Inkjet Dot Pattern Supplementation for Ruled Line Clarity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printers and similar technologies face issues with image quality due to 'missing dot' areas caused by defective nozzles, leading to unclear ruled lines and decreased print quality, as existing methods simply determine supplementation dot locations based on priority sequences without considering the arrangement of adjacent pixels.
Innovation Solution
An image forming device and method that determines a dot pattern after supplementation by enlarging or arranging dots in adjacent and secondary adjacent pixels based on recording data, ensuring that the dot pattern after supplementation is indicative of either enlarging portions of dots formed on adjacent pixels or arranging dots in secondary adjacent pixels within a designated range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If supplementation dots are determined by priority sequence for each missing dot pixel, then missing dots are supplemented, but ruled lines become unclear and image quality decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the treatment of pixels based on their position relative to ruled lines. When a missing dot pixel is detected, the system checks whether it lies on a ruled line and applies different supplementation strategies: for ruled line pixels, dots are supplemented only in the scan direction to maintain line clarity; for non-ruled line pixels, dots are supplemented in both scan and alignment directions. This localized differentiation resolves the contradiction between complete dot supplementation and ruled line clarity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of dot supplementation direction based on the pixel's functional context. By detecting whether a pixel belongs to a ruled line (a structural parameter), the system dynamically adjusts the supplementation pattern: restricting supplementation to scan direction for ruled line pixels to preserve line definition, while allowing bidirectional supplementation for other pixels to ensure complete coverage. This parameter change resolves the contradiction between reliability and manufacturing precision.
2Reliability
If dots are supplemented in all adjacent areas, then missing dots are covered, but ruled lines become unclear due to supplementation dots on both sides
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by applying different dot supplementation patterns to different spatial locations. For pixels identified as part of ruled lines, the system restricts supplementation to only the scan direction, preventing the formation of symmetric dot patterns on both sides that would blur the ruled line. For non-ruled line pixels, full bidirectional supplementation is applied. This location-based differentiation maintains both dot coverage and ruled line definition.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the conventional approach of supplementing dots symmetrically in all adjacent areas, the patent inverts the strategy for ruled line pixels by supplementing dots only in the scan direction and not in the alignment direction. This inverted, asymmetric supplementation pattern prevents the formation of unclear ruled lines while still ensuring that missing dots are covered, thereby resolving the contradiction between dot coverage and line definition.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming device includes a pattern determining unit and a pattern forming unit. In response to determining that dots are formed continuously in a moving direction on a dot omission pixels within a designated range in the moving direction based on recording data before supplementation of dots by a defective nozzle, and in response to determining that dots are formed continuously in the moving direction on adjacent pixels within the designated range, the pattern determining unit determines a dot pattern after supplementation for a plurality of pixels based on the recording data such that the dot pattern after supplementation is indicative of either enlarging at least a portion of dots formed on the adjacent pixels within the designated range or arranging dots in secondary adjacent pixels within the designated range regardless of dot arrangement of the secondary adjacent pixels according to the recording data before supplementation of dots.