Seamed flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having a permanent localized solid attribute
First Claim
1. A flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having two parallel sides and a non imaging seam region extending substantially from one of the sides to the other side of the belt, the non imaging seam region having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a seam within the non imaging seam region, the leading and trailing edges being perpendicular to the two parallel sides of the imaging belt,the belt comprisinga substrate layer,a reflective electrically conductive layer,at least one imaging layer,an imaging region extending around the belt from adjacent the leading edge of the seam region to adjacent the trailing edge, the imaging region adapted to reflect monochromatic infrared radiation anda permanent localized solid attribute at a predetermined location in the non imaging seam region, the attribute adapted to reduce by at least about 50 percent direct reflection by the seam of a beam of monochromatic infrared radiation originally directed at the attribute.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having two parallel sides and a non imaging seam region extending substantially from one of the sides to the other side, the non-imaging seam region having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a seam within the non imaging seam region, the leading and trailing edges being perpendicular to the two parallel sides of the imaging belt, the belt comprising a substrate layer, a reflective electrically conductive layer, at least one imaging layer, an imaging region extending around the belt from adjacent the leading edge of the seam region to adjacent the trailing edge, the imaging region adapted to reflect monochromatic infrared radiation and a permanent localized solid attribute at a predetermined location in the non imaging seam region, the attribute adapted to reduce by at least about 50 percent direct reflection by the seam itself of a beam of monochromatic infrared radiation originally directed at the attribute. This belt is used in imaging apparatus and imaging processes.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having two parallel sides and a non imaging seam region extending substantially from one of the sides to the other side of the belt, the non imaging seam region having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a seam within the non imaging seam region, the leading and trailing edges being perpendicular to the two parallel sides of the imaging belt,
the belt comprising a substrate layer, a reflective electrically conductive layer, at least one imaging layer, an imaging region extending around the belt from adjacent the leading edge of the seam region to adjacent the trailing edge, the imaging region adapted to reflect monochromatic infrared radiation and a permanent localized solid attribute at a predetermined location in the non imaging seam region, the attribute adapted to reduce by at least about 50 percent direct reflection by the seam of a beam of monochromatic infrared radiation originally directed at the attribute.
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15. An electrostatographic imaging apparatus comprising
a flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having two parallel sides and a non imaging seam region extending substantially from one of the sides to the other side of the belt, the non imaging seam region having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a seam within the non imaging seam region, the leading and trailing edges being perpendicular to the two parallel sides of the imaging belt, the belt comprising a substrate layer, a reflective electrically conductive layer, at least one imaging layer, an imaging region extending around the belt from adjacent the leading edge of the seam to adjacent the trailing edge, the imaging region adapted to reflect monochromatic infrared radiation and a permanent localized solid attribute at a predetermined location in the non imaging seam region adjacent the seam, the attribute adapted to reduce by at least about 50 percent direct reflection by the seam of a beam of monochromatic infrared radiation originally directed at the attribute, at least one support for the belt, a drive to cycle the belt on the support, a device for forming an electrostatic latent image in the imaging region, a device for developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image in conformance with the electrostatic latent image and a device for transferring the toner image to a receiving member, a light source adapted to direct, during belt cycling, at least one beam of monochromatic infrared radiation onto the imaging region and seam region along a path which extends over the solid attribute during cycling, a device adapted to generate a signal upon detection of suppressed reflection of monochromatic infrared radiation reflected from the seam region when the beam strikes the solid attribute, and a device to process the signal to track the seam.
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19. An electrostatographic imaging process comprising
providing a flexible electrostatographic imaging belt having two parallel sides and a non imaging seam region extending substantially from one of the sides to the other side, the non imaging seam region having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a seam within the non imaging seam region, the leading and trailing edges being perpendicular to the two parallel sides of the imaging belt, the belt comprising a substrate layer, a reflective electrically conductive layer, at least one imaging layer, an imaging region extending around the belt from adjacent the leading edge of the seam to adjacent the trailing edge, the imaging region adapted to reflect monochromatic infrared radiation and a permanent localized solid attribute at a predetermined location in the non imaging seam region adjacent the seam, the attribute adapted to reduce by at least about 50 percent direct reflection by the seam itself of a beam of monochromatic infrared radiation originally directed at the attribute, cycling the belt in an electrostatographic imaging process comprising forming an electrostatic latent image in the imaging region, developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image in conformance with the electrostatic latent image and transferring the toner image to a receiving member, directing during cycling at least one beam of monochromatic infrared radiation onto the imaging region and the non imaging seam region along a path which extends over the solid attribute during cycling, detecting the suppression of monochromatic infrared radiation directly reflected from the non imaging seam region when the beam strikes the solid attribute, generating a signal when the directly reflected monochromatic infrared radiation is suppressed, and processing the signal to track the attribute.
Specification