Patent ID: 6719423
Filing Date: 2004-04-13
Classification: B41J,B41M

Abstract:
For forming an ink-jet-ink-derived material image on an operational surface of a member and transferring said ink-jet-ink-derived material image to a receiver member, an imaging apparatus comprising:an ink jet device for imagewise jetting, on to said operational surface of said member, droplets of an ink made of particles dispersed in a carrier fluid, said ink jet device thereby forming on said operational surface a primary image, said primary image including said particles and said carrier fluid; a plurality of process zones associated with said operational surface of said member, said plurality of process zones located sequentially in proximity with said operational surface and said plurality of process zones including an image concentrating process zone, an excess liquid removal process zone, and a transfer process zone; a mechanism in said image concentrating process zone for concentrating said particles of said primary image so as to form a concentrated image on said operational surface from said primary image, said mechanism for concentrating said particles causing said particles to become concentrated adjacent said operational surface; a mechanism in said excess liquid removal process zone for removing a portion of said carrier liquid from said concentrated image so as to form on said operational surface a liquid-depleted image; a mechanism for transferring to a receiver member, from said operational surface in said transfer process zone, said liquid-depleted image; and wherein said primary image includes a plurality of smallest resolved imaging areas and each of said plurality of smallest resolved imaging areas receives from said ink jet device a preselected number of droplets of said ink, said preselected number including zero.