International Business Machines Corporation

Lexmark International, Inc.

Gary Scott Keller

Jerome Michael Eldridge

Francis C Lee

Graham Olive

Francis Chee-Shuen Lee

Nicholas J Clecak

Barbara D Grant

Gary Scott Beardsley

George N Nelson

Annette B Jaffe

A system is provided for obtaining enhanced quality grayscale printing using standard printer architecture. An image to be printed is scanned to produce several bit maps for image pixels having different optical intensities. The different bit maps are handled by a standard print engine separately, in the same manner as multicolor bit maps would be handled. The image is then printed using a print head assembly having separate print heads for grayscale printing using different optical intensities. Thus, a printed image having enhanced resolution and quality, because of the optical intensity discrimination, is produced using a printer architecture which is the same as a standard multicolor printer architecture except for the front end, which scans for optical intensity, and the print head assembly, which has different print heads designed to produce different optical intensities. The print heads use either different ink dot sizes, inks having different pigment concentrations, or other suitable techniques for varying the optical intensity.

Grayscale printing system

A thermal drop-on-demand ink jet print head in which conductor electrodes are formed on opposed surfaces of a print head substrate and extend to the edge of the substrate. An array of heater elements is formed on the edge of the substrate in electrical contact with the conductor electrodes. A nozzle plate is mounted with a nozzle aligned with each heater element, and a manifold is positioned to provide ink to the space between the nozzle plate and the edge of the substrate so that a drop of ink can be ejected from the nozzle each time the associated heater element is energized with a data pulse applied to a selected one of the conductor electrodes.

Thermal edge jet drop-on-demand ink jet print head

A thermal drop-on-demand ink jet print head in which an array of heating means is provided on one surface of a substrate member. A common electrode provides electrical contact to the heating means, and an array of data electrodes provides electrical contact to individual ones of the heating means. An array of feed through conductors is provided which pass through to the opposite surface of the substrate member to provide electrical contact between one of the data electrodes and one of an array of conductors leading to spaced solder pads on the opposite surface of the substrate member. A nozzle plate is mounted adjacent to the substrate member with a nozzle adjacent to each of the heating means so that, upon connection of an electrical signal to one of the solder pads, the corresponding heating means is energized and a drop of ink is ejected from the adjacent nozzle. Various embodiments are described in which multiplexing techniques are used to achieve a reduction in electrical connections and electronic drivers.

Thermal drop-on-demand ink jet print head

Electrochromic display devices having very desirable stability and reversibility are obtained using as the oxidant certain fluorene compounds substituted with at least two alkoxy groups per molecule. The display device comprises a reactive medium between two electrically conductive electrodes at least one of which is transparent. The reactive medium comprises an anhydrous solvent and an oxidant/reductant pair.

Electrochromic display devices comprising substituted fluorene compounds

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Gary Scott Keller