<12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.I US 6,746,096 B2 Sakamoto et al. (45) Date of Patent: Jun. 8, 2004 (54) RECORDING APPARATUS AND 6,382,765 B1 5/2002 Kanda et al. ............... .. 347/23 PREDISCHARGE CQNTRQL MET]-]()[) 6,447,095 B1 9/2002 Kanda et al. ............... .. 347/30 (75) Inventors: Atsushi Sakamoto, Kanagawa (JP); FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Yuji Hamasaki, Kanagawa (JP); JP 54-56847 5/1979 Hidehiko Kanda, Kanagawa (JP) JP 59-7053 1/1984 JP 59—123670 7/1984 (73) Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (JP) JP 59-133461 8/1984 JP 60-71260 4/1985 ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 13/ patent is extended or adjusted under 35 ‘ 5 7 U'S'C' 154(1)) by 0 days‘ 11 4074047696 A * 271995 JP 10—278299 10/1998 (21) Appl. No.: 10/161,711 OTHER PUBLICATIONS (22) Filed: Jun. 5, 2002 U.S. application No. 08/442,769, filed May 17, 1995 (now (65) Prior Publication Data allowed) 6,447,095 US 2003/0007030 A1 Jan. 9, 2003 4 Cited by examiner (30) Foreign Application Priority Data Primary Examiner_Shih_Wen Hsieh Jun. 7, 2001 (JP) ..................................... .. 2001-172743 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & (51) Int. Cl.7 ............................................... .. B41J 2/165 S°‘“1° (52) U.S. Cl. ............................ .. 347/23; 347/35; 347/29 (57) ABSTRACT (58) Field of Search .............................. .. 347/7, 14, 19, . . . . A recording apparatus that comprises a cap, an idle suction 347/22’ 24’ 29’ 30’ 23’ 33’ 35 device for exhausting the cap to the outside a predischarge - d ' f -d' h ' ' k h 1:1 ' d ' <59 .1t.1iz1:T.1.‘z,:2:.:;.g.161,12;,z.C:2,1..§i;6:;*i,,":1i U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS by the predischarge, a first comparison device for comparing 4,313,124 A 1/1982 Hara ......................... .. 347/57 dvgtilleafcirialgiigogiavgggfaaiggrfli 4,345,262 A 8/1982 Shirato et al. 347/10 _ _ 474597600 A 7/1984 Sam ct a1_ 347/47 accordance with the first comparison result, a second com4’463’359 A 7/1934 Ayata ct a1_ 347/56 parison device for comparing the accumulated. ink with a 4,558,333 A 12/1985 sugitanii-,1a1_ 347/65 second threshold value, a predischarge prohibition device 4,608,577 A 8/1986 Hori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 347/66 for prohibiting predischarge in accordance with the second 4,723,129 A 2/ 1933 Endo 61 411- 347/56 comparison result, and a second predischarge control device 4>740>796 A 4/1988 E1199 61 61 ~~~~ ~~ 347/56 for resuming predischarge in accordance with the period of 5>17O>186 A 12/1992 Shfmamura 91 91" 347/23 time defined by the predischarge operation prohibition 5’4O6’317 A 4/1995 Shlmamura ct 31' ' " 347/23 device and increasing the ink for predischarge 5,617,122 A * 4/1997 Numata et al. .. 347/14 ’ ' 5,907,336 A 5/1999 Haya.kaWa ..... .. 347/29 6,193,351 B1 2/2001 Yaegashi et al. ............ .. 347/23 15 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
