An image forming system includes: a first image forming apparatus that is disposed at an upstream side in a feeding direction of a belt-like continuous recording medium; and a second image forming apparatus that is disposed at a downstream side in the feeding direction of the recording medium, wherein each of the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus includes: a recording head that forms images on the recording medium by ejecting droplets from ejection outlets of the recording head; a closing member that serves to close the ejection outlets; and a controller that monitors head drive data for driving of the recording head, and closes the ejection outlets with the closing member in case a droplets non-ejection state is beyond a predetermined first allowable condition during printing.

An image formation system includes: an image former that forms an image on a continuous sheet; a slack generator that is arranged upstream of the image former in a sheet conveyance direction and generates slack on the continuous sheet; and a sheet characteristic detector that is arranged upstream of the slack generator in the sheet conveyance direction and detects a sheet characteristic of the continuous sheet.

A printing device that may include a first print engine, a second print engine, and a web buffer device disposed between the first and second print engines to maintain an amount of web substrate therein, wherein the web buffer includes a first and second movable carriage, with at least one rotatable roller coupled to each of the two carriages and wherein the first and second movable carriages move synchronously away and toward each other to alter an amount of web present in the web buffer

A printing device that may include a first print engine, a second print engine, and a web buffer device disposed between the first and second print engines to maintain an amount of web substrate therein, wherein the web buffer includes a first and second movable carriage, with at least one rotatable roller coupled to each of the two carriages and wherein the first and second movable carriages move synchronously away and toward each other to alter an amount of web present in the web buffer.

Example implementations relate to progressive buffer generation. Some examples may include a drive system to advance print media through a print zone at a printing speed and a buffer speed calculation system to calculate a buffer generation speed based on the printing speed, a length of a plot to be printed, a minimum buffer, a buffer start position and an amount of time required to cut the print media. Some examples may also include a buffer generation system to generate a buffer between the buffer generation system and the drive system. In some examples, the buffer may be generated by advancing the print media at the buffer generation speed to accumulate a portion of the print media between the drive system and the buffer generation system.

A printing device that may include a first print engine, a second print engine, and a web buffer device disposed between the first and second print engines to maintain an amount of web substrate therein, wherein the web buffer includes a first and second movable carriage, with at least one rotatable roller coupled to each of the two carriages and wherein the first and second movable carriages move synchronously away and toward each other to alter an amount of web present in the web buffer

A transporting device includes a first driving roller which transports the base material; a second driving roller which is disposed to be closer to a downstream side of the transporting direction than the first driving roller, and transports the base material; a driven roller which nips the base material between the second driving roller and the driven roller, and rotates together with the second driving roller; and an inter-roller transporting path which is provided between the first driving roller and the second driving roller, and through which the base material is transported in a state where the base material is suspended in a direction of gravity and bent. The second driving roller starts winding the base material at a position which is closer to an upstream side of the transporting direction than a position where the driven roller is in contact with the base material.

An image forming system includes: a first image forming apparatus that is disposed at an upstream side in a feeding direction of a belt-like continuous recording medium; and a second image forming apparatus that is disposed at a downstream side in the feeding direction of the recording medium, wherein each of the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus includes: a recording head that forms images on the recording medium by ejecting droplets from ejection outlets of the recording head; a closing member that serves to close the ejection outlets; and a controller that monitors head drive data for driving of the recording head, and closes the ejection outlets with the closing member in case a droplets non-ejection state is beyond a predetermined first allowable condition during printing.

A printing system includes a printing stage having a print head arrangement for applying marking material onto a media, a media transport system arranged to advance the media with non-uniform velocity through the printing stage in a media transport direction and a curing stage disposed downstream of the printing stage in the media transport direction for curing the marking material. A blouse forming stage is disposed between the printing stage and the curing stage and an auxiliary media transport system is provided for advancing the media with uniform velocity through the curing stage.

A printing apparatus comprises a print zone and a media handling system for advancing media through a media path and through the print zone, wherein the media handling system comprises a first media driving arrangement positioned downstream of the print zone in the direction of advance of the media, and a second media driving arrangement positioned downstream of the first arrangement, the second media driving arrangement being operable to cause the tension of the media in a deformation zone between the two driving arrangements to be lower than the tension of the media in the print zone.