Abstract: A sheet transport system comprising an endless carrier belt that has a predetermined stiffness and is arranged to carry the sheets towards an end of a conveyer path where the sheet is separated from the carrier belt by passing this belt around a separating member that has a predetermined curvature, wherein the carrier belt runs in parallel with an endless conveyer that has a larger stiffness than the carrier belt and, at the end of the conveyer path, has a smaller curvature than the separating member.

Abstract: A cartridge for holding ink pellets is provided. The cartridge comprises a first part and a second part. The first part comprises a first body, which first body comprises an exit adapted for releasing an ink pellet from the cartridge, and the first part comprising a separating unit, said separating unit being adapted for separating and releasing a single ink pellet and transporting said single ink pellet to said exit. The second part is configured for holding said ink pellets and comprises a second body being adapted for a sliding movement with respect to said first part in order to adjust a volume of the cartridge. The cartridge of the present invention improves transportation of said cartridge without reducing a capacity of the cartridge for holding a plurality of ink pellets.

Abstract: The invention relates to a printing system comprising a print job receiving section permitting a user to submit a print job to the printing system, the print job comprising a plurality of print job settings comprising a proof print job setting indicating whether or not the print job needs to be proofed before printing, a control unit for controlling a print job queue for print jobs submitted to the printing system and scheduled to be printed, a user interface configured to display the print job queue, wherein the user interface is configured to display a digital user operable item for a print job in the print job queue, the print job having a proof print job setting indicating that the print job needs to be proofed before printing, and wherein the control unit is configured to schedule a proof print job corresponding to the print job in the print job queue before the print job upon activation of the digital user operable item, and to print the proof print job according to the print job queue.

Abstract: A method of forming substrate alignment tabs on a print surface of a printer having an ink jet print head that is capable of relief printing, wherein the print head is used for printing the tabs directly onto the print surface.

Abstract: A print head mounting structure includes a beam that extends along a scan axis y of the print head; and a carriage adapted to be driven for reciprocating movement along the beam. The carriage includes a print head carrier for carrying the print head, a cable guide carrier and a link. The print head carrier has a first runner block arranged to guide the print head carrier along the beam. The cable guide carrier is connected to a flexible cable guide that extends along the beam and has a second runner block arranged to guide the cable guide carrier along the beam independently of the print head carrier. The link connects the print head carrier and the cable guide carrier for joint movement along the beam, wherein the link is rigid and play-free in the direction of the scan axis y and is resilient in all remaining degrees of freedom.

Abstract: The invention relates to an ink composition, the ink composition comprising a pinning agent. The pinning agent provides the ink composition with thermogelling behavior. The invention further relates to a pinning agent suitable for an ink composition. The invention further relates to a method for applying an image to a receiving medium using an ink composition comprising a pinning agent.

Abstract: A sheet folding apparatus includes a sheet transport system, adjustable folding members arranged to bend and fold a sheet fed by the transport system, and a control system arranged to adjust the folding members to set positions in accordance with information on sheet properties. The control system stores a table that specifies different set positions of the folding members for different bending properties of the sheets and is adapted to read information on the bending properties of the sheets to be folded and to adjust the folding members to set positions as specified by the bending properties.

Abstract: A printing system and method of printing an object having a surface (36) of varying height, by a printer configured to print a number of pass images (1; 2; 3; . . . ) on top of each other in a number of passes, including: deriving (S12) from an object image a number of pass images (1; 2; 3; . . . ) to be printed on top of each other, including: establishing (S28; S40) pass pixels of the pass images for which pass pixels a pass pixel height is defined, wherein a sum of the defined heights of a sequence of pass pixels that corresponds to a respective pixel (A; B) of the object image equals the height of that pixel of the object image; and printing the pass images (1; 2; 3; . . . ) on top of each other. An amount of printed material that is printed per printed pass pixel is varied in accordance with the defined pass pixel heights. The pass pixels heights are selected S26), based on random data, from a respective set of at least two positive pass pixel heights.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for printing on a media object supported by a flat bed of a printer, the printer comprising a print head and a camera above the flat bed, the method comprising the steps of detecting a media object on the flat bed surface of the printer by means of a digital camera image captured by the camera, deriving camera coordinates of the media object in the digital camera image, applying a direct transformation from the camera coordinates into print head coordinates of the media object without using coordinates of the flat bed surface, and printing a digital target image on the media object by ejecting recording material on the media object from the print head, the print head controlled according to the print head coordinates appropriate for the media object.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for printing a digital image on a piece of media by means of a printer system comprising a printer and a computer for storing digital objects, the method comprising the steps of printing at least one digital image on a piece of media, cutting the printed at least one digital image out of the piece of media, attaching an identifying object to the leftover of the piece of media, storing the leftover of the piece of media in a depository, and storing a digital object representing the leftover of the piece of media in a database on the computer, wherein the digital object comprises a reference to the attached identifying object.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for applying an image onto a receiving medium, wherein the gloss of the image is controlled by controlling the temperature of the receiving medium. The invention further relates to an ink jet apparatus. The invention further relates to a method for determining a job setting of a print job for obtaining an image having a desired gloss level.

Abstract: A method of surface pre-treatment of a variety of ink-receiving substrates of different types includes applying treatment energy to the surface of the substrates in a controlled atmosphere that contains nitrogen and oxygen. The amount of energy per surface area is adjusted dependent upon the type of substrate. The ratio of oxygen to nitrogen in the controlled atmosphere is adjusted dependent upon the type of substrate.

Abstract: A printing system and a method for printing a multilayer structure using radiation curable ink, the multilayer structure comprising multiple ink layers which are consecutively printed, and wherein a first printed ink layer of any two consecutively printed ink layers is cured before a subsequently printed ink layer is printed thereon, wherein at least one ink of multiple inks is selected for being used for printing the multilayer structure, said multiple inks comprising at least one first and at least one second radiation curable ink, wherein said at least one ink is selected in dependence on information about at least one property of the said at least one ink apart from color, wherein, of the multiple inks, at least the selected at least one ink and at least one of the at least one first ink are used for printing the multilayer structure; the physical property being e.g. an expansion/shrinkage property and/or an adhesion property.

Abstract: A method of printing on a mixed sequence of media sheets uses a printer with a print head that is adjustable in height relative to a print surface that supports the media sheets. The media sheets differ in their specifications that define an admissible range for the height of the print head. The method includes the steps of retrieving admissible height ranges for a plurality of media sheets that are scheduled for printing, searching for a height value that is contained in the admissible range of all scheduled sheets, if such a height value is found, adjusting the print head to that height value, and if such height value is not found, proceeding to a problem handling routine.

Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus (20) for defect detection in a printing system (1). The apparatus (20) comprises: a sensing unit (21) having at least one first sensor device (22) for sensing a surface geometry or topology of a sheet (S) to be printed as the sheet (S) travels on a transport path (P) of the printing system (1) and for generating data (I) representative of that surface geometry or topology; and a processor device (25) for processing the data (I) from the first sensor device (22) to detect and classify deformations (D) in the surface geometry or topology of the sheet (S) based on at least one predetermined criterion, wherein the at least one predetermined criterion is adjustable or variable to suit operating conditions in the printing system (1). Further, the invention provides a corresponding method of detecting defects in a printing system (1).

Abstract: A system and method for carrying out improved spatial and color adaptive gamut mapping algorithms, based on image decomposition in two bands Ihigh and Ilow using 5D bilateral filtering. A function g( ) applied to the low-pass band Ilow carries out black point compensation followed by a gamut clipping algorithm. Function k( ) applied to Ihigh is a locally adaptive function. The merging and adaptive mapping of IhighM and IlowM by function f( ) using local adaptive implementations of the two families of pointwise GMAs: compression and clipping is carried out. Two functions f( ) are proposed, they take into account the color properties of the neighborhood of each pixel.

Abstract: A method for visualizing relationships between a source and target view includes displaying in the source view a source widget representing a source object; detecting a user interaction event for the source widget; sharing a message including a reference to or at least part of the source object; displaying in the target view a target widget representing a target object; reading by a target device that displays the target view the shared message; determining the existence of a relationship between the source and target object by looking-up in a storage the referenced or the at least part of the source object from the shared message; and updating the target view by changing the visual appearance if a relationship has been determined. The source and target object each are one of a printable object, a reprographic device or component thereof, and a property or status of any of the these.

Abstract: An apparatus for cooling media sheets in a printer includes a number of cooling units, a conveyor having a first conveyor path adapted to feed the media sheets successively through the cooling units, and a switch adapted to deflect selected ones of the media sheets into a second conveyor path. The switch is disposed upstream of a last one of the cooling units and downstream of a first one of the cooling units. The second conveyor path bypasses the last one of the cooling units. The conveyor includes a decelerating mechanism configured to decelerate the sheets in the first conveyor path between the first one of the cooling units and the last one of the cooling units.

Abstract: A sheet stacking device for forming a stack of subsequent sheets includes a rotatably arranged flipping element and a closed-loop shaped friction element. The flipping element includes a slot at its circumferential edge for accepting at least a portion of a sheet. In a first rotation zone, the flipping element is able to accept the sheet into the slot and, in a second rotation zone, the sheet is conveyed out of the slot onto the top of the stack of subsequent sheets. The friction element is moveably arranged on the flipping element, and is controllable to move into a first radial position and a second radial position. In the first radial position, the friction element does not apply a frictional force to a sheet in the transport path and in the second radial position, the friction element does apply a frictional force to a sheet in the transport path.

Abstract: A method for generating a relief print on a substantially flat substrate, wherein palpable differences exist between a height of various parts of the relief print, by a printer configured to print a relief print in a number of passes includes defining a rasterized relief image, comprising customary color channels for indicating a color of each pixel and a height channel for indicating a height of each pixel of the rasterized relief image, determining a low spatial frequency height component in the height value of a pixel of the rasterized relief image, subtracting the determined low spatial frequency height component from the relative height value of a pixel of the rasterized relief image, resulting in a relative reduced height value, and printing the rasterized relief image by using the relative reduced height value. A printing system is configured to execute the method.