1. An apparatus for providing a flow of ink to a printhead comprising: a fluid passageway that provides a first path for said flow of ink; an air vent to ambient connected to said fluid passageway; and a vent sealing material disposed in said air vent; wherein said vent sealing material, when dry, purges air from said fluid passageway, and when wetted by said ink, seals said air vent and said fluid passageway in an air free and liquid tight manner.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an input port that admits said flow of ink to said fluid passageway and an output port that provides said flow of ink to said printhead.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said fluid passageway is sealed and full of ink during idle time between print jobs being performed with said printhead.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said vent sealing material is a porous hydrophobic andor oleophobic material.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said hydrophobic andor oleophobic material has a surface energy of from about 5 dynescm2 to about 30 dynescm2 and comprises a porous thermoplastic substrate having a surface at least part of which is coated with a high molecular weight fluorochemical.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said porous thermoplastic substrate is made of a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of: ethylene vinyl acetate; ethylene methyl acrylate; polyethylenes; polypropylenes; ethylene-propylene rubbers; ethylene-propylene-diene rubbers; poly(1-butene); polystyrene; poly(2-butene); poly(1-pentene); poly(2-pentene); poly(3-methyl-1-pentene); poly(4-methyl-1-pentene); 1,2-poly-1,3-butadiene; 1,4-poly-1,3-butadiene; polyisoprene; polychloroprene; poly(vinyl acetate); poly(vinylidene chloride); and mixtures and derivatives thereof.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said high molecular weight fluorochemical is selected from the group consisting of: fluorinated acrylates, methacrylates, acrylic esters, and mixtures thereof.
8. A printer comprising: a printhead and an ink delivery system that provides a flow of ink to said printhead, wherein said ink delivery system comprises an ink reservoir in fluid communication with said printhead, and an air vent in fluid communication with said ink reservoir and said printhead, a vent sealing material disposed in said air vent; and wherein said vent sealing material, when dry, provides a path for purging air from said flow of ink, and when wetted by said ink, seals said air vent in an air free and liquid tight manner.
9. The printer of claim 8, wherein said ink delivery system further comprises a fluid passageway in fluid communication with said ink reservoir and said printhead, and wherein said air vent is connected to said fluid passageway.
10. The printer of claim 8, wherein said air vent is located proximate to said printhead.
11. The printer of claim 9, wherein said fluid passageway comprises an input port that admits said flow of ink to said fluid passageway and an output port that provides said flow of ink to said printhead.
12. The printer of claim 11, wherein said fluid passageway remains sealed and full of ink during idle time between print jobs being performed by said printer.
13. The printer of claim 8, wherein said vent sealing material is a porous hydrophobic andor oleophobic material.
14. The printer of claim 13, wherein said hydrophobic andor oleophobic material has a surface energy of from about 5 dynescm2 to about 30 dynescm2 and comprises a porous thermoplastic substrate having a surface at least part of which is coated with a high molecular weight fluorochemical.
15. The printer of claim 14, wherein said porous thermoplastic substrate is made of a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of: ethylene vinyl acetate; ethylene methyl acrylate; polyethylenes; polypropylenes; ethylene-propylene rubbers; ethylene-propylene-diene rubbers; poly(1-butene); polystyrene; poly(2-butene); poly(1-pentene); poly(2-pentene); poly(3-methyl-1-pentene); poly(4-methyl-1-pentene); 1,2-poly-1,3-butadiene; 1,4-poly-1,3-butadiene; polyisoprene; polychloroprene; poly(vinyl acetate); poly(vinylidene chloride); and mixtures and derivatives thereof.
16. The printer of claim 14, wherein said high molecular weight fluorochemical is selected from the group consisting of: fluorinated acrylates, methacrylates, acrylic esters, and mixtures thereof.
17. A method of purging air from an ink flow in a printer comprising:
providing said ink flow in a path that includes an ink reservoir and printhead of said printer;
purging air from said path to ambient during a purge operation; and
sealing said path in an air free and liquid tight manner.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein said purging step purges air via an air vent, wherein said sealing step seals said air vent and said path with a vent sealing material that is disposed in said air vent, said vent sealing material being capable of, when dry purging air during said purging step, and when wetted by said ink, sealing said path in an air free and liquid tight manner during said sealing step.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said vent sealing material is a porous hydrophobic andor oleophobic material.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein said hydrophobic andor oleophobic material has a surface energy of from about 5 dynescm2 to about 30 dynescm2 and comprises a porous thermoplastic substrate having a surface at least part of which is coated with a high molecular weight fluorochemical.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein said porous thermoplastic substrate is made of a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of: ethylene vinyl acetate; ethylene methyl acrylate; polyethylenes; polypropylenes; ethylene-propylene rubbers; ethylene-propylene-diene rubbers; poly(1-butene); polystyrene; poly(2-butene); poly(1-pentene); poly(2-pentene); poly(3-methyl-1-pentene); poly(4-methyl-1-pentene); 1,2-poly-1,3-butadiene; 1,4-poly-1,3-butadiene; polyisoprene; polychloroprene; poly(vinyl acetate); poly(vinylidene chloride); and mixtures and derivatives thereof.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein said high molecular weight fluorochemical is selected from the group consisting of: fluorinated acrylates, methacrylates, acrylic esters, and mixtures thereof.
23. A printhead for a printer comprising: a printing device; a fluid passageway that provides a path for a flow of ink to said printing device; an air vent to ambient connected to said fluid passageway; and a vent sealing material disposed in said air vent; wherein said vent sealing material, when dry, purges air from said fluid passageway, and when wetted by said ink, seals said air vent and said fluid passageway in an air free and liquid tight manner.
24. The printhead of claim 23, wherein said fluid passageway remains sealed and full of ink during idle time between print jobs being performed with said printhead.
25. The printhead of claim 23, wherein said vent sealing material is a porous hydrophobic andor oleophobic material.
26. The printhead of claim 25, wherein said hydrophobic andor oleophobic material has a surface energy of from about 5 dynescm2 to about 30 dynescm2 and comprises a porous thermoplastic substrate having a surface at least part of which is coated with a high molecular weight fluorochemical.
27. The printhead of claim 26, wherein said porous thermoplastic substrate is made of a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of: ethylene vinyl acetate; ethylene methyl acrylate; polyethylenes; polypropylenes; ethylene-propylene rubbers; ethylene-propylene-diene rubbers; poly(1-butene); polystyrene; poly(2-butene); poly(1-pentene); poly(2-pentene); poly(3-methyl-1-pentene); poly(4-methyl-1-pentene); 1,2-poly-1,3-butadiene; 1,4-poly-1,3-butadiene; polyisoprene; polychloroprene; poly(vinyl acetate); poly(vinylidene chloride); and mixtures and derivatives thereof.
28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said high molecular weight fluorochemical is selected from the group consisting of: fluorinated acrylates, methacrylates, acrylic esters, and mixtures thereof.
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 comprising:
generating a deployment map that associates each of a set of enterprise planning models with a respective set of application servers; and
processing jobs with the enterprise planning models with the respective sets of application servers according to the deployment map.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the deployment map comprises:
presenting an interface to receive input from a user assigning each of the application servers to one or more of the models; and
generating the deployment map in response to the user input.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
selecting a new application server within a network in response to the user input; and
generating the map to associate the new application server with one or more of the models.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the deployment map based on deadlines associated with each of the enterprise planning models.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the deployment map based on current usage levels for users participating in the enterprise planning models.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
querying the application servers for resource data describing computing resources within each of the application servers; and
generating the deployment map based on the resource data.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the resource data includes a number of processors within each of the application servers.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the jobs are associated with different slices of the respective enterprise planning models in accordance with organizational hierarchies defined by the respective models.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein each job is associated with a node within an organizational hierarchy defined by at least one of the enterprise planning models.
10. A method comprising:
receiving input modifying an enterprise planning model that defines a set of enterprise contributors, wherein each of the contributors is associated with a different slice of the enterprise planning model;
upon accesses to an enterprise planning system by the contributors, communicating the input and data associated with the respective slices of the enterprise planning model to computing devices of the contributors; and
processing the input to update the slices of the enterprise planning model on the computing devices of the contributors.
11. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving contribution data from the contributors, and wherein processing the input comprises reconciling the contribution data with the updated model on the computing device of the contributor.
12. A system comprising:
a plurality of application servers; and
an administration console to generate a deployment map that associates each of a set of enterprise planning models with a respective set of the application servers.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the application servers process administrative jobs for the respective enterprise planning models.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the administration console presents an interface to receive input from a user assigning each of the application servers to one or more of the enterprise planning models, and generates the deployment map in response to user input.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the interface includes input areas for receiving input from the user selecting a new application server within a network, and the administration console generates the deployment map to associate the new application server with one or more of the enterprise planning models.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein the administration console associates the jobs with different slices of the respective enterprise planning models in accordance with organizational hierarchies defined by the respective enterprise planning models.
17. The system of claim 13, wherein the administration console associates each job with a node within an organizational hierarchy defined by the particular first one of the enterprise planning models.
18. The system of claim 12, wherein the administration console automatically adjusts the deployment map based on deadlines associated with each of the enterprise planning models.
19. The system of claim 12, wherein the administration console automatically adjusts the deployment map based on current usage levels for users participating in the enterprise planning models.
20. The system of claim 12, wherein the administration console receives resource data from the application servers describing computing resources within each of the application servers, and generates the deployment map based on the resource data.
21. The system of claim 18, wherein the resource data includes a number of processors within each of the application servers.
22. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a processor to:
generate a deployment map that associates each of a set of enterprise planning models with a respective set of application servers; and
process jobs with the enterprise planning models with the respective sets of application servers according to the deployment map.
23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions causing the processor to generate the deployment map include instructions to cause the processor to:
present an interface to receive input from a user assigning each of the application servers to one or more of the models; and
generate the deployment map in response to the user input.
24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to:
select a new application server within a network in response to the user input; and
generate the map to associate the new application server with one or more of the models.
25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to adjust the deployment map based on deadlines associated with each of the enterprise planning models.
26. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to adjust the deployment map based on current usage levels for users participating in the enterprise planning models.
27. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to:
query the application servers for resource data describing computing resources within each of the application servers; and
generate the deployment map based on the resource data.
28. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a processor to:
receive input modifying an enterprise planning model that defines a set of enterprise contributors, wherein each of the contributors is associated with a different slice of the enterprise planning model;
upon accesses to an enterprise planning system by the contributors, communicate the input and data associated with the respective slices of the enterprise planning model to computing devices of the contributors; and
process the input to update the slices of the enterprise planning model on the computing devices of the contributors.
29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, further comprising instructions to cause the processor to receive contribution data from the contributors, and wherein processing the input comprises reconciling the contribution data with the updated model on the computing device of the contributor.