Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9340050-B2
Application number	US-201514660108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2015
Priority date	Mar 28, 2014
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

An ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording condition changing unit that changes a recording condition upon formation of an image; an evaluation image input unit that inputs evaluation image data representing an evaluation image including at least two successive adjacent dots to form the evaluation image on a recording medium; a reading unit that reads the evaluation image; an evaluation value calculating unit that calculates an evaluation value based on color information on the evaluation image; an acceptance/rejection determining unit that determines acceptance/rejection of the evaluation image by comparing the evaluation value with an acceptance/rejection determining threshold value; and a recording condition deciding unit that decides that a recording condition used during formation of an evaluation image of which acceptance has been determined is to be used as a recording condition upon formation of the image on the recording medium.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ink jet recording apparatus, which is configured to form an image corresponding to image data by applying ink droplets on a recording medium, the ink jet recording apparatus comprising:
a print head configured to apply ink droplets on the recording medium;
a recording condition changing unit configured to change a recording condition to be used upon formation of the image using the ink jet recording apparatus;
an evaluation image input unit configured to input evaluation image data representing an evaluation image as the image data in order to form the evaluation image on the recording medium, the evaluation image being an image comprising at least two successive adjacent dots;
an evaluation image forming control unit configured to cause the print head to form the evaluation image on the print medium based on the evaluation image data input by the evaluation image input unit and according to the recording condition changed by the recording condition changing unit;
a reading unit configured to read the evaluation image formed on the recording medium; and
a recording condition determining unit configured to determine a recording condition upon formation of the image on the recording medium according to a degree of a change in lightness with a period equivalent to a recording dot resolution of the adjacent dots in the read image of the successive adjacent dots based on a reading result by the reading unit.

2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an evaluation value calculating unit configured to calculate an evaluation value based on color information on the evaluation image read by the reading unit; and
an acceptance/rejection determining unit configured to determine acceptance/rejection of the evaluation image formed on the recording medium by comparing the evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculating unit with an acceptance/rejection determining threshold value,
wherein the recording condition determining unit determines the recording condition based on a result of the acceptance/rejection determining unit, and
when the acceptance/rejection determining unit determines rejection, the recording condition changing unit again changes the recording condition, and reading of the evaluation image, calculation of the evaluation value, and determination of the acceptance/rejection are repeated based on the again changed recording condition.

3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least two successive adjacent dots comprise four successive adjacent dots.

4. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording condition to be changed by the recording condition changing unit comprises at least one of a driving frequency of a recording head, a temperature of the recording medium, a temperature of ink, and an application amount of a reaction liquid.

5. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the recording condition comprises the driving frequency of the recording head.

6. An ink jet recording method of forming an image corresponding to image data by applying ink droplets on a recording medium, the ink jet recording method comprising:
a recording condition changing step of changing a recording condition to be used upon formation of the image;
an evaluation image forming step of forming an evaluation image on the recording medium under the recording condition set in the recording condition changing step, the evaluation image being an image comprising at least two adjacent dots;
a reading step of reading the evaluation image formed on the recording medium; and
a recording condition determining step of determining a recording condition upon formation of the image on the recording medium according to a degree of a change in lightness with a period equivalent to a recording dot resolution of the adjacent dots in the read image of the successive adjacent dots based on a reading result in the reading step.

7. An ink jet recording method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
an evaluation value calculating step of calculating an evaluation value based on color information on the evaluation image read in the reading step; and
an acceptance/rejection determining step of determining acceptance/rejection of the evaluation image formed on the recording medium by comparing the evaluation value calculated in the evaluation value calculating step with an acceptance/rejection determining threshold value,
wherein the recording condition determining step determines the recording condition based on a result of the acceptance/rejection determining step, and
when rejection is determined in the acceptance/rejection determining step, the recording condition changing step, the evaluation image forming step, the reading step, the evaluation value calculating step, and the acceptance/rejection determining step are repeated until acceptance is determined.

8. An ink jet recording method according to claim 6 , wherein the at least two successive adjacent dots comprise four successive adjacent dots.

9. An ink jet recording method according to claim 6 , wherein the recording condition to be changed in the recording condition changing step comprises at least one of a driving frequency of a recording head, a temperature of the recording medium, a temperature of ink, and an application amount of a reaction liquid.

10. An ink jet recording method according to claim 9 , wherein the recording condition comprises the driving frequency of the recording head.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Otani Takumi
• Nishitani Eisuke
• Goto Fumihiro
• Nakazawa Koichiro
• Takeuchi Keiichirou
• Soma Kanako

Classifications

• B41J2/195

  for monitoring ink quality · CPC title

• B41J29/393 Primary

  Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine {; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns} · CPC title