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. 29, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1998
Rosa Calatayud, Sant Cugat, ES;
Mark E Young, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Elizabeth Zapata, Barcelona, ES;
Robert Giles, Escondido, CA (US);
Ignacio de Olazabal, Sant Cugat, ES;
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A printing system which provides active control of the vertical position of an off-carriage ink supply. The system includes an ink-jet print cartridge having an ink reservoir for holding a supply of liquid ink, and an ink replenishment port. A carriage holds the print cartridge, and a carriage scanning apparatus drives the carriage along a carriage scan axis. The system further includes an off-carriage ink supply which is connectable via a fluid path to the ink replenishment port of the cartridge. An elevator apparatus actively raises or lowers the off-carriage ink supply in response to drive commands to position the off-carriage ink supply at a plurality of different elevations relative to a vertical position of the print cartridge to supply ink to the ink replenishment port via the fluid path. The fluid path can be established intermittently, and disconnected during printing operations, or continuously established even during printing operations.