A method for depositing droplets onto a medium, utilising a droplet deposition head is provided. The head used in the method includes: an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of fluid droplets and each wall separating two neighbouring chambers. Each wall is actuable such that, in response to a first voltage, it will deform so as to decrease the volume of one chamber and increase the volume of the other chamber, and, in response to a second voltage, it will deform so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of its neighbouring chambers. The method includes the steps of: receiving input data; assigning, based on such input data, all the chambers within the array as either firing chambers or non-firing chambers, so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous firing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; actuating the walls of certain of the chambers such that: for each non-firing chamber, either one wall is stationary while the other is moved, or the walls move with the same sense, or they remain stationary; and, for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses; such actuations result in each firing chamber releasing at least one droplet, the resulting droplets forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, such bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, the size of each such gap generally corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. The actuations of the walls of said firing chambers in the actuating step are such that, if only one of the two walls of each firing chamber were actuated in such manner, no droplets would be ejected from that firing chamber. A droplet deposition apparatus, a droplet deposition head and a computer program product are also provided.

An image processing apparatus converts, based on a threshold matrix in which thresholds are arrayed, input image data into a first dot pattern representing dots recorded by a recording head, and obtains a second dot pattern representing dots recorded by each of L number of the nozzle arrays by assigning the dots of the first dot pattern to each of the nozzle arrays so that each nozzle of the recording head is used in a cycle of L. A power spectrum in a frequency domain of the first dot pattern has a blue noise characteristic or a green noise characteristic in which power in a low frequency band is suppressed, and power is suppressed at a frequency corresponding to the cycle of L and at frequencies of multiplications of the frequency.

The invention relates to a printing method for a digital printing device, comprising a print head having a plurality of printing systems and comprising at least one control apparatus for feeding control signals to the printing systems for the production of ink drops. Each printing system has a nozzle, at least one ink chamber and an activator, e.g. a piezoelectric activator, which is associated with the at least one ink chamber, for the discharge of ink drops from the ink chamber in question via the nozzle in question onto a substrate to be printed on, as a response to a control signal. In the control apparatus, only a single waveform for the control signal having a specified time curve is stored for ink drops of all sizes, comprising, for example, optionally an initial waiting time, a first edge, followed by a first holding time, and, after the first holding time, a second, opposite edge, optionally followed by a second holding time. The size and/or speed of ink drops is varied by virtue of the fact that, at most for a single, intrinsic drop size, the entire stored waveform is transferred as a control signal to the activator in question, while for all other, effective drop sizes, only part of the common, stored waveform is transferred to the activator in question, namely one or more selected portions, while one or more other portions of the stored, common waveform are not supplied to the activator in question in the control signal.

A liquid discharge head includes first and second actuators and a drive circuit. Each of the first and second actuators is configured to expand and contract first and second pressure chambers, respectively. The drive circuit is configured to, during a dot formation cycle apply a first number of discharge pulses to the first actuator to cause the first number of droplets to be discharged from the first pressure chamber and apply a second number of discharge pulses to the second actuator to cause the second number of droplets to be discharged from the second pressure chamber and apply a third number of precursors to the second actuator. The first number is greater than or equal to two. Each of the second and third numbers is greater than or equal to one. A sum of the second and third numbers is less than or equal to the first number.

A recording device includes a head including a plurality of nozzles discharging ink droplets and a head including a plurality of nozzles discharging ink droplets of a color identical to that of the ink droplets, a driving circuit configured to drive the former head at a drive voltage and drive the latter head by another drive voltage, an input unit configured to receive an input of selection information selected, based on comparison between a print image printed by the former head and a plurality of other print images G2 printed by the latter head, with the other drive voltage being changed individually, and a control unit configured to control the drive voltage and the other drive voltage, based on the selection information input from the input unit.

An image recording device and an image recording method capable of matching landing positions between droplet types in a consecutive ejection drive method are provided. The object is resolved by an image recording device in which a drive waveform for forming a dot of a small droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting a liquid droplet by a first ejection waveform element arranged in a first half of one drive cycle, and a drive waveform for forming a dot of a medium droplet is a drive waveform for ejecting the liquid droplet by the first ejection waveform element and a second ejection waveform element arranged after the first ejection waveform element in time series, and the liquid droplet ejected by the first ejection waveform element and the liquid droplet ejected by the second ejection waveform element are not combined while reaching onto a recording medium.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes an actuator and a drive circuit. The actuator is configured to cause liquid to be discharged from a nozzle. The drive circuit is configured to apply a waveform to the actuator during a discharge cycle in accordance with a discharge trigger and to cause a voltage of the actuator to be maintained at a value from an end of the discharge cycle until reception of a subsequent discharge trigger.

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.

An actuator drive circuit for a liquid discharge apparatus includes an output switch and a waveform selector circuit. The output switch includes a first transistor configured to supply a first voltage to an actuator when on and a second transistor configured to supply a second voltage higher than the first voltage to the actuator when on. The waveform selector circuit is configured to select, from a plurality of waveforms stored in a waveform memory, a first waveform that causes the output switch to transition to a first state in which the first transistor is on and the second transistor is off, and a second waveform that causes the output switch to transition to a second state in which the first transistor is off and the second transistor is on.

According to one embodiment, an inkjet head includes a pressure chamber connected to a nozzle, an actuator corresponding to the pressure chamber and configured to change a volume of the pressure chamber, and a drive circuit configured to drive the actuator causing two or more ink droplets to be consecutively discharged from the nozzle. The drive circuit applies in sequence a first drive waveform for expanding the pressure chamber, a second drive waveform having a first pulse width, a third drive waveform for releasing the pressure chamber from an expanded state, a fourth drive waveform having a second pulse width, and a fifth drive waveform for contracting the pressure chamber.