Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Jason R Arbeiter

Ronald Albert Askeland

Jason M Quintana

James A Feinn

Matthew Grant Lopez

Arthur King Wilson

Michael S Gray

Patricia S Brown

David D Helfrick

Gary M Nobel

William Scott Osborne

Steven Warren Steinfield

George Sarkisian

Brent W Richtsmeier

Craig A Maurer

Alireza Rahimi

Aneesa R Scandalis

Morgan G Jones

Isabel Borrell Bayona

Brad Nakano

Michael Scott Gray

The present disclosure is drawn to an ink set, which can include an ink composition and a fixer composition. The ink composition can include from 2 wt % to 8 wt % pigment, from 0.1 wt % to 0.5 wt % dye, from 2 wt % to 10 wt % polyurethane, and an aqueous ink vehicle. The fixer composition can include from 3 wt % to 15 wt % divalent metal salt, and an aqueous fixer vehicle.

Ink sets

A media print system includes two or more printhead carriages adapted to print on a medium in a print area, the print area including two or more print regions. Each of the printhead carriages is adapted to print in one or more of the print regions. The system also includes a controller adapted to reconfigure a positioning of the two or more printhead carriages in a configuration selected from a predetermined set of configurations. The controller is adapted to reconfigure the positioning each time a predetermined criterion is satisfied.

System and method for leveling printhead carriage usage

A swath printing system and under/overprinting method compensate for the effects of defective printing elements by adjusting the under/overprinting map used during printing regions of a uniform color, typically black, to minimize the adverse impact on print quality of unprinted 'white space' caused by the defective printing elements. A printing element quality detector determines which printing elements are functional and which are defective. Based on this information, a print controller then selects or constructs an under/overprinting map having under/overprinting pixel positions chosen to reduce these adverse effects on print quality caused by the defective printing elements, thus maintaining high image quality for the printed output.

Variable density under/overprinting maps for improving print quality

The present invention includes as one embodiment an inkjet printing method for decreasing dot placement artifacts of a thermal inkjet printhead having at least one substrate having nozzle rows each associated with a print data row, the method including variably mapping each nozzle row to a print data row based on a swath height error of the substrate to reduce the artifacts caused by the swath height error.

Variable mapping of nozzle rows to decrease dot placement artifacts of an inkjet printhead

The present invention includes as one embodiment an inkjet printing method for decreasing dot placement artifacts of an inkjet printhead having at least two substrates, each with overlapping and non-overlapping nozzle rows, the method including selectively disabling at least one ink ejection element associated with at least one nozzle in the overlapping nozzle rows based on a swath height error of the substrate.

Disabling ink ejection elements to decrease dot placement artifacts in an inkjet printhead

Within a printer, compensation is provided for color migration within ink drops. Color compensation is provided by varying firing frequency of each print nozzle so as to fire high frequency bursts of ink drops. Each print nozzle is idle, not being used to eject ink drops, between high frequency bursts of ink drops.

Burst mode printing to compensate for colorant migration

The present invention includes as one embodiment an inkjet printing method for decreasing print banding in a thermal inkjet printhead having a plurality of substrates with adjacent overlapping and non-overlapping regions between the substrates, the method comprising synchronizing a difference in time delay between ink ejected from the adjacent overlapping and non-overlapping regions of each substrate to reduce the difference.

System and method for decreasing print banding with time delay synchronization of ejected ink

A printer having precision ink drying capability and method of assembling the printer. The printer comprises a print head that is adapted to eject a plurality of ink drops through outlet orifices defined by the print head. The ink drops form a plurality of ink marks at a plurality of locations on a recording medium positioned opposite the outlet orifices. A plurality of heaters is disposed near the print head for heating the ink marks on the recording media in order to dry the ink marks. Drying the ink marks fixes the ink to the recording media. A plurality of sensors, that are disposed near the print head are also coupled to respective ones of the heaters for sensing the locations of the ink marks on the recording media. In addition, a controller interconnects each of the heaters to respective ones of the sensors for selectively energizing the heaters according to the locations of the ink marks sensed on the recording media by the sensors. Thus, the controller selectively informs the heaters of the locations of the ink marks on the recording media as the sensors sense the ink marks. In this manner, the heaters dry only the locations having ink marks with optimized energy output.

Printer having precision ink drying capability and method of assembling the printer

A method for improving the quality of printing processes involving black pixel depletion by printing composite ink in pixel spaces where a black pixel depletion process leaves unfilled pixel spaces. Black pixel depletion data are employed (for example, a depletion mask is inverted) to generate a composite printing mask which designates pixel spaces which are candidates for being filled in with a composite ink. In a preferred embodiment, edge pixels of black fill areas are excluded from the candidate pixels. In a preferred embodiment, the white pixel spaces are filled in by printing a plurality of different colored inks (e.g., cyan/magenta/yellow or cyan/magenta) within these unfilled pixel spaces. In a preferred embodiment, the composite printing mask additionally serves as an under/overprinting (UOP) map.

Method for improving the quality of printing processes involving black pixel depletion

A swath printing system and pixel depletion methods compensate for the effects of defective printing elements by adjusting the pixel depletion mask used during printing to minimize the amount and location of extraneous unprinted spaces caused by the defective printing elements. A printing element quality detector determines which printing elements are functional and which are defective. Based on this information, an image processor then selects or constructs a depletion mask having depleted pixel positions chosen to reduce the adverse effects on print quality caused by the defective printing elements, thus maintaining high image quality for the printed output. Pixel depletion is preferably performed at the image pixel level, but can alternatively be performed at the color plane pixel level.

Adaptive depletion masks for improving print quality

To prevent rubbing of the printing mechanism against still wet ink on a buckled or curled sheet of an absorbent print medium after an inkjet printer has printed one swath of a high density image, printing of the next swath is delayed as a function of the maximum density of the ink drops deposited on the print medium for the printed swath(s). The required delay in printing the next swath is dependent on print mode and preferably uses a formula with empirically derived constants to allow sufficient time for the solvent in the ink to evaporate or otherwise disperse and to permit any buckling or curling of the print medium to stabilize. In one preferred embodiment, a maximum density is calculated by counting drops of ink in each of several overlapping grids, and the magnitude and location of the maximum density grid on a prior page is also used to limit the throughput of a next page until a sufficient delay has elapsed to ensure that ink on the prior page will not be smeared when it comes into contact with the next page.

Densitometer for adaptive control of ink drying time for inkjet printer

An improved electrical interconnect system for a flexible circuit which includes: a flexible first layer; at least one protrusion on the flexible first layer that has an electrical contact; a second layer having at least one electrical contact; and a spring apparatus coupled to the flexible first layer and to the second layer for pressing the electrical contact on a protrusion on the flexible first layer to the electrical contact on the second layer to electrically connect the electrical contact on the protrusion to the electrical contact on the second layer. In a specific embodiment the spring apparatus for pressing the electrical contact on the protrusion of the flexible first layer to the electrical contact on the second layer includes relief for allowing the flexible first layer to deform during assembly of the improved electrical interconnect system for a flexible circuit. In an alternate specific embodiment the electrical contacts on the protrusions on the flexible first layer and the corresponding electrical contacts on the second layer are coated with gold. In another alternate specific embodiment the improved electrical interconnect system includes an alignment apparatus coupled to the flexible first layer and the second layer and the spring apparatus for aligning the flexible first layer with the second layer and the spring apparatus. The improved electrical interconnect system for a flexible circuit provides higher interconnect density, reduced cost and increased reliability compared to conventional interconnect systems.

Electrical interconnect system for a flexible circuit

An improved interconnect system for an inkjet printer. The inventive interconnect system includes first and second unitary flexible circuits having first and second sets of contacts, respectively, for providing first and second electrical interconnections, respectively. The first and second flexible circuits are aligned and retained so that contacts thereon engage corresponding contacts disposed on a rigid support. In a specific implementation, the first flexible circuit is aligned by a first set of pins arranged along a first axis and the flexible circuit is aligned by a second set of pins arranged along a second axis, perpendicular to the first axis. This arrangement allows for the alignment and mounting of two flexible circuits on a single printer carriage without a substantial increase in the width thereof. The first flexible circuit may be used to connect the inkjet pens to the electronic drive circuit and the second flexible circuit may be used to connect a paper sensor or other device to the electronic circuit.

Electrical interconnect system for multiple flexible circuits

An inkjet printer (10) has a movable carriage (12) supported above an ink-receiving medium by a rail (14) defining a carriage axis. A cartridge holder (16) is mounted on the carriage and having at least one cartridge compartment (18), each of the at least one compartment having a compliant compartment wall (82). Each compartment is providing with an opening at one end (19) of the carriage floor for receiving the snout (72) of an ink jet printer cartridge (20) on which is mounted a nozzle plate with more that one nozzle for depositing ink onto the ink-receiving medium. Each compartment is also provided with equalizing structure for maintaining the cartridge substantially perpendicular to the carriage axis when the compliant compartment wall is deflected by a spring at the middle of the compartment forcing two datum surfaces on the cartridge against front and rear supporting surfaces on the compartment wall. The equalizing structure preferably includes a second opening (21) at the other end of the floor.

Deflection compensation for cartridge carriage with compliant walls

A high density graphics image can be printed without smearing by contact with a second page, without any unnecessary reduction of throughput. Throughput enhancement logic is inhibited during the printing of the second page for a variable delay related to the image density of the first page. The variable delay is calculated as a linear function of both the density (relative to a predetermined grid size) and the location if the densest portion of the first page, using coefficients which are different for different print modes. In one preferred embodiment, a maximum density is calculated by counting drops of ink in each of several overlapping grids, and the magnitude and location of the maximum density grid on a prior page is used to limit the throughput of a next page until a sufficient delay has elapsed to ensure that ink on the prior page will not be smeared when it comes into contact with the next page.

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Poway, CA, United States of America

Jason R Arbeiter