Ink printing method and ink printer
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorNoribumi Koitabashi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There are used heads which eject a black (Bk) ink and processing liquid of relatively low penetrability, respectively, and heads which eject cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y) inks of high penetrability, also respectively. When monochromic characters or images are to be printed, the Bk ink and processing liquid are ejected in this order, and then the C, M and Y inks are ejected while being thinned out. When color images are to be printed, on the other hand, the processing liquid is ejected first, and the C, M or Y ink, depending on the color of the images to be printed, is ejected. This allows the processing liquid to react with the Bk or color ink, to realize high OD, and high-speed fixation by penetrability of the color ink.
Claims33
An ink printing method using at least three types of liquid droplets, comprising the steps of:
- causing a first ink droplet containing a first colorant to mix and react with a processing liquid droplet, which works to accelerate solidification of the first colorant, on a printing medium to form a secondary liquid which contains a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration below its critical micelle concentration (CMC) in water;
- and
- applying a second ink droplet onto the secondary liquid, the second ink droplet containing a second colorant and a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration greater than or equal to its CMC in water.
An ink printing method using at least three types of liquid droplets, comprising the steps of:
- causing a first ink droplet containing a first colorant to mix and react with a processing liquid droplet, which works to accelerate solidification of the first colorant, on a printing medium to form a secondary liquid which has a Ka value below 5;
- and
- applying a second ink droplet onto the secondary liquid, the second ink droplet containing a second colorant and a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration greater than or equal to its CMC in water.
An ink printing apparatus which uses a head ejecting at least three types of liquid droplets and ejects the liquid droplets from the head onto a printing medium to perform printing, said apparatus comprising:
- first applying means for controlling ejection of the liquid from the head so as to cause a first ink droplet containing a first colorant to mix and react with a processing liquid droplet, which works to accelerate solidification of the first colorant, on the printing medium to form a secondary liquid which contains a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration below its critical micelle concentration (CMC) in water;
- and
- second applying means for controlling ejection of the liquid from the head to apply a second ink droplet onto the secondary liquid, the second ink droplet containing a second colorant and a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration greater than or equal to its CMC in water.
An ink printing apparatus which uses a head ejecting at least three types of liquid droplets and ejects the liquid droplets from the head onto a printing medium to perform printing, said apparatus comprising:
- first applying means for controlling ejection of the liquid from the head so as to cause a first ink droplet containing a first colorant to mix and react with a processing liquid droplet, which works to accelerate solidification of the first colorant, on the printing medium to form a secondary liquid which has a Ka value below 5;
- and
- second applying means for applying a second ink droplet onto the secondary liquid, the second ink droplet containing a second colorant and a non-ionic surfactant having a concentration greater than or equal to its CMC in water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.