This application is a U.S. National Stage Application of and claims priority to International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/060689, filed on Sep. 19, 2013, and entitled “SELECTIVELY HEATING A HEATING ZONE OF A PRINTING SYSTEM,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Printing systems form images on media. Printing systems such as large format printers include heating systems. The heating systems may provide uniform heat in the print zone to assist image formation on the media.
Non-limiting examples are described in the following description, read with reference to the figures attached hereto and do not limit the scope of the claims. Dimensions of components and features illustrated in the figures are chosen primarily for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily to scale. Referring to the attached figures:
Printing systems form images on media. Printing systems such as large format printers include heating systems. The heating system may uniformly provide heat of substantially the same temperature to a testing zone to assist image formation on the media. Thus, activation of the heating assembly may provide an entire print zone with substantially the same temperature. Portions of the image printed on media requiring different target curing temperatures, however, may not be efficiently and/or properly addressed. Additionally, simultaneously heating a print zone having multiple media present at the same time requiring different target curing temperatures may not be efficiently and properly addressed.
In examples, a method of printing of a printing system includes, amongst other things, identifying at least one of a type of a respective media to be printed on in a print zone and respective densities of portions of the image by an identification module. The method also includes independently adjusting a respective target curing temperature of each one of a plurality of heating modules disposed across the media transport path in a first direction to form the heating zone based on the at least one of the type of the respective media and the respective densities of the portions of the image identified by the identification module by a temperature adjustment module. Thus, independently adjusting a respective target curing temperature of each one of a plurality of heating modules by the temperature adjustment module based on a resultant identification by the identification module may efficiently and sufficiently heal portions of the image printed on media requiring different target curing temperatures. Additionally, simultaneously heating multiple media present at the same time in the print zone requiring different target curing temperatures may be accomplished in an efficient and proper manner.
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In some examples, the identification module 13 may identify the respective densities of the portions of the image from image data prior to printing the image on the respective media. The identification module 13 may identity and store respective densities of image portions in a bi-dimensional array. The image data may be stored in memory. Alternatively, the identification module 13 may identify the respective densities of the portions of the image may be performed after printing the image on the respective media. The temperature adjustment module 14 may independently adjust a respective target curing temperature of each one of the heating modules 11 based on at least one of the type of the respective media and the respective densities of the portions of the image identified by the identification module 13.
In some examples, the identification module 13 and/or temperature adjustment module 14 may be implemented in hardware, software including firmware, or combinations thereof. The firmware, for example, may be stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction-execution system. If implemented in hardware, as in an alternative, example, the identification module 13 and/or temperature adjustment module 14 may be implemented with any or a combination of technologies which are well known in the art (for example, discrete-logic circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable-gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), and/or other later developed technologies. In some examples, the identification module 13 and/or temperature adjustment module 14 may be implemented in a combination of software and data executed and stored under the control of a computing device.
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In some examples, the target curing temperature for a respective heating module 11a, . . . , 11g and 11h may be selectively adjusted based of the density of a respective image portion 39a, . . . , 39o, and 39p proximate to it to be heated. For example, certain image portions 39b, 39c, and 39g have a higher image density than other image portions 39a, 39d-39f and 39h-39p. Thus, the heating modules 11b, 11e, and 11g that correspond to and heat the respective media regions 49b, 49c, and 49g on which the higher density image portions 39b, 39c, and 39g are printed may be adjusted to a higher target curing temperature.
Additionally, the heating modules 11a, 11d-11f and 11h that correspond to and heat the respective media regions 49a, 49d-49f, and 49h-49p on which the lower density image portions 39a, 39d-39f, and 39h-39p are printed may be adjusted to a lower target curing temperature. In some examples, the respective heating modules 11a, . . . , 11g, and 11h may be activated at a time when the respective media region 49a, . . . , 49o, and 49p having the respective image portion 39a, . . . , 39o, and 39p thereon arrives thereat. For example, a determination of the time to activate the respective heating module 11a, . . . , 11g, and 11h may be based on a distance of the respective, media portion 39a, . . . , 39o and 30p from the respective heating module 11a, . . . , 11g, and 11h and a linear speed of the respective media 46a and 46b, Thus, curing defects to the printed image 37a and 37b on the media 47a and 47b due to underexposure and overexposure of heat by the heating modules 11a, . . . , 11g and 11h may be reduced.
In block S516 a respective target curing temperature of each one of a plurality of heating modules disposed across the media transport path in a first direction to form the heating zone is independently adjusted based on the at least one of the type of the respective media and the respective densities of the portions of the image identified by the identification module by a temperature adjustment module. For example, independently adjusting the respective target curing temperature of each one of the heating modules may be based on the respective densities of the portions of the image-corresponding to the regions of the respective media on which the respective portions of the image are printed.
That is, a respective target curing temperature of a respective heating module may be increased to correspond with an increased density of the portion of the image to be printed on a corresponding region of the respective media to be heated lay the heating module. Alternatively, the respective target curing temperature of the respective heating module may be decreased to correspond with a decreased density of the image portion to be printed on the corresponding media region to be heated by the heating module. The method may also include transporting; a respective media along a second media transport path disposed through the print zone and the heating zone such that the second media transport path is substantially parallel to the media transport path.
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The present disclosure has been described using non-limiting detailed descriptions of examples thereof that are not intended to limit the scope of the general inventive concept it should be understood that features and/or operations described with respect to one example may be used with other examples and that not all examples have all of the features and/or operations illustrated in a particular figure or described with respect to one of the examples. Variations of examples described will occur to persons of the art. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,” “include;” “have” and their conjugates, shall mean, when used in the disclosure and/or claims, “including but not necessarily limited to.”
It is noted that some of the above described examples may include structure, acts or details of structures and acts that may not be essential to the general inventive concept, and which are described for illustrate purposes. Structure and acts described herein are replaceable by equivalents, which perform the same function, even if the structure or acts are different, as known in the art. Therefore, the scope of the general inventive concept is limited only by the elements and limitations as used to the claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2013/060689 | 9/19/2013 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2015/041657 | 3/26/2015 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20160236485 A1 | Aug 2016 | US |