BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;
FIGS. 2A and 2B are views of array print heads which can be used as a print head of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;
FIGS. 3A through 3C are views illustrating a printing method using an inkjet printer of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept;
FIGS. 5A through 5G are views illustrating a printing method using an inkjet printer of FIG. 4, according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept; and
FIGS. 7A and 7B are views illustrating a printing method using an inkjet printer of FIG. 6, according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.
According to various embodiments of the present general inventive concept, an inkjet printer forms one image by printing a plurality of times on a single sheet of paper.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 1, according to the current embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the inkjet printer includes a print head 120 to perform a printing job on a sheet of paper P and a paper rotating member to rotate the paper P by 90 degrees after performing the printing job. The print head 120 is fixed in the inkjet printer and performs the printing job on the paper P. The print head 120 may be an array print head having a width corresponding to a long side of the paper P.
FIG. 2A is a view of an array print head 120′ which is can be used as the print head 120 of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. FIG. 2A illustrates a bottom surface of the array print head 120′. Referring to FIG. 2A, the array print head 120′ includes a plurality of print head chips 121 formed to alternate between two rows on an ink path member 125. A plurality of nozzles 122K, 122C, 122M and 122Y to eject black K, cyan C, magenta M and yellow Y ink, respectively, are formed in each of the print head chips 121. Alternatively, if the inkjet printer is a mono inkjet printer, a plurality of nozzles to eject only black K ink may be formed in each of the print head chips 121. FIG. 2B is a view of another array print head 120″ which can be used as the print head 120 of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Referring to FIG. 2B, a plurality of print head chips 123 are formed in eight rows on an ink path member 125. The print head chips 123 may include one of nozzles 122K, 122C, 122M and 122Y to eject black K, cyan C, magenta M and yellow Y ink, respectively, wherein two rows of each of the print head chips 123 are employed to eject one of the four inks.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate two types of array print heads to be used in an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that array print heads including print head chips arranged in various forms may be used. As stated above, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the array print head may have the width corresponding to the long side of a paper and may be fixed in the inkjet printer. However, the print head is not limited to this array print head. For example, the print head may have a width smaller than the long side of the paper and may be fixed in the inkjet printer.
The paper rotating member can rotate the paper P which is printed on by the print head 120 by 90 degrees. The paper rotating member may include a rotating plate 130. The paper P printed on by the print head 120 can be loaded on the rotating plate 130. The rotating plate 130 can rotate the loaded paper P by 90 degrees.
Hereinafter, a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 1 will be described. FIGS. 3A through 3C are views illustrating a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 3A, a sheet of paper A is fed to a print head 120 in a first direction which is a paper feeding direction. The print head 120 performs a first printing job on the fed paper P. A long side of the paper P is first fed to the print head 120. A width of the print head 120 corresponds to the long side of the paper P. The paper printed on by the print head 120 may be loaded on the rotating plate 130. Referring to FIG. 3A, during the first printing job, when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the print head 120, a white streak 150 which deteriorates image quality may be formed in a printed image.
Referring to FIG. 3B, the rotating plate 130 may be rotated in a horizontal direction by 90 degrees. Thus, the paper P which is printed on during the first printing job may be rotated in a horizontal direction by 90 degrees. The paper P which is printed on during the first printing job and which is currently rotated may be again fed to the print head 120 in a second direction which is opposite to the first direction and is a paper discharge direction. Accordingly, a short side of the paper P printed in the first printing job is fed to the print head 120.
Referring to FIG. 3C, the print head 120 may perform a second printing job on the printed paper P. The paper P printed on in the second printing job may be discharged in the second direction which is the paper discharge direction. The white streak 150 formed on the image by the first printing job may be reduced to a white dot 151 during the second printing job. Since the white dot 151 is too minute to be distinguished by human eyes, the white dot 151 does not badly affect the printing image quality.
According to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the long side of the paper P is first fed into the print head 120 during the first printing job. Then, the short side of the paper P is fed into the print head 120 during the second printing job. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to this order of feeding of the paper P. That is, the short side of the paper P can be first fed into the print head 120 during the first printing job. Then, the long side of the side of the paper P can be fed into the print head 120 during the second printing job. In addition, according to the current embodiment of the present general inventive concept, two printing jobs may be performed on the paper P in order to form one image. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to only two printing jobs. That is, three or more printing jobs may be performed on the paper.
As described above, according to the various embodiments of the present general inventive concept, the inkjet printer may repeatedly perform printing jobs in directions perpendicular to each other. Thus, a deterioration of image quality, which may occur when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the print head 120, can be prevented.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 4, according to this embodiment, the inkjet printer includes a print head 220 to perform a printing job on a sheet of paper P, a paper rotating member (e.g., a paper rotating roller 231) to rotate the paper P by 90 degrees after performing the printing job, and a paper moving member (e.g., a paper moving roller 232) to again feed the rotated paper P to the print head 220. The print head 220 is fixed in the inkjet printer and performs the printing job on the fed paper P. An array print head having a width corresponding to a long side of the paper P can be used as the print head 220. The array print head may include a plurality of print head chips arranged in a predetermined form. Nozzles to eject ink having predetermined colors may be formed in each of the plurality of print head chips.
When the paper P is fed to a front portion of the print head 220, the paper rotating roller 231 may be formed on a rear portion of the print head 220, and the paper moving roller 232 may be formed on the front portion of the print head 220. The paper rotating roller 231 may be angled at 45 degrees in a horizontal direction at a lower portion of the print head 220. In addition, the paper moving roller 232 may be parallel to the print head 220 in the lower portion of the print head 220.
Hereinafter, a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 4 will be described. FIGS. 5A through 5G are views illustrating a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 4, according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 5A, a sheet of paper P is fed to a print head 220 in a first direction which is a paper feeding direction. The print head 220 performs a first printing job on the fed paper P. A long side of the paper P is first fed to the print head 220. A width of the print head 220 corresponds to the long side of the paper P. Referring to FIG. 5B, during the first printing job, when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the print head, a printed image may include a white streak 250 which deteriorates image quality.
Referring to FIGS. 5B, 5C and 5D, when the paper P, which is printed on during the first printing job by the print head 220 and which is moved in a first direction, comes in contact with a paper rotating roller 231, the paper rotating roller 231 is rotated. The paper P, which is printed on during the first printing job, is rotated to move in a second direction opposite to the first direction by the rotation of the paper rotating roller 231. During the first printing job, since the paper rotating roller 231 is angled in a horizontal direction at 45 degrees with respect to the print head 220, the paper, which is printed on during the first printing job and which moves in the first direction, is rotated by 90 degrees by the paper rotating roller 231 and is simultaneously moved in the second direction.
Referring to FIG. 5E, when the paper which is moved in the second direction by the paper rotating roller 231 is in contact with the paper moving roller 232, the paper moving roller 232 is rotated. The paper P which is moved in the second direction by the rotation of the paper rotating roller 231 is moved in the first direction opposite to the second direction by the paper moving roller 232.
Referring to FIG. 5F, the paper P, which has been printed on during the first printing job and which is moved in the first direction by the paper moving roller 232, is again fed to the print head 220, and the print head 220 performs a second printing job on the paper P which has already been printed on during the first printing job. During the second printing job, a short side of the paper P is first fed to the print head 220.
Referring to FIG. 5G, the print head 220 performs the second printing job. The paper P, which is printed on during the second printing job, is discharged in the first direction, which is a paper discharge direction. During the second printing job, the white streak 250 formed during the first printing job is reduced to a minute white dot 251.
According to this embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the long side of the paper P is first fed into the print head 220 during the first printing job. Then, the short side of the paper P is fed into the print head 220 during the second printing job. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to this order. That is, the short side of the paper P can be first fed into the print head 220 during the first printing job. Then, the long side of the side of the paper P can be fed into the print head 220 during the second printing job. In addition, according to the current embodiment of the present general inventive concept, two printing jobs can be performed on the paper P in order to form one image. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to performing only two printing jobs. That is, three or more printing jobs may be performed on the paper.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 6, according to this embodiment, the inkjet printer includes a first print head 321 to perform a printing job on a paper P and a second print head 322 formed perpendicular to the first print head 321 to perform another printing job. The first print head 321 and the second print head 322 are fixed in the inkjet printer. The first print head 321 may have a width corresponding to a long side of the paper P. The second print head 322 may have a width corresponding to a short side of the paper P. The first print head 321 and the second print head 322 may be array print heads having a plurality of print head chips arranged in a predetermined form. Nozzles to eject ink having predetermined colors can be formed in each of the plurality of print head chips.
Hereinafter, a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 6 will be described. FIGS. 7A and 7B are views illustrating a printing method using the inkjet printer of FIG. 6, according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.
Referring to FIG. 7A, a sheet of paper P may be fed to a first print head 321 in a first direction which is a paper feeding direction. The first print head 321 performs a first printing job on the fed paper P. A long side of the paper P may be first fed to the first print head 321. A width of the first print head 321 corresponds to the long side of the paper P. During the first printing job, when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the first print head 321, a white streak 350 that deteriorates image quality may be formed in a printed image.
Referring to FIG. 7B, the paper P printed on during the first printing job by the first print head 321 is fed to a second print head 322 perpendicular to the first print head 321. Accordingly, the paper P, which is fed in the first direction and printed on during the first printing job, is fed in a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction. Here, the short side of the paper P printed using the first printing job is first fed to the second print head 322. The second print head 322 performs a second printing job on the paper P which has already been printed on during the first printing job. The paper P which has been printed on during the second printing job is discharged in the second direction which is a paper discharge direction. During the second printing job, when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the second print head 322, a white streak 350 which is formed on the image printed during the first printing job is reduced to a minute white dot 351.
According to the current embodiment of the present general inventive concept, widths of the print heads 321 and 322 may correspond to the long and short sides of paper P, respectively. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to these arrangements. That is, widths of the print heads 321 and 322 may correspond to the short and long sides of paper P, respectively. Here, the short side of the paper P can be first fed to the first print head 321 during the first printing job. Then, the long side of the paper P can be fed to the second print head 322 during the second printing job. In addition, according to the current embodiment of the present general inventive concept, two printing jobs may be performed on the paper P in order to form one image. However, the present general inventive concept is not limited to this number of printing jobs. That is, three or more printing jobs may be performed on the paper P.
As described above, according to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, an inkjet printer may repeatedly perform printing jobs in directions perpendicular to each other. Thus, a deterioration of image quality, which may occur when a nozzle has a problem ejecting ink from the print head, can be prevented using a minimum number of printing jobs.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Patent Application
20080068432
