DIGISOURCE 9110 System
Highlights

   Platform Overview 
   Image Quality
   Paper Handling
   Imaging Process 
   Printing Workflow 
   Specifications

Our Business Partner - DANKA

•  An advanced LED writer system with significant technological advances in dot definition, uniformity, and reliability.
• Gray Resolution Enhancement Technology, or GRET, to produce text and lines with excellent edge definition and smoothness.
• Small Particle Developer toning subsystem, to produce smooth solids, crisp text and line art, and low levels of print background.
• A highly advanced process control system to give consistent print quality print to print, run to run, and machine to machine.

These represent a significant departure from conventional imaging systems. Together, they create consistently high quality printed pages.

Advanced LED writing delivers edge-to-edge uniformity.
The DIGISOURCE 9110 System uses a highly advanced LED printhead or image writer that contributes to the excellent output print quality. KODAK first used an LED writer in the KODAK 1392 Printer introduced in 1986. Over the past 13 years, we have made numerous improvements in the performance of the LED Writer design.

The writer in the DIGISOURCE 9110 System is optimized for high-speed page rates and superior uniformity. It offers printing rates in excess of 110 pages/minute with less than +/- 2% non-uniformity. It also has the ability to provide 256 levels of overall writer brightness and 64 levels of individual LED brightness. This capability is used in GRET technology, as described below. Built-in flash programmable memory in the writer contains correction factors for each of the 8144 LED emitters (600 per inch) allowing exposure compensation for lens, LED and current driver variations. In other words, we can tightly control the light output on each LED to maximize image quality.   The result is exceptional uniformity and clarity of images, as evidenced in the lines and halftones produced by the DIGISOURCE 9110 System.

Some key advantages the LED writer subsystem offers are:

•  Better edge definition
•  Better-defined, smaller dot
•  Reduced flutter (banding ) artifacts
•  Reliable performance, long life, ease of service (no moving parts)
•  Vibration and shock resistance
•  Small size enables flexibility in design
•  Lower cost
•  Emitted wavelength match to photoconductor (685 nm)
•  Low voltage operation and low power consumption
•  Safe, uses non-coherent light

Gray Resolution Enhancement Technology (GRET) delivers improved image quality.
The DIGISOURCE 9110 System utilizes its advanced 600 dpi LED printhead to produce excellent line and halftone reproduction. Couple this high technology exposure device with Kodak's exclusive SPD toning subsystem and you'll see world-class imaging. But KODAK engineers and imaging scientists still weren't satisfied. So they developed Gray Resolution Enhancement Technology, or more simply GRET.

GRET is a patented KODAK algorithm which leverages the ability of the LED printhead to print gray levels on the photoconductive image loop. The LED printhead can produce 15 distinct exposure levels, plus "off." The resulting dot size can be made incrementally smaller than the Dmax black dot that the printer would otherwise use to build images. GRET takes advantage of this variable dot size to produce a smoother line than would be normally possible.

The GRET algorithm analyzes the image content, searching for edges of text characters and line art. When the algorithm identifies a line edge, it checks for areas on the edge of the line where staircasing may occur, such as on a diagonal line or in serifs on text. It then adds smaller gray pixels to the line or text to create a smoother, gentler edge. The result is the highest quality text and line art possible at 600 DPI.

Best of all, GRET is implemented in high-speed digital hardware and integrated into the Marking Image Path. So all the analysis and enhancement happens in real time and at full productivity.

Small Particle Developer paints finer images with a smaller-size "toner brush."
One key to the world class print quality produced by the DIGISOURCE 9110 System is its toning subsystem, which features our Small Particle Developer (SPD). SPD technology was developed by KODAK and has been perfected and enhanced since its introduction in our high-speed copiers and copier/duplicators. This award-winning toning technology is covered by numerous patents.

The developer particle used in SPD is about 35 microns in diameter, less than 1/4 the size used by most competitive printers. The use of such a small particle results in a extremely soft toning brush, allowing the system to produce smooth solids and halftones and crisp fine lines.

Another unique aspect of the SPD toning subsystem is the use of a high speed rotating magnetic core. The core is spun at a high RPM, producing about 250 magnetic transitions per minute. This allows the developer in the toning brush to gently and efficiently tone the image on the photoconductive image loop. This means that the DIGISOURCE 9110 System delivers images while maintaining high toner yield.

For unvarying quality, dynamic process control keeps things consistent.
To assure the highest level of print quality, the design of the DIGISOURCE 9110 System incorporates a state-of-the-art process control system. The print engine monitors key subsystems during print runs and makes adjustments on the fly to make sure every print is up to the high quality levels required for on-demand printing.

The process control subsystem is enabled by use of subsystems that can be tuned and programmed to the correct level by the print engine's LCU (Logic and Control Unit) computer. The LCU can adjust the charge level on the photoconductive image loop, exposure of the 600 dpi LED printhead, voltage potential on the SPD toning brush, and the toner concentration in the development subsystem to maintain rock-stable print performance print-to-print, run-to-run. 

At the core of the process control subsystem are two sophisticated monitoring devices: a vibrating reed electrostatic voltage potentiometer (EVP) and an infrared logarithmic transmission densitometer (ILTD). The EVP monitors the charge level on the photoconductive image loop to assure that the charge level is optimal for delivering great solids and low levels of print background. The ILTD measures the mass of the toner developed on the photoconductive image loop and provides this feedback to the LCU. The LCU computer then adjusts the system to give outstanding solid densities while maintaining crisp line and halftone dot reproduction.

The process control system operates in two different modes. A comprehensive system assessment and diagnostic is run upon power-up of the printer or after 6 hours have passed since the last execution of the routine. The comprehensive assessment re-calibrates the various process control elements and corrects for any abnormal conditions in the print engine. Included in the system assessment is a mapping of the entire photoconductive image loop, a total of over 500 individual measurements.

During normal printer operation, the process control subsystem runs in its monitoring mode. The LCU checks the charge level on the photoconductive loop and adjusts it by means of a programmable power supply. The charge level is checked every other print to assure crisp prints with low background. A control patch is printed every 200 prints to check that the printer is producing the correct density level. The system is so smart that it will schedule another control patch immediately if it suspects something is slightly out of the normal range. The system continues to monitor and adjust itself so you don't need to monitor print quality - the DIGISOURCE 9110 System does it all for you, day in, day out.

Another feature of the process control system on the DIGISOURCE 9110 System is the ability of the operator to change the desired density level to his or her own preference. There are 10 levels that can be selected from the printer's User Interface. If the operator makes a change to the density level, the DIGISOURCE 9110 System automatically calculates the required changes to produce the new density, runs a 10-second verification routine, and adjusts to the density level the operator has selected.

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