EP1106370B1 - Procédé et imprimante avec contrôle d'avance du substrat - Google Patents

Procédé et imprimante avec contrôle d'avance du substrat Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1106370B1
EP1106370B1 EP00403349A EP00403349A EP1106370B1 EP 1106370 B1 EP1106370 B1 EP 1106370B1 EP 00403349 A EP00403349 A EP 00403349A EP 00403349 A EP00403349 A EP 00403349A EP 1106370 B1 EP1106370 B1 EP 1106370B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
substrate
mark
advance
printed
print
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EP00403349A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
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EP1106370A1 (fr
Inventor
Alain Dunand
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Markem Imaje SAS
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Imaje SA
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/07—Ink jet characterised by jet control
    • B41J2/12—Ink jet characterised by jet control testing or correcting charge or deflection
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J29/00—Details of, or accessories for, typewriters or selective printing mechanisms not otherwise provided for
    • B41J29/38—Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism
    • B41J29/393—Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine ; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns

Definitions

  • the invention is in the field of ink jet printers in which ink drops are formed and electrically charged and then deflected to strike a printing substrate. It relates to a method for correcting lineage defects resulting from deviations of the actual advance of the substrate from its nominal advance and the printer applying such a method.
  • a jet of pressurized ink ejected by a printing nozzle can be broken into a succession of individual drops, each drop being loaded individually, in a controlled manner. In the path of these drops thus individually charged, electrodes of constant potential deviate more or less drops according to the charge they have. If a drop is not to reach the printing substrate, its charge is controlled so that it is diverted to an ink recuperator.
  • the operating principle of such inkjet printers is well known and is described for example in US-A-4 160 982. As described in this patent and shown in FIG. 1, such a printer comprises a reservoir 11 containing the electrically conductive ink 10 which is distributed by a distribution channel 13 to a drop generator 16.
  • the role of the drop generator 16 is to form from the ink under pressure contained in the distribution channel 13 a set of individual drops. These individual drops are electrically charged by means of a charging electrode 20 supplied by a voltage generator 21. The charged drops pass through a space between two deflection electrodes 23, 24 and depending on their charge are more or less diverted. The least or no deviated drops are directed towards an ink recuperator 22 while the deviated drops are directed towards a substrate 27. The successive drops of a burst reaching the substrate 27 can thus be diverted towards an extreme low position, a extreme high position and successive intermediate positions, the set of drops of the salvo forming a vertical line of height ⁇ X substantially perpendicular to a direction of relative advance of the print head and the substrate.
  • the print head is formed by the drop generator 16, the charging electrode 20, the deflection electrodes 23, 24 and the recuperator 22. This head is generally enclosed in a not shown cowling.
  • the deflection movement printed to the drops loaded by the deflection electrodes 23, 24 is completed by a movement along a Y axis perpendicular to the X axis, between the print head and the substrate.
  • the time elapsed between the first and the last drop of a salvo is very short. As a result, despite a continuous movement between the print head and the substrate, it can be considered that the substrate has not moved relative to the print head during the time of a burst.
  • the bursts are fired at regular space intervals.
  • the printing is done strip by strip the substrate having a motion intermittent feed in the X direction after each sweep.
  • the relative movement of the print head and the substrate is called scanning movement.
  • the scanning movement thus consists of a back and forth motion between a first edge of the substrate and a second edge of the substrate.
  • the movement between one edge and the other edge of the substrate makes it possible to print on the fly a band of height L or quite often a part of the band of height ⁇ X, ⁇ X being most often a sub-multiple of L.
  • the set of successively printed strips thus constitutes the pattern to be printed on the substrate.
  • the substrate is advanced from the space between two webs or part of web for printing the next tape or web portion. Printing can be done just one way or the other way around the movement of the print head relative to the substrate.
  • each inkjet prints a limited portion of the substrate.
  • the drops may be continuously produced as described above in connection with FIG. 1. They may also be produced "on demand", that is to say only when they are necessary for the needs of the patient. 'impression. In this case, an unused ink recovery circuit is not necessary.
  • the print pattern is defined by a digital file.
  • This file can be formed using a scanner, a computer-assisted graphic design (CAD) palette, transmitted by means of a computer network for data exchange, or simply read from a digital data storage device read device (optical disk, CD-ROM).
  • the digital file representing the colored pattern to be printed is first split into several bit patterns (or bitmap) for each of the inks.
  • bit patterns or bitmap
  • the case of the binary pattern is a non-limiting example; in some printers, the pattern to print is of type "contone", that is to say that each position can be printed by a number of drops variable from 1 to M. Part of the binary pattern is extracted from the file for each jets corresponding to the width of the band that will be printed.
  • a storage memory of the strip-cut digital pattern is represented at 1, this storage memory containing the indications relating to a color.
  • an intermediate memory 2 receives the data necessary for the printing of the band by said color.
  • the descriptive data of the band to be printed are then introduced into a computer 3 of the charging voltages of the different drops which will form the band relative to this color. These data are introduced into the computer in the form of a succession of descriptions of the frames which together will constitute the band.
  • the computer 3 drops charge voltages is often in the form of a dedicated integrated circuit.
  • This calculator 3 calculates in real time the sequence of voltages to be applied to the charging electrodes 20 to print a given frame defined by its frame description, as loaded from the intermediate memory 2.
  • a downstream electronic circuit 4, called a sequencer of drop charge ensures the synchronization of the charging voltages with, on the one hand, the moments of drop formation and, on the other hand, the relative advance of the print head and the substrate.
  • the advance of the substrate with respect to the head is embodied by a frame clock whose signal is derived from the signal of an incremental encoder of position of the printing unit relative to the substrate.
  • the sequencer 4 for charging the drops also receives a signal from a drop clock 6. This drop clock is synchronous with the control signal of the drop generator 16. It makes it possible to define the instants of transitions of the different applied charge voltages. to the drops to differentiate their trajectories.
  • the digital data from the sequencer 4 for charging drops are converted into analog value by a digital converter 8.
  • This converter delivering a low voltage level generally requires the presence of a high voltage amplifier 21 which will supply the charging electrodes 20.
  • the illustrations of the prior art given with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, are intended to make clear the scope and contribution of the invention, but it is obvious that the prior art is not limited to the descriptions made with reference to these figures.
  • Other arrangements of the electrodes and unused ink droplet collection collectors are described in extensive literature.
  • An electromechanical arrangement of the charge electrode printing nozzles and the deflection electrodes as described in the patent No. FR 2 198 410 issued to International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) with reference to FIGS. of this patent could well be used in the present invention.
  • the electronic control circuit of the charging electrodes could be illustrated by the circuit described in connection with Figure 4 of this same patent.
  • the data to be printed may not be in the form of binary files, but in the form of files containing words of several bits, to reflect the fact that each position of the substrate can receive several drops of ink of the same color. It is understood that for printing, especially in color, the necessary superposition of the drops from the different nozzles delivering the different ink colors must be very precise.
  • the main printing defects that are generated by all printing systems known, are the defects relating to lineations in the direction of the relative movement of the print head relative to the substrate. This defect is reflected by the appearance of light or dark lines when printing by successive scans.
  • defects can be in the space between two bands which should in principle be equal to the interval between adjacent drops of a frame, or within the same band, in the space delimiting the printed areas by different jets, or even inside the frame printed by a jet at the space between two adjacent drops of the frame.
  • lineage defects can come either from defects specific to certain jets of the print head, it is then defects of mechanical or electrical origin, either of errors of positioning of the substrate, or of error of positioning between heads. of printing, or between jets of the same print head.
  • Various solutions have been proposed to limit or eliminate lineage problems, but all of them result either in a limitation of the print rate, sometimes in a very high ratio with respect to the nominal print rate, or a redundancy of printheads and therefore a significant cost.
  • a first type of solution is based on fine mechanical adjustments of the position of the printing heads, thanks to micrometer tables. This solution is at the same time expensive, by the number of micrometric tables which are necessary, and often tedious, by the trial and error that it requires.
  • Another type of common solution is to use a very high rate of overlap between neighboring drops, so as to avoid white lineages. These white lineages correspond to the lack of substrate coverage. Dark lineages are less visible and it is preferred to have a dark lineage defect rather than a white lineage defect.
  • the solution of increasing the rate of overlap between adjacent drops is effective to compensate for defects within the same band and to some extent the lineage defects between bands but it has the disadvantage of requiring an amount of very high ink per unit area of the substrate and generates difficulties of drying or deformation of the substrate.
  • a third type of solution for clearing lineage defects on scanning printers is to partially print the substrate during each scan. By multiplying the number of substrate scans, the total coverage of the substrate is obtained.
  • This multi-pass printing exploits various strategies of interleaving the positions of the drops from the different jets.
  • An example of interleaving of even and odd lines is given in US Pat. No. 4,604,631 issued to RICOH.
  • An advantage of this solution often related to a high overlap ratio is that it allows a drying time of the substrate, but it results in the reduction of the printing rate by a factor ranging from 2 to 16.
  • EP 0 036 789 describes a system for correcting the lineal defect of the printer head.
  • the invention relates to the correction of a so-called dynamic translation lineage defect ⁇ due to a too large or too small advance of the substrate between two scans. It relates to printers in which the substrate is advanced step by step after printing each strip.
  • a mark will be printed when printing a current band.
  • This mark may consist of a single line printed by means of one or more drops of consecutive rank or not.
  • the difference ⁇ x between the nominal position and the actual position of the mark, which corresponds to a gap in the advance of the substrate will be determined.
  • This gap in the advance of the substrate will be compensated by a change in the charge of the drops printed during this band.
  • This modification will create a trajectory for each drop different from the nominal trajectory. If the modification of the charging voltage is well calculated, this trajectory will cut the surface of the substrate at a position offset from the nominal position in inverse manner to the offset of the advance of the substrate.
  • two frames of nine drops numbered from 1 to 9 are represented according to their nominal position by points. These two frames are part of two consecutive bands, a current band, that of the top, and a next band, that of the bottom, and are therefore shown aligned along the X axis.
  • the bands extend in the Y direction. consecutive bands are spaced from each other by a distance equal to the distance between two consecutive drops of a salvo.
  • Part B shows two frames belonging to the current band and the other to the previous band.
  • the frame of the next band has been split into a first frame a representing a really positioned frame and a second frame b representing the nominal position along the x axis of the next band.
  • the frames a and b are offset from one another in the direction Y. However, it should be understood that these frames are normally aligned along the same axis in the X direction. a defect in advance of the substrate relative to the print head during the passage of the current band to the next band the substrate has advanced too far and is spaced from its nominal position by an amount ⁇ x . It results that all the frames of the following band will be shifted by ⁇ x with respect to their nominal position and consequently a white lineage fault will appear materialized figure 3 by two lines d separated from each other by the distance ⁇ x . One would have a black lineage defect if the movement of the substrate between the two bands had not been significant enough.
  • the correction will consist in modifying the charge voltage of each drop of the next band so as to modify its trajectory through the deflection electrodes.
  • the change of trajectory is such that with the correction the actual position of each frame of the current band will be displaced by ⁇ x so as to compensate for the lack of advance of the substrate.
  • the dynamic translation correction ⁇ to be applied to each drop is a function of the rank of the drop in the frame.
  • a first mark represented at A in FIG. 4 will be printed when printing a current band.
  • This mark may consist of a simple line printed by means of a or several drops of consecutive rank.
  • the mark A After advancing the substrate, the mark A is displaced and occupies the position shown in B in FIG. 4.
  • the position in C of a mark is also represented. which represents the nominal position which the A mark should have had in the absence of any difference between the nominal position and the real position.
  • the C mark is not present on the substrate in a real way.
  • the difference between the imaginary mark C and the mark in position B makes it possible to determine the difference ⁇ x between the nominal position marked at C and the actual position marked at B. This difference in the advance of the substrate will be compensated according to the invention by changing the charge of the drops printed in the next strip.
  • next strip will, like the printing of the current strip, have the impression of a next strip mark printed taking into account the actual advance of the substrate. It follows that the marks and the bands will be spaced apart from each other by their nominal spacing.
  • Detection of the difference ⁇ x between the mark B and the nominal position C of the band that will be printed will be carried out by means of a sensor 12, for example a CCD sensor making it possible to measure this distance, for example by counting the the difference in number between a sensor element 12a which receives the mark when it is in the nominal position and a sensor element 12b which actually receives it.
  • This sensor will preferably be placed facing the substrate and arranged so that its measurement field makes it possible to detect the mark with fairly wide tolerances.
  • This sensor will preferably be a sensor of a determined light wavelength and will be completed by an emitter in the direction of the substrate of this determined wavelength.
  • Figures 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams of color pattern printers, by inkjet revealing some peculiarities necessary for the incorporation of the invention.
  • the system shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 corresponds to an architecture for printing large formats chosen solely as non-limiting examples.
  • the printing is carried out by successive scans in the Y direction.
  • the system uses, in a known manner, a substrate 27 from a reel 28, the unwinding of which is carried out upstream of a printing unit 29 by a pair 36 of rolls 37, 38 for driving in contact.
  • a first cylinder 37 is motorized, a second cylinder 38 provides against pressure at the point of contact.
  • the two cylinders 37, 38 pinch the substrate and drive it without slipping.
  • the advance of the substrate 27 is controlled by an encoder, not shown because in itself known, of angular positions mounted on the axis of one of the cylinders. After each intermittent advance of the substrate, the printing zone thereof is kept flat on a printing table 30, located under the scanning path of the printing unit 29. This flat hold is ensured by means of a second drive system 39 located downstream of the printing unit.
  • This second drive system 39 maintains a constant voltage of the substrate 27. Intermittent depression of the printing table is sometimes performed to improve the flatness of the substrate 27 in the printing area.
  • the inkjet printing unit 29 is composed of several printing heads 25, such as those shown for example in FIG. being fed by one of the primary color inks, from tanks 11 through an umbilicus or distribution channel 13.
  • the different print heads 25 simultaneously print the substrate while it is stationary.
  • the printing of a band is ensured by a scan in the Y direction of the printing unit.
  • the scanning movement of the printing unit relative to the substrate is ensured by a belt 40 integral with the printing unit and driven by a motorized pulley 41.
  • the guiding of the printing unit is ensured by known by a mechanical axis not shown.
  • Each printhead prints a band of constant width L.
  • the printheads can be shifted in the X direction of advance of the substrate so that a head does not necessarily print the same tape at the same time as another print head corresponding to a different ink color.
  • the substrate is advanced by a spatial increment ⁇ X at most equal to the bandwidth L but which is more generally a sub-multiple of L for printing in several passes.
  • the invention has the particularity of being equipped with a detector 12 for detecting the actual advance of the substrate.
  • the position of this detector 12 with respect to the substrate and to the printing heads is discussed below with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.
  • FIG. 8 comprises parts A, B and C each corresponding to a phase of the print kinematics of a set of strips.
  • the detector 12 is fixed, and fixed for example to a device for holding the translation axis of the printing heads 16.
  • FIGS. 8 to 10 show four print heads 25, one for each of the colors, cyan marked C, magenta marked M, yellow marked Y and black marked K.
  • the device for maintaining the translation axis has not been shown because its geometry is specific to each printer. In addition, this is an example. The skilled person will find or create a support for fixing the detector knowing that this detector must perform the functions that are described below.
  • the detector must be able to detect a mark 51 printed by one of the print heads 25 between the left or right edge 53 of the substrate 27 and the beginning or the end respectively of the printed pattern.
  • part A of FIG. 8 there is shown a first marked strip 1 printed while the print heads 25 move between a first edge 52, in the figure the left edge, and a second edge 53, in the figure the right edge of the substrate, as indicated by an arrow parallel to the scanning direction Y and perpendicular to the direction X of advance of the substrate 27.
  • the detector 12 is placed at the edge of the substrate 27, in the vicinity of the printing head 25 situated in the second position in the set of heads.
  • the second position is understood by counting the heads in the direction Y of advance of the substrate 27.
  • the first head is the one which is the most upstream relative to the direction of travel of the substrate.
  • the detector 12 is at a height relative to the lower substrate at the height of the lower parts of the print head so as to leave them the passage.
  • the proximity of the substrate allows a better reading accuracy.
  • the mark 51-1 is printed by the cyan head.
  • This same cyan head then prints the strip 1 in the scanning direction indicated by an arrow in the Y direction.
  • the heads 25 are in the position shown in dashed lines in the left-hand part of FIG. the heads 25 are in the position shown in solid lines to the right of the substrate 27.
  • the substrate 27 is advanced one step.
  • the mark 51-1 is in the detector field 12.
  • the detector 12 detects a possible deviation of the substrate advance from the nominal advance, and the calculation means 34, 35 calculate corrections to be made to the charging voltages of the drops of the cyan head and of the magenta head, so that the change in trajectory of the drops compensates for the gap in advance of the substrate.
  • the magenta head prints the second color on the tape 1 and the cyan head prints the second tape then the mark 51-2.
  • the heads 16 are found on the side of the first edge as shown in part B.
  • the substrate is again advanced so that the mark 51-2 arrives in the field of the detector 12, as shown in part C in FIG. 8.
  • the detector detects any deviation of the mark 51-2 from its nominal position.
  • the mark 51-3 and the third band are printed by the upstream head cyan.
  • the magenta head prints the second band with drop charge voltage corrections to account for the last gap value ⁇ x
  • the yellow Y head prints the first band.
  • the heads 25 are on the side of the second edge 53.
  • the substrate is advanced.
  • the detector detects any deviation of the 51-3 mark from its nominal position. A correction taking into account this difference is applied to load the drops of the black head which will print by superposition the first band, at the yellow Y head that will print the second band and magenta and cyan heads that will print respectively the third band and mark 51-4 followed by the fourth band.
  • the cycle thus continues modulo the number of juxtaposed print heads, for example four in the case shown in connection with FIG. 8.
  • the kinematics which has just been described concerns an impression in which the heads print in the forward scan movement and in the reverse scan movement.
  • the kinematics would be the same in the case of printing only by forward scanning, the advance of the substrate being done at the same time as the return movement of the heads towards the first edge 52.
  • the motor control advance of the substrate may include a servo which takes into account the substrate advance gaps.
  • This enslavement known to those skilled in the art, may be of the "proportional integral and derivative" type, that is to say that it takes into account the real differences, their accumulation and their variation over time in order to avoid drifts.
  • the reading of the marks, the determination of the gap in advance of the substrate and the correction of the frames makes it possible at any moment to ensure the good superposition of the bands.
  • the mark printed when printing a current band and which serves as a position reference for printing the next strip does not arrive in the field of the detector 12.
  • the detector 12 will therefore reuse the mark that has been used for printing the current band with the same corrections, so that if we do not detect the blocking or the quasi-blocking of the substrate the next band will print in overlap on the tape previous.
  • the printed pattern of even-rank marks is different from that of odd-numbered marks.
  • Another case where the recognition of the current mark with respect to the next mark is interesting is the case where these two marks would be simultaneously visible on the detector 12, for example one on an upstream end portion of the detector and the other on an end portion downstream from the direction of movement of the substrate. This situation can arise if there is a cumulative difference in advance reaching a positive or negative value of half a nominal advance. In this case, the program will select the reference mark for printing the next tape.
  • the program in the event of detection of a blocking or quasi-blocking may include a triggering of another substrate advance then the triggering of a alert if a blockage is detected again, or on the contrary the immediate triggering of an alarm.
  • the pattern of even and odd-rank band marks will be a function of the detector.
  • the even and odd patterns will be distinguished from each other by the number of lines of one compared to the number of lines of the other, the difference between lines being such that each line is detected by a different sensor element. It may also be the same number of lines but with different spacings between lines corresponding to different numbers of sensor elements detecting these lines.
  • the sensor 12 comprises sensor elements arranged in a matrix manner, or if the sensor 12 is, as will be described later, movable in the X direction of the scan, the odd or even patterns may be distinguished, moreover, by variations in the scanning direction, for example, points for one and lines for the other or different distances from the same pattern.
  • Figure 8 has been used to describe in detail the principle of measuring and controlling the advance of the substrate.
  • the substrate mark detector must be placed downstream of the print head which prints the marks, but in a place compatible with its size.
  • the positioning of the sensor in a zone swept by the printheads as in Figure 8 would require a very fine mechanical adjustment so that the print head can pass over the sensor during sweeps without the risk of hitting it.
  • this positioning can create difficulties in the repeatability of the lighting conditions of the mark at the sensor, depending on whether the head is located at the right edge or the left edge of the substrate during the detection / measure of the mark.
  • the printer has under the substrate at the area swept by the printheads a printing table which ensures a good maintenance of the substrate.
  • the sensor can therefore be positioned in a fixed manner, downstream of the last print head, but in a place where the substrate is firmly held by the printing table. This allows proper operation without demanding constraints on the size of the sensor and its lighting.
  • the detector 12 is mechanically coupled to the printing table 30 immediately downstream of the printing heads 25.
  • the mark is printed, in the example shown, by the black downstream head K.
  • Each sensor noted respectively “left” and “right” will detect the mark printed on the edge left (respectively right) of the substrate, when printing the even index scan mark that is performed from the right edge to the left edge (respectively odd for scanning the left edge to the right edge).
  • the detector 12 is carried by the movable mechanical assembly comprising the printing heads which will be called carriage later.
  • the carriage comprises in this case two detectors, a detector 12-1 which is upstream of the printheads during a forward scan and a detector 12-2 which is upstream of the printheads during a sweep back.
  • the detectors 12-1, 12-2 are located on both sides of the printing heads 25.
  • the 51-1 mark is always printed at the end of the scan.
  • the odd-rank marks are all on the side of the second edge 53 and the even-rank marks are all on the side of the first edge 52.
  • the mark 51-1 printed at the end of the first scan on the second edge 53 of the substrate 27 is detected by the detector 12-2 which is upstream of the print heads 16 during the reverse scan.
  • the drops of the charge corrections are made and the tape number 2 is printed then the mark 51-2 near the first edge.
  • this mark 51-2 is detected by the detector 12-1.
  • the difference observed is used for the correction of the printing of the band 3 and the mark 51-3 printed at the end of the scan.
  • This solution has the advantage of easier positioning of the detectors, a distinction of position of even and odd marks.
  • the disadvantage is that an additional detector 12 is required. Switching to switch the input of the means 34, 35 to the detector 12-1 or 12-2 is required, and may be performed at the software level by changing the read address of the substrate gap information ⁇ x .
  • FIG. 7 represents control means 31 according to the invention.
  • the device according to the invention comprises the detector 12 of difference between the actual advance of the substrate and its nominal advance.
  • the control means 31 of the printing therefore also comprise a calculator 34 of position deviation of the substrate.
  • the elements, detectors 12, position difference calculator 34 are serially connected to one another and to a voltage calculator 35.
  • dynamic translation correction device ⁇ for advancing the substrate.
  • the dynamic translation corrections ⁇ determined by the computer 35 as a function of the value of the difference error ⁇ x of the actual position of the substrate relative to its nominal position and as a function of the rank j of the drop, are applied to the computer 3 'of the charging voltages of the drops.
  • the calculation of the additional charge voltage to be applied to each drop of the burst according to its rank can use memorized values of additional voltage to be applied to correct deviations ⁇ x appearing in a table of deviations. These values will be interpolated based on the actual deviation.
  • the calculation can also use an algorithm involving, in addition to the difference ⁇ x , data known to the manufacturer of the printer such as the unit mass of the drops, the value of the electric field created by the voltage of the deflection electrodes, variation of the position of the drops as a function of the voltage applied to the charging electrodes 20.
  • the operation is as follows.
  • the detector 12 detects the difference between a mark relating to the current band that will be printed and the nominal position of this band.
  • This difference is introduced into the calculator 34 for calculating the difference, this calculator calculates, as a function of the signal transmitted by the sensor 12, the value ⁇ x of the difference in advance of the substrate 27.
  • This difference is introduced into the computer 35 of dynamic translation which will calculate corrections to be applied to the computer 3 'drops of charging voltages to correct this dynamic translation.
  • the computer 3 'of the drop charge voltage will calculate the algebraic sum of the voltages to be applied to the drop charge electrode by adding the nominal voltage resulting from the description of the frame from the memory 2, and the resulting correction value the difference correction effected by the dynamic translation correction calculator 35 ⁇ .
  • Another function of the computer 34 relates to the recognition of the mark and the processing of the information transmitted by the sensor 12 to deduce a deviation of the mark from its nominal position. It was pointed out earlier that a simple treatment to determine the value of the substrate lead gap was to count the number of sensor elements between the sensor element corresponding to the nominal position numbered 0 and the sensor element receiving the mark. This way implicitly assumes that the thickness of the mark is of the same order of magnitude as the resolution of the sensor. Under these conditions, the difference is determined by the number of the sensor element detecting the mark, if this element is unique.
  • the difference is calculated as being a function of the number of the nearest sensor element that perceives the mark, increased by an increment involving the distance between two elements sensors and the proportions for example of current from each of the two sensor elements concerned.
  • FIG. 11 shows, on an exemplary embodiment, various possible cases of present and their mode of treatment when the resolution of the sensor is greater than the diameter of the drops.
  • FIG. 11 shows each drop by a circle, so as to show that in an impression, the adjacent drops of the same frame overlap one another. and the other.
  • the drop positions of a frame are numbered at the top of each of the parts A and B of FIG. 11 from 1 to 9.
  • the mark is composed of several lines, three in the example commented, plotted by different drops of a salvo for example the drops corresponding to the positions 2, 4 and 6 of a salvo of nine drops .
  • the deviation with respect to the nominal position, will be calculated by the computer 34, from the calculation of the position of the projection of the barycenter of the mark 51 on an axis X parallel to the advance of the substrate.
  • This center of gravity is determined by the sensor elements that see the mark. If, as shown in FIG. 11 part A, the drops are normally positioned, the measurement will be exact. If, as shown in part B, the drops of rank 6 are displaced relative to their nominal position, the error will be reduced.
  • the position measurement of the marks may result samplings performed during the scanning of the print head, the accuracy of the measurement will be increased.
  • each of the detectors 12.1, 12.2 can be placed on either side of the printing table 30, the detector located on one side of the table 30 detecting the marks 51 arranged on the first edge 52 of the substrate and the detector located on the other side of the table 30 detecting the marks 51 disposed on the second edge 53 of the substrate 27.
  • This arrangement of two detectors has the advantage of being able to distinguish the marks of even rank marks of odd rank by their position, their forms may be identical.
  • the choice to put the detectors on the carriage carrying print heads or on both sides of the table 30 will be based on criteria specific to the mechanical characteristics of the printer and / or the control software.

Landscapes

  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
  • Ink Jet (AREA)
EP00403349A 1999-12-03 2000-11-30 Procédé et imprimante avec contrôle d'avance du substrat Expired - Lifetime EP1106370B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR9915271 1999-12-03
FR9915271A FR2801835B1 (fr) 1999-12-03 1999-12-03 Procede et imprimante avec controle d'avance substrat

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1106370A1 EP1106370A1 (fr) 2001-06-13
EP1106370B1 true EP1106370B1 (fr) 2006-01-18

Family

ID=9552865

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP00403349A Expired - Lifetime EP1106370B1 (fr) 1999-12-03 2000-11-30 Procédé et imprimante avec contrôle d'avance du substrat

Country Status (8)

Country Link
US (1) US6398334B2 (ja)
EP (1) EP1106370B1 (ja)
JP (1) JP2001162808A (ja)
CN (1) CN1137819C (ja)
DE (1) DE60025580T2 (ja)
ES (1) ES2257276T3 (ja)
FR (1) FR2801835B1 (ja)
IL (1) IL139888A (ja)

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US6843547B2 (en) 2001-07-18 2005-01-18 Lexmark International, Inc. Missing nozzle detection method and sensor for an ink jet printer
US6631971B2 (en) 2001-07-18 2003-10-14 Lexmark International, Inc. Inkjet printer and method for use thereof
US6626513B2 (en) 2001-07-18 2003-09-30 Lexmark International, Inc. Ink detection circuit and sensor for an ink jet printer
US6616261B2 (en) 2001-07-18 2003-09-09 Lexmark International, Inc. Automatic bi-directional alignment method and sensor for an ink jet printer
US6655777B2 (en) * 2001-07-18 2003-12-02 Lexmark International, Inc. Automatic horizontal and vertical head-to-head alignment method and sensor for an ink jet printer
US7413276B2 (en) * 2001-08-28 2008-08-19 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Diagnostic for visual detection of media advance errors
GB2379412A (en) * 2001-09-10 2003-03-12 Seiko Epson Corp Deposition of soluble materials
US6612685B1 (en) 2002-02-11 2003-09-02 Lexmark International, Inc. Method of selectively underfeeding print media in an ink jet printer
KR100445010B1 (ko) * 2003-01-18 2004-08-21 삼성전자주식회사 인쇄 오차 보정방법 및 장치
JP3982502B2 (ja) * 2004-01-15 2007-09-26 セイコーエプソン株式会社 描画装置
US7450310B2 (en) * 2005-05-03 2008-11-11 Optical Research Associates Head mounted display devices
JP4179288B2 (ja) * 2005-02-01 2008-11-12 セイコーエプソン株式会社 膜パターン形成方法
US7889223B2 (en) * 2006-08-18 2011-02-15 Lexmark International, Inc. Print alignment for bi-directionally scanning electrophotographic device
JP5084333B2 (ja) * 2007-04-10 2012-11-28 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置および搬送誤差補正値取得方法
JP4966085B2 (ja) * 2007-04-27 2012-07-04 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置および搬送制御方法
FR2934810A1 (fr) * 2008-08-11 2010-02-12 Imaje Sa Dispositif d'impression a jet d'encre a compensation de vitesse de jet
FR2934809A1 (fr) * 2008-08-11 2010-02-12 Imaje Sa Dispositif d'impression a jet d'encre a injecteur d'air, injecteur d'air et tete d'impression grande largeur associes
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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CN1305896A (zh) 2001-08-01
DE60025580T2 (de) 2006-11-23
EP1106370A1 (fr) 2001-06-13
CN1137819C (zh) 2004-02-11
DE60025580D1 (de) 2006-04-06
IL139888A (en) 2004-06-01
FR2801835B1 (fr) 2002-02-01
US20010040598A1 (en) 2001-11-15
IL139888A0 (en) 2002-02-10
JP2001162808A (ja) 2001-06-19
FR2801835A1 (fr) 2001-06-08
US6398334B2 (en) 2002-06-04
ES2257276T3 (es) 2006-08-01

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