WE claim:
1. A printhead chip for an ink jet printhead, the printhead chip comprising
a substrate; and
a plurality of nozzle arrangements that are positioned on the substrate, each nozzle arrangement comprising
a nozzle chamber structure that is positioned on the substrate to define a nozzle chamber;
an ink ejection member that is displaceable with respect to the nozzle chamber structure to eject ink from the nozzle chamber; and
at least two actuators that are operatively engaged with the ink ejection member to displace the ink ejection member, the actuators being configured and connected to the ink ejection member to impart substantially rectilinear movement to the ink ejection member.
2. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 1, in which each ink ejection member defines a roof of the nozzle chamber and an ink ejection port and the actuators are configured so that the ink ejection member is displaced towards and away from the substrate so that a volume of the nozzle chamber is reduced and subsequently enlarged resulting in the ejection of a drop of ink from the ink ejection port.
3. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 1, which is the product of an integrated circuit fabrication technique.
4. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 3, in which the substrate incorporates CMOS drive circuitry, each actuator being connected to the CMOS drive circuitry.
5. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 2, in which a number of actuators of each nozzle arrangement are positioned in a substantially rotationally symmetric manner about the ink ejection member.
6. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 5, in which each nozzle arrangement includes a pair of substantially identical actuators, one actuator positioned on each of a pair of opposed sides of the ink ejection member.
7. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 2, in which each ink ejection member further defines sidewalls that depend from the roof, the sidewalls being dimensioned to bound the nozzle chamber structure.
8. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 7, in which each nozzle chamber structure defines an ink displacement formation that is spaced from the substrate and faces the roof, the ink displacement formation defining an ink displacement area that is dimensioned to facilitate ejection of ink from the ink ejection port, when the ink ejection member is displaced towards the substrate.
9. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 8, in which the substrate defines a plurality of ink inlet channels, one ink inlet channel opening into each respective nozzle chamber at an ink inlet opening.
10. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 9, in which the ink inlet channel of each nozzle arrangement opens into the nozzle chamber in substantial alignment with the ink ejection port, the nozzle chamber structure being positioned about the ink inlet opening.
11. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 1, in which each actuator is in the form of a thermal bend actuator, each thermal bend actuator being anchored to the substrate at one end and movable with respect to the substrate at an opposed end, and having an actuator arm that bends when differential thermal expansion is set up in the actuator arm, each thermal bend actuator being connected to the CMOS drive circuitry to bend towards the substrate when the thermal bend actuator receives a driving signal from the CMOS drive circuitry.
12. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 11, which includes at least two coupling structures, one coupling structure being positioned intermediate each actuator and the ink ejection member, each coupling structure being configured to accommodate both arcuate movement of said opposed end of each thermal bend actuator and said substantially rectilinear movement of the ink ejection member.
13. A printhead chip as claimed in claim 1 in which each ink ejection member and the nozzle chamber structure are shaped so that, when ink is received in the nozzle chamber, the ink ejection member, the nozzle chamber structure and the ink define a fluidic seal to inhibit ink from leaking out of the nozzle chamber between the nozzle chamber structure and the ink ejection member.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for identifying a product selected by a consumer, comprising:
identifying a location of a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with a first product selected by the consumer; and
coordinating the location of the first RFID tag with at least one of the following: a location of a consumer electronic device carried by a consumer and a second RFID tag associated with a second product selected by the consumer.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the consumer electronic device is determined using at least one of the following: a wireless access point and a cellular signal sensor.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer electronic device is selected from a group consisting of: a cellular telephone and a personal digital assistant.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein coordinating includes associating at least two locations of the consumer electronic device with at least two locations of at least one of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
accessing a wireless network.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying a location of the consumer electronic device includes allowing the wireless network to identify a unique feature of the consumer electronic device.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the unique feature includes at least one of the following: a cookie, a network address, an Internet protocol (IP) address, and a media access control (MAC) address.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
comparing at least one of the first product and the second product with a list of products.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the list of products includes a list of products prepared by the consumer.
10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
displaying the list of products on the consumer electronic device.
11. A system for identifying a product selected by a consumer, comprising:
a system for identifying a location of a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with a first product selected by the consumer; and
a system for coordinating the location of the first RFID tag with at least one of the following: a location of a consumer electronic device carried by a consumer and a second RFID tag associated with a second product selected by the consumer.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the location of the consumer electronic device is determined using at least one of the following: a wireless access point and a cellular signal sensor.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the consumer electronic device is selected from a group consisting of: a cellular telephone and a personal digital assistant.
14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:
a system for accessing a wireless network.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the system for identifying a location of the consumer electronic device includes a system for allowing the wireless network to identify a unique feature of the consumer electronic device.
16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:
a system for comparing the at least one product with a list of products.
17. A program product stored on a computer-readable medium, which when executed, identifies a product selected by a consumer, comprising:
program code for identifying a location of a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with a first product selected by the consumer; and
program code for coordinating the location of the first RFID tag with at least one of the following: a location of a consumer electronic device carried by a consumer and a second RFID tag associated with a second product selected by the consumer.
18. The program product of claim 17, wherein the consumer electronic device is selected from a group consisting of: a cellular telephone and a personal digital assistant.
19. The program product of claim 17, further comprising:
program code for comparing at least one of the first product and the second product with a list of products.
20. A method for deploying an application for identifying a product selected by a consumer, comprising:
providing a computer infrastructure being operable to:
identify a location of a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with a first product selected by the consumer; and
coordinate the location of the first RFID tag with at least one of the following: a location of a consumer electronic device carried by a consumer and a second RFID tag associated with a second product selected by the consumer.