Abstract: The invention relates to a calibration method for a printer having a mechanism for advancing a medium in a direction of media advance comprising the following steps: (a) providing a printhead, the printhead having a swath height in the direction of media advance; (b) providing an estimate of either the swath height or the characteristic of the mechanism; (c) printing a base pattern on a medium using the printhead; (d) printing an overlay pattern on the medium using the printhead to form an interference pattern; (e) advance the medium of a predetermined distance using the mechanism at a time between the printing of the base pattern and the printing of the overlay pattern; (f) analyze an optical evaluation of the interference pattern; (g) evaluate as either: (i) the swath height if the characteristic of the mechanism is known or estimated; or (ii) the characteristic of the mechanism if the swath height is known or estimated.

Abstract: In a hardcopy device, a print media advance mechanism for moving a print media past a printhead and including a device for adjusting the size of successive advance movements in dependence n printing parameters, the adjusting device is capable of adjusting said size to have an increased resolution, at least in a part of said range. In some embodiments the hardcopy device is set in dependence or one or more of: print mode being employed, ink density, print media width and whether a sheet or roll media is being employed. In some embodiments, a printing operation is preceded by calibrating operation in which a plurality of patterns are printed corresponding to different sizes of media advance and a user selects the optimal value based on visual inspection of the patterns; the different sizes are distributed within a range of values in a non-linear manner.

Abstract: The invention relates to a calibration method for a printer having a mechanism for advancing a medium in a direction of media advance comprising the following steps: (a) providing a printhead, the printhead having a swath height in the direction of media advance; (b) providing an estimate of either the swath height or the characteristic of the mechanism; (c) printing a base pattern on a medium using the printhead; (d) printing an overlay pattern on the medium using the printhead to form an interference pattern; (e) advance the medium of a predetermined distance using the mechanism at a time between the printing of the base pattern and the printing of the overlay pattern; (f) analyze an optical evaluation of the interference pattern; (g) evaluate as either: (i) the swath height if the characteristic of the mechanism is known or estimated; or (ii) the characteristic of the mechanism if the swath height is known or estimated.