A printing apparatus includes: a printhead configured to discharge ink; a carriage, on which the printhead is mounted, configured to move in a first direction such that the printhead moves across a printing region where a printing operation by the printhead is performed and a standby region adjacent to the printing region; a cap arranged in the standby region and configured to suck the ink from the printhead; and a wiper configured to perform wiping for the printhead. The cap can be displaced to a first position and a second position farther from the printing region in the first direction than the first position. At the second position, the cap can be displaced to an upper position to cap the printhead and a lower position to be separated from the printhead allowing the wiper to wipe the printhead.

A printer is configured to continue printing during maintenance of at least one printhead in the printer. The printer includes a plurality of printheads that each eject drops that overlap with adjacent drops ejected by another printhead. At least one printhead is selected for maintenance, moved to a position for performance of a maintenance operation, and returned to the position from which it was originally moved, while the remaining printheads continue to eject drops. The newly serviced printhead is returned to the position from which it was originally moved.

An ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head having a nozzle arrangement region in which a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink is arranged, and a cleaning unit configured to perform cleaning operation on the recording head. A control unit is configured to control the cleaning unit and a change operation for changing relative position relation between a region where the record medium passes and the nozzle arrangement region. The control unit acquires end passage positions in a first recording operation before the change operation is performed, and a passage region in a second recording operation after the change operation is performed. The control unit performs control for executing the cleaning operation in a case where the end passage position is included in the passage region.

Provided is a controller for regenerating a print head of an inkjet printing device. The controller is configured to convey ink out of the print head via the nozzle openings of one or more nozzles of the print head, and to subsequently convey said ink into the print head again, in order to efficiently and reliably remove deposits from the nozzle plate of the print head.

A printing system is described herein. The printing system has a massive base disposed on a flotation support, a flotation substrate support disposed on the base, a print support comprising a printhead assembly support and an auxiliary support, a printhead assembly coupled to the printhead assembly support, and a printhead supply assembly coupled to the auxiliary support.

In an embodiment, a method of maintaining nozzles in a print-ready condition includes determining image content to be printed in an upcoming print swath, and for each ink color present within the image content, constructing an inked portion of an associated spit bar adjacent to the upcoming print swath to include the present ink color. For each ink color not present within the image content, an empty portion of an associated spit bar is constructed adjacent to the upcoming print swath.

A liquid ejection apparatus comprises a liquid ejection head, a nozzle cap, and a suction pump. The liquid ejection head includes first nozzles, second nozzles, and an ejection surface in which the first nozzles and the second nozzles are formed. The nozzle cap includes a first cap section for covering the first nozzles, a second cap section for covering the second nozzles, a communication section connected with the first cap section and the second cap section, a suction port for being connected with the suction pump, and an atmosphere communication port for communication with atmosphere. At least one of the suction port and the atmosphere communication port is provided at non-connection end portions which are end portions in the one direction of the first cap section and the second cap section and are not connected with the communication section.

A printer is disclosed. The printer spits printing fluid from nozzles using a spit pattern. The spit pattern is non-uniform along the spit pattern length.

A method of identifying inoperable ejectors in a printhead includes operating a plurality of ejectors in the printhead to form a printed test pattern on an image receiving surface while the printhead and image receiving surface remain stationary. The method also includes generating image data of the printed test pattern, identifying rows of marks in the printed test pattern, and identifying an inoperable ejector in the printhead that corresponds to a missing mark in one row of marks that corresponds to one ejector in a row of ejectors in the printhead.

A printer according to this invention includes a print head, a carriage, a recovery unit, and a controller. The controller causes a recovery operation to be performed based on a total value of two values. Assuming that front and rear arrays of discharge port arrays during outbound movement of the carriage are defined as first and second arrays, respectively, the first value is obtained by multiplying a sum of an amount of ink discharged from the first array during outbound movement of the carriage and an amount of ink discharged from the second array during homebound movement of the carriage by a first coefficient, and the second value is obtained by multiplying a sum of an amount of ink discharged from the second array during outbound movement of the carriage and an amount of ink discharged from the first array during homebound movement of the carriage by a second coefficient.