Image forming apparatus selecting pulses to form drive waveform

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a recording head having a nozzle to discharge a liquid droplet;
• a drive waveform creation part configured to create and output a drive waveform containing a first pulse and a second pulse on an individual drive period basis, the first pulse causing the liquid droplet to be discharged from said nozzle, the second pulse causing a liquid in said recording head to flow within said recording head without causing the droplet to be discharged;
• and
• a data creation part configured to create data to select a first droplet discharge pulse or a second droplet discharge pulse when causing said recording head to discharge the liquid droplet, the first droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse and said second pulse, said second droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse but not containing said second pulse,
• wherein, when said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a subsequent drive period and when neither said first droplet discharge pulse nor said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a current drive period, said data creation part compares a time interval, which is from an immediately preceding discharge until said second droplet discharge pulse following the immediately preceding discharge, with a threshold value previously determined as a time interval by which a normal discharge is performed, and determines whether to select said second pulse based on a result of comparison in order to create data to select said second pulse or not select said second pulse in accordance with said result of comparison.

A computer readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a process of creating image data to be output by an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a recording head having a nozzle to discharge a liquid droplet;
• a drive waveform creation part configured to create and output a drive waveform containing a first pulse and a second pulse on an individual drive period basis, the first pulse causing the liquid droplet to be discharged from said nozzle, the second pulse causing a liquid in said recording head to flow within said recording head without causing the droplet to be discharged;
• and
• a data creation part configured to create data to select a first droplet discharge pulse or a second droplet discharge pulse when causing said recording head to discharge the liquid droplet, the first droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse and said second pulse, said second droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse but not containing said second pulse,
• wherein, when said first droplet discharge pulse or said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a subsequent drive period and when neither said first droplet discharge pulse nor said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a current drive period, the process causing said data creation part to select said second pulse in the current drive period when selecting said second droplet discharge pulse in the subsequent drive period, and not select said second pulse in the current drive period when selecting said first droplet discharge pulse in the subsequent drive period.

A computer readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a process of creating image data to be output by an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a recording head having a nozzle to discharge a liquid droplet;
• a drive waveform creation part configured to create and output a drive waveform containing a first pulse and a second pulse on an individual drive period basis, the first pulse causing the liquid droplet to be discharged from said nozzle, the second pulse causing a liquid in said recording head to flow within said recording head without causing the droplet to be discharged;
• and
• a data creation part configured to create data to select a first droplet discharge pulse or a second droplet discharge pulse when causing said recording head to discharge the liquid droplet, the first droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse and said second pulse, said second droplet discharge pulse containing said first pulse but not containing said second pulse,
• wherein, when said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a subsequent drive period and when neither said first droplet discharge pulse nor said second droplet discharge pulse is selected in a current drive period, the process causing said data creation part to compare a time interval, which is from an immediately preceding discharge until said second droplet discharge pulse following the immediately preceding discharge, with a threshold value previously determined as a time interval by which a normal discharge is performed, and to determine whether to select said second pulse based on a result of comparison in order to create data to select said second pulse or not select said second pulse in accordance with said result of comparison.