Printing systems and methods
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsJacint Humet, Marc Vall Serra, Jaime Fernandez, Eduardo Amela
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods performed by printing systems (10) are described herein. An ink printhead (38, 40, 42, 44) and a treatment printhead (46, 48) traverse over a print area (84) in a forward direction (50) and a backward direction (52). In one of the forward direction or the backward direction the treatment printhead trails behind the ink printhead. In the other direction the treatment printhead leads before the ink printhead. The treatment printhead ejects treatment fluid for treating the print area depending on the traversing direction. Printing systems (10) and tangible machine readable storage media (64) are also described herein.
Claims18
A method of printing, comprising:
- displacing a carriage (28) including an ink printhead (38, 40, 42, 44) and a treatment printhead (46, 48) such that the carriage traverses over a print area (84) in a forward direction (50) and a backward direction (52), wherein in one of the forward direction or the backward direction the treatment printhead trails behind the ink printhead, and in the other direction the treatment printhead leads before the ink printhead;
- the method further comprising, during the carriage transition over the print area:
- applying ink (56) from the ink printhead to the print area for reproducing an image portion on the print area;
- and
- ejecting treatment fluid (58) from the treatment printhead for treating the print area such that a portion or all of the treatment fluid ejected for treating the print area is ejected while the treatment printhead trails behind the ink printhead.
A printing system (10) comprising:
- a processor (62) to operate a carriage (28), the carriage including a plurality of positions for receiving respective printheads, including an ink position for receiving an ink printhead (38, 40, 42, 44) and a treatment position for receiving a treatment printhead (46, 48), the treatment position trailing behind the ink position when the carriage moves in one of a first direction or a second direction and leads before the ink position when the carriage moves in the another direction,
- wherein the processor is configured to
- operate the carriage to traverse over a print area (84) in the first direction and the second direction,
- control the ink printhead to apply ink (56) to the print area (84) for reproducing an image portion thereon;
- and
- control the treatment printhead to eject treatment fluid (58) for treating the print area (84) depending on the traversing direction.
A tangible machine readable storage medium (64) storing instructions that, when executed by a processor (62), implements a method at a printing system (10), the method comprising:
- simultaneously displacing an ink printhead (38, 40, 42, 44) and a treatment printhead (46, 48) across a print area (84) in two opposite directions (50, 52) such that, in one direction, the treatment printhead is at a trailing position (86) relative to the treatment printhead and, in the another direction, the treatment printhead is at a leading position (88) relative to the treatment printhead;
- ejecting an amount of treatment fluid (58) from the treatment printhead for treating the print area, most or all of the treatment fluid amount being ejected while the treatment printhead is at a trailing position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.