1. An apparatus for conditioning a processing pad, comprising:
a member having an arcuate shape; and
an abrasive bottom surface formed on the member and configured for conditioning a processing pad.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of actuators coupled to a top surface of the member.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of actuators further comprises three actuators.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of actuators independently control a force profile applied to the member.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a relief formed at the interface between the bottom surface and a side of the member.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the relief comprises a bevel.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising one or more grooves formed along the bottom of the member and running from a front side of the member to a back side of the member.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the member further comprises:
a support strip; and
a plurality of conditioning elements coupled to the support strip, the plurality of conditioning elements disposed proximate each other to form the arcuate shape.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a housing coupled to the member and adapted to selectively raise and lower the member.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
a support arm coupled to the housing, the support arm configured to selectively position the member in a range from a position above a processing pad to be conditioned to a position to a side of the processing pad.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the support arm oscillates the member in a direction normal to the direction of rotation of the processing pad.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
a bearing coupled to the housing and adapted to facilitate rotation of the member about an axis perpendicular to the bottom of the member.
13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a flexure assembly flexibly coupled between the member and the housing, the flexure assembly configured to absorb a horizontal conditioning force during processing.
14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the member is sized to condition an entire working surface of the processing pad once per revolution of the pad.
15. An apparatus for conditioning a processing pad, comprising:
a member having an arcuate shape and an abrasive bottom surface configured for conditioning a processing pad;
a support rigidly coupled to the member;
a plurality of force actuators disposed between the member and the support, the force actuators configured to selectively and apply an independently controllable force to the member; and
a positioning actuator coupled to the support and adapted to selectively raise and lower the apparatus.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising
a support arm coupled the positioning actuator, the support arm configured to selectively move the member between a first position over the processing pad and a second position clear of the processing pad.
17. An apparatus for conditioning a processing pad, comprising:
a conditioning element having an abrasive bottom surface; and
a plurality of actuators coupled to the conditioning element and configured to selectively apply an independently controllable force that contours the bottom surface of the conditioning element.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the conditioning element has an arcuate shape.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, where in the conditioning element is linear.
20. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:
a support coupled to the conditioning element; and
a positioning actuator coupled to the support and adapted to selectively raise and lower the apparatus.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A continuous paper duplex printer comprising:
a front surface image processing apparatus that performs image processing of image data for printing on a front surface of continuous paper;
a back surface image processing apparatus that performs image processing of image data for printing on a back surface of the continuous paper;
a printer controller that converts print data into image data per page, during duplex printing, transmits image data for an odd-numbered page to the front surface image processing apparatus, and transmits image data for an even-numbered page to the back surface image processing apparatus; and
a printing engine that forms an image for an odd-numbered page on a front of the continuous paper and that forms an image for an even-numbered page different from an even-numbered page subsequent to the odd-numbered page being in printing on a back of the continuous paper in parallel with image formation of the image data for an odd-numbered page, based on the image data subjected to the image processing performed by the front surface image processing apparatus and the image data subjected to the image processing performed by the back surface image processing apparatus, wherein
during single sided printing:
when the printer controller transmits the image data for an odd-numbered page to the front surface image processing apparatus, the printer controller transmits blank page image data or a blank page instruction to the back surface image processing apparatus, and
when the printer controller transmits the image data for an even-numbered page to the back surface image processing apparatus, the printer controller transmits blank page image data or a blank page instruction to the front surface image processing apparatus.
2. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 1, wherein
during single sided printing relative to the continuous paper:
the printing engine performs image formation based on the image data for the odd-numbered page in parallel with a blank paper output, and then, performs image formation based on the image data for the even-numbered page in parallel with a blank paper output, and
a set of the image formation based on the image data for the odd-numbered page and the blank paper output and another set of the image formation based on the image data for the even-numbered page and the blank paper output are alternately repeated.
3. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 1, further comprising a storage section, wherein
the printer controller makes the image data per page that is converted from the print data be stored in the storage section,
during single sided printing for reprinting, the front surface image processing apparatus reads out the image data for an odd-numbered page from the storage section to perform the image processing,
during the single sided printing for reprinting, the back surface image processing apparatus reads out the image data for an even-numbered page from the storage section to perform the image processing in parallel with the image processing of the image data for the odd-numbered page performed by the front surface image processing apparatus,
during the single sided printing for reprinting relative to the continuous paper, the printing engine performs image formation based on the image data for the odd-numbered page in parallel with image formation of the even-numbered page, and then, a blank paper output for the odd-numbered page and a blank paper output for the even-numbered page are parallelly performed, and
the image formation based on the image data for the odd-numbered page and for the even-numbered page and the blank paper outputs are alternately repeated.
4. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 1, wherein during single sided printing, the back surface image processing apparatus performs image processing for rotating image data 180 degrees.
5. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer controller is connected to the front surface image processing apparatus and the back surface image processing apparatus via a multiplex data transfer path capable of parallelly transferring image data.
6. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 5, wherein the multiplex data transfer path is a transfer path based on PCI Express.
7. The continuous paper duplex printer according to claim 1, further comprising a feed path that feeds the continuous paper in a reversed state to the printing engine after the printing engine prints the front surface, wherein
the printing engine performs image formation on the front surface of the continuous paper having a paper width of substantially a half of an image formable width of the printing engine at substantially a half width of the image formable width, and
the printing engine performs image formation on the back surface of the continuous paper that is reversed and fed after the front surface having been printed via the feed path at substantially another half width of the image formable width to perform the image formation on the back surface of the continuous paper in parallel with the image formation on the front surface at same position in a feed direction.
8. A printing method performed by a continuous paper duplex printer, the printing method comprising:
performing image processing of image data for printing on a front surface of continuous paper by a front surface image processing apparatus;
performing image processing of image data for printing on a back surface of the continuous paper by a back surface image processing apparatus;
converting print data into image data per page, during duplex printing, transmitting image data for an odd-numbered page to the front surface image processing apparatus, and transmitting image data for an even-numbered page to the back surface image processing apparatus, by a printer controller;
forming an image for an odd-numbered page on a front of the continuous paper and forming an image for an even-numbered page different from an even-numbered page subsequent to the odd-numbered page being in printing on a back of the continuous paper in parallel with image formation of the image data for an odd-numbered page by a printing engine based on the image data subjected to the image processing performed by the front surface image processing apparatus and the image data subjected to the image processing performed by the back surface image processing apparatus; and
transmitting blank page image data or a blank page instruction to the back surface image processing apparatus by the printer controller when the printer controller transmits the image data for an odd-numbered page to the front surface image processing apparatus, and transmitting blank page image data or a blank page instruction to the front surface image processing apparatus by the printer controller when the printer controller transmits the image data for an even-numbered page to the back surface image processing apparatus, during single sided printing.