Inkjet printers

Details Inkjet printers Inkjet printers

1999-09-23

2001-04-03

Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

C347S016000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06209986

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer for outputting plotting data prepared in a host computer to paper.
Inkjet printers have been known in the art wherein an image output region corresponding to one page of the paper is divided into a plurality of bands, and the image information to be outputted is written to a bit map memory in raster data form for each band, and the image data in the bit map memory is used to control the ink discharge from nozzles of the inkjet head to output the image on long sized paper for each band.
In the preparation of the image, there is a limit to the length that the inkjet printer can plot in one operation because of a limitation coordinates to be handled in the application at the host computer side. For example, if the axis has coordinates up to 32767, in a printer with a resolution of 360 dpi, 32767×(25.4/360)=2311 mm is the longest length that can be handled.
Under these circumstances, a method may be used wherein the data is sectioned into certain block lengths and plotted with upper portion margin and a lower portion margin of zero, so that the next plotting is continuous with the present plotting, which effectively permits longer plotting.
In this case, as shown in FIG.
4
(A), the sectioned data is regarded as data coupled with the number of nozzles of an inkjet head
14
. A final image
30
of the first page (1st sheet) coincides with a discharge nozzle region D of the inkjet head
14
. Accordingly, in this condition, if the paper is carried in the forward direction by a portion of width of the inkjet head
14
, the band image of the second page (2nd sheet) can be made continuous with the final band image
30
of the first page with the zero margin.
However, as shown in FIG.
4
(B), in case the sectioned data is not coincident with the number of nozzles of the inkjet head
14
, the undischarge nozzle region X of the inkjet head
14
is not coincided with the final band image
30
on the first page. For this reason, when the plotting of the second page is to be made, where the paper is carried in the forward direction by the head width portion of the inkjet head
14
, a white stripe of the undischarged nozzle region X portion is formed between the final image
30
on the first page and the first band image on the second page, which causes the discontinuation of the next plotting.
Normally, when plotting image is to be prepared at the host computer side, an operator is not required to be conscious of the number of nozzles of the plotting head of the printer. Furthermore, the application at the host computer side corresponds to a variety of printers in many cases, and since there is a possibility that the number of nozzles of the inkjet is variable among the printers, there is a problem in that the preparation of data matched with the printers is difficult.
The present invention has an object of solving the foregoing problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is constructed in such a way that a certain data segmented to a certain block length is subjected to a band plotting with an upper portion margin and a lower portion margin of zero, and the resulting band plotting is made to be continuous with the next plotting, and as a result, in case of performing a longer plotting, it can prevent the generation of a white stripe at the splice between the final band image of the previous plotting and the band image of the next plotting.
The inkjet printer segments an image output region of one page portion into a plurality of bands, and stores an image to be outputted in a bit map memory in the mode of a raster data for each band, and the image stored in the bit map memory is outputted to each band by discharging the ink from the nozzles of the inkjet head onto the long size paper. A CPU determines the number of the nozzles counting from the first nozzle that discharges the ink out of the total number of the nozzles of the inkjet head, and feeds inversely the plotting paper by only a distance portion corresponding to the number of the undischarged nozzles, or an amount corresponding to the backlash portion of the number of the undischarged nozzles and the paper carrying mechanism.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5689294 (1997-11-01), Karz et al.
patent: 5940093 (1999-08-01), Bolash et al.
patent: 6068366 (2000-05-01), Bolash et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Inkjet printers does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Inkjet printers, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Inkjet printers will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2537993