Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-20
2001-05-29
Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S016000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06239817
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates in general to a method and apparatus for printing images. The invention more particularly relates to a method and apparatus for printing borderless print images.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventional inkjet print engines contain three primary components which are generally organized in series. These components are a platen located in a print zone, a spittoon in which excess print drops are collected, and a service station which receives a print carriage unit and its associated inkjet cartridges for helping to extend the life of the cartridges by wiping and capping them when they are not in use.
In a conventional inkjet carriage unit there may be mounted removably therein one or more ink cartridges or print heads. The carriage unit is adapted to sweep the ink cartridges in a path of travel above a medium sheet that is moved in an orthogonal direction to the carriage unit. As the print heads sweep above the medium, they eject droplets of ink downwardly onto the medium sheet which is supported from below by the platen.
In order to avoid the smearing of ink on the underside of a medium sheet, the conventional print engine will prevent the ejection of ink onto the leading, trailing, and side edge portions of the medium sheet. In this manner, sheet margins are created on the medium sheet, which in turn protect the upper surface of the supporting platen from the ink droplets being ejected by the print head.
While the printing of images with borders has been satisfactory for most applications, with the advent of photo printers and the like there has been a desire to print borderless images.
One attempt at seeking to provide a user with border and borderless print images has been to print images on medium stock with perforated tabs. With this arrangement if a user desired a borderless print, the user would merely separate the perforated tab from the remaining portion of the medium stock carrying the print image. In order to avoid tearing the medium stock carrying the print image most users would utilize a trimming device to separate the tab from the stock.
While the utilization of perforated medium stock in an inkjet printer may provide borderless print images, the use of such medium stock is expensive and may result in a valuable image being torn when a trimming device is unavailable or not used.
Therefore it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved inkjet printer that produces borderless print images without the need of utilizing a special trimming device or perforated medium stock.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention solves the problem of borderless printing by providing a new and improved inkjet printer that prints edge to edge prints. The new and improved inkjet printer includes housing for supporting a moveable carriage unit that transports at least one print head cartridge along a rectilinear path of travel between a maintenance area and a printing area. A platen and associated drive mechanism is mounted within a print zone area within the housing. The platen has a floor bounded at its outer periphery by an upstanding wall terminating in a lip that defines a hallowed out support area for receiving a sheet of ink absorbent material. A paired set of spaced apart cockle ribs are disposed on opposite sides of two of the platen walls, a front wall member and a rear wall member that help define the print zone area within the printer. One set of the cockle ribs support from below the front or leading portion of a sheet of print medium as it passes into the print zone area of the printer. The other set of cockle ribs support from below the rear or trailing portion of the print medium as it is leaving the print zone area. A controller mounted within the housing coordinates the sweeping motion of the carriage unit between the print zone area and the maintenance area with the firing of the inkjet print head cartridge nozzles to overprint beyond the outer peripheral boundary areas of the medium sheet.
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Hewlett-Packard Comapny
Nguyen Thinh
Potts Jerry R.
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