Droplet ejection apparatus and method of controlling the apparatus

A droplet ejection apparatus, comprising:

• an image-data storage section configured to store image data based on which an image is formed on a recording medium;
• a droplet ejection head configured to eject droplets of a liquid to form, on the recording medium, the image based on the image data stored in the image-data storage section;
• a post-processing mechanism configured to perform first processing and second processing by a common processing technique, on the recording medium on which the image based on the image data has been formed by the droplet ejection head;
• a discharged-sheet supporting portion configured to support the recording medium on which the first processing and the second processing have been performed by the post-processing mechanism;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• obtain a first processing amount required for the first processing;
• obtain a second processing amount required for the second processing;
• and
• control the post-processing mechanism to perform the first processing and the second processing according to a maximum processing amount among the first processing amount and the second processing amount.

A method of controlling a droplet ejection apparatus, comprising:

• an image-data storage section configured to store image data based on which an image is formed on a recording medium;
• a droplet ejection head configured to eject droplets of a liquid to form, on the recording medium, the image based on the image data stored in the image-data storage section;
• a post-processing mechanism configured to perform drying processing and curl correction processing by a common processing technique, on the recording medium on which the image based on the image data has been formed by the droplet ejection head;
• and a discharged-sheet supporting portion configured to support the recording medium on which the drying processing and the curl correction processing have been performed by the post-processing mechanism, the method comprising the steps of:
• calculating, on the basis of the image data a liquid ejection amount that is an amount of the liquid ejected from the droplet ejection head, for each of a plurality of evaluation regions defined on the recording medium;
• determining a first processing amount that is a control amount of the post-processing mechanism required for the drying processing, on the basis of a maximum one of the liquid ejection amounts of the respective evaluation regions;
• determining, for each of the plurality of evaluation regions, a second processing amount that is a control amount of the post-processing mechanism required for the curl correction processing, on the basis of the liquid ejection amount and a position of the evaluation region on the recording medium;
• and
• controlling the post-processing mechanism to perform the drying processing and the curl correction processing on the recording medium according to a maximum control amount of the post-processing mechanism among the first processing amount and the second processing amounts of the respective evaluation regions.