Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.p.

Hewlett-Packard Company

Ray L Pickup

Clement C Lo

William D Noonan

Steven J Howarth

Bioactive agents are cutaneously delivered by a jet dispenser using inkjet technology, such as that used in printing. The dispenser propels precise volumes of bioactive agent toward the skin, where they exert a local or topical effect, or move through the skin for transdermal systemic delivery. Drugs are either delivered directly to the skin, or are introduced into a transdermal patch, which may receive repeated dosages. A controller in the dispenser may control delivery of multiple different drugs, timing of drug administration, or change drug regimens in response to a changing medical condition of a patient, such as those monitored by a sensor in communication with the controller, for example to prevent an overdose. The dispenser may act as an electromechanical patch, capable of long term administration of drugs to the skin, to achieve local or systemic pharmaceutical effects. Administration methods are also provided, along with replacement kits.

Cutaneous administration system

In operating an inkjet printing mechanism, media passes through a printzone including a support apparatus supporting the media thereat. When passing through the printzone, print imaging is applied by application of ink from an ink dispensing element and onto a surface of the media. The method includes directing an airflow at the media surface, the airflow including a first directional component away from the printzone and a second directional component onto the media surface thereby urging the media against the support apparatus.

Ink assist air knife

A media hold down system includes electrodes configured to create an electric field at a surface and a vacuum source configured to create a vacuum at the surface.

Media hold down system

A system to locate an output device includes a wireless device including a configuration to display output device information used to locate the output device selected for a printing operation, where the wireless device includes a configuration to receive and store the output device information. The system also includes a storage device configured to store the output device information and to send the output device information to the wireless device. A method for locating an output device includes receiving output device information used to locate the output device selected for a printing operation from a storage device, using a wireless device. In addition, the method includes displaying the output device information for the output device selected for the printing operation on the wireless device.

System and method for locating an output device

A digital LSI chip comprises the principal element of a printer controller. On the chip are output transistors for driving connection pads and external loads connected thereto. The chip performance is influenced by variations in the manufacturing Process, supply Voltage, and Temperature (PVT). All of these influence the time delay and risetime characteristics of the output transistors, as does varying the gain of predrivers supplying drive signals for the output transistors. To minimize the influence of PVT variables on these characteristics, a table of predrive gain needed to compensate the effect of PVT variables is generated for several points over the PVT range. Likewise, the frequency of a ring oscillator sensor is tabulated over the same points. These data are paired and stored in a memory. At startup and other times, a microprocessor determines the sensor frequency, accesses the table and sets appropriate predriver gains, thereby maintaining the output transistor characteristics nominally constant.

Output driver having process, voltage and temperature compensation for

A printer controller employs a microprocessor together with an application-specific-integrated-circuit (ASIC) to manage the operation of the printer. Among its functions, the ASIC manages memory access for the microprocessor. Either fast- or slow-clock microprocessors may be installed in the controller, but the ASIC requires a slow clock. When a fast-clock microprocessor is installed, the ASIC must divide the clock frequency to provide its own (slow) clock. Likewise, the use of a fast-clock microprocessor requires the ASIC to insert memory-cycle WAIT times, whereas a slow-clock microprocessor needs no WAITs. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, provision is made, during initial power-on RESET, to inform the ASIC which clock speed is being used. This information is conveyed by the configuration of the WAIT interconnection between ASIC and microprocessor, thus eliminating the need for a dedicated ASIC pin for this purpose.

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Brush Prairie, WA, United States of America

Ray L Pickup