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EP-4737126-A1 - PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD

EP4737126A1EP 4737126 A1EP4737126 A1EP 4737126A1EP-4737126-A1

Abstract

A print controller in a printing apparatus according to the present disclosure performs control of executing at least one of printing of a first test pattern for adjusting landing positions on a medium of first ink and printing of a second test pattern for adjusting landing positions on the medium of second ink lower in visibility than the first ink. The first test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the first ink changed by a first amount of change, and the second test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of the adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the second ink changed by a second amount of change. The second amount of change is larger than the first amount of change.

Inventors

  • MARUYAMA, KOHEI

Assignees

  • Seiko Epson Corporation

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20251020

Claims (7)

  1. A printing apparatus comprising: a print head unit including a plurality of first nozzles configured to eject first ink to a medium and a plurality of second nozzles configured to eject, to the medium, second ink lower in visibility than the first ink; and a print controller configured to control printing using the print head unit, wherein the print controller controls execution of at least one of printing of a first test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the first ink ejected from the first nozzle, and printing of a second test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the second ink ejected from the second nozzle, the first test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the first ink changed by a first amount of change, the second test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the second ink changed by a second amount of change, and the second amount of change is larger than the first amount of change.
  2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second ink is a penetrant configured to promote permeation of the first ink into the medium.
  3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second ink is transparent.
  4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an information acquisition unit configured to acquire medium information which is information for identifying a color of the medium; and a visibility determination unit configured to determine which one of the first ink and the second ink corresponds to a target ink which is ink as a target of a landing position adjustment by comparing a color of the target ink with a color of the medium identified from the medium information, wherein when the visibility determination unit determines that the target ink corresponds to the first ink, the print controller executes the printing of the first test pattern on the medium, and when the visibility determination unit determines that the target ink corresponds to the second ink, the print controller executes the printing of the second test pattern on the medium.
  5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input receiver configured to receive a first input for determining a setting value to the adjustment item for the first ink and a second input for determining a setting value to the adjustment item for the second ink with a predetermined distance as a unit of adjustment of landing positions of the first ink and the second ink, wherein the print controller controls printing with the first ink using the setting value determined in accordance with the first input and controls printing with the second ink using the setting value determined in accordance with the second input.
  6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input receiver configured to receive a first input for determining a setting value to the adjustment item for the first ink with a predetermined first distance as a unit of adjustment of landing position of the first ink, and a second input for determining a setting value to the adjustment item for the second ink with a predetermined second distance as a unit of adjustment of landing position of the second ink, wherein the print controller controls printing with the first ink using the setting value determined in accordance with the first input and controls printing with the second ink using the setting value determined in accordance with the second input, and the second distance is larger than the first distance.
  7. A printing method executed by a printing apparatus including a print head unit including a plurality of first nozzles configured to eject first ink to a medium and a plurality of second nozzles configured to eject, to the medium, second ink lower in visibility than the first ink, the method comprising performing printing of a test pattern including at least one of printing of a first test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the first ink ejected from the first nozzle, and printing of a second test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the second ink ejected from the second nozzle, wherein the first test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the first ink changed by a first amount of change, the second test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the second ink changed by a second amount of change, and the second amount of change is larger than the first amount of change.

Description

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2024-184805, filed October 21, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method. 2. Related Art There is known a technique of printing an image on a medium by ejecting not only color ink but also functional liquid having a predetermined function for assisting formation of an image with the color ink. In this regard, JP-A-10-230627 discloses a technique of suppressing bleeding of the ink and improving the water resistance of a recorded object by ejecting, to the medium, a treatment liquid that insolubilizes a dye in the ink. Further, this document also discloses that such a treatment liquid is transparent, and therefore, it is difficult to visually confirm a density pattern which is a test pattern for determining an ejection failure or the like. JP-A-10-230627 is an example of the related art. As described in the above document, when the liquid to be ejected is a liquid having low visibility, it is not easy to perform the confirmation using the test pattern. In particular, in this case, it is not easy to adjust the landing positions of the liquid on the medium using the test pattern. Therefore, it is required to provide a technique capable of easily adjusting the landing positions of the liquid having low visibility. SUMMARY A printing apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a print head unit including a plurality of first nozzles configured to eject first ink to a medium and a plurality of second nozzles configured to eject, to the medium, second ink lower in visibility than the first ink, and a print controller configured to control printing using the print head unit, wherein the print controller controls execution of at least one of printing of a first test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the first ink ejected from the first nozzle, and printing of a second test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the second ink ejected from the second nozzle, the first test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the first ink changed by a first amount of change, the second test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the second ink changed by a second amount of change, and the second amount of change is larger than the first amount of change. A printing method executed by a printing apparatus including a print head unit including a plurality of first nozzles configured to eject first ink to a medium and a plurality of second nozzles configured to eject, to the medium, second ink lower in visibility than the first ink includes performing printing of a test pattern including at least one of printing of a first test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the first ink ejected from the first nozzle, and printing of a second test pattern used for adjusting a landing position on the medium of the second ink ejected from the second nozzle, wherein the first test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the first ink changed by a first amount of change, the second test pattern includes a plurality of patterns to be printed with a setting value of an adjustment item for adjusting the landing position of the second ink changed by a second amount of change, and the second amount of change is larger than the first amount of change. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment.FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a head unit.FIG. 3 is a table showing liquids to be ejected from respective liquid ejection heads.FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a controller according to Embodiment 1.FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a first test pattern.FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a partial pattern contained in a test pattern.FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a second test pattern.FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the second test pattern.FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation of the printing apparatus according to Embodiment 1.FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a controller according to Embodiment 2.FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of an operation of the printing apparatus according to Embodiment 2.FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a test pattern for adjusting the landing positions of ink in a conveyance direction of a medium. DESCRI