Method and apparatus for drop volume normalization in an ink jet printing operation
First Claim
1. Method for controlling a printing device having at least one ink jet nozzle, said method comprising the steps:
- adjusting an offset control of a power supply used to control drop volume of said at least one ink jet nozzle; and
compensating a firing time of said ink jet nozzle as a function of said offset control to account for a change in output ink velocity of said at least one nozzle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is generally directed to providing drop volume normalization of the ink jet nozzles in an ink jet printing operation to alleviate and/or eliminate banding effects due to imprecise placement of ink drops on the printed sheet and variations in the volume of drops produced by different ink jet nozzles of the print device. Exemplary embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for controlling a print device having at least one ink jet nozzle by adjusting an offset control of a power supply used to control drop volume of the at least one ink jet nozzle. In a print device configured with piezoelectric ink jet nozzles, the output drop volume of the nozzle can be controlled within a predetermined range by adjusting the voltage supplied to the ink jet nozzle. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, this offset control of drop volume will result in a change to output ink velocity as well. Accordingly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention further compensate a firing time of the at least one ink jet nozzle as a function of the offset control to account for a change in output ink velocity of the at least one ink jet nozzle.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. Method for controlling a printing device having at least one ink jet nozzle, said method comprising the steps:
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adjusting an offset control of a power supply used to control drop volume of said at least one ink jet nozzle; and compensating a firing time of said ink jet nozzle as a function of said offset control to account for a change in output ink velocity of said at least one nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 16)
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6. Apparatus for controlling a printing device comprising:
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means for adjusting an offset control of a power supply used to control drop volume of said at least one ink jet nozzle; and means for compensating a firing time of said ink jet nozzle as a function of said offset control to account for a change in output ink velocity of said at least one nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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17. A printing device control system comprising:
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at least one first-in first-out memory for supplying control data to at least one ink jet nozzle of a printing head; at least one register for enabling an output of said at least one first-in first-out memory, said delay of said at least one register being determined as a function of a power supply offset control used to control drop volume of said at least one ink jet nozzle. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification