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. 08, 2015
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2015
Hiroshi Sawase, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiroshi Sawase, Kanagawa, JP;
RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a liquid ejection head, a cap, and a dummy discharge controller. The liquid ejection head has plural nozzle rows in a nozzle formed face thereof. Each of the plural nozzle rows includes multiple nozzles through which droplets are discharged. The cap caps the nozzle formed face of the liquid ejection head. The dummy discharge controller controls a dummy discharge operation to discharge dummy discharge droplets not contributing to image formation from the nozzles with the nozzle formed face opposed to the cap. The dummy discharge controller controls the liquid ejection head to discharge the dummy discharge droplets at different timings between adjacent nozzle rows of the plural nozzle rows in the dummy discharge operation.