Liquid ejection device and liquid testing method
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorOsamu Shinkawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles and a common ejection testing portion. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The common ejection testing portion is provided in common to the nozzles, the common ejection testing portion being arranged to perform ejection testing of each of the nozzles during printing. At least one of the nozzles is selected to be tested using the common ejection testing portion when the liquid is ejected from the nozzles based on print data. The nozzles that eject liquid being identified based on the print data, and one of the nozzles, which have not been tested, having low ejection frequency based on the print data being selected as the at least one of the nozzles to be tested.
Claims6
A liquid ejection device comprising:
- a plurality of nozzles arranged to eject a liquid;
- and
- a common ejection testing portion provided in common to the nozzles, the common ejection testing portion being arranged to perform ejection testing of each of the nozzles during printing,
- at least one of the nozzles being selected to be tested using the common ejection testing portion when the liquid is ejected from the nozzles based on print data,
- the nozzles that eject liquid being identified based on the print data, and one of the nozzles, which have not been tested, having low ejection frequency based on the print data being selected as the at least one of the nozzles to be tested,
- when the nozzles, which have not been tested, have identical ejection frequency, one of the nozzles that does not eject the liquid for a prolonged period based on the print data being selected as the at least one of the nozzles to be tested.
An ejection testing method for a liquid ejection device having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting a liquid, and a common ejection testing portion provided in common to the nozzles, the common ejection testing portion being adapted to perform ejection testing of each of the nozzles during printing, the ejection testing method comprising:
- identifying, based on print data, the nozzles that eject the liquid;
- selecting one of the nozzles having low ejection frequency, based on the print data, as at least one of the nozzles to be tested from among the nozzles that eject the liquid and that have not been tested;
- and
- testing the at least one of the nozzles to be tested with the common ejection testing portion subsequent to ejection of the liquid from the nozzles based on the print data,
- when the nozzles, which have not been tested, have identical ejection frequency, one of the nozzles that does not eject the liquid for a prolonged period based on the print data being selected as the at least one of the nozzles to be tested.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.