Printing apparatus, method of controlling printing apparatus, and control program of printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017129253-A1
Application number	US-201715405413-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2017
Priority date	Jun 26, 2014
Publication date	May 11, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A printing apparatus including: a first nozzle group including a first and third nozzles which ejects a first liquid; and a second nozzle group including a second nozzle which ejects a second liquid, in which, when an ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle which belongs to the first nozzle group is abnormal, complementation is performed using complementation modes of a first complementation mode that increases the amount of a liquid to be ejected from the first nozzle instead of allowing the one nozzle to eject the liquid, a second complementation mode that increases the amount of the liquid to be ejected from the second nozzle instead of allowing the one nozzle to eject the liquid, and a third complementation mode that increases the amount of the liquid to be ejected from the third nozzle instead of allowing the liquid to be ejected from the one nozzle.

First claim

1 . A printing apparatus that performs a printing process of ejecting a liquid from a nozzle to a medium and forming an image on the medium, the printing apparatus comprising:
a head unit that includes a first nozzle group including first nozzles which eject a liquid having a first color, a second nozzle group including a second nozzle which ejects a liquid having a second color, and a third nozzle group including a third nozzle which ejects a liquid having the first color, the first nozzle group being disposed in a first area that extends in a nozzle row direction in which the first nozzles are arranged in the head unit, the second nozzle group being disposed in a second area that extends in the nozzle row direction in the head unit, the third nozzle group being disposed in a third area that extends in the nozzle row direction in the head unit, the first area including an overlapping area that overlaps the third area in the nozzle row direction and a non-overlapping area that does not overlap the third area in the nozzle row direction; and a print control unit that controls execution of the printing process, when execution of the printing process is controlled, and an ejection state of the liquid ejected from one nozzle, which belongs to the first nozzle group, ejects the liquid having the first color, and is different from one of the first nozzles is abnormal, the print control unit being configured to perform complementation using at least two or more complementation modes from among
a first complementation mode that performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle by increasing the amount of a liquid to be ejected from the one of the first nozzles instead of allowing the one nozzle to eject the liquid,
a second complementation mode that performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle by increasing the amount of the liquid to be ejected from the second nozzle instead of allowing the one nozzle to eject the liquid, and
a third complementation mode that performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle by increasing the amount of the liquid to be ejected from the third nozzle instead of allowing the one nozzle to eject the liquid from the one nozzle,
in response to the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle being abnormal, the print control unit being configured to select one mode from the complementation modes according to an attribute of the one nozzle being abnormal.

2 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a transport mechanism that transports the medium in a first direction,
wherein the first nozzle group is provided in a first area that extends in a second direction intersecting with the first direction in the head unit, the second nozzle group is provided in a second area that extends in the second direction in the head unit, and the third nozzle group is provided in a third area that extends in the second direction in the head unit.

3 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the print control unit is capable of controlling execution of the printing process using various kinds of printing modes including a first printing mode that prioritizes accuracy of the position or the shape of an image to be formed on the medium more than the accuracy of the color of an image to be formed on the medium and a second printing mode that prioritizes the accuracy of the color of an image to be formed on the medium more than the accuracy of the position or the shape of an image to be formed on the medium, and complementation with respect to the nozzle is performed using the complementation mode according to the kind of printing mode among two or more complementation modes when the ejection state of the liquid from the one nozzle is abnormal.

4 . The printing apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the two or more complementation modes include the first complementation mode, the second complementation mode, and the third complementation mode, the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle by prioritizing the second complementation mode or the third complementation mode more than the first complementation mode when the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal in the case of controlling execution of the printing process using the first printing mode, and the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle by prioritizing the first complementation mode or the third complementation mode more than the second complementation mode when the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal in the case of controlling execution of the printing process using the second printing mode.

5 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the two or more complementation modes include the first complementation mode, the second complementation mode, and the third complementation mode, and the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the second complementation mode or the third complementation mode in a case where at least a part of an image to be formed on the medium in the printing process is a bar code and the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal when at least a part of the bar code is formed using the liquid ejected from the one nozzle.

6 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the two or more complementation modes include the first complementation mode, the second complementation mode, and the third complementation mode, the print control unit is capable of controlling execution of the printing process using a bar code printing mode for forming a bar code on the medium, and the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the second complementation mode or the third complementation mode in a case where execution of the printing process is controlled using the bar code printing mode and the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal.

7 . The printing apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising a determining unit that determines whether execution of complementation using each of the two or more complementation modes is possible,
wherein the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the second complementation mode when the determining unit determines that execution of complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the second complementation mode is possible and performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the third complementation mode when the determining unit determines that execution of complementation with respect to the one nozzle using the second complementation mode is impossible in a case where the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal when at least a part of the bar code is formed using the liquid ejected from the one nozzle.

8 . The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the print control unit performs complementation with respect to the one nozzle using any complementation mode among the two or more complementation modes in a case where the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal when a portion of a bar code other than an end portion is formed using the liquid ejected from the one nozzle and does not perform complementation with respect to the one nozzle in a case where the ejection state of the liquid ejected from the one nozzle is abnormal when the end portion of the bar code is formed using the liquid ejected from the one nozzle in a case where the bar code is formed on the medium in the printing process.

9 . The printing apparatus according to clai

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Sato Akito
• Yamamoto Yuko
• Yoneyama Yuichi

Classifications

• B41J2/2132 Primary

  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

• B41J2002/14354

  Sensor in each pressure chamber · CPC title

• B41J2/04581

  controlling heads based on piezoelectric elements · CPC title

• B41J2/0451

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

• B41J2/04541

  Specific driving circuit · CPC title