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:
Mar. 05, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 19, 1999
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Ricoh Company Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J 2/165 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J 2/165 ;
Abstract
An ink-jet printing apparatus and method in which a head unit having at least one nozzle ejects ink drops on demand, a sheet transporting path disposed below the head unit transports a sheet through the head unit, and an ink deposit unit disposed below the sheet transporting path is arranged to directly receive ink drops ejected form the nozzle when a nozzle-clog-preventing/ink ejection operation is executed. A controller initiates and stops the nozzle-clog-preventing/ink ejection operation based on whether or not a sheet is detected by sheet detecting elements disposed adjacent to the head unit.