Printing system and method for defect detection in a printing system

Abstract

A printing system comprising an apparatus for defect detection in a printing system. The printing system comprises, an image forming device, a sensing unit for sensing a surface geometry of a sheet to be printed and for generating data representative of that surface geometry, a processor device for processing the data; and a controller for controlling further progress of the sheet along a transport path of the printing system in dependence upon the deformations in the surface geometry of the sheet detected and classified by the processor device. The operating conditions the sheet is exposed to at the sensing unit are similar to the operating conditions the sheet is exposed at the image forming.

Claims

1. A printing system comprising an apparatus for defect detection in a printing system, the printing system comprising: an image forming device; a sensing unit comprising at least one first sensor device for sensing a surface geometry or topology of a sheet to be printed as the sheet travels on a transport path of the printing system and for generating data representative of that surface geometry or topology; a processor device for processing the data from the first sensor device to detect and classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; and a controller for controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path of the printing system in dependence upon the deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet detected and classified by the processor device, wherein the controller determines operating conditions in the sensing unit, and wherein the controller adjusts the operating conditions in the sensing unit to be similar to the operating conditions in the image forming device.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operating conditions include at least one selected from the group of humidity, temperature, orientation, atmospheric composition, holding force, holding means, and transport means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device comprises a sensor arranged for sending atmospheric data to the to an atmospheric control unit of the sensing unit.

4. A printing system comprising an apparatus for defect detection in a printing system, the printing system comprising: an image forming device; a sensing unit comprising at least one first sensor device for sensing a surface geometry or topology of a sheet to be printed as the sheet travels on a transport path of the printing system and for generating data representative of that surface geometry or topology; a processor device for processing the data from the first sensor device to detect and classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; and a controller for controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path of the printing system in dependence upon the deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet detected and classified by the processor device, wherein the operating conditions in the sensing unit are controlled to be similar to the operating conditions in the image forming device, and wherein the sensing unit and the image forming device comprise substantially identical suction units, such that the vacuum force on the sheet in the sensing unit is substantially identical to the vacuum force on the sheet in the image forming device.

5. A printing system comprising an apparatus for defect detection in a printing system, the printing system comprising: an image forming device; a sensing unit comprising at least one first sensor device for sensing a surface geometry or topology of a sheet to be printed as the sheet travels on a transport path of the printing system and for generating data representative of that surface geometry or topology; a processor device for processing the data from the first sensor device to detect and classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; and a controller for controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path of the printing system in dependence upon the deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet detected and classified by the processor device, wherein the operating conditions in the sensing unit are controlled to be similar to the operating conditions in the image forming device, and wherein the controller is configured to control and/or operate a removal device for removing the sheet from the transport path of the printing system if and when the processor device detects one or more deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet that would render the sheet unsuitable for printing; the apparatus including said removal device.

6. A printing system according to claim 1, wherein the processor device is configured to detect and to classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet to determine whether a deformation exceeds a predetermined or threshold size or extent that would render the sheet unsuitable for printing.

7. A printing system according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is configured and arranged to sense the surface geometry or topology of the sheet when the sheet is on a first pass or simplex pass of the transport path towards an image forming unit or a printing head unit of the printing system; and/or wherein the sensing unit is configured and arranged to sense the surface geometry or topology of the sheet when the sheet is on a second pass or a duplex pass of the transport path towards the image forming or printing head unit of the printing system.

8. A printing system according to claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to control and/or operate the removal device for removing the sheet from the transport path upstream of the image forming unit or printing head unit of the printing system.

9. A printing system according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit includes a conveyor mechanism which is configured to hold and transport the sheet on the transport path in a manner substantially identical to a transport mechanism in an image forming unit or printing head unit of the printing system.

10. A printing system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one second sensor device arranged on the transport path of the printing system and located downstream of the at least one first sensor device, upstream of an image forming unit or printing head unit of the printing system, for providing feedback or correlation data to the processor device; wherein either or both of the first and second sensor devices is/are configured to sense substantially an entire surface or side of the sheet, via an optical sensor such as a laser scanner, wherein the surface area or topology data includes image data comprising pixels.

11. A printing system according to claim 1, wherein the processor device comprises at least one algorithm for processing the surface area or topology data generated by the first sensor device, the algorithm being configured to analyse pixels of the data according to at least one criterion, such as height, to identify and classify deformations in the sheet, the algorithm being configured to analyse neighbouring pixels of a pixel within a deformation; and/or wherein the processor device is configured to identify and to classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet according to at least one of a plurality of criteria including: height, area, bounding area, and/or centre of gravity.

12. A method of detecting defects in a printing system, comprising: sensing a surface geometry or a topology of a sheet to be printed on a transport path of the sheet in the printing system to generate data representative of that surface geometry or topology under predetermined operating conditions in a sensing unit; processing the surface geometry or topology data generated to identify and classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path of the printing system depending on the deformations identified and classified in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; printing an image on a sheet under predetermined operating conditions in an image forming unit; determining the operating conditions in the sensing unit; and adjusting, via a controller, the operating conditions in the sensing unit during the sensing step to be similar to the operating conditions in the image forming unit during the printing step.

13. A method of detecting defects in a printing system, comprising: sensing a surface geometry or a topology of a sheet to be printed on a transport path of the sheet in the printing system to generate data representative of that surface geometry or topology under predetermined operating conditions in a sensing unit; processing the surface geometry or topology data generated to identify and classify deformations in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; and controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path of the printing system depending on the deformations identified and classified in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet; printing an image on a sheet under predetermined operating conditions in an image forming unit; wherein the operating conditions in the sensing unit during the sensing step are controlled to be similar to the operating conditions in the image forming unit during the printing step, and wherein the step of processing the surface geometry or topology data includes determining whether a deformation identified exceeds a threshold size to render the sheet unsuitable for printing, and wherein the step of controlling further progress of the sheet along the transport path includes controlling or effecting removal of the sheet from the transport path of the printing system if and when one or more deformations identified in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet would render the sheet unsuitable for printing.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the step of sensing the surface geometry or topology of the sheet includes holding and conveying the sheet on the transport path in a manner substantially identical to a manner of holding and conveying the sheet in an image forming unit or printing head unit of the printing system.

15. A method according to claim 12, wherein the step of sensing the surface geometry or topology of the sheet takes place on a first pass or simplex pass of the transport path towards an image forming unit or a printing head unit of the printing system, and/or on a second pass or a duplex pass of the transport path towards the image forming unit or printing head unit of the printing system.

16. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls the sensing unit such that the sheet in the sensing unit during sensing of said sheet is exposed to similar operating conditions as said sheet will be exposed to in the image forming device during printing on said sheet.

17. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to: determine operating conditions in the image forming device to adjust the operating conditions in the sensing unit to be similar to the determined operating conditions in the image forming device.

18. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is provided upstream and separate from the image forming unit.

19. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device comprises an inkjet marking module.

20. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit comprises a transport mechanism similar to a transport mechanism in the image forming device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) For a more complete understanding of the invention and the advantages thereof, exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of part of a printing system according to an embodiment of the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming device in the printing system of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3A is a schematic perspective underside view of printing heads in the image forming device of FIG. 2;

(5) FIG. 3B is a detailed view of the printing heads in the image forming device of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A;

(6) FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a printing system with a defect detection system according to an embodiment of the invention;

(7) FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the analysis of an eight connected pixel neighbourhood in a preferred embodiment of the apparatus and method of the invention;

(8) FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of pixels on edges of the image data which are assigned a value below the defect threshold before the analysis process starts; and

(9) FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of the image data in the embodiment of the apparatus and method of the invention being analysed by row major until a data pixel representing a deformation is found, at which point all of the pixel neighbours are assessed;

(10) FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of the image data in FIG. 5, with the pixel neighbours within the deformation analysed, the numbers indicating the iteration steps, and the analysis for new defects continuing when all pixels within the deformation have been found;

(11) FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of various properties for a dog-ear type of sheet deformation;

(12) FIG. 10 is a flow diagram which schematically illustrates a method according to a preferred embodiment.

(13) The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate particular embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention and many of the attendant advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated as they become better understood with reference to the following detailed description.

(14) It will be appreciated that common and/or well understood elements that may be useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are not necessarily depicted in order to facilitate a more abstracted view of the embodiments. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily illustrated to scale relative to each other. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps in an embodiment of a method may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrences while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used in the present specification have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study, except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(15) With reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a portion of an inkjet printing system 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. FIG. 1 illustrates in particular the following parts or steps of the printing process in the inkjet printing system 1: media pre-treatment, image formation, drying and fixing and optionally post treatment. Each of these will be discussed briefly below.

(16) FIG. 1 shows that a sheet S of a receiving medium or print medium, in particular a machine-coated print medium, is transported or conveyed along a transport path P of the system 1 with the aid of transport mechanism 2 in a direction indicated by arrows P. The transport mechanism 2 may comprise a driven belt system having one or more endless belt 3. Alternatively, the belt(s) 3 may be exchanged for one or more drums. The transport mechanism 2 may be suitably configured depending on the requirements of the sheet transport in each step of the printing process (e.g. sheet registration accuracy) and may hence comprise multiple driven belts 3, 3 and/or multiple drums. For a proper conveyance of the sheets S of the receiving medium or print medium, the sheets S should be fixed to or held by the transport mechanism 2. The manner of such fixation is not limited and may, for example, be selected from the group: electrostatic fixation, mechanical fixation (e.g. clamping) and vacuum fixation, of which vacuum fixation is particularly preferred.

(17) Media Pre-Treatment

(18) To improve spreading and pinning (i.e. fixation of pigments and water-dispersed polymer particles) of the ink on the print medium, in particular on slow absorbing media, such as machine-coated media, the print medium may be pre-treated, i.e. treated prior to the printing of an image on the medium. The pre-treatment step may comprise one or more of the following: (i) pre-heating of the print medium to enhance spreading of the ink used on the print medium and/or to enhance absorption into the print medium of the ink used; (ii) primer pre-treatment for increasing the surface tension of print medium in order to improve the wettability of the print medium by the ink used and to control the stability of the dispersed solid fraction of the ink composition, i.e. pigments and dispersed polymer particles; (N.B. primer pre-treatment can be performed in a gas phase, e.g. with gaseous acids such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, acetic acid, phosphoric acid and lactic acid, or in a liquid phase by coating the print medium with a pre-treatment liquid. A pre-treatment liquid may include water as a solvent, one or more co-solvents, additives such as surfactants, and at least one compound selected from a polyvalent metal salt, an acid and a cationic resin); and (iii) corona or plasma treatment.

(19) FIG. 1 illustrates that the sheet S of print medium may be conveyed to and passed through a first pre-treatment module 4, which module may comprise a preheater, (e.g. a radiation heater), a corona/plasma treatment unit, a gaseous acid treatment unit or a combination of any of these. Subsequently, a predetermined quantity of the pre-treatment liquid may optionally be applied on a surface of the print medium via a pre-treatment liquid applying device 5. Specifically, the pre-treatment liquid is provided from a storage tank 6 to the pre-treatment liquid applying device 5, which comprises double rollers 7, 7. A surface of the double rollers 7, 7 may be covered with a porous material, such as sponge. After providing the pre-treatment liquid to auxiliary roller 7 first, the pre-treatment liquid is transferred to main roller 7, and a predetermined quantity is applied onto the surface of the print medium. Thereafter, the coated printing medium (e.g. paper) onto which the pre-treatment liquid was applied may optionally be heated and dried by a dryer device 8, which comprises a dryer heater installed at a position downstream of the pre-treatment liquid applying device 5 in order to reduce the quantity of water content in the pre-treatment liquid to a predetermined range. It is preferable to decrease the water content in an amount of 1.0 weight % to 30 weight % based on the total water content in the pre-treatment liquid provided on the print medium sheet S. To prevent the transport mechanism 2 from being contaminated with pre-treatment liquid, a cleaning unit (not shown) may be installed and/or the transport mechanism 2 may include a plurality of belts or drums 3, 3, as noted above. The latter measure avoids or prevents contamination of other parts of the printing system 1, particularly of the transport mechanism 2 in the printing region.

(20) It will be appreciated that any conventionally known methods can be used to apply the pre-treatment liquid. Specific examples of an application technique include: roller coating (as shown), ink-jet application, curtain coating and spray coating. There is no specific restriction in the number of times the pre-treatment liquid may be applied. It may be applied just one time, or it may be applied two times or more. An application twice or more may be preferable, as cockling of the coated print medium can be prevented and the film formed by the surface pre-treatment liquid will produce a uniform dry surface with no wrinkles after application twice or more. A coating device 5 that employs one or more rollers 7, 7 is desirable because this technique does not need to take ejection properties into consideration and it can apply the pre-treatment liquid homogeneously to a print medium. In addition, the amount of the pre-treatment liquid applied with a roller or with other means can be suitably adjusted by controlling one or more of: the physical properties of the pre-treatment liquid, the contact pressure of the roller, and the rotational speed of the roller in the coating device. An application area of the pre-treatment liquid may be only that portion of the sheet S to be printed, or an entire surface of a print portion and/or a non-print portion. However, when the pre-treatment liquid is applied only to a print portion, unevenness may occur between the application area and a non-application area caused by swelling of cellulose contained in coated printing paper with water from the pre-treatment liquid followed by drying. From a view-point of uniform drying, it is thus preferable to apply a pre-treatment liquid to the entire surface of a coated printing paper, and roller coating can be preferably used as a coating method to the whole surface. The pre-treatment liquid may be an aqueous liquid.

(21) Corona or plasma treatment may be used as a pre-treatment step by exposing a sheet of a print medium to corona discharge or plasma treatment. In particular, when used on media such as polyethylene (PE) films, polypropylene (PP) films, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films and machine coated media, the adhesion and spreading of the ink can be improved by increasing the surface energy of the medium. With machine-coated media, the absorption of water can be promoted which may induce faster fixation of the image and less puddling on the print medium. Surface properties of the print medium may be tuned by using different gases or gas mixtures as medium in the corona or plasma treatment. Examples of such gases include: air, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, fluorine gas, argon, neon, and mixtures thereof. Corona treatment in air is most preferred.

(22) Image Formation

(23) When employing an inkjet printer loaded with inkjet inks, the image formation is typically performed in a manner whereby ink droplets are ejected from inkjet heads onto a print medium based on digital signals. Although both single-pass inkjet printing and multi-pass (i.e. scanning) inkjet printing may be used for image formation, single-pass inkjet printing is preferable as it is effective to perform high-speed printing. Single-pass inkjet printing is an inkjet printing method with which ink droplets are deposited onto the print medium to form all pixels of the image in a single passage of the print medium through the image forming device, i.e. beneath an inkjet marking module.

(24) Referring to FIG. 1, after pre-treatment, the sheet S of print medium is conveyed on the transport belt 3 to an image forming device or inkjet marking module 9, where image formation is carried out by ejecting ink from inkjet marking device 91, 92, 93, 94 arranged so that a whole width of the sheet S is covered. That is, the image forming device 9 comprises an inkjet marking module having four inkjet marking devices 91, 92, 93, 94, each being configured and arranged to eject an ink of a different colour (e.g. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). Such an inkjet marking device 91, 92, 93, 94 for use in single-pass inkjet printing typically has a length corresponding to at least a width of a desired printing range R (i.e. indicated by the double-headed arrow on sheet S), with the printing range R being perpendicular to the media transport direction along the transport path P.

(25) Each inkjet marking device 91, 92, 93, 94 may have a single print head having a length corresponding to the desired printing range R. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet marking device 91 may be constructed by combining two or more inkjet heads or printing heads 101-107, such that a combined length of individual inkjet heads covers the entire width of the printing range R. Such a construction of the inkjet marking device 91 is termed a page wide array (PWA) of print heads. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet marking device 91 (and the others 92, 93, 94 may be identical) comprises seven individual inkjet heads 101-107 arranged in two parallel rows, with a first row having four inkjet heads 101-104 and a second row having three inkjet heads 105-107 arranged in a staggered configuration with respect to the inkjet heads 101-104 of the first row. The staggered arrangement provides a page-wide array of inkjet nozzles 90, which nozzles are substantially equidistant in the length direction of the inkjet marking device 91. The staggered configuration may also provide a redundancy of nozzles in an area O where the inkjet heads of the first row and the second row overlap. (See in FIG. 3A). The staggering of the nozzles 90 may further be used to decrease an effective nozzle pitch d (and hence to increase print resolution) in the length direction of the inkjet marking device 91. In particular, the inkjet heads are arranged such that positions of the nozzles 90 of the inkjet heads 105-107 in the second row are shifted in the length direction of the inkjet marking device 91 by half the nozzle pitch d, the nozzle pitch d being the distance between adjacent nozzles 90 in an inkjet head 101-107. (See FIG. 3B, which shows a detailed view of 80 in FIG. 3A). The nozzle pitch d of each head is, for example, about 360 dpi, where dpi indicates a number of dots per 2.54 cm (i.e. dots per inch). The resolution may be further increased by using more rows of inkjet heads, each of which are arranged such that the positions of the nozzles of each row are shifted in the length direction with respect to the positions of the nozzles of all other rows.

(26) In the process of image formation by ejecting ink, an inkjet head or a printing head employed may be an on-demand type or a continuous type inkjet head. As an ink ejection system, an electrical-mechanical conversion system (e.g. a single-cavity type, a double-cavity type, a bender type, a piston type, a shear mode type, or a shared wall type) or an electrical-thermal conversion system (e.g. a thermal inkjet type, or a Bubble Jet type) may be employed. Among them, it is preferable to use a piezo type inkjet recording head which has nozzles of a diameter of 30 m or less in the current image forming method.

(27) The image formation via the inkjet marking module 9 may optionally be carried out while the sheet S of print medium is temperature controlled. For this purpose, a temperature control device 10 may be arranged to control the temperature of the surface of the transport mechanism 2 (e.g. belt or drum 3) below the inkjet marking module 9. The temperature control device 10 may be used to control the surface temperature of the sheet S within a predetermined range, for example in the range of 30 C. to 60 C. The temperature control device 10 may comprise one or more heaters, e.g. radiation heaters, and/or a cooling means, for example a cold blast, in order to control and maintain the surface temperature of the print medium within the desired range. During and/or after printing, the print medium is conveyed or transported downstream through the inkjet marking module 9.

(28) Drying and Fixing

(29) After an image has been formed on the print medium, the printed ink must be dried and the image must be fixed on the print medium. Drying comprises evaporation of solvents, and particularly those solvents that have poor absorption characteristics with respect to the selected print medium.

(30) FIG. 1 of the drawings schematically shows a drying and fixing unit 11, which may comprise one or more heater, for example a radiation heater. After an image has been formed on the print medium sheet S, the sheet S is conveyed to and passed through the drying and fixing unit 11. The ink on the sheet S is heated such that any solvent present in the printed image (e.g. to a large extent water) evaporates. The speed of evaporation, and hence the speed of drying, may be enhanced by increasing the air refresh rate in the drying and fixing unit 11. Simultaneously, film formation of the ink occurs, because the prints are heated to a temperature above the minimum film formation temperature (MFT). The residence time of the sheet S in the drying and fixing unit 11 and the temperature at which the drying and fixing unit 11 operates are optimized, such that when the sheet S leaves the drying and fixing unit 11 a dry and robust image has been obtained. As described above, the transport mechanism 2 in the fixing and drying unit 11 may be separate from the transport mechanism 2 of the pre-treatment and printing parts or sections of the printing system 1 and may comprise a belt or a drum.

(31) Post Treatment

(32) To improve or enhance the robustness of a printed image or other properties, such as gloss level, the sheet S may be post treated, which is an optional step in the printing process. For example, in a preferred embodiment, the printed sheets S may be post-treated by laminating the print image. That is, the post-treatment may include a step of applying (e.g. by jetting) a post-treatment liquid onto a surface of the coating layer, onto which the ink has been applied, so as to form a transparent protective layer over the printed recording medium. In the post-treatment step, the post-treatment liquid may be applied over the entire surface of an image on the print medium or it may be applied only to specific portions of the surface of an image. The method of applying the post-treatment liquid is not particularly limited, and may be selected from various methods depending on the type of the post-treatment liquid. However, the same method as used in coating the pre-treatment liquid or an inkjet printing method is preferable. Of these, an inkjet printing method is particularly preferable in view of: (i) avoiding contact between the printed image and the post-treatment liquid applicator; (ii) the construction of an inkjet recording apparatus used; and (iii) the storage stability of the post-treatment liquid. In the post-treatment step, a post-treatment liquid containing a transparent resin may be applied on the surface of a formed image so that a dry adhesion amount of the post-treatment liquid is 0.5 g/m.sup.2 to 10 g/m.sup.2, preferably 2 g/m.sup.2 to 8 g/m.sup.2, thereby to form a protective layer on the recording medium. If the dry adhesion amount is less than 0.5 g/m.sup.2, little or no improvement in image quality (image density, colour saturation, glossiness and fixability) may be obtained. If the dry adhesion amount is greater than 10 g/m.sup.2, on the other hand, this can be disadvantageous from the view-point of cost efficiency, because the dryness of the protective layer degrades and the effect of improving the image quality is saturated.

(33) As a post-treatment liquid, an aqueous solution comprising components capable of forming a transparent protective layer over the print medium sheet S (e.g. a water-dispersible resin, a surfactant, water, and other additives as required) is preferably used. The water-dispersible resin in the post-treatment liquid preferably has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 30 C. or higher, and more preferably in the range of 20 C. to 100 C. The minimum film forming temperature (MFT) of the water-dispersible resin is preferably 50 C. or lower, and more preferably 35 C. or lower. The water-dispersible resin is preferably radiation curable to improve the glossiness and fixability of the image. As the water-dispersible resin, for example, any one or more of an acrylic resin, a styrene-acrylic resin, a urethane resin, an acryl-silicone resin, a fluorine resin or the like, is preferably employed. The water-dispersible resin can be suitably selected from the same materials as that used for the inkjet ink. The amount of the water-dispersible resin contained, as a solid content, in the protective layer is preferably 1% by mass to 50% by mass. The surfactant used in the post-treatment liquid is not particularly limited and may be suitably selected from those used in the inkjet ink. Examples of the other components of the post-treatment liquid include antifungal agents, antifoaming agents, and pH adjustors.

(34) Hitherto, the printing process was described such that the image formation step was performed in-line with the pre-treatment step (e.g. application of an (aqueous) pre-treatment liquid) and a drying and fixing step, all performed by the same apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1. However, the printing system 1 and the associated printing process are not restricted to the above-mentioned embodiment. A system and method are also contemplated in which two or more separate machines are interconnected through a transport mechanism 2, such as a belt conveyor 3, drum conveyor or a roller, and the step of applying a pre-treatment liquid, the (optional) step of drying a coating solution, the step of ejecting an inkjet ink to form an image and the step or drying an fixing the printed image are performed separately. Nevertheless, it is still preferable to carry out the image formation with the above defined in-line image forming method and printing system 1.

(35) With reference now to FIG. 4 of the drawings, the inkjet printing system 1 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown to include an apparatus 20 for detecting defects in the printing system 1, and particularly for identifying and for classifying deformations D in the sheets S of print medium when the sheets S are on the transport path P of the printing system 1. In this particular embodiment, the apparatus 20 comprises a sensing unit 21, which processes the sheets S on the transport path P before those sheets S enter the image forming device 9. In this regard, it will be noted that the printing system 1 in FIG. 4 has a transport path P which includes both a simplex path P.sub.S and a duplex path P.sub.D and the sensing unit 21 of the apparatus 20 is arranged such that sheets S input on the simplex path P.sub.S and also returning on the duplex path P.sub.D all pass via the sensing unit 21.

(36) At least one first sensor device 22 in the form of an optical sensor, such as a laser scanner, is provided within the sensing unit 21 for sensing the surface geometry or topology of the sheets S as they travel on a first pass or a second pass along the transport path P. The laser scanner or optical sensor device 22 generates digital image data I of the three-dimensional surface geometry or topology of each sheet S sensed or scanned. When performing the sensing or measuring of the surface geometry or topology of the sheets S on the transport path P of printing system 1 with the first sensor device(s) 22, it is highly desirable for the purposes of accuracy and reliability that the sheets S are transported or conveyed in the sensing unit 21 in substantially the same manner as those sheets S are later transported in the image forming unit or marking module 9. To this end, the sensing unit 21 includes a sheet conveyor mechanism 23 that simulates the sheet transport conditions provided by the transport mechanism 3 within the image forming unit 9. In this regard, both the conveyor mechanism 23 and the transport mechanism 3 include a belt transport device with vacuum sheet-holding pressure, as seen in FIG. 4.

(37) The sheet topology data from the first sensor device 22 is then transmitted (e.g. either via a cable connection or wirelessly) to a controller 24 which includes a processor device 25 for processing and analysing the digital image data I to detect and to classify any defect or deformation D in the surface geometry or topology of each sheet S sensed or scanned. The sensing unit 21 is thus arranged to scan the sheets S for detecting and measuring any deformations or defects D before the sheets S enter the image forming device or inkjet marking module 9. In this way, if the processor device 25 determines that a sheet S on the transport path P includes a defect or deformation D that would render the sheet unsuitable for printing, the controller 24 is configured to prevent the sheet S from progressing to the inkjet marking module 9. The sensing unit 21 comprising the first sensor device(s) 22 is therefore desirably provided as a separate sentry unit positioned on the transport path P sufficiently upstream of the marking module 9. The controller 24 and processor device 25 may be integrated within the sentry unit 21 or they may be separately or remotely located.

(38) Processing of the Data

(39) The digital data I representing the surface geometry or topology of each sheet S and comprising an array of image pixels is processed and analysed in processor device 25. In a first processing step, a binary image is created where each pixel exceeding a pre-set height threshold given by TOL is set to 1, all other pixels are set to 0. The minimum height threshold level for detecting defects is preferably set to 400 m, as it has been found that a lower level results in detection of too many very small, non-relevant defects. The processor device 25 produces a height map for each sheet S. This height map is used to detect and measure or classify any defects present within the sheet, and particularly any out-of-plane deformations D, such as wrinkles, dog ears, curl, tears etc. In this embodiment, a defect is defined as a measurement point or pixel within the height map having at least 4 connected neighbours also exceeding a pre-set threshold value.

(40) The defect analysis algorithm makes use of linear indexing for addressing the image content. This is convenient since all neighbour pixel locations can easily be determined by simply adding or subtracting a value from the current index. Each position in the image can be addressed as Image (i*Z+j) where i=1 . . . Z and j=1 . . . X. Addressing the four directly connected neighbours by offsets to the index is visualized in FIG. 5. Indeed, as shown in FIG. 5, an eight connected neighbourhood is used for the defect analysis or extraction, i.e. the corners are included. Thus, one of the steps in finding pixels that are part of the defect includes generating a pixel list of all neighbouring pixels of pixels known to form a part of the defect. As this algorithm can return the same index multiple times, however, it is desirable for this list of indices to be cleaned by removing all duplicate indices. This prevents unnecessary calculations and multiple inclusions of the same data, which would otherwise cause errors in the calculation of defect properties. The function used to determine whether a pixel forms part of the defect is combined within this filter step. The algorithm used for removing double entries uses a simple approach, which may not offer the highest performance. However, as the number of defects within a sheet S is limited and the number of pixels within a defect is usually small, this approach does not consume too much calculation time. Otherwise a filter function using a hash algorithm may offer higher performance.

(41) With reference to FIG. 6, the image pixels on the image edges are assigned a value below the defect threshold before the defect analysis process starts to prevent generation of invalid indices. The defect analysis or extraction thus starts at image element 2,2. By virtue of this value assignment, an image element on the edges of the height map will never be assigned to a defect area and the algorithm will never try to index its neighbors. Thus, in order to avoid defects D at an edge of the sheet S not being measured or classified correctly, the edge of the sheet S should not be located at the edge of the image. As an alternative the size of the image containing the height map could be increased along all sides by one pixel containing a value less than the threshold value for defect extraction.

(42) Referring to FIG. 7, the image pixel data I from the sensor device 22 is analysed by the processor 25 row-by-row or row major until a defect pixel is detected. Starting at this point, all immediately adjacent or neighbouring pixels are then tested to see if they belong to the defect, as shown in FIG. 8. The neighbouring pixels within the defect are tested, with the pixel numbering in FIG. 8 indicating the iteration steps. Further analysing the image pixel data I row-by-row for new defects then continues when all pixels within a defect or deformation D have been found. To perform a measurement and classification of a defect D and/or for later statistical analysis of the defects, the following defect properties are assessed: Maximum Height: The highest point H within the defect Defect Area, A: The area A is equal to the number of pixels that belong to the defect or deformation D, which is the sum of the unique pixels found during each iteration of the defect search algorithm. Bounding Box, B: The bounding box is identified by the top left Z, X coordinates and width in both directions Centre of Gravity, C:

(43) $C=\frac{1}{M}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{.Math.}}{m}_i{r}_i$
where M is the accumulated height (total mass) of the defect, m.sub.i is the height of individual pixels within the defect, and r.sub.i is the pixel coordinates (z, x)

(44) With reference to FIG. 9 of the drawings, the properties for a dog ear type of defect are illustrated. These properties for the dog-ear defect include: maximum height H located at corner of bounding box B, a centre of gravity C located near a diagonal of the bounding box B, and an area A of approximately 50% of bounding box area.

(45) The defect properties belonging to the current defect being processed are updated each time a new list of neighbour pixels has been found. Since the properties are quite simple, the processing is straight-forward. The most complex property is the centre-of-gravity C. During the defect extraction, the sum of the individual Z and X and total weights is calculated. After all pixels belonging to the defect have been found, the centre-of-gravity can be calculated from these three values. During the defect analysis or extraction process, the defect properties are determined for all defects found. When the analysis for a specific defect is finished, its characteristics can be used to determine whether the defect is to be included in the defect list or not. The characteristics for a maximum number of defects (e.g. 20) may be stored. Defects detected having an area of less than 10 pixels may be neglected as these are most likely just noise elements or the fringes of a real defect. Fringe defects are mainly caused by noise within the height map. Most fringe defect areas are smaller than 3 pixels. The largest fringe defect area may be 7 pixels in area. Thus, the defect area A will be used to report defects only when their area is equal to or greater than 10 pixels.

(46) Another approach for the elimination of small defects may be to filter the image data I before defect analysis. There are several options for doing this, including:

(47) (i) Removing all defects containing less than a predefined number of pixels. A drawback here is that a defect must first be identified, so performing this operation separately will consume more processing time.

(48) (ii) Performing a dilation operation before defect detection. This can help to remove small fringe defects. Such fringe defects are merged into a larger defect.

(49) (iii) Performing an erosion operation before defect analysis or detection. This can remove small defects. The maximum size of the defects that will effectively be removed is determined by the size and shape of the erosion kernel. It is not yet clear if the small fringe type defects will be removed. The larger the filter kernel the more processing time is needed.
Print System Control

(50) After the image data I has been analysed by the processor 25 and the defects or deformations D within the sheet S have been extract and classified accordingly, the controller 24 may transmit a control signal (either via cable or wirelessly) to a removal device or ejector device 26 for regulating the transport or conveyance of the sheets S to the image forming device or inkjet marking module 9. In particular, if the sheet S has been determined by the processor 25 to include one or more deformations D with a size or extent above a predetermined threshold sufficient to render the sheet unsuitable for printing, the controller 24 is configured to control or operate the removal device 26 to remove or eject the sheet S from the transport path P to a reject tray 27. In this way, sheet jams within the print module or image forming device 9 may be avoided when sheets S are found to contain too much deformation. The removal device 26 located between the sentry unit 21 and the inkjet marking module 9 can employ different means optimized for redirecting the sheets S from the transport path P towards the reject tray 27. In this particular embodiment, rollers are used. In principle, control of the removal device or ejector device 26 by the controller 24 can be based solely upon a maximum allowable deformation size or magnitude to perform its job. However, information gathered on deformation of the sheet S may also be used for statistical purposes to determine media run-ability. For statistical purposes more information is generally useful, such as the number of deformed areas (defects) D present within a sheet S, the area A of each defect D, etc. The classification data may be stored in, and retrieved from, the controller 24 for further analysis.

(51) At least one second sensor 28 for sensing the surface geometry or topology of the sheet S located within the image forming unit 9 can be used to provide feedback or correlation data I to the sentry unit 21 or to the controller 24 to increase the accuracy of the measurement of the sheet deformation D. Various parameters affecting the simulated transport conditions via the sheet conveyor mechanism 23 in the sentry unit 21 can be changed using this feedback signal to optimize the prediction result. Several sensing or measurement techniques can be used to sense or measure sheet deformation D. A two-dimensional (2D) laser triangulation sensor can create a three-dimensional (3D) sheet image when the sheet S passes the first and/or second sensor devices 22, 28. The second sensor device 28 used to provide feedback data does not necessarily need to be identical to the first sensor device 22 used within the sentry unit 21. A one-dimensional (1D) sheet height sensor using a collimated light sheet can be used to measure the sheet profile perpendicular to the direction of travel along the transport path P. In addition to improving the accuracy of the sensing unit 21, the feedback system via the second sensor device(s) 28 can be used for optimizing system productivity. In this regard, too many sheets will be rejected if the pre-set defect criteria are too sensitive, while too much print quality degradation and/or too many sheet jams will occur if the pre-set defect criteria are not sensitive enough. Accordingly, the sheet rejection threshold can be optimized using the second measurement on the print belt 3, especially in situations where the sheet deformation D changes between sentry unit 21 and image forming unit 9.

(52) Finally, referring now to FIG. 10 of the drawings, a flow diagram is shown that schematically illustrates the steps in a method of detecting defects in a printing system 1 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention described above with respect to FIGS. 1 to 9. In this regard, the first box i of FIG. 10 represents the step of feeding or conveying a sheet S of paper or another print medium along a transport path P of the printing system 1. The second box ii represents the step of sensing a surface geometry or a topology of the sheet of print medium via a first sensing device 22 (e.g. a laser scanner) as the sheet S travels along the transport path P to generate image data I which is representative of that surface geometry or topology. The third box iii then represents the step of processing the surface geometry or topology data I generated in the sensing step to detect and classify deformations D in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet S, e.g. using the processor device 25. The final box iv in FIG. 10 of the drawings then represents the step of controlling the further progress of the sheet S along the transport path P of the printing system 1 depending upon the deformations D in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet detected and classified in the processing step. That is, if the processor 25 determines that one or more of the deformations D detected and classified render the sheet S unsuitable for printing, the controlling step of box iv includes effecting removal of the sheet S from the transport path P of the printing system 1 to prevent the sheet progressing to the inkjet marking module 9. On the other hand, if the processor device 25 does not detect any relevant deformation D that would render the sheet S unsuitable for printing, the controller 24 then permits the sheet S to progress on the transport path P to the inkjet marking module 9.

(53) Although specific embodiments of the invention are illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations exist. It should be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are examples only and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration in any way. Rather, the foregoing summary and detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing at least one exemplary embodiment, it being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope as set forth in the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Generally, this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific embodiments discussed herein.

(54) It will also be appreciated that in this document the terms comprise, comprising, include, including, contain, containing, have, having, and any variations thereof, are intended to be understood in an inclusive (i.e. non-exclusive) sense, such that the process, method, device, apparatus or system described herein is not limited to those features or parts or elements or steps recited but may include other elements, features, parts or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the terms a and an used herein are intended to be understood as meaning one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise. Moreover, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on or to establish a certain ranking of importance of their objects.