A droplet measurement method is described. The droplet measurement method may include discharging a droplet on a substrate, scanning the droplet by moving a scanning unit, and calculating a volume of the droplet by using the thicknesses of the portions of the droplet. The scanning unit may include optical scanners arranged in multiple directions, storing thicknesses of portions of the droplet scanned by the scanning unit.

A method comprises printing an image using a printhead cartridge including a number of dies, each die comprising a nozzle array, the printing comprising: determining a drop parameter of fluid drops ejected from nozzles of the nozzle array of at least one die; comparing the drop parameter to a threshold value; and determining an image characteristic of an image to be printed; and if the image characteristic meets a defined criterion and if the drop parameter exceeds the threshold value, applying a second print mask for printing the image; and if the image characteristic does not meet the defined criterion or if the drop parameter does not exceed the threshold value, applying a first print mask for printing the image, wherein the second print mask uses less nozzles of the nozzle arrays than the first print mask.

An image recording apparatus, having a discharging head, a fan, and a controller, is provided. The discharging head includes a discharging surface and a plurality of nozzles arranged along a sub-scanning direction, which intersects orthogonally with a main scanning direction. The discharging head is configured to move in the main scanning direction. The fan is configured to generate an airflow for collecting mist of ink discharged through the nozzles. The controller is configured to obtain a droplet size of the ink to be discharged through the nozzles from one of a print job and a printing mode set in advance, obtain a distance between the discharging surface and a printable medium, and control a rotation speed of the fan based on the droplet size and the distance.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a head which discharges a plurality of kinds of liquids; and a controller. The controller is configured to: calculate a total discharge amount of the liquids for a unit area of a recording medium based on discharge data for the unit area; determine whether the total discharge amount exceeds a predefined amount; in a case that the controller has determined that the total discharge amount exceeds the predefined amount, divide the discharge data into a plurality of pieces of divided discharge data, each of the pieces of divided discharge data indicating the total discharge amount of not more than the predefined amount; and perform a plurality of divided discharges for the unit area based on the pieces of divided discharge data.

A method may include measuring at least one physical parameter of at least one component of a plurality of components of a first fluid ejection die; and calculating an operating energy value to be used to operate the first fluid ejection die based on the at least one physical parameter of the at least one component.

An example method is disclosed of adjusting a print head parameter, the method comprising ejecting a print agent drop from a print head, determining a velocity of the print agent drop, and adjusting the print head parameter based on the velocity of the print agent drop wherein the print head parameter is a number of drops of print agent in an area and/or a density of print agent applied by the print head.

The present invention relates to real time discharging droplet compensating apparatus and method capable of compensating a discharging degree in real time by feeding-back drop information. To this end, the present invention provides a real time discharging droplet compensating apparatus which is configured by including a discharge control unit controlling the driving of an inkjet head; and a drop measurement unit provided below a substrate to measure drop information of a droplet to be discharged on the substrate and feed-back the measured drop information to the drop measurement unit, wherein the discharge control unit compensates a nozzle waveform of discharging the droplet by using the drop information. Therefore, according to the present invention, the position, size, and volume information of the drop are measured at the same time to be fed-back to the inkjet head unit in real time, thereby acquiring drop information without movement of a separate head unit.

A droplet ejecting device includes: a first nozzle group consisting of N pieces of first nozzles aligned in a first direction; a second nozzle group consisting of N pieces of second nozzles aligned in the first direction and at the same positions in the first direction as the first nozzles; and a controller. The controller is configured to determine whether an ejection quantity per unit time is not smaller than a first threshold. When the ejection quantity is equal to or greater than the first threshold, a first combination of N pieces of nozzles from among the N pieces of first nozzles and the N pieces of second nozzles is selected. When the ejection quantity is smaller than the first threshold, a second combination of N pieces of nozzles from among the N pieces of first nozzles and the N pieces of second nozzles is selected.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head having N nozzle line groups (N is an integer equal to or larger than 3) arranged in a first direction, a main scanning section configured to move the liquid ejecting head in a second direction which intersects with the first direction for scanning, a selection section configured to select a set of use nozzle lines to be used for formation of dots on the medium from among the N nozzle line groups, and an ejection controller configured to form the dots by causing the nozzles included in the set of use nozzle lines selected by the selection section to eject the liquid. The selection section selects M of the N nozzle line groups (2M<N) which are consecutively adjacent to each other in the first direction as the set of use nozzle lines.

An ink droplet volume measuring apparatus including: a substrate on which an ink droplet is dropped; a chromatic confocal sensor irradiating light having a plurality of wavelengths to the ink droplet dropped on the substrate and scanning the ink droplet; and a controller calculating a three-dimensional shape of the ink droplet from a signal scanned by the chromatic confocal sensor.