US5109239A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Inter pen offset determination and compensation in multi-pen ink jet printing systems
Assignee: HP Inc
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Filing: 1990-03-07
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Granted: 1992-04-28
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Expires: 2010-03-07
Abstract
Abstract Apparatus for determining inter-pen offsets in a multiple pen ink jet printer including a drop detector for measuring flight time of ink drops, an aperture plate disposed in the print media plane, and a carriage position sensor for determining carriage position when ink drop flight time exceeds a predetermined value, which indicates that an ink jet is at the edge of the aperture plate. The sensed carriage positions for the respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset in the scan axis direction. In a further embodiment of the invention, the aperture plate can have a stair-shaped boundary to facilitate the calibration of a plurality of nozzles in one scan. For determination of inter-pen offset in the media scan direction, the aperture includes a comb-like boundary that is utilized to produce detect/no detect pattern for a nozzle array in each of the pens, whereby the pattern for each of the pens provides information indicative of the offset between pens.
Inventors
- 👤 Keith E. Cobbs
- 👤 Robert D. Haselby
- 👤 William S. Osborne
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 10:00
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01D; G01D15/00; G01D15/16; G01D15/18; B; B41; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/005; B41J2/01; B41J2/07; B41J2/125; B41J2/21; B41J2/2132; B41J2/2135; B41J25/00; B41J25/34
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
84 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination and compensation in a multi-pen ink jet printer, said apparatus comprising: (a) drop detector means for measuring a time of flight of ink drops between a selected pen and the detector means; (b) an aperture plate disposed at a print media plane; and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means for determining carriage location when the time of flight exceeds a predetermined threshold value, whereby the sensed carriage position for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
84 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination and compensation in a multi-pen ink jet printer, said apparatus comprising: (a) drop detector means for measuring a time of flight of ink drops between a selected pen and the detector means; (b) an aperture plate disposed at a print media plane; and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means for determining carriage location when the time of flight exceeds a predetermined threshold value, whereby the sensed carriage position for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
85 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination and compensation in a multi-pen ink jet printer, said apparatus comprising: (a) optical drop detector means for measuring a time of flight of ink drops between a selected pen and the detector means; (b) an aperture plate disposed at a print media plane; and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means for determining carriage location when the time of flight exceeds a predetermined threshold value, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
85 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination and compensation in a multi-pen ink jet printer, said apparatus comprising: (a) optical drop detector means for measuring a time of flight of ink drops between a selected pen and the detector means; (b) an aperture plate disposed at a print media plane; and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means for determining carriage location when the time of flight exceeds a predetermined threshold value, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of claim 2 which further comprises: interpolation means coupled to the carriage position sensor means and drop detector means for interpolating the position of the carriage at the time of the drop detection.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
107 words
In a multi-pen ink jet printer having a movable carriage containing a plurality of pens, a registration calibration system comprising: (a) an optical drop detector for measuring flight time of drops of ink; (b) an aperture plate interposed between the pens and the drop detector for providing a precision location reference, and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means integral with the carriage for indicating the position of the carriage at the instant the flight time of a drop of ink exceeds a predetermined threshold value as measured by the optical drop detector, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
107 words
In a multi-pen ink jet printer having a movable carriage containing a plurality of pens, a registration calibration system comprising: (a) an optical drop detector for measuring flight time of drops of ink; (b) an aperture plate interposed between the pens and the drop detector for providing a precision location reference, and (c) high resolution carriage position sensor means integral with the carriage for indicating the position of the carriage at the instant the flight time of a drop of ink exceeds a predetermined threshold value as measured by the optical drop detector, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provides information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the aperture plate further comprises a stair-shaped aperture pattern disposed in the aperture plate, whereby a plurality of nozzles can be calibrated simultaneously.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
94 words
In a multi-pen ink jet printer, a method for determining relative offset between pens, said method comprising the steps of: (a) positioning each pen over a vernier comb-like pattern in an aperture plate interposed between the pens and an optical drop detector; (b) firing each nozzle so that some of the drops impact the comb pattern and are not detected, while others pass through the comb pattern and are detected, creating a detect/no detect pattern for each pen; and (c) comparing patterns from each pen to determine the relative offsets from pen to pen.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
94 words
In a multi-pen ink jet printer, a method for determining relative offset between pens, said method comprising the steps of: (a) positioning each pen over a vernier comb-like pattern in an aperture plate interposed between the pens and an optical drop detector; (b) firing each nozzle so that some of the drops impact the comb pattern and are not detected, while others pass through the comb pattern and are detected, creating a detect/no detect pattern for each pen; and (c) comparing patterns from each pen to determine the relative offsets from pen to pen.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
137 words
A calibration system for providing inter-pen offset determination in a multi-pen ink jet printer, each pen having a nozzle array, the calibration system comprising: carriage means for scanning the ink jet pens along a pen scan direction; a drop detector for detecting a presence of ink drops from the pens; an aperture plate interposed between the pens and the drop detector, said aperture plate including an aperture pattern for providing a plurality of precision location references along the carriage scan direction for use with nozzles located at selected nozzle positions; and carriage position sensing means for indicating the position of the carriage when said drop detector indicates that the ink output of an ink firing nozzle traverses one of said precision location references, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provide information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
137 words
A calibration system for providing inter-pen offset determination in a multi-pen ink jet printer, each pen having a nozzle array, the calibration system comprising: carriage means for scanning the ink jet pens along a pen scan direction; a drop detector for detecting a presence of ink drops from the pens; an aperture plate interposed between the pens and the drop detector, said aperture plate including an aperture pattern for providing a plurality of precision location references along the carriage scan direction for use with nozzles located at selected nozzle positions; and carriage position sensing means for indicating the position of the carriage when said drop detector indicates that the ink output of an ink firing nozzle traverses one of said precision location references, whereby the sensed carriage positions for respective pens provide information indicative of inter-pen offset.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
47 words
The calibration system of claim 7 wherein said carriage means is controlled to move the pens such that the firing of a nozzle being used for calibration causes a detect to a no detect transition as the ink output of such nozzle traverses a precision location reference.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
35 words
The calibration system of claim 7 wherein said aperture pattern includes edges orthogonal to the carriage scan direction and offset relative to each other in the carriage scan direction and in the media scan direction.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
15 words
The calibration system of claim 9 wherein said aperture pattern includes a stair-step shaped boundary.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
86 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination in an ink jet printer having multiple ink jet pens having respective nozzle arrays, comprising: a drop detector for detecting a presence of ink drops from the ink jet pens; an aperture plate having an aperture pattern that includes areas through which ink drops can pass and be detected by said drop detector, whereby a detect/no detect pattern for each pen is produced by positioning each pen over the aperture pattern and individually firing the nozzles of the positioned pen.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
86 words
Apparatus for providing inter-pen offset determination in an ink jet printer having multiple ink jet pens having respective nozzle arrays, comprising: a drop detector for detecting a presence of ink drops from the ink jet pens; an aperture plate having an aperture pattern that includes areas through which ink drops can pass and be detected by said drop detector, whereby a detect/no detect pattern for each pen is produced by positioning each pen over the aperture pattern and individually firing the nozzles of the positioned pen.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
15 words
The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said aperture pattern comprises a vernier pattern of openings.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1995-04-28 | 1995-10-28 | 1996-04-28 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1999-04-28 | 1999-10-28 | 2000-04-28 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2003-04-28 | 2003-10-28 | 2004-04-28 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |