Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1
WALL MOUNTABLE PRINTER WITH REMOVABLE CARTRIDGE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wall-mountable, high-speed printer, and
more particularly to a
printer which can print more than 30 pages or more a minute at high quality
whilst being capable of blending
into the design of a home or office environment.
CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS
The following applications have been filed by the Applicant simultaneously
with the present application:
SHA VPA RRB MFA PNA
RRC
The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by
reference. The above applications
have been identified by their filing docket number, which will be substituted
with the corresponding
application number, once assigned.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The following patents or patent applications filed by the applicant or
assignee of the present
invention are hereby incorporated by cross-reference.
6,795,215 10/884,881 PECO1NP 09/575,109 10/296,535 09/575,110 6,805,419
09/607,985 6,398,332 6,394,573 6,622,923 6,747,760 10/189,459 PEC14US
PEC15US 10/727,181 10/ 727,162 10/727,163 10/727,245 10/727,204 10/727,233
10/727,280 10/727,157 10/727,17 8 10/727,210 10/727,257 10/727,238 10/727,251
10/727,159 10/727,180 10/727,179 10/727,192 10/727,274 10/727,164 10/727,161
10/727,198 10/727,158 10/754,536 10/754,938 10/727,227 10/727,160 PEA29US
10/854,521 10/854,522 10/854,488 10/854,487 10/854,503 10/854,504 10/854,509
10/854,510 10/854,496 10/854,497 10/854,495 10/854,498 10/854,511 10/854,512
10/854,525 10/854,526 10/854,516 10/854,508 10/854,507 10/854,515 10/854,506
10/854,505 10/854,493 10/854,494 10/854,489 10/854,490 10/854,492 10/854,491
10/854,528 10/854,523 10/854,527 10/854,524 10/854,520 10/854,514 10/854,519
PLT036US 10/854,499 10/854,501 PLT039US 10/854,502 10/854,518 10/854,517
PLT043US 10/728,804 10/728,952 10/728,806 10/728,834 10/729,790 10/728,884
10/728,970 10/728,784 10/728,783 10/728,925 10/728,842 10/728,803 10/728,780
10/728,779 10/773,189 10/773,204 10/773,198 10/773,199 10/773,190 10/773,201
10/773,191 10/773,183 10/773,195 10/773,196 10/773,186 10/773,200 10/773,185
10/773,192 10/773,197 10/773,203 10/773,187 10/773,202 10/773,188 10/773,194
10/773,193 10/773,184 10/760,272 10/760,273 10/760,187 10/760,182 10/760,188
10/760,218 10/760,217 10/760,216 10/760,233 10/760,246 10/760,212 10/760,243
10/760,201 10/760,185 10/760,253 10/760,255 10/760,209 10/760,208 10/7 60,194
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10/760,238 10/760,234 10/760,235 10/760,183 10/760,189 10/760,262 10/760,232
10/760,231 10/760,200 10/760,190 10/760,191 10/760,227 10/760,207 10/760,181
6,746,105 6,623,101 6,406,129 6,505,916 6,457,809. 6,550,895 6,457,812
6,428,133 IJ52NP 10/407212 10/407207 10/683064 10/683041 10/882774
10/884889 10/922890 JUM008US JUM009US JUM010US 10/922884 JUM012US
JUM013US JUM014US JUM015US JUM016US 10/922871 10/922880 JU1VI019US
10/922882 JUM021US 10/922878 JUM023US 10/922876 JUM025US 10/922877
10/815625 10/815624 10/815628 10/913375 10/913373 10/913374 IRB004US
10/913377 10/913378 10/913380 10/913379 10/913376 10/913381 IRBO 11US
09/575187 6727996 6591884 6439706 6760119 09/575198 09/722148
09/722146 09/721861 6290349 6428155 6785016 09/608920 09/721892
09/722171 09/721858 09/722142 10/171987 10/202021 10/291724 10/291512
10/291554 10/659027 10/659026 10/831242 10/884885 10/884883 10/901154
NPPO49US NPPO51US NPPO52US NPPO53US NPPO54US NPPO57US NPPO58US
NPPO62US 10/659027 09/693301 09/575197 09/575195 09/575159 09/575132
09/575123 09/575148 09/575130 09/575165 6813039 09/575118 09/575131
09/575116 6816274 09/575139 09/575186 6681045 6728000 09/575145
09/575192 09/575181 09/575193 09/575183 6789194 09/575150 6789191
6549935 09/575174 09/575163 6737591 09/575154 09/575129 09/575124
09/575188 09/575189 09/575170 09/575171 09/575161 6644642 6502614
6622999 6669385 CAAOOlUS CAA002US CAA003US CAA004US CAA005US
CAA006US CAA007US CAA008US CAA009US CAAO10US CAA011US CAA012US
CAA013US CAA014US CAA015US CAA016US CAA017US CABOOIUS CACOOlUS
CAD001US CAEOO1US CAF001US CAF002US CAF003US CAF004US
Some applications have been listed by docket numbers. These will be replaced
when application
numbers are known.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With recent trends of incorporating electronic equipment into the decore of
the home and office and
the provision of smaller and more compact workstations in office environments,
it has become necessary to
design such equipment to suit such decofe whilst maximising available
workspace. With respect to reducing
the amount of space occupied by traditional office equipment such as printers,
wall mountable printers have
been proposed. Whilst such proposals have been successful in freeing up the
amount of available space by
removing the printer from the desktop, this has typically resulted in printer
units having reduced printing
capabilities, poor aesthetic appeal and increased complexity for users.
Thus, there is a need to provide a wall mountable printer suitable for use in
both home and office
environments which is capable of blending into the design of the home or work
space whilst providing high-
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speed, e.g., more than 30 pages per minute (ppm), and high-quality, e.g.,
images of about 1200 dots per inch
(dpi) or more, printing capabilities and ease of use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a first aspect the present invention provides a printer unit comprising:
a print engine for printing on print media; and
a body housing said print engine and adapted to be mounted to a substantially
vertical surface in a
suspended arrangement,
wherein the print engine incorporates a removable pagewidth printhead for
printing on said print
media.
Optionally the print engine comprises a cradle unit removably mounted to the
body and a cartridge unit which
incorporates the printhead and is removably received within the cradle unit.
Optionally the cartridge unit further incorporates at least one ink handling
and storage reservoir from which
the printhead draws ink for printing in said print media.
Optionally the cradle unit incorporates drive electronics for controlling the
printing performed by the
printhead.
Optionally the body has a rear surface arranged to be mountable to said
substantially vertical surface and an
inner section arranged to house the print engine.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with mounting bosses for
mounting the printer unit to said
substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with a hook for mounting
the printer unit over a top surface
of said substantially vertical surface.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a wall.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a privacy screen of an
office workstation.
Optionally there is provided a printer unit, wherein:
the inner section of the body is further arranged to mount a print media
supply for supplying print
media to the pagewidth printhead; and
the rear surface of the body is further arranged to mount an extendable print
media collector for
collecting print media printed on by the pagewidth printhead.
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Optionally the body has a front surface which is adapted to receive an
ornamentation.
Optionally the body is arranged to house a print media collector which is
automatically extendable from the
body upon commencement of printing to collect the printed media.
Optionally the pagewidth printhead is arranged as a two-dimensional array of
at least 20000 printing nozzles
for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the pagewidth printhead incorporates an array of ink ejecting
nozzles arranged to print on said
print media by ejecting drops of ink across the width of said print media at a
rate of at least 50 million drops
per second.
In a second aspect the present invention provides a printer unit comprising:
a print engine for printing on print media; and
a body housing said print engine and adapted to be mounted to a substantially
vertical surface in a
suspended arrangement,
wherein the body has a front surface which is adapted to receive an.
ornamentation.
Optionally said ornamentation is one or more selected from the group
consisting of a picture, a photo, a print,
a certificate and a painting.
Optionally the front surface has a transparent window and a picture frame
arranged thereabouts for display of
said ornamentation.
Optionally the picture frame has a size which is substantially the same as the
size of the front surface of the
body.
Optionally the picture frame is arranged to be removable from the front
surface of the body.
Optionally the body further has a rear surface arranged to be mountable to
said substantially vertical surface
and an inner section arranged to house the print engine.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with mounting bosses for
mounting the printer unit to said
substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with a hook for mounting
the printer unit over a top surface
of said substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the print engine is removable from the inner section of the body.
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In a further aspect there is provided a printer unit, wherein:
the inner section of the body is further arranged to mount a print media
supply for supplying print
media to the print engine; and
the rear surface of the body is further arranged to mount an extendable print
media collector for
5 collecting print media printed on by the print engine.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a wall.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a privacy screen of an
office workstation.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a removable pagewidth printhead for
printing on said print media.
Optionally the body is arranged to house a print media collector which is
automatically extendable from the
body upon commencement of printing to collect the printed media.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a pagewidth printhead arranged as a
two-dimensional array of at least
20000 printing nozzles for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the print engine incorporates an array of ink ejecting nozzles
configured as a pagewidth printhead
arranged to print on said print media by ejecting drops of ink across the
width of said print media at a rate of
at least 50 million drops per second.
In a third aspect the present invention provides a printer unit comprising:
a print engine for printing on print media; and -
a body housing said print engine and adapted to be mounted to a substantially
vertical surface in a
suspended arrangement,
wherein the body is further arranged to house a print media collector which is
automatically
extendable from the body upon commencement of printing to collect the printed
media.
Optionally the body has a rear surface arranged to be mountable to said
substantially vertical surface and an
inner section arranged to house the print engine.
Optionally the print media collector is retractable into the inner section of
the body so as not to substantially
project from the body.
Optionally the inner section of the body is further arranged with a winding
arrangement for bi-directionally
winding a wire attached to a top surface of the print media collector so as to
retract and extend the print media
collector into and out from the body.
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Optionally the winding arrangement comprises a winch about which the wire is
wound and unwound and a
motor for operating the winch so as to wind and unwind the wire.
Optionally the motor of the winding arrangement is controlled by drive
electronics of the print engine, which
control the printing performed by the print engine, so as to wind and unwind
the wire in conjunction with the
print engine printing on said print media.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with mounting bosses for
mounting the printer unit to said
substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with a hook for mounting
the printer unit over a top surface
of said substantially vertical surface.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a wall:
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a privacy screen of an
office workstation.
Optionally the print engine is removable from the inner section of the body.
Optionally the inner section of the body is further arranged to mount a print
media supply for supplying print
media to the print engine.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a removable pagewidth printhead for
printing on said print media.
Optionally the body has a front surface which is adapted to receive an
ornamentation.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a pagewidth printhead arranged as a
two-dimensional array of at least
20000 printing nozzles for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the print engine incorporates an array of ink ejecting nozzles
configured as a pagewidth printhead
arranged to print on said print media by ejecting drops of ink across the
width of said print media at a rate of
at least 50 million drops per second.
In a fourth aspect the present invention provides a printer unit comprising:
a print engine for printing on print media; and
a body housing said print engine and adapted to be mounted to a substantially
vertical surface in a
suspended arrangement,
wherein the print engine incorporates a pagewidth printhead arranged as a two-
dimensional array of
at least 20000 printing nozzles for printing across the width of said print
media.
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Optionally the pagewidth printhead is arranged as a two-dimensional array of
at least 30,000 printing
nozzles for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the pagewidth printhead is arranged as a two-dimensional array of
at least 40,000 printing nozzles
for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the pagewidth printhead is arranged as a two-dimensional array of
at least 50,000 printing nozzles
for printing across the width of said print media.
Optionally the body has a rear surface arranged to be mountable to said
substantially vertical surface and an
inner section arranged to house the print engine.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with mounting bosses for
mounting the printer unit to said
substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with a hook for mounting
the printer unit over a top surface
of said substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the print engine is removable from the inner section of the body.
In a further aspect there is provided a printer unit, wherein:
the inner section of the body is further arranged to mount a print media
supply for supplying print
media to the pagewidth printhead; and
the rear surface of the body is farther arranged to mount an extendable print
media collector for
collecting print media printed on by the pagewidth printhead.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a wall.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a privacy screen of an
office workstation.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a removable pagewidth printhead for
printing on said print media.
Optionally the body has a front surface which is adapted to receive an
ornamentation.
Optionally the body is arranged to house a print media collector which is
automatically extendable from the
body upon commencement of printing to collect the printed media.
Optionally the printing nozzles are arranged to print on said print media by
ejecting drops of ink across the
width of said print media at a rate of at least 50 million drops per second.
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In a fifth aspect the present invention provides a printer unit comprising:
a print engine for printing on print media; and
a body housing said print engine and adapted to be mounted to a substantially
vertical surface in a
suspended arrangement,
wherein the print engine incorporates an array of ink ejecting nozzles
configured as a pagewidth
printhead arranged to print on said print media by ejecting drops of ink
across the width of said print media at
a rate of at least 50 million drops per second.
Optionally the array of ink ejecting nozzles are configured to eject drops of
ink across the width of said print
media at a rate of at least 100 million drops per second.
Optionally the array of ink ejecting nozzles are configured to eject drops of
ink across the width of said print
media at a rate of at least 300 million drops per second.
Optionally the array of ink ejecting nozzles are configured to eject drops of
ink across the width of said print
media at a rate of at least one billion drops per second.
Optionally the body has a rear surface arranged to be mountable to said
substantially vertical surface and an
inner section arranged to house the print engine.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with mounting bosses for
mounting the printer unit to said
substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the rear surface of the body is arranged with a hook for mounting
the printer unit over a top surface
of said substantially vertical surface.
Optionally the print engine is removable from the inner section of the body.
In a farther aspect there is provided a printer unit, wherein:
the inner section of the body is fiu-t,her arranged to mount a print media
supply for supplying print
media to the pagewidth printhead; and
the rear surface of the body is further arranged to mount an extendable print
media collector for
collecting print media printed on by the pagewidth printhead.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a wall.
Optionally said substantially vertical surface is a privacy screen of an
office workstation.
Optionally the print engine incorporates a removable pagewidth printhead for
printing on said print media.
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Optionally the body has a front surface which is adapted to receive an
ornamentation.
Optionally the body is arranged to house a print media collector which is
automatically extendable from the
body upon commencement of printing to collect the printed media.
Optionally the array of ink ejecting nozzles is arranged as a two-dimensional
array of at least 20000 ink
ejecting nozzles for printing across the width of said print media.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a printer in accordance with an embodiment
of the present
invention;
Fig. 2 shows a front plan view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 illustrates an open position of a facia of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 shows a rear view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 shows an underside perspective view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 6 shows a bottom view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 7 shows a top view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 8 shows a side view of the printer of Fig. 1;
Fig. 9 shows an exploded view of the printer of Fig. 1 illustrating the
various components thereof;
Fig. 10 illustrates an open position of a print media source tray assembly of
the printer as shown in
Fig. 9 loaded with A4 print media;
Fig. 11 shows a cross-sectional view of the printer taken along the line A-A
of Fig. 2;
Fig. 12 shows a rear perspective view of the printer of Fig. 1 illustrating a
print media collector
thereof;
Fig. 13 shows a front perspective view of the print media collector of Fig.
12;
Fig. 14 illustrates the print media collector and the printer as shown in Fig.
12 with collected print
media thereon;
Fig. 15 illustrates the print media collector and the printer as shown in Fig.
13 with collected print
media thereon;
Fig. 16 illustrates the print media collector as shown in Fig. 15 with an
alternative facia in
accordance with the present invention;
Figs. 17A and 17B illustrate an application of the printer as shown in Fig. 4;
Fig. 18 illustrates the print media collector as shown in Fig. 14 with an
alternative mounting
arrangement of the printer in accordance with the present invention;
Figs. 19A and 19B illustrate an application of the printer as shown in Fig.
18;
Fig. 20 shows a perspective view (partly in section) of a portion of a nozzle
system of a printhead
integrated circuit that is incorporated in a printhead of the printer of Fig.
1;
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Fig. 21 shows a vertical sectional view of a single nozzle (of the nozzle
system shown in Fig. 20) in
a quiescent state;
Fig. 22 shows a vertical sectional view of the nozzle of Fig. 21 at an initial
actuation state;
Fig. 23 shows a vertical sectional view of the nozzle of Fig. 22 at a later
actuation state;
5 Fig. 24 shows in perspective a partial vertical sectional view of the nozzle
at the initial actuation state
shown in Fig. 22;
Fig. 25 shows in perspective a partial vertical sectional view of the nozzle
at the later actuation state
shown in Fig. 23;
Fig. 26 shows a schematic diagram of document data flow in the printer of Fig.
1;
10 Fig. 27 illustrates a data representation of a page element used in Fig.
26;
Fig. 28 shows a more detailed schematic diagram showing an architecture used
in Fig. 26;
Fig. 29 shows a schematic view of a controller incorporated in a print engine
assembly of the printer
of Fig. 1;
Fig. 30 shows a schematic diagram illustrating CMOS drive and control blocks
for use in Fig. 26;
Fig. 31 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between nozzle
columns and dot shift
registers in the CMOS blocks of Fig. 30;
Fig. 32 shows a more detailed schematic diagram illustrating a unit cell and
its relationship to the
nozzle columns and dot shift registers of Fig. 31; and
Fig. 33 shows a circuit diagram illustrating logic for a single nozzle in Fig.
26.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
A frontal view of a printer 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention is
illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The printer 100 comprises a body 102, a print
media source tray assembly 104
hingedly attached to the body 102 for storing print media to be printed on by
the printer 100, a facia 106
hingedly attached to the outer, front surface of the source tray assembly 104,
a handle 108 provided on an
upper, outer surface of the source tray assembly 104 for assisting the hinged
operation of the source tray
assembly 104 from the body 102, and a print media collector 110 which can be
extended from the bottom
surface of the body 102 for collecting printed media. In combination, the
source tray assembly 104, the facia
106 and the collector 110 may form part of the body 102 of the printer 100.
As shown in Fig. 3, the facia 106 is hingedly attached to the source tray
assembly 104 with hinges
112, which are inset within the rear surface of the facia 106 so as to provide
a flush fitting of the facia 104 to
the outer surface of the source tray assembly 104. The facia 106 is hingedly
attached to the source tray
assembly 104 so as to provide access to a user interface 114 and a data
connector 116 of the printer 100, or
any other components which may be provided on-the outer surface of the source
tray assembly 104. Access is
also provided in this way to the inner surface of the facia 106 which has an
envelope portion 118 provided
thereon. The envelope portion 118 is provided for the housing of pictures,
photos, prints, certificates,
paintings and like ornamentations in the front of the printer 100 for display
through a transparent portion or
window 120 provided on the outer surface of the facia 106 (see Fig. 1). This
aspect of the printer 100 will be
described in more detail later.
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Referring to Fig. 4, the print media collector 110 is housed within a rear
surface of the body 102, as
is a winding arrangement 122 and associated motor 124 provided to drive the
extension (and retraction) of the
collector 110 out from (and into) the bottom surface of the body 102. As shown
in Fig. 5, whilst the collector
110 is substantially housed in the body 102 in its retracted position, a
retaining portion 126 of the collector
110 is provided outside of the bottom surface of the body 102. Even so, when
not being used to collect
printed media, the collector 110 is housed within the body 102 so as to be
barely noticeable from the front of
the mounted printer 100 since the collector 110 is substantially hidden by the
body 102 itself with the
collector 110 on the rear surface of the body 102 which faces a wall or other
substantially vertical surface to
which the printer 100 is mounted. In order to mount the printer 100 to a wall,
etc mounting bosses 128 may
be provided (see Fig. 4), which will be described in more detail later.
As can be seen from the bottom, top and side views of Figs. 6, 7 and 8,
respectively, the printer 100
comprising of the above-mentioned components is relatively compact. As such,
when mounted to a wall, etc
the printer 100 projects a minimal distance therefrom, which minimises the
amount of space occupied by the
printer 100. This compactness is further facilitated by the
retractable/extendable collector 110 which is
extended from the printer 100 when printing is being performed and is
retracted within the body 102 when not
in use. Further, by providing the facia 106 which is able to receive prints,
etc on the front surface of the tray
assembly 106, the actual printer 100 itself can be substantially hidden or
disguised from view when not
printing, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following
description.
An exploded view of the printer 100 is provided in Fig. 9 illustrating the
various components thereof.
As can be seen, the printer 100 is basically constructed as an assembly of the
body 102, the source tray
assembly 104, the facia 106 and the collector 110 with their associated
components, such as a print engine
assembly 130 for printing on print media 132 sourced from the source tray
assembly 104 and a power supply
unit (PSU) 134 for powering the print engine assembly 130 and other
electronics of the printer 100, which are
both housed within the body 102, as further shown in Fig. 10.
Referring to Fig. 10, the source tray assembly 104 is arranged to'be capable
of storing print media
132 for printing in a paper tray portion 136 thereof. The print media 132 may
be provided in the form of
variously sized print media stacks each comprising of about 250 sheets, and up
to 500 sheets, i.e., a ream of
paper, of up to 300 gsm paper. For example, in Fig. 10 A4 paper is held by the
source tray assembly 104.
However, photographic print media, e.g., 4" x 6" paper, and other media may be
held. In the following
description the print media for use in the printer 100 is referred to as
paper, however other forms of print
media are applicable.
The printer 100 thus constructed is intended for use as a printer which is
capable of printing
information onto paper at a rate of at least 30 pages per minute (ppm),
preferably at least 60 ppm, with a
printing resolution providing for so-called photographic quality printing of
at least 1200 dots per inch (dpi),
preferably at least 1600 dpi. The manner in which the printer. 100 operates in
order to provide these
capabilities whilst being wall mounted will now be discussed.
Referring again to Figs. 9 and 10, a cover portion 138 is provided which
"snaps" into the source tray
assembly 104 so as to form the outer surface thereof. The cover portion 138
comprises cut-out portions 1 14a
and 116a for accommodating the user interface 114 and the data connector 116,
respectively. The source tray
assembly 104 is hingedly mounted to the body 102 via a hinge arrangement 140
about a pivot (not shown).
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The stack 132 of paper is received and held on a surface (tray) 142 of the
tray portion 136 which faces the
body 102 when the source tray assembly 104 is mounted thereto. That is, the
stack 132 is loaded on the
source tray assembly 104 by being placed on the tray 142 and is held in a
desired location on the tray 142 by
using a stop plate 144 and a fence plate 146 thereof.
In order to do this, a plurality of holes 142a are provided in the tray 142 in
a matrix which provides
different positions for the stop and fence plates 144 and 146. The stop plate
144 has tabs 144a arranged to
engage with some of the plurality of holes 142a of the tray 142 and the fence
plate 146 similarly has a tab
146a for engaging with some of the holes 142a of the tray 142. Further, the
fence plate 146 may have a
clipping element 146b which engages with a rod (not shown) provided on the
tray 142, so that it is laterally
slidable across the tray 142.
The tray portion 136, and consequently the source tray assembly 104, is made
to a size sufficient to
accommodate the maximum sized paper to be used with the printer 100. In the
embodiment shown in the
figures, the maximum paper size that may be accommodated in this way is A4
paper. However, the printer
100 may be arranged to accommodate a different maximum print media size.
Different sized paper is
accommodated in the source tray assembly 104 as shown in Figs. 9 and 10 by
moving the stop and fence
plates 144 and 146 into varying positions via the holes 142a. Those skilled in
the art will understand that the
above-described arrangement to accommodate variously sized paper stacks within
the source tray assembly
104 is merely an example, and alternative arrangements and mechanisms may be
used in accordance with the
present invention to securely hold such paper stacks.
The source tray assembly 104 also houses a picker assembly 148 which is used
to pick-up and
separate the individual sheets of paper from the stack 132 so as to be
advanced to the print engine 130. The
picker assembly 148 may comprise at least one "D-type" drive rollers 150,
shown most clearly in the cross-
sectional view of the printer 100 in Fig. 11, which is driven by a motor 152.
A plurality of drive rollers 150
may be provided as shown in Fig. 9 so as to extend across the sheets of the
stack 132, however a single drive
roller 150 having a length which achieves this is also within the scope of the
present invention.
In the arrangement 'shown in Fig. 11, the drive rollers 150 are rotated
clockwise by the motor 152 so
as to pick-up a bottommost sheet 132a from the stack 132 which is exposed to
the picker assembly 148
through one or more gaps 153 provided in the tray 142 which correspond with
the position of the drive
roller(s) 150 (see also Fig. 9). The operation and speed of the drive rollers
150 is controlled via control
circuitry (not shown) of the printer 100. The drive rollers 150 have a
surface, such as rubber, which grips the
sheets of paper in the stack 132. It will be understood that other types of
picker mechanism could be used in
accordance with the present invention.
As can be seen in Fig. 11, the tray 142 is angled from the horizontal by about
80 to 85 (i.e., 5 to
10 from the vertical) in order to position the bottommost sheet 132a of the
stack 132 so that it may be readily
picked-up for advancement to the print engine assembly 130 for printing by the
drive rollers 150 of the picker
assembly 148. During the printing process, the size of the stack 132 will
change as the sheets of paper are
consumed. Thus, the stack 132 is spring loaded towards the picker assembly 148
by a spring mechanism 154
provided in the inner section of the body 102 which acts against the stack 132
so as to urge its bottom edge
into the position shown in Fig. 11.
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13
In this pick-up process, when the stack 132 approaches its depleted state,
there will be a situation
where only a small number of sheets remain, e.g., two sheets. In this
situation it is possible that all of these
sheets will be picked-up together creating a multiple feed, i.e., more than a
single sheet fed through the picker
assembly 148 to the print engine assembly 130 for printing at any one time,
which is not desired since jams
and/or distorted prints can occur. This situation may occur since the friction
between the sheets may be
greater than the friction between the bottommost sheet 132a of the stack 132
and the drive rollers 150. Thus,
a pad 156 is provided on the spring mechanism 154 so as to present a higher
friction surface between the last
sheet of paper in the stack 132 and the spring mechanism 154 than that between
the last and second-to-last
sheets of paper in the stack 132. The pad 156 may be formed of a material,
such as rubber, felt, cork, etc.
As can be seen from Figs. 9 and 10, the inner section of the body 102
comprises foils 158 which act
as retaining members for the sheets within the stack 132. The foils 158 extend
across at least part of the width
of the inner section of the body 102 so as to project out from the surface of
the inner section of the body 102.
The foils 158 are made from a flexible material, such as plastic, but are
secured so as to be resilient to small
forces. The purpose of the foils 158 is as follows.
Since the tray 142 is angled "sagging" in the paper of the stack 132 may occur
which can cause
errors in the pick-up process or individual sheets to separate from the stack
132 which can cause jams.
Therefore, the foils 158 are provided to apply a retaining force against the
sheets in the stack 132 which urges
them back against the stack 132 so as to substantially prevent such sagging.
The resilient nature of the foils
158 provides the appropriate retaining force to maintain the sheets in
position. Whilst two foils 158 are
shown a greater or lesser number of foils is within the scope of the present
invention as to are foils having
recessed portions along their length rather than being continuous, so long as
the arrangement thereof provides
the securing of the sheets in the stack 132.
Having been successfully picked-up by the picker assembly 148, the bottommost
sheet 132a
advances to the print engine assembly 130 for printing. The print engine
assembly 130 may be of the type
described in the present Applicant's United States patent applications Filing
Docket Nos. RRAO1US to
RRA33US, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference.
These applications have been
identified by their filing docket number, which will be substituted with the
corresponding application number,
once assigned. As such, the print engine assembly 130 is generally comprised
of two parts: a cradle unit 160
and a cartridge unit 162, shown variously in Figs. 9 to 11.
The cartridge unit 162 comprises a printhead 164 for printing on a sheet of
paper as it.passes thereby
and at least one ink handling and storage reservoir 166 for providing ink to
the printhead 164. The printhead
164 is a pagewidth printhead, which means that no scanning of the printhead
164 across the sheets is required.
This enables high-speed printing to be performed. Those skilled in the art
however will understand that the
present invention is applicable to printers employing other types of
printheads. Further, as shown in Fig. 11,
the cartridge unit 162 comprises a single printhead 164. However, a duplex
printer may be used employing a
cartridge unit having two pagewidth printheads aligned so that printing
surfaces thereof oppose each other
with a gap therebetween for accommodating the sheet of paper.
The cradle unit 160 comprises a guide plate 168 for guiding the sheet 132a
into the print engine 130,
a roller assembly 170 and an associated motor 172 for advancing and
controlling the trajectory and speed of
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14
the sheet 132a as it passes the printhead 164, drive electronics 174 for
controlling the printing performed by
the printhead 164 and a capping unit 176 for capping the printhead 164 when
printing is not being performed.
The cradle unit 160 is removably mounted within the body 102 and the cartridge
unit 162 is
removable received within the cradle unit 160, which allows for easy
replacement of the printhead 164 and
the ink storage reservoirs 166, and associated components, when necessary. A
release latch 178 is provided
for controlling this removal which can be easily manipulated by a user. In
this way, the complexity of the
printer 100 is minimised which provides ease of use.
By providing a plurality of the ink handling and storage reservoirs 166 in the
cartridge unit 162
different coloured ink and associated printing fluids, such as fixative for
assisting the setting of the printed
ink, can be stored. The printhead 164 draws the ink from these reservoirs 166
in order to print on the sheets.
A refill port 180 is incorporated in the cartridge unit 162 to which a refill
cartridge (not shown) can be applied
so as to refill the reservoirs 166 with the particular types of inks which may
have been depleted through
printing. In order to facilitate this refilling process an indicator light
184, such as an LED, is provided on the
cradle unit 160 which is controlled to indicate to a user when refilling is
needed and/or has been completed in
the manner described in the present Applicant's above-mentioned applications.
The need for refilling can also
be indicated to a user via the user interface 114 or by print manager software
loaded on the user's personal
computer (PC) connected to the printer 100, as discussed later.
The mounted position of the cradle unit 160 is such that the leadirig edge of
the sheet 132a being fed
from the drive rollers 150 of the picker assembly 148 and guided by the guide
plate 168 enters the roller
assembly 170 of the cradle unit 160 so as to be advanced past the printhead
164 to be printed under action of
the roller assembly 170 (and, in part, of the drive rollers 150). The leading
edge of the sheet 132a progresses
through the cradle unit 160 and following printing exits the body 102 via an
exit slot 186 (see Figs. 5, 6 and
11).
During the printing process, the trailing edge of the sheet 132a is
transferred from being driven by
the drive rollers 150 to being driven only by the roller assembly 170 of the
print engine assembly 130 due to
the D-type drive rollers 150 used in the picker assembly 148. Once printed,
the trailing edge exits the body
102 via the exit slot 186, whereupon the printed sheet 132a is collected by
the extended collector 110.
The extended collector 110 is shown variously in Figs. 12 to 15. As can be
seen, the collector 110 is
an articulated collection tray comprising two sections, an upper section 188
and a lower section 190, attached
to one another in a hinged relationship with hinges 192. The hinges 192 may be
arranged so that the lower
section 190 can be disengaged from the upper section 188 when a moderate force
is applied thereto. The total
length provided by the upper and lower sections 188 and 190 is such that the
maximum sized paper can be
collected whilst providing sufficient clearance between the collected paper
and the bottom of the body 102 for
a user to easily collect the printed sheets.
The lower section 190 is substantially L-shaped with a foot portion 190a of
the L-shape acting as a
stop surface for the collected sheets 132a and having the retaining portion
126 of the collector 110 attached
thereto. The retaining portion 126 is used to assist in the retention of the
collected sheets and the foot portion
190a is provided so that the consecutively released sheets 132a can be
"squared" or "knocked-up" so as to
provide a neat collection of the printed sheets 132a. The depth of the foot
portion 190a is sufficient to hold a
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plurality of sheets, for example, the number of sheets provided within the
stack 132 held by the source tray
assembly 104.
When the collection tray 110 is extended, the lower section 190 is angled
relative to the upper
section 188 which is substantially parallel to the body 102 along its length.
By arranging the collection tray
5 110 in this way, the sheets 132a ejected from the print engine assembly 130
via the exit slot 186 of the body
102 are securely collected and retained on the upper and lower sections 188
and 190 in the manner shown in
Figs. 14 and 15. That is, as each of the sheets 132a exits the body 102 the
leading edge thereof comes into
contact with the surface of the lower section 190, or the previously collected
sheet held thereon, and advances
until it is stopped by the foot portion 190a of the lower section 190. This is
because, the upper section 188 of
10 the collection tray 110 is situated behind the exit slot 186 with respect
to the printer 100 mounting direction
(see Figs. 5 and 6), such that the lower section 190 is sprung forward so as
to lie in the exit path of the sheets
132a. In this way, the sheets 132a are collected and held at an angle from the
vertical (i.e., substantially the
angle of the lower section 190) which, together with the retaining member 126,
prevents the sheets 132a from
toppling forward from the collection tray 110.
15 The required angle, e.g., about 5 from the vertical, is provided by a
spring 1941ocated on the lower
edge of the upper section 188 which engages with the rear surface of the lower
section 190 so as to urge the
lower section 190 away from the plane of the upper section 188 about the
hinges 192. In the retracted
position of the collection tray 110, the lower section 190 is forced to be in-
the plane of the upper section 188
through contact with the rear surface of the body 102, as shown in Fig. 4. In
this way, the retracted tray 110 is
situated within the body 102 in a compact manner. Those slcilled in the art
will understand that other
mechanisms for securely collecting the printed sheets of paper are within the
scope of the present invention,
such as guiding ribs used on the surface of the collection tray for imparting
lateral curvature to the sheets and
the like.
In order to manoeuvre the collection tray 110 into and out of its retracted
and extended positions the
winding arrangement 122 is provided comprising a wire 196 connected between
the upper section 188 and a
winch 198 situated within the upper surface of the body 102, as shown in Figs.
12 and 14, and the motor 124
which operates the winch 198 so as to change the length of the wire 196 by
winding the wire 196 about the
winch 198.
The upper section 188 has tabs 188a provided at the top of each of the
longitudinal sides thereof
which engage with running slots 200 provided within the body 102. Therefore,
in operation, as the length of
the wire 196 is changed by the winding arrangement 122, the upper section 188,
and consequently the lower
section 190, is caused to lower or climb by the tabs 188a sliding along the
running slots 200. This winding
may be controlled via the control circuitry or the drive electronics 174 of
the print engine assembly 130
receiving instructions for extension/retractions via the user interface 114 or
via print manager sofl.ware* loaded
on the user's PC connected to the printer 100. Alternatively, the operation
may be performed automatically in
conjunction with printing being performed by the printer 100 and/or as a
result of pressure sensor(s) (not
shown) provided in the foot portion 190a of the collection tray 110 sensing
that the collected printouts have
been removed from the collection tray 110.
In addition to acting as a means for collecting printouts, the collector 110
may be provided with a
light pipe 202 on the upper section 188 (and also the lower section 190 if
desired) as a means of providing a
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16
user of the printer 100 with an indication of the state of the printer 100
and/or the printing being performed
thereby. Such a light pipe 202 may consist of a hollow transparent material,
such as plastic, provided as a
channel for transmitting light along the length thereof from a light source
204 (or further light pipe) located in
the body 102 (see Figs. 9 and 11). This is achieved by the inner surface of
the hollow material incorporating a
lining which is highly reflective for light striking its surface at certain_
angles and transmissive for light
striking at other angles. The channel may be moulded into the shape of ribs or
the like provided on the
surface of the upper and lower sections 188 and 190 of the collection tray
110, as shown in Fig. 13.
The light source 204 may comprise three differently coloured light sources,
such as red, green and
blue light sources, which may each be a LED. The use of these different
coloured light sources allows a wide
spectrum of colours to be emitted by the light pipe 202 when the light sources
are selectively operated either
individually or in combination. Alternatively, the light source 204 may be
capable of multiple colour
emission, such as a tri-colour LED. As such, different coloured light can be
used to indicate different states of
the printer 100 and/or the printing being performed thereby by controlling the
light source 204 emission with
the control circuitry of the printer 100 and/or the drive electronics 174 of
the print engine assembly 130.
For example, a blue light emitted by the light pipes 202 used as ribs of the
collector 110 may indicate
that the printer 100 is in a standby state, whilst a green light may indicate
that the printer 100 is in the state of
printing and a red light may indicate that the printer 100 is malfunctioning,
such as there being a paper jam or
there being a need for more paper or ink. Other combinations of lighting,
strobing, flashing, etc could
alternatively be used for such purposes. For example, increased aesthetic
appeal of the printer 100 could be
provided by indicating the standby state with a cycle through a spectrum of
colours. The operational state of
the printer 100, such as the occurrence of a paper jam, may be determined by
the printer 100 in a conventional
manner as understood by those slcilled in the art.
In this arrangement, if a problem arises with the functioning of the printer
100, the light pipes 202
can be used to indicate that a problem has occurred, upon which the user can
refer to the user interface 114 or
the print manager software loaded on the user's PC to determine what problem
has occurred, and where.
Other parts of the printer 100 could also be arranged with the light pipes 202
for this purpose, such as the light
source 204 itself orby providing the facia 106 of the printer 100 as stylised
facia, as shown in Fig. 16, rather
than one for holding prints, etc, as shown in Fig. 16, where this stylised
facia 106 comprises the light pipes
202 arranged as shown and also the user interface 114. In this way, the wall
mountable printer of Fig. 16 has
the appearance of a printer more so than the wall mountable printer of Fig.
16, but still provides a greater
aesthetic appeal than conventional printers. In this arrangement, the cover
portion 138 of the source tray
assembly 104 may be omitted, or rather replaced by the facia 106 with the
facia 106 snapping-into the source
tray assembly 104.
The user interface 114, in any form of the printer 100 of the present
invention, may be a display
screen, such as a liquid crystal display, as shown in Figs. 3 and 16, used to
display information about the state
of the printer 100 and the like, and is preferably a touch screen via which
users can operate the printer 100.
This means that mechanical buttons and the like do not need to be provided on
the printer 100 which
facilitates a compact design of the printer 100. However, such buttons can be
provided together with a simple
display screen if desired.
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17
The user interface 114 can therefore be used, either alone or in combination
with the light pipes
202, to display information as to the state of the printer 100, such as the
ink capacity left in the ink storage
reservoirs 166 of the print engine assembly 130, the occurrence of a paper jam
in the transport system, as well
as command and information menus, etc for the operation of the printer 100. To
achieve this, the user
interface 114 may further comprise a memory and a processor (not shown) for
storing software for such
menus and processing commands input by the user by touching areas of the touch
screen. Alternatively, such
components may be provided by the drive electronics 174 of the print engine
assembly 130 with suitable
connections between the user interface 114 and the drive electronics 174 being
provided in the body 102.
The command and information menus displayed by the user interface 114 can also
be used to display
information on print jobs being, or to be, performed by the printer 100. In
order to receive print jobs, the
printer 100 may be connected directly to a user terminal (not shown), such as
a PC, or connected to a plurality
of such terminals via a network, which terminal(s) transmit the print jobs to
the drive electronics 174 of the
print engine assembly 130 for processing and printing by the printhead 164.
Such menus can also be easily
adapted to display in different languages, etc, which is convenient for
providing the printer 100 for use in
different countries. In this way the user interface 114 is able to display
information to a user regarding the
operation of the printer 100 which is more useful than that which is typically
provided at the print manager
level on a PC connected to the printer, which is typically the case for
conventional printers.
This connection external data devices/terminals and networks can-be provided
in a wired manner via
the data connector 116 situated in the snap-in cover portion 138 of the source
tray assembly 104, as shown in
Fig. 3, and/or via a USB connector 206 and an Ethernet connector 208 provided
in the bottom surface of the
body 102, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, with suitable wiring between such
connectors and the user interface 114
and the drive electronics 174 housed within'the body 102. Alternatively, the
data connection can be provided
in a wireless manner by using a WIFI card 210 and/or a Bluetooth card 212
located in the inner section of
the body 102 behind the foils 158, as shown in Figs. 9 and 11. Alternatively
still, or in addition, the printer
100 may incorporate means for directly receiving image data for the print jobs
by incorporating photocard
slots or the like (not shown) for receiving photocards and the like so that
images stored thereon can be
downloaded to the printer's 100 or the drive electronics' 174 memory for
direct printing.
Power for the user interface 114, the print engine assembly 130 (particularly
for the motor 172 of the
roller assembly 170, the printhead 164, the drive electronics 174 and the
capping unit 176), the picker
assembly 148 (particularly for the motor 152 of the drive rollers 150), the
winding arrangement 122
(particularly the winding motor 124), the light pipes and source 202 and 204,
and other electronic components
of the printer 100 is supplied by the PSU 132 which is powered by an external
power source (not shown)
connected thereto via a power connector 214 provided in the bottom surface of
the body 102, as shown in
Figs. 5 and 6. Alternatively, battery power (not shown) may be provided to the
PSU 132, which coupled with
the above-described wireless data communication eliminates the need for any
cabling to the printer 100.
Corresponding connections from the PSU 132 to the various electronic
components can be provided via
suitable wiring housed within the body 102.
For the wired versions of the printer 100, the provision of the data and power
connections on the
bottom surface of the body 102 of the printer 100 behind the exit slot 186
with respect to the mounting
direction of the printer 100 (see Fig. 5) means that any cables from external
devices, such as a user's PC, can
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18
be easily connected to the printer 100 without interfering with the collector
110. On the other hand, such
connections could be provided on the rear surface of the body 102 coupled with
means to provide such cables
through the wall space to which the printer 100 is mounted.
With respect to the mounting of the printer 100 to a wall or the like, as
described earlier, the
mounting bosses 128 may be provided on the rear surface of the body 102 as
shown in Fig. 4. In this way, a
fixing means, e.g., a screw, can be engaged with the mounting bosses 128
through the wall surface so as to
suspend the printer 100 from the wall, etc. Any manner of mounting is
applicable so long as it is sufficient to
support the combined weight of the printer 100 and the stack 132 of paper
provided therein. It should be
noted that the components of the printer 100 including the body 102, the
source tray assembly 104, the facia
106 and the various components thereof can in the most part be moulded from
lightweight material, such as
plastic, so as to provide maximum flexibility in the type of mounting
arrangement used.
Once mounted, the printer 100 in its non-operational state, i.e., with the
collector 110 retracted into
the body 102, may appear as shown in Fig. 17A with a photo (or picture) 216
provided in the facia 106. As
described earlier, in order to place the photo 216 into the facia 106, the
facia 106 is hinged open from the
source tray assembly 104 which is mounted to the body 102 of the printer 100
and the photo 216 is slid into
the envelope portion 118 through a slot 11 8a (see Fig. 3) so as to be
displayed through the transparent window
120 provided on the outer surface of the facia 106. A cut-out portion 118b is
also provided in the envelope
portion 118 for easy removal of the photo 216.
Also, as can be seen most clearly from Fig. 17A, the facia 106 is further
provided with a picture
frame portion 218 on the front surface thereof about the transparent window
120. In this way, when the
printer 100 is in the non-operational state the appearance of the printer 100
is that of a framed picture hanging
on the wall or the like. This is because, the picture frame portion 218 has a
size which is substantially the
same as the size of the facia 106 and front surface of the body 102 of the
printer 100. Such an arrangement
provides a means of enabling the printer 100 to blend into the decofe of a
room or office. That is, the
presence of the printer 100 can be disguised until it is required to operate.
Upon operation, the collector 110
is extended from the body 102 of the printer 100 as described earlier and the
printouts 132a collected thereon
for removal by a user 220, as shown in Fig. 17B. Once the printouts 132a have
been collected the collector
110 is then retracted back into the body 102 of the printer 100 to again
provide the state shown in Fig. 17A.
The printer 100 may also be adapted for mounting to other substantially
vertical surfaces. For
example, it may be desired to mount the printer 100 in an office environment
such as on a partition wall or
privacy screen of a work station and the like. In such an arrangement, the
rear surface of the body 102 may be
fitted with a cover 222, as shown in Fig. 18. As can be seen, the cover 222
may comprise a plurality of slots
224 in the surface thereof which are arranged to engage a mounting bracket or
hook 226 for mounting the
printer 100 on the partition wall. That is, an engaging portion 226a of the
bracket 226 is arranged to engage
with any one of the slots 224 at a time and a hook portion 226b of the bracket
226, which projects from the
rear surface of the body 102 when the engaging portion 226a is engaged with
one of the slots 224, is arranged
to engage over a top surface of the partition wall. In this way, the plurality
of slots 224 provide a number of
reconfigurable positions of the bracket 226 which in turn provides a number of
different mounting heights for
the printer 100. This variety of possible printer heights provides flexibility
in the mounting of the printer 100
so as to sufficiently accommodate the space required for the extended
collector 110.
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19
The printer 100 mounted to a partition wall 228 of a work station 230 via this
mounting
arrangement 224/226 is shown in Figs. 19A and 19B with the suspended height of
the printer 100 suitable for
the extended collector 110. As can be seen, in this arrangement the printer
100 is provided in a non-intrusive
manner in the work station 230, such that sufficient space is left on the
desktop for a user's PC 232 and the
like and neat connection of the PC 232 to the printer 100 is provided via
cables 234, as described earlier.
The bracket 226 may be specifically configured to fit over a specific-sized
partition wall 228, or
provided as a"one-size-fits-all" configuration. In any event, the arrangement
of the bracket 226 in the slots
224 and the attachment of the cover 222 to the body 102 must be such to
sufficiently support the combined
weight of the printer 100 and the stack 132 of paper provided therein. As
such, the cover 222 may be snapped
onto the body 102 via a sufficiently strong clipping arrangement or attached
to the body 102 by any other
suitable means or provided as part of the body itself.
In consideration of the various locales in which the printer 100 is able to be
mounted to a wall and
the like, various facia styles may be desired for the printer 100. That is,
the printer 100 may be adapted so
that a single printer unit 100 is able to accommodate different facias 106.
For example, the picture frame
portion 218 may be provided as a "snap-on" portion of the facia 106, such that
picture frames of different
styles can be easily provided and alternated, such as the different style
picture frame portions 218 shown in
Figs. 17A and 19A. Alternatively, the facia 106 itself may be removed by
providing the hinges 112 of the
facia 106 with the ability to disengage from the source tray assembly 104,
such that the picture frame facia
106 as shown in Figs. 17A and 19A can be removed so as to be replaced with a
facia having a different
picture frame or the stylised facia 106 of Fig. 16 or any other suitable facia
which will provide aesthetic
appeal and/or functionality of the printer 100 in accordance with the locale
in which the printer 100 is
mounted.
Exemplary construction and operation of the wall mountable printer of the
present invention is now
described.
For the printer 100 configured to print on A4 paper as being the maximum-sized
paper, the
pagewidth printhead 164 of the print engine assembly 130 has a printhead width
of 224 mm or 8.8 inches. In
order to form this printing width the printhead 164 comprises a plurality of
printhead integrated circuits (ICs)
incorporating printing or ink ejecting nozzles therein, such as those
described in the present Applicant's
above-referenced applications RRAO1US to RRA33US.
In accordance with the present invention, at least 5,000 nozzles may be
incorporated to provide the
required quality of printing, i.e., at least 1600 dpi, at the high-speed of at
least 30 ppm, preferably at least 60
ppm. However, depending upon the printing quality and speed required, the
printhead may comprise at least
10,000 nozzles, preferably at least 20,000 nozzles, and more preferably at
least 50,000 nozzles in higher-
speed, higher-quality printing applications.
These nozzles are arranged as a two-dimensional array across the width of the
printhead so as to eject
ink, and other printing fluids such as fixative, onto the surface of the
passing print media in order to print
images thereon. Each of the nozzles corresponds to a printed dot on the print
media, and therefore the larger
the number of nozzles and the greater the packing density thereof in the
printhead the closer the printed dots,
and therefore the higher the resolution of the printing. The drive electronics
174 receives and processes image
data from an external data source, via one or more of the data connectors 116,
206 and 208 or data devices
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210 and 212, and drives the nozzles of the printhead in accordance with the
processed image data (explained
in more detail later).
With respect to the type of nozzle systems which are applicable for the
printhead 164, any type of ink
jet nozzle array which can be integrated on a printhead IC is suitable. That
is, systems such as a continuous
5 ink system, an electrostatic system and a drop-on-demand system, including
thermal and piezoelectric types,
can be used.
Regarding a thermal drop-on-demand system, there are various types known which
typically include
ink reservoirs adjacent the nozzles and heater elements in thermal contact
therewith. The heater elements heat
the ink which creates gas bubbles therein. The gas bubbles generate pressures
in the ink causing droplets to
10 be ejected through the nozzles onto the print media. The amount of ink
ejected onto the print media by each
nozzle and when this occurs is controlled by the drive electronics. Such
thermal systems iinpose limitations
on the type of ink that can be used however, since the ink must be resistant
to heat, and also require a cooling
process which can reduce the optimum printing speed.
Regarding a piezoelectric drop-on-demand system, various types are also known
which typically use
15 piezo-crystals arranged adjacent the ink reservoirs which are caused to
flex when an electric current flows
therethrough. This flexing causes droplets of ink to be ejected from the
nozzles in a similar manner to the
thermal systems described above. Such piezoelectric systems allow more control
over the shape and size of
the ink droplets than the thermal systems and the ink does not have to be
heated and cooled between cycles,
giving a greater range of available ink types.
20 Further, a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) of nozzles could be used
which includes
thermo-actuators which cause the nozzles to eject ink droplets. Such nozzle
systems are described in the
present Applicant's following co-pending and granted applications:
U.S. Patent Nos. 6,188,415; 6,209,989; 6,213,588; 6,213,589; 6,217,153;
6,220,694; 6,227,652;
6,227,653; 6,227,654; 6,231,163; 6,234,609; 6,234,610; 6,234,611; 6,238,040;
6,338,547; 6,239,821;
6,241,342; 6,243,113; 6,244,691; 6,247,790; 6,247,791; 6,247,792; 6,247,793;
6,247,794; 6,247,795;
6,247,796; 6,254,220; 6,257,704; 6,257,705; 6,260,953; 6,264,306; 6,264,307;
6,267,469; 6,283,581;
6,283,582; 6,293,653; 6,302,528; 6,312,107; 6,336,710; 6,362,843; 6,390,603;
6,394,581; 6,416,167;
6,416,168; 6,557,977; 6,273,544; 6,299,289; 6,299,290; 6,309,048; 6,378,989;
6,420,196; 6,425,654;
6,439,689; 6,443,558; and 6,634,735, U.S. Patent Application No. 09/425,420,
U.S. Patent Nos. 6,623,101;
6,406,129; 6,457,809; 6,457,812; 6,505,916; 6,550,895; 6,428,133; 6,305,788;
6,315,399; 6,322,194;
6,322,195; 6,328,425; 6,328,431; 6,338,548; 6,364,453; 6,383,833; 6,390,591;
6,390,605; 6,417,757;
6,425,971; 6,426,014; 6,428,139; 6,428,142; 6,439,693; 6,439,908; 6,457,795;
6,502,306; 6,565,193;
6,588,885; 6,595,624; 6,460,778; 6,464,332; 6,478,406; 6,480,089; 6,540,319;
6,575,549; 6,609,786;
6,609,787; 6,612,110; 6,623,106; 6,629,745; 6,652,071; 6,659,590, U.S. Patent
Application Nos. 09/575,127;
09/575,152; 09/575,176; 09/575,177; 09/608,780; 09/693,079; 09/693,154;
09/693,735; 10/129,433;
10/129,437; 10/129,503; 10/407,207; and 10/407,212, Filing Docket Nos. JUM003
and JUM004, U.S. Patent
Application Nos. 10/302,274; 10/302,297; 10/302,577; 10/302,617; 10/302,618;
10/302,644; 10/302,668;
10/302,669; 10/303,312; 10/303,348; 10/303,352; and 10/303,433, and Filing
Docket Nos. MTBO1 to
MTB14, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference. Some
of the above applications
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21
have been identified by their filing docket number, which will be substituted
with the corresponding
application number, once assigned.
Description of an exemplary MEMS nozzle system applicable to the printhead 164
is provided
below, as is an exemplary manner in which the drive electronics processes the
image data and drives such a
nozzle system, with reference the Figs. 20 to 33.
Fig. 20 shows an array of nozzle arrangements 300. The nozzle arrangements 300
shown are
identical, however different nozzle arrangements may used which are fed with
different colored inks and
fixative. Preferably, the printhead 164 is configured with the nozzle
arrangements 300 in rows, with one row
each to print in one of five colours: Cyan; Magenta; Yellow; blacK ("CMYK");
and InfraRed ("IR"), and one
row to print Fixative ("F"). CMY is provided for regular colour printing, K is
provided for black text, line
graphics and greyscale printing, IR is provided for applications requiring
"invisible" printing, and F is
provided to assist in the prevention of smudging of the printouts at high-
speed.
The printhead 164 can however be adapted to print using any desired number of
colours, and can
comprise a monolithic printhead IC or require multiple substrates depending
upon implementation. Further,
the rows of the nozzle arrangements 300 are staggered with respect to each
other, allowing closer spacing of
ink dots during printing than would be possible with a single row of nozzles.
The multiple rows also allow
for redundancy (if desired), thereby allowing for a predetermined failure rafe
per nozzle.
The printhead ICs of the printhead 164 are manufactured using an integrated
circuit fabrication
technique and, as previously indicated, embody a micro-electromechanical
system (MEMS). Referring to
Fig. 21, which shows a single nozzle, each printhead IC includes a silicon
wafer substrate 301 and CMOS
microprocessing circuitry formed thereon. This is done by depositing a silicon
dioxide layer 302 on the
substrate 301 as a dielectric layer and aluminium electrode contact layers 303
on the silicon dioxide layer 302.
Both the substrate 301 and the layer 302 are etched to define an ink channel
304, and an aluminium diffusion
barrier 305 is positioned about the ink channe1304.
A passivation layer 306 of silicon nitride is deposited over the aluminium
contact layers 303 and the
layer 302. Portions of the passivation layer 306 that are positioned over the
contact layers 303 have openings
307 therein to provide access to the contact layers 303.
Each nozzle includes a nozzle chamber 308 which is defined by a nozzle
wa11309, a nozzle roof 310
and a radially inner nozzle rim 311. The ink channel 304 is in fluid
communication with the chamber 308.
A moveable rim 312, that includes a movable seal lip 313, is located at the
lower end of the nozzle
wall 309. An encircling wall 314 surrounds the nozzle and provides a
stationery seal lip 315 that, when the
nozzle is at rest as shown in Fig. 21, is adjacent the moveable rim 312. A
fluidic sea1316 is formed due to the
surface tension of ink trapped between the stationery seal lip 315 and the
moveable seal lip 313. This
prevents leakage of ink from the chamber 308 whilst providing a low resistance
coupling between the
encircling wa11314 and the nozzle wall 309.
The nozzle wall 309 forms part of lever arrangement that is mounted to a
carrier 317 having a
generally U-shaped profile with a base 318 attached to the layer 306. The
lever arrangement also includes a
lever arm 319 that extends from the nozzle wal1309 and incorporates a lateral
stiffening beam 320. The lever
arm 319 is attached to a pair of passive beams 321 that are formed from
titanium nitride and are positioned at
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each side of the nozzle, (best seen in Figs. 24 and 25). The other ends of the
passive beams 321 are attached
to the carriers 317.
The lever arm 319 is also attached to an actuator beam 322, which is formed
from TiN. This
attachment to the actuator beam is made at a point which is a small, but
critical, distance higher than the
attachments to the passive beam 321.
As can best be seen from Figs. 24 and 25, the actuator beam 322 is
substantially U-shaped in plan,
defining a current path between an electrode 323 and an opposite electrode
324. Each of the electrodes 323
and 324 is electrically connected to a respective point in the contact layer
303. The actuator beam 322 is also
mechanically secured to an anchor 325, and the anchor 325 is configured to
constrain motion of the actuator
beam 322 to the left of Figs. 21 to 23 when the nozzle arrangement 300 is
activated.
The actuator beam 322 is conductive, being composed of TiN, but has a
sufficiently high enough
electrical resistance to generate self-heating when a current is passed
between the electrodes 323 and 324. No
current flows through the passive beams 321, so they do not experience thermal
expansion.
In operation, the nozzle is filled with ink 326 that defmes a meniscus 327
under the influence of
surface tension. The ink 326 is retained in the chamber 308 by the meniscus
327, and will not generally leak
out in the absence of some other physical influence.
To fire ink from the nozzle, a current is passed between the contacts 323 and
324, passing through
the actuator beam 322. The self-heating of the beam 322 causes it to expand,
with the actuator beam 322
being dimensioned and shaped so that it expands predominantly in a horizontal
direction with respect to
Figs. 21 to 23. The expansion is constrained to the left by the anchor 325, so
the end of the actuator beam 322
adjacent the lever arm 319 is impelled to the right.
The relative horizontal inflexibility of the passive beams 321 prevents them
from allowing much
horizontal movement of the lever arm 319. However, the relative displacement
of the attachment points of the
passive beams 321 and the actuator beam 322 respectively to the lever arm 319
causes a twisting movement
that, in turn, causes the lever arm 319 to move generally downwardly with a
pivoting or hinging motion.
However, the absence of a true pivot point means that rotation is about a
pivot region defined by bending of
the passive beams 321.
The downward movement (and slight rotation) of the lever arm 319 is amplified
by the distance of
the nozzle wall 309 from the passive beams 321. The downward movement of the
nozzle walls 309 and roof
310 causes a pressure increase within the chamber 308, causing the meniscus
327 to bulge as shown in
Fig. 22. The surface tension of the ink causes the fluid seal 316 to be
stretched by this motion, however ink is
not allowed to leak out.
As shown in Fig. 23, at the appropriate time the drive current is stopped and
the actuator beam 322
quickly cools and contracts. This contraction causes the lever arm 319 to
commence its return to the
quiescent position, which in turn causes a reduction in pressure in the
chamber 308. The interplay of the
momentum of the bulging ink and its inherent surface tension, and the negative
pressure caused by the upward
movement of the nozzle chamber 308 causes thinning, and ultimately snapping,
of the bulging meniscus 327
to define an ink drop 328 that continues upwards until it contacts passing
print media.
Immediately after the drop 328 detaches, the meniscus 327 forms the concave
shape shown in
Fig. 23. Surface tension causes the pressure in the chamber 308 to remain
relatively low until ink has been
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23
suctioned upwards through the inlet or ink channe1304, which returns the
nozzle arrangement and the ink to
the quiescent state shown in Fig. 21.
In order to control the delivery of the drops from each of the nozzles, the
print engine assembly 130
uses the drive electronics 174. As described earlier, the drive electronics
174 receives image data of print jobs
to be printed by the printer 100. Referring to Fig. 26, this image data may be
received from an external data
source, such as a computer system or the user's PC 232. The PC 232 is
programmed to perform various steps
involved in printing image data (i.e., a document), including receiving the
document (step 400), buffering and
rasterising the document to provide a page description (steps 401 and 402) and
compressing this to provide a
page image (step 403) suitable for transmission to the print engine assembly
130 of the printer 100.
At the drive electronics 174 of the print engine assembly 130 provided in the
printer 100, the
compressed, multi-layered page image is buffered (step 404) and then expanded
to separate the different
layers of the page image (step 405). The expanded contone layer is dithered
(step 406) and then the black
layer is composited over the dithered contone layer (step 407). Coded data can
also be rendered (step 408) to
form an additional layer, to be printed using infrared ink, for example, that
is substantially invisible to the
human eye. The black, dithered contone and infrared layers are combined (step
409) to form a page that is
supplied to the printhead 164 for printing (step 410), which as mentioned
above, is preferably configured to
print in five colours.
Further, the document data is preferably divided into a high-resolution bi-
level mask layer for text
and li.ne art and a medium-resolution contone colour image layer for images or
background colours.
Optionally, coloured text can be supported by the addition of a medium-to-high-
resolution contone texture
layer for texturing text and line art with colour data taken from an image or
from flat colours. The contone
layers are generalised by representing them in abstract "image" and "texture"
layers which can refer to either
image data or flat colour data. This division of data into layers based on
content follows the base mode Mixed
Raster Content (MRC) model known to those skilled in the art. Like the MRC
base mode, compromises are
made in some cases when data to be printed overlap. For example, all overlaps
may be reduced to a 3-layer
representation in a process (collision resolution) embodying the compromises
explicitly.
The central data structure is a generalised representation of the three
layers, called a page element
500, shown in a simplified UML diagram in Fig. 27. The page element 500 can be
used to represent units
ranging from single rendered elements emerging from a rendering engine.up to
an entire band of a print job.
Conceptually, the bi-level symbol region selects between the two colour
sources, as described in more detail
below with reference to Figs. 27 and 28. It will be appreciated that the
device components shown in Fig. 28,
which carry out the steps 400 to 410 shown in Fig. 26, will typically be
device dependent, in that they process
the data into a form required by a software or hardware component further
downstream.
In Fig. 28, a renderer 411 is provided outside of the more general printer
system pipeline shown in
Fig. 26 in order to render fles to be printed and deliver the rendered
elements to a data receiver 412 (step 400)
of the pipeline, using an Application Programming Interface (API) exposed by
the data receiver 412 for that
purpose. The rendered elements are delivered in order according to the
painter's algorithm, which is well
known to those skilled in the art. The data passed in through the API is
converted by the data receiver 412
into lists of dictionaries and page elements for processing in later stages.
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The data is then rasterised (step 402 in Fig. 26) as follows. A collision
resolver 413 accepts the
simple page elements created by the data receiver 412 (via buffering at step
401) and creates a fully opaque
"resolved" page element for each intersection of a new element with the
background and any elements already
present. Fundamentally, the collision resolver 413 guarantees that the entire
page is tiled with opaque
elements. A stripper 414 divides a band of data into horizontally overlapping
pieces, which is performed
since the printer 100 is relatively fast and as such uses multiple parallel
devices in order to achieve the
required output dot-rate. In such cases, each horizontally overlapping piece
is fed into a corresponding device
downstream. Where such data division is not required, the stripper 414 can be
omitted.
Different printing configurations will require different configurations of
layers for delivery to the
downstream hardware. A layer reorganiser 415 converts 3-layer page elements to
the appropriate 2- or 3-
layer form for the specific configuration. Again, there may be cases in which
this function is not required, in
which case the layer organiser 415 can be omitted. A contone combiner 416
combines and clips the image
and texture layers of all page elements in a strip into single image and
texture layers, as required by
downstream hardware.
A colour converter 417 transforms the contone planes of all page elements from
the input colour
space to a device-specific colour space (which is usually CIv1YK). A mask
combiner 418 performs the same
operation on the mask layer as the contone combiner 416 performs on the
contone layers. All elements are
clipped to a strip boundary and drawn into a single mask buffer.
A densitometer 419 measures the density of the current page as a percentage of
total possible density.
This operation is necessary when the power supply of the printer 100 is not
able to handle a fully dense page
at full speed. A contone compressor 420 compresses the contone layers of all
page elements in order to
reduce downstream memory and/or transmission bandwidth requirements. A mask
formatter 421 converts the
mask layer of page elements, which may be represented as regions of placed
symbol references, into the form
expected by a downstream mask decompressor.
A size limiter 422 ensures that all size limitations, for bands and for entire
pages, are adhered to, by
either dividing bands into smaller bands or by recompressing the data,
repeating until the constraint is
satisfied. If data is to be transmitted to the printer 100 between pipeline
stages, a serialised form of the data
structures is generated (in a serialiser 423), transmitted, then deserialised
(in a deserialiser 424).
Within the drive electronics 174 of the print engine assembly 130 incorporated
in the printer 100, a
distributor 425 converts data from a proprietary representation into a
hardware-specific representation and
ensures that the data for each strip is sent to the correct hardware device
whilst observing any constraints or
requirements on data transmission to these devices. The distributor 425
distributes the converted data to an
appropriate one of a plurality of pipelines 426. The pipelines 426 are
identical to each other, and in essence
provide decompression, scaling and dot compositing functions to generate a set
of printable dot outputs for the
nozzles of the printhead 164.
Each pipeline 426 includes a buffer 427 for receiving the page image data from
the PC 232 (step 404
in Fig. 26). A contone decompressor 428 decompresses the colour contone planes
and a mask decompressor
429 decompresses the monotone (text) layer (step 405 in Fig. 26). Further, a
contone scaler 430 and a mask
scaler 431 are provided to scale the decompressed contone and mask planes,
respectively, to take into account
the size of the print media onto which the processed page is to be printed by
the printhead 164.
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The scaled contone planes are then dithered by a ditherer 432 using stochastic
dispersed-dot dither
(step 406 in Fig. 26). Clustered-dot, or amplitude-modulated, dither is not
used since dispersed-dot, or
frequency-modulated, dither reproduces high spatial frequencies (i.e., image
detail) almost to the limits of the
dot resolution while simultaneously reproducing lower spatial frequencies to
their full colour depth when
5 spatially integrated by the eye. A stochastic dither matrix is carefully
designed to be relatively free of
objectionable low-frequency patterns when tiled across the image. As such, its
size typically exceeds the
minimum size required to support a particular number of intensity levels
(e.g., 16X16x8 bits for 257 intensity
levels).
The dithered planes are then composited in a dot compositor 433 on a dot-by-
dot basis to provide dot
10 data suitable for printing (steps 407 and 409 in Fig. 26). This data is
forwarded to data distribution and drive
circuitry 434, which in tarn distributes the data to the correct nozzle
actuators 322 of the printhead 164 which
in turn cause ink to be ejected from the correct nozzles at the correct time
(step 410 in Fig. 26).
In the above system, a mainly software-based PC portion 232 is provided prior
to the serialiser 423,
and a mainly hardware-based print engine assembly portion 130, that is located
within the printer 100 remote
15 from the PC 232, is provided including everything from the deserialiser 424
onwards. It will be appreciated,
however, that the indicated division between computer system and printer is
somewhat arbitrary, and various
components can be placed on different sides of the divide without
substantially altering the operation as a
whole. It will also be appreciated that some of the device components can be
handled in hardware or software
remotely from the computer system and printer. For example, rather than
relying on the general-purpose
20 processor of the PC, some of the components in the architecture can be
accelerated using dedicated hardware.
Preferably, the hardware pipelines 426 are embodied in a controller of the
print engine assembly 130,
which also preferably includes one or more system on a chip (SoC) components,
as well as the print engine
assembly pipeline control application specific logic, configured to perform
some or all of the functions
described above in relation to the printing pipeline.
25 Referring to Fig. 29, from the highest point of view the controller of the
print engine assembly 130
consists of three distinct subsystems: a central processing unit (CPU)
subsystem 435, a dynamic random
access memory (DRAM) subsystem 436 and a print engine assembly pipeline (PEP)
subsystem 437. Various
components of these subsystems 435 to 437 are described below, with a more
detailed description of these
components, including their various fanctions, being provided later in Tables
1 to 3.
The CPU subsystem 435 includes a CPU 438 that controls and configures all
aspects of the other
subsystems and provides general support for interfacing and synchronizing the
various components of the
printer 100 with the print engine assembly 130. It also controls the low-speed
communication to Quality
Assurance (QA) devices (described in more detail later). The CPU subsystem 435
also contains various
peripherals to aid the CPU 438, such as General Purpose Input Output ("GPIO"),
which includes motor
control, etc, Interrupt Controller Unit ("ICU"), Low-Speed Serial ('.'LSS")
master and general Timers
("TIM").
The DRAM subsystem 436 accepts requests from the CPU 438, Serial
Communications Block
("SCB") on the CPU subsystem 435, which provides a full speed USB1.1 interface
to the host as well as an
Interface ("INT") to other controllers of the print engine assembly 130 and
blocks within the PEP subsystem
437. The DRAM subsystem 436, and in particular DRAM Interface Unit ("DIU")
thereof, arbitrates the
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various requests and determines which request should win access to DRAM
incorporated therein. DIU
arbitrates based on configured parameters, to allow sufficient access to DRAM
for all requestors. DIU also
hides the implementation specifics of DRAM, such as page size, number of banks
and refresh rates.
The PEP subsystem 437 accepts compressed pages from DRAM and renders them to
bi-level dots for
a given print line destined for PrintHead Interface ("PHI") that communicates
directly with the printhead ICs
of the printhead 164. The first stage of the page expansion pipeline includes
Contone Decoder Unit ("CDU"),
Lossless Bi-level Decoder ("LBD") and Tag Encoder ("TE"). CDU expands the JPEG-
compressed contone
(typically CMYK) layers, LBD expands the compressed bi-level layer (typically
K), and TE encodes infrared
tags for later rendering (typically in IR or K ink). The output from the first
stage is a set of buffers: Contone
FIFO Unit ("CFU"); Spot FIFO Unit ("SFU"); and Tag FIFO Unit ("TFU"). CFU and
SFU buffers are
implemented in dynamic random access memory.
The second stage includes Halftone Compositor Unit ("HCU"), which dithers the
contone layer and
composites position tags and the bi-level spot layer over the resulting bi-
level dithered layer. A number of
compositing options can be implemented, depending upon the printhead 164 with
which the controller is used.
Up to six channels of bi-level data are produced from this stage, although not
all channels may be present on
the printhead 164. For example, the printhead 164 may be CMY only, with K
pushed into the CMY channels
and IR ignored. Alternatively, the encoded tags may be printed in K if IR ink
is not available (or for testing
purposes).
In the third stage, Dead Nozzle Compensator ("DNC") compensates for dead
nozzles in the printhead
164 by colour redundancy and error diffusing of dead nozzle data into
surrounding dots. The resultant bi-
level six channel dot-data (typically CMYK, IR and fixative) is buffered and
written to a set of line buffers
stored in DRAM via Dotline Writer Unit (DWU). Finally, the dot-data is loaded
back from DRAM, and
passed to PHI via a dot FIFO (not shown). The dot FIFO accepts data from Line
Loader Unit ("LLU") at the
system clock rate, while PHI removes data from the dot FIFO and sends it to
the printhead 164 at a rate of 2/3
times the system clock rate.
The details and fanctions of the above-described components of the subsystems
435 to 437 and those
shown in Fig. 29 but not described above are provided in Tables 1 to 3 below,
for the CPU subsystem 435, the
DRAM subsystem 436 and the PEP subsystem 437, respectively.
TABLE1
Acronym Component Description
DIU DRAM Interface Unit Provides an interface for DRAM read and write access
for the various controllers, the CPU 251 and SCB
block, arbitration between competing units and controls
access to DRAM
DRAM (embedded) DRAM 20Mbits of embedded DRAM
TABLE 2
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Acronym Component Description
CPU Central Processing Unit For system configuration and control
MMU Memory Management Unit Limits access to certain memory address areas in
CPU
user mode
RDU Real-time Debug Unit Facilitates the observation of the contents of most
of the
CPU addressable registers in the controller, in addition
to some pseudo-registers in real time
TIM (general) Timer Contains watchdog and general system timers
LSS Low-Speed Serial interfaces Low level controller for interfacing with the
QA
devices
GPIO General Purpose Input/Outputs General IO controller with built-in motor
control and
LED pulse units and de-glitch circuitry
ROM Boot ROM 16KBytes of System Boot ROM code
ICU Interrupt Controller Unit General Purpose interrupt controller with
configurable
priority, and masking
CPR Clock, Power and Reset block Central Unit for controlling and generating
the system
clocks and resets and power-down mechanisms
PSS Power Save Storage Storage retained while system is powered down
USB Universal Serial Bus device USB device controller for interfacing with the
host
USB
INT Interface Interface controller for data and control communication
with other controllers in a multiple controller print
engine assembly 130
SCB Serial Communication Block Contains both USB and Interface blocks
TABLE 3
Acronym Component Description
PCU PEP controller Provides the CPU 251 with the means to read and write
PEP Unit registers, and read and write DRAM in single
32-bit chunks
CDU Contone Decoder Unit Expands JPEG compressed contone layer and writes
decompressed contone to DRAM
CFU Contone FIFO Unit Provides line buffering between CDU and HCU
LBD Lossless Bi-level Decoder Expands compressed bi-level layer
SFU Spot FIFO Unit Provides line buffering between LBD and HCU
TE Tag Encoder Encodes tag data into line of tag dots
TFU Tag FIFO Unit Provides tag data storage between TE and HCU
HCU Halftoner Compositor Unit Dithers contone layer and composites the bi-
level spot
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and position tag dots
DNC Dead Nozzle Compensator Compensates for dead nozzles by colour redundancy
and error diffusing dead nozzle data into surrounding
dots
DWU Dotline Writer Unit Writes out the six channels of dot data for a given
print-
line to a line store DRAM
LLU Line Loader Unit Reads the expanded page image from the line store,
formatting the data appropriately for the printhead 164
PHI PrintHead Interface Responsible for sending dot data to the nozzles of the
printhead 164 and for providing line synchronization
between multiple controllers, and provides a test
interface to the printhead 164 such as temperature
monitoring and dead nozzle identification
Preferably, DRAM of the DRAM subsystem 436 is 2.5Mbytes in size, of which
about 2Mbytes are
available for compressed page store data. A compressed page is received in two
or more bands, with a
number of bands stored in memory. As a band of the page is consumed by the PEP
subsystem 437 for
printing, a new band can be downloaded. The new band may be for the current
page or the next page. Using
banding it is possible to begin printing a page before the complete compressed
page is downloaded, but care
must be taken to ensure that data is always available for printing or a buffer
under-run may occur.
The embedded USB 1.1 device accepts compressed page data and control commands
from the PC
232 (Fig. 26), and facilitates the data transfer to either DRAM, or to another
controller in a multiple controller
print engine assembly. A multiple controller print engine assembly 130 may be
used to perform different
functions depending upon the particular implementation. For example, in some
cases a controller can be used
simply for its onboard DRAM, while another controller attends to the various
decompression and formatting
functions described above. This can reduce the chance of buffer under-run,
which can happen in the event
that the printhead 164 commences printing a page prior to all the data for
that page being received and the rest
of the data is not received in time. Adding an extra controller for its memory
buffering capabilities doubles
the amount of data that can be buffered, even if none of the other
capabilities of the additional controller are
utilized.
Each controller may have several QA devices designed to cooperate with each
other to ensure the
quality of the mechanics of the printer 100, the quality of the ink supply so
the nozzles of the printhead 164
will not be damaged during printing and the quality of the software to ensure
the printhead 164 and the
mechanics of the printer 100 are not damaged.
Normally, each controller of the print engine assembly 130 will have an
associated QA device (not
shown) which stores information on the attributes of the printer 100, such as
the maximum printing speed.
The cartridge unit 162 of the print engine assembly 130 also contains an ink
QA device (not shown) which
stores information on the cartridge unit 162, such as the amount of ink
remaining in the ink storage and
handling reservoirs 166. The printhead 164 also has a QA device (not shown)
which is configured to act as a
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ROM (effectively as an EEPROM) that stores printhead-specific information such
as dead nozzle mapping
and the characteristics of the printhead 164. The CPU 438 in the CPU subsystem
435 of the controller also
runs a logical (software) QA device (not shown) and may optionally load and
run program code from a QA
device that effectively acts as a serial EEPROM. Generally, all of the QA
devices are physically identical,
with only the contents of flash memory differentiating one from the other.
Each controller has two LSS system buses that can communicate with QA devices
for system
authentication and ink usage accounting. A large number of QA devices can be
used per bus and their
position in the system is unrestricted with the exception that printhead QA
and ink QA devices should be on
separate LSS busses.
In use, the logical QA device communicates with the ink QA device to determine
remaining ink.
The reply from the ink QA device is authenticated with reference to the
printhead QA device. The
verification from the printhead QA device is itself authenticated by the
logical QA device, thereby indirectly
adding an additional authentication level to the reply from the ink QA device.
Data passed between the QA devices, other than the printhead QA device, is
authenticated by way of
digital signatures. For example, HMAC-SHAl authentication may be used for
data, and RSA may be used
for program code, although other schemes could be used instead.
A single controller can, control a plurality of the printhead ICs of the
printhead 164 and up to the six
printing fluid channels (e.g., CMYK, IR and F). However, the controller is
preferably colour space agnostic.
Such that, although the controller can accept contone data as CMYX or RGBX,
where X is an optional 4th
channel, it also can accept contone data in any print colour space.
Additionally, the controller provides a
mechanism for arbitrary mapping of input channels to output channels,
including combining dots for ink
optimization and generation of channels based on any number of other channels.
However, inputs are
typically CMYK for contone input, K for the bi-level input, the optional IR
tag dots are typically rendered to
an infrared layer, and a fixative channel is generated due to the high-speed
printing capability.
Further, the controller is also preferably resolution agnostic, such that it
merely provides a mapping
between input resolutions and output resolutions by means of scale factors and
has no knowledge of the
physical resolution of the printhead 164. Further still, the controller is
preferably pagelength agnostic, such
that successive pages are typically split into bands and downloaded into the
page store as each band of
information is consumed.
Turning now to Figs. 30 to 33, the printhead ICs of the printhead 164 will be
further described. For
clarity, only one printhead IC 439 is shown in Fig. 30, but it will be
appreciated that a corresponding
arrangement is implemented for the other printhead ICs.
Fig. 30 illustrates an overview of the printhead IC 439 and its connections to
the controller of the
drive electronics 174 of the print engine assembly 130. The printhead IC 439
includes a nozzle core array 440
containing the repeated logic for firing each of the nozzles provided in the
printhead IC 439 and nozzle
control logic 441 for generating the timing signals to fire the nozzles in
accordance with data received from
the controller via a high-speed link 442. The nozzle control logic 441 is
configured to send serial data to the
nozzle core array 440 for printing via a link 443. Status and other
operational information about the nozzle
core array 440 is communicated back to the nozzle control logic 441 via
another link 444.
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The nozzle core array 440 is shown in detail in Figs. 31 and 32. As can be
seen in Fig. 31 the
nozzle core array 440 comprises an array of nozzle colunms 445, a fire/select
shift register 446 and up to six
channels, each of which is represented by a corresponding dot shift register
447.
As shown in Fig. 32, the fire/select shift register 446 includes a forward
path fire shift register 448, a
5 reverse path fire shift register 449 and a select shift register 450, and
each dot shift register 447 includes an
odd dot shift register 451 and an even dot shift register 452. The odd and
even dot shift registers 451 and 452
are connected at one end such that data is clocked through the odd shift
register 451 in one direction, then
through the even shift register 452 in the reverse direction. The output of
all but the fmal even dot shift
register 452 is fed to one input of one of plurality of multiplexers 453. This
input of the multiplexers 453 is
10 selected by a signal (CoreScan) during post-production testing. In normal
operation, the CoreScan signal
selects dot data input Dot[x] supplied to the other input of each of the
multiplexers 453. This causes Dot[x]
for each colour to be supplied to the respective dot shift registers 447.
A single column N of the array of nozzle columns 445 is also shown in Fig. 32.
In the embodiment
shown, the column N includes 12 data values, comprising an odd data value 454
and an even data value 455
15 for each of the six dot shift registers 447. Column N also includes an odd
fire value 456 from the forward fire
shift register 448 and an even fire value 457 from the reverse fire shift
register 449, which are supplied as
inputs to a multiplexer 458. The output of the multiplexer 458 is controlled
by a select value 459 in the select
shift register 450. When the select value 459 is zero, the odd fire value 456
is output, and when the select
value 459 is one, the even fire value 457 is output.
20 Each of the odd and even data values 454 and 455 is provided as an input to
corresponding odd and
even dot latches 460 and 461, respectively. Each of the dot latches 460 and
461 and its associated data value
454 and 455 form a unit cell, such as a unit ce11462 shown in Fig. 32 for the
odd latch 460 and the odd data
value 454. This situation for the odd dot shift register 451 is illustrated in
more detail in Fig. 33, which is also
applicable to the situation for the even dot shift register 452.
25 Referring to Fig. 33, the odd dot latch 460 is a D-type flip-flop that
accepts the output of the odd data
value 454, which is held by the unit cell (a D-type flip-flop) 462 which forms
an element of the odd dot shift
register 451. The data input to the flip-flop 462 is provided from the output
of a previous element in the odd
dot shift register 451 (unless the element under consideration is the first
element in the shift register 447, in
which case its input is the Dot[x] value). Data is clocked from the output of
the flip-flop 462 into the odd dot
30 latch 460 upon receipt of a negative pulse provided on line LsyncL.
The output of the odd dot latch 460 is provided as one of the inputs to a
three-input AND gate 463.
Other inputs to the AND gate 463 are a fire enable (Fr) signal (from the
output of multiplexer 458) and a pulse
profile (Pr) signal. The firing time of a nozzle is controlled by the pulse
profile signal Pr and can be, for
example, lengthened to take into account a low voltage condition that arises
due to low battery, in a situation
where the power supply of the printer 100 is provided as a battery element
(not shown) mounted in the body
102, for example. This is to ensure that a relatively consistent amount of ink
is efficiently ejected from each
nozzle as it is fired. The profile signal Pr may be the same for each of the
dot shift registers 260, which
provides a balance between complexity, cost and performance. However, the Pr
signal can be applied
globally (i.e., is the same for all nozzles) or can be individually tailored
to each unit cell or even to each
nozzle.
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31
Once the data is loaded into the odd dot latch 460, the Fr and Pr signals are
applied to the AND gate
463, combining to trigger the nozzle to eject a dot of ink for each odd dot
latch 460 that contains a logic 1.
The signals for each nozzle channel as shown in Figs. 32 and 33 are summarized
in Table 4 below.
TABLE 4
Name Direction Description
D Input Input dot pattern to shift register bit
Q Output Output dot pattern from shift register bit
SrClk Input Shift register clock in; d is captured on rising edge of this
clock
Fr Input Fire enable; needs to be asserted for nozzle to fire
Pr Input Profile; needs to be asserted for nozzle to fire
As shown in Fig. 33, the Fr signals are routed on a diagonal to enable firing
of one colour in the
current column, the next colour in the following column, and so on. This
averages the current demand by
spreading it over six columns in time-delayed fashion.
The dot latches and the latches forming the various shift registers are fully
static and are CMOS-
based. The design and construction of latches is well known to those skilled
in the art and so is not described
in detail herein.
As stated earlier, the printhead 164, which has a printing surface or zone
across the width of a
maximum-sized page of print media that can be printed on using the printer
100, may incorporate at least
5,000 nozzles and even more than 50,000 nozzles in order to provide the
required quality of printing at the
high-speed printing of the printer 100 across this pagewidth. For example, the
combined printhead ICs 252
may defme a printhead having 13824 nozzles per channel, including the coloured
ink and fixative channels.
The nozzle speed may be as much as 20 kHz for the printer 100 capable of
printing at about 60 ppm,
and even more for higher speeds. At this range of nozzle speeds the amount of
ink than can be ejected by the
entire printhead 164 is at least 50 million drop per second. However, as the
number of nozzles is increased to
provide for higher-speed and higher-quality printing at least 100 million
drops per second, preferably at least
300 million drops per second, and more preferably at least 1 billion drops per
second may be delivered.
Consequently, in order to accommodate printing at these speeds, the drive
electronics 174, and
particularly the controller(s) thereof, must calculate whether a nozzle is to
eject a drop of ink at a rate of at
least 50 million dots per second, and depending on the printing speed, at
least 100 million dots per second,
preferably at least 300 million dots per second, and more preferably at least
1 billion dots per second for the
higher-speed, higher-quality printing applications.
For the colour printer 100 printing with the maximum width of A4 paper, the
above-described ranges
of the number of nozzles and print speeds results in an area print speed of at
least 50 cm2 per second, and
depending on the printing speed, at least 100 cm2 per second, preferably at
least 200 cm2 per second, and
more preferably at least 500 cm2 per second at the higher-speeds.
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32
While the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference
to exemplary
embodiments thereof, various modifications will be apparent to and might
readily be made by those skilled in
the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
Accordingly, it is not intended
that the scope of the claims appended hereto be limited to the description as
set forth herein, but, rather, that
the claims be broadly construed.
