Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130044950 | METHOD TO RESTORE EDGES IN RASTERIZED IMAGES - Restoration of edges in rasterized, continuous tone images includes selection of a pair of neighbouring pixels that exchange a restoration value to make a steeper transition from a low value on one side of a boundary between the two pixels to a high value at the other side thereof. Although any pair of neighbouring pixels is selected, this operation is only performed when four pixels in a direction perpendicular to the boundary, of which the selected pair form the two center pixels, have a monotonely increasing value. The restoration value is based on a difference value of nearest neighbouring pixels on the same side of the boundary. This avoids overshooting around edges in an image. The method is advantageous when resealing an image to a higher resolution which occurs when a low resolution image is embedded in a page that is to be printed with a high addressability printer system. | 02-21-2013 |
20130068724 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A NOZZLE AND AN ASSOCIATED FUNNEL IN A SINGLE PLATE - A method for manufacturing a nozzle and an associated funnel in a single plate comprises providing the single plate, the plate being etchable; providing an etch resistant mask on the plate, the mask having a pattern, wherein the pattern comprises a first pattern part for etching the nozzle and a second pattern part for etching the funnel; covering one of the first pattern part and the second pattern part using a first cover; etching one of the nozzle and funnel corresponding to the pattern part not covered in step (c); removing the first cover; etching the other one of the nozzle and funnel; and removing the etch resistant mask. | 03-21-2013 |
20130083114 | PRINTER ASSEMBLY - A printer assembly is configured to be arranged on a support surface and comprises: a medium delivery station and a printing station comprising a moveably arranged element. The printer assembly extends between a first end and a second end, wherein the printer is configured to be supported on the support surface at the first end. The medium delivery station and the printing station are arranged on a line extending between the first end and the second end. The printing station is arranged closer to the first end than the medium delivery station. A direction of movement of the moveably arranged element is not parallel to said line extending between the first end and the second end. | 04-04-2013 |
20130087276 | MEDIUM SUPPORT MEMBER - A medium support member includes a table having a top surface; an overlay placed on the top surface of the table, the overlay having a top surface and a bottom surface and a plurality of through-holes; a spacer array provided between the top surface of the table and the bottom surface of the overlay to define a gap between the table and the overlay, and at least one vacuum passage communicating with said gap for creating an underpressure in the gap, wherein at least portions of the overlay and corresponding portions of the table are held together by magnetic attraction. | 04-11-2013 |
20130114093 | METHOD TO ENHANCE DETAILED INFORMATION - A method for enhancing detail information in rasterized, continuous tone images includes a function that enlarges the contrast of a pixel in a neighborhood of pixels when in that neighborhood one of the pixels has a value that is close to a white color. This is determined by selecting the whitest pixel in the neighborhood. The function shows a gradual transition between the situations in which the whitest pixel is close to the white color and in which the whitest pixel is far from the white color. The method results in a better rendering of fine print when the image is sent to a printing system that reproduces the image on receiving material. For small characters, the legibility is improved by application of this method. | 05-09-2013 |
20130115551 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC TONER, A PRINTING SYSTEM FOR APPLYING SAID TONER ON AN IMAGE RECEIVING MEDIUM AND A METHOD FOR PREPARING SAID TONER - The invention relates to a toner for developing a toner image, the toner comprising a binder resin, a colorant, a first wax and a compatibilizer. The wax is finely dispersed within the toner. The compatibilizer has a melting transition, wherein the lower temperature limit of the melting transition is between 110° C. and 140° C. at the time of temperature rise in the DSC curve measured using a differential scanning calorimeter. The invention further relates to a printing system for applying the toner according to the present invention on an image receiving medium. The invention further relates to a method for preparing the toner according to the present invention. | 05-09-2013 |
20130120776 | PRINT ENGINE FOR PRINTING A PRINT JOB USING APPROPRIATE CALIBRATION DATA - A print engine for producing printed output according to image data in a print job includes in its user interface an activation element for printing a part of the image data in a selected print job using currently applicable calibration data. After inspection of the printed output the selected print job may be finished without further calibration or it may be finished after a calibration is performed. This calibration of the intensity of the process colours is performed for a job control value that occurs within the selected print job. Therefore the effect of the calibration is directly visible to the user of the print engine. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124966 | NETWORK SYSTEM COMPRISING A COMPUTER AND A READING DEVICE - A network system includes a computer and an apparatus for reading digital documents, including an apparatus display being connectable to a communication channel of the computer via a connector. The computer includes a converter to convert a document to a format displayable by the apparatus, a first watching unit to watch the communication channel for arrival of the apparatus, and a second watching unit to watch a user's activities on the computer. The apparatus includes a detector to detect a moment in time when the user starts to work with the apparatus, and a notification device configured to send a notification to the computer via the connector. The computer is configured to establish upon receipt of the notification a transfer of the converted document from the computer via the connector to the apparatus, and the apparatus is configured to show a converted document on the apparatus display. | 05-16-2013 |
20130127950 | COATING FOR PROVIDING A WETTING GRADIENT TO AN ORIFICE SURFACE AROUND AN ORIFICE AND METHOD FOR APPLYING SAID COATING - A coating provides a wetting gradient to an orifice surface, the coating having a local coverage that decreases with increasing distance from an orifice. A method is provided for applying a wetting gradient on an orifice surface. The wetting gradient is formed by providing a compound for forming a coating and locally bonding this compound to the orifice surface. A print head is provided with an orifice surface, wherein the orifice surface has a wetting gradient provided around an orifice using the method for applying a wetting gradient on an orifice surface. | 05-23-2013 |
20130137805 | REUSABLE PRINT MEDIUM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THEREOF - The present invention relates to a reusable print medium comprising a substrate and a sacrificial layer. The sacrificial layer contains a hotmelt composition at least comprising an amorphous material. The amorphous material is a resin being a reaction product of a first monomer A, said first monomer A being a polyhydroxyl alcohol comprising X hydroxyl functional groups, wherein X≧2, monomer A optionally comprises a primary or secondary amine functionality; a second monomer B, being an aromatic monocarboxylic acid; a third monomer C, said third monomer C being able to form an ester linkage with an alcohol and/or an amide linkage with a primary or secondary amine; and optionally, a fourth monomer D, being an aromatic monocarboxylic acid different from the second monomer B. The sacrificial layer including the printed image may be removed from the substrate by applying heat. A new sacrificial layer may be applied such that the reusable print medium is ready to be reused. | 05-30-2013 |
20130155141 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING MAINTENANCE UNIT PERFORMANCE - In a method for determining a maintenance performance of a maintenance unit of an inkjet printing system, the inkjet system comprises an inkjet print head having an orifice surface, the orifice surface comprising an orifice, which orifice is in fluid communication with an ink chamber. The method comprises operating the maintenance unit to perform a maintenance operation on the orifice surface of the inkjet print head and detecting the presence of a wiper element or amount of ink over the orifice by detecting a pressure wave in the ink chamber and analyzing the detected pressure wave to determine the maintenance performance of the maintenance unit. | 06-20-2013 |
20130156473 | RECORDING SUBSTRATE TREATMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD - A recording substrate treatment apparatus, includes a heating device for directly heating a recording substrate, a condenser for condensing liquid from air from surroundings of a recording substrate, and an energy transfer system arranged for transferring energy from latent heat, which is released by said condensing of liquid by the condenser, to the heating device. Further, a method of drying a recording substrate and a method of fixing a printing substance on a recording substrate include heating a recording substrate by a heating device; condensing liquid from air from surroundings of the recording substrate; and transferring energy from latent heat, which is released by said condensing of liquid, to said heating device. | 06-20-2013 |
20130176327 | METHOD OF RENDERING A COLOUR IMAGE WITH SPATIAL GAMUT MAPPING - A method of rendering a colour image from an object-based source file, including spatial gamut mapping to a target colour space, includes the steps of: rendering an image that includes a plurality of source file objects without gamut mapping, in a colour space having a gamut large enough to avoid a loss of colour information, and subjecting the rendered image to spatial gamut mapping to the target colour space. | 07-11-2013 |
20130176580 | OUTPUT PROFILE FOR COLOUR REPRODUCTION SYSTEM - A method for characterizing a colour rendering reprographic apparatus for making an output colour profile comprises the steps of measuring a set of colour values, indicative of output of the colour rendering reprographic apparatus on a predetermined medium and processing these measurement data to profile data that are applicable for creating an output colour profile according to the standards of the International Colour Consortium. The processing step comprises a correction of a measured colour value with a medium compensation value that depends on the medium gray colour value at the same lightness as the measured colour value. The medium gray colour value is a value that results from the application of black colorant on the predetermined medium. The medium compensation value reduces to zero at the lightness of the predetermined medium. The effect of this processing step is that a profile is generated that gives prints that are both free of background colorant and have natural colour rendering. | 07-11-2013 |
20130176581 | METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE AMOUNT OF MARKING MATERIAL IN A PRINTED IMAGE - A method for reducing an amount of marking material for printing a binary image on a receiving material uses a printing process configured to apply print pixels and to associate each image pixel with at least two print pixels. A print signal is generated indicating for each print pixel whether marking material is to be applied. The print signal is filtered by a predefined mask that defines for which print pixels no marking material will be applied independent of the pixel value of the associated image pixel. The print pixels that are blocked by the mask define a regular pattern to avoid graininess in the printed image. The main effect on print quality is a reduction of the contrast in the image. By choosing one of a set of at least two masks, the user selects the amount of reduction that is realized in the print process. | 07-11-2013 |
20130177449 | OPERATING A PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR MEMBRANE OF A PRESSURE CHAMBER - A method of controlling a pressure of a fluid in a pressure chamber, which pressure chamber is delimited by an actuator membrane having a first piezoelectric portion arranged in a central zone of the actuator membrane and at least one second piezoelectric portion arranged in at least one peripheral zone of the actuator membrane; and an ink jet printing device. In a neutral stage, a first flexure state of the actuator membrane is provided by applying first and second voltages to respective piezoelectric portions. In an activation stage, the first and second voltages are temporarily varied, without reversing their polarity, such that a curvature of the central part of the actuator membrane and a curvature of the peripheral part of the actuator membrane are changed in opposite directions, in order to expell a droplet of fluid through a nozzle. | 07-11-2013 |
20130181065 | DEVICE FOR EJECTING DROPLETS OF AN ELECTRICALLY NON-CONDUCTIVE FLUID AT HIGH TEMPERATURE - A device is configured to eject droplets of an electrically non-conductive medium at a temperature of 360° C. or above. The device includes a fluid chamber body, the fluid chamber body having a fluid chamber for containing an electrically non-conductive medium at a temperature of 360° C. or above and for containing a conductive medium. The fluid chamber includes an orifice. In the fluid chamber, at least a part of the electrically non-conductive medium is positioned closer to the orifice than the conductive medium. The device further includes a heater configured to heat the electrically non-conductive medium and an actuator, the actuator includes electrodes for generating a current in the conductive medium and magnets for generating a magnetic field in the conductive medium. | 07-18-2013 |
20130181389 | PRINTING SYSTEM WITH SHEET CONVEYING DEVICE - A printing system includes a marking engine for applying a marking substance onto a sheet and a sheet conveying device. The sheet conveying device includes a belt arranged to carry sheets from an upstream end to a downstream end of a transport path, the belt having an array of perforations; an array of suction nozzles arranged below the belt for sucking-in ambient air through the perforations of the belt; and at least one blow nozzle arranged at the downstream end of the transport path for blowing out a gas through the perforations of the belt. The conveying device further includes an array of anti-friction blow nozzles interleaved with the array of suction nozzles and connected to a blower for blowing-out a gas towards the bottom surface of the belt during the traverse of the sheet along the marking engine. | 07-18-2013 |
20130182028 | METHOD OF CAMOUFLAGING ARTIFACTS IN HIGH COVERAGE AREAS IN IMAGES TO BE PRINTED - A method of printing an image on a receiving medium includes increasing the number of pixels in each row of a part of the image by x pixels, resulting in the part of the image including m by n+x pixels; assigning a printing element to each added pixel; identifying pixels to which a compensating printing element of the defective printing element is assigned; changing the value of at least one identified pixel into an integer value greater than zero; increasing the first printer resolution in the main-scanning direction to a second printer resolution by multiplying the first printer resolution in the main-scanning direction with a factor equal to (n+x)/n; and printing the part of the image according to the second printer resolution in the main-scanning direction and according to the values of the pixels of the part of the image. | 07-18-2013 |
20130187964 | METHOD OF IMPROVING ADHESIVENESS OF MARKING MATERIAL AND RECEIVING MEDIUM AND A PRINTER - A method for printing an image by a reproduction apparatus includes a print head with print elements for ejecting marking material on a receiving medium in a multi-pass mode. The method includes selecting a multi-pass mode out of at least two multi-pass modes, dividing the image into a plurality of strips, determining for each strip a total amount of marking material required to print the strip on the receiving medium, ejecting for each strip a first amount of the total amount of marking material on the receiving medium during a first pass, and ejecting for each strip a remaining amount of the total amount of marking material on the receiving medium during passes subsequent to the first pass. A ratio of the first amount and the total amount of each strip is the same for the at least two multi-pass modes. The method is suitable for implementation in a reproduction apparatus. | 07-25-2013 |
20130187973 | INK JET PRINTING METHOD AND PRINTER - In an ink jet printing method, a recording medium is moved relative to a print head having a plurality of nozzles, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles onto the recording medium in a single pass in accordance with print data supplied to the print head. Spit pattern data is included in the print data A location of an expected ink dot ejected according to the spit pattern data is scanned, providing a scanned image, and such ink dot is searched for in the scanned image in order to determine an actual presence of the ink dot. | 07-25-2013 |
20130188204 | METHOD FOR PRINTING AN IMAGE WITH LOW INK USAGE - A method for printing an image with colour pixels is disclosed. This method optimizes the print quality for a selected level of ink usage by maximizing a dot-off-dot strategy and separating between direct binary search dot patterns for a number of selected colorants in a printer comprising black colorant. Ink usage is controlled by determining the fraction of coinciding printer colorants that may be substituted by black colorant. The perceived error between the image pixels and the image dot pattern is minimized according to a human visual system model that excludes non-homogeneous patterns that affect the quality of the halftone textures. Dots for other colorants are processed independently and added to the obtained halftone dot pattern for the selected colorants. | 07-25-2013 |
20130188225 | METHOD OF HALFTONING FOR ASYMMETRIC PRINT RESOLUTIONS AND A PRINTER - A method of printing an image by a printer having an asymmetric printer resolution includes multi-level halftoning the image by assigning a level out of a number of levels to each pixel of the image. The method further includes determining the number of levels on the basis of the asymmetric printer resolution, selecting for each level a collection of at least one binary pattern, each binary pattern consisting of a plurality of sub-pixels the number of which is determined by the number of levels, selecting for each pixel of the halftoned image a binary pattern from the collection selected for the level assigned to the pixel, transforming each pixel of the halftoned image into the selected binary pattern, and printing the binary patterns of the transformed pixels using the asymmetric printer resolution. A printer is configured to perform the method. | 07-25-2013 |
20130188226 | METHOD FOR SEMI-CORRELATED HALFTONING - A method for image processing a digital color image uses a single array of threshold values in a halftoning process if a total density value, which is found adding up the color density value for each of the process colors of a pixel, is lower than a predetermined density threshold. However, when the total density value exceeds the density threshold, the individual color density values are split in a basic part and an excess part, the basic parts adding up to the predetermined density threshold. In the halftoning process the basic parts still use the single array of threshold values, but the excess parts use uncorrelated arrays of threshold values that are associated with each individual process color. This provides for a balance between graininess at low color density and registration independent color rendering at high color density. | 07-25-2013 |
20130194351 | INKJET PRINT HEAD - In an inkjet print head an actuation chamber substantially extends in a first direction and the actuation chamber is associated with a piezo actuator arranged to generate a pressure wave in the actuation chamber. The pressure wave propagates in said first direction. A nozzle is associated with the actuation chamber such that a droplet may be expelled through the nozzle upon generation of the pressure wave in the actuation chamber. A reservoir is in fluid communication with the actuation chamber via an inlet and an outlet of the actuation chamber. A pump means is provided for pumping ink from the reservoir, via the inlet, through the actuation chamber, via the outlet back into said reservoir. The print head is provided with a means for reflecting the pressure wave at the outlet of the actuation chamber for enabling to generate a sufficient pressure at the nozzle for expelling the droplet. | 08-01-2013 |
20130200563 | SHEET CONVEYING DEVICE - A sheet conveying device includes a belt arranged to carry sheets from an upstream end to a downstream end of a transport path, the belt having an array of perforations; and an array of suction nozzles arranged below the belt for sucking-in ambient air through the perforations of the belt. At least one blow nozzle is arranged at the downstream end of the transport path for blowing out a gas through the perforations of the belt. The downstream end of the transport path is defined by a deflection roller. A plurality of blow nozzles are formed by circumferential grooves in the peripheral surface of the deflection roller. | 08-08-2013 |
20130201259 | INK JET PRINT HEAD WITH PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR - An ink jet print head, having a pressure generation chamber arranged for being in communication with a print head nozzle and an actuator membrane for delimiting the pressure generation chamber. The actuator membrane has a substrate and a piezoelectric actuator provided on the substrate, said piezoelectric actuator having a lower electrode, an upper electrode and at least one piezoelectric layer arranged between the lower electrode and the upper electrode; the substrate and the upper electrode are arranged on opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer, and the upper electrode has a Titanium-Tungsten film. | 08-08-2013 |
20130203579 | SHEET FOLDING APPARATUS, SHEET FOLDING METHOD, AND PRINTING SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SHEET FOLDING APPARATUS - A sheet folding apparatus includes a sheet transport system, adjustable folding members arranged to bend and fold a sheet fed by the transport system, and a control system arranged to adjust the folding members to set positions in accordance with information on sheet properties. The control system stores a table that specifies different set positions of the folding members for different bending properties of the sheets and is adapted to read information on the bending properties of the sheets to be folded and to adjust the folding members to set positions as specified by the bending properties. | 08-08-2013 |