Printing device and printing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9254677-B2
Application number	US-201414577691-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2014
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

Dots with metallic ink are formed in an arrangement in which an average of distances between dots with the metallic dots is shorter than an average of distances between dots with color ink. The “distance between dots with the color ink” indicates a distance from a color dot to be focused to one color dot at the closest position thereto. The same holds true for the metallic ink.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing method comprising:
a dot forming step that forms color dots on a medium by ejecting a color ink from a nozzle and forms metallic dots on the medium by ejecting a metallic ink from a nozzle,
wherein a value obtained by multiplying an average of a distance between the metallic dots by a square root of a dot generation ratio of the metallic dots, is shorter than a value obtained by multiplying an average of a distance between the color dots by a square root of a dot generation ratio of the color dots.

2. The printing method according to claim 1 ,
the dot forming step comprises relatively scanning the nozzle and the medium, and a forming position of the color dots or the metallic dots are deviated in the scanning direction with each scanning.

3. The printing method according to claim 2 ,
wherein the dot forming step is performed to change the discharge timing of the color ink or the metallic ink in the scanning direction.

4. The printing method according to claim 2 ,
wherein the dot forming step is performed relatively scanning a plurality of the nozzle are placed in a direction intersecting the scanning direction,
wherein the forming position of the metallic dots or the color dots are deviated in the direction intersecting the scanning direction.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Kobashi Yutaka

Classifications

• B41J2/2121 Primary

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

• B41J2/1433

  Structure of nozzle plates · CPC title

• 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

• H04N1/54

  Conversion of colour picture signals to a plurality of signals some of which represent particular mixed colours, e.g. for textile printing · CPC title