Independent power supplies for color inkjet printers
First Claim
1. An inkjet printing system for printing on a media, comprising:
- a frame;
a carriage movably mounted to the frame with respect to the media, the carriage having at least one slot adapted to receive a corresponding at least one print cartridge, the at least one print cartridge having a plurality of groups of ink ejection elements, each ink ejection element individually actuable by a firing energy to emit drops of an ink; and
a plurality of power sources disposed in the inkjet printing system for supplying the firing energy, the plurality of power sources having a corresponding plurality of independently settable voltages, wherein certain ones of the plurality of power sources are electrically connected to corresponding ones of the groups of ink ejection elements, and wherein the voltages for the certain ones of the plurality of power sources are set to an appropriate voltage value for the corresponding group.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An inkjet printing system having multiple independent power supplies for providing firing energy to the ink ejection elements of one or more printheads. Different ones of the power supplies can be connected to different print cartridges each of which prints a different color ink; to different arrays of ink ejection elements within a single print cartridge, where each array prints a different color ink; or to different sections of the ink ejection element array of a single printhead for a single color ink. The output of each power supply is independently set to an appropriate voltage level for each different print cartridge, ink ejection element array, or section of an array.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. An inkjet printing system for printing on a media, comprising:
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a frame;
a carriage movably mounted to the frame with respect to the media, the carriage having at least one slot adapted to receive a corresponding at least one print cartridge, the at least one print cartridge having a plurality of groups of ink ejection elements, each ink ejection element individually actuable by a firing energy to emit drops of an ink; and
a plurality of power sources disposed in the inkjet printing system for supplying the firing energy, the plurality of power sources having a corresponding plurality of independently settable voltages, wherein certain ones of the plurality of power sources are electrically connected to corresponding ones of the groups of ink ejection elements, and wherein the voltages for the certain ones of the plurality of power sources are set to an appropriate voltage value for the corresponding group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A print cartridge for printing drops of different inks using an inkjet printer, comprising:
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a printhead die mounted in the print cartridge having a plurality of groups of ink ejection elements, each group for controllably ejecting drops of an ink; and
a plurality of firing pulse inputs, certain ones of the firing pulse inputs commonly connected to certain other ones of the groups of ink ejection elements in order to controllably eject the drops of the ink; and
a conductive circuit connected to the printhead die, the circuit having a plurality of power interconnect pads, each pad for receiving one of a plurality of firing pulses, and a corresponding plurality of electrically conductive traces for conducting the firing pulses to the firing pulse inputs. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
a plurality of power supplies electrically connected to the power interconnect pads, each of the power supplies for supplying one of the plurality of firing pulses to the print cartridge.
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28. The print cartridge of claim 16, further including:
a power source electrically connected to the power interconnect pads for supplying the plurality of firing pulses to the print cartridge.
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29. A method for printing with an inkjet printer, comprising:
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providing a plurality of groups of ink ejection elements, the elements in each group selectively ejecting ink in response to a corresponding one of a plurality of firing pulses;
providing independently settable firing voltage levels for each of the plurality of firing pulses;
setting each of the firing voltage levels to an appropriate voltage value for the corresponding one of the plurality of groups of ink ejection elements; and
selectively generating the firing pulses for each group as governed by the data to be printed so as to emit ink drops from at least some of the ink ejection elements in at least two of the groups. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
selecting the ink ejection elements from which ink drops are to be printed, as governed by print data.
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31. The method of claim 29, wherein the setting each of the firing voltage levels further comprises selecting a voltage value required to emit a desired ink drop volume from the ink ejection elements in the group.
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32. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
determining parasitic resistances of certain ink ejection elements group so as to establish the appropriate voltage value for these certain groups.
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33. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
electrically connecting certain ones of a plurality of voltage sources to corresponding ones of the ink ejection element groups so as to provide the independently settable firing voltage levels.
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34. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
providing at least one print cartridge, each cartridge housing at least one of the groups of the ink ejection elements.
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35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
providing a supply of ink to each group of ink ejection elements, the supply of ink located in a location selected from the group consisting of within the print cartridge, in a reservoir detachably connected to the print cartridge, and in an off-carriage reservoir fluidly connected to the print cartridge.
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36. A method for printing with an inkjet printer, comprising:
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independently setting an appropriate firing pulse voltage level for each of a plurality of firing pulses, each firing pulse associated with a group of ink ejection elements; and
selectively generating individual ones of the plurality of firing pulses as governed by the data to be printed so as to emit ink drops from at least some of the ink ejection elements in at least two of the groups.
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Specification