Ink jet printing apparatus capable of printing in the same quality regardless of sheet type

Patent 6343846 Issued on February 5, 2002. Estimated Expiration Date:

March 2, 2018. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

Image forming method and apparatus
Patent #: 4604654
Issued on: 08/05/1986
Inventor: Sakurada , et al.

Image recording apparatus
Patent #: 5231427
Issued on: 07/27/1993
Inventor: Ohashi

Ink jet recording apparatus
Patent #: 5252992
Issued on: 10/12/1993
Inventor: Fukushima, et al.

Driving method of ink jet head and ink jet apparatus
Patent #: 5594476
Issued on: 01/14/1997
Inventor: Tokunaga, et al.

Gray scale ink jet printer
Patent #: 5745131
Issued on: 04/28/1998
Inventor: Kneezel, et al.

Ink jet recording apparatus for recording adjacent areas with plural colors
Patent #: 5786831
Issued on: 07/28/1998
Inventor: Fukushima, et al.

Ink jet recording apparatus
Patent #: 5889538
Issued on: 03/30/1999
Inventor: Kishimoto, et al.

Ink jet recording apparatus and method capable of preventing ink blurring by thinning ink dots
Patent #: 5907332
Issued on: 05/25/1999
Inventor: Fujita, et al.

Ink Jet output apparatus Patent #: 6102507
Issued on: 08/15/2000
Inventor: Yoshida

Inventor

Asano, Masaki

Assignee

Minolta Co., Ltd.

Application

No. 033362 filed on 03/02/1998

US Classes:

347/14, Responsive to condition347/6, Of fluid (e.g., ink flow rate, viscosity, etc.)347/55With electric field ejection (applied to fluid)

Examiners

Primary: Lee, Susan S. Y.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood

Foreign Patent References

54-133338 JP. 10/19/1979
62-32069 JP. 02/19/1987
62-267150 JP. 11/19/1987
3-213345 JP. 09/19/1991
4-33470 JP. 02/19/1992
4-361052 JP. 12/19/1992
6-226963 JP. 08/19/1994
7-81143 JP. 03/19/1995
7-89157 JP. 04/19/1995

International Classes

B41J 029/38
B41J 002/06

Foreign Application Priority Data

1997-03-05 JP

Abstract

In order to provide an ink jet printer achieving a constant printing quality regardless of the type of sheet to be used, a switch for selecting the type of sheet for the printer is provided. The type of sheet to be used is determined according to the state of the switch. Based on the result of the determination, the diameter of an ink drop emitted from a nozzle is changed. Since the degree of spreading of ink as well as the degree of absorption of ink differ depending on the type of sheet, the image quality after printing can be made constant regardless of the type of sheet by changing the diameter of ink drops.