| CPC B41J 2/0451 (2013.01) [B41J 2/04586 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |
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1. A printing system comprising:
a conveyance mechanism for conveying a print medium;
a printing unit that has a plurality of nozzles and is configured to perform printing on the print medium by ejecting ink from each of the plurality of nozzles, the plurality of nozzles being arranged in a main scanning direction that is perpendicular to a direction in which the conveyance mechanism conveys the print medium;
an imaging unit configured to capture a print image printed on the print medium by the printing unit;
a defect detection unit configured to perform an inspection process for detecting a streak defect included in a captured image obtained by capturing the print image by the imaging unit;
a defective nozzle position candidate extraction unit configured to extract N position candidates, N being an integer of 2 or more, from positions of the plurality of nozzles as candidates for a position of a defective nozzle that is a nozzle having an ejection defect, based on coordinates in the main scanning direction of the streak defect detected by the inspection process in the captured image, the N position candidates having different positions with respect to the main scanning direction;
a defect correction unit configured to perform, on a user image, a defect correction process for removing an influence of an ejection defect of a nozzle set as a correction target nozzle to generate a corrected image, the user image being an image to be printed; and
a defective nozzle identification unit configured to identify the defective nozzle from N nozzles respectively corresponding to the N position candidates, wherein
after the printing by the printing unit, the capturing of the print image by the imaging unit, and the inspection process by the defect detection unit are performed based on the user image, the N position candidates are extracted by the defective nozzle position candidate extraction unit,
the defect correction unit performs the defect correction process while sequentially setting each of only the N nozzles among the plurality of nozzles as the correction target nozzle one by one,
after the corrected image is generated by the defect correction unit, the printing by the printing unit, the capturing of the print image by the imaging unit, and the inspection process by the defect detection unit are performed based on the corrected image,
the defective nozzle identification unit identifies the defective nozzle based on a position of the streak defect detected by the inspection process performed based on the corrected image, in the captured image,
the defect correction unit includes an association unit that associates the N nozzles with N partial regions included in the user image, the N partial regions having same positions with respect to the main scanning direction,
each of the N partial regions includes the position of the streak defect detected by the inspection process performed based on the user image,
the defect correction unit performs the defect correction process while setting a different nozzle among the N nozzles as the correction target nozzle for each of the N partial regions, and
the defective nozzle identification unit identifies, as the defective nozzle, a nozzle associated with a partial region in which no streak defect is detected by the inspection process performed based on the corrected image, among the N partial regions.
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