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:
Oct. 01, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 27, 2001
Gerald Lee Fish, Versailles, KY (US);
Philip Jerome Heink, Lexington, KY (US);
Peter Brown Pickett, Lexington, KY (US);
Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY (US);
Abstract
A dry time sensor apparatus for an ink jet printer includes a light source emitting light onto a selected area of ink on a print medium such that the light reflects off of the selected area of ink. A reflective device receives the reflected light and reflects the light a second time back onto the selected area of ink such that the light is reflected a third time by the selected area of ink in a predetermined direction. The predetermined direction is substantially nonvarying over a range of angles of orientation of the print medium and a range of distances of the print medium from the light source. A reflected light detecting device receives the light reflected in the predetermined direction.