A liquid jet device includes a head that discharges liquid to an object; a moving mechanism that moves at least one of the object and the head; and a controller that causes the head to discharge the liquid while moving the at least one of the object and the head in a first direction to form a first row of dots, and causes the head to discharge the liquid while moving the at least one of the object and the head in a second direction opposite the first direction to form a second row of dots that overlaps the first row of dots. The controller causes the center of the first dot in the second row of dots to be shifted from the center of the last dot in the first row of dots by a distance greater than or equal to a distance d.

A method for determining a working gap includes a first recording step for ejecting ink from a recording head onto a first recording medium to record a test pattern, a first imaging step for capturing the test pattern recorded on the first recording medium in each of a state where a distance between the recording head and the first recording medium is a first distance, and a state where a distance between the recording head and the first recording medium is a second distance, a function calculating step, a second recording step for recording the test pattern on a second recording medium, a second imaging step for capturing the test pattern recorded on the second recording medium, and a working gap determining step for determining, based on the number of pixels of the captured test pattern and a function, a distance between the recording head and the second recording medium.

To predict more accurately whether ink dots formed on the surface of paper by two nozzles arranged in a nozzle row and located at positions close to each other overlap. A luminance amount for each unit area surrounding each chart is derived from scanned data obtained by reading results of printing a plurality of charts (two-dot line chart corresponding to a nozzle pair of a nozzle of interest and a neighboring nozzle thereof among the plurality of nozzles) associated with a plurality of nozzles respectively. Then, based on the luminance amount for each unit area, the dot formation state in a dot formation line by the plurality of nozzles is determined.

Bidirectional multi-pass printing with three or more passes prints a high-quality image with reduced time difference unevenness. To this end, an image in a unit region on a printing medium is printed by a print head performing 2N+1 bidirectional print scans (where N is a natural number). In this printing, a print permission rate for an even-numbered print scan of the 2N+1 times of the print scans is set lower than the print permission rate for an odd-numbered print scan of the 2N+1 times of the print scans.

A wheel design face in a three-dimensional shape is decorated only with a two-dimensional move of one of a discharge nozzle and a holding member, and inclination of the other one of the discharge nozzle and the holding member.

A vehicle wheel decoration method includes a setting step of detachably holding a wheel body in the holding member such that the wheel design face faces the discharge nozzle, and a decoration step of forming a decorative layer on the wheel design face by discharging paint from a discharge opening of the discharge nozzle toward the wheel design face while relatively moving the discharge nozzle in two directions which extend along the wheel design face and cross each other with respect to the wheel design face of the wheel body held in the holding member, and, in the decoration step, the wheel body is relatively inclined in a direction which crosses moving directions toward the two directions by a relative move of one of the discharge nozzle and the holding member or relative moves of both of the discharge nozzle and the holding member, and the discharge opening of the discharge nozzle is relatively moved in the two directions along the wheel design face, a distance from the discharge opening to the wheel design face falling within a predetermined range.

There is a case where a reading unit cannot read an entire area of a recording medium in a scanning direction of a carriage, or a case where reading accuracy is low in the entire area. In such a case, a result of reading a test pattern for adjusting an ejection timing at each position cannot be obtained with high accuracy in a single reading operation. In order to solve the issue, a recording apparatus performs a reading operation a plurality of times and generates, based on results from the respective operations, an adjustment value for adjusting the ejection timing at each position in the scanning direction.

A printer including: (i) a guide device extending in a first direction; (ii) a carriage reciprocateable in the first direction, while being guided by the guide device; (iii) a recording head carried by the carriage; (iv) a feed device for feeding the recording medium in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; (v) a flexible ink-supply tube for supplying ink to the recording head; and (vi) a carriage movement detector including an encoder strip which extends in the first direction. The ink-supply tube has a U-shaped body including a pair of arm portions extending in the first direction and spaced apart from each other in the second direction. The guide device, the ink-supply tube and the encoder strip are located on respective different positions in a third direction that is perpendicular to the first and second directions. The ink-supply tube has a part that overlaps with the guide device and the encoder strip as seen in the third direction.

A method of printing an image using a printing system including at least first and second overlapping printhead segments, the method includes the steps of: feeding media past the printhead segments along a media feed direction; determining an extent of wander of the media in a direction perpendicular to the media feed direction; selecting a stitching method based on the determined extent of wander; and printing the image using the first and second printhead segments. The printing step includes stitching the first and second printhead segments using the selected stitching method.

A method for locally adjusting the glossiness of a printed image includes printing an image onto a recording medium in multiple swaths and locally adjusting the ink volume for each swath. A printer for printing an image onto a recording medium includes a control unit configured to perform the method.

Techniques for reducing or eliminating image banding in an ink-jet image are provided. In an example, a method of operating a printer to reduce or eliminate image banding can include generating command profile for printing a given image, applying a filter to the command profile to provide a filtered profile, and dispensing ink from a printhead of the printer based on the filtered profile. In certain examples, the filter can randomize droplet sizes of ink dispensed while executing the printing to reduce or eliminate image banding.