The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 31, 2021
Filed:
Jan. 02, 2020
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Masanori Igarashi, Kanagawa, JP;
RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head configured to discharge a liquid, a cap configured to approachably separable from the liquid discharge head, a suction pump connected to the cap, and circuitry configured to control the cap and the suction pump to perform a maintenance operation. The maintenance operation includes a head suction operation to cap the liquid discharge head with the cap and drive the suction pump to vacuum the liquid from the liquid discharge head, an in-cap suction operation to move the cap away from the liquid discharge head and drive the suction pump to discharge the liquid from the cap, and a cap approaching operation to move the cap away from the liquid discharge head after moving the cap toward the liquid discharge head.