A digital printer and a method of controlling the digital printer having a print head with an array of printing elements and a failure detection system arranged to detect malfunctioning printing elements. When, during printing, a malfunctioning printing element is detected, a switch from the current print strategy to another print strategy is arranged during printing which leaves the number of passes per swatch constant, i.e. the print quality is not affected by the switch.

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 recording condition determining method executed by a recording device performing recording by a main scanning, in which while moving a recording head in a main scanning direction, dots are ejected from nozzles onto a recording medium, and a sub scanning, in which the recording medium is transported in a sub scanning direction. The method includes a patch recording step, the patch recording step being performed by recording patches at a plurality of different positions in the sub scanning direction by a plurality of types of overlap-processing under respectively different recording conditions, in a single recording job performed by the recording device. The method further includes a selection accepting step, and a determination step of determining, as a recording condition of the overlap-processing of an actual recording, the recording condition of the overlap processing corresponding to the patch selected in the selection accepting step.

A recording condition determining method is executed by a recording device performing recording by a main scanning and a sub scanning. The method includes a patch recording step of recording patches onto a recording medium by the overlap-processing in which the main scanning is performed on a partial region of the recording medium in an overlapping manner a plurality of times, the patch recording step including recording the patches at a plurality of different positions in a main scanning direction by a plurality of types of the overlap-processing under respectively different recording conditions. The method further includes a selection accepting step of accepting selection of a patch from among a plurality of the recorded patches, and a determination step of determining, as the recording condition of the overlap-processing of an actual recording, the recording condition of the overlap-processing associated with the patch selected in the selection accepting step.

It is hereby disclosed a carriage arrangement for lubricating a carriage, wherein the arrangement comprises: a carriage; a carriage beam; a drive mechanism to move the carriage along a longitudinal direction of the carriage beam; and a lubrication roller at a fixed position relative to the carriage beam, the lubrication roller having an outer surface with a non-lubricating section and a lubricating section each at a determined angular position; wherein the carriage is to contact the outer surface as it moves passed the lubrication roller and wherein the contact causes a rotation of the roller that modifies the angular positions of the lubricating section and the non-lubricating section.

A controller determines whether a first direction is perpendicular to an extending direction of a straight line portion in a boundary between recorded and non-recorded regions; determines whether a recording resolution in the first direction is lower than an image resolution; in response to determining that the first direction is perpendicular to the extending direction and that the recording resolution is lower than the image resolution, determines whether at least part of a predicted landing region is located outside a reference line; and in response to determining that the at least part of the predicted landing region is located outside the reference line, controls a head and a carriage to adjust ejection timing of an ink droplet forming the edge of the straight line portion such that a protruding area of an actual landing region of the ink droplet is smaller than a protruding area of the predicted landing region.

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.

There is disclosed a printhead control method, printhead controller and printer. The method may comprise determining whether ink drop variability is likely to occur based on a first time period in which a printhead is uncovered during a print action but before printing begins, and a second time period that is a minimum period for ink drop variability to occur when the printhead is uncovered. The method may further comprise setting a printhead firing frequency for the print action based on the determination.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a conveyor configured to convey a recording medium in a first direction; a discharging head configured to discharge an ultraviolet light-curable clear ink to the recording medium; an ultraviolet irradiator configured to irradiate, with ultraviolet light, the clear ink discharged to the recording medium, and arranged at a position different from the discharging head in the first direction; and a carriage configured to move in a second direction crossing the first direction, and having the discharging head and the ultraviolet irradiator mounted thereon.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a conveyor configured to convey a recording medium in a first direction; a discharging head configured to discharge an ultraviolet light-curable clear ink to the recording medium; an ultraviolet irradiator configured to irradiate, with ultraviolet light, the clear ink discharged to the recording medium, and arranged at a position different from the discharging head in the first direction; and a carriage configured to move in a second direction crossing the first direction, and having the discharging head and the ultraviolet irradiator mounted thereon.