Detection of printhead nozzle functionality by optical scanning of a test pattern

Abstract: A nozzle detection test pattern has been developed which can be sensed by an optical sensor 1ocated on an inkjet printer carriage. By having the same nozzle print ink drops on multiple pixels to form a single thickened test line during multiple passes of the printhead, it is possible to thereafter scan across such test line and automatically determine by the light contrast ratios which nozzles are not firing properly. A green light LED is uded to illuminate the magenta, cyan and black test patterns as they are being sensed, and a blue light LED is used to illuminate the yellow test pattern as it is being sensed. A separate test pattern is used for each printhead ink color. The test pattern constitutes six rows with forty test lines on each row for a printhead having 240 active nozzles.

Description: This application is related to the following commonly assigned co-pending applications: Atty Docket 6096024 entitled OPTICAL ENCODING OF PRINTHEAD SERVICE MODULE being filed concurrently on 1997 (US 6076913 A); Atty Docket 10951156 entitled DYNAMIC MULTI-PASS PRINT MODE CORRECTIONS TO COMPENSATE FOR NON-FUNCTIONING INKJET NOZZLES being filed concurrently on 1997 (EP 0863004 A); and Serial No. 08/551,022 entitled OPTICAL PATH OPTIMIZATION FOR LIGHT TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTION IN A CARRIAGE-MOUNTED INKJET PRINTER SENSOR filed 31 October 1995 (US 5975674 A). BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various techniques have been used in the past to detect which inkjet printhead nozzles are functioning satisfactorily, and then doing recovery procedures to reactivate nozzles prior to doing a printout. In today's printer world, throughput and print quality are somewhat contradictory goals. Nevertheless, it may be possible to achieve both goals with a simple technique for monitoring nozzle functionality. JP03104678A and DE3246707 each describe arrangements for printing a test pattern comprising a plurality of groups of ink drops, each group comprising at least one ink drop, wherein the groups are arranged in a line. Brief Summary of the Invention In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for detecting nozzle functionality as defined in claim 1. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining nozzle functionality in an inkjet printer as defined in claim 5. A nozzle detection test pattern has been developed which can be sensed by an optical sensor located on an inkjet printer carriage. By having the same nozzle print ink drops on multiple pixels to form a single thickened test line during multiple passes of the printhead, it is possible to thereafter scan across such test line and automatically determine by the light contrast ratios which nozzles are not firing properly. A green light LED is used to illuminate the magenta, cyan and black test patterns as they are being sensed, and a blue light LED is used to illuminate the yellow test pattern as it is being sensed. A separate test pattern is used for each printhead ink color. The test pattern constitutes six rows with forty test lines on each row for a printhead having 240 active nozzles. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a large format inkjet printer/plotter incorporating the features of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a close-up view of the carriage portion of the printer/plotter of FIG. 1 showing a carriage-mounted optical sensor of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a close-up view of the platen portion of the printer/plotter of FIG. 1 showing the carriage portion in phantom lines; FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a top view of the carriage showing offsets between individual printheads in the media advance axis and in the carriage scan axix; FIG. 5 is a front view of the optical components of the sensor unit of FIG. 4; FIGS. 6A and 6B are isometric views respectively looking downwardly and upwardly toward the carriage showing the optical sensor and one print cartridge mounted on the carriage; FIG. 7 schematically shows the nozzle plate of a 600 dpi print cartridge having one column of ink-ejection nozzles separated from another column of ink-ejection nozzles; FIG. 8 schematically shows the print cartridge of FIG. 7 in printing position over a print zone; FIG. 9 is a view looking up from the media into a sensor having increased ambient light shielding; FIG. 10 is a schematic drawing showing a portion of an exemplary test pattern for nozzle functionality; FIG. 11 is a schematic drawing showing a presently preferred scanning technique for a nozzle-out test pattern; FIG. 12 shows a format for an exemplary test pattern of the present invention; and FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of four 600 dpi printheads in an aligned arrangement as used in a presently preferred printhead implementation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In accordance with the foregoing objects, the invention provides a method of monitoring and controlling the quality of pen markings on a plotting medium by optically sensing across a sample line drawn on an actual medium. In another separate and important aspect of the invention, a customized optical sensor is provided for monitoring plotter performance by sensing the quality of lines drawn on a medium. An LED emitting a green light beam is angularly directed toward an underlying line so as to reflect into an optical sensor which measures the print contrast ratio of a point on the line. Circuit means amplifies and filters the signal generated by the optical sensor. Thus, by appropriate selection of the wavelength of the light used for sensing the markings on the medium, it is easily possible to check multi-color drawings for correct quality and colors. In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention implemented in a color inkjet printer/plotter, a green LED is used for sensing sample patterns printed by each of the black (K), cyan (C) and magenta (M) printheads, while a blue LED is used for sensing sample patterns printed by the yellow (Y) printhead. Moreover, a light tube on a carriage-mounted optical sensor has inner walls which help direct light from an LED toward an area surrounding a point under the sensor, and outer walls which help block out undesirable external light from being reflected from the area surrounding a point under the sensor into the photocell. Thus, the invention contemplates optical sensing of different color markings on media using different color lights, raster "lines" (i.e. bars) printed on a pixel grid by an inkjet printer/plotter. A typical embodiment of the invention is exemplified in a large format color inkjet printer/plotter as shown in FIGS. 1-2. More specifically, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet printer/plotter 210 having a housing 212 mounted on a stand 214. The housing has left and right drive mechanism enclosures 216 and 218. A control panel 220 is mounted on the right enclosure 218. A carriage assembly 300, illustrated in phantom under a cover 222, is adapted for reciprocal motion along a carriage bar 224, also shown in phantom. The position of the carriage assembly 300 in a horizontal or carriage scan axis is determined by a carriage positioning mechanism 310 with respect to an encoder strip 320 (see FIG. 2). A print medium 330 such as paper is positioned along a vertical or media axis by a media axis drive mechanism (not shown). As used herein, the media axis is called the X axis denoted as 201, and the scan axis is called the Y axis denoted as 301. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the carriage assembly 300, the carriage positioning mechanism 310 and the encoder strip 320. The carriage positioning mechanism 310 includes a carriage position motor 312 which has a shaft 314 which drives a belt 324 which is secured by idler 326 and which is attached to the carriage 300. The position of the carriage assembly in the scan axis is determined precisely by the encoder strip 320. The encoder strip 320 is secured by a first stanchion 328 on one end and a second stanchion 329 on the other end. An optical reader (not shown) is disposed on the carriage assembly and provides carriage position signals which are utilized by the invention to achieve optimal image registration in the manner described below. FIG. 3 is perspective view of a simplified representation of a media positioning system 350 which can be utilized in the inventive printer. The media positioning system 350 includes a motor 352 which is normal to and drives a media roller 354. The position of the media roller 354 is determined by a media position encoder 356 on the motor. An optical reader 360 senses the position of the encoder 356 and provides a plurality of output pulses which indirectly determines the position of the roller 354 and, therefore, the position of the media 230 in the X axis. The media and carriage position information is provided to a processor on a circuit board 370 disposed on the carriage assembly 100 for use in connection with printhead alignment techniques of the present invention. The printer 210 has four inkjet cartridges 302, 304, 306, and 308 that store ink of different colors, e.g., black, magenta, cyan and yellow ink, respectively. As the carriage assembly 300 translates relative to the medium 230 along the X and Y axes, selected nozzles in the inkjet print cartridges 302, 304, 306, and 308 are activated and ink is applies to the medium 230. The colors from the three color cartridges are mixed to obtain any other particular color. Sample lines 240 are typically printed on the media 230 prior to doing an actual printout in order to allow the optical sensor 400 to pass over and scan across the lines as part of the initial calibration. The carriage assembly 300 positions the inkjet print cartridges and holds the circuitry required for interface to the ink firing circuits in the print cartridges. The carriage assembly 300 includes a carriage 301 adapted for reciprocal motion on front and rear slider rods 303, 305. As mentioned above, full color printing and plotting requires that the colors from the individual print cartridges precisely applied to the media. This requires precise alignment of the carriage assembly as well as precise alignment of the print cartridges in the carriage. Unfortunately, paper slippage, paper skew, and mechanical misalignment of the print cartridges results in offsets in the X direction (in the media advance axis) and in the Y direction (in the carriage or axis) as well as angular theta offsets. This misalignment causes misregistration of the print images/graphics formed by the individual ink drops on the media. This is generally unacceptable as multi-color printing requires image registration accuracy from each of the printheads to within 1/1000 inch (1 mil). FIG. 4 shows a presently preferred embodiment of printheads each having two groups of nozzles with a column offset 410. By comparing the relative positions of corresponding nozzles in different printheads along the Y axis, it is possible to determinine an actual horizontal offset 412 between two printheads, and by comparison with a nominal default offset 414 determine an actual offset 416 in the carriage scan axis. This is repeated for all of the different printheads while they remain on the carriage. Similarly, by comparing the relative positions of corresponding nozzles in different printheads along the X axis, it is possible to determine an actual vertical offset 418 in the media advance axis. This is also repeated for all of the different printheads while they remain on the carriage. In order to accurately scan across a test pattern line, the optical sensor 400 is designed for precise positioning of all of its optical components. Referring to FIGS. 5, 6A and 6B, the sensor unit includes a photocell 420, holder 422, cover 424, lens 426, and light source such as two LEDs 428, 430. A protective casing 440 which also acts as an ESD shield for sensor components is provided for attachment to the carriage. Additional details of the function of a preferred optical sensor system and related printing system are disclosed in copending application Serial No. 08/551,022 filed 31 October 1995 entitled OPTICAL PATH OPTIMIZATION FOR LIGHT TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTION IN A CARRIAGE-MOUNTED INKJET PRINTER SENSOR (US 5975674 A), which application is assigned to the assignee of the present application. An optical sensor unit having increased shielding against ambient light is shown in FIG. 9, including a housing 102, lenses 104, green light LED 106, and blue light LED 108. The previous external perimeter of the shielding is shown in dotted lines 110, which the new version of an enlarged shielding 112 provide improved optical performance. The diagram of FIG. 10 shows a preferred arrangement of markings, each group being fired solely by a particular nozzle during successive multiple passes of the printhead across the media. A two-pixel advance between bi-directional passes across the media is used to generate the patterns. Groups 120, 122 are represented as being somewhat solid in ink drops from two good nozzles, respectively, while group 124 is virtually non-existent thereby indicating a non-firing nozzle. FIG. 11 shows a preferred sequence of scanning, with six complete one-way scans being sufficient to pass over 240 separate group markings representing output from two individual nozzles, respectively. The green light is used for illumination of the magenta, cyan and black patterns during optical sensing, while a blue light is used for illumination of the yellow pattern (sometimes printed against a cyan background for better contrast). Because the contrast sensed for the yellow test pattern is much weaker than for the other colors, it was found preferable to use a separate stronger amplification circuit for the yellow patterns in order to provide the same performance as with the other color inks. FIG. 12 illustrates the layout and detailed specifications for a recent specific implementation of the present invention. The patterns have been successfully used with two hundred forty active nozzles on each of four 600 dpi printheads schematically shown in FIG. 13 in their aligned configurations on an inkjet printer carriage. Although specific examples have been shown in the drawings and written description, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and improvements can be made within the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims: Apparatus for detecting nozzle functionality in an inkjet printer, comprising: a scanning carriage (300) with at least one printhead (302,304,306,308); an optical sensor (400) capable of detecting the presence or absence of ink drops on media (230); a source of illumination (102,104,106,108); means for generating a test pattern; and means for moving the optical sensor across said test pattern to detect non-firing nozzles, the test pattern comprising a two-dimensional distribution of test groups of ink drops, each test group being printed from a different respective nozzle of the printer and comprising a plurality of ink drops from that nozzle, each test group being spatially separated from the other test groups within the pattern. The apparatus of claim. 1 wherein said optical sensor is mounted on said scanning carriage. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said source of illumination is mounted on said scanning carriage. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said source of illumination includes at least two different colored light sources. A method of determining nozzle functionality in an inkjet printer having a plurality of different nozzle groups, each group firing a different color ink, comprising the steps of: printing a test pattern from the different nozzle groups, the test pattern comprising a two-dimensional distribution of test groups of ink drops, each test group being printed from a different respective nozzle of the printer and comprising a plurality of ink drops from that nozzle, each test group being spatially separated from the other test groups within the pattern; shielding the test pattern from ambient light; illuminating the test pattern with artificial light; optically scanning across the portions of the test pattern during said shielding and illuminating steps to sense which portions have been printed satisfactorily by a particular nozzle.

Inventors: ARMIJO CHRIS T, GASTON GONZALO, GIL ANTONI, GUERRERO FRANCISCO, LAGARES JAVIER, SUBIRADA FRANCESC, ARMIJO, CHRIS T., GASTON, GONZALO, GIL, ANTONI, GUERRERO, FRANCISCO, LAGARES, JAVIER, SUBIRADA, FRANCESC
Applicants: HEWLETT PACKARD CO, HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B41J2
IPC codes: B41J2