METHOD FOR FORMING A DECORATIVE SUBSTRATE FOR DECORATIVE PANEL, AND A METHOD FOR FORMING A DECORATIVE PANEL

1 . A method for manufacturing a decorative substrate for decorative panels, the method comprising:

a) providing a master image;

b) printing the master image on a first printable substrate using an inkjet printer, thereby obtaining a first decorative substrate;

c) evaluating a printing defect in the first decorative substrate;

d) performing an error correction operation on the master image on the basis of the evaluation to obtain a corrected master image;

e) printing the corrected master image on a second printable substrate to obtain a second decorative substrate;

wherein the error correction operation involves adding an intentional defect to the corrected master image.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the printing defect in step c) is selected from the group consisting of: a missing nozzle, banding defects, deflected nozzles, and printhead stitch issues.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the error correction operation in step d) involves one or more of: modifying drop sizes at predetermined spots and/or modifying a number of droplets at predetermined spots.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the error correction operation in step d) is performed using dedicated software.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the intentional defect comprises additional droplets of inks of a first color tone jetted in an area of a printed décor having a predominant second color tone.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the intentional defect comprises a pixel or a group of pixels having the first color tone being surrounded by pixels having the second color tone.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the group is formed by less than 5 pixels.

8 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the area of the second color tone is adjacent to an area having a predominant first color tone.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the additional droplets are present in the area having the second color tone adjacent to the area having the first color tone.

10 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the area having the predominant first color tone is formed by a group of pixels comprising at least 20 pixels.

11 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the area of the second color tone is an unprinted area.

12 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the additional droplets may have a dimension below 7 pl.

13 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the additional droplets have an optical density (M 0 ) below 5.

14 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the additional droplets correspond to pixels of the corrected master image which are not present in the master image.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the intentional defect is generated by a software running on a computer.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the master image represents a uniform color, or a cement décor, a stone décor or a wood décor.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first printable substrate and/or the second printable substrate is a paper sheet or a thermoplastic foil.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the first and/or the second printable substrate is a paper sheet of the type suitable for being impregnated with a thermosetting resin.

19 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or the second printable substrate is a rigid material for forming a base of the decorative panel.

20 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or the second printable substrate is a colored base.