AU2005202029B2 - A printing method with nozzle-fault compensation - Google Patents

Description

A PRINTING METHOD WITH NOZZLE-FAULT COMPENSATION Field of the Invention This invention relates to digital printing and more particularly to printing using devices which eject ink onto the printed substrate. However, the invention is not limited to ink ejection devices and is also applicable to laser, light emitting diode printers and to digital photocopiers.

Background of the Invention In ink ejection devices a printhead has an array of nozzles through which ink is selectively ejected onto the substrate as the substrate moves relative to the printhead. The printhead may print by scanning across the substrate to print horizontal bands or, if it is a full page width printhead, it may pass along the length of the page. A blocked nozzle will result in multiple horizontal blank lines, in the case of a scanning type printhead, or a blank vertical line in the case of a page width printhead. Such blank lines are undesirable since they detract from the printed result.

The present invention provides a method of modifying the printing of an image so as to reduce or effectively eliminate the visual effect of one or more such blocked nozzles apparent to the eye of an observer in normal use. However, the invention is applicable to other forms of printing where a device, whether passive or active, is repeatedly used to produce dots of ink or the like on a substrate. The invention has potential application to laser and LED type printers and photocopiers where a fault in the imaging drum or light source can result in repeated faults in the image produced. As used above and throughout the description and claims the term image is to be understood to have a broad meaning and includes anything printed, such as text and line drawings.

Disclosure of the Invention According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of using a digital printing device comprising a plurality of activatable printing components, wherein at least one of the activatable printing components is faulty, to print an image defined by a dot matrix including rows of printing positions, onto a surface, so as to compensate for the failure of the at least one faulty printing component, the method including the steps of: MJ171-AU -2identifying at least one of the at least one faulty printing component to determine at least one printing position to be affected by the at least one faulty component; defining an alternative image including at least one additional compensating printing position adjacent to an affected original printing position; and activating printing components to print the alternative image, wherein at least one of the at least one compensating positions is located between two adjacent rows of dots of the original image.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of modifying an image to be digitally printed by a printing device, the device having at least a row of activatable devices which, when activated, cause rows of dots to be deposited onto a substrate, the device also having means for moving the substrate relative to the row of devices in a direction generally perpendicular to the row of dots, the method being used to compensate for failure of at least one faulty activateble device to correctly effect the deposition of dots of ink at specific locations, the method including the steps of: identifying at least some of the or each of the at least one faulty activatable devices so as to determine the specific location or locations, and adding at least one additional dot at at least one additional location in the vicinity of a respective specific location, the or each additional location being disposed in row other than the rows defined by the original image data.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of modifying an image to be digitally printed by a printing device to compensate for failure to correctly print dots of ink at specific locations, the method including the steps of: a) identifying said specific location or locations, and b) adding at least one additional dot at at least one additional location adjacent or near to the respective specific location compared to that required by the image data.

In another broad form the invention also provides a printer having a row of activatable devices which, when activated, cause rows of dots to be deposited onto a substrate and means to move the substrate relative to the row of devices in a direction generally perpendicular to the row of dots, said printer including: means to determine if one or more of said devices is not operating correctly; and MJ 171-AU -3c control means for analysing images or image data and for identifying a specific location or locations where a dot of ink should be printed by activation of a incorrectly operating device and one or both of the devices on either side of the failed device to produce extra dots of ink compared to that required by the image data.

I Extra ink dots may be merely located to the side of the respective specific location if I the adjacent location is unused by the image. One or more extra ink dots may be placed to the ,I side and above or below the respective specific location or both above and below the respective specific location. Two or more extra ink dots may be provided in each quadrant relative to the I respective specific location.

The extra ink dots may be the same size as those normally required by the image data or may be larger or smaller. Ink dots required by the image data adjacent to where extra dots are printed may be reduced in size to accommodate the extra ink dots.

Depending on "normal' ink dot size and spacing and the number and size of extra dots and any change in size of"normal" dots adjacent to the extra dots, the extra dots may overlap with themselves or "normal" dots or both or may be distinct non overlapping dots The extra dots are preferably printed on both transverse sides of the specific locations.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention shall be better understood from the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments and the drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a schematic illustration of a set of nozzles of an ink jet printing head.

Figure 2 shows a schematic illustration of an array of ink dots formed by the printhead of Figure 1 without fault correction operational.

Figure 3 shows a schematic illustration of the same array of ink dots as in Figure 2 formed by the printhead of Figure 1, but with fault correction operational.

Figure 4 shows a second schematic illustration of an array of ink dots formed by the printhead of Figure 1 without fault correction operational.

Figure 5 shows a schematic illustration of the same array of ink dots as in Figure 4 formed by the printhead of Figure 1 but with fault correction operational.

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Description of Preferred and Other Embodiments Referring to Figure 1, a printhead 10 has an array of inkjet nozzles 12 arranged in a singe line. For the purpose of explanation only 14 nozzles are shown but in practice there will be from tens to thousands of nozzles arranged in a line. Paper is passed underneath the printhead in a direction generally perpendicular to the line of ink jet nozzles, as indicated by arrow 14. The printhead may be a stationary or a movable printhead. As the paper passes under the printhead the ink jet nozzles A to N are selectively operated to cause an array of ink dots to be placed on the paper. This array is a series of columns and rows, the spacing of which is dependent on the spacing of the inkjet nozzles and the minimum paper feed step respectively.

Whilst it is preferred that the horizontal and vertical spacing of the dots is the same, this is not necessarily achievable due to the different sources of the spacing. The printhead may be a page width printhead or a smaller printhead which scans across the page to lay down a series of transverse bands of printing.

For the purposes of explanation it is assumed that inkjets a-g and i-n inclusive are operating correctly but, for whatever reason, inkjet h is not operating correctly or at all. It is also assumed that the diagnostic systems of the printer, which will be well understood by those skilled in the art, have detected that nozzle h is not functioning correctly. In most cases, a malfunctioning device will be partially or totally blocked resulting in insufficient or no ink being deposited on the paper.

Referring to Figure 2, which schematically shows a portion of printing performed by the printhead 10 without fault correction, there is a blank column, labelled corresponding to inkjet h, whilst columns a-g and i-n have been correctly selectively printed. This leads to one or more blank lines appearing in the printing depending on whether the printhead 10 is a full page width printhead or a scanning type printhead. The unshaded circles numbered 16, 18, and 22 represent drops of ink which should have been printed in column h but were not. Figure 3 shows the same image printed by the printhead 10 but with fault correction according to an embodiment of the invention operational.

Referring to the Figure 3 the controller causes the devices for columns g and I to be activated at a higher frequency than normal shortly when a dot of ink should be deposited in column h. This results in there being extra dots produced, and deposited between the normal MJ171-AU rows of dots as indicated by the dots numbered 24. Depending on the row spacing, the extra dots may overlap the "normal" dots in the rows above and below the extra dots or the extra dots may be separate from the rows above and below. In the figure 2 and 3 prints dots are required in column h at only about 50% of possible locations. The controller thus only causes extra dots to be produced before and after each row in which a dot in row h should have been printed. However, this may be increased to more then one row before or after or both. Further, if no dot is required to be produced in the adjacent column the controller may cause an extra dot to be produced in the "normal" position of the relevant column as well as additional dots between the "normal" rows. This can be seen at column g, rows 1 and 3 of figure 3 where extra dots have been printed in the "normal" positions.

Figure 4 shows a print where dots 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 are required in column h, ie six dots in eight rows. Figure 5 shows the result with fault correction operational. It can be seen, in columns g and I that extra dots have been produced between every "normal" row and that the extra dots have also been produced at "normal" locations. This creates a continuous overlapping array of normal and extra dots in columns g and I and so significantly reduces the white space caused by failure to print in column h.

Depending on the performance characteristics of the actuator the extra dots may be the same size as the "normal" dots or may be larger or smaller, as desired or as necessary. For example, a mechanical ink ejector may capable of being operated at 50 KHz, ie expelling 50,000 drops of ink per second. The ejector may be used in a "domestic" type printer where, due to paper feed speeds, for example, it is only necessary to be run at 25 KHz. Thus, individual ejectors may be run at 50 KHz to produce dots between rows without decreasing the dot size.

Even if the normal activator frequency is more than half the "maximum" design frequency for the printhead as a whole, individual ink ejectors may be activated at twice the frequency. In a micro mechanical ink ejector, which relies on thermal bending, it may be necessary to reduce the pulse width and/or voltage of the driving signal so that the micro mechanical ejector has returned to its normal rest state and/or the ink reservoir has refilled before commencement of the next "normal" drop ejection cycle. A reduced pulse width/voltage will result in a smaller extra dot being formed. Alternatively the ejector may be activated with the pulse width and voltage of the driving signal unchanged. This will result in either of the MJ171-AU actuator not returning to its rest position or the ink reservoir not refilling before commencement of the rest cycle, or both. This will result in smaller drops for dots in both the "normal" rows and the extra rows. However the effect is still satisfactory.

It will be appreciated that this technique is applicable to other digital printing techniques where the image producing system may be cycled faster than normal. For instance a laser printer may have a high scan speed of the laser beam across the imaging drum such that less than 1 in two scans are actually used. The unused scans may be used to produce extra dots.

Similarly a light emitting device type printer may cycle the light emitting devices at a higher than normal frequency to achieve the same result.

Also, within the scope of the invention is the printing of oversize dots in unshifted locations next to or adjacent the unprinted location and/or the printing of extra dots between the rows adjacent or next to the unprinted location.

Whilst the techniques described only consider rows printed after the original row in determining where to place dots, it will be appreciated that a look ahead feature may also be utilised to place dots in rows printed before the original row. For example, if using the look behind criteria a dot should be placed to the right of the failed nozzle, but looking ahead it is apparent that dots will be normally required in that column for the next few rows, then a better result may be to place the dot in the left hand column of the original row. Similarly, the embodiments described may also translate the dot to the next row printed after the normally desired position. By using a look ahead feature the dot may be printed in the row before the normally desired position if a better result will occur.

It will also be appreciated that this technique may be used with laser and LED printers and photocopiers and other types of digital printers where the placement of an ink dot is dependent on individual activation of a device or component. For example, an LED in a LED printer may fail or there may be a defect in the photoconductive imaging drum of a laser printer. In both cases, shifting of dots can hide or reduce the visualeffect of the defect in the device or component.

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Claims (8)

1. A method of using a digital printing device comprising a plurality of activatable printing components, wherein at least one of the activatable printing components is faulty, to print an image defined by a dot matrix including rows of printing positions, onto a surface, so as to compensate for the failure of the at least one faulty printing component, the method including the steps of: identifying at least one of the at least one faulty printing component to determine at least one printing position to be affected by the at least one faulty component; defining an alternative image including at least one additional compensating printing position adjacent to an affected original printing position; and activating printing components to print the alternative image, wherein at least one of the at least one compensating positions is located between two adjacent rows of dots of the original image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least two compensating dots are printed.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said two compensating dots are printed to the same side of a dot to be printed by said faulty device.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3 wherein a first of said at least two compensating dots is printed between said row containing a dot to be printed by said faulty device and a first adjacent row of dots, and a second of said at least two compensating dots is printed between said row containing a dot to be printed by said faulty device and a second adjacent row of dots. The method of claim 2 wherein at least two of said at least two compensating dots are printed between said row containing a dot to be printed by said faulty device and a first adjacent row of dots.

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6. The method of any preceding claim wherein at least one of said compensating devices prints a compensating dot at the same as the size of a dot to be printed by the faulty activatable device. N

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein at least one of said compensating dots ,N is at a size less than the size of a dot to be printed by the faulty activatable device.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein at least one of said compensating dots at a size greater than the size of a dot to be printed by the faulty activatable device. MJ 171 -AU