Printing apparatus, printing method and non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program regarding printing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12053983-B2
Application number	US-202217936881-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2021
Publication date	Aug 6, 2024
Grant date	Aug 6, 2024

Abstract

There is provided a printing apparatus including: a head having nozzles aligned in a first direction, a manifold, and a driving element; a first temperature sensor configured to detect, in the manifold, a temperature difference between a temperature of the ink at an upstream in the first direction and a temperature of the ink at a downstream in the first direction; and a controller. The nozzles have a first nozzle and a second nozzle. The controller is configured to execute: causing of the head to perform printing, and performing of position correction of correcting a discharge timing of the ink from the nozzles based on the temperature difference so that a distance between a landing position of the ink discharged from the first nozzle and a landing position of the ink discharged from the second nozzle becomes short in a second direction crossing the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing apparatus comprising:
a head including a plurality of nozzles aligned in a first direction, a manifold containing ink communicating with the plurality of nozzles;
a first temperature sensor for detecting, in the manifold, a temperature difference between a temperature of the ink at an upstream end of the manifold in the first direction and a temperature of the ink at a downstream end of the manifold in the first direction; and
a controller, wherein
the plurality of nozzles includes a first nozzle arranged at the upstream in the first direction, and a second nozzle arranged at the downstream in the first direction, and
the controller is configured to execute:
causing of the head to perform printing of discharging the ink from the plurality of nozzles onto a print medium, based on image data, so as to form an image by the ink landed on the print medium; and
performing of position correction of correcting a discharge timing of the ink from the plurality of nozzles based on the temperature difference so that a distance between a landing position of the ink discharged from the first nozzle and a landing position of the ink discharged from the second nozzle becomes short in a second direction crossing the first direction.

2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a carriage configured to move the head in a forwarding route and a returning route in the second direction, wherein
in a case that the controller causes the head to perform the printing, the controller is configured to alternately execute a forwarding route-pass of discharging the ink from the plurality of nozzles while moving the head in the forwarding route, and a returning route-pass of discharging the ink from the plurality of nozzles while moving the head in the returning route, and
in a case that the controller performs the position correction, the controller is configured to perform correction so that, regarding the forwarding route-pass and the returning route-pass, the discharge timing of the ink, in one of the forwarding-route pass, the returning route-pass, or both of the forwarding route-pass and the returning route-pass, is delayed with respect to the discharge timing of the ink based on the image data.

3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
in the case that the controller performs the position correction, the controller is configured to perform the correction so that the discharge timing of the ink in the returning route-pass is delayed with respect to the discharge timing of the ink based on the image data, without correcting the discharge timing of the ink in the forwarding route-pass.

4. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the returning route-pass is executed as a next pass to the forwarding route-pass,
the landing position of the ink includes: a first landing position of the ink from the first nozzle in the returning route-pass; a second landing position of the ink from the first nozzle in the forwarding route-pass; and a third landing position of the ink from the second nozzle in the forwarding route-pass,
in the case that the controller performs the position correction and that the temperature difference is a first temperature difference, the controller is configured to perform correction of delaying the discharge timing of the ink in the returning route-pass with respect to the discharge timing of the ink based on the image data so that the first landing position is arranged, in the second direction, to be more distant from the second landing position than the third landing position, and
in the case that the controller performs the position correction and that the temperature difference is a second temperature difference being greater than the first temperature difference, the controller is configured to perform correction of delaying the discharge timing of the ink in the returning route-pass with respect to the discharge timing of the ink based on the image data so that the first landing position is arranged, in the second direction, to be nearer to the second landing position than the third landing position.

5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a case configured to accommodate an ink cartridge; and a second temperature sensor configured to detect an environmental temperature inside the case, wherein
in the case that the controller performs the position correction, the controller is configured to correct the discharge timing of the ink based on the temperature difference and the environmental temperature.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the image is constructed of a plurality of dots, and
the controller is configured to execute density correction of correcting, based on the temperature difference, a discharging amount of the ink based on the image data and with respect to the plurality of dots so that a density difference between densities in the first direction of the image becomes to be small.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
in a case that the controller performs the density correction, the controller is configured to correct the discharging amount of the ink to be zero with respect to a dot or dots among the plurality of the dots, wherein quantity of the dot or dots among the plurality of dots corresponds to a ratio based on the temperature difference.

8. The printing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the plurality of dots includes a first dot and a second dot, a size of the second dot being greater than a size of the first dot, and
in the case that the controller performs the density correction, the controller is configured to correct the discharging amount of the ink to be zero with respect to the dot or dots among all the plurality of dots including the first dot and the second dot, wherein quantity of the dot or dots among all the plurality of dots corresponds to the ratio based on the temperature difference.

9. The printing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the plurality of dots includes a plurality of first dots and a plurality of second dots, a size of the plurality of second dots being greater than a size of the plurality of first dots; and
in the case that the controller performs the density correction, the controller is configured to:
correct the discharging amount of the ink to be zero with respect to a first dot or first dots among the plurality of first dots, wherein quantity of the first dot or first dots corresponds to the ratio based on the temperature difference; and
correct the discharging amount of the ink to be zero with respect to a second dot or second dots among the plurality of second dots, wherein quantity of the second dot or second dots corresponds to the ratio based on the temperature difference.

10. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
the plurality of dots includes a plurality of third dots located on the upstream in the first direction with respect to a predetermined position, and a plurality of fourth dots located on the downstream in the first direction with respect to the predetermined position,
in the case that the controller performs the density correction, the controller is configured to:
correct the discharging amount of the ink with respect to the plurality of third dots so that a size of a third dot or third dots among the plurality of third dots becomes greater than a size of the plurality of dots based on the image data, wherein quantity of the third dot or third dots among the plurality of the third dots corresponds to a ratio based on the temperature difference; and
correct the discharging amount of the ink with respect to the plurality of fourth dots so that

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd
• Brother Koygo Kk

Inventors

• Mori Masaki
• Hirano Mikio

Classifications

• B41J2/2132

  Print quality control characterised by dot disposition, e.g. for reducing white stripes or banding (methods for local corrections by dot omission, image edge enhancement, or multi-pass mask selection G06K15/102; colour conversion H04N1/40) · CPC title

• B41J2/04505

  aiming at correcting alignment · CPC title

• B41J2/2121

  characterised by dot size, e.g. combinations of printed dots of different diameter · CPC title

• B41J2/04563

  detecting head temperature; Ink temperature · CPC title

• B41J2/0458

  controlling heads based on heating elements forming bubbles · CPC title