Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development, L.p.

Ramon Vega

Xavier Bruch

Xavier Girones

Antoni S Murcia

Christopher Taylor

Angel Martinez

Marc Serra

Sergio Puigardeu

Alex Andrea

David Gaston

Jordi Sender

Marti Rius

Silvia Miramanda

Jose Luis Valero

Jordi Ferran

Joan Jorba

Jose Jurjo

Steven J Simske

Kenneth E Trueba

John A Underwood

Jordi Arnabat Benedicto

Patrick J Therien

Tod S Heiles

Xavier Alonso

Alejandro Campillo

Antoni Murcia

Gonzalo Gaston

Oscar Martinez

Emilio Angulo

Xavier Soler

Jorge Castano

Eduardo Martin

Lidia Calvo

Albert Serra

Pere Esterri

Salvador Sanchez

Ramon Borrell

Pedro Luis Las Heras

Christopher Miller

Rosa Maria Gom Z

Joan Martinez

Joan Joroa

Zachary Ballard

A method of printing an image on a substrate using a page-wide-array printer and a page wide array printer is provided. The method includes printing a first portion of the image as relative movement occurs between the substrate and the print heads, and printing a second portion of the image as relative movement occurs between the substrate and the print heads, such that there exists an area of overlap between the first portion of the image and the second portion of the image. The substrate may be moved in a first direction relative to the print heads whilst the first portion of the image is printed, moved in a second direction opposite to the first direction; and moved in the first direction again whilst the second portion of the image is printed. The substrate may be printed whilst the substrate is moved in the second direction.

Method and printer for multi-pass page-wide array printing

The invention relates to a method of estimating a distance to a surface, whereby an emitter emits light towards a surface, at least some light being reflected by the surface, the surface comprising a detectable feature, the reflected light being received by a first receptor and by a second receptor, the surface being in movement relative to the receptors, the first and the second receptor receiving the light reflected at a first and at a respectively second angle thereby producing a first and a respectively second dataset, each dataset including data representing said feature, the first and the second angle being different, whereby the distance is estimated using the first and the second dataset.

Method of estimating a distance

Printing is performed at a full resolution using a first set of nozzles and a second set of nozzles arranged on a printhead. Printing is performed at less than the full resolution using the first set of nozzles less any nozzles in the first set of nozzles that have been determined to be defective. The second set of nozzles is not used for printing at less than the full resolution except for a subset of nozzles in the second set of nozzles that are used to replace nozzles from the first set of nozzles that have been determined to be defective.

Defective nozzle replacement in a printer

A method of printing on a substrate and a printer are provided. The method uses a printer comprising a print head and a mask having a hole therethrough, the mask being disposed between the print head and the substrate, and comprises aligning the hole with the print head; printing on the substrate through the hole; and misaligning the hole with the print head so that the print head is covered by the mask. The method may allow the servicing of a print head in the array while the printer is printing on the substrate using at least one of the remainder of the print heads in the array.

Printers and printhead cleaning primarily in page-wide array printers

Ejected liquid forms a latent image on a charged transfer surface. In some invention aspects electrostatic charge is first applied to the surface; inkjet devices eject the image-forming liquid; voltage is established between the devices and surface; another, separate substance associated with the latent image actuates it. In other aspects hydrophobic or hydrophilic material in the surface stabilizes the image on it; electrostatic apparatus, associated with the surface, cooperates with the stabilizing material, further controlling image-droplet position and size. In other aspects a desired image forms on a final printing medium, based on an input electronic image-data array; the liquid ejection is onto an intermediate transfer surface, based on detailed incremental control by the data, forming a latent image representing the desired image. An actuating substance, initially discrete from the liquid, is associated with the image, and a reaction initiated to modify that substance&#x2014;which is transferred from surface to final medium.

Latent inkjet printing, to avoid drying and liquid-loading problems, and provide sharper imaging

A method of reproducing an image, comprising:

Image reproduction

The printing apparatus comprises at least one printhead provided with nozzles for ejecting droplets of ink in a firing direction towards a printing media, and at least one priming device for performing a priming operation by which an amount of ink is caused to flow through the nozzles for maintenance thereof, wherein the priming device is actuated for said priming operation by a relative movement between the printhead being primed and the priming device, said movement being substantially in said firing direction.

Printing apparatus with a priming device

In a method of printing a plurality of pages during a print job, a page-wide-array printing device having redundant dot-forming elements is used. Print masks distribute dot-forming-element activity between the redundant dot-forming elements in a manner taking into account known malfunctions of dot-forming elements to hide such malfunctions, or reduce a visible effect of such malfunctions in the pages printed. The method includes generating a plurality of print masks which are different, as they distribute the dot-forming-element activity in different ways, but are equivalent, since they are based on the same knowledge of dot-forming-element malfunctions; dividing the print job into page-sets of at least one page; and printing the different page-sets of the print job using different equivalent print masks, thereby distributing the dot-forming-element activity in different ways from page-set to page-set.

Error reduction by print masks

An incremental printer comprising a plurality of printing elements arranged to print different portions of an image, the printer being arranged, prior to printing an image, to identify elements that are not required for printing the image and to implement an element servicing routine, the printer being arranged to exclude one or more of the identified elements from the servicing routine.

Method and apparatus for operating a printer

A method and apparatus for servicing a pen in an inkjet printing device includes receiving a print job, determining a level of print quality required for the print job, detecting the operating characteristics of a number of nozzles to be used to print the print job; and, in the event that the operating characteristics of the nozzles are sufficient to meet the level of print quality, printing the print job. A maintenance procedure may be scheduled in the event that an individual one of the nozzles is not fully functional. In addition, the maintenance procedure may be scheduled to be performed during a time when the inkjet printing device is idle.

Method of servicing a pen when mounted in a printing device

An array of colorant nozzles, filled with different colors, is placed at an enclosure through which fluid flow is to be analyzed. The array injects the colors into the enclosure with the flow. Color paths through the enclosure are observed and analyzed. The array best spans the enclosure two-dimensionally and injects different colors at different portions of the channel. Controlled timing of injection, e. g. in pulses, and synchronous detection&#x2014;including tracking leading/trailing ends of color pulses in the enclosure&#x2014;is best. Specific spatial-temporal color patterns, and 3D observations (as by plural cameras, aimed through windows or a transparent wall, or inside the disclosure) are preferred. For very large systems a careful, exact scale model is used. Preferably a programmed processor operates the array and controls analysis of resulting observed color patterns in the fluid.

Plural colorants in flow tracer/debugger

An ink jet device comprising at least one print head arranged to eject ink drops in a spitting operation and a spittoon arranged to store said ejected ink, the device further comprising a temporary spittoon arranged to move between first and second positions, in said first position said temporary spittoon being located in close proximity to a nozzle plate of said printhead and arranged such that ejected ink drops are directed onto a surface of said temporary spittoon, in said second position said temporary spittoon being located sufficiently distant from said nozzle plate to allow a capping or wiping operation to be performed and arranged to transfer said ink to said spittoon.

Ink receiving apparatus and method

A method for correcting deviations from the normal performance of the service station by adapting the level of servicing a printhead receives based upon the age of the service station. For relatively newer service stations, the service stations may be caused to perform relatively less servicing operations on the printheads to thereby conserve ink and relatively increase the life of the service station and the printheads. For relatively older service stations, the service stations may be caused to perform relatively heavier servicing operations on the printheads to substantially compensate for the deleterious effects arising from the aging of the service station.

Method and apparatus for adaptive servicing of inkjet printers

A method of servicing a pen comprising a printhead, having a plurality of nozzles, mounted in an inkjet printing device, comprising a servicing area and a drop detector comprising the following steps performing a drop detection on the printhead to check if any of the nozzles of the printhead are malfunctioning; storing the result of the more recent drop detection operation, together with the results of the previous drop detections to keep a history of the health status of each nozzle; deciding whether or not to execute a recovery service in the servicing area to attempt to recover the current malfunctioning nozzles, based on the more recent status of the nozzles and on the history of the health status of the nozzles.

An improved apparatus for checking a plurality of printer nozzles in a printer device comprises: a print head comprising a plurality of nozzles; a means for detecting at least one droplet of ink ejected from at least one nozzle of said plurality of nozzles; and a means for performing a sequence of measurements on a first output signal of said detecting means, wherein a determination of performance of said print head is made by analysing detected output signals produced by one or a plurality of ink droplets passing the detector, the one or plurality of ink droplets containing a predetermined minimum volume of ink, and said sequence of measurements being measured at a plurality of time intervals.

Method for detecting drops in printer device

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Barcelona, Spain

Ramon Vega