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US 2002/0163549 A1Published application
Apparatus and method for printing with showerhead groups
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDaryl E. Anderson, Mark S. Hickman, Michael J. Barbour, George H. Corrigan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ink jet printer (101) print head having multiple, redundant ink energizing elements arranged into clusters or groups (812), each of which attempts to expel ink onto media in a predetermined sequence. The effects of an ink energizing element failure are mitigated by using redundant elements, each of which fires in response to the same data.
Claims16
A printhead comprising:
- a substrate having a first and second groups of ink firing chambers;
- an N-bit print data register having a serial input and N, data outputs;
- a first group of N, ink energizing elements, each element having:
- a print data input coupled to a corresponding one of said N, data outputs,
- a first control input;
- and
- a resistive element in thermal contact with fluid in a corresponding ink firing chamber;
- a second group of N, ink energizing elements, each element having:
- a print data input coupled to a corresponding one of said N data outputs,
- a second control input;
- and
- a resistive element in thermal contact with fluid in a corresponding ink firing chamber;
- a nozzle firing controller having a first output coupled to said first control input and a second output coupled to said second control input.
10 more elements
A method comprising the steps of:
- transferring print data to a plurality of data latches, each latch having an output coupled to the inputs of a plurality of ink energizing elements that are arranged into a plurality of clusters, each cluster having N nozzle logic circuits controlling the ejection of ink;
- and
- sequentially activating a first through Nth nozzle logic circuit (309) in each cluster in response to signals from a nozzle controller.
A method comprising the steps of:
- transferring fluid to a plurality of ink energizing elements arranged into a plurality of nozzle clusters;
- activating a first ink energizing element in each nozzle cluster in response to a first signal from a nozzle firing controller (803), and
- activating a second nozzle (309) in each nozzle cluster in response to a second signal from the nozzle controller (803).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.