KR20080028762A - Apparatus and method for printing - Google Patents

Abstract

A printer and a printing method are provided to prevent a border of a print path from being found by setting proper border position of plural printing paths. A printer(10) comprises as follows. A transfer unit(102) is equipped with a plurality of driving rollers(202,206), a plurality of driven rollers(204,208), a table(212) and a transfer controller(210). A medium(30) is transferred by the driving and driven rollers in a predetermined transfer direction under the control of the transfer controller. The transfer controller controls transfer of the medium by controlling a motor rotating the driving roller. A path position setting unit(104) sets positions of a plurality of print paths on the medium by adjusting a relative position of the print head on the media. And, a print head(106) performs printing on the medium according to the positions of the print paths set by the path position setting unit.

Description

Printing apparatus and printing method {Apparatus and method for printing}

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method.

Conventionally, by reducing a discharge ink amount of a connection part by dividing a dot by a predetermined method, the connection part between recording areas formed each time a recording head (print head) in an inkjet recording apparatus (inkjet printer) is scanned is used. A method of recording high quality images by reducing the occurrence of black streaks of density spots has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-11862). Further, conventionally, a method of preventing white streaks from occurring when forming a front surface print has been proposed by alternately arranging discharge holes of ink droplets in an offset state alternately in a direction parallel to the scanning direction of the inkjet head (for example, , Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-72078).

In recent years, as the demand for print resolution increases, a printing apparatus which prints by a plurality of print paths for each position on a medium may be used. In such a case, however, there are cases where a part of the print path on the medium becomes a stripe. For this reason, when printing with a plurality of printing paths, it is required to make the boundary of the printing paths inconspicuous.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method that can solve the above problems.

In order to solve the said subject, this invention has the following structures.

(Configuration 1)

A printing apparatus which prints by a plurality of print paths for each position on a medium, and as a path position setting section for setting a position of a plurality of print paths on a medium, the position of which a border of a print path on a medium can be changed. The path position setting unit, the conveying unit for repeatedly conveying the medium by the preset conveying amount in the preset conveying direction, and whenever the conveying unit conveys the medium by the conveying amount, the position of the print path set by the path position setting unit In accordance with this, a printhead for printing is provided for a print area whose width in the conveying direction on the medium is the width obtained by multiplying the conveying amount by the number of the plurality of print paths.

If comprised in this way, the position used as the boundary of a printing path on a medium can be changed suitably, for example. Therefore, for example, the boundary of a print path can be set to a position where it is hard to see in accordance with a character or a figure to be printed. In addition, the border of the printing path can be made inconspicuous by this.

In addition, a conveyance part may convey a medium relatively with respect to a printhead. Although the width of the print area is not exactly the same as the width multiplied by the number of the plurality of print passes, for example, a plurality of prints on the conveyed amount may be provided within a range in consideration of a correction amount required for control to obtain a desired print resolution, and the like. It is equal to the width multiplied by the number of passes.

(Configuration 2)

The printing apparatus is a printing apparatus for printing a plurality of plates each including at least one ink layer in superimposition, and each time the path position setting unit prints each plate, the position at which the boundary of the printing path is bound on the medium is different.

In the case of printing with plates overlapping, there is a fear that the border of the print path will be particularly noticeable if the position where the border of the print path on the medium is the same position in each plate. For this reason, it is emphasized that the position of each printing path appears in the shape of a float, which may cause a decrease in print quality.

On the other hand, in such a configuration, the position of the print path boundary on the medium is different for each plate. Therefore, if comprised in this way, even if it prints by overlapping several board | plates with respect to a medium, the boundary of a printing path | pass can be made inconspicuous. In addition, this makes it possible to alleviate the boundary of the printing path, and to prevent the position of each printing path from appearing in the shape of space.

On the other hand, when a plurality of plates are superimposed and printed, for example, after the ink discharged by the first printing is cured, printing is again performed thereon. This printing apparatus is, for example, a printing apparatus using UV (ultraviolet) curable ink. In the case of using the UV curable ink, since the ink can be cured in a short time, it is possible to efficiently print a plurality of layers. When using UV curable ink, ultraviolet irradiation is performed between the printing of each board, for example.

(Configuration 3)

The path position setting section can appropriately change the position of the print path on the medium by changing the initial position of the print head relative to the medium or the ink ejection nozzle rows in the print head.

(Configuration 4)

A printing method for printing by a plurality of print paths for each position on a medium, the method comprising: changing a position to be a boundary of a print path on a medium, setting positions of the plurality of print paths on the medium, and in a preset conveying direction. Whenever the medium is repeatedly conveyed by the preset conveyance amount and the medium is conveyed by the conveyance amount, the width in the conveying direction on the medium is determined by the number of the plurality of print passes in the conveyance amount in accordance with the position of the set print path. Print for the area that is multiplied by the width. In this way, the same effects as those in the configuration 1 can be obtained.

According to the present invention, for example, the boundary of the printing path can be made inconspicuous.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a printing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printing apparatus 10 is an inkjet printer which prints by a multipath system, and prints by a plurality of printing passes for each position on the medium (media) 30. In addition, the printing apparatus 10 uses UV (ultraviolet) curable inks, and prints a plurality of plates.

In this embodiment, the printing apparatus 10 includes a conveyance section 102, a path position setting section 104, and a print head 106. The printing device 10 may further include, for example, an ultraviolet irradiation device for curing ink.

The conveying unit 102 includes a plurality of driving rollers 202 and 206, a plurality of driven rollers 204 and 208, a table 212, and a conveying control unit 210. The driving roller 202 and the driven roller 204 are provided on the upstream side in the conveying direction than the print head 106. The driving roller 206 and the driven roller 208 are provided on the downstream side in the conveying direction than the print head 106. In addition, the drive rollers 202 and 206 rotate in accordance with the instruction of the conveyance control part 210. The driven rollers 204 and 208 sandwich the medium 30 between the drive rollers 202 and 206 and rotate in accordance with the rotation of the drive rollers 202 and 204. As a result, the driving rollers 202 and 206 and the driven rollers 204 and 208 convey the medium 30 in a predetermined conveying direction in accordance with the instruction of the conveying control unit 210. The table 212 is provided at a position opposite to the print head 106 with the medium 30 interposed therebetween, and the media 30 conveyed at the position of the print head 106 may be, for example, adsorbed. By fixing.

The conveyance control part 210 controls conveyance of the medium 30, for example by controlling the motor which rotates the drive rollers 202,206. In this embodiment, the conveyance control part 210 rotates the drive rollers 202 and 206 so that the conveyance amount per stroke may be a bandwidth which is the width of the printing path in the conveyance direction. In addition, the conveyance control unit 210 causes the driving rollers 202 and 206 to repeat the rotation and stop corresponding to the conveyance by the bandwidth. Thereby, the conveyance part 102 repeatedly conveys the medium 30 as much as the bandwidth in a conveyance direction.

The path position setting unit 104 sets the positions of the plurality of print paths on the medium 30, for example, by adjusting the relative position of the print head 106 with respect to the medium 30. In addition, the path position setting unit 104 is a position (hereinafter, referred to as a path boundary position) that is a boundary of a print path on the medium 30 by, for example, a forward (W / W) process performed before printing starts. Can be changed). For this reason, according to the present embodiment, the path boundary position can be changed for each plate, for example, when printing a plurality of plates overly.

On the other hand, it is preferable that the path position setting section 104 changes the path boundary position without changing the bandwidth. The path position setting section 104 changes the path boundary position, for example, by shifting the position of each print path on the medium 30 forward or backward in the conveying direction by a distance smaller than the bandwidth.

The print head 106 is, for example, an inkjet head, and prints on the medium 30 in accordance with the position of the print path set by the path position setting unit 104. In this embodiment, the printhead 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30 every time the conveyance unit 102 conveys the medium by the bandwidth, and prints the print area for the print area including a plurality of print paths. do.

With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, printing can be appropriately performed by the multipath system. In addition, the width direction of the medium 30 is a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction in the printed surface of the medium 30. The width of the print area in the conveyance direction is the width obtained by multiplying the bandwidth by the number of the plurality of print paths.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating printing in a multipath system. 2A shows an example of the configuration of the print head 106. In this embodiment, the printhead 106 has a plurality of nozzles 302 arranged at a constant density in the conveying direction. The print head 106 prints on the medium 30 by discharging ink droplets from the nozzles 302 while moving in the width direction of the medium 30.

In this embodiment, the nozzle density d in which the nozzle 302 is listed is smaller than the print resolution. For this reason, desired printing resolution can be obtained by printing the same part on the medium 30 multiple times with a plurality of printing paths. The printhead 106 prints the same portion a plurality of times by repeating printing each time the medium 30 of the bandwidth is conveyed.

For example, consider a case where printing is performed at a print resolution of 600 dpi using the print head 106 having a nozzle density d of 150 dpi. In this case, the ratio of the resolution and the nozzle density d is 600/150 = 4 times. For this reason, the same portion on the medium 30 is printed four times while shifting by one dot of the print resolution, whereby a resolution of 600 dpi can be obtained.

2B shows an example of a method of printing a plurality of times at each position on the medium 30. In the present embodiment, the path position setting unit 104 (see FIG. 1) determines the path positions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d, and 404e which are positions of a plurality of printing paths on the medium 30 before starting printing. Set it. The width in the conveyance direction of each path position 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d, 404e is equal to the bandwidth.

The printhead 106 also prints each position on the medium 30 by four print passes. Therefore, the print head 106 is divided into four ink discharge regions 402a, 402b, 402c, and 402d in the conveying direction. The width in the conveying direction of each ink ejection area 402a, 402b, 402c, 402d is equal to the bandwidth. Thereby, each time the print head 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30, each of the ink ejection regions 402a, 402b, 402c, and 402d prints by one print path.

Hereinafter, the printing operation will be described in more detail while showing the positional relationship between the print head 106 and the medium 30. When printing with respect to the path positions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d, and 404e, at the time when the position in the conveying direction of the path position 404a and the ink ejection area 402a overlaps at first (Fig. 1), The print head 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30. By this scanning, the ink discharging area 402a discharges ink droplets to the path position 404a to print at the path position 404a.

Next, the conveyance unit 102 conveys the medium 30 by the bandwidth. Thereby, the position in the conveyance direction of each of the path positions 404a and 404b overlaps with each of the ink discharge regions 402b and 402a. At this point, the printhead 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30 (Fig. 2). By this scanning, each of the ink discharging regions 402a and 402b discharges ink droplets to each of the path positions 404b and 404a to print at the path positions 404b and 404a.

Subsequently, the conveyer 102 further conveys the medium 30 by the bandwidth. Thereby, the position in the conveyance direction of each of the path positions 404a, 404b, and 404c overlaps with each of the ink discharge regions 402c, 402b, and 402a. At this point, the printhead 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30 (Fig. 3). By this scanning, each of the ink discharging regions 402a, 402b, and 402c discharges ink droplets to each of the path positions 404c, 404b, and 404a to print at the path positions 404c, 404b, and 404a.

Subsequently, the conveyer 102 further conveys the medium 30 by the bandwidth. Thereby, the position in the conveyance direction of each of the path positions 404a, 404b, 404c, and 404d overlaps with each of the ink discharge regions 402d, 402c, 402b, and 402a. At this point, the printhead 106 scans in the width direction of the medium 30 (Fig. 4). By this scanning, each of the ink ejection regions 402a, 402b, 402c, and 402d discharges ink droplets to each of the pass positions 404d, 404c, 404b, and 404a, and prints them in the pass positions 404d, 404c, 404b, and 404a. Do

At this point, printing of all four print paths to the path position 404a is completed. Thereafter, by repeating the above operation, printing for the remaining print paths is performed in sequence for the other path positions 404b, 404c, 404d, and 404e.

3 shows a state of overlapping a plurality of plates. In the present embodiment, the printing apparatus 10 creates a printed product by printing on the first plate containing the ink of the first layer and the second plate containing the ink of the second layer. On the other hand, an example of the path boundary position in a 1st plate is shown in the upper left side of FIG. 3, and an example of the path boundary position in a 2nd plate is shown in the upper right side. An example of a path boundary position in the state where the plate is superimposed on the lower part of FIG. 3 is printed.

In addition, the path position setting unit 104 changes the path boundary position each time each plate is printed. In this case, the path position setting unit 104 automatically changes the path boundary position whenever the plate changes, for example, in accordance with a preset program. The path position setting unit 104 may change the path boundary position according to a user's instruction, for example, by receiving a command specification.

Thus, for example, when printing the first plate, the path position setting unit 104 sets a plurality of print pad switches on the medium 30 so that the boundary 602 indicated by the dotted line is the path boundary position. . In the case of printing the second plate, the path position setting unit 104 shifts the path boundary position by one-half of the band width, so that the boundary 604 indicated by the dashed-dotted line becomes the path boundary position. Set a plurality of print face switches on the As a result, the path boundary position in each plate is shifted in the state of overlapping and printing the plates.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, even when a plurality of plates are printed by overlapping, the boundary of the printing path can be made inconspicuous. In addition, this makes it possible to alleviate the noticeable boundary of the printing path, and to prevent the position of each printing path from appearing in the shape of a space.

Here, the path position setting unit 104 changes the path boundary position by changing the initial position of the print head 106 with respect to the medium 30, for example. The initial position of the print head 106 is, for example, the position of the print head 106 at the start of printing. The initial position of the print head 106 may be the origin of the coordinates indicating the relative position of the print head 106 with respect to the medium 30. The initial position of the print head 106 is used as a reference position for setting the print path, for example.

The print head 106 may also change the path boundary position in another manner. For example, in the print head 106, when using some nozzles 302 at both ends or one end of a line as a dummy nozzle which does not discharge ink droplets, the path position setting part 104 is By changing which nozzle 302 is to be used as a dummy nozzle, the path boundary position can be changed by changing the area where the nozzle 302 for ejecting ink droplets from the print head 106 is listed.

In addition, the medium 30 may be, for example, paper or film. The medium 30 may be a transparent film or the like. The ink of the first layer and the ink of the second layer are, for example, UV curable inks. The ink of the first layer is, for example, white ink. The ink of the second layer is, for example, a color ink containing each color of CYMK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). The ink of the first layer in the first plate is cured before printing of the second plate, for example by irradiation of ultraviolet rays. The printing apparatus 10 may print a lot more plates. For example, among the overlapping plates, the bottom layer may be a first layer to facilitate printing of the top layer. The first layer is printed by, for example, ink having a higher adhesion to the medium than the ink on the upper layer. The uppermost layer may be, for example, a protective layer or a gloss layer printed with transparent ink.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using an Example, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said Example. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above embodiments can be variously changed or improved, and it is apparent from the description of the claims that such modified or improved forms can be included in the technical scope of the present invention. This invention can be used suitably for a printing apparatus, for example.

1 is a view showing an example of the configuration of a printing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating printing in a multipath system, in which (a) shows an example of the configuration of the printhead 106, and (b) shows an example of a method of printing multiple times at each position on the medium 30. As shown in FIG. Indicates.

3 is a view showing a state in which a plurality of plates overlap.

** Description of the sign **

10: printing apparatus 30: media

102: conveying unit 104: path position setting unit

106: printhead 202, 206: drive roller

204 and 208: driven roller 210: conveying control unit

212: table 302: nozzle

402a, 402b, 402c, 402d: ink discharge area

404a, 404b, 404c, 404d, 404e: pass position

602, 604: boundary

Claims (4)

A printing apparatus for printing by a plurality of printing paths for each position on a medium, A path position setting section for setting positions of the plurality of printing paths on the medium, the path position setting section being capable of changing a position which is a boundary of the printing path on the medium; A conveying unit for repeatedly conveying a medium by a predetermined conveying amount in a predetermined conveying direction; Each time the conveying unit conveys the medium by the conveying amount, the width in the conveying direction on the medium is the number of the plurality of printing paths in the conveying amount in accordance with the position of the printing path set by the path position setting unit. And a print head for printing a print area that is a width multiplied by. The method of claim 1, The printing apparatus is a printing apparatus for printing by stacking a plurality of plates each containing at least one ink layer, And the path position setting unit changes the position which is the boundary of the print path on the medium each time the respective plates are printed. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the path position setting unit changes a position which becomes a boundary of the print path on the medium by changing an initial position of the print head relative to the medium or an ink discharge nozzle row in the print head. A printing method for printing by a plurality of print paths for each position on a medium, Change the position of the print path on the medium, Setting the positions of the plurality of printing paths on the medium, The medium is repeatedly conveyed by a preset conveyance amount in a preset conveyance direction, Each time the medium is conveyed by the conveying amount, the width in the conveying direction on the medium is a width obtained by multiplying the conveying amount by the number of the plurality of printing paths in accordance with the position of the set printing path. A printing method characterized in that for printing.

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