Ink-jet printing method and apparatus, and method and apparatus for manufacturing color filter
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMakoto Akahira, Hiromitsu Yamaguchi
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Abstract
This invention has as its object to provide an ink-jet printing method which make uniform the ejection amounts of nozzles with high precision when a printing operation is performed using only some of a plurality of ejection nozzles. To achieve this object, according to this invention, in an ink-jet printing method for dividing all nozzles of an ink-jet head having a plurality of ink ejection nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups each including nozzles separated by a predetermined number of nozzles, and performing a printing operation by switching the plurality of nozzle groups as needed, the printing operation is performed while variations in ejection amount of the nozzles are made uniform for each nozzle group.
Claims14
An ink-jet printing method comprising the steps of:
- dividing all nozzles of an ink-jet head having a plurality of ink ejection nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups, each including nozzles separated by a predetermined number of nozzles;
- performing a printing operation by switching the plurality of nozzle groups such that a plurality of nozzles of selected nozzle group or groups are driven simultaneously to eject ink and a plurality of nozzles of non-selected group or groups are not driven;
- and
- making uniform any variations in ink amount ejected, in said printing operation performing step, from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously on a unit area of a medium to be colored based on information of ink amount ejected from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously that belong to the selected nozzle group or groups.
An ink-jet printing apparatus comprising:
- first control means for dividing all nozzles of an ink-jet head having a plurality of ink ejection nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups, each including nozzles separated by a predetermined number of nozzles, and performing a printing operation by switching the plurality of nozzle groups such that a plurality of nozzles of selected nozzle group or groups are driven simultaneously to eject ink and a plurality of nozzles of non-selected group or groups are not driven;
- storage means for pre-storing ejection amount data of all nozzles of said ink-jet head under a predetermined condition, the ejection amount data being based on information of ink amounts ejected from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously that belong to the selected nozzle group or groups;
- and
- second control means for independently making uniform any variations in ink amounts ejected from the nozzles for each of the plurality of nozzle groups on the basis of the ejection amount data stored in said storage means.
A method of manufacturing a color filter by coloring a color filter substrate, said method comprising the steps of:
- dividing all nozzles of an ink-jet head having a plurality of ink ejection nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups, each including nozzles separated by a predetermined number of nozzles;
- performing a printing operation by switching the plurality of nozzle groups such that a plurality of nozzles of selected nozzle group or groups are driven simultaneously to eject ink and a plurality of nozzles of non-selected group or groups are not driven;
- and
- making uniform any variations in ink amount ejected, in said printing operation performing step, from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously on a unit area of a medium to be colored based on information of ink amount ejected from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously that belong to the selected nozzle group or groups.
A color filter manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- first control means for coloring a color filter substrate by dividing all nozzles of an ink-jet head having a plurality of ink ejection nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups, each including nozzles separated by a predetermined number of nozzles, and performing a printing operation by switching the plurality of nozzle groups such that a plurality of nozzles of selected nozzle group or groups are driven simultaneously to eject ink and a plurality of nozzles of non-selected group or groups are not driven;
- storage means for pre-storing ejection amount data of all nozzles of said ink-jet head under a predetermined condition, the ejection amount data being based on information of ink amounts ejected from each of the nozzles driven simultaneously that belong to the selected nozzle group or groups;
- and
- second control means for independently making uniform any variations in ink amounts ejected from the nozzles for each of the plurality of nozzle groups on the basis of the ejection amount data stored in said storage means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.