In a recording apparatus that forms dots based on an interlace system, a movement amount when a recording unit is moved in a first direction, between one relative movement of the recording unit to a recording medium in a second direction and the next relative movement, is set to a regular amount Δy=HL (HL is the length of a recording head in the first direction)−OL (OL is the width of an overlap amount in the first direction)±PL (PL is the width of one pixel of printing resolution of a print image to be recorded by the recording unit in the first direction).

A liquid discharge apparatus has a head provided with discharge sections which discharge a liquid, a drive circuit configured to generate driving signals for driving the discharge sections and discharging the liquid, a carriage mounted with the head and the drive circuit, a motor configured to move the carriage, and a flushing box configured and arranged to receive the liquid discharged from the discharge sections. The drive circuit is mounted at a position so as not to pass above the flushing box while the carriage is being moved.

A processor of a printer conveys a platen relative to a head in a conveyance direction, toward a printing position. The printing position is a position at which a nozzle surface of the head faces the platen in a discharge direction. The printer is provided with a first sensor. The first sensor detects a print medium positioned at a first detection position. The first detection position is a position separated from the nozzle surface in the discharge direction. When the print medium is detected by the first sensor after a start of conveyance of the platen, the processor moves the platen relative to the nozzle surface and separates the platen from the nozzle surface in the discharge direction. After that, the processor conveys the platen relative to the head in the conveyance direction, toward the printing position.

An apparatus includes a printing head (154) comprising jet nozzles (158) spaced apart from one another, where a distance from a first jet nozzle to a second jet nozzle positioned adjacent the first jet nozzle defines a jet-spacing, a printing head position control assembly includes a first actuator assembly (102) to move the printing head along the longitudinal axis and a second actuator assembly (103) to move the printing head along a latitudinal axis, and an control unit communicatively coupled to the printing head position control assembly. The control unit causes jet nozzles to dispense drops of binder (50) while the printing head traverses a first pass trajectory along the longitudinal axis in a first direction, indexes the printing head to a second pass trajectory along the latitudinal axis, and causes jet nozzles to dispense drops of binder while the printing head traverses the second pass trajectory along the longitudinal axis in a second direction.

An image recording apparatus includes a recording head including a plurality of nozzles from which ink is ejected, a memory, and one or more hardware processors coupled to the recording head and the memory. The one or more hardware processors are configured to: determine, for each of the plurality of nozzles, whether a position of the corresponding nozzle is a position to eject ink; determine whether a successive ejection operation is necessary for a nozzle out of the plurality of nozzles, whose position is determined as the position to eject ink; and cause ink to be successively ejected at the position to eject ink at a predetermined successive ejection frequency from the nozzle that is determined to have the necessity of the successive ejection operation.

A printer includes: a transport belt; a print head that has a plurality of nozzles for discharging ink, a carriage that mounts the print head thereon, a sensor that detects a non-printable area of the print medium where the print medium placed on the transport belt and the print head are capable of coming into contact with each other; and a control section that performs printing by the print head by dividing the plurality of nozzles into a plurality of nozzle groups in the transport direction, and the control section prints an image indicated by image data assigned to one nozzle group by the other nozzle group different from the one nozzle group, in printing with respect to an adjacent area which is an area of which a length in the transport direction corresponds to a length of a nozzle row in the transport direction of the print head.

A head alignment apparatus for determining a reference position using position synchronization and aligning a plurality of head modules according to the reference position, and a substrate treating system including the same are provided. The head alignment apparatus may include, a reference position determining unit for determining a first reference position of a head transfer, in which a plurality of inkjet head modules are installed; and a mounting position determining unit for determining a second reference position of the inkjet head module based on the first reference position so that the inkjet head module can be moved from a current position to a second reference position, wherein the reference position determining unit determines a first reference position using a first image sensor installed on the same plane as the inkjet head module and a second image sensor installed facing the inkjet head module.

A method for assessing the condition and improving the printing quality of printing nozzles in printheads of an inkjet printing machine includes printing a nozzle test chart formed of a specific number of horizontal rows of equidistant vertical lines printed periodically underneath one another, with only every n.sup.th printing nozzle contributing to the test chart in every row of the test chart and n corresponding to a different number between one and the specific number of horizontal rows, recording and digitizing the test chart and analyzing the test chart regarding the condition of the contributing nozzles by using a computer. The nozzles printing horizontal lines between the horizontal rows complementing the equidistant vertical lines to form quadrangular objects used by the computer to analyze the condition of the contributing nozzles. Measures are taken to improve the printing quality of the nozzles depending on the condition of the contributing nozzles.

In a printing method, at least one image of a substrate supported in a printing system is acquired. An actual position of a first alignment feature on the substrate in a frame of reference of the printing system is determined based on the at least one image. Expected positions of second alignment features on the substrate are determined based on the actual position of the first alignment feature. Actual positions of the second alignment features in the frame of reference of the printing system are determined based on the at least one image and the expected positions of the second alignment features. Target positions of print regions on the substrate are determined based on the actual positions of the second alignment features. Ejection of print material onto the substrate in the print regions is controlled based on the target positions of the print regions.

In an example, a print target may be printed with a calibration target. The calibration target may comprise a first printing fluid figure printed on the print target and a second printing fluid figure printed on the print target. A geometric figure may be defined by the second printing fluid figure. The geometric figure may be negatively outlined in the second printing fluid figure. In an example, the calibration target may be processed to define a geometric relationship between a first printing fluid reference point and a second printing fluid reference point.