Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080284808 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS AND INKJET PRINTING METHOD - Provided is an inkjet printing apparatus for performing a printing with a first nozzle array for ejecting a first color ink and a second nozzle array for ejecting a second color ink. The apparatus reduces density unevenness stemming from a sudden error in conveyance of a printing medium. When the apparatus performs a scan with respect to the printing medium for printing in which using ranges of nozzles in the first and second nozzle arrays are restricted to parts thereof, the restricted using ranges of the first and second nozzle arrays are shifted from each other. Thereby, the density unevenness stemming from the error in conveyance occur in positions which are different between the first and second colors, Thus, it possible to make the overall density unevenness less obvious by making gradients of variations in brightness and chroma of an image smaller. | 11-20-2008 |
20100245445 | PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING METHOD AND IMAGE PROCESSOR - A printing apparatus and a printing method are provided which, even if a print position misalignment occurs between a plurality of print scans during a multipass printing, can minimize density variations in a unit area reliably and stably, thus producing an image without density unevenness. For this purpose, multi-grayscale-level image data is converted into a plurality of dot arrangement patterns that determine individual subpixels either to be printed or not to be printed with a dot. Then, these dot arrangement patterns are printed overlappingly on a print medium in different print scans of the print head. At this time, the plurality of dot arrangement patterns are so arranged that, if these dot arrangement patterns are shifted from one another, a change in the dot-overlapping area ratio will be smaller than when the dots are arranged separately so that they do not overlap one another. | 09-30-2010 |
20100245446 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD - In a 2M-pass printing operation that forms dots including overlapping dots, this invention makes an arrangement to ensure that the number of overlapping dots that are printed in a unit area in pairs of passes each straddling a print medium convey operation executed between an Mth pass and an (M+1)st pass is greater than the number of overlapping dots that are printed in pairs of passes straddling any other convey operation. This arrangement can cause two dots of the overlapping dots to be separated from each other in the event of a print position misalignment, preventing a possible density fall even in a unit area where the largest density reduction is feared to occur at time of the print position misalignment. | 09-30-2010 |
20100245470 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD - To provide a printing apparatus and a printing method capable of not permitting a printable ratio of each printing scan to have a deviation and, even if a sudden conveyance shift occurs, outputting a uniform and smooth image in the whole area of the print medium. In order to achieve this, when performing multipass printing of 2M passes, a mask such that a printable area overlapping ratio that relates to straddling between Pass M and Pass M+1 is set higher than the printable area overlapping ratio that relates to straddling between other two consecutive passes is used. By this configuration, even if a complementary relationship of dots collapses due to a sudden conveyance shift etc. and thereby a density reduction is anticipated, by an overlapped dot being separated, increase of the density is accelerated, and it becomes possible to mitigate the above-mentioned density reduction. | 09-30-2010 |
20110043838 | IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - When recording is performed in a pixel region by M (M is an integer equal to or larger than 2) passes with N (N is an integer equal to or larger than 2) recording element groups, density variation due to a deviation between recording positions of dots that are recorded by different passes is suppressed while a load of data processing is decreased. | 02-24-2011 |
20110075174 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - The image processing apparatus executes quantization processing of second multi-valued image data that corresponds to a second relative movement of a plurality of relative movements based on first multi-valued image data that corresponds to a first relative movement of the plurality of relative movements, and executes quantization processing of the first multi-valued image data based on the second multi-valued image data. This makes it possible to output a high-quality image having excellent robustness and reduced graininess by controlling the overlap rate of dots that are printed by the first relative movement and the dots that are printed by the second relative movement. | 03-31-2011 |
20110080615 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - The present invention suppresses data processing load and processing time when generating density data for the same color that corresponds to a plurality of printing scans (or plurality of printing element groups) of a printing head and printing medium. In order to accomplish this, input image data is converted to a plurality of density data by referencing a three-dimensional lookup table that performs one-to-one correlation of input image data with a plurality of density data that corresponds to a plurality of relative movements (or plurality of printing element groups). By doing so, it is possible to perform a process of generating density data (CMYK) that corresponds to a plurality of relative movements (or plurality of printing element groups) from input image data at once, and thus it is possible to suppress an increase in data processing load and processing time. | 04-07-2011 |
20110090538 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - Multi-valued image data corresponding to a pixel area is divided into the first scanning multi-valued data, first and second scanning common multi-valued data, and second scanning multi-valued data. A quantization processing is executed on each of the multi-valued data to generate first scanning quantized data, first and second scanning common quantized data, and second scanning quantized data. After that, these pieces of quantized data are combined for each scanning to generate first scanning combined quantized data and second scanning combined quantized data. According to this, the amount of pixels where dots are both recorded by performing a scanning by plural times (the amount of overlapping dots) is controlled, and while suppressing the image density variations, the granularity is held to a low level. | 04-21-2011 |
20110109710 | RECORDING APPARATUS AND RECORDING METHOD - First humidified gas is supplied from a first supply port to a sheet to be conveyed, thereby increasing the moisture content of the sheet. Simultaneously, second humidified gas is supplied to a space where nozzles of the inkjet recording head are exposed, from a second supply port provided at a position closer to the inkjet recording head than the first supply port, thereby increasing the atmosphere humidity of the space. The part of the sheet of which the moisture content has been increased is made to enter the space where the atmosphere humidity has been increased, and recording is performed by the inkjet recording head. | 05-12-2011 |
20110116115 | IMAGE PROCESSOR AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - There are provided an image processing method and an image processor which realize the processing of restricting image degradations such as “dot delay”, “banding” and “wind ripple” with a simpler circuit construction. Therefore, after the regular quantization processing is performed, in a pixel in a prohibition position the processing of limiting a predetermined quantized value to change into another quantized value is performed corresponding to the obtained quantized value and the position information of the pixel of interest. By doing this, even in the low level of the density value, it is possible to realize at a low cost the construction in which dots having different sizes are mixed for printing. | 05-19-2011 |
20110211008 | PRINT APPARATUS - A first reading unit that reads a pattern or an image formed on a sheet by a print unit for recognizing a print unit state, a second reading unit that reads a cut mark formed on the sheet on a downstream thereof, a cutter that cuts the sheet on a downstream thereof, and a reverse unit that reverses the sheet fed to the print unit again are provided. In duplex printing, the sheet where images are sequentially printed on a first surface is led to the reverse unit, the front and rear faces are reversed, and the sheet is fed to the print unit again. The sheet where images and cut marks are sequentially printed on a second surface is cut by the cutter for each piece and discharged. The sheet is cut on the basis of a reading of the cut mark by the second reading unit. | 09-01-2011 |
20110211899 | PRINT CONTROL METHOD AND PRINT APPARATUS - A cut mark is recorded in an area between one image and the next image to be printed, and the recorded cut mark is to be detected. When the cut mark cannot be detected, a position of the cut mark is estimated based on information on an already detected cut mark and information on a length of the image printed after said already detected cut mark. A first cut position and a second cut position for cutting off the area are set based on the estimation. | 09-01-2011 |
20110273503 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD - A printing apparatus includes a plurality of inkjet print heads to which humidified air is supplied to retain the humidity in the print heads. Ink colors for the plurality of heads are arranged in a sequence corresponding to ink characteristics. The plurality of print heads are arranged in a sequence such that a print head configured to eject ink characterized by having a larger amount of volatile components evaporated within a predetermined time is located in a more upstream area. | 11-10-2011 |
20110279612 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS AND CALIBRATION METHOD - An apparatus includes: a drying unit to dry a printing medium on which an image was printed using an inkjet head; a humidification unit to humidify the printing medium that was dried by the drying unit so that the moisture content of the printing medium becomes the equilibrium state in the ambient environment; a colorimetric unit to perform colorimetry on the printing medium that was humidified by the humidification unit; and a calibration unit to calibrate printing properties on the basis of the result of colorimetry by the colorimetric unit. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279832 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS AND CALIBRATION METHOD - A waiting time Ts is decided on the basis of ink type information and ink feed amount information, referring to waiting time table A (Step | 11-17-2011 |
20110298849 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS - In a line-head type inkjet printing apparatus that ejects a plurality of types of inks, an inkjet printing apparatus is provided in which the change of its ejection properties different depending on the type of ink is prevented from occurring. The line-head type printing apparatus includes an acquisition unit that counts the ejection number of liquid from each of print heads in each of a plurality of print heads. Furthermore, the printing apparatus compares the ejection number of liquid from each of the print heads counted by the acquisition unit with a threshold value set for each of the print heads. The printing apparatus includes a change unit that can move a holder in the main scanning direction when the counted ejection number of liquid exceeds the threshold value set for the print head. | 12-08-2011 |
20110298859 | RECORDING METHOD AND RECORDING APPARATUS - A first humidified gas is supplied through a first supply port to a sheet. A second humidified gas is supplied to a space where nozzles of an inkjet recording head are exposed through a second supply port located at a position closer to the recording heads than the first supply port, to increase atmosphere humidity in the space. The sheet portion having a moisture content increased by the humidification in advance is advanced into the space having the increased atmosphere humidity, to record on the sheet using the inkjet recording head. An amount of humidification with the first humidified gas is set according to at least one recording condition. | 12-08-2011 |
20110310152 | INKJET PRINTING DEVICE AND INKJET PRINTING METHOD - An inkjet printing device that performs printing on a print medium with a print head including a nozzle for discharging ink, includes: a transport unit transporting the print medium; a printing unit discharging the ink while transporting the print medium such that the printing unit prints an image for printing and an image formed by a preliminary discharge; a first limiting unit limiting, based on image data on the image for printing, an ink amount to be discharged such that the amount of ink per unit area is equal to or less than an upper limit Alim; and a second limiting unit limiting an ink amount to be discharged for the image formed by the preliminary discharge such that the amount of ink per unit area is more than the upper limit Alim and is equal to or less than an upper limit Blim. | 12-22-2011 |
20110310155 | INKJET RECORDING HEAD AND INKJET RECORDING METHOD - The present invention provides a recording apparatus including recording heads each including a plurality of nozzle arrays that are arranged so as to overlap, wherein the width with which the overlapping portions of the recording heads for colors that are simultaneously used with a relatively high frequency overlap in an intersecting direction that intersects an array direction of nozzles is smaller than the width with which the overlapping portions of the recording heads for colors that are simultaneously used with a relatively low frequency overlap in the intersecting direction. | 12-22-2011 |
20110310178 | INKJET RECORDING APPARATUS AND INKJET RECORDING METHOD - The present invention provides a recording apparatus including recording heads each including a plurality of nozzle arrays that are arranged so as to overlap, wherein overlapping portions of the recording heads for two different colors are separated from each other with a distance therebetween in an array direction of nozzles. | 12-22-2011 |
20110316921 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD - When an image is recorded using a multichip recording head including a plurality of chips each having a plurality of nozzle arrays, a change in image density can occur due to a registration error between chips in an overlapping part where two chips are connected. To suppress the change in image density, input image data is distributed to two chips such that there are dots overlapping each other between the two chips in the overlapping part. | 12-29-2011 |
20110317177 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND RECORDING APPARATUS - An image processing apparatus includes a first generation unit configured to generate N pieces of same color multi-valued image data, a second generation unit configured to generate N pieces of quantized data by performing quantization processing on the N pieces of same color multi-valued image data, and a third generation unit configured to divide at least one piece of the N pieces of quantized data into a plurality of quantized data and generate M pieces of quantized data corresponding to the M relative movements. The M pieces of quantized data includes quantized data corresponding to an edge portion of the recording element group and quantized data corresponding to a central portion of the recording element group, and a recording duty of the quantized data corresponding to the edge portion is set lower than a recording duty of the quantized data corresponding to the central portion. | 12-29-2011 |
20120026229 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS - To provide an inkjet printing apparatus that suppresses occurrence of image deterioration, such as a texture, a moire, and a streak in a printing result. In order for this to be achieved, a level is set up to a overlapping portion of a chip of a print head depending on dot impact accuracy, and a print data distribution rate of each chip in the overlapping portion is determined according to the level. | 02-02-2012 |
20120114188 | RECORDING APPARATUS AND RECORDING SYSTEM - A process of detecting a defective recording element and a process of correcting the defective recording element are performed with appropriate processing loads. When the detection process and the correction processes are performed with small loads, for example, at a time of recording, a resolution used for reading an inspection pattern is set lower than that set in a case where the processes can be performed with small loads, for example, at down time before recording. The reading resolution to be set may be determined by an apparatus in accordance with a processing load or may be arbitrarily determined by a user. | 05-10-2012 |
20120206522 | INK JET PRINTING APPARATUS AND RECOVERY METHOD FOR A PRINT HEAD THEREOF - The invention provides a printing apparatus and a recovery method therefore which can minimize ink consumption in a recovery process for a print head of the apparatus. The invention has a control unit to cause a print head to eject ink from nozzles arrayed on the print head so as to recover ink ejecting function of the nozzles, and a specification unit to specify a set print mode selected from among a plurality of print modes. The print modes define number and position of nozzles in use for printing an image. The control unit executes a first preliminary ejection process before or after printing an image on a print medium. The first preliminary ejection process has selectively ejecting ink from both of the nozzles in use selected by the currently set print mode and the unused nozzles in the vicinity of the nozzles in use. | 08-16-2012 |
20120206523 | INKJET PRINTING DEVICE AND INKJET PRINTING METHOD - In-image preliminary ejection is performed by use of nozzles used to print an image out of the nozzles included in an overlapping link region, and between-image preliminary ejection is performed by use of nozzles which are not used to print the image. Thus, a reduction in image quality is inhibited, while the amount of print media used in the between-image preliminary ejection is reduced. | 08-16-2012 |
20120206524 | INKJET PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINT HEAD RECOVERY METHOD - An inkjet printing apparatus and a print head recovery method are provided according to which, in an environment in which dust (e.g., paper dust) is easily attached to the periphery of an ejection port of a print head, the print head is subjected to a recovery operation depending on the level of the attached dust. The inkjet printing apparatus has a cutter unit for cutting a print medium and a recovery unit for performing the recovery operation by wiping the ejection port formation portion at which the ejection port is formed of the print head while sucking the ejection port formation portion. When the passing number showing how many times the cut part of the print medium cut by the cutter passes the printing position is equal to or higher than a threshold value, the recovery means subjects the print head to the recovery operation. | 08-16-2012 |
20120299996 | INK JET PRINTING APPARATUS - An ink jet printing apparatus is disclosed that can more appropriately clean the nozzle faces of line-type print heads. The apparatus includes: a print head having nozzle chips, each having nozzle arrays arrayed on a common chip mounting face of the print head; a first cleaning unit configured to wipe the chip mounting face including wiping nozzle faces of the nozzle chips; a second cleaning unit configured to suction the chip mounting face including suctioning nozzle faces; a moving mechanism configured to move the first and second cleaning units relative to the print head in a first cleaning direction and in a second cleaning direction opposite to the first cleaning direction; and a selection unit configured to select a cleaning unit to be used for cleaning in the first and second cleaning directions from the first and second cleaning units, respectively. | 11-29-2012 |
20130076811 | INKJET RECORDING APPARATUS - An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head configured to discharge ink, a first ink tank configured to store ink to be supplied to the recording head, a circulation path configured to circulate ink between the first ink tank and the recording head, a measurement unit configured to measure an ink temperature in the circulation path, a second ink tank configured to replenish ink to the circulation path, and a control unit configured to control replenishment of ink from the second ink tank to the circulation path based on the ink temperature measured by the measurement unit. | 03-28-2013 |
20140022303 | INKJET RECORDING HEAD AND INKJET RECORDING METHOD - The present invention provides a recording apparatus including recording heads each including a plurality of nozzle arrays that are arranged so as to overlap, wherein the width with which the overlapping portions of the recording heads for colors that are simultaneously used with a relatively high frequency overlap in an intersecting direction that intersects an array direction of nozzles is smaller than the width with which the overlapping portions of the recording heads for colors that are simultaneously used with a relatively low frequency overlap in the intersecting direction. | 01-23-2014 |
20140043394 | PRINTING APPARATUS - An embodiment of this invention is directed to a printing apparatus capable of providing an output result without a printing density difference between two surfaces in two-sided printing. In the printing apparatus, one subtank is provided for each type of ink. The nozzles of printheads that receive inks supplied from the subtank and are used for printing of the front surface of a printing sheet and printing of the back surface, respectively, are aligned to almost the same level in the vertical direction, thereby making the water head pressures match. | 02-13-2014 |
20140092164 | RECORDING APPARATUS AND RECORDING SYSTEM - A process of detecting a defective recording element and a process of correcting the defective recording element are performed with appropriate processing loads. When the detection process and the correction processes are performed with small loads, for example, at a time of recording, a resolution used for reading an inspection pattern is set lower than that set in a case where the processes can be performed with small loads, for example, at down time before recording. The reading resolution to be set may be determined by an apparatus in accordance with a processing load or may be arbitrarily determined by a user. | 04-03-2014 |
20140204144 | PRINTING APPARATUS - An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus, in which a time required for printing is shortened. The printing apparatus includes a first printing unit that performs printing on a first surface of a sheet by an ink jet system; and a second printing unit that performs printing on a second surface of the sheet by the ink jet system, the second printing unit being disposed on a downstream side of the first printing unit. Moreover, the printing apparatus includes a sheet discharge sensor that detects the sheet to be discharged from the second printing unit. The sheet discharge sensor includes an arm having a rotating member supported thereon, the rotating member being brought into contact with the sheet being conveyed while being rotated. | 07-24-2014 |
20140232771 | PRINTING CONTROL APPARATUS AND PRINTING CONTROL METHOD - In a printing apparatus capable of printing the same pixel by a plurality of print elements, a print speed is increased, and further, a partial frequency of use of each of the print elements is reduced, so as to prolong the lifetime of the print head. In view of this, dithering is used as a pseudo-halftone representing method, and further, a distribution pattern for use in creating image data to be distributed to each of the plurality of print elements is switched. | 08-21-2014 |
20140247307 | INKJET PRINTING METHOD - A printing method is performed on a plurality of inkjet print heads to which humidified air is supplied to retain the humidity in the print heads. Ink colors for the plurality of heads are arranged in a sequence corresponding to ink characteristics. The plurality of print heads is divided into groups, with one of the groups being subjected to preliminary ejection on a sheet. The other print head group not subjected to preliminary ejection is located in a more upstream area with respect to a conveyance direction of the sheet. | 09-04-2014 |