The present invention relates to the field of printing, and particularly, although not exclusively, to a method of correcting for alignment of a print head relative to a print media.
Referring to
With current inkjet printer technology, pen variability can lead to variations in print quality. To achieve a successful print quality, pen variability needs to be compensated for. Calibration in order to compensate for pen variability is known as the automatic alignment process. One of the purposes of the automatic alignment process is to rectify the angle of misalignment which can occur between an image printed onto a print media, and the boundaries of a print media. This angle is know as theta zeta, and is introduced by defects in the printing system, comprising the pen, carriage and print media. The objective is to assure that the drops of ink deposited by a print head onto a media are placed onto a perfect straight and vertical line.
A basic assumption is made that the inkjet nozzles are correctly aligned on the pen. The main defects in the printing system arise from defects in positioning between the pen, the carriage which carries the pen, and the print media. The inkjet nozzles naturally print on a straight line which is nominally vertical. An object of calibration is to make the straight line vertical with respect to the print media. Therefore, the angle between a nominally vertical line printed by the pen and a main vertical axis of the paper needs to be measured.
As a prior art calibration process, estimation of the angle theta zeta consists of printing a set of patterns onto a print media, and then scanning them, and applying an algorithm to compare the actual geometry of the pattern with a theoretical geometry of the pattern. The differences between the theoretical positions of the pattern and the scanned positions of the pattern are characteristic of the defects in alignment which are to be corrected.
Each group of nozzles prints a line of squares. A first line of squares is printed by an upper part of the pen, and so on down to a lower part of the pen. The pattern is scanned in line by line. By locating all the squares produced by a pen, the angle of the pen relative to the paper axis can be calculated.
Referring to FIG. 2. Herein, there is illustrated schematically a printed pattern comprising an array of squares, which is printed by a pen, and then scanned back in to the printer device.
An algorithm is applied in order to determine the angle of the pen relative to the main axis of the print media.
However, several constraints make the performance of this algorithm poorer than the performance which could be expected. One of the constraints is the skew in the paper introduced when the media advances between consecutive scans of the pen across the print media. In fact, what is actually measured with the algorithm is the angle between a nominal ‘vertical’ line as printed by the pen during the print phase, and the movement performed by the media during the scan phase. To properly determine the angle of misalignment, theta zeta, there needs to be determined how many degrees are due to the skew of the print media, and how many degrees are due to the defect which is to be corrected. Therefore, the amount of skew needs to be measured.
Referring to
Referring to FIG. 4. herein, there is illustrated schematically a pattern of squares printed onto a print media. A currently known method for measuring skew is to evaluate a mean position of the squares of each line across a print media which is scanned. This gives a ‘mean point’, for each line of the printed pattern.
For each row of squares, there is a mean position denoted ‘X’. An overall mean position line 200 can be determined from the mean points of each individual row of the pattern. In a perfectly aligned print system, the mean points would lie on the same vertical line relative to the print media. However, in practice, due to defects in the print system, the points may lie on a line which forms an angle to true vertical relative to the print media. The angle between the line of mean points and true vertical is equal to the skew angle. Once the skew angle is determined, this can be used to refine the evaluation of the angle theta zeta.
Referring to FIG. 5. herein, there is illustrated schematically basic process steps carried out by a prior art algorithm for determining the skew angle from a printed pattern of squares. In step 500, the mean position of each row of squares is evaluated. This gives the mean position of each row 501. In step 502, there is constructed a best fit line passing between the mean position of each row of squares. In step 501, there is determined an angle between this best fit line, and a true vertical line, which is taken as the skew angle 503.
However, the above method for determining skew angle proves to be poorly accurate when applied to mechanical printer devices. The theta zeta correction performance is lowered by the rough evaluation of the skew angle.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining an angle between a first direction of movement of a print head and a second direction of movement of a print media, said method comprising: printing an array of markings on said print media, said array of markings extending along said first direction and along said second direction; traversing a sensor device along said first direction, and detecting a signal corresponding to said plurality of markings; identifying a plurality of peaks in said sensor signal as a plurality of data co-ordinates; and obtaining an angle data describing an angle between said plurality of data co-ordinates and a reference data.
Other aspects of the invention are as recited in the claims herein.
For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, there will now be described by way of example only, specific embodiments, methods and processes according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
There will now be described by way of example a specific mode contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the invention. In the following description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, well known methods and structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
When evaluating skew, by the prior art methodology described with reference to
However, the inventors have realised that the above prior art assumptions are proved to be wrong in practice.
The inventors have realised that a combination of various mechanical issues are present, which affects the automatic alignment process. These include;
The above problems raise the need for a better skew evaluation which can deal with the variations of skew during a movement of a print media retained on a printer device, and between two movements of print media where the print media leaves the printer device between printing of a test pattern and a scan operation.
Referring to
The carriage moves across the print media in a first direction X, and the print media moves in a second direction Y, which is transverse to the first direction. As the print media feeds forward, the carriage moves across the print media in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the print media.
Referring to
Both the media transport mechanism and the carriage transport mechanism are controlled by a controller device 704.
The controller device 704 applies an automatic alignment process to the print heads. The automatic alignment process is carried out by printing an array of marks, for example square ink spots, on the print media, and scanning the printed array of marks into memory, the marks being detected by the sensor mounted on the carriage; determining a skew angle from the printed marks, and determining a print head misalignment, after correcting for the skew angle. Once and angle of misalignment due to misalignment of the print head relative to the media transport mechanism is determined, corrections can be made to a stream of data to be printed, so that the printed image on the print media is correctly aligned.
Referring to
In step 802, the array of colour marks are scanned using a sensor mounted on the printer carriage. The carriage moves along a row of ink spots, producing a sensor signal for that row of ink spots. The sensor signal is input into the controller, and converted into digital data. In step 803, a skew compensation algorithm is applying to the digitized sensor signal, in order to determine a skew angle from the sensor signal resulting from a nominally horizontal scan across a width of the print media. In step 804, the skew angle obtained as the result of process 803 is applied to an alignment correction algorithm which may comprise a prior art alignment correction algorithm.
Referring to
A method of operation of the printer device in order to apply an automatic pen alignment process will now be described, in which a skew angle is determined.
In this specification, by the term ‘skew angle’, it is meant an angle between a line of movement of a print head in a first direction X, and a line perpendicular to a line of movement of a print media in a second direction Y.
An array of colour square ink spots is printed in a square box pattern in rows and columns. Once printed, the array is scanned by a sensor device. A square box aligned in a scan axis is printed and scanned by a sensor which is provided on the same carriage to which the pen is mounted. An optimal scanning line would pass through the centre of each square ink spot, producing an output signal having regular peaks at the positions of the squares. If the signal produced has peaks with irregular amplitudes, this means that a media skew has been detected. By measuring how the amplitude of the peaks in the sensor signal is decreasing or increasing along the scan axis, the extent of the skew can be deduced, and can be compensated for when printing a print job.
According to the specific mode implementation described herein, the skew of a print media is evaluated locally using the results of a scan along each row of printed squares of a printed pattern comprising an array of squares.
Referring to FIG. 10. herein, there is illustrated schematically an array of squares printed by a print head. A first row of squares 1000 is coloured in a first colour for example blue, and a second row of squares 1001 is coloured in a second colour for example magenta. When a row of squares is scanned by a scanning head, a perfectly aligned movement of the sensor along the row of squares, would pass through the centres of the squares as shown by the arrow in FIG. 10.
Referring to FIG. 11. Herein, there is illustrated one example of a plot of sensor amplitude output against horizontal position in the first direction X, resulting from a scan of the second line 1101 of the blue/magenta pattern illustrated in
Between the first set of peaks produced by the blue colour squares, there are some lower amplitude peaks, typically of an amplitude not exceeding a second value 200, in the example shown, resulting from peripheral detection of the magenta coloured squares of the first row 1000. These correspond to squares of the adjacent row of the pattern which are detected by the sensor.
Where the pattern is being scanned in a true horizontal line, and the printing mechanism is accurately aligned with the print media, individual detection peaks 1100 corresponding to the squares of colour ink printed across a row tend to have a similar amplitude as each other. In the example show in
However, where there is significant skew present, movement of the sensor scan is not as ‘horizontal’ as it should be relative to the pattern, as illustrated schematically in
Under these circumstances, the sensor signal shows variation in the amplitudes of successive peaks for squares of a same colour.
Referring to
On the other hand, squares from the adjacent second row, in this case the row 1201 of magenta coloured squares, become more prominent and the sensor signal from the second row increases in intensity as the sensor moves positively in the scanned direction.
There is a correlation between the intensity of the sensor signal peaks and the skew angle.
At a local level, i.e. the level of each individual printer device, it is possible to determine if, and by how much, a particular scan is impacted by the skew. This information is then used locally in the printer device to correct the result of a scan and reduce the impact of the skew.
The intensity of the signal returned by the sensor, and consequently the peak amplitude of each spike corresponding to each color square, depends on the surface of the pattern which is being scanned. The bigger the pattern, the stronger the signal. This relationship holds true until the pattern reaches over an entire scanning zone of the sensor. The more pattern which the sensor can detect within its scanning zone, the higher the amplitude of the sensor signal.
Referring to
Referring to FIG. 15. herein, there is illustrated schematically a −3 dB level of a detection zone of a sensor, as it passes across a colour ink square in a direction arrowed, where an almost complete overlap of the detection zone and the colour square occurs. This gives rise to a relatively higher sensor signal, compared to a situation where there is a lower degree of overlap between the detection zone and the colour ink square.
In general, the amplitude of the signal produced by the sensor is dependant upon the amount of overlap between the sensor detection zone and the colour ink square which has been detected, with a higher amplitude being obtained for a higher amount of overlap, and a lower amplitude signal being obtained for a lower amount of overlap.
The surface of the pattern actually viewed within the detection zone of the sensor depends upon the respective positions of the scan axis of the sensor and the row axis of the pattern. Therefore there is a direct correlation between the evolution of the peak amplitude of the sensor output for a series of succesive detected color squares, and the relationship between the scan axis and the row axis. That is, there is a direct correlation between the peak amplitude height of the sensor output and the skew between the printed pattern and the scan axis of the printer's carriage.
To measure the skew, the following algorithm process steps are applied to the sensor signal resulting from the scanned in pattern.
Referring to
Referring to
In step 1700, a row of a printed pattern of an array of ink is scanned by a sensor device mounted on a carriage which also carries a plurality of ink check nozzles which were used to print the array of ink spots. A sensor signal is generated as an electrical signal having an amplitude value proportional to an intensity of detected light. The sensor signal is digitised and input into a digital controller device as described with reference to
The angle Ψ between two lines having slopes m1and m2 can be determined from the equation:
tan Ψ=m2−m1/(1+m1m2)
Lines are parallel or coincident if and only if m1=m2. The angle Ψ is the skew angle between the line having gradient m2, as determined from the maximum peaks of the selected set of peaks generated from the sensor signal, and a nominal horizontal axis having gradient zero (m1=0).
The skew determining algorithm illustrated with reference to
The algorithm illustrated with reference to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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02023824 | Oct 2002 | EP | regional |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4387380 | Asakura et al. | Jun 1983 | A |
5227246 | Ueda et al. | Jul 1993 | A |
6478401 | King et al. | Nov 2002 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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1 176 802 | Jan 2002 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040130708 A1 | Jul 2004 | US |