| Sonstiges: |
- Nachgewiesen in: USPTO Patent Grants
- Sprachen: English
- Patent Number: 11858,267
- Publication Date: January 02, 2024
- Appl. No: 17/436437
- Application Filed: December 10, 2019
- Assignees: PAUL LEIBINGER GMBH & CO. KG NUMMERIER-UND MARKIERUNGSSYSTEME (Tuttlingen, DE)
- Claim: 1. A method for operating a continuous inkjet (CIJ) printer with an optical monitoring means (80) having the steps generating a bitmap (90 , 180) of the printed image to be printed, sequential controlling of charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer to realize columns or lines of the bitmap (90 , 190) by applying rows of ink droplets (12) arranged side by side that each form a stroke (40 , 41) to a substrate to be printed (100) and to thus sequentially apply a real printed image (195) on the substrate (100), capturing the real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) with the optical monitoring means (80), and automated comparing of the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image and the real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) and captured with the optical monitoring means (80), characterized in that the automated comparing of the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image and the real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) is carried out either on the basis of rows or columns of the bitmap (90 , 190) or on the basis of components of rows or columns of the bitmap (90 , 190), so as to verify, after each stroke (40 , 41) or during the execution of the stroke (40 , 41), whether the individual ink droplets (12) or which the stroke (40 , 41) consists were laced correctly after each stroke (40 , 41) or during the execution of the stroke (40 , 41), in order to establish whether the individual ink droplets (12) of which the stroke consists were placed correctly and reduce the number of incorrectly printed products.
- Claim: 2. The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that at least one control signal for the sequential controlling of charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer is used in the automated comparing of the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image and the real image (195) applied to the substrate (100) and captured by the optical monitoring means (80) to determine the expected printed image of the respective row or column.
- Claim: 3. The method according to claim 2 , characterized in that at least one further control signal for the sequential controlling of charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer in the automated comparing of the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image and real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) and captured by the optical monitoring means (80) to determine the expected printed image of the respective row or column of the bitmap (90 , 190).
- Claim: 4. The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the sequential controlling of charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer also takes place row by row or column by column.
- Claim: 5. The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the CIJ printer has a plurality of processors or a processor with a plurality of processor cores, wherein on the one processor the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image is generated and the generating of the control signals for the sequential controlling of the charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer is monitored, and wherein on the other processor the automated comparing of the bitmap (90 , 190) of the desired printed image and the real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) and captured by the optical monitoring means (80) is carried out.
- Claim: 6. A CIJ printer for carrying out a method according to claim 1 , having a hydraulic module (5) for ink supply, a droplet generator having a nozzle (10) and an oscillator (20), which droplet generator is supplied with ink by the hydraulic module (5) and generates ink droplets (12), at least one charge electrode (25) for applying a defined charge to ink droplets (12) generated by the droplet generator, at least one deflection electrode (30) for influencing the trajectory of the ink droplets (12) generated by the droplet generator and charged by the charge electrode (25), a control configured to transform a bitmap to be printed (90 , 190) by row or by column into a sequence of control signals with which the charge electrode (25) and/or the deflection electrode (30) are controlled in such a way that an image of that row or column is formed on a substrate to be printed (100) from droplets (12) of a droplet sequence, and an optical monitoring means (80) for monitoring the real printed image (195) formed on the substrate (100) to be printed, characterized in that the CIJ printer has a data processing device configured to carry out the step of the automated comparing.
- Claim: 7. The CIJ printer according to claim 6 , characterized in that the CIJ printer has a first processor or a first processor core associated with the control and has a second processor or processor core associated with the data processing device.
- Claim: 8. The CIJ printer according to claim 6 , characterized in that the control is in signal communication with the data processing device, so that the respective sequences of control signals or control commands corresponding to these sequences are forwarded by the control to the data processing device.
- Claim: 9. A method for teaching-in an optical monitoring means (80) of a CIJ printer according to claim 6 , characterized in that the CIJ printer in at least one pass generates a bitmap (90 , 190) containing a sequence of control signals for controlling charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer when executing a stroke (40 , 41), that a real printed image (195) of this bitmap (90 , 190) is realized by applying ink droplets to a substrate (100) to be printed, that an image of the real printed image (195) is captured with the optical monitoring means (80) and evaluated such that the respective part of the real printed image (195) applied to the substrate (100) in response to a control signal for a given stroke (40 , 41) is identified and is stored as the expected printed image associated with this stroke (40 , 41) or this control signal.
- Claim: 10. The method according to claim 9 , characterized in that the printer prints in a plurality of passes a bitmap (90 , 190) containing a sequence of control signals for controlling charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer to turn dots or groups of dots of the bitmap (90 , 190) into a real printed image by applying ink droplets (12) to a substrate (100) to be printed, and that the printed image applied to the substrate in each case in response to the control signal is captured and identified by means of the optical monitoring means and is stored as a printed image associated with the control signal.
- Claim: 11. The method according to claim 10 , characterized in that the printer generates in each of the plurality of passes a sequence of control signals for controlling charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer, wherein the order in which the control signals for controlling charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes of the CIJ printer (30) are generated, varies from sequence to sequence.
- Claim: 12. The method according to claim 10 , characterized in that the printer generates in each of the plurality of passes a sequence of control signals for controlling charge electrodes (25) and/or deflection electrodes (30) of the CIJ printer, wherein in the different passes printing parameters are varied that may fluctuate in the printing operation of the CIJ printer and lead to a change in the printed image (195).
- Patent References Cited: H07144461 June 1995 ; H11198360 July 1999
- Other References: Office action dated Nov. 8, 2022, in parallel Japanese application No. 2021-552743. cited by applicant
- Primary Examiner: Feggins, Kristal
- Attorney, Agent or Firm: Nath, Goldberg & Meyer ; Meyer, Jerald L. ; Protigal, Stanley N.
|
