Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes: a first group of large nozzles which eject large droplets of liquid for a color; a second group of small nozzles which eject small droplets of the liquid for the color, the small droplets having volume smaller than the large droplets; a dot data creation device which creates dot data according to input image data; a dot data correction device which corrects the dot data if there is an abnormal nozzle in one of the first and second groups, in such a manner that a corrective nozzle is selected from the other of the first and second groups, and droplet ejection performed by the corrective nozzle substitutes for droplet ejection that is originally to be performed by the abnormal nozzle; and a driving device which drives the large and small nozzles to eject the large and small droplets according to the corrected dot data.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an applying device that applies a first liquid containing a diffusion preventing agent for a coloring material, onto a recording medium; a droplet depositing device that deposits a second liquid containing the coloring material, onto the recording medium onto which the first liquid has been applied; a radiation irradiating device that radiates radiation onto the recording medium onto which the second liquid has been deposited; and a controlling device that controls a time from the second liquid being deposited to the second liquid being irradiated with the radiation, according to deposition data for the droplet depositing device.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an image forming device which includes an intermediate transfer body having a transfer surface on which an image is formed according to a first image data, the image forming device performing a transfer of the image onto a recording medium from the transfer surface; a transfer state determination device which determines a state of the transfer surface after the transfer of the image onto the recording medium has been performed; and an image correction device which corrects a second image data corresponding to an image formed on the transfer surface, according to the state of the transfer surface determined by the transfer state determination device.

Abstract: The inkjet recording apparatus initially deposits ink on a front surface of a recording medium and subsequently deposits ink on a rear surface of the recording medium in such a manner that images are formed by the ink on the front surface and the rear surface of the recording medium, wherein, when time after depositing the ink on a first region of the front surface of the recording medium until depositing the ink on a second region of the rear surface of the recording medium which corresponds to the first region is taken to be ?T1 (sec) and viscosity of the ink to be deposited on the first region and the second region of the recording medium is taken to be ? (mPa·sec), then the inkjet recording apparatus deposits the ink on the first region and the second region in such a manner that a following relationship is satisfied: ?T1<0.45×?.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes: a first group of large nozzles which eject large droplets of liquid for a color; a second group of small nozzles which eject small droplets of the liquid for the color, the small droplets having volume smaller than the large droplets; a dot data creation device which creates dot data according to input image data; a dot data correction device which corrects the dot data if there is an abnormal nozzle in one of the first and second groups, in such a manner that a corrective nozzle is selected from the other of the first and second groups, and droplet ejection performed by the corrective nozzle substitutes for droplet ejection that is originally to be performed by the abnormal nozzle; and a driving device which drives the large and small nozzles to eject the large and small droplets according to the corrected dot data.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: a print head including a plurality of nozzles which eject droplets of a radiation-curable ink onto a recording medium; a conveyance device which causes the print head and the recording medium to relatively move to each other in a relative conveyance direction of the recording medium by conveying at least one of the print head and the recording medium in a direction substantially perpendicular to a width direction of the recording medium; an irradiation device which irradiates a radiation to the droplets of the ink, the droplets having landed on the recording medium; and a control device which controls the irradiation device so that the radiation is irradiated to a first ink droplet while a second ink droplet is in flight, the first ink droplet having been previously ejected from one of the nozzles in the print head and having landed on the recording medium, the second ink droplet being ejected from the same one of the nozzles so as to overlap with or make contact with th

Abstract: A liquid droplet deposition method of consecutively depositing a plurality of droplets of liquid, which contains solvent and particles dispersed in the solvent and having a substantially uniform size, onto a recording medium includes the steps of: determining target positions at which the plurality of droplets are to be deposited on the recording medium; depositing an X-th droplet of the droplets at an X-th target position of the determined target positions on the recording medium, X being a natural number; and depositing an (X+1)-th droplet of the droplets at an (X+1)-th target position of the determined target positions on the recording medium subsequently to the X-th droplet, after the particles contained in the X-th droplet are aggregated to form an X-th particle aggregate on the recording medium due to liquid bridging force, wherein in the determining step, the target positions are determined so as to satisfy following conditions: L(CX, CX+1)?rX+r_maxX+1, and L(PX, CX+1)?r_maxX+1, where CX is the X-th

Abstract: The image forming method forms an image on a recording medium by using aqueous ink and treatment liquid. The ink contains coloring material, and the treatment liquid contains a component which reacts with the coloring material. The image forming method includes: a treatment liquid deposition step of depositing the treatment liquid onto the recording medium; an ink deposition step of ejecting and depositing droplets of the aqueous ink in accordance with image information, onto the recording medium on which the treatment liquid has been deposited in the treatment liquid deposition step; an ink drying step of drying an ink layer which has been formed on the recording medium by reaction between the treatment liquid deposited in the treatment liquid deposition step and the aqueous ink deposited in the ink deposition step, such that an amount of water originating from the aqueous ink and still remaining on the recording medium after the ink drying step is not more than 4.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus forms an image on a surface of a recording medium by using ink and treatment liquid. The ink contains coloring material, and the treatment liquid contains at least one of a component which aggregates the coloring material and a component which increases viscosity of the ink. The image forming apparatus includes: a repellent agent deposition device which deposits a repellent agent onto the recording medium to render the surface of the recording medium liquid-repellent; a treatment liquid droplet ejection device which ejects and deposits droplets of the treatment liquid onto the recording medium on which the repellent agent has been deposited; and an ink droplet ejection device which ejects and deposits droplets of the ink onto the recording medium on which the droplets of the treatment liquid have been deposited.

Abstract: The image forming method of ejecting liquid droplets containing coloring material toward a recording medium from nozzles including main nozzles and subsidiary nozzles of nozzle rows of a recording head while causing relative movement between the recording medium and the recording head in a relative movement direction that is substantially perpendicular to a direction of alignment of the nozzles of each of the nozzle rows in such a manner that an image is formed by the coloring material on a recording medium, wherein the nozzle rows include first and second nozzle rows which have the main nozzles corresponding to a same coloring material of a particular color and at least one subsidiary nozzle row which includes the subsidiary nozzles corresponding to the same coloring material of the particular color; the first and second nozzle rows and the at least one subsidiary nozzle row are respectively arranged at different positions in terms of the relative movement direction; the at least one subsidiary nozzle row is

Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an ejection head which ejects droplets having electro rheological effects onto a recording medium; a holding device which holds the recording medium, the holding device being disposed at a position facing an ejection side surface of the ejection head, the recording medium interposing between the ejection head and the holding device; a pair of electrodes which is disposed on the holding device, the pair of electrodes comprising a first electrode and a second electrode; and a voltage application device which applies a voltage to the pair of electrodes.

Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus records an image onto a recording medium by using an ink containing a coloring material, and the inkjet recording apparatus has: a first treatment agent deposition device which deposits a first treatment agent having a function of suppressing permeation of liquid into the recording medium, onto the recording medium; a second treatment agent deposition device which deposits a second treatment agent having at least one of a function of aggregating the coloring material contained in the ink and a function of increasing viscosity of the ink, onto the recording medium; an image processing device which converts input image data into dot data; and an ink droplet ejection head which ejects droplets of the ink onto the recording medium in accordance with the dot data.

Abstract: The inkjet recording apparatus includes: an ink ejection head which forms a desired image by ejecting an ink toward a recording medium; a treatment liquid ejection head which deposits a treatment liquid on the recording medium by ejecting the treatment liquid toward the recording medium, the treating liquid reacting with the ink on the recording medium; a treatment liquid application device which deposits the treatment liquid on the recording medium by applying the treatment liquid to the recording medium; and a treatment liquid deposition control device which controls so that the treatment liquid is deposited on the recording medium by using at least one of the treatment liquid ejection head and the treatment liquid application device.

Abstract: The droplet deposition position error measurement method, comprises the steps of: ejecting liquid droplets from a liquid ejection head including a plurality of liquid droplet ejection ports in such a manner that the liquid droplets are deposited on a recording medium; determining an amount of a droplet deposition position error with respect to an ideal droplet deposition position on a recording surface of the recording medium, according to a droplet deposition result obtained from the liquid droplets on the recording medium; separating a first error component caused by an error in a relative position between the liquid ejection head and the recording medium, and a second error component caused by an error in an ejection direction of each of the liquid droplet ejection ports, from the determined amount of the droplet deposition position error; and obtaining error information relating to at least one of the first and second error components.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes: large nozzles which eject large droplets of liquid, the large droplets being deposited onto a recording medium and forming large dots; small nozzles which eject small droplets of the liquid of volume smaller than the large droplets, the small droplets being deposited onto the recording medium and forming small dots smaller than the large dots; a color conversion processing device which converts input image data into ink volume data; a dot information acquisition device which acquires dot information relating to the large dots and the small dots on the recording medium; and a correction processing device which corrects the ink volume data according to the dot information.

Abstract: The image forming method for forming an image on a recording medium, wherein the image is divided into a plurality of regions, the method comprising: a droplet deposition rate calculation step; a dot arrangement specification step of specifying a dot arrangement pattern from the droplet deposition rate; and a droplet deposition control step of controlling droplet deposition operation in such a manner that the dot arrangement pattern specified in the dot arrangement specification step is achieved, wherein, in at least one of the plurality of the regions where the droplet deposition rate is lower than a maximum droplet deposition rate and is higher than a prescribed reference value, a dot line in a main scanning direction substantially perpendicular to the relative conveyance direction is formed in which the dots are continuously aligned so as to mutually overlap by a prescribed overlap ratio, in accordance with the droplet deposition rate.

Abstract: The liquid droplet discharge head comprises: a plurality of nozzles which discharge liquid droplets onto a recording medium, wherein the nozzles are arranged two-dimensionally in a main scanning direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction in which the recording medium is conveyed relatively with respect to the liquid droplet discharge head, and a sub-scanning direction which coincides with the conveyance direction, in such a manner that: at least a portion of dots formed by the droplets deposited on the recording medium from the nozzles overlap mutually in the main scanning direction; and with respect to a first nozzle and a second nozzle which discharge droplets to form mutually adjacent dots in the main scanning direction on the recording medium, and with respect to a third nozzle which is adjacent to the first nozzle in the sub-scanning direction, positions of the first nozzle and the second nozzle are separated in the sub-scanning direction by at least a distance equal to a multiple by an integer th

Abstract: The image forming method is for forming an image on an image formation body by using an ink liquid including a coloring material and an aggregation treatment agent including a component that causes the coloring material to aggregate. The image forming method includes: an aggregation treatment layer formation step of forming, on the image formation body, a semisolid aggregation treatment layer that includes the aggregation treatment agent and has a moisture content ratio not more than 56%; an ink droplet deposition step of ejecting droplets of the ink liquid and depositing the droplets of the ink liquid onto the image formation body where the aggregation treatment layer has been formed; and a solvent removal step of removing a liquid solvent present on the image formation body after the ink droplet deposition step.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus which forms a primary image on an intermediate transfer body and then transfers the primary image onto a recording medium, has: a movement device which moves the intermediate transfer body in a movement direction; a recess-projection forming device which forms a recess-projection shape in an image forming surface of the intermediate transfer body; a droplet ejection device which is provided on a downstream side of the recess-projection forming device in terms of the movement direction and ejects droplets of ink onto the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer body in which the recess-projection shape has been formed, to form the primary image; and a transfer recording device which is provided on a downstream side of the droplet ejection device in terms of the movement direction and applies pressure to at least one of the intermediate transfer body and the recording medium in a state where the recording medium makes contact with the primary image formed on the image formin

Abstract: The image forming method for forming an image on a recording medium, wherein the image is divided into a plurality of regions the method comprising: a droplet deposition rate calculation step; a dot arrangement specification step of specifying a dot arrangement pattern from the droplet deposition rate; and a droplet deposition control step of controlling droplet deposition operation in such a manner that the dot arrangement pattern specified in the dot arrangement specification step is achieved, wherein, in at least one of the plurality of the regions where the droplet deposition rate is lower than a maximum droplet deposition rate and is higher than a prescribed reference value, a dot line in a main scanning direction substantially perpendicular to the relative conveyance direction is formed in which the dots are continuously aligned so as to mutually overlap by a prescribed overlap ratio, in accordance with the droplet deposition rate.