Color printer having concurrent drop selection and drop separati

Details Color printer having concurrent drop selection and drop separati Color printer having concurrent drop selection and drop separati

1996-12-04

1999-06-22

Sterrett, Jeffrey

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

358298, B41J 221

Patent

active

059147377

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of computer controlled printing devices. In particular, the field is thermally activated drop on demand (DOD) printing systems.
The current invention is a small portable color printer for use with portable computers. Currently available portable printers are usually based on dot matrix pin printing techniques, thermal ink jet printing, or thermal transfer techniques. Most portable color printers are quite slow, requiring at least 60 seconds to print an A4 page. Portable printers are also usually of low to medium image quality, and very few types of portable full color printers exist.
A market need exists for portable printers able to print full color high quality images on plain paper or overhead transparency film. Ideally, such a printer should be low cost, light weight, high speed, and compatible with various page description languages in common use, such as Adobe's PostScript level 2, and Hewlett-Packard's PCL5.
Image quality comparable with quality color magazine publishing is also desirable.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many different types of digitally controlled printing systems have been invented, and many types are currently in production. These printing systems use a variety of actuation mechanisms, a variety of marking materials, and a variety of recording media. Examples of digital printing systems in current use include: laser electrophotographic printers; LED electrophotographic printers; dot matrix impact printers; thermal paper printers; film recorders; thermal wax printers; dye diffusion thermal transfer printers; and ink jet printers. However, at present, such electronic printing systems have not significantly replaced mechanical printing presses, even though this conventional method requires very expensive setup and is seldom commercially viable unless a few thousand copies of a particular page are to be printed. Thus, there is a need for improved digitally controlled printing systems, for example, being able to produce high quality color images at a high-speed and low cost, using standard paper.
Inkjet printing has become recognized as a prominent contender in the digitally controlled, electronic printing arena because, e.g., of its non-impact, low-noise characteristics, its use of plain paper and its avoidance of toner transfers and fixing.
Many types of ink jet printing mechanisms have been invented. These can be categorized as either continuous ink jet (CIJ) or drop on demand (DOD) ink jet. Continuous inkjet printing dates back to at least 1929: Hansell, U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,001.
Sweet et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,437, 1967, discloses an array of continuous ink jet nozzles where ink drops to be printed are selectively charged and deflected towards the recording medium. This technique is known as binary deflection CIJ, and is used by several manufacturers, including Elmjet and Scitex.
Hertz et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,153, 1966, discloses a method of achieving variable optical density of printed spots in CIJ printing using the electrostatic dispersion of a charged drop stream to modulate the number of droplets which pass through a small aperture. This technique is used in ink jet printers manufactured by Iris Graphics.
Kyser et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,398, 1970, discloses a DOD ink jet printer which applies a high voltage to a piezoelectric crystal, causing the crystal to bend, applying pressure on an ink reservoir and jetting drops on demand. Many types of piezoelectric drop on demand printers have subsequently been invented, which utilize piezoelectric crystals in bend mode, push mode, shear mode, and squeeze mode. Piezoelectric DOD printers have achieved commercial success using hot melt inks (for example, Tektronix and Dataproducts printers), and at image resolutions up to 720 dpi for home and office printers (Seiko Epson). Piezoelectric DOD printers have an advantage in being able to use a wide range of inks. However, piezoelectric printing mechanisms usually require complex high voltage drive circuitry and bulky piezoelect

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