A droplet discharge apparatus includes a control device, a discharge device, and a measuring device. The control device sets conditions for a recording medium or a process using droplets. The discharge device discharges the droplets onto the recording medium. The measuring device measures landing positions of the droplets on the recording medium. The control device calculates a correction amount based on the landing positions, stores the correction amount for each of the conditions, and correct a timing at which the discharge device performs discharge with correction amounts that match the conditions, to correct the landing positions.

According to one aspect, there is provided a method of detecting printhead issues in a printer. The method comprises obtaining an image to be printed, generating a first sub-pattern and a second sub-pattern, wherein the first sub-pattern in a pattern to be printed in a first pass comprising a pattern suitable to enable the detection of a printhead issue and wherein the second sub-pattern is the complementary pattern that completes the first sub-pattern such that printing the first and second sub-patterns is equivalent to printing the obtained image, printing the first sub-pattern on a print target, obtaining an image of the printed first sub-pattern, analysing the image of the printed first sub-pattern to determine the presence of a printhead issue and, where appropriate, performing a printhead maintenance operation, and printing the second sub-pattern on the print target.

To provide a control device and a control method with which a consumed amount of ink can be calculated with higher accuracy, a processing unit configured to execute image processing to image data, based on a reference value according to a state of a print head of a printing apparatus, and a calculating unit configured to calculate a consumed amount of ink during printing, based on print data and a parameter indicating a condition of printing, the print data being generated based on the image data to which the image processing has been performed by the processing unit, are included.

Provided is an image formation device capable of preventing or suppressing unevenness of a pinning state by setting a fixing condition based on an objective criterion. The image formation device includes: an image forming unit configured to eject ink of one or more colors onto a recording medium to form an image; a fixing unit that includes a pre-fixing unit configured to irradiate the formed image with an energy ray to semi-cure the image, and fixes the image on the recording medium; and a setting unit configured to set an irradiation condition of the fixing unit on the basis of a result of test printing executed in the past, at a time of execution of a print job.

An image forming apparatus includes a head, processing circuitry, and a reader. The head includes a first nozzle, a second nozzle, and a third nozzle at a position different from the first nozzle in a conveyance direction of a recording medium. The circuitry controls relative movement of the medium and the head along a main scanning direction and relative movement of a conveyance amount between the medium and the head along the conveyance direction. The circuitry controls the head to form a first test pattern with color ink discharged from the first nozzle, form a second test pattern with color ink discharged from the third nozzle, and form a mask image overlapping on or under the first pattern and overlapping on or under the second pattern with base ink discharged from the second nozzle. The reader reads positions of the first pattern and the second pattern on the medium.

A printing apparatus includes a transport unit including a drive roller, a driven roller, and an endless transporting belt, and transporting a recording medium supported by the transporting belt in a transport direction by rotating the drive roller in the normal direction, a printing head configured to perform printing on the recording medium, and a control unit configured to cause the transport unit to rotate the transporting belt in a forward direction when causing the transport unit to transport the recording medium in the transport direction. The transport unit includes a brake unit configured to apply a brake on the driven roller. The control unit causes the transport unit to perform a tension adjustment process of adjusting tension of the transporting belt by rotating the drive roller in the normal direction in a state in which the driven roller is braked by the brake unit before the printing.

A method of generating alignment data for a printhead. The method includes the steps of: printing a calibration pattern using the printhead, the calibration pattern including rows of spaced apart fiducials, each fiducial having a plurality of concentric shapes representing a code sequence; imaging the fiducials at a first resolution to generate imaged fiducials; cross-correlating a template fiducial with the imaged fiducials at a plurality of different displacement s relative to each imaged fiducial, the template fiducial having a configuration matching the imaged fiducials; determining a two-dimensional set of cross-correlation values for each imaged fiducial, each set of cross-correlation values indicating a center of a respective fiducial; and generating alignment data for the printhead using the sets of cross-correlation values.

A head driving device includes a recording head, an input-and-output interface, and circuitry. The recording head includes a plurality of nozzles and a plurality of pressure generating elements corresponding to the plurality of nozzles. The input-and-output interface is configured to acquire correction information generated based on a chart image of a specific pattern for correcting a deviation amount of a landing position of each of the plurality of nozzles. The circuitry is configured to set the correction information acquired by the input-and-output interface and perform correction processing for correcting the deviation amount of the landing position on a driver for each of the plurality of nozzles of the recording head, in accordance with the correction information.

A method of printing improved printed products using defect-free printing machine nozzles and compensated defective nozzles includes printing products and a test chart with test fields onto a transported substrate, the test fields having tonal values, every test field including an unprinted line from a nonactivated, nonprinting nozzle compensated by a neighboring nozzle having a compensation value, pairs of tonal value and compensation value being specified and used for the chart, recording an image of the chart, computer-analyzing the image and determining the compensation value. Every pair of tonal value and compensation value is used multiple times in the chart and a corresponding number of spaced apart test fields is created. A characteristic value representing test field homogeneity and determining compensation value quality is assigned to every measuring field. The best characteristic value regarding a specified criterion and the compensation value is determined for every tonal value.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting head and a camera unit for acquiring a state of the ejecting head, in which the camera unit includes a camera for imaging an object, a housing in which the camera is housed and which includes an opening on an imaging path that couples the camera and the object, and an opening/closing member, the opening/closing member includes a reference chart serving as a reference for adjustment of the camera and a chart cover, in a first mode, the opening/closing member brings the opening into a closed state, and the chart cover covers the reference chart, in a second mode, the opening/closing member brings the opening into an open state, and the chart cover covers the reference chart, and in a third mode, the opening/closing member brings the opening into the closed state, and the chart cover does not cover the reference chart.