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US 9,849,676 B2Granted
Printer including a spit zone
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsRandal Morrison, Jafar N. Jefferson, Lisa Michels, Cris Jansson, Bob Davis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printer includes a printhead assembly, a spit zone, and a controller. The printhead assembly includes nozzles to eject ink drops. The spit zone is to store maintenance ink. The controller is to move the printhead assembly over the spit zone while ink is ejected from the nozzles during spits.
Claims13
A printer comprising:
- a printhead assembly comprising nozzles to eject ink drops;
- a spit zone to receive maintenance ink from the nozzles;
- and
- a controller to move the printhead assembly over the spit zone while ink is ejected from the nozzles during spits,
- wherein the controller sets a starting position within the spit zone for a subsequent spit based on an ending position within the spit zone of a previous spit, and
- wherein the subsequent spit does not overlap the previous spit.
3 more elements
A printer comprising:
- a carriage assembly;
- a printhead assembly coupled to the carriage assembly, the printhead assembly comprising nozzles to eject ink drops;
- a spit zone to receive ink ejected from the nozzles during spits;
- and
- a controller to control the carriage assembly to move the printhead assembly over the spit zone while ink is ejected from the nozzles during spits,
- wherein the controller sets a starting position within the spit zone for a subsequent spit based on an ending position within the spit zone of a previous spit, and
- wherein the controller positions the subsequent spit to not overlap the previous spit.
4 more elements
A method for maintaining a printer, the method comprising:
- moving a printhead assembly through a spit zone, the printhead assembly comprising nozzles to eject ink drops;
- setting a starting position within the spit zone for a spit based on an ending position within the spit zone of a previous spit;
- and
- ejecting ink from the nozzles during a spit while the printhead assembly is moved through the spit zone,
- wherein the printhead assembly is moved through the spit zone during the spit to position the spit to not overlap the previous spit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.