An image forming apparatus includes a carriage configured to scan with an ejection head for ejecting ink droplets that harden when exposed to active energy line onto a recording medium to form an image and an emitter unit for emitting the active energy line mounted thereon, and an image forming controller configured to control ejection of the ink droplets from the ejection head and scan of the carriage. The image forming controller forms an ink droplet film of an uppermost layer of an image made of multiple layers of ink droplet films with finer image quality than that of an ink droplet film of each lower layer other than the uppermost layer, and forms the ink droplet film of the each lower layer other than the uppermost layer with coarser image quality and in a shorter length of time than a length of time taken to form the uppermost layer.

An inkjet printing apparatus includes an inkjet print head arranged to be moveable in a direction of movement along a guiding assembly. The guiding assembly includes a support structure; a strip mounted on the support structure, the strip being substantially rigid and straight in a first direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement and mounted in such way that a straightness in the direction of movement is provided; and an air bearing system operatively coupled to the strip. The strip extends in a vertical plane, the vertical plane being substantially parallel to the direction of movement and being substantially parallel to the first direction. The air bearing system is configured to control a position of the inkjet print head in a horizontal plane relative to the strip during movement of the print head in the direction of movement, the horizontal plane being substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane. Employing such a strip and a suitable mounting method for mounting the strip on the support structure, it is enabled to select a cost-effective and/or light-weight support structure.

An inkjet head apparatus includes a carriage including base plates, a head plate supported by the base plates, recording heads each attached to an associated one of openings of the head plate, a pivot between the base plate and the head plate so that the head plate is rotatably supported by the base plate, and an adjusting screw to adjust the positions of the recording heads with respect to the base plates. At least a portion of the pivot and at least a portion of the adjusting screw are disposed rearward of the front ends of the openings and forward of the rear ends of the openings.

In one example, a carriage to carry a printhead back and forth over a print substrate includes an inboard part to hold the printhead and an outboard part to inhibit the flow of air under the carriage when the carriage is moving back and forth over the print substrate.

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.

A recording device includes a recording head, a carriage performing a reciprocating movement, a transport unit transporting the medium, and a control unit, wherein the control unit can perform a forward pass for causing the recording head to discharge the liquid along with a forward movement from one side to another side, and a return pass for causing the recording head to discharge the liquid along with a return movement from the other side to the one side, and performs first recording control when recording an image, in which when a feed amount on the one side of the medium is less than a feed amount on the other side, the image is recorded by the forward pass, and when the feed amount on the other side of the medium is less than the feed amount on the one side, the image is recorded by the return pass.

An ink jet system includes a head unit that includes a nozzle discharging ink, a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle, and a drive element applying pressure fluctuation to the ink in the pressure chamber by supplying a drive pulse, an acquisition portion that acquires output information including first output information regarding the head unit and/or second output information regarding the ink used for the head unit, a first coupling portion that is communicably network-coupled to a server, a first output portion that outputs the output information to the server via the first coupling portion, a first input portion to which input information is input from the server via the first coupling portion, and a determination portion that determines the number of times of scanning or a scanning direction of the head unit with respect to a unit region on a medium based on the input information.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes a discharging unit that includes a row of nozzles configured to discharge a liquid, the discharging unit being configured to reciprocate in an outward direction and a return direction, the outward and return directions being transverse to the nozzle row; and a transport unit configured to intermittently transport a medium in a direction transverse to the outward and return directions. The liquid discharging apparatus is configured to form at least one adjustment pattern for adjusting a transport amount of each individual transport during the intermittent transport. The liquid discharging apparatus is configured to form the at least one adjustment pattern such that the at least one adjustment pattern includes both an outward direction movement pattern formed while moving the discharging unit in the outward direction and a return direction movement pattern formed while moving the discharging unit in the return direction.

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 method for reducing horizontal banding in a printed image printed with an inkjet print engine includes printing on a print media sheet a first test patch with a first inkjet printhead being moved by the printhead carrier in a first print direction; printing on a print media sheet a second test patch with the first inkjet printhead being moved by the printhead carrier in a second print direction; determining a first characteristic of the first test patch; determining a second characteristic of the second test patch; comparing the first characteristic of the first test patch with the second characteristic of the second test patch; and selecting, based on the comparing, an initial print direction of the first inkjet printhead for a first printing pass that reduces horizontal banding in generating the printed image.