Determining defects having a characteristic separation distance

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processor, at least one separation distance between defects in a scanned image of a printed substrate sheet bearing a printed image, wherein the separation distance is determined in a direction parallel to a direction of transport of the printed substrate sheet through a print apparatus; and

determining, by the processor, if the defects have a characteristic separation distance.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

acquiring, at a processor, a scanned image of a plurality of printed substrate sheets bearing printed images; and

identifying, by the processor, defects in the printed images, wherein at least one defect is identified on a first substrate sheet and at least one defect is identified on second substrate sheet.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which determining if the defects have a characteristic separation distance comprises:

determining a first separation distance between a first pair of defects;

determining a second separation distance between a second pair of defects; and

determining that the defects have a characteristic separation distance when at least one of:

(i) the first and second separation distances are within a predetermined threshold of a predetermined characteristic separation distance; and

(ii) a difference between the first and second separation distances is below a threshold.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

if the defects have a characteristic separation distance, determining at least one of a source of the defects and a remedial action based on the characteristic separation distance.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising printing at least one substrate sheet with an image and scanning the at least one printed substrate sheet to acquire at least one scanned image.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a print apparatus to print an image on a substrate sheet;

a scanning apparatus to scan the printed image; and

processing circuitry comprising:

an image analyzer to locate defects in the printed image; and

a defect assessment module to identify defects having a spatial periodicity as periodic defects by measuring a separation distance between the defects in a direction parallel to a direction of transport of the substrate sheet through the print apparatus.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein:

the scanning apparatus is to scan a plurality of printed images;

the image analyzer is to locate defects in a plurality of printed images; and

the defect assessment module is to identify defects having the spatial periodicity as periodic defects by measuring the separation of defects on multiple scanned images.

8. An apparatus according to claim 6 in which the defect assessment module is to determine a source of the defects by comparing the spatial periodicity to at least one predetermined spatial periodicity, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an alert module to generate a user alert indicative of at least one of the source of the defect and a remedial action.

9. An apparatus according to claim 6 in which the defect assessment module is to identify defects having a spatial periodicity by determining a separation of defects which are linearly aligned in a predetermined direction.

10. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine a first separation between defects in a first pair of defects in an image printed on a first substrate sheet by a print apparatus, wherein the first separation is a separation between the defects in a direction parallel to a direction of transport of the first substrate sheet through the print apparatus;

determine a second separation between defects in a second pair of defects in an image printed on a second substrate sheet by the print apparatus, wherein the second separation is a separation between the defects in a direction parallel to a direction of transport of the second substrate sheet through the print apparatus; and

determine a print apparatus defect source when the first and second separations meet predetermined criteria.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein the instructions to determine a print apparatus defect source comprise instructions to cause the processor to determine the print apparatus defect source by at least one of:

determining if at least one of the first and second separations match a predetermined separation; and

comparing the first and second separations and determining if the first and second separations are within a predetermined threshold of one another.

12. A non-transitory machine readable medium according to claim 10 , wherein the instructions further comprise an instruction to cause the processor to generate an indication of the print apparatus defect source.