Ink jet imaging via coagulation on an intermediate member

For forming an ink-jet-ink-derived material image on an operational surface of a member and transferring said ink-jet-ink-derived material image to a receiver member, an imaging apparatus comprising:

• an ink jet device for imagewise jetting, on to said operational surface, droplets of a coagulable liquid ink, said ink jet device thereby forming a primary image on said operational surface of said intermediate member;
• a plurality of process zones associated with said operational surface of said intermediate member, said plurality of process zones located sequentially in proximity with said operational surface and said plurality of process zones including a coagulate formation process zone and a transfer process zone;
• at least one of an agent and a mechanism for causing a formation of coagulates within said primary image, so as to form on said operational surface an aggregated image from said primary image in said coagulate formation process zone;
• a mechanism for transferring in said transfer process zone said aggregated image to a receiver member from said operational surface, and
• wherein said primary image includes a plurality of smallest resolved imaging areas and each of said plurality of smallest resolved imaging areas receives from said ink jet device a preselected number of droplets of said coagulable liquid ink, said preselected number including zero.

In a digital imaging apparatus having a tandemly arranged plurality of image forming modules, wherein a plurality of ink-jet-ink-derived images are sequentially made in said plurality of image forming modules for successive transfers in register to a receiver member so as to form a completed plural image on said receiver member, and wherein each image forming module includes an intermediate member on which an ink-jet-ink-derived image is formed on an operational surface, a method of making said completed plural image comprising the steps of:

• forming a primary image on said operational surfaces of said intermediate member by depositing droplets of a coagulable ink from an ink jet device;
• producing from said primary image an aggregated image by causing a formation of a plurality of coagulates in a liquid phase;
• removing a portion of said liquid phase from said aggregated images to form liquid-depleted images;
• transferring said liquid-depleted images to said receiver member, said transferring done sequentially in register atop any previously transferred liquid-depleted images;
• in a last module of said plurality of image forming modules, transferring a last liquid-depleted image so as to form on said receiver member said completed plural image;
• and
• prior to each cycle of forming primary images, regenerating said operational surfaces to prepare each said operational surface for receiving a new primary image from said ink jet device.

In a digital color imaging apparatus having a plurality of tandemly arranged image forming modules, wherein a plurality of ink-jet-ink-derived images are successively transferred in register to a receiver member, each module including a intermediate member for an ink-jet-ink-derived image to be formed thereon, a method of making a full color ink-jet-ink-derived image comprising the steps of:

• moving said receiver through said plurality of tandemly arranged image forming modules;
• in a respective module, using an ink jet device to form an ink image made of a coagulable ink providing a color on an operational surface of an intermediate member;
• forming coagulates in said ink images;
• removing a portion of excess liquid from said coagulates so as to form a ink-jet-ink-derived image having said color;
• transferring said ink-jet-ink-derived particulate images from said operational surfaces to said receiver member, said transfer being in register with ink-jet-ink-derived images having another color previously transferred in register to said receiver member;
• and
• moving said receiver member through remaining of said plurality of sequentially arranged image forming modules so as to form, in a last module, said full color ink-jet-ink-derived image on said receiver member.

A method of making an ink-jet-ink-derived image comprising the steps of:

• using an ink jet device to form a coagulable liquid ink image on an operational surface of an intermediate member;
• causing formation of coagulates in said coagulable liquid ink image;
• removing an excess liquid from said coagulates in said coagulable liquid ink image so as to form an ink-jet-ink-derived material image;
• in a transfer step, transferring said ink-jet-ink-derived material image from said operational surface to another member.