Appeal No. 1999-1629
Application 08/510,491
set value, and then discharges an appropriate amount of ink
from only the nozzles having a count equal to or less than the
set value at a location outside the recording region
(translation, pp. 6-7; abstract).
Fisher discloses a maintenance station 18 which permits
multiple maintenance operations to be performed on a print
head through an opening in the paper handling assembly without
moving the print head to a special position (col. 5,
lines 27-31 and 57-61). Fisher recognizes that one problem
with inkjet printing systems is clogging of the print head
nozzle caused by ink drying therein due to non-use for a
period of time (col. 1, lines 62-65). One of the maintenance
operations is a capping-spitting station 22 (col. 4,
lines 63-67), where the "spitting" presumably refers to
ejecting ink. Thus, station 22 would seem to serve both a
capping and reservoir function like the head capping
mechanism 30 in Nakagawa which caps the nozzles and holds the
ejected ink from the nozzles.
THE REJECTIONS
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