Landing position determining method and device for processing-liquid ejection nozzles, and inkjet recording apparatus

A landing position determining method for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording method of depositing transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixing and recording the colored ink, the landing position determining method comprising:

• setting a processing liquid deposited pattern so that, by processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected not to be adjacent to one another as landing position determination targets of the deposited processing liquid out of all the processing-liquid ejection nozzles, linear landing position determination target areas are formed in which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots while gradually changing density of the processing liquid to be deposited to one of increase and decrease in one direction, and, by remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles not selected as the landing position determination targets, the processing liquid is continuously deposited while the density of the processing liquid is changed in a direction opposite to a direction of the linear landing position determination target areas;
• repeatedly ejecting the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to repeatedly form the same processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern;
• setting, as ink nozzles corresponding to the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets, a plurality of types of ink nozzles that deposit colored ink of colors different from one another, repeatedly ejecting the colored ink by each ink nozzle of the set plurality of types of ink nozzles and a plurality of ink nozzles around the set plurality of types of ink nozzles onto one processing liquid deposited pattern repeatedly formed on the recording medium to form linear colored ink images on the recording medium while changing a type of the ink nozzle and a color of the colored ink, and recording a plurality of the linear colored ink images on the recording medium for each of a plurality of the colors to form a processing liquid landing position determination pattern on the recording medium;
• scanning the processing liquid landing position determination pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor;
• detecting the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors in the processing liquid landing position determination pattern scanned by the detection sensor;
• measuring at least one of densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors;
• and
• detecting presence/absence of a change in the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors, finding, out of linear colored ink images in which the change is present, at least one linear colored ink image having at least one of a direction of a change in density coincident with a direction of a change in the density of the processing liquid of the linear landing position determination target areas and a direction in which a change in line width decreases coincident with a direction in which the change in the density of the processing liquid of the linear landing position determination target areas increases, and determining, when the found at least one linear colored ink image having the coincident direction of the change is present on the same line, positions of the at least one linear colored ink image as landing positions of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets.

A landing position determining device for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording apparatus that deposits transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles of an inkjet head, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixes and records the colored ink, the landing position determining device comprising:

• a nozzle setting unit that selects, as landing position determination targets of the deposited processing liquid, one processing-liquid ejection nozzle and a plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles located on both sides of the one processing-liquid ejection nozzle;
• a processing liquid deposited pattern setting unit that sets a processing liquid deposited pattern so that the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets form a plurality of linear landing position determination target areas in which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots while gradually changing density of the processing liquid to be deposited to one of increase and decrease in one direction and a number of dots with one of high and low density of the processing liquid decreases farther away from centered linear landing position determination target area of the plurality of linear landing position determination target areas, and remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles not selected as the landing position determination targets continuously deposit the processing liquid while the density of the processing liquid is changed in a direction opposite to a direction of the plurality of linear landing position determination target areas;
• an ejection control unit that performs ejection control for the processing-liquid ejection nozzles to eject the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to form the processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern, and performs ejection control for a plurality of ink nozzles, which include an ink nozzle corresponding to the selected processing-liquid ejection nozzle, and are selected, from ink nozzles on both sides of the ink nozzle, with a nozzle interval, to deposit the colored ink from the plurality of ink nozzles onto the processing liquid deposited pattern formed on the recording medium, and record a plurality of linear colored ink images on the recording medium to form a processing liquid landing position determination pattern on the recording medium;
• a data acquiring unit that scans the processing liquid landing position determination pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor, and acquires image data of the plurality of linear colored ink images in the scanned processing liquid landing position determination pattern;
• a measuring unit that measures at least one of densities and line widths of the plurality of linear colored ink images;
• and
• a determining unit that detects presence/absence of a change in the at least one of the densities and the line widths of the plurality of linear colored ink images measured by the measuring unit, and determines, from at least one of density distribution and line width distribution in a linear colored ink image in which the change is present, a landing position of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets.

A landing position determining device for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording apparatus that deposits transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles of an inkjet head, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixes and records the colored ink, the landing position determining device comprising:

• a nozzle setting unit that selects, as landing position determination targets of the deposited processing liquid, a plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles not to be adjacent to one another out of all the processing-liquid ejection nozzles;
• a processing liquid deposited pattern setting unit that sets a processing liquid deposited pattern so that the plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets continuously deposit the processing liquid for a predetermined number of dots while gradually changing density of the processing liquid to be deposited to one of increase and decrease in one direction to form linear landing position determination target areas, and remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles not selected as the landing position determination targets continuously deposit the processing liquid while the density of the processing liquid is changed in a direction opposite to a direction of the linear landing position determination target areas;
• an ejection control unit that performs ejection control for the processing-liquid ejection nozzles to repeatedly eject the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to repeatedly form the same processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern, and performs ejection control for the ink nozzles to set, as ink nozzles corresponding to the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets, a plurality of types of ink nozzles that deposit colored ink of colors different from one another, repeatedly ejects the colored ink by each ink nozzle of the set plurality of types of ink nozzles and a plurality of ink nozzles around the set plurality of types of ink nozzles onto one processing liquid deposited pattern repeatedly formed on the recording medium to form linear colored ink images on the recording medium while changing a type of the ink nozzle and a color of the colored ink, and record a plurality of the linear colored ink images on the recording medium for each of a plurality of the colors to form a processing liquid landing position determination pattern on the recording medium;
• a data acquiring unit that scans the processing liquid landing position determination pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor, and acquires image data of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors in the scanned processing liquid landing position determination pattern;
• a measuring unit that measures at least one of densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors;
• and
• a determining unit that detects presence/absence of a change in the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors, finds, out of linear colored ink images in which the change is present, at least one linear colored ink image having at least one of a direction of a change in density coincident with a direction of a change in the density of the processing liquid of the linear landing position determination target areas and a direction in which a change in line width decreases coincident with a direction in which the change in the density of the processing liquid of the linear landing position determination target areas increases, and determines, when the found at least one linear colored ink image having the coincident direction of the change is present on the same line, positions of the at least one linear colored ink image as landing positions of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets.

A landing position determining method for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording method of depositing transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles, respectively, one on top of another to form an image and fixing and recording the colored ink, the landing position determining method comprising:

• setting a processing liquid deposited pattern so that, by one processing-liquid ejection nozzle and a plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles located on both sides of the one processing-liquid ejection nozzle selected as landing position determination targets of the deposited processing liquid, a plurality of linear landing position determination target areas are formed which includes a processing liquid deposited area on which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots and a processing liquid non-deposited area on which the processing liquid is not continuously deposited for the predetermined number of dots and in which the predetermined number of dots for which the processing liquid is not deposited decreases farther away from a center of the processing liquid non-deposited area, and, in remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles, the processing liquid is continuously deposited;
• ejecting the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto a recording medium to form the processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern;
• depositing the colored ink from a plurality of ink nozzles, which include an ink nozzle corresponding to the selected processing-liquid ejection nozzle, and are selected, from ink nozzles on both sides of the ink nozzle, with a predetermined nozzle interval, onto the processing liquid deposited pattern formed on the recording medium, and recording a plurality of linear colored ink images on the recording medium to form a processing liquid landing position determination pattern on the recording medium;
• scanning the processing liquid landing position determination pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor;
• detecting the plurality of linear colored ink images in the processing liquid landing position determination pattern scanned by the detection sensor;
• measuring at least one of densities and line widths of the detected plurality of linear colored ink images;
• and
• detecting presence/absence of a changing point of the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of linear colored ink images, and determining, from a change in position of the changing point in a linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present, a landing position of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position determination targets.

A landing position determining method for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording method of depositing transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixing and recording the colored ink, the landing position determining method comprising:

• setting a processing liquid deposited pattern so that, by processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected not to be adjacent to one another as landing position detection targets of the deposited processing liquid, a linear non-ejection detection target area in which a processing liquid deposited area on which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots and a processing liquid non-deposited area on which the processing liquid is not continuously deposited for the predetermined number of dots continue is formed, and, by remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles not selected as the landing position detection targets, the processing liquid is continuously deposited;
• repeatedly ejecting the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to repeatedly form the same processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern;
• setting, as ink nozzles corresponding to the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets, a plurality of types of ink nozzles that deposit colored ink of colors different from one another, repeatedly ejecting the colored ink by each of ink nozzle of the set plurality of types of ink nozzles and a plurality of ink nozzles around the set plurality of types of ink nozzles to the linear non-ejection detection target area of one processing liquid deposited pattern repeatedly formed on the recording medium to form linear colored ink images on the recording medium while changing a type of the ink nozzle and a color of the colored ink, and recording a plurality of the linear colored ink images on the recording medium for each of a plurality of the colors to form a processing liquid landing position detection pattern on the recording medium;
• scanning the processing liquid landing position detection pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor;
• detecting the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors in the processing liquid landing position detection pattern scanned by the detection sensor;
• measuring at least one of densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors;
• and
• detecting presence/absence of a changing point of the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors, finding at least one linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present, and detecting, when the at least one linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present is present on the same line, positions of the at least one linear colored ink image as landing positions of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets.

A landing position detecting device for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording apparatus that deposits transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles of an inkjet head, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixes and records the colored ink, the landing position detecting device comprising:

• a nozzle setting unit that selects, as landing position detection targets of the deposited processing liquid, one processing-liquid ejection nozzle and a plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles located on both sides of the one processing-liquid ejection nozzle;
• a processing liquid deposited pattern setting unit that sets a processing liquid deposited pattern so that the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets form a plurality of linear landing position detection target areas which includes a processing liquid deposited area on which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots and a processing liquid non-deposited area on which the processing liquid is not continuously deposited for the predetermined number of dots and in which the predetermined number of dots for which the processing liquid is not deposited decreases farther away from a center of the processing liquid non-deposited area, and remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles continuously deposit the processing liquid;
• an ejection control unit that performs ejection control for the processing-liquid ejection nozzles to eject the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to form the processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern, and performs ejection control for a plurality of ink nozzles, which include an ink nozzle corresponding to the selected processing-liquid ejection nozzle, and are selected, from ink nozzles on both sides of the ink nozzle, with a nozzle interval, to deposit the colored ink from the plurality of ink nozzles onto the processing liquid deposited pattern formed on the recording medium, and record a plurality of linear colored ink images on the recording medium to form a processing liquid landing position detection pattern on the recording medium;
• a data acquiring unit that scans the processing liquid landing position detection pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor, and acquires image data of the plurality of linear colored ink images in the scanned processing liquid landing position detection pattern;
• a measuring unit that measures at least one of densities and line widths of the detected plurality of linear colored ink images;
• and
• a detecting unit that detects presence/absence of a changing point of the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of linear colored ink images, and detects, from a change in position of the changing point in a linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present, a landing position of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets.

A landing position detecting device for processing-liquid ejection nozzles used in an inkjet recording apparatus that deposits transparent processing liquid and colored ink from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles and ink nozzles of an inkjet head, respectively, onto a recording medium one on top of another to form an image and fixes and records the colored ink, the landing position detecting device comprising:

• a nozzle setting unit that selects, as landing position detection targets of the deposited processing liquid, a plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles not to be adjacent to one another;
• a processing liquid deposited pattern setting unit that sets a processing liquid deposited pattern so that the plurality of processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets form a linear non-ejection detection target area in which a processing liquid deposited area on which the processing liquid is continuously deposited for a predetermined number of dots and a processing liquid non-deposited area on which the processing liquid is not continuously deposited for the predetermined number of dots continue, and remaining processing-liquid ejection nozzles not selected as the landing position detection targets continuously deposit the processing liquid;
• an ejection control unit that performs ejection control for the processing-liquid ejection nozzles to repeatedly eject the processing liquid from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles onto the recording medium to repeatedly form the same processing liquid deposited pattern on the recording medium according to the set processing liquid deposited pattern, and performs ejection control for the ink nozzles to set, as ink nozzles corresponding to the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets, a plurality of types of ink nozzles that deposit colored ink of colors different from one another, repeatedly ejects the colored ink by each ink nozzle of the set plurality of types of ink nozzles and a plurality of ink nozzles around the set plurality of types of ink nozzles to the linear non-ejection detection target area of one processing liquid deposited pattern repeatedly formed on the recording medium to form linear colored ink images on the recording medium while changing a type of the ink nozzle and a color of the colored ink, and record a plurality of the linear colored ink images on the recording medium for each of a plurality of the colors to form a processing liquid landing position detection pattern on the recording medium;
• a data acquiring unit that scans the processing liquid landing position detection pattern formed on the recording medium with a detection sensor, and acquires image data of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors in the processing liquid landing position detection pattern scanned by the detection sensor;
• a measuring unit that measures at least one of densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors;
• and
• a detecting unit that detects presence/absence of a changing point of the at least one of the measured densities and line widths of the plurality of the linear colored ink images for the each of the plurality of the colors, finds at least one linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present, and detects, when the at least one linear colored ink image in which the changing point is present is present on the same line, positions of the at least one linear colored ink image as landing positions of the processing liquid ejected from the processing-liquid ejection nozzles selected as the landing position detection targets.