driven portion using the driving mechanism for common use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Iwaya, Atsushi Nishioka
  • Patent number: 6550886
    Abstract: An ink jet recording device 1 includes a plurality of head modules 101 each formed with a plurality of nozzles. The ink jet recording device 1 prints a test pattern using the all nozzle of the head modules 101. Precise positions of dots forming the test pattern are detected, based on which positional shifts of the head modules 101 are calculated. The deflection amount and ink ejection timing for each head module 101 are changed based on the detected positional shift. In this manner, positional shifts of the assembled head modules 101 are electrically corrected without mechanically changing the physical positions of the head modules 101.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuo Shimizu, Takahiro Yamada, Shinya Kobayashi, Kunio Satou, Hitoshi Kida
  • Patent number: 6550888
    Abstract: In an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet head, an ink discharge from the head is executed to maintain and recover the discharge performance thereof. A cap is located opposite to the ink jet head when the maintaining and recovering ink discharge is performed, and receives the discharged ink. A waste ink tank receives ink exhausted from the cap. An ink pump transports ink received by the cap to the waste ink tank by performing idle suction. The number of times the idle suction is performed is variable, and is controlled by a control unit. The idle suction includes idle suction for recovery suction and idle suction for idle discharge. The idle suction for recovery suction is characterized as suction of ink when the cap caps the ink jet head, and the idle suction for idle discharge is characterized as suction of ink when the cap is communicated with atmosphere. The number of times of the idle suction is less for the idle suction for idle discharge than for the idle suction for recovery suction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuya Iwata, Jun Katayanagi, Hiroyuki Saito
  • Patent number: 6547367
    Abstract: In an ink jet print head including a plurality of ejection openings arranged therein for ejecting an ink, with the head carrying out printing by moving in a scanning direction relative to a printing medium, an ejection failure is detected promptly and accurately and adhesion of the ink to an ejection face on which the ejection openings are formed is also detected, without affecting print operation sequences. To achieve this, the following operations are performed: While an ink jet print head is being relatively moved in the scanning direction, a light beam is supplied diagonally of an arrangement direction of the plurality of ejection openings and in a direction traversing a trace of the ejected ink. The ink is ejected through the plurality of ejection openings in accordance with predetermined data, and a manner of ink ejection from each of the plurality of ejection openings is detected based on how the ejected ink is blocking the light beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Hamada
  • Patent number: 6543875
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for servicing a printer which has a processor and a display includes a component having circuitry for communicating a status of the component, where the processor, coupled to the component, further includes second circuitry for determining a service requirement for the component in response to analyzing the status of the component. Also included is an indicator, observable by a user performing the service at least when the display is not observable by the user, for indicating the service requirement to the user. The indicator may be included with the particular component, and may be a visual and/or an audible indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Jordi M. Gomez, Jose M. Rio Doval
  • Publication number: 20030063177
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a print head section having a nozzle for discharging ink; a paper feed section for feeding paper in a paper feed direction; a movement section for reciprocally moving the print head along a track formed in a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction; a maintenance section for performing a maintenance operation on the nozzle; a case for accommodating the above-mentioned sections; a cover attached to the case in an openable and closable manner; a detection section for detecting open and closed states of the cover and outputting detection signals representative of the open and closed states of the cover; and a control section for controlling drive of the movement section and the maintenance section according to the detection signals output by the detection section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2002
    Publication date: April 3, 2003
    Inventors: Sohichi Yoshimura, Hiroki Etoh, Naoyuki Kamei, Michiaki Nishimura, Yoshinori Hayashi
  • Publication number: 20030058302
    Abstract: The liquid-jetting apparatus has a liquid-jetting head with nozzle openings through which liquid particles are jetted. The liquid-jetting head performs a flushing operation to remove the thickened liquid from the nozzle openings to recover its normal liquid-jetting ability. The flushing operation jets liquid particles having a weight of 10 ng or below successively through the nozzle openings at a jetting speed of 8 m/s or above. The liquid-jetting apparatus is capable of achieving a satisfactory flushing operation to ensure a satisfactory liquid-jetting characteristic by recovering from a thickened state in a liquid in the nozzle openings even if the liquid is un-uniformly thickened in the nozzle openings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2002
    Publication date: March 27, 2003
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shuji Yonekubo, Junhua Chang, Keiji Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20030058299
    Abstract: It is an object of the invention to provide a technique for reducing the likelihood that cleaning will cause nozzle clogging. In periodic automatic cleaning of a printer that is not being used, the ejecting of ink droplets from each nozzle is tested prior to the cleaning to determine whether each nozzle is an operating nozzle capable of ejecting ink droplets or a non-operating nozzle incapable of ejecting ink droplets. The nozzles are only cleaned if non-operating nozzles are detected. The testing of the nozzles is also automatically carried out after cleaning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2002
    Publication date: March 27, 2003
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hironori Endo
  • Patent number: 6536866
    Abstract: An ink jet recording system includes a recovery device for maintaining and recovering performance of discharge from a plurality of discharge ports for discharging a plurality of different inks for recording, and a control device for controlling the apparatus such that a content of recovery by the recovery device for discharge ports not used for recording and a content of recovery by the recording device for discharge ports used for recording is different. The control device also controls the apparatus such that a content of recovery for a discharge port used for recording is based on whether a predetermined lapse time has passed since a previous recovery of the discharge port used for recording.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshio Uchikata
  • Patent number: 6536865
    Abstract: During ink-jet printhead servicing, nozzles fire ink droplets into a reservoir of a service station. An electrostatic drop detection circuit uses the difference between the voltage potential of the ink droplets and the voltage potential of the reservoir to create an output signal. The shape and amplitude of the signal are evaluated to determine the functionality of the printhead nozzles. The signal delay, associated with the flight time of the ink droplets, and the amplitude of the output signal are evaluated to determine the volume remaining within the reservoir of the service station. Using the remaining volume as a parameter, the rate at which printhead servicing may be calculated to optimize print quality and resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Sam Sarmast
  • Patent number: 6536864
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by a recording head includes a drive source rotatable in forward and reverse directions, and a drive changeover device for transmitting the driving force of the drive source. The drive changeover device drives a first mechanism by the rotation of the drive source in the forward direction, drives a second mechanism by the rotation of the drive source in the reverse direction, and prevents the malfunctioning of the second mechanism even when the first mechanism is driven by the rotation of the drive source in the reverse direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shoichi Kan
  • Publication number: 20030052938
    Abstract: A recovery method for an ink jet printing apparatus is provided which makes it possible to use as much ink in the ink tank as possible and minimize the residual ink volume at time of a tank replacement. The recovery method for keeping an ejection performance of the print head in appropriate condition by performing a recovery operation of discharging ink from the print head, therefore, includes the steps of: detecting a residual ink volume in the ink tank; and controlling a discharge ink volume to be discharged by the recovery operation when the residual ink volume detected by the residual ink volume detection step is less than or equal to a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Publication date: March 20, 2003
    Inventors: Toshiharu Inui, Masaya Uetsuki
  • Patent number: 6533383
    Abstract: An ink jet type printing apparatus, including: a print head having nozzle apertures from which ink droplets eject; an ink cartridge containing ink supplied to the print head; a memory device attached to the ink cartridge, the memory device storing information relating to ink contained in the ink cartridge; and an access control device for controlling accesses to the memory device for reading data from and writing data in the memory device, the access control device allowing the access to the memory device only when the print head is in non-printing status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Toshihisa Saruta, Satoshi Shinada
  • Patent number: 6533477
    Abstract: There is disclosed a thermosensitive line printer, wherein a heating element array of a thermal head is pressed on a thermosensitive recording paper at a distance L2 from a nipping position by a pair of conveyer rollers, and is driven to record an image frame line by line from a print starting end, as the recording paper is conveyed by the conveyer rollers in a direction from the thermal head to the conveyer rollers. Based on image data of an upper zone of an image frame that is to be recorded around the distance L2 from the print starting end if the image frame is recorded from its top side, an image analyzer calculates a first estimation value that represents conspicuousness of potential density deviation in the upper zone that could be caused by a thermal deformation of the thermosensitive recording paper at the print starting end if the image frame is recorded from the top side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Fukuda
  • Publication number: 20030038856
    Abstract: A system and method for substantially optimizing print quality or throughput based upon user preferences through use of a left spittoon to perform servicing operations on the printhead of a printer. By virtue of the fact that print quality is inversely proportional to throughput, sacrificing one aspect yields an improvement in the other aspect. When a certain printmode is selected, e.g., draft, print, or the like, the throughput associated with printing according to the selected printmode may vary. Accordingly, a user may select to improve either the print quality, the throughput, or a combination thereof through implementation of the auxiliary spittoon to perform servicing operations on the printhead at various times during a printing operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2001
    Publication date: February 27, 2003
    Inventors: Ramon Vega, Xevier Girones, Xavier Bruch
  • Publication number: 20030038855
    Abstract: An ink jet printing device has an ink jet printing head capable of moving back and forth along a print track to perform a printing job. The ink jet printing head has a plurality of nozzles and corresponding driving units. The servicing method has the steps: (1) recording status of each driving unit; (2) determining a service job corresponding to each individual driving unit with a predetermined rule according to the corresponding status of each driving unit when the ink jet printing head needs to be serviced, and (3) driving each driving unit to perform the corresponding service job.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2001
    Publication date: February 27, 2003
    Inventors: Chih-Hung Kao, Yu-Fan Fang
  • Patent number: 6523927
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a passage along which a recording medium with magnetic information recorded thereon can travel and an information read head disposed along the passage for reading the magnetic information. The apparatus also includes a first print head disposed on the first side of the passage and a second print head disposed on the second side of the passage. The first print head prints information on a first surface of the recording media based on data obtained by the information read head and the second print head prints information on a second surface of the recording media based on the data obtained by the information read head. Methods of processing a recording medium with magnetic information recorded thereon also are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Asai, Kunio Omura
  • Patent number: 6523932
    Abstract: A method of automatically servicing the orifices of an inkjet printhead particularly beneficial for inexpensive fixed or stationary printhead printers capable or printing onto either a series of discrete media sheets or onto a continuous media web. The method includes orifice servicing at the start of each character printing job and at periodic intervals during completion of print jobs. Printing ink is used for automatic cleaning or flushing of the printhead orifices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Eric Joseph Johnson
  • Patent number: 6523929
    Abstract: According to an image forming apparatus, a simple arrangement is used to switch the transmission of drive forces, produced by drive sources that are used in common by multiple drive mechanisms, without depending on the movement of a carriage, for example. The drive force produced by a line feed (LF) motor to drive feed rollers is transmitted to a pump cam in a recovery system via a pendulum drive force transmission mechanism, which is provided at one end close to the feed rollers. And the drive force produced by another motor to drive paper supply rollers is transmitted via the same pendulum drive force transmission mechanism to the paper supply rollers, or to a blade holder and a cap holder in the recovery system. Therefore, the transmission of the drive forces can be switched by controlling the rotational directions of the motors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shoichi Kan, Yasutsugu Saijo, Masahito Yoshida, Nozomu Nishiberi, Masaya Shinmachi
  • Patent number: 6517183
    Abstract: An improved apparatus for checking a plurality of printer nozzles in a printer device comprises: a printer head comprising a plurality of nozzles; a device for detecting at least one droplet of ink sprayed from at least one nozzle of said plurality of nozzles; and a device for performing a sequence of measurements on a first output signal of the detecting device, wherein a determination of performance of the print head is made by analyzing detected output signals produced by one or a plurality of ink droplets passing the detector, the one or plurality of ink droplets containing a predetermined minimum volume of ink, and the sequence of measurements being measured at a plurality of time intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Xavier Bruch, Xavier Girones, Albert Serra, Ramon Vega, Antoni Murcia
  • Patent number: 6517184
    Abstract: A method of servicing a pen comprising a printhead, having a plurality of nozzles, mounted in an inkjet printing device, comprising a servicing area and a drop detector comprising the following steps performing a drop detection on the printhead to check if any of the nozzles of the printhead are malfunctioning; storing the result of the more recent drop detection operation, together with the results of the previous drop detections to keep a history of the health status of each nozzle; deciding whether or not to execute a recovery service in the servicing area to attempt to recover the current malfunctioning nozzles, based on the more recent status of the nozzles and on the history of the health status of the nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Xavier Bruch, Xavier Girones, Antoni Murcia, Christopher Taylor, Ramon Vega
  • Patent number: 6517190
    Abstract: An ink jet printer has an ink jet printing head including plural nozzles arranged in a main scan direction, for ejecting ink. A feeder rollers move continuous recording sheet relative to the printing head in a sub scan direction, to print plural images to the continuous recording sheet. A system controller operates to clean the printing head in a beginning or ending position of respectively the plural images. The printing head prints a cutting indicia to the recording material upon being cleaned. The cutting indicia is adapted to separating the images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo FIlm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuo Matsumoto, Eiichi Kito, Kiyotaka Kaneko, Yasuyuki Hosono
  • Patent number: 6513902
    Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus for restoring an ink jet recording head which can securely recover the ink jet recording head from the ink non-ejection condition caused by foreign particles or bubbles adhering inside the ink passage of an ejecting nozzle and which can prevent unnecessary bubbles from generating in the ink jet recording head. In the restoring operation, in which foreign particles are discharged together with ink from the ejecting nozzle by pressurizing the ink in an ink tank, an inner pressure of an ink supply passage is adjusted to reach a set pressure value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Amano, Tatsuo Sugawara, Kunio Hakkaku
  • Patent number: 6513434
    Abstract: An on-press recording type lithographic printing method involving an ink jet process which comprises ejecting an oil-based ink onto a printing plate material mounted on the plate cylinder of a press utilizing an electrostatic field according to signals of image data, whereby an image is directly formed on the surface of said printing plate precursor, thereby preparing a printing plate which is then used as it is to effect lithographic printing, characterized in that when any abnormality occurs, the formation of image is suspended and/or the cause of abnormality is removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yusuke Nakazawa, Kazuo Ishii, Eiichi Kato, Sadao Ohsawa
  • Patent number: 6511150
    Abstract: An ink jet printer capable of performing an appropriate initialization process when power is turned on again when a cleaning process is in progress when the power is suddenly interrupted by a power failure or disconnection of the power cord. The present invention comprises a maintenance unit for an ink jet head; a memory 103; a power interruption detector 105 for detecting interruption of power supply to the printer; a storage controller 100 for storing a current operating status of the maintenance unit to the memory 103 when the power interruption detector 105 detects interruption of the power supply; and an initialization controller 100 for reading the maintenance unit operating status stored to the memory 103 when printer power is turned on, and performing different initialization operations according to the operating status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Satoshi Yoda, Atsushi Nishioka, Mitsuaki Teradaira
  • Patent number: 6505911
    Abstract: A method of controlling a micro injecting device performs spitting action which sprays ink from nozzles to maintain the clean state of the nozzles of the micro injecting device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Seung-Taik Hwang
  • Patent number: 6502919
    Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a restoration device for executing restoration of a discharge opening through which ink is discharged for recording; an openable cover for covering a recording device relevant to the recording; a detecting device for detecting whether said cover is in an open state or a close state; a switch provided in a position in which said switch is covered with said cover when said cover is in the close state and can be turned on when said cover is in the open state; and a control device for controlling the execution of the restoration of said discharge opening by said restoration device, if said detecting device detects that said cover is in the open state, and said switch is turned on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takayuki Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20020196304
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for servicing a pen in an inkjet printing device includes receiving a print job, determining a level of print quality required for the print job, detecting the operating characteristics of a number of nozzles to be used to print the print job; and, in the event that the operating characteristics of the nozzles are sufficient to meet the level of print quality, printing the print job. A maintenance procedure may be scheduled in the event that an individual one of the nozzles is not fully functional. In addition, the maintenance procedure may be scheduled to be performed during a time when the inkjet printing device is idle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2001
    Publication date: December 26, 2002
    Inventors: Rosa Maria Gomez, Jose Jurjo, Tod S. Heiles, Marc Serra, Ramon Vega, Xavier Bruch
  • Patent number: 6494560
    Abstract: When ink is sucked from the nozzles during a cleaning process, a rubber cap having a plural number of small spaces independently operable for ink suction is applied to a print head, and only the small space associated with a clogged nozzle of those nozzles of the print head is connected to a suction pump. A user looks up in advance the number and location of a clogged nozzle, judges the cause of the clogging of the nozzle on the basis of the number and location of the clogged nozzle, and selects a suitable type of cleaning process, a selective cleaning (based on the specified-nozzle suction) or a conventional cleaning (based on the all-nozzle suction).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Seshimo, Hikonosuke Uwai