Device and method of determining amount of transparent liquid to be jetted, an image forming apparatus, and an image forming method

A method of determining the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted, the method comprising:

• an information acquisition step of acquiring information representing the amount of medium deformation of a test pattern which is printed by ink jet means for jetting ink containing a color material and transparent liquid jet means for jetting transparent liquid and in which the ink and the transparent liquid are applied to different regions on the same medium and ink application regions to which the ink is applied and transparent liquid application regions to which the transparent liquid is applied are arranged adjacent to each other;
• and
• an information processing step of determining the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted by the transparent liquid jet means for jetting the transparent liquid, from the information representing the amount of medium deformation acquired by the information acquisition step,
• wherein the test pattern includes the plurality of ink application regions, and the transparent liquid application regions are disposed between the plurality of ink application regions,
• the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to each of the plurality of transparent liquid application regions is determined on the basis of the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to a region as a target and the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions that are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region, and
• the information processing step including:
• reducing the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to the region as a target is large;
• and
• increasing the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions, which are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region, is large.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• ink jet means for jetting ink containing a color material;
• transparent liquid jet means for jetting transparent liquid;
• test pattern printing control means for outputting a test pattern in which the ink and the transparent liquid are applied to different regions on the same medium and ink application regions to which the ink is applied and transparent liquid application regions to which the transparent liquid is applied are arranged adjacent to each other, by controlling the ink jet means and the transparent liquid jet means;
• information acquisition means for acquiring information representing the amount of medium deformation of the test pattern;
• and
• information processing means for determining the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted, from the information representing the amount of medium deformation acquired by the information acquisition means,
• wherein the test pattern includes the plurality of ink application regions, and the transparent liquid application regions are disposed between the plurality of ink application regions,
• the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to each of the plurality of transparent liquid application regions is determined on the basis of the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to a region as a target and the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions that are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region,
• the information processing means reduces the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to the region as a target is large, and
• the information processing means increases the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions, which are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region, is large.

An image forming method comprising:

• a test pattern printing step of printing a test pattern by ink jet means for jetting ink containing a color material and transparent liquid jet means for jetting transparent liquid and in which the ink and the transparent liquid are applied to different regions on the same medium and ink application regions to which the ink is applied and transparent liquid application regions to which the transparent liquid is applied are arranged adjacent to each other;
• an information acquisition step of acquiring information representing the amount of medium deformation of the test pattern;
• an information processing step of determining the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted by the transparent liquid jet means for jetting the transparent liquid, from the information representing the amount of medium deformation acquired by the information acquisition step;
• and
• an image forming step of performing printing by jetting the ink by the ink jet means on the basis of print data and jetting the transparent liquid from the transparent liquid jet means according to the determined amount of transparent liquid to be jetted,
• wherein the test pattern includes the plurality of ink application regions, and the transparent liquid application regions are disposed between the plurality of ink application regions,
• the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to each of the plurality of transparent liquid application regions is determined on the basis of the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to a region as a target and the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions that are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region, and
• the information processing step including:
• reducing the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the transparent liquid application region corresponding to the region as a target is large;
• and
• increasing the amount of transparent liquid to be jetted to the region as a target as much as the amount of medium deformation of the ink application regions, which are positioned on both sides of the region as a target so as to be adjacent to the region, is large.