EP3666528A1 - Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante - Google Patents

Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3666528A1
EP3666528A1 EP18212648.2A EP18212648A EP3666528A1 EP 3666528 A1 EP3666528 A1 EP 3666528A1 EP 18212648 A EP18212648 A EP 18212648A EP 3666528 A1 EP3666528 A1 EP 3666528A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
print head
nozzles
substrate
nozzle
printing apparatus
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP18212648.2A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Ronnie J.H.G. BERGHS
Marcel Slot
Daniël H.A. Driessen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Canon Production Printing Holding BV
Original Assignee
Canon Production Printing Holding BV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Canon Production Printing Holding BV filed Critical Canon Production Printing Holding BV
Priority to EP18212648.2A priority Critical patent/EP3666528A1/fr
Publication of EP3666528A1 publication Critical patent/EP3666528A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • 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
    • B41J2/21—Ink jet for multi-colour printing
    • B41J2/2132—Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding
    • B41J2/2146—Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding for line print heads

Definitions

  • the present invention generally pertains to a printing apparatus, comprising at least two print heads and a controller.
  • the invention also pertains to a method for controlling the printing apparatus.
  • Inkjet printers both for single stage printing and for scanningwise printing, typically comprise at least two print heads in a print head assembly, wherein each print head comprises a row of nozzles for supplying ink to a substrate being transported in a transport direction.
  • the print heads are arranged parallel to one another with their nozzles being arranged in aligned positions.
  • the first print head comprises a number n nozzles and the second print head comprises the same number n nozzles.
  • a specific nozzle i of the first print head is provided for marking one specific position at the substrate which is sometimes referred to as a substrate pixel.
  • a problem with this type of printers is that linear errors or faults can occur from a deviating single nozzle.
  • nozzles of several print heads show systematic deviations, i.e. on the same position within the print heads, these linear errors are enhanced. This situation occurs if there is a systematic error in the production of the print heads. Even if a nozzle failure compensation by neighboring nozzles is applied, a linear error may be visible, if this compensation is applied several times on the same substrate line of pixels.
  • US 6 341 840 B1 describes a multipass printing method carried out by a print head comprising a row of nozzles.
  • the method comprises printing a first sub-image in a first printing stage by moving a substrate relative to a print head, wherein the nozzles address each second pixel in a row of pixels, and wherein adjacent nozzles address complementing pixels of adjacent rows.
  • the print head is moved relative to the substrate with an opposite orientation of the row of nozzles. Thereby, linear defects resulting from a deviation from a single nozzle within the row of nozzles are at least partially masked.
  • a printing apparatus comprising a first print head, a second print head, forming a print head assembly, and a control unit.
  • the control unit is configured to control the first nozzle i and the second nozzle j to discharge ink on a substrate position in a single pass. This alignment has as a consequence, that there are nozzles at the ends of the first and second print head that have no corresponding nozzle in another print head of the assembly. This means that the printable image width becomes somewhat smaller in order to mitigate the effect of systematic deviations in the print heads.
  • the method according to the second aspect is usable with the printing apparatus according to the first aspect and vice versa.
  • the method may be modified or adapted according to all variations and modifications described with respect to the printing apparatus according to the first aspect and vice versa.
  • the first print head is configured to discharge ink of a first color through the first nozzles and the second print head is configured to discharge ink of a second color through the second nozzles.
  • aligned first and second nozzles which address the same pixel of the substrate may discharge different colors so as to achieve a desired resulting color of the pixel.
  • the invention is clearly advantageous.
  • the first and the second printing head are arranged stationary with respect to a direction extending transverse to the transport direction.
  • the first and second print heads may extend over a width transverse to the transport direction and being fixed in their positions.
  • marking is used herein as a general term for any marking of a recording medium or substrate with any marking material.
  • image forming may be used.
  • Recording mediums may comprise paper, flexible plastic, metal foils, textiles and so on.
  • Marking materials may comprise ink, metal, varnish, toner and so on.
  • Marking may be any process by which the marking material is applied to the recording medium.
  • Fig. 1 schematically shows a representation of a printing apparatus 1.
  • the printing apparatus 1 comprises a first print head 10, a second print head 20, a controller 30, and a transporting device 40 for transporting a recording medium or substrate 2 through the printing apparatus 1.
  • the transporting device 40 feeds or transports a substrate 2, e.g. a sheet of paper, along a transport direction T through the printing apparatus 1.
  • a substrate 2 e.g. a sheet of paper
  • the transporting device 40 may be realized as a pair of rotatable rollers which transport the substrate 2.
  • the first and second print heads 10, 20 each comprise a plurality of nozzles 11, 21, wherein the nozzles of the first print head 10 will be referred to as first nozzles 11 and the nozzles of the second print head 20 will be referred to as second nozzles 21 in the following.
  • the first print head 10 is configured to discharge ink to the substrate through the first nozzles 11 and the second print head 20 is 10 is configured to discharge ink to the substrate through the second nozzles 21.
  • the first nozzles 11 are indexed by an index i, wherein i is an integer number between 1 and n.
  • Each of the first nozzles 11 is provided for discharging ink to a specific location of the substrate 2 with respect to a lateral direction extending transverse to the transport direction T. This location is referred to as a pixel line P.
  • the first print head is configured to discharge ink of a first color through the first nozzles 11.
  • the second nozzles 21 are indexed by an index j, wherein j is an integer number between 1 and n.
  • the exemplary second print head 20 of Fig. 1 comprises five second nozzles 21 1 , 21 2 , 21 3 , 21 4 , 21 5 .
  • Each of the second nozzles 21 is provided for discharging ink to a respective pixel P of the substrate.
  • the second print head is configured to discharge ink of a second color through the second nozzles 21, wherein the second color is different from the first color.
  • the second print head 20 is arranged distanced to the first print head 10 in the transport direction T and the first and second print heads 10, 20 are arranged parallel to each other.
  • the second print head 20 is shifted to the first printing head 10 in the lateral direction.
  • k 1
  • the first and the second print head 10, 20 are arranged stationary relative to each other.
  • Other embodiments, wherein the print heads are arranged in a print head assembly that scans the substrate in a scanning type printing apparatus, are readily derivable from this embodiment.
  • the first and the second print head 10, 20 are arranged stationary with respect to the lateral direction.
  • the control unit 30 is functionally connected to the first and second print heads 10, 20 via a data connection.
  • the data connection may be a wireless connection, such as a WIFI connection, or a wire bound connection.
  • the control unit 30 is configured to generate command signals which cause the printing heads 10, 20 to discharge ink through one or more of the first and second nozzles 11, 21.
  • the control unit 30 may comprise a processor (not shown), such as a CPU, and a data memory (not shown), in particular a non-transitory data memory.
  • Fig. 1 shows a first operational state of the printing apparatus 1.
  • the first operational state all of the first nozzles 11 2 to 11 5 which are aligned with corresponding second nozzles 21 1 to 21 4 are in an operational, non-error condition, that is, they allow discharging ink.
  • all addressed pixels P are colored as desired.
  • Fig. 2 shows a second operational state of the printing apparatus 1.
  • the second operational state at least one of the first nozzles 11 2 to 11 5 which are aligned with corresponding second nozzles 21 1 to 21 4 and at least one of those second nozzles 21 1 to 21 4 are in a non-operational, error condition, that is, they do not allow discharging ink.
  • the nozzles 11 3 and 21 3 are in the non-operational condition and therefore are illustrated in dashed lines. This situation can occur for example due to systematic failures in the production of the print heads 10, 20.
  • first and second print heads 10, 20 are shifted relative to each other such that the first and second nozzles 11, 21 are displaced relative to each other about at least one index number, nozzles 11, 21 having the same index number are not aligned. Therefore, if nozzles 11, 21 having the same index number are in a non-operating condition, the respective pixel P still can be marked at least by the aligned nozzle 11, 21 of the first or second print head 10, 20. As exemplarily shown in Fig. 2 , even though first nozzle 11 3 and the second nozzle 21 3 are in a non-operating condition, the corresponding pixels P are marked by second nozzle 21 2 and first nozzle 11 4 . Thereby, a linear error E in the printed image I is smeared or distributed over more pixels P which is optically more attractive than a completely void pixel.
  • Fig. 3 schematically shows a flow chart of a printing method. This method, by way of example, will be explained by referring to the above described apparatus.
  • step S1 the substrate 2 is transported along a transport direction T through the printing apparatus 1 so as to pass the first print head 10 and to pass subsequently the second print head 20. Transporting of the substrate 2 may be performed by means of the transport device 40.
  • step S2 the controller controls the first print head 10 to discharge ink through one or more of the first nozzles 11 so as to mark one or more pixels P of the substrate 2.
  • the controller controls the first print head 10 to discharge ink through one or more of the first nozzles 11 so as to mark one or more pixels P of the substrate 2.
  • the substrate 2 is transported in the transport direction T after marking some pixels P by the first print head 10 and in step S3, the controller controls the second print head 20 to discharge ink through one or more of the second nozzles 21 so as to mark said one or more pixels P of the substrate 2 that have been marked by the first print head 10.
  • the pixels P can be marked with ink in a desired pattern, as is schematically shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 .

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Ink Jet (AREA)
EP18212648.2A 2018-12-14 2018-12-14 Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante Withdrawn EP3666528A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP18212648.2A EP3666528A1 (fr) 2018-12-14 2018-12-14 Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP18212648.2A EP3666528A1 (fr) 2018-12-14 2018-12-14 Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3666528A1 true EP3666528A1 (fr) 2020-06-17

Family

ID=64665657

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP18212648.2A Withdrawn EP3666528A1 (fr) 2018-12-14 2018-12-14 Imprimante et procédé de commande d'une imprimante

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP3666528A1 (fr)

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6341840B1 (en) 1999-08-12 2002-01-29 Oce-Technologies B.V. Method of printing a substrate and a printing system containing a printing device suitable for use of the method
US20080012898A1 (en) * 2006-07-11 2008-01-17 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ink jet recording head
US20150197082A1 (en) * 2012-07-10 2015-07-16 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method of controling a printer and printer having at least one print bar
US20180215169A1 (en) * 2017-01-31 2018-08-02 Seiko Epson Corporation Head unit and liquid discharging apparatus

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6341840B1 (en) 1999-08-12 2002-01-29 Oce-Technologies B.V. Method of printing a substrate and a printing system containing a printing device suitable for use of the method
US20080012898A1 (en) * 2006-07-11 2008-01-17 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ink jet recording head
US20150197082A1 (en) * 2012-07-10 2015-07-16 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method of controling a printer and printer having at least one print bar
US20180215169A1 (en) * 2017-01-31 2018-08-02 Seiko Epson Corporation Head unit and liquid discharging apparatus

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