IMAGING WITH HELICAL AND CIRCULAR SCANS

• US 20100225982A1
• Filed: 03/04/2009
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Salvestro, Aldo
• Granted Patent: US 8,485,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/489
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 19/16 Special spacing mechanisms for circular, spiral, or diagonal-printing apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/06 using cylindrical picture-bearing surfaces , i.e. scanning a main-scanning line substantially perpendicular to the axis and lying in a curved cylindrical surface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0671 with sub-scanning by translational movement of the main-scanning components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/1903 Arrangements for enabling electronic abutment of lines or areas independently scanned by different elements of an array or by different arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/1911 Simultaneously or substantially simultaneously scanning picture elements on more than one main scanning line, e.g. scanning in swaths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/042 capable of using different scanning methods at a single scanning station
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0426 Scanning an image in a series of contiguous zones

Abstract

A method for forming an image includes providing a media support adapted to receive media; providing a recording head comprising a plurality of recording channels, wherein each recording channel is adapted to form an image pixel column while scanning over the media; providing an image data file comprising one or more arrangements of image data columns; assigning first image data from a single image data column to a first recording channel of the recording head; operating the first recording channel to form a first image pixel column solely in accordance with the assigned first image data; assigning second image data from each image data column of a plurality of the image data columns to a second recording channel of the recording head; operating the second recording channel to form a second image pixel column in accordance with the assigned second image data; and operating the recording head to form the image.

Claims

1. A method for forming an image, comprising:

providing a media support adapted to receive media;

providing a recording head comprising a plurality of recording channels, wherein each recording channel is adapted to form an image pixel column while scanning over the media;

providing an image data file comprising one or more arrangements of image data columns;

assigning first image data from a single image data column to a first recording channel of the recording head;

operating the first recording channel to form a first image pixel column solely in accordance with the assigned first image data;

assigning second image data from each image data column of a plurality of the image data columns to a second recording channel of the recording head;

operating the second recording channel to form a second image pixel column in accordance with the assigned second image data; and

operating the recording head to form the image.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising assigning different portions of each image data column of the plurality of the image data columns to different recording channels, wherein each portion is less than the entirety of its corresponding image data column.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the first image data comprises all image data in the single image data column.

4. A method according to claim 1, comprising applying orthogonality corrections to portions of the image data file that include each image data column in the plurality of the image data columns.

5. A method according claim 1, comprising applying orthogonality corrections to a portion of the image data file that excludes the single image data column.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second recording channel is operated to form the second image pixel column while scanning along both a main-scan direction and a sub-scan direction, the second image pixel column extending along a direction that is skewed by a skew angle with respect to the main-scan direction, and the method comprises shifting image data in each image data column in the plurality of the image data columns in a computer readable memory, wherein the shifts in the image data are made based at least on the skew angle.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the image data columns in the plurality of image data columns are arranged along a direction corresponding to the sub-scan direction, and the method comprises shifting the image data in a direction opposite to the direction corresponding to the sub-scan direction.

8. A method according to claim 1, comprising reading image data from the plurality of image data columns along an image data read path that is skewed with each image data column in the plurality of the image data columns.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the second recording channel is operated to form the second image pixel column while scanning along both a main-scan direction and a sub-scan direction, the second image pixel column extending along a direction that is skewed by a skew angle with respect to the main-scan direction, and the image data read path extends along a direction that is skewed with each image data column in the plurality of image data columns by an amount corresponding to the skew angle.

10. A method according to claim 1, comprising scanning along a first direction while forming the first image pixel column and scanning along a second direction while forming the second image pixel column, wherein the first direction is the same as the second direction.

11. A method according to claim 1, comprising scanning along a first direction while forming the first image pixel column and scanning along a second direction while forming the second image pixel column, wherein the first direction is parallel to the second direction.

12. A method according to claim 1, comprising scanning along a first direction while forming the first image pixel column and scanning along a second direction while forming the second image pixel column, wherein the first direction is different than the second direction.

13. A method according to claim 1, comprising scanning along a first direction while forming the first image pixel column and scanning along a second direction while forming the second image pixel column, wherein the first direction intersects the second direction.

14. A method according to claim 1, comprising forming each of the first image pixel column and the second image pixel column while helically scanning over the media.

15. A method according to claim 1, comprising forming the first image pixel column while circularly scanning over the media, and forming the second image pixel column while helically scanning over the media.

16. A method according to claim 1, comprising forming a portion of a first image feature while forming the first image pixel column and forming a portion of a second image feature while forming the second image pixel column, wherein the first image feature corresponds to an electrical element and the second image feature corresponds to a graphical element.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the electrical element is one of a conductor, a resistor, an inductor, a capacitor, a rectifier, a transistor, an opto-electronic device, a microwave device, and an acoustical device.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein the media includes a media adapted to transfer a functional material to a substrate.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the image includes an image feature that corresponds to a portion of an electrical element formed on the substrate with the functional material.

20. A method according to claim 1, wherein the media comprises a plurality of media, and the method comprises forming each of the first image pixel column and the second image pixel column on different media.

21. A method according to claim 1, comprising forming each of the first image pixel column and the second image pixel column while scanning over a same surface of the media.

22. A method according to claim 1, wherein each arrangement of the image pixel columns comprises includes a sub-file of the image data file.

23. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first recording channel and the second recording channel are the same recording channel.

24. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first recording channel and the second recording channel are different recording channels.

25. An imaging method comprising:

providing a media support adapted to receive media;

providing a recording head adapted to form image pixels while scanning over the media;

providing one or more arrangements of image data representative of an image, wherein the image comprises a first image feature corresponding to a graphical element and a second image feature corresponding to an electrical element;

operating the recording head to scan over the media to form the first image feature in accordance with first image data that is orthogonality corrected; and

operating the recording head to scan over the media to form the second image feature in accordance with second image data that is not orthogonality corrected.

26. An imaging method according to claim 25, comprising operating the recording head to helically scan over the media while forming the first image feature and operating the recording head to circularly scan over the media while forming the second image feature.

27. An imaging method according to claim 25, comprising operating the recording head to helically scan over the media while forming each of the first image feature and the second image feature.

28. An imaging method according to claim 25, wherein the electrical element is one of a conductor, a resistor, an inductor, a capacitor, a rectifier, a transistor, an opto-electronic device, a microwave device, and an acoustical device.

29. An imaging method according to claim 25, wherein the media includes a media adapted to transfer a functional material to a substrate.

30. An imaging method according to claim 29, comprising forming a portion of the electrical element on the substrate with the functional material.

31. An imaging method according to claim 25, wherein the media comprises a plurality of media, and the method comprises forming each of the first image feature and the second feature on different media.

32. An imaging method according to claim 25, comprising operating the recording head to form each of the first image feature and the second image feature while scanning over a same surface of the media.

33. An imaging method according to claim 25, wherein each arrangement of the image data comprises includes a sub-file in an image data file.