Printing control device, printing control method, and printing control program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015202862-A1
Application number	US-201514601115-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 20, 2015
Priority date	Jan 23, 2014
Publication date	Jul 23, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A printing control device includes a nozzle information obtainment unit that obtains the position of a discharge-failing nozzle which fails to discharge ink in a printing head which includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink, a data generation unit that generates printing data in which a dot position which is the position of a dot constituting an image printed on a printing medium is associated with the amount of ink discharged to the dot position, and a data correction unit that specifies a second position which is adjacent to a first position where ink is discharged by the discharge-failing nozzle in the printing data on the basis of the position of the discharge-failing nozzle obtained and corrects the printing data so that the amount of ink which is greater than the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is associated with the second position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A printing control device comprising:
a nozzle information obtainment unit that obtains the position of a discharge-failing nozzle which fails to discharge ink in a printing head which includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink on a printing medium; a data generation unit that generates printing data in which a dot position which is the position of a dot constituting an image printed on the printing medium is associated with the amount of ink discharged to the dot position; and a data correction unit that specifies a second position which is adjacent to a first position where ink is discharged by the discharge-failing nozzle in the printing data on the basis of the position of the discharge-failing nozzle obtained and corrects the printing data so that the amount of ink which is greater than the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is associated with the second position.

2 . The printing control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the data correction unit specifies positions between which the first position is interposed along a transport direction of the printing medium as the second position.

3 . The printing control device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage unit in which a relationship between the size of a plurality of dots and the amount of ink discharged which corresponds to the size of each dot is stored, wherein the data correction unit associates multiple times of discharge of ink with the second position when the amount of ink discharged to the second position is greater than the amount of ink discharged that corresponds to the greatest size of a dot among the size of the plurality of dots stored in the storage unit.

4 . The printing control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein a first amount, a second amount that is greater than the first amount, and a third amount that is greater than the second amount are stored in the storage unit as the amount of ink discharged, and the data correction unit corrects the printing data so that the first amount is associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is none, the second amount is associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the first amount, the third amount is associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the second amount, and a fourth amount that is greater than the third amount and two times of discharge of ink are associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the third amount.

5 . The printing control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the data correction unit
does not correct the printing data generated when the amount of ink associated with the first position in the printing data generated is none, and
corrects the printing data so that the sum of the amount of ink associated with the first position in the printing data generated and the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is associated with the second position when discharge of ink is associated with the first position in the printing data generated.

6 . The printing control device according to claim 3 ,
wherein a first amount, a second amount that is greater than the first amount, and a third amount that is greater than the second amount are stored in the storage unit as the amount of ink discharged, and the data correction unit
corrects the printing data so that the second amount is associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the first amount, the third amount is associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the second amount, and the fourth amount and two times of discharge of ink are associated with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the third amount in a case where the amount of ink associated with the first position in the printing data generated is the first amount,
associates the third amount with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the first amount and associates the fourth amount and two times of discharge of ink with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the second amount or the third amount in a case where the amount of ink associated with the first position in the printing data generated is the second amount, and
associates the fourth amount and two times of discharge of ink with the second position when the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is the first amount, the second amount, or the third amount in a case where the amount of ink associated with the first position in the printing data generated is the third amount.

7 . The printing control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the data correction unit corrects the printing data so that ink is discharged multiple times to the second position.

8 . A printing control method comprising:
generating printing data in which a dot position which is the position of a dot constituting an image printed on a printing medium is associated with the amount of ink discharged to the dot position; and specifying a second position that is adjacent to a first position where ink is discharged by a discharge-failing nozzle in the printing data on the basis of the position of the discharge-failing nozzle that fails to discharge ink in a printing head which includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink to the printing medium and correcting the printing data so that the amount of ink which is greater than the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is associated with the second position.

9 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer program, the program causing a computer to function as a printing control device and to execute:
generating printing data in which a dot position which is the position of a dot constituting an image printed on a printing medium is associated with the amount of ink discharged to the dot position; and specifying a second position that is adjacent to a first position where ink is discharged by a discharge-failing nozzle in the printing data on the basis of the position of the discharge-failing nozzle that fails to discharge ink in a printing head which includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink to the printing medium and correcting the printing data so that the amount of ink which is greater than the amount of ink associated with the second position in the printing data generated is associated with the second position.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Tamai Takashi

Classifications

• B41J2/0451 Primary

  for detecting failure, e.g. clogging, malfunctioning actuator · CPC title

• B41J2/2139 Primary

  Compensation for malfunctioning nozzles creating dot place or dot size errors (generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers B41J2/045) · CPC title

• H04N1/4057

  the pattern being a mixture of differently sized sub-patterns, e.g. spots having only a few different diameters (multi-toning H04N1/40087) · CPC title