Inkjet Nozzle Defect Compensation via Impact Order Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet recording apparatuses face color unevenness and gloss issues due to variations in the order of ink impacts, particularly when a defective nozzle malfunctions, leading to uneven discharge of color materials across image regions.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus that generates recording data to complement defective nozzles by redistributing the recording amount across other nozzles of the same color material, ensuring the impact order between different color materials remains consistent, thereby maintaining color and gloss uniformity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a defective nozzle is complemented by other nozzles in multipass recording, then the recording function is maintained, but the impact order of color materials changes causing color unevenness and gloss unevenness
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of defective nozzles and pre-calculates compensation patterns before actual recording. By identifying defective nozzles in advance and preparing compensation data, the system ensures that when recording occurs, the impact order of color materials is maintained correctly, preventing color and gloss unevenness while maintaining recording function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies different compensation strategies to different regions and passes of recording. Instead of uniform compensation, the system adjusts the recording pattern locally based on which specific nozzle is defective and which pass is being performed, thereby maintaining the correct impact order for each color material in each region while compensating for the defective nozzle.
2Ease of repair
If the print pattern is changed for each scan to compensate for defective nozzles, then the defective nozzle is complemented, but the impact order of color materials varies across main scanning lines
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates the correct recording patterns for all passes and stores them in advance. When a defective nozzle is detected, the system retrieves the pre-computed compensation pattern that maintains proper impact order, eliminating the need to change patterns during scanning and ensuring consistency across all main scanning lines.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms to detect defective nozzles and automatically adjust recording patterns. By monitoring nozzle performance and receiving feedback about defective nozzles, the system dynamically selects appropriate compensation patterns that maintain consistent impact order across all scanning lines while still compensating for the defective nozzle.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing apparatus for forming an image by performing a plurality of times of recording on a same region of a recording medium by using a recording head including a plurality of recording elements for each of a first color material and a second color material, and a generation unit configured to generate recording data corresponding to each scan of the first color material and the second color material, wherein the generation unit generates, in a case where a defective recording element occurs among the plurality of recording elements for recording the first color material, recording data corresponding to each scan of the first color material by complementing a recording amount assigned to the defective recording element so that impact order between the first color material and the second color material is not changed.