Printing system servicing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsGianni Cessel, Jose Luis Valero Navazo, Jeff Allen Wagner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A printing system includes a print bar, a plurality of printheads installed on the print bar and an auxiliary printhead moveable parallel to the print bar. A number of first nozzles of the auxiliary printhead substitute for a number of second nozzles of the printheads during a nozzle servicing operation performed on the second nozzles.
Claims20
A printing system comprising:
- a print bar;
- a plurality of printheads installed on the print bar;
- an auxiliary printhead moveable parallel to the print bar, wherein a number of first nozzles of the auxiliary printhead substitute for a number of second nozzles of the printheads during a nozzle servicing operation performed on the second nozzles;
- and
- a nozzle redundancy controller to divert nozzle firing data generated by a nozzle control data generator for controlling first nozzle circuitry of the printheads to second nozzle circuitry of the auxiliary printhead in response to a determination that a nozzle servicing module is obscuring the second nozzles of the printheads,
- wherein the nozzle redundancy controller modifies a timing of the nozzle firing data based on a horizontal distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.
A method of performing a service operation on a number of printheads coupled to a print bar comprising:
- during a printing operation, moving a nozzle servicing module to perform a servicing operation on a number of first nozzles of at least one printhead coupled to a print bar;
- positioning a number of second nozzles of an auxiliary printhead in alignment with a number of the first nozzles obscured by the nozzle servicing module;
- transferring, with a nozzle redundancy controller, nozzle firing data intended for nozzle circuitry of the first nozzles that are obscured by the nozzle servicing module to nozzle circuitry of the second nozzles of the auxiliary printhead;
- and
- modifying with the nozzle redundancy controller a timing of the nozzle firing data based on a horizontal distance between the printheads on the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.
A computer program product for performing a nozzle servicing, the computer program product comprising:
- a computer readable storage medium comprising computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code to, when executed by a processor:
- perform a printing operation;
- during the printing operation, move a nozzle servicing module to perform a servicing operation on a number of first nozzles of at least one printhead coupled to a print bar;
- position a number of second nozzles of an auxiliary printhead in alignment with a number of the first nozzles obscured by the nozzle servicing module;
- transfer, with a nozzle redundancy controller, nozzle firing data intended for nozzle circuitry of the first nozzles that are obscured by the nozzle servicing module to nozzle circuitry of the second nozzles of the auxiliary printhead;
- and
- modify a timing of the nozzle firing data based on a distance between the printheads coupled to the print bar and the auxiliary printhead.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.