Method for holding substrates on a flatbed printing system. After positioning the substrates on the substrate support surface, a leak air area not covered by the substrates is covered by positioning a flexible cover device at least over the leak air area, and preferably over the substrates as well. Thereby, air flow through the through-holes is prevented. An under-pressure is then applied to the through-holes, sucking the substrates against the substrate support surface. The flexible cover device is then withdrawn to expose the substrate for printing while the under-pressure is maintained. It was found that despite the additional amount of air passing through the through-holes uncovered by the withdrawal of the flexible cover device, the under-pressure surprisingly remained sufficient to properly hold the substrates for printing. An additional advantage is that the cover device may be applied easily and rapidly over the leak air area and substrates at once.

A printing apparatus prints an image by applying ink to a print surface of an inclined print medium using a print head. A control apparatus for the printing apparatus acquires information on an inclination of the print surface. Based on the information, printing is controlled according to a print condition corresponding to a magnitude of the inclination of the print surface.

In a method for adjusting a setup for an encoder for printing to a recording medium of unknown thickness with a multi-row inkjet print head in a printing system, a continuous test line is printed onto the recording medium, transversal to a feed direction of said recording medium, a varied width of the test line is measured, and the adjustment of the setup is modified to minimize the width of the test line.

A recording apparatus includes a recording head performing recording on a recording medium; a cassette on which the recording medium to be transported to the recording head is placed; and a transporting path for transporting the recording medium from the cassette to the recording head. In addition, the recording apparatus includes a medium thickness sensor obtaining thickness information by measuring a thickness of the recording medium in the cassette or the transporting path; a surface information acquisition section acquiring surface information of the recording medium in the cassette or the transporting path; and a determination section specifying a type of the recording medium based on the thickness information and the surface information of the recording medium.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a first control unit, a light projection unit, a light reception unit, a determination unit, and a liquid ejection head. The first control unit is configured to change a threshold for determining a lifting of a recording medium conveyed along a conveyance path according to thickness of the recording medium. The light projection unit is configured to emit a detection beam for detecting the lifting of the recording medium. The light reception unit is configured to receive the detection beam. The determination unit is configured to determine the lifting of the recording medium, when the recording medium is detected with a height greater than the threshold by the detection beam. The liquid ejection head is configured to eject liquid to the recording medium.

A media type determination device includes: a light detector that detects light from a target object; a sensor that transmits an ultrasonic wave to the target object and performs an ultrasonic measurement for receiving the ultrasonic wave transmitted through the target object; and one or a plurality of processors. The one or plurality of processors are programmed to execute a method including: acquiring light information corresponding to the light from the target object, from the light detector; acquiring ultrasonic wave information corresponding to an ultrasonic wave via the target object from the sensor, and determining a type of target object based on the light information and the ultrasonic wave information.

A printing apparatus includes: a head portion that discharges droplets toward a printing medium while reciprocating on the printing medium; and a controller that controls movement of the head portion during a printing operation such that a movement stop time of the head portion when a movement direction of the head portion is reversed at an endmost portion of a range in which the head portion moves is longer than the movement stop time of the head portion when the movement direction of the head portion is reversed on the printing medium.

An example method to determine the change of a print medium due to heat dilatation or contraction is described. In that example the thickness before and after heating is determined and an offset value may be calculated to calibrate a print head to print medium distance.

A printing apparatus includes: a platen that supports a printing medium; a head-portion that discharges droplets toward the printing medium while reciprocating on the printing medium; an interval-adjusting-mechanism that adjusts an interval between the platen and the head-portion; and a controller that controls the head-portion and the interval-adjusting-mechanism, in which the controller has a first printing mode in which printing is performed while the interval is set to a first interval and a second printing mode in which the printing is performed while the interval is set to a second interval that is larger than the first interval, as a printing mode in which the printing is performed on the printing medium. The controller controls movement of the head-portion such that a movement stop time of the head-portion when a movement direction of the head-portion is reversed is longer in the second printing mode than in the first printing mode.

A printing press has at least two units in the form of modules, at least one of which is in the form of a non-impact coating module and has at least one print head. The at least two modules each have at least one dedicated drive which is used to effect transport of a substrate through the module or through an effective region of the module. Along an intended transport path, there is at least one first application point, provided for the application of a color coating agent, an effective region of at least one drying device assigned to the first application point and at least one further application point provided for color coating agent application, and further oriented towards the same side, of at least one non-impact coating module, and an effective region of at least one further drying device assigned to the further application point. At least one print head is preferably one of connected and connectable to at least one positioning device. The at least one positioning device preferably has at least one positioning drive.