A system and method for testing printheads is disclosed. The system comprises an optical sensor mounted on a movable carriage. The optical sensor is moved past a nozzle to be tested on the printhead while the nozzle ejects ink. The output signal of the optical sensor can be used to determine when the trajectory of the ejected ink is improper.

A system and method for testing printheads is disclosed. The system comprises an optical sensor mounted on a movable carriage. The optical sensor is moved past a nozzle to be tested on the printhead while the nozzle ejects ink. The output signal of the optical sensor can be used to determine when the trajectory of the ejected ink is improper.

A moving apparatus includes a moving member configured to reciprocate along a first direction, a guide configured to contact a sliding portion of the moving member via a lubricant and to guide a movement of the moving member, and a structure configured to restrain the lubricant applied to the guide from being squeezed out of a sliding region of the guide, where the guide contacts the sliding portion, in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction utilizing the movement of the moving member.

A moving apparatus includes a moving member configured to reciprocate along a first direction, a guide configured to contact a sliding portion of the moving member via a lubricant and to guide a movement of the moving member, and a structure configured to restrain the lubricant applied to the guide from being squeezed out of a sliding region of the guide, where the guide contacts the sliding portion, in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction utilizing the movement of the moving member.

A liquid discharging apparatus having a carriage that is capable of moving in a scanning direction and that has a discharging portion capable of discharging a liquid, a scale portion for confirming a position in the scanning direction of the carriage, and a cleaning portion that moves in the scanning direction of the carriage and is capable of cleaning the scale portion by contacting the scale portion. In such an apparatus, the cleaning portion is capable of displacement at a first state where contacting the scale portion and a second state where not contacting the scale portion.

Disclosed is a method of determining line feed error in an image forming apparatus for printing an image, said image forming apparatus comprising a print head having a head sensor configured to sense information from the image printed on a print medium, said method comprising the steps of printing a first swath of the image on the print medium, repositioning the print head relative to the print medium by at least one line feed distance, determining a line feed error based upon information sensed from the printed first swath by the head sensor, and printing, using the determined line feed error, a second swath of the halftone image on the print medium.

An embodiment of this invention is directed to implementing motor control of suppressing the influence of the cogging of a motor while minimizing preliminary detection processing. According to this embodiment, a printing apparatus includes an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration of a moving carriage, and a control unit configured to control drive of the motor to suppress the influence of the cogging of the motor based on the detection by the acceleration sensor. In accordance with the relationship between the band of the cogging frequency of the motor and the band of the resonance frequency of the carriage, the control unit determines whether to use a cancel signal for feedback control of an encoder sensor. When the cancel signal is not used, the control unit changes the gain of feedback control of the acceleration sensor.

Disclosed is a substrate processing device which includes a substrate transfer part on which a transfer object is received and a jetting system part includes an ink jet body that jets and prints ink on the transfer object over an upper surface of the substrate transfer part, an ink module transfer part that transfers the ink jet body, an encoder disposed around the ink module transfer part to output a movement signal per unit movement distance of the ink module transfer part, an ink ejection controller that interworks with the ink jet body to control an ink jetting timing of the ink jet body, and a signal splitter that interworks with the encoder to count the movement signal, reset a width of the counted movement signal, and transmit the movement signal, the width of which is reset, to the ink ejection controller.

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 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.