A liquid discharge apparatus includes a nozzle plate with nozzles and actuators and a drive controller. First and second nozzles are directly adjacent to each other in a first direction. First and third nozzles are directly adjacent to each other in a second direction. The drive controller is configured to apply a drive signal to first, second, and third actuators corresponding to the first, second, and third nozzles, respectively, during a drive cycle. A difference between a first timing at which the drive signal is applied to the first actuator and a second timing at which the drive signal is applied to the second actuator and a difference between the first timing and a third timing at which the drive signal is applied to the third actuator is an odd number multiple of a half of an inherent vibration cycle of the liquid discharge apparatus.

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 liquid discharge head includes a plurality of discharge holes, a plurality of pressurizing units, a plurality of drive circuits, a switch circuit, and first and second control circuits. The drive signals include a first signal for a pixel of a first size and a second drive signal for a pixel of a second size. The second control circuit controls the switch circuit so that each of the plurality of pressurizing units is connected to the drive circuit outputting the first signal when a droplet forming the pixel of the first size is discharged and is connected to the drive circuit outputting the second signal when a droplet forming the pixel of the second size is discharged. The first control circuit controls the drive circuits so that the drive circuits in charge of outputting the first signal is changed among the plurality of drive circuits.

An image processing apparatus includes a print data generating unit that generates print data for printing an image with ink, the print data defining, for each of pixels of the image, non-formation of a dot or formation of a dot of any size of a plurality of sizes, and a mist calculating unit that calculates, based on first print data of the print data generated by the print data generating unit, a mist generation amount of the ink, in which the print data generating unit is configured to generate, when the mist generation amount exceeds a predetermined threshold value, second print data of the print data in which a formation ratio of the dot of a relatively large size among the plurality of sizes is higher than the formation ratio in the first print data of the print data.

A method for reducing instability of a nozzle meniscus of a droplet deposition apparatus. The method includes the steps of receiving first and second data blocks for respective first and second line pixels, receiving a data set of forbidden pixel periods, determining a first jitter delay value based on the forbidden pixel periods, generating first and second print data based on the first and second data blocks, the first print data defining a first holding period and one or more drive pulses and the second print data defining one or more drive pulses; wherein the first and second print data generate first and second actuating element signals that cause an actuating element to eject at least one droplet from a nozzle, wherein the first jitter delay value adjusts a first pixel period, defined by the drive pulses, to fall outside of the forbidden pixel periods to reduce nozzle meniscus instability.

An inkjet head includes a pressure chamber storing ink, a nozzle communicating with the chamber, an actuator ejecting the ink through the nozzle by changing a volume of the chamber, and a circuit outputting a drive signal to the actuator with a drive waveform having a cycle based on a number of gradation levels being used for printing. When printing is performed using three or more gradation levels, the circuit outputs the signal that has a multi-drop drive waveform including two or more first waveforms for ejecting first to (n−1)-th droplets of the ink where n is equal to or greater than 3, a second waveform for ejecting an n-th droplet of the ink, and an intermediate time between the first waveform for ejecting the (n−1)-th droplet and the second waveform for ejecting the n-th droplet. The intermediate time is longer than a time between two adjacent first waveforms.

A liquid ejection device includes a liquid supply unit, an array of nozzles arranged in a matrix and through which liquid is ejected, actuators each connected to one of the nozzles, and a circuit configured to output signals to the actuators according to delay times that are predetermined in a matrix corresponding to the matrix of the array. The delay times include (k+l−1) or more different delay times where the matrix thereof has k columns and l rows. The matrix is defined such that a difference of two adjacent delay times in each of column and row directions is an odd multiple of a half cycle of a natural vibration period of the liquid, and between two adjacent columns and rows, two or more different delay time differences exist between each pair of corresponding delay times of the adjacent columns and rows, respectively.

There are provided a characteristic table generation system and so on capable of enhancing the convenience of the user. The characteristic table generation system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a system for generating a predictive voltage characteristic table for defining a predictive characteristic curve, the system including a data acquisition section configured to obtain a measured viscosity characteristic table defining a measured characteristic curve between viscosity and temperature of the liquid, and a predetermined parameter separately, as input data, a conversion coefficient generation section configured to generate a conversion coefficient used when performing a conversion process from the measured characteristic curve into the predictive characteristic curve based on the predetermined parameter using a first analytical method as a predetermined analytical method which takes the predetermined parameter as an explanatory variable, and which takes the conversion coefficient as an objective variable, and a table generation section configured to perform the conversion process using the measured viscosity characteristic table and the conversion coefficient generated by the conversion coefficient generation section to thereby generate the predictive voltage characteristic table.

A digital printing system includes a print head and a processor. The print head is configured to jet droplets of ink. The a processor is further configured to translate a required shade of a color, to be printed at a given location on a substrate by the print head, into a sequence of pulses, the sequence including: (a) up to a predefined maximum number of driving pulses that cause the print head to jet respective droplets, and (b) a tickling pulse, which has a smaller amplitude than the driving pulses and which causes the print head to jet a droplet smaller than the droplets jetted in response to the driving pulses. The processor is additionally configured to apply the sequence of pulses to the print head.

A digital printing system (10) includes a print head (622) and a processor (20). The print head is configured to jet droplets of ink. The processor is further configured to translate a required shade of a color, to be printed at a given location on a substrate by tire print head, into a sequence of pulses (625, 630), the sequence including: (a) up to a predefined maximum number of driving pulses (625) that cause the print head to jet respective droplets, and (b) a tickling pulse (630), which has a smaller amplitude than the driving pulses and which causes the print head to jet a droplet smaller than the droplets jetted in response to the driving pulses. The processor is additionally configured to apply the sequence of pulses to the print head.