Bidirectional ink jet printing
US5369428A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 15, 1992 |
| Grant date | Nov 29, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 15, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06K15/107
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Ink jet print quality is improved and higher pen speed permitted by a bidirectional printing protocol. According to the new protocol, each individual character to be printed is first partitioned into a leading portion and a trailing portion. The trailing portion includes all trailing edge bits. Only the leading portion is printed on a forward pass of the ink jet pen. The trailing portion is printed on a reverse pass of the pen, so that trailing edge ink drops are instead printed as leading edge ink drops. As a result, satellite ink drops are directed toward the center of the character, where they are covered by primary ink drops, thereby minimizing character edge roughness associated with exposed satellite ink drops.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.