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:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 29, 1999
Tatsuya Seshimo, Nagano, JP;
Hikonosuke Uwai, Nagano, JP;
Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
When ink is sucked from the nozzles during a cleaning process, a rubber cap having a plural number of small spaces independently operable for ink suction is applied to a print head, and only the small space associated with a clogged nozzle of those nozzles of the print head is connected to a suction pump. A user looks up in advance the number and location of a clogged nozzle, judges the cause of the clogging of the nozzle on the basis of the number and location of the clogged nozzle, and selects a suitable type of cleaning process, a selective cleaning (based on the specified-nozzle suction) or a conventional cleaning (based on the all-nozzle suction).