# US 11,305,535 B2 · Print masks with disabled sections

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- Number: US 11,305,535 B2
- Document ID: US11305535B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/977,234
- Filed: 2018-03-21
- Published: 2021-02-11
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2018-03-21
- Assignees: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
- Applicants: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.; Alex Campa Coloma; Jordi Bas Ferrer; Adria Gallart del Burgo; Maria Isabel Borrell Bayona
- Inventors: Alex Campa Coloma; Jordi Bas Ferrer; Adria Gallart del Burgo; Maria Isabel Borrell Bayona
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11305535B2

## CPC

- B41J 2/1433: {Structure of nozzle plates}
- B41J 2/2132: {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)}
- G06K 15/107: {Mask selection}
- B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
- G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS

## Abstract

In an example print system including a mask engine and print engine, the mask engine is able to cause generation of print masks with disabled sections that are non-overlapping. In an example method of printing, a number of passes over a zone of media is identified, a plurality of print masks corresponding to the zone are generated with a disabled section of pixels that are non-overlapping, and the number of passes are printed based on the plurality of masks such that the disable pixels in each print mask are in a different relative position with respect to a location of the media.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A print system comprising:
a mask engine to cause an imaging pipeline to generate a plurality of masks for printing image data in a media width zone that extends transversally to a media advance direction, the plurality of masks including:
a first mask corresponding to a first set of nozzle actuations of a print head during a first pass along the media width zone including a first disabled section of pixels corresponding to unactuated nozzles;
a second mask corresponding to a second set of nozzle actuations of the print head along the media width zone including a second section of disabled nozzles unactuated during a second pass over the media width zone, wherein the second section is non-overlapping with the first section with respect to the media width zone; and
a third mask corresponding to a third set of nozzle actuations of the print head along the media width zone including a third section of disabled nozzles unactuated during a third pass over the media width zone, wherein the third section is non-overlapping with the first section and the second section with respect to the media width zone; and
a print engine to cause a print head to eject print material in accordance with the plurality of masks such that print material ejected using the first mask, the second mask, and the third mask overlap with respect to a length of the media width zone.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The print system of claim 1, wherein the mask engine is to:
determine that a print job may generate aeroworm effect based on actuation frequency threshold and image data of the print job; and
identify a sensitivity level based on a characteristic of print material to be ejected by the print head.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The print system of claim 1, wherein:
the plurality of masks includes a ramp of disabled and enabled nozzles along a carriage advance direction adjacent to each of the first section, the second section, and the third section.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The print system of claim 3, wherein:
a width of the section of disabled nozzles of each of the plurality of masks is based on a number of passes of a print mode; and
a characteristic of the ramp of each of the plurality of masks is based on a color combination.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein:
the plurality of print masks repeats with every media width zone of the print job;
the media width zone has a width in the media advance direction that is a length of the print head;
the passes of the print head shift in the media advance direction in an amount of the length of the print head divided by a number of passes of a print mode; and
the sections of disabled nozzles repeat along the media width at intervals based on a size of the print mask.

### Claim 6

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions executable by a processor resource to:
generate, for a first pass, a first print mask with a first section of pixels with a number of pixels disabled across a number of columns that is equal to or greater than a number of passes corresponding to a swath zone;
generate, for a second pass, a second print mask with a second section of the pixels with the number of pixels disabled across the number of columns that is equal to or greater than the number of passes corresponding to the swath zone, wherein the first section of pixels and the second section of pixels overlap relative to a length of the swath zone and are non-overlapping relative to a width of the swath zone; and
generate printing instructions, using the first print mask and the second print mask, that cause a print apparatus to eject a plurality of layers of print fluid over the swath zone that is less than the number of passes.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions is executable by the processor resource to:
generate first ramps in the media advance direction for the first print mask and the second print mask; and
generate second ramps perpendicular to the media advance direction, wherein the ramps are adjacent to the first section and the second section between an area of disabled nozzles and an area of enabled nozzles for the first print mask and the second print mask.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The medium of claim 7, wherein the set of instructions is executable by the processor resource to:
determine whether to generate print masks with the first ramps based on a color combination; and
determine whether to generate print masks with the second ramps based on a media advance characteristic and the color combination.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions is executable by the processor resource to:
divide a number of nozzles actuations corresponding to a print mask size into a number of sections based on the number of passes of a print mode;
generate a plurality of print masks designating each of the number of sections to be disabled during a pass of the media width zone of the number of passes of the print mode, the plurality of print masks including the first print mask and the second print mask; and
generate instructions to cause the print apparatus to apply the plurality of print masks during corresponding passes of the print head carriage over the swath zone to generate a repeating pattern of offset sections of disabled nozzles.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The medium of claim 9, wherein the set of instructions is executable by the processor resource to:
generate the plurality of print masks using a blue noise distribution with the offset sections of disabled nozzles repeating based on a number of nozzles corresponding to a width of each of the plurality of print masks and being non-repeating within the number of nozzles corresponding to the width of each of the plurality of print masks such that the disabled sections are non-overlapping based on shifts of the offset sections for each pass.

### Claim 11

A method of printing comprising:
identifying a number of passes over a zone of media relative to media advance direction; generating a plurality of print masks corresponding to the zone with a disabled section of pixels with a number of continuous columns disabled that is equal to or greater than the number of passes, wherein the disabled sections of each print mask are non-overlapping with respect to each other; and
printing the number of passes based on the plurality of print masks such that the section of the disabled pixels in each print mask is in a different relative position with respect to a location of the media.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein:
the number of disabled columns is less than the number of columns of the print mask divided by the number of passes and the disabled section repeats along a media axis and is non-repeating within an area of a size of the print mask.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein:
the plurality of print masks apply to image data such that the disabled sections are offset in each zone in both the media advance direction and a media axis perpendicular to the media advance direction.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, comprising:
applying a media advance ramp to the print mask between passes based on the color combination at a ramp area;
applying a media axis ramp towards edges of the disabled sections of the print mask based on the color combination on either side of the disabled sections.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, comprising:
identifying that a print job achieves an aeroworm effect threshold based on image data and a print mode;
determining to stop actuation of a number of nozzles for a period of time based on an architecture of a print head;
dividing a number of pixels of the size of the mask by a number of passes of the print mode to determine the disabled section of pixels corresponding to the number of nozzles to stop actuation for the period of time; and
adjusting a size of the disabled section based on the period of time to stop actuation the number of nozzles and a characteristic of a ramp between the disabled section and an enabled section.