Adjustment method of printing positions, printing apparatus and printing system

摘要

With an ink jet head having for each color two parallel columns of nozzles arranged shifted by one-half the pitch, odd-numbered rasters and even-numbered rasters are printed by the two nozzle columns. The registration between the odd- and even-numbered rasters is secured during the printing to produce a high quality image. The ink ejection timing between the two raster groups is shifted by a predetermined interval to form adjustment patterns; the adjustment patterns are checked and, according to the check result, an adjustment value for the ink ejection timing between the two ink nozzle columns is entered, and the entered adjustment value is stored to be reflected on the actual printing operation. To facilitate the adjustment pattern check, the adjustment patterns have a dot distribution with a blue noise characteristic at a resolution at which the printing apparatus can print.

主权项

1. A printing apparatus comprising:
a print unit including a first array of a plurality of first ejection openings for ejecting a liquid of a predetermined color and being arrayed in a predetermined direction and a second array of a plurality of second ejection openings for ejecting the liquid of the predetermined color and being arrayed in the predetermined direction, the first array and the second array being arranged in a scan direction crossing the predetermined direction, wherein when relative movement between the print unit and a print medium is effected in at least one scan direction crossing the predetermined direction, the liquid of the predetermined color is ejected from the plurality of first ejection openings and the plurality of second ejection openings at a predetermined relative timing between the plurality of first ejection openings and the plurality of second ejection openings; a pattern printing unit configured to cause the print unit to print a pattern on a print medium by ejecting the liquid of the predetermined color from the plurality of first ejection openings and the plurality of second ejection openings during the relative movement in a predetermined one scan direction crossing the predetermined direction; a storage unit configured to store information regarding relative deviation between print positions by the plurality of first ejection openings and print positions by the plurality of second ejection openings in the relative movement in the predetermined one scan direction, the information being based on the printed pattern; and a print control unit configured to control a printing operation for printing an image on a print medium using the print unit according to the stored information so as to adjust relative ejection timings between ejection timings from the plurality of first ejection openings and ejection timings from the plurality of second ejection openings in the relative movement in the predetermined one scan direction for printing on the printing medium.