Patent ID: 11970000
Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
Field: Textile and paper machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:
a plurality of liquid discharge units configured to discharge liquid to form an image on a recording medium, the plurality of liquid discharge units including: a first liquid discharge unit; and a second liquid discharge unit disposed downstream from the first liquid discharge unit in a moving direction of the recording medium;
a first image capturing unit configured to capture a first image of the recording medium at a position corresponding to the first liquid discharge unit;
a second image capturing unit configured to capture a second image of the recording medium at a position corresponding to the second liquid discharge unit;
a detection unit configured to detect a movement amount of the recording medium in the moving direction, based on the first image and the second image;
a discharge determination unit configured to determine a discharge timing of the second liquid discharge unit with respect to discharge of the first liquid discharge unit, based on the movement amount and a clock signal,
a drive roller disposed downstream from the plurality of liquid discharge units in the moving direction, the drive roller being configured to move the recording medium,
wherein the clock signal is an electric signal that regularly oscillates, and wherein a cycle of the clock signal is adjusted according to image forming conditions, and
wherein an image capturing period of the first image capturing unit is represented by the following expression,

U≤(π×φ/V)/10,

where U represents the image capturing period, π represents a circular constant, φ represents a diameter of the drive roller, and V represents a moving speed of the recording medium.