A printing unit includes: a line feed plate moving with a carriage in a line feed operation area; and guide members provided on a unit frame, engaging with the line feed plate, and guiding the carriage and the line feed plate toward one side in a left-right direction as the carriage and the line feed plate move toward one side in a front-back direction in the line feed operation area. Each guide member includes: a line feed guide extending toward one side in the left-right direction as it goes toward one side in the front-back direction and guiding the carriage toward one side in the left-right direction as the carriage moves toward one side in the front-back direction in the line feed operation area; and regulating sections continuing at least to one end in the front-back direction of the line feed guide and regulating the movement of the carriage in the left-right direction.

An inkjet printer comprises a transport mechanism (120) for transporting a substrate along a first axis, a print engine (160) comprising at least two inkjet print bars (165.1 . . . 8) arranged along the first axis, and a controller for controlling the ejection of ink by the at least two inkjet print bars. It further comprises at least two first encoders for the determination of at least two first positions of substrate locations along the first axis and a compensation module for processing the at least two determined first positions to generate at least one first individual compensation parameter for each of the at least two inkjet print bars (165.1 . . . 8). The first compensation parameters are transmitted to the controller to influence the ejection of ink in such a way that effects due to variations of the at least two first positions of the substrate along the first axis are compensated. The effects of positioning errors that may affect different print bars (165.1 . . . 8) arranged along the longitudinal axis of the print engine (160) differently may be compensated using the encoders, individually for the different print bars (165.1 . . . 8).

A light blue ink discharge opening array unit is located between cyan ink discharge opening array units, between the magenta ink discharge opening array units, and not between the black ink discharge opening array unit.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head, a sensor, a carriage, and a controller. The controller is configured to perform: setting a first sheet at a first printing position; printing an image on the first sheet while conveying the first sheet from the first printing position; determining whether an interval is more than a predetermined period; in a case where the interval is determined to be more than the predetermined period: causing the carriage to move in a first direction to a first detection position at which a second sheet is detected; and in response to detecting the second sheet, causing the carriage to move in the first direction to a first carriage position.

A multi-directional single pass printing apparatus may include a print head comprising a collection of slots. The collection of slots may include a central slot for delivering a central slot fluid type, a first serial arrangement of first slots on a first side of the central slot to deliver a first series of respective fluid types and a second serial arrangement of second slots on a second side of the central slot opposite the first side. The second series of slots are to deliver a second series of respective fluid types, wherein the second series of respective fluid types mirror the first series of respective fluid types with respect to the central slot fluid type.

A printing apparatus has a plurality of nozzles capable of discharging dark ink and light ink that are of the same type color; the plurality of nozzles includes preceding nozzles that discharge the ink onto the printing medium before the ink discharge of the other nozzles, and succeeding nozzles that discharge the ink onto the printing medium after the ink discharge of the preceding nozzles, and if the amount of the dark ink discharged on the printing target region is larger than a predetermined amount, the printing apparatus discharges a smaller amount of the light ink than the amount of the discharged dark ink onto the printing target region from the plurality of nozzles so that the amount of the light ink discharged from the succeeding nozzles is larger than the amount of the light ink discharged from the preceding nozzles.

White-balance is improved when printing on colored media, while minimizing the time and use of costly materials required by present approaches. In an embodiment, the typical solid white fill or background layer is altered by including in the white layer one or more of the other colors already available in the printer to shade this layer. Thus, a small amount of cyan, for example, helps balance a pink-ish (red) media; yellow is used for blue media; and magenta is used for green media; as well as combinations thereof. A combination of transparent process inks and opaque white helps to maintain brightness (luminosity).

A printer having a carriage (10) movable along a guide beam (12) in a main scanning direction (y), and a number of print heads (14) mounted on the carriage (10), each print head having a plurality of printing elements (16), wherein the carriage (10) has at least two sub-carriages (38) each of which carries at least one of the print heads (14) and is independently guided at the guide beam (12), and the sub-carriages (38) are coupled for joint movement in the main scanning direction (y) but are movable relative to one another in a sub-scanning direction (x) normal to the main scanning direction (y).

A method of printing includes identifying vertical edges in a halftone image. The method also includes determining whether a lightness of color of a first predetermined area to a left side of a respective vertical edge is substantially equal to, less than, or greater than the lightness of color of a second predetermined area to a right side of the respective vertical edge. The method also includes categorizing respective vertical edges left vertical edges, right vertical edges, and neutral vertical edges to prioritize a print direction thereof.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head that is provided with a plurality of nozzle openings that discharge a liquid, and pressure generation units that generate pressure changes in pressure generation chambers that are respectively in communication with the nozzle openings, a detection unit that detects a discharge fault of liquid droplets of the liquid ejecting head for each of the nozzle openings, and a control unit that controls the pressure generation units, in which the control unit has a discharge prohibition mode in which the driving of a pressure generation unit that corresponds to a nozzle opening in which a discharge fault is detected, is prohibited after the corresponding discharge fault is detected while recording is underway.