Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for quickly and accurately inspecting a droplet on a substrate. An apparatus for inspecting a droplet on a substrate according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: an ultrasonic sensor configured to apply an ultrasonic wave to a droplet on the substrate and detect an ultrasonic wave reflected from the substrate; and a processor configured to acquire a height of the droplet at each position on the substrate on the basis of a signal of the ultrasonic wave reflected from the droplet on the substrate, calculate a volume of the droplet on the basis of the heights of the droplet at the positions, and store or output data in relation to the volume of the droplet. The embodiment of the present disclosure may calculate the volume of the droplet using the ultrasonic wave, thereby quickly and accurately inspecting the droplet on the substrate.

A drop detector calibration system may include a fluid ejection bar, a drop detector movable along the fluid ejection bar at different spacings from the fluid ejection bar and a controller to determine a location of the fluid ejection bar based upon interaction between the fluid ejection bar and the drop detector during movement of the drop detector along the fluid ejection bar.

An apparatus for manufacturing a display device, the apparatus comprising: a droplet discharger comprising a nozzle configured to discharge a droplet; a first detector on a falling path of the droplet that falls from the droplet discharger and configured to detect a shape of the droplet; a second detector spaced apart from the first detector and configured to detect the shape of the droplet that falls from the droplet discharger; and a controller configured to calculate at least one of a volume of the droplet, a falling speed of the droplet, the falling path of the droplet, or a discharge angle, at which the droplet is discharged from the nozzle, based on results detected by the first detector and the second detector.

A method for measuring a liquid droplet includes: setting a translucent sample substrate having formed thereon a measurement target liquid droplet on a measurement table having a surface with a recess, the sample substrate being set on the measurement table in an orientation that a side on a back of the liquid droplet corresponds in position to the recess; applying light to the liquid droplet formed on the sample substrate set on the measurement table, imaging the liquid droplet with an imaging section, and measuring quantities of reflected light from the sample substrate and the liquid droplet with the sample substrate having a thickness larger than a wavelength of the light, and equal to or smaller than a focal length of the liquid droplet; and determining a volume or a surface shape of the liquid droplet using the reflected light quantities measured by the imaging section.

A jetting device configured to jet one or more droplets of a viscous medium through a nozzle may include an acoustic transducer configured to emit an acoustic signal that transfers acoustic waves into at least a portion of the viscous medium located in a viscous medium conduit a viscous medium conduit configured to direct a flow of the viscous medium to an outlet of the nozzle. The acoustic signal may be an ultrasonic signal. The acoustic signal may adjust one or more rheological properties of the viscous medium, based on acoustic actuation. The acoustic transducer may be implemented by an actuator of the device that is configured to move through an eject chamber to cause viscous medium to be jetted through the outlet of the nozzle as one or more droplets.

Systems, methods, software for monitoring usage of a recording medium in an image forming apparatus. In one embodiment, a usage monitor receives a raster image, and identifies thresholds that distinguish different intensity levels reproduced by different drop sizes of the recording material. The usage monitor identifies a set of pixel values for a block of pixels from the raster image, performs a vectorized comparison of the set of pixel values to each of the thresholds to generate sets of comparison bits, determines a number of set bits in each of the sets of comparison bits, and updates a threshold counter for each of the thresholds based on the number of set bits. The usage monitor may then compute drop counts for different drop sizes based on the threshold counter for each of the thresholds.

An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to: acquire physical property information on physical properties of a recording medium and on physical properties of an ink to be ejected onto the recording medium and setting information on a setting of a device configured to eject the ink onto the recording medium, the ink including a first ink and a second ink, derive an action amount using the physical property information and the setting information, the action amount relating to an action of the second ink ejected at a position different from a position where the first ink is ejected, the second ink ejected being acted upon by behavior of the first ink, and output the action amount.

Provided are an apparatus for manufacturing a display device and a method of manufacturing the display device. The apparatus for manufacturing a display device includes a droplet discharge unit including a nozzle that discharges a droplet, at least one sensor that senses a partial shape of an outer surface of the droplet projected onto a plane and a cross-sectional shape of the droplet discharge unit projected onto the plane, the plane being on a falling path of the droplet discharged from the droplet discharge unit, and a controller that calculates, based on a result sensed by the at least one sensor, at least one of a volume of the droplet, a falling speed of the droplet, a discharge angle at which the droplet is discharged from the nozzle, and a falling path of the droplet moving from the nozzle to a substrate.

Systems, methods, software for monitoring usage of a recording medium in an image forming apparatus. In one embodiment, a usage monitor receives a raster image, and identifies thresholds that distinguish different intensity levels reproduced by different drop sizes of the recording material. The usage monitor identifies a set of pixel values for a block of pixels from the raster image, performs a vectorized comparison of the set of pixel values to each of the thresholds to generate sets of comparison bits, determines a number of set bits in each of the sets of comparison bits, and updates a threshold counter for each of the thresholds based on the number of set bits. The usage monitor may then compute drop counts for different drop sizes based on the threshold counter for each of the thresholds.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head, a scanning device, a storage device, and circuitry. The liquid discharge head discharges liquid from a plurality of nozzles onto a recording medium. The scanning device moves at least one of the recording medium and the liquid discharge head to perform scanning. The storage device stores a plurality of mask patterns to change a discharge amount and a discharge size of the liquid from the liquid discharge head. The circuitry acquires image data, creates dot data from the image data, and determines the discharge size of the liquid to be discharged from the liquid discharge head, based on the dot data and one of the plurality of mask patterns.