Posts Tagged: "Seiko Epson"

Myths about patent trolls prevent honest discussion about U.S. patent system

A $1 trillion a year industry not wanting to pay innovators less than a 1% royalty on the innovations they appropriate (i.e., steal) for their own profits seems like a terrible price to pay given the national security and economic consequences of forfeiting our world leadership to the Europeans and Chinese… Google and Uber are locked in a patent battle over self-driving automobiles, so does that make Google or Uber a patent troll? What about General Electric, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Whirlpool, Kraft Foods, Caterpillar, Seiko Epson, Amgen, Bayer, Genzyme, Sanofi-Aventis, and Honeywell, to name just a few?

Established Automakers Not Yielding to Technology Companies on Autonomous Cars

Thomson Reuters analysts put their research in high gear to quantify just who the major players in this space are with the “2016 State of Self-Driving Automotive Innovation.” Data was aggregated from the Derwent World Patents Index® collection to identify global patent activity and the total number of unique inventions issued in published patent applications and granted patents were analyzed from January 2010 through October 31, 2015. The findings detail a notable commitment from carmakers and tech companies to advance driverless technology, while uncovering the fact that established automakers are the most likely to have the biggest impact in the self-driving category in the near term.

Epson at the forefront of robot innovation and point-of-sale printers

Headquartered in Nagano, Japan, the Seiko Epson Corporation is a worldwide leader in the manufacture of computer printers, imaging equipment and other information technologies. Well known for its printer products, Epson made some interesting announcements at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show regarding a series of wearable gadgets for fitness tracking. Investment in printing technologies is still strong at Epson, which…

Epson’s Patents: Plenty of Printing Tech and a Couple of Robots

Inkjet printing technologies are the focus of a couple of recently published patent applications which are assigned to Epson, including a few technologies developed to prevent heat damage from interfering with printer functionality. Other printing innovations created by Epson include a new ink set for black inks that reduces yellow discolorations in printed images. We also discuss some inventions in head-mounted displays and robotics, including one invention involving a redesigned suction-type robot which is more capable of holding a load when an external force acts on the load. Printers are again in major focus during our exploration of the patents recently issued to Epson by the USPTO. A reduction in electrical contact errors in ink cartridges is supported by one invention we discuss, as well as another technology for improved processing of printer errors that require the printer motor to be powered off, such as paper jams. We include another couple of patents which represent Epson’s further developments in the robotics and head-mounted display technologies mentioned above. We also explore one patent protecting an event scheduling method for organizations that enables easier registration and sharing of events among multiple people.

Epson Innovation Focuses on Robotics and Printers

We begin today’s column with a detailed look at our featured patent application, an improved assembly for a horizontal multi-joint robot. This robotic technology, developed for various repetitive job applications, has an electric cable duct of a smaller size that reduces vibrations. We also discuss a couple of other patent applications describing robotics, as well as a couple of other patent applications seeking to protect printing inventions. We’ve also collected what we found to be Epson’s most intriguing patents, which truly determine the value of Epson’s intellectual property development. This company has also recently received a number of U.S. patents protecting printing technologies; today, we look at patents protecting a white ink solution and a thermal printer. Other issued patents of note feature a couple of color correction technologies in imaging devices as well as one patent protecting an improved magnetocardiogram (MCG) monitor for medical applications.