Patent ID: 6309047
Filing Date: 2001-10-30
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An acoustic ink ejector assembly comprising:a supply of liquid ink with a free ink surface;an acoustic ink droplet ejector, acoustically linked to the supply of liquid ink;a rf power source coupled to the acoustic droplet ejector for exciting the droplet ejector to radiate the free ink surface with substantially focused acoustic power pulses, whereby individual droplets of ink are ejected from the free ink surface;a controller in operational connection with the rf power source, the controller generating and issuing control signals to the rf signal source to cause the rf signal source to excite the acoustic ink droplet ejector such that the individual droplets are ejected in accordance the received control signals; anda filler pattern used by the controller to determine when the control signals are to be issued to the rf signal source, the control signals determining an order in which droplets are to be ejected from the ejector, such that the selected pattern avoids adjacent firing until a substantial portion of the ejector cycles are filled.