Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Hewlett-packard Company

Bun Chay Te

Summer L Schneider

Charles Robert Weirauch

Joseph W Dody

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a compact, portable, external optical disc drives. In one embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc drive is comprised of one or more substrates having a width smaller than the diameter of an optical disc and that covers and protects one or more data recording surfaces of the optical disc. The optical disc drive may also include an external connector that is capable of plugging into an outlet of an electrical device so that the optical disc drive extends beyond an external sidewall of the electrical device and is electronically interconnected to the electrical device.

Compact and portable optical disc drive

A laser-actuatable inkjet printing system for printing an image from digital raster data onto a print medium is disclosed. The printing system includes at least a printhead having a laser-penetrable chamber for holding ink therein. The printhead also includes a plurality of nozzles defined through a wall of the printhead to connect to the chamber. The printing system further includes a laser for producing a laser beam that is scanned across the chamber for selectively expelling droplets of ink. The expulsion of ink is in accordance with the digital raster data. Ink is expelled through multiple adjacent nozzles simultaneously onto the print medium to form each pixel of the image.

Laser-actuatable inkjet printing system and printer

A mandrel for electroforming non-uniformly thick orifice plates and a method of making the mandrel are disclosed. The orifice plates have a thicker border surrounding a thinner orifice area. The mandrel has a metallic layer on a substrate. The metallic layer has a first molding surface that is electrically isolated from a second molding surface. The first and second molding surfaces are for substantially electroforming the border and the orifice area respectively. The mandrel also has dielectric areas patterned on the metallic layer for electroforming orifices in the orifice area. In use, the first molding surface is used to first electroform the border without electroforming the orifice area. As the border builds up, it electrically connects the first and the second molding surfaces to allow the second molding surface to subsequently electroform the orifice area.

Mandrel and orifice plates electroformed using the same

An improved printhead for easier manufacturing is disclosed. The printhead has a non-uniformly thick electroformed orifice plate having orifices electroformed therethrough. This electroformed orifice plate has a thin area and a thick area. The thick area defines projections from the thin area. The printhead also has a printhead die that includes transducers on a substrate. Each transducer matches to one of the orifices of the orifice plate. The printhead also has a barrier layer on the substrate that is developed to define ink channels and ink chambers for delivering ink to the transducers. The barrier layer is also developed to define a locator. When the orifice plate is attached to the printhead die during assembly, the projections on the orifice plate mesh with the locator on the barrier layer to substantially hold the orifice plate and the printhead die in place to align each orifice to a corresponding transducer.

Growing community of inventors

Singapore, Singapore

Bun Chay Te