Dot Recording Apparatus Mask Region Streak Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dot recording apparatuses face issues with color streaks and white streaks due to shifts during scanning, leading to degraded image quality, particularly at boundaries of pixel groups.
Innovation Solution
A dot recording apparatus with a controller that manages multiple mask regions during scanning, where the dot charge rate varies across regions, allowing for overlapping of shifted mask regions to minimize noticeable streaks by adjusting dot recording rates and region boundaries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If pixel groups are arranged within a recording region and main scanning is performed, then recording efficiency is improved, but color streaks and white streaks are generated at boundaries when shifting occurs during scanning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating dot charge rates across different regions. Specifically, the first region (along boundaries) has a lower dot charge rate D1, while the second region (overlapped area) has a higher dot charge rate D2, and the third region (excluding first and second) has dot charge rate D3. This localized differentiation suppresses visible streaks at boundaries while maintaining overall recording efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the dot charge rate parameter across different regions to resolve the contradiction. By setting D1 < D2 and D3, and controlling the overlapping recording, the system adjusts dot distribution density locally to mask streaks caused by scanning shifts, thereby improving image quality without sacrificing productivity.
2Device complexity
If dot recording is performed with uniform dot charge rate across all regions, then device complexity is reduced, but visible streaks appear at mask region boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniform dot charge rate, the patent implements local quality by assigning different dot charge rates to different regions: D1 for boundary regions, D2 for overlapped regions, and D3 for other regions. This localized approach improves boundary quality while adding manageable complexity through region-based control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the recording region into multiple zones with different dot charge rates. The mask regions are divided into first, second, and third regions, each with specific dot charge rate assignments. This segmentation allows targeted control of boundary areas to suppress streaks while maintaining overall system feasibility.
3Manufacturing precision
If mask regions are overlapped with shifts between passes, then streak visibility is reduced, but dot distribution uniformity becomes challenging to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes by adjusting dot charge rates D1, D2, and D3 across different regions and passes. The overlapping recording with shifted mask regions is controlled by varying these parameters, allowing streak visibility to be reduced while maintaining dot distribution uniformity through compensatory adjustments in dot charge rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs periodic action through multi-pass recording with P passes (P≥4, P is not prime). Masks are applied in periodic sequence with shifts between passes, and dot charge rates are adjusted periodically across passes to ensure uniform dot distribution while reducing streak visibility through overlapping recording.
Data Source
AI summary
A first mask region is a dot recording region including a pixel position on which a dot is recorded, a second mask region is a dot non-recording region including only a pixel position on which a dot is not recorded, recording of dots is performed so as to overlap the first mask regions with each other in a state where the first mask regions of two masks or more among the P masks are shifted from each other on the recording medium, and D1<D3<D2 is satisfied, when a dot charge rate which is a ratio of dots that are recorded in one pass of the entirety of the dots in a first region A1 on an inner side of boundary lines that form an outer edge of the first mask region in the first mask regions is D1.