Inkjet Printer and Method for Acquiring Gap Information

An inkjet printer comprising:

• an inkjet head configured to discharge ink droplets from nozzles formed in an ink discharging surface thereof;
• a wave shape generating mechanism configured to deform, in a predetermined range in a predetermined direction, a recording sheet in a predetermined wave shape that has tops of portions protruding in a first direction toward the ink discharging surface and bottoms of portions recessed in a second direction opposite to the first direction, the tops and the bottoms alternately arranged along the predetermined direction;
• and
• a control device configured to:
• acquire gap information related to a gap between the ink discharging surface and the recording sheet in each individual position of a plurality of top-formed positions and a plurality of bottom-formed positions within the predetermined range, each top-formed position being a position where a corresponding one of the tops is formed on the recording sheet, each bottom-formed position being a position where a corresponding one of the bottoms is formed on the recording sheet;
• identify, when the predetermined range includes a partial range in which the recording sheet is not placed, a top-formed position where the gap information is not acquired and a bottom-formed position where the gap information is not acquired, within the partial range;
• complement the unacquired gap information in the identified top-formed position with a value determined based on the respective pieces of gap information acquired in other top-formed positions;
• and
• complement the unacquired gap information in the identified bottom-formed position with a value determined based on the respective pieces of gap information acquired in other bottom-formed positions.

A method configured to be implemented on a control device connected with an inkjet printer, the inkjet printer comprising:

• an inkjet head configured to discharge ink droplets from nozzles formed in an ink discharging surface thereof;
• a head scanning unit configured to reciprocate the inkjet head relative to a recording sheet along a scanning direction parallel to the ink discharging surface;
• and
• a wave shape generating mechanism configured to deform, in a predetermined range within a movable range of the inkjet head in the scanning direction, the recording sheet in a predetermined wave shape that has tops of portions protruding in a first direction toward the ink discharging surface and bottoms of portions recessed in a second direction opposite to the first direction, the tops and the bottoms alternately arranged along the scanning direction, the method comprising steps of:
• acquiring gap information related to a gap between the ink discharging surface and the recording sheet in each individual position of a plurality of top-formed positions and a plurality of bottom-formed positions within the predetermined range, each top-formed position being a position where a corresponding one of the tops is formed on the recording sheet, each bottom-formed position being a position where a corresponding one of the bottoms is formed on the recording sheet;
• identifying, when the predetermined range includes a partial range in which the recording sheet is not placed, a top-formed position where the gap information is not acquired in the acquiring step and a bottom-formed position where the gap information is not acquired in the acquiring step, within the partial range;
• complementing the unacquired gap information in the top-formed position identified in the identifying step with a value determined based on the respective pieces of gap information acquired in other top-formed positions in the acquiring step;
• and
• complementing the unacquired gap information in the bottom-formed position identified in the identifying step with a value determined based on the respective pieces of gap information acquired in other bottom-formed positions in the acquiring step.