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US 9,880,501 B2Granted
Liquid electro-photographic printing
AssigneeHP Indigo B.V.
InventorShmuel I. Borenstein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one example, a printing process includes: forming a first latent image on a photoconductor (24); applying a first LEP ink (30) to the photoconductor to develop the first latent image into a first ink image; forming a second latent image having a first part on the first ink image and a second part on the photoconductor; and applying a second LEP ink (32, 34, 36) to the first ink image and to the photoconductor to develop the second latent image into a second ink image and form a composite on the photoconductor in which some of the second ink image overlaps some of the first ink image.
Claims20
A printer, comprising:
- a photoconductor;
- a charging device;
- a photoimaging device;
- multiple developers each to apply an LEP ink to the photoconductor;
- a single discharging device;
- and
- a controller including a memory and a processor operatively connected to the memory to execute programming thereon that includes instructions for:
- the charging device charging the photoconductor;
- the photoimaging device discharging select areas of the photoconductor to form a first latent image in a pattern corresponding to a first ink image;
- a first developer applying a first ink to the photoconductor to form the first ink image;
- the charging device charging the photoconductor and just an outer layer of the first ink image;
- the photoimaging device discharging select areas of the photoconductor and the first ink image to form a second latent image in a pattern corresponding to a second ink image;
- and
- a second developer applying a second ink to the photoconductor to form the second ink image overlapping at least part of the first ink image;
- wherein the single discharging device discharges:
- the photoconductor and an outer region of the first ink image after application of the first ink to the photoconductor, while an inner region of the first ink image remains charged;
- and
- the photoconductor, the first ink image, and the second ink image after application of the second ink to the photoconductor.
15 more elements
A printer comprising:
- a photoconductor;
- a photoimaging device to:
- form a first latent image on the photoconductor;
- and
- form a second latent image on the photoconductor;
- a first developer to apply a first LEP ink to the photoconductor to develop the first latent image into a first ink image;
- a second developer to apply a second LEP ink to the first ink image and to the photoconductor to develop the second latent image into a second ink image and form a composite on the photoconductor in which some of the second ink image overlaps some of the first ink image, wherein the developers are disengaged from the photoconductor when a multi-layer ink image is transferred to an intermediate member;
- a single discharging device to:
- discharge the photoconductor and an outer region of the first ink image after application of the first ink to the photoconductor, while an inner region of the first ink image remains charged;
- and
- discharge the photoconductor, the first ink image, and the second ink image after application of the second ink to the photoconductor;
- and
- a cleaning station to remove ink residue after the ink images are transferred to the intermediate member, wherein the cleaning station is disengaged from the photoconductor while applying the first LEP ink and second LEP ink to the photoconductor.
10 more elements
A printing process, comprising:
- forming, by a photoimaging device, a first latent image on a photoconductor;
- applying a first LEP ink to the photoconductor to develop the first latent image into a first ink image;
- anchoring negatively charged particles to the first ink image to the photoconductor;
- discharging by a single discharging device, the photoconductor and the first ink image after application of the first LEP ink to the photoconductor;
- forming, by the photoimaging device, a second latent image having a first part on the first ink image and a second part on the photoconductor;
- applying a second LEP ink to the first ink image and to the photoconductor to develop the second latent image into a second ink image and form a composite on the photoconductor in which some of the second ink image overlaps some of the first ink image;
- and
- discharging by the single discharging device, the photoconductor, the first ink image, and the second ink image after application of the second LEP ink to the first ink image and the photoconductor.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.