Method for user alignment of a color printer

Abstract

Abstract A semi-automatic, user-interactive solution to a color printer's inter-pen misalignment is described. Plural test patterns are printed using two or more possibly misregistered color pens, and the operator selects the best, or a preferred, alignment pattern. The operator's choice of pattern is entered into the ink-jet printer's controller and adjustment, e.g. offset, data are stored by the controller in a non-volatile memory device to be used in subsequent printing to better align the misaligned color pens. Importantly, the test patterns use a linear hash-mark from one of the separate pens, e.g. black (K), and adjacent thereto a color combination from plural others of the separate pens, e.g. yellow (Y) and cyan (C), to produce alignment patterns that are readily visible to the operator. In accordance with the preferred method, an alignment pattern includes a background patch of visible ink, e.g. cyan, and a foreground linear hash-mark of `invisible` ink, e.g. yellow. Alternatively, the alignment pattern may include a background patch of visible ink, e.g. cyan, and a foreground patch minus the linear hash-mark, of `invisible` ink, e.g. yellow. In either case, a plural-color target or test pattern is produced the contrast of which is relatively higher than that of `invisible` ink alone on a white medium, wherein the combination of the two colored inks produces a feature, whether by its presence or absence, that is linear, for visual alignment with the adjacent nominally aligned linear black ink feature.

Inventors

• 👤 Kenneth R. Williams

Bibliographic Details