Lasermaster Corporation

Colorspan Corporation

Sensata Technologies, Inc.

Caterpillar Inc.

Paul R Erickson

Steven Lee Lidke

Jeff D Pagel

Edmund Charles O'Neill

Robert L Skubic

Danny James Vatland

Eric A Ware

Gerald Scherbing

Benjamin P Leonard

Shawn Ivor Cullen

Marty F Higgins

Robin L Ogle

David H Bennefeld

James Donald Dattilo

John Patrick Novotny

Eric J Minnaert

Mark Allen Pankratz

Jeremiah Thomas Rau

Joshua Gayle Boltz

Brian W Kleve

Joshua Bernard Durand

Robert Schaffer

James A Reuss

Benjamin D Johnson

Andrew Reid Daavettila

Tim C Schooler

A steer-by-wire system comprising a steering wheel for use by an operator and an electric motor assembly coupled to the steering wheel for providing active torque feedback. The electric motor has a rotor mounted for rotation, and a magnet mounted to the rotor for rotation about an axis, wherein the at least one magnet is a permanent magnet with a pole pair. A fixed stator has coils for creating an electric field to act upon the magnet. Electronics are positioned on the axis of the magnet for controlling commutation of the stator coils and generating a primary high resolution angular position signal indicative of movement of the steering wheel by the operator. High resolution on-axis sensors, in communication with the electronics, detect a commutation position between the rotor and the stator and producing first and second continuous angle measurements for the pole pair of the at least one magnet.

Steer by wire system with redundant angular position sensing and an end-of-travel stop

Embodiments included herein are directed towards a method for determining a temperature-compensated touch state of a device, and related systems. The method may include receiving, by a processor of the device and from a first sensor of the device, a first measured value corresponding to a first sensor measurement captured by the first sensor. The method may further include receiving, by the processor and from a temperature sensor of the device, a temperature value corresponding to a first temperature measurement associated with the device and captured by the temperature sensor. The method may also include adjusting a signal corresponding to the first sensor measurement based upon, at least in part, the temperature value, to create a temperature-compensated touch signal. The method may additionally include determining, by the processor, the temperature-compensated touch state of the device based upon, at least in part, the temperature-compensated touch signal.

Temperature-compensated touch sensing

An electronic throttle control assembly for a vehicle has a housing that mounts to a handlebar of the vehicle and defines an interior. A rack gear is mounted in the interior for movement in a linear, translational, and/or radial direction. A pinion gear within the interior moves the rack gear upon rotation of the pinion gear. A sensor target is coupled to the rack gear. A sensor detects a position of the sensor target and generates an electric signal for a vehicle control unit. A grip is coupled to the pinion gear, rotation of the grip moving the rack gear and sensor target in a linear, translational, and/or radial direction, the electric signal varying based on the change in position of the sensor target. Opposing springs within the housing resist movement of the rack gear and rest in a normally preloaded state.

Electronic throttle control assembly

A machine includes an operator seat and an armrest adjacent the operator seat. The machine may also include a control system, which may include a control handle extending at least partially upward from the armrest. The control system may also include a force feedback device drivingly connected to the control handle and operable to supply feedback force to the control handle. The force-feedback device may include at least one of an actuator or a brake. Additionally, the control system may automatically adjust the magnitude of the feedback force supplied to the control handle by the force feedback device in at least some circumstances.

Operator-control device for a machine

An ink refill system is provided for an ink jet printer having a print carriage that traverses across a print medium and is adapted to receive one or more ink jet cartridges. The ink refill system includes a disposable ink jet cartridge removably mountable in the print carriage and constructed as a self-contained unit that includes a print head and an ink supply container that stores a first quantity of liquid ink at a given negative pressure hydrodynamic condition. An ink reservoir external to the print carriage stores a second quantity of ink for replenishing the first quantity of ink in the ink supply container. Flexible supply tubing couples the ink reservoir to the ink supply container to supply ink from the second quantity of ink to the first quantity of ink during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium. A mechanism for refilling the ink supply container of the ink jet cartridge from the external ink reservoir during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium operates such that the refilling of the ink supply container is accomplished in a manner that preserves the negative pressure hydrodynamic condition of the ink jet cartridge.

Automatic ink refill system for disposable ink jet cartridges

An ink on demand type ink jet head energization system is provided to drive ink out of a nozzle in the head. The head contains at least one nozzle for discharging ink. The power applied to the nozzle is modified to include a noise component. By providing a driving voltage which varies between firings, the head produces ink droplets which differ in size between firings. Preferably, the voltage is randomly or pseudo-randomly varied over a range of from 50 to 100% of maximum voltage, and a new voltage is provided for each successive firing of the head. This variation of drive voltage produces ink dots which randomly vary in size at a rate too dense to be perceived by a viewer, and successfully reduces perceived artifacts in the printed output.

Ink jet printer with artifact-reducing drive circuit

An ink refill system is provided for an ink jet printer having a print carriage that traverses across a print medium and is adapted to receive one or more ink jet cartridges. The ink refill system includes a disposable ink jet cartridge removably mountable in the print carriage and constructed as a selfcontained unit that includes a print head and an ink supply container that stores a first quantity of liquid ink at a given sub-atmospheric pressure hydrodynamic condition. An ink reservoir external to the print carriage stores a second quantity of ink for replenishing the first quantity of ink in the ink supply container. Flexible supply tubing couples the ink reservoir to the ink supply container to supply ink from the second quantity of ink to the first quantity of ink during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium. A mechanism for refilling the ink supply container of the ink jet cartridge from the external ink reservoir during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium operates such that the refilling of the ink supply container is accomplished in a manner that preserves the sub-atmospheric pressure hydrodynamic condition of the ink jet cartridge.

A scanning head ink jet printer utilizes variable paper advance interlacing. The printer includes a plurality of heads each having a plurality of rows of uniformly spaced ink jets which print different colors. A printing medium is advanced in a series of non-uniform distances (d.sub.1, d.sub.2, d.sub.3, d.sub.4) the sum of which is equal to the total number of uniformly-spaced ink jets (n) of one of the colors times the uniform spacing (s) of one pixel row from an adjacent pixel row. In a specific embodiment, a total advance of the printing medium is equal to the total number of uniformly-serial spaced ink jets of one color is 48, the spacing is four pixels, and the non-uniform distances include 49, 49, 45 and 49 pixels.

Ink jet printer with variable advance interlacing

A printer controller for an ink jet printer controls a print head to selectively print only a portion of the print dots at pixels locations in a print swath during each pass of a print carriage across a print medium. At least four passes are made before the print medium is advanced to a new print swath. The portion of the pixel locations for each pass are chosen such that no pixel location to be printed on that pass is orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to any other pixel location to be printed in the same pass. To improve linear print speed, the print carriage is moved across the print medium at a speed that is greater than a maximum firing rate for the print head divided by a print dot density for the ink jet printer.

Method for controlling an ink jet printer in a multipass printing mode

A hot melt ink jet printer capable of handling 54 inch media widths and printing at a minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch. The ink jet printer of the present invention includes a printing medium handling system for transporting the printing medium through the printer. The printing medium handling system includes a paper tensioning system for maintaining a constant tension in the printing medium as the printing medium is advanced past the print heads for imaging and also subsequently as the printing medium is post-image heated. A readable/writable memory unit accompanies the supply of printing medium and provides information indicative of the color characteristics, handling characteristics, and/or related characteristics associated with the printing medium for use by a controller at each important control point of the paper path. A controller, connected to the memory unit and responsive to the characteristics information, controls operation of the paper handling system throughout the entire imaging process.

Printing medium management apparatus

A high resolution thermal printer capable of printing both directly on a thermally responsive media and indirectly through a thermally responsive donor media is disclosed. The printer has a printing media guide mounted as an intermediate clamshell structure to accurately position the printing media immediately adjacent the print head and platen. The printing media guide includes a nip roller and guide bar independently suspended on a spring biased, pivot plate arrangement. The printing media is centered on the supply spool, and the printer includes a read/write circuit to communicate with a profiler chip centrally mounted in the printing media roll. The printer may also include a read/write circuit to communicate with a donor profiler chip centrally mounted in the donor media roll. A constant pressure brake with a friction belt is used directly against the printing media. A spring arm latch/channel block arrangement is used to secure the printing media supply spool. An optical sensor and return motor on the supply spool are used in accurately positioning the printing media for subsequent color passes during full color printing.

High resolution combination donor/direct thermal printer

A scanning head ink jet printer prints at high-speed to produce large format output of graphics quality. The printer utilizes variable paper advance interlacing, which allows high speed, full coverage printing with a variety of saber angles. Several series of variable paper advances can be used to optimally correct potential banding problems in the image. The printer utilizes multiple print heads mounted on a single carriage. The multiple print head system allows for higher ink delivery rates than possible on prior art printers. Bi-directional printing allows even faster output, and several adjustments can be made to address the order of ink laydown. The printer utilizes a new calibration pattern wherein different frequencies of marks are printed by different colored ink jets. The marks can be easily analyzed to determine proper calibration setting between jets. The carriage rides on a single rail having upper and lower v-shaped roller tread surfaces. The rail is supported on a rigid attachment plate, avoiding parallelism, bending and vibration problems present in prior art printers. The printer utilizes a paper blotter with removable front and rear housing sections and a replaceable paper roll, allowing for quick and low-cost printer maintenance. Using a base pulse generated from an encoder strip, the timing of print head firing is precisely adjusted according to various parameters of the printer, and ink dots are more accurately positioned on the image.

Ink jet print head rail assembly

An ink supply line support system (100) for a continuous ink refill system (10) for an ink jet printer (90) having a print carriage (91) that traverses across a print bed (96) and is adapted to receive one or more disposable ink jet cartridges (12). The ink supply line support system (100) includes an elongate guide structure (102) having a first end (104) operably connected to the ink jet printer (90) at a fixed location (106) and a second end (108) operably connected to the print carriage (91). The second end (108) is movable relative to the first end (104) in a first orientation along the direction in which the print carriage (91) traverses across the ink jet printer (90), but is substantially rigid relative to the first end in a second orientation that is transverse to the first orientation. An attachment mechanism (110) is positioned along an exposed surface (111) of the guide structure (100) for detachably securing at least a portion of at least one ink supply line (16) to the guide structure (102). The ink supply line support system (100) is particularly adapted for large format ink jet printers (90) that are capable of producing high quality, full ink coverage prints on print beds (96) greater than 61 cm (24 inches) wide.

Ink supply line support system for a continuous ink refill system for

An ink refill system is provided for an ink jet printer having a print carriage that traverses across a print medium and is adapted to receive one or more ink jet cartridges. The ink refill system includes a disposable ink jet cartridge removably mountable in the print carriage and constructed as a self-contained unit that includes a print head and an ink supply container that stores a first quantity of liquid ink at a given subatmospheric pressure hydrodynamic condition. An ink reservoir external to the print carriage stores a second quantity of ink for replenishing the first quantity of ink in the ink supply container. Flexible supply tubing couples the ink reservoir to the ink supply container to supply ink from the second quantity of ink to the first quantity of ink during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium. A mechanism for refilling the ink supply container of the ink jet cartridge from the external ink reservoir during operation of the ink jet printer as the print carriage traverses across the print medium operates such that the refilling of the ink supply container is accomplished in a manner that preserves the negative pressure hydrodynamic condition of the ink jet cartridge.

Growing community of inventors

Prior Lake, MN, United States of America

Paul R Erickson