Array Of Ejectors Patents (Class 347/40)
  • Publication number: 20100295898
    Abstract: A droplet discharge device includes a plurality of discharge heads configured and arranged to discharge droplets toward a plurality of pattern film formation regions disposed on a substrate with the pattern film formation regions including at least one narrow pattern film formation region that is narrower than the other pattern film formation regions. A number of the discharge heads corresponding to the narrow pattern film formation region is greater than a number of the discharge heads corresponding to one of the pattern film formation regions having an area that is larger than that of the narrow pattern film formation region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Publication date: November 25, 2010
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirofumi SAKAI, Toru SHINOHARA
  • Patent number: 7837298
    Abstract: A print head mounting assembly and a method of mounting and positioning a print head on a print head carriage framework suitable for mounting in a printing system includes a print head positioning device for receiving a print head, and a print head mounting tile having a mounting surface for mounting the print head positioning device. The print head mounting tile is adjustably mounted on the print head carriage framework such that it provides a mounting surface for the print head positioning device that is level with a reference printing surface, when the print head carriage framework is mounted in the printing system. The print head positioning device is adjustably mounted on the print head mounting tile such that the print head, being received in the print head positioning device, is accurately positioned on the mounting surface of the print head mounting tile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Agfa Graphics NV
    Inventors: Werner Van De Wynckel, Albert Brals, Bart Verhoest, Bartholomeus Verlinden
  • Publication number: 20100289993
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a color filter includes forming a bank on a substrate to partition the substrate into a plurality of drawing regions, and forming color filter layers in the drawing regions by selectively moving a droplet ejection head having nozzles in first and second scanning directions relative to the substrate and selectively ejecting a liquid from the nozzles into each of the drawing regions. The substrate is partitioned into the drawing regions including a plurality of ejection regions, into which the liquid is ejected. The ejection regions are arranged with a first prescribed pitch in the first scanning direction equal to an integer multiple of a pitch of the nozzles in the first scanning direction. The liquid is ejected from the same set of the nozzles before and after the droplet ejection head is moved relative to the substrate in the first scanning direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ryotaro MATSUYAMA
  • Patent number: 7832836
    Abstract: In an ink jet printing apparatus using many types of inks to execute bidirectional printing, when symmetrically arranged ejection opening rows for a cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are used in the print head, one-pass bidirectional printing is executed. On the other hand, if ejection opening rows for a black ink are used in addition to the above ejection opening rows, multi-pass printing is executed so that there are a number of dots formed with one application order for the black and other color inks and the same number of dots formed with another application order for the black and other color inks. This reduces the non-uniformity of the colors attributed to the difference in application order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Osamu Iwasaki, Kiichiro Takahashi, Naoji Otsuka, Minoru Teshigawara, Tetsuya Edamura, Yoshinori Nakagawa, Satoshi Seki
  • Patent number: 7832843
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head includes plural ejection outlets for ejecting droplets; liquid flow paths in fluid communication with the ejection outlets; and a liquid supply opening for supplying the liquid to the liquid flow paths. The ejection outlets include first and second ejection outlets disposed at least at one side of the liquid supply opening and are staggered. The first ejection outlets are nearer to the liquid supply opening than the second ejection outlets. Each of first recording elements corresponding to the first ejection outlets includes one rectangular heat generating resistor having a long side extending along a direction crossing with an arranging direction of the ejection outlets. Each of second recording elements corresponding to the second ejection outlets comprises plural rectangular heat generating resistors which are adjacent to each other at long sides thereof and are electrically connected in series.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaki Oikawa, Mineo Kaneko, Ken Tsuchii, Toru Yamane, Keiji Tomizawa, Mitsuhiro Matsumoto, Shuichi Ide, Kansui Takino, Naozumi Nabeshima
  • Patent number: 7832838
    Abstract: A printhead assembly with an elongate printhead IC having a nozzle face defining an array of nozzles, and a support structure for supporting the elongate printhead IC on an external surface such that its length is transverse to a media feed direction through the printer. The external surface has a section that is flush with a long side edge of the elongate printhead IC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Vesa Karppinen, John Douglas Peter Morgan, Michael John Hudson, Asanga Gunatilake, Laval Chung-Long-Shan, Martin Tiong We Tay, Akira Nakazawa, Norman Micheal Berry, Garry Raymond Jackson
  • Publication number: 20100277523
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus includes: an inkjet head including a plurality of nozzles which eject liquid containing a water-soluble high-boiling-point organic solvent having an SP value of 30 or lower at a concentration of 10 weight percent or higher and 25 weight percent or lower, a plurality of liquid chambers connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively, and a plurality of supply flow channels to any of which each of the plurality of nozzles is connected and which supply the liquid to the plurality of nozzles via the plurality of liquid chambers; a capping device configured to simultaneously cap the nozzles connected to the same supply flow channel, from a liquid ejection surface side of the inkjet head; a pressure application device which applies pressure to the liquid inside the nozzles via the capping device; and a pressure control device which controls the pressure application device so as to repeat pressurization and depressurization with respect to the liquid inside the nozzles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Inventor: Baku Nishikawa
  • Publication number: 20100277529
    Abstract: A method of printing and an apparatus for controlling the directionality of liquid emitted from nozzles of a printhead are provided. Example embodiments of the apparatus include directionality control of liquid jets or liquid drops using a liquid jet directionality control mechanism. Example embodiments of the liquid jet directionality control mechanism include asymmetric energy application device configurations, nozzle geometry configurations, liquid delivery channel geometry configurations, or combinations of these configurations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Inventors: Yonglin Xie, Carolyn R. Ellinger, Qing Yang
  • Patent number: 7824014
    Abstract: The purpose of this invention is to provide a head substrate capable of increasing layout efficiency. To achieve this purpose, an ink supply channel is arranged, and a plurality of printing element arrays are arranged on at least one side of the ink supply channel, and a plurality of driving element arrays are arranged adjacent to the plurality of printing element arrays. A plurality of power supply pads and a plurality of ground pads are arranged in areas between the plurality of driving element arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tatsuo Furukawa, Nobuyuki Hirayama
  • Patent number: 7823998
    Abstract: Even when ejection characteristics of ink droplets are dispersed between unit heads and when arrangement accuracies of unit heads are dispersed, stripe unevenness is alleviated by correction corresponding to each unit head. In a liquid ejection apparatus having a line head (10) arranged by juxtaposing a plurality of (unit) heads (11) of liquid ejection parts so as to connect the head (11) to the adjacent head (11), the liquid ejection apparatus includes ejection direction changing means for enabling the ejection direction of liquid droplets ejected from a nozzle of each liquid ejection part to change in a plurality of directions in the arranging direction of liquid ejection parts and reference direction setting means for individually setting one reference principal direction for each head (11) among a plurality of ejection directions of liquid droplets by the ejection direction changing means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Soichi Kuwahara, Kazuyasu Takenaka, Iwao Ushinohama, Yuichiro Ikemoto
  • Patent number: 7824009
    Abstract: A liquid ejection head capable of achieving satisfactory printing without nozzle misfiring in an area close to an end of a nozzle row and droplet misdirection is provided. The ejection orifices, except for dummy orifices, are provided with protrusions. Four operative ejection orifices located close to each of the ends of each ejection orifice row are defined as end-located ejection orifices. Each of the protrusions provided in the end-located ejection orifices has a shorter length than that of the protrusion provided in the ejection orifice located in the central portion of the nozzle row.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasunori Takei
  • Patent number: 7824010
    Abstract: A pagewidth inkjet printhead that has an array of droplet ejectors for ejecting drops of printing fluid onto print media fed passed the printhead in a media feed direction. Each drop ejector having a nozzle and an actuator for ejecting a drop of printing fluid through the nozzle. The array has more than 100000 of the droplet ejectors and extends in a direction transverse to the media feed direct between 200 mm and 330 mm. A pagewidth printhead with a large number of nozzles extending the width of the media provides a high nozzle pitch and a very high ‘true’ print resolution—i.e. the high number of dots per inch is achieved by a high number of nozzles per inch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7819496
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes: a recording head that moves in a main scanning direction and ejects ink from a plurality of nozzles toward a recording medium to perform a main scan; a conveying mechanism that conveys the recording medium in a sub-scanning direction by a predetermined conveyance amount to perform a sub-scan; and a control unit that controls the recording head and the conveying mechanism to repeat the main scan and the sub-scan alternatively to eject the ink on the recording medium at a position upstream in the sub-scanning direction with an interval satisfying a required resolution from the ink ejected on the recording medium in a previous main scan, the control unit setting the predetermined conveyance amount greater than a theoretical conveyance amount set based on a number of the nozzles being used and the required resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Yamane
  • Patent number: 7819502
    Abstract: The liquid ejection head includes: a plurality of pressure chambers into which liquid is filled; a plurality of nozzles which are connected to the pressure chambers; a common flow channel which supplies the liquid to the pressure chambers; a plurality of liquid ejection devices which cause the liquid inside the pressure chambers to be ejected through the nozzles; a selector circuit which selects one of the liquid ejection devices to be a destination of a drive signal; a first wiring substrate which transmits the drive signal outputted from the selector circuit to be applied to the one of the liquid ejection devices; and a second wiring substrate which transmits the drive signal to be inputted to the selector circuit, wherein the first wiring substrate is connected to a first face of a member constituting the selector circuit, and the second wiring substrate is connected to a second face of the member constituting the selector circuit, the first and second faces being different to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Katsumi Enomoto, Michiaki Murata, Yasuhiko Maeda
  • Patent number: 7815284
    Abstract: A liquid drop ejecting head includes a cavity section which is formed by laminating a plurality of plates including at least first and second manifold plates adjacent to each other in a laminating direction. Each of the first and second manifold plates includes an opening. The openings overlap with each other when viewed in the laminating direction. At least one of the openings includes: a first opening which extends in the first direction and serves as a common liquid chamber; a second opening which is adjacent to the first opening and serves as a supply path; and a partitioning portion disposed between the first opening and the second opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushik Kaisha
    Inventor: Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 7815278
    Abstract: A detection unit to optically detect a discharge condition of a droplet is disclosed. The detection unit includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element disposed on opposite sides of an area through which a droplet discharged from a droplet-discharger passes. A diaphragm plate having an aperture and another diaphragm plate having at least two apertures arranged at a pitch in a discharge direction are respectively disposed near front surfaces of the two elements. When light emitted from the light emitting element passes through the apertures, two light beams are received by the light receiving element. When the droplet is discharged and passes in front of the apertures, the two light beams are blocked sequentially by the ink droplet, which causes the quantity of light received by the light receiving element to change, thereby inducing a change in an output from the light receiving element. Based on the change in the output, a discharge-condition of the droplet is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Unosawa, Tadashi Yamamoto, Takuya Tsujimoto, Yasutaka Mitani
  • Publication number: 20100259581
    Abstract: A method for arranging liquid droplet ejection heads includes: arranging and fixing a plurality of inkjet liquid droplet ejection heads, ejecting a common functional liquid, on a common carriage plate, based on the amount of liquid droplets ejected from a number of ejecting nozzles in a nozzle row that each of the liquid droplet ejection heads has, with the heads shifted in a direction of the nozzle row, the heads being so arranged and fixed that in the heads closely aligned in the direction of the nozzle row, a difference between the amounts of liquid droplets ejected from two ejection nozzles located at each innermost end of the heads is within a predetermined range of tolerance, and the amounts of liquid droplets ejected from two ejection nozzles located at the outermost ends in the direction of the nozzle row are within a predetermined range of a reference amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2010
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toru IGARASHI, Yuichiro IWAI
  • Patent number: 7812994
    Abstract: A handheld printer that provides an appropriate application of ink to a print medium without a bulky and complex mechanical system for positioning a print head with respect to the print medium. A handheld printer according to the present teachings includes a navigation subsystem that tracks a motion of the handheld printer with respect to a printing surface and a print head controller that causes a print head to fire ink drops onto the printing surface in response to the motion and in response to an image contained in an image buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Marvell International Technology Ltd.
    Inventors: Gregory F. Carlson, Patrick A. McKinley, Todd A. McClelland, James D. Bledsoe, Asher Simmons
  • Patent number: 7810895
    Abstract: An ink jet recording head configured to perform recording by discharging at least two types of ink onto a recording medium while scanning the recording medium. The head includes a first discharge port group and a second discharge port group configured to discharge a first ink, and a third discharge port group and a fourth discharge port group configured to discharge a second ink different from the first ink. The fourth discharge port group discharges a smaller amount of ink at a time from a single discharge port than the third discharge port group, the second discharge port group discharges a smaller amount of ink at a time from a single discharge port than the first discharge port group. The fourth discharge port group discharges a smaller amount of ink at a time from a single discharge port than the first discharge port group, and discharges a larger amount of ink at a time from a single discharge port than the second discharge port group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 7806497
    Abstract: A printing method etc. capable of suppressing degradation in image quality of border sections between regions respectively printed by a plurality of nozzle rows that eject ink droplets is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Toyohiko Mitsuzawa
  • Patent number: 7806511
    Abstract: In a liquid ejection apparatus, common liquid chambers adjacent to each other and connection passages extending from the adjacent common liquid chambers are separated by a partition wall. The partition wall has a first side surface and a second side surface opposite the first side surface. The first side surface define one of side surfaces of the common chamber and one of side surfaces of the connection passage extending from the common chamber. The second side surface defines one of side surfaces of the other common chamber and one of side surfaces of the other connection passage extending from the other common chamber. The partition wall has a curved surface connecting the first side surface to the second side surface in a vicinity of a position where the connection passages having the partition wall placed therebetween are connected to each other. A curvature of the curved surface is larger than a curvature of an arc having a diameter equal to a width of the partition wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 7806500
    Abstract: A printer comprises a processor and a printhead. The processor comprises an address, data and control bus; an expander unit and a decoder unit each coupled to the bus and configured respectively to decompress a bi-level black layer and a contone layer of a page to be printed; and a halftoner/compositor unit which is coupled to the bus, and is configured to halftone the decompressed contone layer to form a bi-level cyan, yellow, magenta, and black (CYMK) layer and then composite the decompressed bi-level black layer over the bi-level CYMK layer to form a bi-level CYMK image of the page to be printed The printhead is interfaced to the processor and comprises a plurality of nozzles grouped in pods, the nozzles of a pod sharing a common ink reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7806512
    Abstract: The order of the arrangement of ejection opening arrays of two types of ink overlapping in reciprocating scan is decided as follows. An ejection order is decided so that the case where the fixing areas of a main droplet and a satellite are different (dot area is increased) in the forward and backward scan first occurs. By this configuration, the area of the dot and the portion in which different colors are generated due to the difference in the overlapping order in the reciprocating scan can be reduced, compared with the case where the arrangement order is opposite to the above-described case. As a result, a difference in color between areas for which printing is completed by the reciprocating scanning is reduced and thus color unevenness of a printed image can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Wakako Yamamoto, Hidehiko Kanda, Hirokazu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7806517
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording head has two kinds of nozzles discharging different volumes of ink-drops. Large nozzles discharging larger ink-drops and small nozzles discharging smaller ink-drops are disposed alternately along a side of a common liquid chamber. The opening area of the large nozzles is larger than that of the small nozzles. Flow paths communicating with the small nozzles are shorter than those communicating with the large nozzles. Since the smaller ink-drops are discharged at higher frequency than the larger ink-drops, printing speed in high-quality recording using mainly the smaller ink-drops is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Chiaki Muraoka
  • Publication number: 20100245472
    Abstract: A printhead assembly includes a printhead assembly having printhead integrated circuits each with a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements for ejecting ink; an ink distribution assembly supporting the printhead integrated circuits, said ink distribution assembly defining a plurality of longitudinal ink ducts extending along a length of the assembly, and a plurality of ink inlet ports in fluid communication with respective ink ducts; a plurality of ink crossover channels defined over and across the plurality of longitudinal ink ducts, the ink crossover channels connecting the ink inlet ports to respective longitudinal ink ducts; and an ink cassette defining a plurality of ink reservoirs in fluid communication with the ink ducts via a ink hoses engaged with respective ink inlet ports.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Publication number: 20100245471
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid droplet ejection head module comprising: a plurality of ejection surfaces, each ejection surface comprising a pair of first sides extending in a direction intersecting with a first direction, and a pair of second sides linking the pair of first sides and extending in a direction inclined with respect to the first direction; first nozzles that are provided on the ejection surfaces; and second nozzles that are provided on the ejection surfaces, wherein, when the plurality of ejection surfaces are linearly arranged such that the second sides overlap and the first nozzles and the second nozzles are projected in a direction orthogonal to the first direction, the projected first nozzles and the second nozzles are arranged in equal intervals in the direction orthogonal to the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuo Sanada
  • Patent number: 7802868
    Abstract: The nozzle plate has: a first metal layer in which a hole section corresponding to a nozzle hole is formed; a liquid-repellent layer formed on a front surface of the first metal layer, an inner surface of the hole section in the first metal layer, and an opening perimeter region of the hole section on a rear surface of the first metal layer; and a second metal layer formed on a rear surface side of the first metal layer, wherein the liquid-repellent layer on the rear surface of the first metal layer is sandwiched between the first metal layer and the second metal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroshi Ohta
  • Patent number: 7803420
    Abstract: Method of and apparatus for depositing a spacer on a substrate is provided. The invention includes depositing a first ink including an adhesive agent on a first area of the substrate and depositing a second ink including supporting elements on a second area of the substrate, the second area greater than and encompassing the first area. A portion of the second ink evaporates such that the supporting elements within the second ink migrate into the first area and bond to the adhesive agent in the first ink, forming a spacer. Numerous other aspects are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Si-Kyoung Kim, Sheng Sun, John M. White
  • Patent number: 7802871
    Abstract: A nozzle arrangement for use in an integrated circuit device is provided. The nozzle arrangement comprises a wafer substrate, a nozzle chamber wall disposed on the substrate, which with a roof wall defines a nozzle chamber, the roof wall forming an ejection port that is in fluid communication with the nozzle chamber, an inlet channel which extends through the substrate to the nozzle chamber, a thermal actuator having an actuating arm that extends through an opening in the nozzle chamber wall into the nozzle chamber for ejection of fluid from the ejection port, and a sealing structure depending from the actuating arm within the nozzle chamber wall opening. The sealing structure, nozzle chamber wall and roof wall are complementarily configured so as to form fluidic seals therebetween within the nozzle chamber wall opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7802869
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a printing head having nozzle units, a main scanning control unit, a sub scanning control unit, and a printing pass setting unit. Each nozzle unit includes a nozzle array where the nozzles are arranged in a nozzle array direction. The main scanning control unit makes the printing head to scan in a main scanning direction while the nozzle units discharge ink drops. The sub scanning control unit relatively moves the printing head with respect to the medium in a sub scanning direction. The printing pass setting unit correlates each of the nozzles with each of multiple printing passes to be printed at once by a scanning of the printing head in the main scanning direction, and sets discharging nozzles among the nozzles to discharge ink drops to the printing passes not to overlap boundaries of the printing passes with boundaries of the nozzle units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shinya Nakano
  • Patent number: 7798603
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead with an array of nozzles for ejecting drops of printing fluid onto print media. The print media moves in a print direction relative to the printhead and the nozzles in the array are spaced apart from each other by less than 10 microns in the direction perpendicular to the print direction. With nozzles spaced less than 10 microns apart in the direction perpendicular to the print direction, the printhead has a very high ‘true’ print resolution—i.e. the high number of dots per inch is achieved by a high number of nozzles per inch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7800089
    Abstract: A printing system includes a platen; a photosensor including an integrated lens; a light source configured to provide light, the light source including an integrated lens; and an aperture disposed to provide a field of view, the field of view being a portion of a plane parallel to the platen, wherein reflected light from the light source passes through the aperture to the photosensor without passing through an external lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Greg M. Burke, Brian Sinofsky, Yang Shi
  • Publication number: 20100231645
    Abstract: A printhead for an inkjet printer includes a wafer assembly defining rows of spaced apart ink supply channels; and rows of ink ejection nozzle groups extending from the wafer assembly, each nozzle group including a pair of rows of ink ejection nozzles, each ink ejection nozzle including an ink ejection head from which an elongate actuator tail extends, all of the ink ejection heads of each group being in fluid communication with a respective ink supply channel. In each nozzle group, the actuator tails of one pair of rows of ink ejection nozzles extend in an opposite direction to the actuator tails of the other pair of rows of ink ejection nozzles. The actuator tails from adjacent rows of ink ejection nozzle groups are interleaved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7794062
    Abstract: An ink-jet printer head comprises a plurality of pressure chambers, a plurality of restricting passages which are arranged in parallel and are respectively connected to the plurality of pressure chambers, and a dummy restricting passage provided to be located adjacent a restricting passage located at an end in a direction in which the restricting passages are arranged. The pressure chambers other than the pressure chamber located at an end in which the pressure chambers are arranged are respectively configured to at least partially overlap with passages connected to their adjacent pressure chambers as viewed from above, and the dummy connecting passage forms an inner space at least partially overlapping with the pressure chamber located at the end as viewed from above.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 7794061
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead with an array of droplet ejectors arranged in adjacent rows, each nozzle having a nozzle, a chamber for containing printing fluid and a corresponding actuator for ejecting the printing fluid through the nozzle. Each of the chambers has a respective inlet to refill the printing fluid ejected by the actuator. A printing fluid supply channel extends parallel to the adjacent rows for supplying printing fluid to the actuator of each droplet ejector in the array via the respective inlets. The inlets for one of the adjacent rows configured for a refill flowrate that is substantially the same as the refill flowrate through the inlets for another of the adjacent rows. The invention configures the nozzle array so that several rows are filled from one side of an ink supply channel. This allows a greater density of nozzles on the printhead surface because the supply channel is not supplying just one row of nozzles along each side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7794048
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead that has a support member for mounting it into a printer body adjacent a media feed path. A plurality of printhead IC's are mounted contiguously adjacent each other along the support member. Each of the printhead IC's has an array of nozzles, the array of nozzles on each printhead IC being identical and arranged into a series of nozzle rows such that most nozzles in each nozzle row are co-linear with the corresponding nozzle row in an adjacent printhead IC. The array of nozzles on each printhead IC is elongate and has an end portion of the array with the nozzles displaced downstream from the remainder of the array with respect to the media feed path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Simon Robert Walmsley
  • Patent number: 7794053
    Abstract: Inkjet printheads with high nozzle areal density are disclosed. Various structures are shown where the areal density of nozzles is greater than 200 million per square meter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7794046
    Abstract: A fluid ejection system includes a receiver transport system configured to transport a receiver in a first direction, a first fluid ejection head including a first set of fluid ejection nozzles to deposit fluid drops on a first surface of the receiver, and a second fluid ejection head including a second set of fluid ejection nozzles to deposit fluid drops on a second surface of the receiver. The first set of fluid ejection nozzles are distributed in a first region that extends at least up to an edge of the first surface that is substantially parallel to the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard Baker
  • Patent number: 7794047
    Abstract: An imaging array and method of forming an imaging array includes a plurality of staggered imaging dies formed as a row of alternating open spaces and imaging dies. A plurality of driver dies can be adaptively arranged in the open spaces formed by the staggered imaging dies. The use of the open spaces between the staggered imaging dies allows for a color imaging array that occupies a waterfront of approximately 20 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Donald Drake, Peter Nystrom
  • Patent number: 7789484
    Abstract: A printer-plotter includes first and second heads which are supported by a guide rail and are movable along a longitudinal direction of the guide rail, independently. A driving member is supported by the guide rail and configured to move along the longitudinal direction between the first head and the second head. A first connecting mechanism is configured to connect the first head to the driving member detachably. A second connecting mechanism is configured to connect the second head to the driving member detachably. The first head is connected to the driving member by the first connecting mechanism and the second head is separated from the driving member in order to make the first head operate. The second head is connected to the driving member by the second connecting mechanism and the first head is separated from the driving member in order to make the second head operate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Takada, Tadanori Ipponyari, Eiji Miyashita, Tetsuharu Ikeda, Akio Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7789492
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a plurality of flow channel units, each of which includes a pressure generating chamber operable to generate pressure therein and a nozzle plate formed with a nozzle from which liquid is ejected by the pressure; a plurality of drive units, each of which includes a piezoelectric vibrator operable to apply a pressure vibration to the pressure generating chamber, and which correspond to the plurality of the flow channel units, respectively; and a head casing, in which the plurality of the drive units are stored, and to which the plurality of the flow channel units are fixed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Fujio Akahane
  • Publication number: 20100220146
    Abstract: A fluid ejection apparatus includes a substrate having a plurality of fluid passages for fluid flow and a plurality of nozzles fluidically connected to the fluid passages, a plurality of actuators positioned on top of the substrate to cause fluid in the plurality of fluid passages to be ejected from the plurality of nozzles, a protective layer formed over at least a portion of the plurality of actuators, a housing component having a chamber, the chamber adjacent to the substrate, and an absorbent layer inside the cavity. The absorbent layer is more absorptive than the protective layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Publication date: September 2, 2010
    Inventors: Christoph Menzel, Paul A. Hoisington, Michael Ducker, Kevin Von Essen, Andreas Bibl
  • Patent number: 7784902
    Abstract: A printhead integrated circuit having a monolithic wafer substrate supporting an array of droplet ejectors for ejecting drops of printing fluid onto print media. Each drop ejector has a nozzle and an actuator for ejecting a drop of printing fluid through the nozzle. The array has more than 10000 of the droplet ejectors so that it provides a high nozzle pitch and the printhead has a very high ‘true’ print resolution—i.e. the high number of dots per inch is achieved by a high number of nozzles per inch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7784903
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a printhead assembly for a printer system. The printhead assembly includes an elongate substrate defining a channel and spaced apart sets of ink supply holes. Printhead modules are mounted serially along the substrate outside the channel. Each printhead module includes an ink ejection integrated circuit in fluid communication with a respective set of ink supply holes. An ink distribution arrangement is located within the channel and distributes ink to the sets of ink supply holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7784904
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting head includes a plurality of nozzles, each including an ejection outlet for ejecting a droplet, an ejection energy generating element, disposed at a position opposing the ejection outlet, for generating energy for ejecting a droplet, a pressure chamber provided with the ejection energy generating element and fluidly communicating with the ejection outlet, and a supply passage for supplying the liquid to the pressure chamber. The nozzles include a first nozzle and a second nozzle, which are connected with respective supply passages having lengths different from each other. The first nozzle and the second nozzle are disposed at one end portion with respect to a widthwise direction of an elongated supply chamber for supplying the liquid to the first nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shuichi Ide, Mineo Kaneko, Ken Tsuchii, Toru Yamane, Masaki Oikawa, Keiji Tomizawa, Mitsuhiro Matsumoto, Kansui Takino
  • Patent number: 7784425
    Abstract: A droplet ejecting apparatus includes a stage which holds a substrate; R (red), G (green), and B (blue) head groups for ejecting droplets of the R, G, and B colors, respectively, each of the head groups including at least one head; and a carriage which holds the R, G, and B head groups. In the apparatus, droplets of the R, G, and B colors are ejected to R, G, and B colored portions on the substrate from the R, G, and B head groups, respectively, during movement of the carriage relative to the stage in a first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Ryoichi Matsumoto, Takashi Okusa
  • Patent number: 7780256
    Abstract: An inkjet printer comprising: an array of nozzles arranged into rows, each row consisting of a plurality of nozzle groups, the nozzles in each group being interspersed with nozzles from the other groups; and, associated drive circuitry for actuating the nozzles in the row in accordance with a firing sequence, the firing sequence enabling the nozzles in each group to eject printing fluid simultaneously, and enabling each of the groups to eject printing fluid in succession; wherein, the nozzles in each group are spaced from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles and, each of the nozzles in a group is spaced from the nozzles in the subsequently enabled group by at least the predetermined minimum number of nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: John Robert Sheahan, Mark Jackson Pulver, Brian Christopher Morahan, Alireza Moini, Timothy Peter Gillespie, Michael John Webb, Brian Robert Brown, Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7780262
    Abstract: A printing cartridge for an inkjet printer is provided having an ink supply and a printhead assembly which has at least one printhead integrated circuit having ink ejection nozzles and an ink distribution support mounting the printhead integrated circuit(s). The ink distribution support distributes ink from the ink supply to the nozzles. The printing cartridge is mounted to the printer at the ink distribution support which is provided with at least one reference feature. The reference feature(s) serves to provide information on the location of the nozzles upon mounting of the printing cartridge to the printer. The printhead integrated circuit(s) has at least 6400 nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Christopher Hibbard, Kia Silverbrook, Akira Nakazawa, Garry Raymond Jackson, John Douglas Peter Morgan
  • Publication number: 20100201744
    Abstract: A liquid jet recording head includes a substrate including a plurality of discharge energy generating elements, and a plurality of ink supply ports positioned along an array direction of the plurality of discharge energy generating elements and separated from each other by beams, a plurality of ribs supported by the beams, and an orifice plate supported by the plurality of ribs, wherein the orifice plate includes discharge ports for discharging liquid droplets which enter from the plurality of ink supply ports and is provided with discharge energy by the plurality of discharge energy generating elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2010
    Publication date: August 12, 2010
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akiko Saito, Masataka Sakurai, Yoshiyuki Nakagawa, Ken Tsuchii, Akira Shibasaki, Masao Furukawa, Seiichi Kamiya, Yusuke Imahashi
  • Publication number: 20100201745
    Abstract: A printhead assembly includes an elongate support structure; a series of wall sections extending a length of a first surface of the elongate support structure, the series of wall sections delineating ink supply channels therebetween; a plurality of carriers positioned end-to-end in the gap and supported by said edges of the walls, the carriers defining therethrough ink supply passages in fluid communication with the ink supply channels; a printhead integrated circuit mounted on each carrier to receive ink from respective ink supply channels; and a serrated channel extending a length of a second surface of the elongate support structure, the serrated channel for receiving fastening means therein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Publication date: August 12, 2010
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook