Inkjet printer

• US 10,442,210 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2018
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roland DG Corporation
• Original Assignee: Roland DG Corporation
• Inventors: Yoshida, Seishin
• Primary Examiner(s): Zong, Helen
• Application Number:
  US15/953,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20180297373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 547 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/155 for line printing
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2114 Ejecting transparent or white coloured liquids, e.g. processing liquids B41J2/211 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2117 Ejecting white liquids
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2146 for line print heads
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4051 producing a dispersed dots halftone pattern, the dots having substantially the same size different sizes H04N1/4057
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6016 Conversion to subtractive colour signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6094 depending on characteristics of the input medium, e.g. film type, newspaper

Abstract

An inkjet printer forms ink dots of a first ink and ink dots of a second ink on a recording medium. The inkjet printer performs first screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a first dot group including the ink dots of the second ink, and performs second screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a second dot group including the ink dots of the second ink. The inkjet printer forms a first printing layer, on the recording medium, of the ink dots of the first ink and the ink dots of the first dot group, and forms a second printing layer of the ink dots of the second ink, above or below the first printing layer.

Claims

1. An inkjet printer, comprising:

a first ink head including a plurality of nozzles through which a first ink is ejected towards a recording medium to form ink dots of the first ink on the recording medium;

a second ink head including a plurality of nozzles through which a second ink is ejected towards the recording medium to form ink dots of the second ink on the recording medium;

a moving mechanism to move the first ink head and the second ink head, and the recording medium, with respect to each other; and

a controller connected with the first ink head, the second ink head, and the moving mechanism to control the first ink head, the second ink head, and the moving mechanism;

wherein

the controller includes;

a first screen processor to perform first screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a first dot group including ink dots of the second ink;

a second screen processor to perform second screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a second dot group including ink dots of the second ink;

a third screen processor to perform third screen processing on image data of the first ink to generate ink dots of the first ink;

a first printing controller to form, on the recording medium, a first printing layer of the ink dots of the first ink and the ink dots of the first dot group; and

a second printing controller to form a second printing layer of the ink dots of the second dot group, above or below the first printing layer; and

the first screen processing is a screen processing that generates the ink dots with a smaller amount of data processing than the second screen processing.

2. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein

the first ink is a special color ink;

and

the second ink is a process color ink.

3. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the first screen processing is a screen processing that generates the ink dots at a density lower than the second screen processing.

4. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein

the first screen processing is a screen processing by a dithering method;

and

the second screen processing is screen processing by an error diffusion method.

5. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the controller includes a mode selector to select any one of a plurality of printing modes including a first printing mode of printing the first printing layer below the second printing layer and a second printing mode of printing the first printing layer above the second printing layer.

6. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein

the moving mechanism includes a feeding mechanism to feed the recording medium;

the first ink head and the second ink head are located side by side in a scanning direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a feeding direction in which the recording medium is fed;

the first ink head includes;

a first upstream nozzle array including a portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction; and

a first downstream nozzle array including another portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction, the first downstream nozzle array being located downstream with respect to the first upstream nozzle array in the feeding direction;

the second ink head includes;

a second upstream nozzle array including a portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction; and

a second downstream nozzle array including another portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction, the second downstream nozzle array being located downstream with respect to the second upstream nozzle array in the feeding direction;

the first printing controller;

in a case in which the first printing layer is to be printed below the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the first upstream nozzle array to eject the first ink, and causes the nozzles of the second upstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the first dot group, to print the first printing layer; and

in a case in which the first printing layer is to be formed above the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the first downstream nozzle array to eject the first ink, and causes the nozzles of the second downstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the first dot group, to form the first printing layer; and

the second printing controller;

in the case in which the first printing layer is to be printed below the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the second downstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the second dot group, to form the second printing layer; and

in the case in which the first printing layer is to be formed above the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the second upstream nozzle array to eject the second ink usable to form the ink dots of the second dot group, to form the second printing layer.

7. An inkjet printer comprising:

a first ink head including a plurality of nozzles through which a first ink is ejected towards a recording medium to form ink dots of the first ink on the recording medium;

a second ink head including a plurality of nozzles through which a second ink is ejected towards the recording medium to form ink dots of the second ink on the recording medium;

a moving mechanism to move the first ink head and the second ink head, and the recording medium, with respect to each other; and

a controller connected with the first ink head, the second ink head, and the moving mechanism to control the first ink head, the second ink head, and the moving mechanism;

wherein

the controller includes;

a first screen processor to perform first screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a first dot group including ink dots of the second ink;

a second screen processor to perform second screen processing on image data of the second ink to generate a second dot group including ink dots of the second ink;

a third screen processor to perform third screen processing on image data of the first ink to generate ink dots of the first ink;

a first printing controller to form, on the recording medium, a first printing layer of the ink dots of the first ink and the ink dots of the first dot group;

a second printing controller to form a second printing layer of the ink dots of the second dot group, above or below the first printing layer;

a first color converting processor that applies a first color conversion to an input image of the second ink to create first image data; and

a second color converting processor that applies a second color conversion to an input image of the second ink to create second image data;

the first screen processor performs the first screen processing on the first image data to generate the first dot group; and

the second screen processor performs the second screen processing on the second image data to generate the second dot group.

8. The inkjet printer according to claim 7, wherein the second color conversion is a color conversion different from the first color conversion.

9. The inkjet printer according to claim 7, wherein

the first ink is a special color ink;

and

the second ink is a process color ink.

10. The inkjet printer according to claim 7, wherein the controller includes a mode selector to select any one of a plurality of printing modes including a first printing mode of printing the first printing layer below the second printing layer and a second printing mode of printing the first printing layer above the second printing layer.

11. The inkjet printer according to claim 7, wherein

the moving mechanism includes a feeding mechanism to feed the recording medium;

the first ink head and the second ink head are located side by side in a scanning direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a feeding direction in which the recording medium is fed;

the first ink head includes;

a first upstream nozzle array including a portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction; and

a first downstream nozzle array including another portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction, the first downstream nozzle array being located downstream with respect to the first upstream nozzle array in the feeding direction;

the second ink head includes;

a second upstream nozzle array including a portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction; and

a second downstream nozzle array including another portion of the plurality of nozzles arrayed in the feeding direction, the second downstream nozzle array being located downstream with respect to the second upstream nozzle array in the feeding direction;

the first printing controller;

in a case in which the first printing layer is to be printed below the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the first upstream nozzle array to eject the first ink, and causes the nozzles of the second upstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the first dot group, to print the first printing layer; and

in a case in which the first printing layer is to be formed above the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the first downstream nozzle array to eject the first ink, and causes the nozzles of the second downstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the first dot group, to form the first printing layer; and

the second printing controller;

in the case in which the first printing layer is to be printed below the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the second downstream nozzle array to eject the second ink to form the ink dots of the second dot group, to form the second printing layer; and

in the case in which the first printing layer is to be formed above the second printing layer, causes the nozzles of the second upstream nozzle array to eject the second ink usable to form the ink dots of the second dot group, to form the second printing layer.