Ink jet printing apparatus, ink jet print head, ink jet printing method, and method and program for setting print conditions
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAyako Uji, Yasushi Murayama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In manufacturing a long ink jet print head in which a plurality of chips are arranged, a decrease in yield resulting from inappropriate arrangement of the chips can be suppressed and high-quality images can be printed. An image corresponding to the joining portion between adjacent chips is printed by using, as overlapping nozzles, those of the nozzles located in the joining portion which are selected on the basis of the amount of misalignment between chips.
Claims14
An ink jet printing apparatus that prints an image by using an ink jet print head having first and second chips, each comprising a plurality of nozzles which are arranged so as to be equally spaced in a nozzle arranging direction and from which ink can be ejected, the first and second chips being arranged so that end portions of the first and second chips overlap each other in a moving direction crossing the nozzle arranging direction to form a joining portion, overlapping nozzles located in a side of the first chip and a side of the second chip of the joining portion being overlapped with respect to each other in the moving direction, relative movement between the ink jet print head and a print medium being effected in the moving direction, the apparatus comprising:
- a mark provided on each of the first and second chips, the mark being provided at a position common to the first and second chips;
- and
- control means for printing an image corresponding to the joining portion of the first and second chips by using the overlapping nozzles, a combination of nozzles located in the first chip side and the second chip side of the joining portion being selected as the overlapping nozzles on the basis of an amount of misalignment among the first and second chips in the nozzle arranging direction, the amount of misalignment being specified on the basis of the marks provided on the first and second chips,
- wherein a combination of nozzles having the smallest amount of misalignment is selected as the overlapping nozzles, and
- wherein the combination of nozzles selected as the overlapping nozzles is used to print an image on the same line in the moving direction.
An ink jet printing method of printing an image by using an ink jet print head having first and second chips, each comprising a plurality of nozzles which are arranged so as to be equally spaced in a nozzle arranging direction and from which ink can be ejected, the first and second chips being arranged so that the end portions of the first and second chips overlap each other in a moving direction crossing the nozzle arranging direction to form a joining portion, overlapping nozzles located in a side of the first chip and a side of the second chip of the joining portion being overlapped with respect to each other in the moving direction, relative movement between the ink jet print head and a print medium being effected in the moving direction, a mark provided on each of the first and second chips, the mark being provided at a position common to the first and second chips, the method comprising the step of:
- printing an image corresponding to the joining portion of the first and second chips by using the overlapping nozzles, a combination of nozzles located in the first chip side and the second chip side of the joining portion being selected as the overlapping nozzles on the basis of an amount of misalignment among the first and second chips in the nozzle arranging direction, the amount of misalignment being specified on the basis of the marks provided on the first and second chips,
- wherein a combination of nozzles having the smallest amount of misalignment is selected as the overlapping nozzles, and
- wherein the combination of nozzles selected as the overlapping nozzles is used to print an image on the same line in the moving direction.
A method for setting print conditions for image printing carried out by using an ink jet print head having first and second chips, each comprising a plurality of nozzles which are arranged so as to be equally spaced in a nozzle arranging direction and from which ink can be ejected, the first and second chips being arranged so that the end portions of the first and second chips overlap each other in a moving direction crossing the nozzle arranging direction to form a joining portion, overlapping nozzles located in a side of the first chip and a side of the second chip of the joining portion being overlapped with respect to each other in the moving direction, relative movement between the ink jet print head and a print medium being effected in the moving direction, a mark provided on each of the first and second chips, the mark being provided at a position common to the first and second chips, the method comprising the step of:
- setting, as the overlapping nozzles, a combination of nozzles located in the first chip side and the second chip side of the joining portion on the basis of an amount of misalignment among the first and second chips in the nozzle arranging direction, the amount of misalignment being specified on the basis of the marks provided on the first and second chips,
- wherein a combination of nozzles having the smallest amount of misalignment is selected as the overlapping nozzles, and
- wherein the combination of nozzles selected as the overlapping nozzles is used to print an image on the same line in the moving direction.
A computer-readable medium storing a program for setting print conditions for image printing carried out by using an ink jet print head having first and second chips, each comprising a plurality of nozzles which are arranged so as to be equally spaced in a nozzle arranging direction and from which ink can be ejected, the first and second chips being arranged so that end portion of the first and second chips overlap each other in a moving direction crossing the nozzle arranging direction to form a joining portion, overlapping nozzles located in a side of the first chip and a side of the second chip of the joining portion being overlapped with respect to each other in the moving direction, relative movement between the ink jet print head and a print medium being effected in the moving direction, a mark provided on each of the first and second chips, the mark being provided at a position common to the first and second chips, the program allowing a computer to execute:
- a step of setting, as the overlapping nozzles, a combination of nozzles located in the first chip side and the second chip side of the joining portion on the basis of an amount of misalignment among the first and second chips in the nozzle arranging direction, the amount of misalignment being specified on the basis of the marks provided on the first and second chips,
- wherein a combination of nozzles having the smallest amount of misalignment is selected as the overlapping nozzles, and
- wherein the combination of nozzles selected as the overlapping nozzles is used to print an image on the same line in the moving direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.