...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8120811 | System and method for adding data to a printed publication A system for adding data to a printed publication comprises a data source for providing the data, a processing circuit, and an energy source. The processing circuit is configured to retrieve the data from the data source and to control the energy source to at least ... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8089655 | Personalized gift cards for imaging products and services A method for producing a gift card for a gift imaging product, comprises receiving an order of the gift imaging product from a user, producing the gift imaging product, producing the gift card by the user for the gift imaging product; and consolidating the gift card... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8077347 | Image forming apparatus and method mitigating effects of pixel correction while compensating for shift in scanning position An image forming apparatus has a scanning unit capable of forming a plurality of lines of an image simultaneously by scanning, in a main scanning direction, laser beam that has been emitted from a plurality of laser emitting devices. The apparatus has a memory for s... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8059307 | Image processing apparatus and method dividing image data for multi-pass scans using mask based on beam deviations An image processing apparatus includes an emitter which has a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in a sub-scan direction, and a former which forms an image on a photosensitive member by multi-passed scanning an identical region on the photosensitive member... | 11/15/2011 |
| 8040555 | Method and apparatus for processing image data for an irregular output scan path Methods, algorithms, software, apparatuses and systems for processing image data for imaging devices having irregular scan paths (e.g., scan paths that deviate from a conventional horizontal and/or straight line). The irregular scan paths generally correspond to act... | 10/18/2011 |
| 8031362 | Optical scanning device, image forming apparatus, and liquid crystal element A disclosed optical scanning device scans an object scanning surface with a light beam projected from a light source and traveling through an optical system. The optical scanning device includes a liquid crystal element configured to modulate a phase. The liquid cry... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8004715 | Image forming apparatus and method mitigating effects of pixel correction while compensation for shift in scanning position An image forming apparatus has a scanning unit capable of forming a plurality of lines of an image simultaneously by scanning, in a main scanning direction, laser beam that has been emitted from a plurality of laser emitting devices. The apparatus has a memory for s... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7990572 | Device adapted for adjustment of scan position of light beam An optical scanning device 65 is adapted to bring a deflector mirror plane 651 into independent pivotal motions about a first axis and a second axis perpendicular to each other. A mirror driver section including a first axis driver and a second axis dr... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7982906 | Optical scanning device, image display device and retinal scanning display An optical scanning device is constituted without using any arc sin θ correction lens, while maintaining quality of an image. The optical scanning device comprises an optical flux generator, a resonance-type deflection element, a drive signal generator and a dot cl... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7965411 | Image forming apparatus and method for faster rendering of monochromatic scan lines An image forming apparatus for rendering graphics objects in a frame memory, which includes a line memory for storing dot image data for each scan line of the graphics objects, a deciding unit that decides a position of a difference pixel having different values of ... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7933040 | Method and apparatus for controlling color registration sensors A method and apparatus for controlling registration sensors are provided, in which a transfer unit transfers an electrostatic latent image onto a printing medium, at least one registration sensor senses image alignment errors by irradiating light to the transfer uni... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7924457 | Electro-optical device that includes a plurality of driving transistors turned on and off in accordance with a plurality of pulse width modulation signals An electro-optical device includes a plurality of driving transistors turned on or turned off in accordance with a plurality of pulse-width modulation signals. An electro-optical element is electrically connected to drains of the plurality of driving transistors and... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7898688 | Electro-optical device controlling driving current to each electro-optical element to alleviate variation of intensity An electro-optical device includes a plurality of unit circuits; a first selecting circuit that sequentially selects the plurality of unit circuits; and a first signal line through which correction data for the individual unit circuits are supplied serially. Each of... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7859714 | Light emitting device including position determining member having a height that determines a distance between a focusing lens array and an image carrier A light emitting device that forms a latent image by irradiating light onto a charged surface of an image carrier. The light emitting device includes an electro-optical substrate that forms an optical image, a focusing lens array that focuses light from the electro-... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7852510 | Systems and methods for setting configuring rendering parameters for high-speed rendering devices Data-processing systems and methods include a rendering device which renders documents based upon the timing and duration of a laser beam associated with particular pixel data. Additionally, a controlling mechanism for controlling and adjusting the particular pixel ... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7835028 | Image forming apparatus with color forming information applying unit that transmits light through image holding member and method thereof An image forming apparatus includes an image holding member, a toner image forming unit, a color forming information applying unit, a transfer unit, a fixing unit and a color forming unit, the color forming information applying unit exposing a toner image formed on ... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7830545 | Optical unit and image forming apparatus At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to an optical unit adapted to irradiate image exposure light to an image carrier comprises a frame containing optical parts arranged therein and having an opening, and a cover adapted to cover the opening. The cover can ... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7742189 | Optical scanning apparatus Data concerning misalignment of beams is measured and held in an optical scanning apparatus before the optical scanning apparatus is incorporated in an image forming apparatus. The optical scanning apparatus includes a light source for emitting multiple beams, an op... | 06/22/2010 |
| 7692814 | Image forming apparatus Disclosed is the prevention of the occurrence of uneven image density, as well as the image degradation caused by inhibiting the continuity of image density, produced by the photoreceptor in which uneven electrification exists, and additionally uneven sensitivity co... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7684078 | Image forming apparatus If an edge of a sheet metal of an image forming apparatus damages an electric cable, the image signal is distorted and a correct image is not formed since the damage causes feeding failure and signal deterioration. This is remarkable in the conventional digital elec... | 03/23/2010 |
| 7667868 | Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus A light flux emitted from a light source is split into two by a light flux splitting unit, and these are respectively made incident on upper and lower tiers of polygon mirrors of a deflecting unit which coaxially rotates two polygon mirrors one on the other while be... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7626722 | Image recording apparatus There is provided an image recording apparatus able to form images without fluctuation of image dot intervals in the main scan direction. The image recording apparatus comprises a light emitting source including multiple light emitting units emitting laser be... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7570388 | Exposure device The invention provides an exposure apparatus that outputs a stable photographic quality image unaffected by variations in ambient temperature, by suppressing the effects of the temperature variations and achieving accurate grayscale reproduction. In the exposure app... | 08/04/2009 |
| 7561299 | Personalized gift cards for imaging products and services A method for producing a gift card for a gift imaging product, comprises receiving an order of the gift imaging product from a user, producing the gift imaging product, producing the gift card by the user for the gift imaging product; and consolidating the gift card... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7443534 | Video clock generation apparatus and method A video clock generation apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus comprises a ring oscillator for generating an oscillation frequency; a loopspeed detection unit for detecting a loopspeed that represents the number of pulses generated at the oscillation freq... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7433074 | Image forming apparatus and image forming method An image forming apparatus that is capable of scanning at a proper speed at all positions on a main scan line without being affected by variations in the characteristics of a f-θ lens, variations in the laser beam wavelength, irregularities in the rotational speed ... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7414759 | Scanner linearity tester Linear spot velocity or position variations are measured in a scanning system by a process and apparatus. The process comprises providing at least two radiation detectors that can move in tandem across a scan line, the two radiation detectors being spaced apart by a... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7408679 | Method, system and program product for multiple pel print quality enhancement Disclosed is a method, system and program product for performing multiple-pel print quality enhancement (PQE). As in known methods of PQE, a determination is made of an adjusted sub-pulse value of each pel of an image. In accordance with embodiments of the present i... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7375847 | Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus using the same An optical scanning device has: a first optical system for converting a flux of light that has been emitted from a light source into another flux of light; a second optical system for focusing the flux of light that has been converted by the first optical system as ... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7369268 | Light source using large area LEDs A printing apparatus (100) for printing digital images onto a photosensitive medium (140) employing, for exposure energy, a light source (20) that uses various arrays of LEDs (32). The printing apparatus (100) may form the print im... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7359082 | Independent video hardware blocks to support laser printers A printer includes a direct memory access controller (DMA), a video processor, and a video signal generator. A frequency synthesizer connects to the video signal generator. Configuration registers bidirectionally connect to the DMA, video processor, the video signal... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7339701 | Method for darkness correction of trapped pixels A method for correcting for edge defects caused by print characteristics of a print engine includes printing a set of actual color patches corresponding to a desired set of colors; defining an edge region and a uniform area region in each of the patches; for each co... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7339697 | Apparatus for and method of recording image based on detected recording duty ratio The intensity of a light beam is controlled accurately depending on an image to be recorded on a photosensitive medium. An apparatus for recording an image by scanning a photosensitive medium with a light beam generated based on an image signal has a recording duty ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330288 | Post RIP image rendering in a MICR electrographic printer to improve readability A method of printing an image with a printer having magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) toning capability, the method comprising the steps of: converting the image into a digital bitmap comprised of an array of pixels wherein each pixel is assigned a digital v... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7317547 | Single compressor with plural decompressors for multi-laser printing In a laser printer having a plurality of lasers, each of which effectuates the deposition of toner onto lines of a page to be printed, a method of printing several lines substantially simultaneously comprises storing within a single print data buffer, print data com... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7280244 | Printer simultaneously printing on both surfaces of a sheet A method of manipulating print data in a printer capable of simultaneously printing on both surfaces of a sheet of print media, the method including the steps of: receiving first data relating to a first page to be printed in a first memory; transferring the first d... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7280235 | Print engine for double-sided printing A print engine for double-sided printing includes a chassis. A pair of substantially identical inkjet printhead assemblies is mounted on the chassis opposite each other. A pair of transfer rollers is mounted on the chassis and positioned with respect to the printhea... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7280246 | Laser print apparatus that generates pulse width value and justification value based on pixels in a multi-bit image A laser print apparatus includes a memory for storing a multi-bit image including a plurality of pixels. Each pixel is represented by an N-bit value, wherein N is greater than one. A modulation code generator analyzes three adjacent pixels. The three adjacent pixels... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7265856 | Method and system for receiving and processing multiple compressed print data streams A system and method for transmitting multiple data streams from a host to a printing device. Data streams are arranged according to color, segmented and compressed, if desired. If compression is used, each segment may compressed with a different compression algorith... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7262878 | System and method for calibrating an imaging system during imaging An imaging system is disclosed for imaging recording media. The imaging system includes an input opening through which recording media may be input to the imaging system, and an imaging unit for imaging the recording media that is received through the input opening.... | 08/28/2007 |