There is provided a liquid droplet discharging control device for a liquid droplet discharging apparatus which includes a liquid droplet discharging head in which a plurality of nozzles discharging liquid droplets are formed, discharges liquid droplets while relatively moving the head and a medium in a direction intersecting a direction in which the nozzles are arranged. The liquid droplet discharging control device includes a controller that causes a first nearby nozzle, which discharges a dot adjacent to a dot row corresponding to a predetermined nozzle which is not capable of discharging a liquid droplet, to discharge a liquid droplet for a dot of a large size and that causes a second nearby nozzle, which is separated from the predetermined nozzle and discharges a dot adjacent to a dot row corresponding to the first nearby nozzle, to discharge no liquid droplet for a dot.

A method for printing on sheets in an inkjet process using nozzles includes transporting the sheets on a drum. When the nozzles are actuated by a computer, banding defects are compensated for and the computer factors in or takes into consideration thermal properties of the drum as it actuates the nozzles.

Replacement processing is executed when the number of times of permission for a pixel corresponding to an ejection defective nozzle in a mask pattern is larger than a smallest number of times of permission, of the numbers of times of permission for pixels corresponding to ejection normal nozzles.

A method of compensating for an inoperable inkjet in a printer includes applying a first modification to a first swath of image data that includes a raster corresponding to the inoperable inkjet in image data of a printed image. The method also includes applying a plurality of modifications to a plurality of swaths in the image data to generate a plurality of modified swaths in the image data, where each swath in the plurality of swaths includes a plurality of rasters that do not include the raster corresponding to the inoperable inkjet. The method further includes forming a printed image based on the modified swaths of image data to compensate for an inoperable inkjet in the printer.

Method and respective device for the detection and correction of printing defects of a digital printing device (A) comprising the following steps: —arranging a digital printing device (A) equipped with one or more print heads (H) with a plurality of dispensing nozzles (N); —continuously controlling said plurality of dispensing nozzles (N) to realize a real printing pattern (RPP) on a printing medium (P); —continuously acquiring the real printing pattern (RPP); —detecting at least one printing defect (DF); —elaborating, onboard a control unit of the digital printing device (A), at least one compensation scheme to mask a detected printing defect (DF,); —applying said compensation device during the realization of said real printing pattern (RPP).

There is a provided a liquid droplet discharging control device which causes a liquid droplet discharging apparatus including a head, in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in a predetermined direction, to perform printing and which is capable of executing a nearby compensation process in which, on the basis of a dot position on which a predetermined nozzle for black ink forms a dot, a nearby nozzle that forms a dot in the vicinity of the dot forms a dot and executing a composite compensation process. The liquid droplet discharging control device includes a parameter acquiring unit that acquires parameters corresponding to the degree of liquid spreading toward a periphery after adhesion of a liquid droplet to a medium, and a compensation switching unit that switches between execution of the nearby compensation process and execution of the composite compensation process on the basis of the parameters.

A method is for processing image data for recording by an image forming apparatus that discharges ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles. The method includes reading out image data corresponding to one line constituted by a series of dots aligning in a main scanning direction. The method further includes calculating a faulty discharge error, which occurs at a non-discharge position on a line at which no ink droplet is discharged from a defective one of the plurality of nozzles. The method further includes controlling distribution of the faulty discharge error to a line that is downstream relative to a line on which the non-discharge position occurs according to a limit setting that limits distribution of the faulty discharge error.

Provided is an image forming apparatus and a method, an abnormal nozzle detection method, and a printed matter manufacturing method that can suppress the consumption of an extra medium and can efficiently specify an abnormal nozzle. The image forming apparatus (10) includes a print head (16) that has a plurality of nozzles, an association unit (40) that associates the nozzle with a partial region in a user image, a first correction unit that performs a first correction assuming that the associated nozzle is abnormal in at least one of the partial regions, a streak detection unit (44) that detects streak information from a print result of the user image including the partial region subjected to the first correction, and a nozzle state estimation unit (46) that estimates a state of the nozzle on the basis of the streak information of two or more partial regions in a single user image.

An inkjet printer is operated to print an ink image and clear inkjets simultaneously. The inkjet printer delivers to a first inkjet in a printhead a first signal that ejects an ink drop from the first inkjet that corresponds to a pixel of an ink image stored in a memory of the printer and delivers to at least one other inkjet in the printhead a second signal that ejects an ink drop from the at least one other inkjet that does not correspond to a pixel of the ink image stored in the memory of the printer.

In a printing apparatus including a printhead and a print control unit, wherein the printhead includes two nozzle arrays, each arranged in a first direction and including nozzles arranged along a second direction, the print control unit performs a first operation of expanding print data onto a memory, a second operation of selecting, for each nozzle array, some of the nozzles as non-driving nozzles and the remaining nozzles as driving nozzles, and a third operation of distributing the expanded print data to the two nozzle arrays such that dots corresponding to the non-driving nozzles of one nozzle array are printed by the driving nozzles of the other nozzle array.