Patent ID: 6215557
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: B41J,G06K

Abstract:
A method for identifying faulty ink jet nozzles among a plurality of ink jet nozzles in an ink jet print head based on a test pattern printed by the print head, the method comprising the steps of:printing the test pattern comprising test images, where each test image is printed by a corresponding one of the plurality of the ink jet nozzles, and where the test images occupy locations within the test pattern indicated by location coordinates;visually inspecting the test pattern to identify empty locations within the test pattern, the empty locations being locations in the test pattern not occupied by corresponding ones of the test images;designating the empty locations according to the location coordinates of the empty locations;correlating the location coordinates of the empty locations to the ink jet nozzles that, if functioning properly, would have printed the test images at the empty locations; anddesignating as faulty the ink jet nozzles that, if functioning properly, would have printed the test images at the empty locations.