Provided is a drive method of a liquid discharging head including a first step of forming a first liquid column by supplying a drive signal having a first waveform to a drive element, and a second step of, when the first liquid column is formed, forming a second liquid column by supplying a drive signal having a second waveform to the drive element, and thereafter discharging a part or all of liquid constituting the second liquid column as a droplet, in which when a drive signal having the first waveform but not having the second waveform is supplied to the drive element, a droplet is not discharged from the discharging portion, and when a drive signal having the second waveform but not having the first waveform is supplied to the drive element, a droplet is not discharged from the discharging portion.

There is provided a printing device, which includes a print engine provided with an ejection head configured to eject droplets of ink introduced from a container containing the ink and configured to perform printing using the ink droplets on a recording sheet, and a controller. The controller is configured to automatically set a drive signal pattern defining a signal pattern to drive the ejection head in accordance with contract information concluded for the printing device or for a use by a user of the printing device.

A printing apparatus includes: a printing head including a first nozzle row configured to eject ink, and a second nozzle row to eject ink of the same color; and a control unit configured to perform printing based on a selected printing mode; wherein D1>D2, where D1 is a difference between a usage ratio of the first nozzle row and a usage ratio of the second nozzle row when printing is performed in the first printing mode, and D2 is a difference between a usage ratio of the first nozzle row and a usage ratio of the second nozzle row when printing is performed in the second printing mode, and the control unit performs printing in the second printing mode when printing is performed under a printing condition that tends to make wind ripples noticeable when printing is performed in the first printing mode.

There is provided a printer including: a carriage; a head; a position sensitive detector having a light-emitter and a light-receiver; and a controller. The head has: a first nozzle from which a printing ink is discharged, and a second nozzle from which a liquid scattering a light emitted from the light-emitter is discharged. The controller is configured to execute: formation of a scattering film on the object by discharging the liquid from the second nozzle onto the object; measurement of a distance between the head and the object, with the light emitted from the light-emitter and irradiated onto the scattering film; and adjustment, based on the measured distance, of a discharging condition of discharging the ink from the first nozzle, and performing printing on the object.

An actuator drive circuit of a liquid discharge apparatus includes a discharge waveform generating circuit, a sleep waveform generating circuit, and a wake waveform generating circuit. The discharge waveform generating circuit is configured to generate a plurality of drive waveforms to be applied to actuators of the liquid discharge apparatus for liquid discharge. The drive waveforms correspond to gradation values of gradation scale data. The sleep waveform generating circuit is configured to generate a sleep waveform to be applied to the actuators. The sleep waveform causes a voltage of the actuators to transition to a first voltage without liquid discharge. The wake waveform generating circuit is configured to generate a wake waveform to be applied to the actuators. The wake waveform causes the voltage of the actuators to transition to a second voltage higher than the first voltage without liquid discharge.

A liquid discharging apparatus has a switch control circuit that controls whether to cause each of a first switch circuit, a second switch circuit, a third switch circuit, and a fourth switch circuit to output a driving signal. The switch control circuit has a fifth switch circuit, a sixth switch circuit, and a seventh switch circuit. The fifth switch circuit switches between output of the first data to the second switch circuit and output of the second data to the second switch circuit. The sixth switch circuit switches between output of the first data to the third switch circuit and output of the third data to the third switch circuit. The seventh switch circuit switches between output of the first data to the fourth switch circuit and output of the fourth data to the fourth switch circuit.

A liquid discharging apparatus has an integrated circuit that controls supply of a driving signal to a first driving element and to a second driving element according to a discharge control signal. The integrated circuit has: a first switch circuit that receives the driving signal and switches between output and non-output of the driving signal to the first driving element; a second switch circuit that receives the driving signal and switches between output and non-output of the driving signal to the second driving element; and a switch control circuit that receives the discharge control signal and controls whether to cause each of the first switch circuit and the second switch circuit to output the driving signal. The switch control circuit controls the first switch circuit and the second switch circuit according to the first data.

A drive circuit includes a first voltage output circuit coupled to a first terminal and outputting a first voltage signal, a second voltage output circuit coupled to a second terminal and outputting a second voltage signal, and a drive signal output circuit coupled to the first terminal and outputting a drive signal. In a first mode, the second voltage output circuit outputs the second voltage signal and the drive signal output circuit outputs the drive signal whose voltage value varies. In a second mode, the second voltage output circuit outputs the second voltage signal and the drive signal output circuit outputs the drive signal which is constant at a third voltage value. In a third mode, the first voltage output circuit outputs the first voltage signal and the second voltage output circuit outputs the second voltage signal.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a head having a plurality of nozzles; and a controller. The controller executes: a discharging processing of discharging liquid, from each of the nozzles toward a recording medium, in a liquid droplet amount which is selected for each of pixels from at least three kinds of liquid droplet amounts; and a total discharge amount calculating processing of calculating a total discharge amount of the liquid to be discharged from the nozzles in the discharging processing, based on the liquid droplet amount selected for each of the pixels and a discharge duty which is density of the liquid droplet per a unit area of the recording medium.

A printing apparatus is disclosed. The printing apparatus comprises a printhead and a controller. The printhead includes an array of nozzles, each having an actuator to eject a printing fluid, the array of nozzles having a first and a second subset of nozzles, wherein the first subset is located at the vicinity of an edge of the printhead. The controller is to assign a firing mask so that the actuators corresponding to the first subset of nozzles are instructed to eject the printing fluid with a higher energy level than the actuators corresponding to the second subset of nozzles.