Patent ID: 9302519
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: B29C,B33Y,B41J

Claim Text:
1. A printer comprising: a printhead configured with a plurality of inkjets to eject drops of material onto a substrate and form convex drops on the substrate; a light source configured to direct light towards the substrate and the convex drops on the substrate; a camera positioned away from an axis of light reflected directly from the substrate to enable specular reflections of the directed light from the substrate to miss the camera and enable specular reflections of the directed light from the convex ink to be received by the camera, the camera being configured to generate image data corresponding to the light received from the substrate and the convex drops of material on the substrate; and a controller operatively connected to the light source, the camera and the printhead, the controller being configured to operate the printhead to eject a predetermined number of material drops from each inkjet onto the substrate to enable the predetermined number of material drops to form one of the convex drops on the substrate, to operate the light source to direct light towards the substrate and the convex drops of material on the substrate, to operate the camera to generate image data corresponding to the light received from the convex drops of material on the substrate, and to identify malfunctioning inkjets in the printhead with reference to the image data received from the camera.