A method for digitally printing on three-dimensional objects comprising bottles, cans or other hollow bodies, by at least one printing head, includes breaking down a printing template into a multiplicity of printing dots. The printing dots are stored in a printing raster consisting of image columns and image rows. The printing raster is used for activating the at least one printing head during a printing process in which one of the objects to be printed moves relative to the at least one printing bead in order to apply a print image onto the object to be printed. The printing raster Is curved and the image rows and the image columns extend obliquely to one another. The printing template is read into the curved printing raster.

A printing apparatus includes a head, a carriage, an encoder including a scale, a first light emitting element and a first light receiving element, a measuring sensor including a second light emitting element and a second light receiving element, and a controller. The controller is configured to perform a printing operation of causing the head to eject ink while moving the carriage based on a signal output by the encoder, a measuring operation of moving the carriage based on a signal output by the encoder, causing the second light emitting element to emit light onto a measuring position of the scale, and receiving light reflected from or passing through the measuring position using the second light receiving element, and a calculating operation of calculating lifetime of the scale based on a light amount received by the second light receiving element.

A method of printing on a surface of a sphere and an apparatus for printing on a surface of a sphere are disclosed, which are used to apply images recorded by omnidirectional 360 cameras, which allow the recording of images in all directions simultaneously. In particular, the print is applied by a printing head over a line which enables printing of each fragment of the sphere surface only once. The apparatus is in the form of a sphere holder and a printing head, wherein the ball is mounted on the base on a rotary support, which rotates the sphere, and the printing head is located on the zone of the sphere surface.

The present teachings disclose various embodiments of a printing system for printing a substrate, in which the printing system can be housed in a gas enclosure, where the environment within the enclosure can be maintained as a controlled printing environment. A controlled environment of the present teachings can include control of the type of gas environment within the gas enclosure, the size and level particulate matter within the enclosure, control of the temperature within the enclosure and control of lighting. Various embodiments of a printing system of the present teachings can include a Y-axis motion system and a Z-axis moving plate that are configured to substantially decrease excess thermal load within the enclosure by, for example, eliminating or substantially minimizing the use of conventional electric motors.

A method for printing a digitally-stored image on the surface of a cylindrical object comprises the steps of axially moving the object along a line of travel that is aligned with the object's long axis until it is underneath one or more printheads, each of which have a plurality of ink nozzles that may be arranged in one or more columns while simultaneously rotating the object with respect to the printheads and simultaneously causing a pre-determined number of nozzles to eject ink onto the surface of the object.

A liquid discharge device includes: a liquid discharge head; a nozzle array disposed on the head in a conveyance direction; a movement driver that moves the head to discharge liquid from the nozzle array in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction in a reciprocating manner; a discharge driver that causes the head to discharge the liquid; a conveyor that conveys an object; and a controller that acquires an amount of conveyance of the object by the conveyor over a period during which the head moves from a predetermined position to a position where the head is to discharge the liquid to a target pixel, and determines, on which reciprocating travelling of the head to discharge the liquid and from which nozzle in the nozzle array to discharge the liquid, based on the amount of conveyance.

The present teachings disclose various embodiments of a printing system for printing a substrate, in which the printing system can be housed in a gas enclosure, where the environment within the enclosure can be maintained as a controlled printing environment. A controlled environment of the present teachings can include control of the type of gas environment within the gas enclosure, the size and level particulate matter within the enclosure, control of the temperature within the enclosure and control of lighting. Various embodiments of a printing system of the present teachings can include a Y-axis motion system and a Z-axis moving plate that are configured to substantially decrease excess thermal load within the enclosure by, for example, eliminating or substantially minimizing the use of conventional electric motors.

A printer includes a print head fastening facing a medium support surface; a scanning print carriage being movable along a guide in a scanning direction (Y); and a transporter for transporting the medium in a transport direction (X). The printer includes a suspension structure connecting the print head fastening to the scanning print carriage while allowing movement of the print head fastening with respect to the scanning print carriage in a direction (X) parallel to the transport direction. The suspension structure is elastically deformable to allow for the movement in said direction (X).

A method for printing at least one section of a flat or preferably curved surface of an object includes using a relative movement between an inkjet head and the object to move the inkjet head along a first path and print a first track in the process and to move the inkjet head along a second path and print a second track in the process. A first track edge of the first track and a second track edge of the second track meet at a point and enclose an angle between about 1 and about 179 at the point. The method permits the curved surface to be printed without perceptible track connections.

A printer includes a controller configured to perform a through-up printing process to print at least a part of a page while accelerating a conveyance speed of a print medium from zero at a particular acceleration, a constant-speed printing process to print at least a part of the page while maintaining a maximum conveyance speed after the conveyance speed reaches the maximum conveyance speed via the through-up printing process, a through-down printing process to print at least a part of the page while decelerating the conveyance speed at a particular deceleration after performing at least one of the through-up printing process and the constant-speed printing process, and a maximum speed setting process to set the maximum conveyance speed in accordance with a print amount of print data stored in a storage.