Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-21
2004-02-24
Meier, Stephen D. (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C347S009000, C347S015000, C347S106000, C347S107000, C349S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06695423
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(i) Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink jet apparatus which ejects ink from a nozzle of an ink jet head to color a target object.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various methods for manufacturing organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display panels and panels for color filters of liquid crystal displays (LCD), by means of an ink jet apparatus have been introduced.
For instance, the Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-228820 discloses a method for manufacturing a color filter based on data representing manufacturing conditions, such as total ink volume supplied to a filter element, volume per ink drop ejected from a nozzle (ejected liquid amount), a main scanning frequency and a sub-scanning amount, provided beforehand per color filter of various types. This method simply requires modification of the data representing the manufacturing conditions when the user wishes to manufacture another type of color filter. Therefore, substantial reduction of the time required for initial setups was achieved.
In manufacturing of the organic EL display panels and panels for color filters of LCD by means of an ink jet apparatus, the most important parameters are the thickness of a film formed with ink, and then, the position where the film is formed. Accordingly, there has been a demand that the thickness of the film be arbitrarily adjusted even when the same type of panel is manufactured.
Generally, the thickness of the film formed with ink is uniquely defined depending on the number of ink drops ejected per unit area and volume per ink drop. Therefore, adjustment of the volume per ink drop ejected from a nozzle of an ink jet head is merely required in order to control the thickness of the film. In the ink jet apparatus, modification of the volume per ink drop from the nozzle is possible by increasing or decreasing parameters (such as driving voltage, driving frequency, waveform, for example) of a driving signal applied to the ink jet head. Accordingly, the thickness of film can be controlled by adjustment of the parameters of the driving signal.
However, in the aforementioned manufacturing method, manufacturing conditions are fixed pet color filter type. The manufacturing conditions, that is, parameters of the driving signal, are the same when the color filter of the same type is manufactured. Therefore, modification of the ink drop volume was not easy. The volume per ink drop can be changeable if a number of manufacturing conditions which differ in the ink drop volume are prepared for the same color filter, for example. However, it is not practical to prepare such a lot of data per manufacturing conditions since it requires enormous time and labor. If the data are not prepared, the user has to set the parameters. Thus a load to the user is heavy and the user operation becomes complex.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet apparatus, a parameter determination method and a manufacturing method of organic EL display panel, that allow the user to modify parameters of a driving signal applied to an ink jet head with ease without provision of plural data per manufacturing conditions depending on desired ink drop volume. Another object of the present invention is to provide a parameter determination program for use in the ink jet apparatus, parameter determination method and manufacturing method of organic EL display panel.
In order to attain the above objects, an ink jet apparatus of the present invention is provided with an ink jet head having a nozzle for ejecting ink drops and capable of increasing or decreasing ink drop volume ejected from the nozzle depending on parameters of a driving signal applied. The ink jet apparatus comprises a volume input device for inputting unit volume representing total ink drop volume to be ejected within a unit area, a parameter determination device for determining the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head based on the unit volume inputted by the volume input device, and a reference volume calculation device for calculating reference volume representing total ink drop volume ejected within the unit area when a reference driving signal having reference parameters is applied to the ink jet head. The parameter determination device modifies the reference parameters so that a difference between the reference volume and the unit volume is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, and determines the modified reference parameters as the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head.
The ink jet apparatus constituted as above allows the user to modify the parameters of the driving signal applied to the ink jet head easily based on the desired unit volume inputted by the volume input device.
In this ink jet apparatus, the parameter determination device modifies the reference parameters, and compares the reference volume calculated by the reference volume calculation device based on the modified reference parameters with the unit volume inputted by the volume input device. The modification of the reference parameters, calculation of the reference volume by the reference volume calculation device, and comparison between the reference volume and the unit volume are repeated till the difference is equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold. In this way, the reference parameters that allow the difference to be equal to or lower than the predetermined threshold are easily obtained as a result of input of desired unit volume by the volume input device. The user can easily determine the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head which enables forming of the film with desired thickness even if he/she is not skilled in the operations of the ink jet apparatus.
The ink jet apparatus of the present invention further comprises an interval input device for inputting a unit interval representing an interval of the unit areas. The parameter determination device determines the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head based on the unit volume and the unit interval.
The ink jet apparatus constituted as above allows the parameter determination device to determine the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head based on not only the unit volume inputted by the volume input device but also the unit interval inputted by the interval input device.
The unit interval is a traveling distance from one unit area to another in a scanning direction of the ink jet head when the ink jet head scans a target object along its surface while ejecting ink drops. The parameter determination device determines the parameters which allow the unit volume to be ejected at a desired unit interval as the parameters of the driving signal to be applied to the ink jet head. Therefore, forming of the film with desired thickness is possible regardless of a pixel interval.
There is no limitation in the mechanism for modifying the reference parameters by the parameter determination device. However, it is preferable that the parameter determination device modifies the reference parameters by increasing or decreasing the reference parameters within a range of upper and lower limits preset to the reference parameters, for example.
With the ink jet apparatus constituted as such, modification of the reference parameters is possible by increasing or decreasing the reference parameters within the range of upper and lower limits preset to the reference parameters with which the ink jet head is operable in favorable condition.
It is preferable that the reference driving signal has n types of the reference parameters (1
st
to n
th
reference parameters), and that the parameter determination device increases or decreases one or more types of the reference parameters, among the n types of the reference parameters, within a range of upper and lower limits preset per type of the reference parameters.
Then, it is possible to increase or decrease one or more reference parameter
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Dudding Alfred
Meier Stephen D.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
LandOfFree
Ink jet apparatus, manufacturing method of organic EL... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ink jet apparatus, manufacturing method of organic EL..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ink jet apparatus, manufacturing method of organic EL... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3348720