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:
Nov. 06, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 04, 2010
Yusuke Nemoto, Miyagi, JP;
Masanori Takahashi, Miyagi, JP;
Daisuke Hasebe, Miyagi, JP;
Yukihiro Asano, Miyagi, JP;
Yusuke Nemoto, Miyagi, JP;
Masanori Takahashi, Miyagi, JP;
Daisuke Hasebe, Miyagi, JP;
Yukihiro Asano, Miyagi, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a suction unit; a pressure unit configured to pressurize the inside of a supply channel extending from a liquid container to a recording head at a pressurizing position along the supply channel; an opening and closing unit configured to open and close the supply channel at a position downstream of the pressurizing position; and a control unit configured to cap a nozzle surface with a cap and suction ink from nozzles with the suction unit, to move the cap away from the nozzle surface after pressurizing the inside of the supply channel with the pressure unit to a pressure greater than or equal to atmospheric pressure, to wipe the nozzle surface with a wiping part after closing the supply channel with the opening and closing unit, and to open the supply channel with the opening and closing unit after wiping the nozzle surface.