Abstract: The present invention relates to a pre-treatment liquid providing improved spreading property when printing an ink-jet image, as well as an ink-jet printing method comprising applying the pre-treatment liquid of the invention on a recording medium prior to printing an ink-jet image and a method of pre-treating a recording medium, comprising pre-treating a recording medium with the pre-treatment liquid of the invention. With the present pre-treatment liquid a combination an improved spreading of the ink on the pre-treated recording medium can be achieved.

Abstract: An apparatus for handling take-up rolls in a printing system includes a holder device for holding a take-up roll in a take-up position. The take-up roll is rotatable about a longitudinal axis thereof in the take-up position for taking-up printed sheet output from the printing system. The holder device is movable to release or discharge the take-up roll from the holder device when the take-up roll is full or when a print job is finished. A movement of the holder device to release or discharge a full take-up roll also operates to load a new take-up roll onto the holder device and into the take-up position. A corresponding method of handling take-up rolls in a printing system is disclosed.

Abstract: An inkjet print head for generating a droplet of ink includes an ink supply substrate having an ink supply channel; a droplet forming unit arranged on the ink supply substrate; and a manifold chamber formed over an ink inlet surface of the droplet forming unit. The manifold chamber has a first wall formed by the ink inlet surface, a second closed wall formed opposite to the first wall and a side wall extending between the first wall and the second wall and surrounding the manifold chamber. The manifold chamber extends in a manifold plane. A manifold supply channel is arranged in the manifold plane and surrounds the manifold chamber. The ink supply channel is in fluid communication with the manifold supply channel. A number of manifold feed openings in the side wall provide for a fluid connection between the manifold supply channel and the manifold chamber.

Abstract: A droplet ejection device has a nozzle head with a plurality of ejection units, each of which includes a nozzle, a duct connected to the nozzle, and an electromechanical transducer arranged to create a pressure wave in a liquid in the duct so as to expel a droplet of the liquid from the nozzle. The device further includes an electronic control circuit arranged to apply control signals to the transducers and to receive detection signals that are generated in the transducers in response to the transducer being exposed to pressure fluctuations. The nozzle head includes a reference duct which has an electromechanical transducer serving as a reference transducer. The control circuit is arranged to subtract a detection signal of the reference transducer from a detection signal of at least one of the ejection units.

Abstract: The invention relates to a print system comprising a plurality of printers for printing print jobs, a user interface screen connected to the print system, each printer of the plurality of printers comprising a print job scheduling module for planning a print job schedule for print jobs submitted to the printer and an operational action scheduling module for planning an operational action schedule of operational actions to be applied to the printer, a control unit comprising a first merging module for merging for each printer the print job schedule and the operational action schedule into a first merged schedule, the control unit configured to control for each printer display of the first merged schedule on the user interface screen, wherein the control unit comprises a second merging module for merging the operational action schedules of the plurality of printers chronologically into a second merged schedule, and the control unit is configured to control display of the second merged schedule along the first m

Abstract: A printing system includes a print station disposed at a sheet transport path, a feed section arranged to feed media sheets of different media types into the transport path so as to be fed sequentially to the print station, and a controller arranged to receive print instructions concerning images to be printed, to schedule a sequence of the media sheets, and to control the feed section and the print station such that each image is printed on a sheet of a media type that has been specified for that image in the print instructions. A sensor is arranged at the transport path for detecting a quality condition of the sheets being fed to the print station, and the controller is adapted to receive a quality signal from the sensor and, when the quality of a sheet is found to be insufficient, to skip that sheet and to reroute the corresponding image to another scheduled sheet that is compatible with the print instructions.

Abstract: A method of using an interface device to interface to a processing unit is disclosed. The interface device and the processing unit are part of a station of a plurality of stations in a sheet processing line. The method involves using the interface device to receive a control signal from an upstream station, and comparing a selection part of the control signal with a reference, the selection part being part of an addressing part of the control signal. If the comparison result is negative, a further control signal is determined from the control signal, which is derived from and differing from the addressing part of the control signal and the interface device outputs the further control signal to a different interface device corresponding to a processing unit of a downstream station. If the comparison result is positive, an instruction signal is sent from the interface device to the processing unit.

Abstract: An electronic circuit for driving an inkjet print element in an array of print elements with an electric waveform is provided. The print element includes a piezo transducer for converting the electric waveform in a mechanical displacement. The electric waveform is tunable for an individual print element. The circuit includes a common waveform generator that is connected to the piezo transducer through a first print data dependent switch for providing an electric waveform independent of the print element. The circuit further includes a waveform tuning part, dependent on the print element and the print data, for controlling a second switch that adds electric energy from a voltage source to the electric waveform. The switches are operable in either a saturation state or a blocking state to limit an amount of dissipation in the switches.

Abstract: A user interface for at least one media processing apparatus includes a display device connected to an apparatus control system and arranged to visualize timings of events occurring or expected to occur in a processing sequence of the apparatus, the timings being visualized by showing an indication of each event on a timeline that has a certain time scale and a certain zero point, wherein the timeline has at least two sections which differ in the time scale and/or the zero point.

Abstract: A process of manufacturing droplet jetting devices includes bonding together a nozzle wafer defining nozzles of the jetting devices, a membrane wafer carrying, on a membrane, actuators for generating pressure waves in a liquid in pressure chambers that are connected to the nozzles, and a distribution wafer forming a distribution layer that defines supply lines for supplying the liquid to the pressure chambers from a liquid reservoir formed on a side of the distribution layer opposite to the membrane wafer; and dicing the bonded wafers. The distribution layer has a thickness larger than the thickness of each of the other two wafers. A restrictor for controlling the inertance of the liquid supply line is formed through the distribution layer in a direction normal to the plane of that layer.

Abstract: The invention provides a printing system with a transport mechanism for transporting sheets. The transport mechanism comprises: a conveyor body for supporting and conveying a plurality of sheets a transport path; suction means, and especially fan means, for generating an under-pressure at or adjacent to the conveyor body to hold the sheets fixed in position on the conveyor body as it conveys the plurality of sheets along the transport path; and a controller for controlling or regulating operation of the suction means to adjust the under-pressure generated. The controller is configured to control operation of the suction means based on delivery of the plurality of sheets to the conveyor body and/or a change in the delivery of the sheets to the conveyor body. Further, the invention provides a corresponding method of transporting sheets of a print medium in a printing system.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an ink composition suitable for being ejected from an inkjet marking device at an operating temperature. The ink composition comprises stable dispersed colorant particles and stable dispersed latex resin particles, wherein the ion sensitivity of the colorant particles is larger than the ion sensitivity of the latex resin particles, the ion sensitivity of the colorant particles (ISc) being expressed according to equation 1, and the ion sensitivity of the latex resin particles (ISl) being expressed according to equation 2: ISc=Zcav(xcMNaCl)/Zcav(H2O)??equation 1 ISl=Zlav(xlMNaCl)/Zlav(H2O)??equation 2 The invention further relates to an ink set comprising such an ink composition and a primer composition comprising a precipitating agent, preferably a multivalent metal salt. The invention also relates to a method of printing using such an ink set.

Abstract: A method for generating a folding instruction for folding a stack of sheets into a document includes the steps of, for each sheet of the stack of sheets, receiving a folding action on the sheet defined by a fold type and an orientation relative to an observer, the fold type selected out of a mountain fold right, a mountain fold left, a mountain fold bottom, a mountain fold top, a valley fold right, a valley fold left, a valley fold bottom and a valley fold top; generating a function which has the folding action and the sheet as input and an ordered list of new sheets with an orientation relative to the observer of each new sheet of the list of new sheets as output; repeatedly applying the previous steps to each sheet of the at least one list of new sheets until the sheets in the last applied previous steps form the document; and generating a folding instruction including a concatenation of the at least one generated function on the stack of sheets, the folding instruction intended to be transmitted to a foldi

Abstract: A method for processing with a document processing system is provided. The method includes generating a sheet assembly by executing a production route model of at least one function leading to a plurality of actions, the sheet assembly including a set of transitions that result from invocation of the plurality of actions, extracting from the sheet assembly a document imposition recipe including a set of imposition descriptions generated by computing transformations and parameters for each transition performed on the sheet assembly, and rendering the imposition descriptions of the document imposition recipe on behalf of at least one source file in order to deliver impositions in a source format describing at least placement of content of pages of the source file and action marks for subsequent displaying of the impositions on a user interface of the document processing system and/or for subsequent processing on the at least one printer and/or an the at least one finisher.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a radiation curable ink composition comprising two ester compounds. The invention further relates to a method for making such ink composition and a printing method using such ink composition.

Abstract: An ink handling unit includes an ink reservoir with an integrated heat exchange channel configured for pre-heating or pre-cooling an ink feed flow entering the ink reservoir via the heat exchange channel. The heat exchange channel is in direct thermal contact with an interior space of the ink reservoir. An ink jet imaging device includes the ink handling unit. Such imaging devices are suitable to be used in highly productive ink jet processes at elevated temperatures.

Abstract: The invention provides a web winding device for attaching a leading edge of a web to a take-up roller positioned at an end of a transport path. A guide device is rotatable around the roller axis of the take-up roller from a first to a second angular position. The first angular position is positioned adjacent the end of the transport path and the second angular position is positioned in a space between the transport path and the take-up roller. The guide device is arranged for: at the first angular position, pushing the leading edge of the web against the take-up roller; during rotation, holding the leading edge in pushing engagement with the take-up roller; and at the second angular position, guiding the leading edge between the web on the transport path and the take-up roller for attaching the leading edge to the take-up roller.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for printing a plurality of voxels of an object in a plurality of passes of a print head of a printing system over a substrate, each pass having a movement direction of the print head relative to the substrate while ejecting marking material from the print head towards the substrate, each voxel having a position in the object, the method comprising the steps of for each voxel of the object selecting a movement direction of the print head based on the position of the voxel in the object, selecting at least one pass in which the voxel will be printed, the at least one pass having a movement direction which corresponds to the selected movement direction of the print head, and printing the voxel in the selected at least one pass. The present invention also relates to a printing system configured to execute the method.

Abstract: A method for printing a plurality of print jobs on a flat bed printer includes automatically grouping the print jobs into a plurality of consecutive container jobs, and for each container job automatically creating a digital plan of the flat bed, automatically defining a mask with cutting information according to the created plan, receiving the defined mask on the flat bed, receiving the media pieces on the flat bed positioned in according with the received mask, and unattended printing of the print jobs on the media pieces by the flat bed printer making use of the received mask. The automatic grouping includes gathering the group of print jobs due to the print job characteristics of each of the print jobs and/or the flat bed characteristics of the flat bed and ordering the consecutive container jobs due to the print job characteristics of each of the print jobs and/or the flat bed characteristics of the flat bed.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a radiation curable ink composition comprising an ester compound, that is suitable for printing high gloss images. The invention further relates to a method for making such ink composition and a printing method using such ink composition.