Method of inkjet printing and maintaining nozzle hydration

摘要

A method of printing from a fixed inkjet printhead having a plurality of ink planes. The method includes the steps of: feeding a print medium past the printhead in a media feed direction, the media feed direction defining relative upstream and downstream sides of the printhead; printing an image onto the print medium, the image being defined by image data; and printing a keep-wet pattern onto the print medium from each ink plane of the printhead, the keep-wet pattern being defined by a plurality of dots printed at a frequency sufficient to maintain hydration of each nozzle in the printhead. A first keep-wet pattern from a first ink plane is printed at a higher frequency than a second keep-wet pattern from a second ink plane, the first ink plane being furthest upstream in the printhead.

主权项

1. A method of printing from a fixed inkjet printhead having a plurality of ink planes, the method comprising the steps of:
feeding a print medium past the printhead in a media feed direction, the media feed direction defining relative upstream and downstream sides of the printhead; printing an image onto the print medium, the image being defined by image data; and printing first and second keep-wet patterns onto the print medium from respective first and second ink planes of the printhead, the keep-wet patterns being defined by a plurality of dots printed at a frequency sufficient to maintain hydration of each nozzle in the printhead,wherein the first keep-wet pattern from the first ink plane is printed at a higher frequency than the second keep-wet pattern from the second ink plane, the first ink plane being furthest upstream in the printhead and in a relatively more dehydrating local environment than the second ink plane, and wherein a distance between neighboring ink planes in the printhead is in the range of 20 to 1000 microns.