A printing method includes determining the upper limit of the amount of the ink to be discharged based on a color saturation suppression upper limit, and at least one of an overflowing suppression upper limit, a bleeding suppression upper limit, and an aggregation suppression upper limit. The determining of the upper limit of the amount of the ink to be discharged includes setting in advance priorities among the suppressing of the color saturation of the ink and at least one of the overflowing of the ink, the bleeding of the ink, and the aggregation of the ink, and determining the upper limit of the amount of the ink to be discharged based on the priorities.

An image forming apparatus includes: a first image forming unit which forms a first image on a first recording medium with a first material that is not thermally decolorizable; a second image forming unit which forms a second image on a second recording medium with a second material that is thermally decolorizable; a fixing device which is on a common carrying path shared by the first recording medium and the second recording medium and fixes the first image to the first recording medium; and a controller which controls the fixing device so that a temperature of the fixing device is lower than a decolorizing temperature of the second material when the second recording medium reaches the fixing device.

An image recording device and an image recording method capable of matching landing positions between droplet types in a consecutive ejection drive method are provided. The object is resolved by an image recording device in which a drive waveform for forming a dot of a small droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting a liquid droplet by a first ejection waveform element arranged in a first half of one drive cycle, and a drive waveform for forming a dot of a medium droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting the liquid droplet by the first ejection waveform element and a second ejection waveform element arranged after the first ejection waveform element in time series, and the liquid droplet ejected by the first ejection waveform element and the liquid droplet ejected by the second ejection waveform element are not combined while reaching onto a recording medium.

An image recording device and an image recording method capable of matching landing positions between droplet types in a consecutive ejection drive method are provided. The object is resolved by an image recording device in which a drive waveform for forming a dot of a small droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting a liquid droplet by a first ejection waveform element arranged in a first half of one drive cycle, and a drive waveform for forming a dot of a medium droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting the liquid droplet by the first ejection waveform element and a second ejection waveform element arranged after the first ejection waveform element in time series, and the liquid droplet ejected by the first ejection waveform element and the liquid droplet ejected by the second ejection waveform element are not combined while reaching onto a recording medium.

A system is disclosed. The system includes at least one physical memory device to store medium classification logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the medium classification logic to receive optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a print medium in a printing system, receive ink deposition measurement data corresponding to application of the halftone pattern using the ink in a printing system, determine a set of distribution function parameters based on the OD measurement data and the ink deposition measurement data, apply the set of distribution function parameters to machine learning logic trained to classify the print medium and classify the print medium as a first of a plurality of print medium categories based on the machine learning logic.

A system is disclosed. The system includes at least one physical memory device to store medium classification logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device to execute the medium classification logic to receive optical density (OD) measurement data corresponding to application of a halftone pattern using ink on a print medium in a printing system, receive ink deposition measurement data corresponding to application of the halftone pattern using the ink in a printing system, determine a set of distribution function parameters based on the OD measurement data and the ink deposition measurement data, apply the set of distribution function parameters to machine learning logic trained to classify the print medium and classify the print medium as a first of a plurality of print medium categories based on the machine learning logic.

A printing apparatus conveys a printing medium in a first direction, and includes an encoder that outputs a predetermined signal in accordance with a conveyance amount of the printing medium in the first direction, and a print head having a plurality of nozzle rows, each of which includes a plurality of nozzles ejecting ink, arrayed in a second direction intersecting with the first direction. In addition, a print engine is connected with the print head and performs conversion processing from image data into print data. The print engine has a first buffer storing the image data, has a second buffer storing the print data, and converts image data stored in the first buffer into print data in response to a first interrupt signal based on the predetermined signal output from the encoder, and stores the print data in the second buffer.

A printing apparatus conveys a printing medium in a first direction, and includes an encoder that outputs a predetermined signal in accordance with a conveyance amount of the printing medium in the first direction, and a print head having a plurality of nozzle rows, each of which includes a plurality of nozzles ejecting ink, arrayed in a second direction intersecting with the first direction. In addition, a print engine is connected with the print head and performs conversion processing from image data into print data. The print engine has a first buffer storing the image data, has a second buffer storing the print data, and converts image data stored in the first buffer into print data in response to a first interrupt signal based on the predetermined signal output from the encoder, and stores the print data in the second buffer.

A printing device for dispending material on a heated substrate is provided. The device may include a printing head having one or more nozzles and a heat shield that partially masks a side of the printing head that faces the heated substrate when printing so as to reduce heat transfer from the substrate to the printing head. The shield includes a slot aligned with the one or more nozzles to enable passage of material from the one or more nozzles to the heated substrate.

A printing device for dispending material on a heated substrate is provided. The device may include a printing head having one or more nozzles and a heat shield that partially masks a side of the printing head that faces the heated substrate when printing so as to reduce heat transfer from the substrate to the printing head. The shield includes a slot aligned with the one or more nozzles to enable passage of material from the one or more nozzles to the heated substrate.