JPH03169657A - Recording device and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform selection such that the density only of a figure is increased, for example, in the whole of an image among image data by indicating image data altering density and recording this image data on the basis of one of a plurality of densities possible to indicate. CONSTITUTION:A density increase change-over switch is turned ON to selectively increase, for example, the density only of a figure '1' and the increase of density is performed by adding one dot in the lateral direction of the dot pattern constituting the figure '1' when the density increase change-over switch is in an ON-state. When the density increase change-over switch is in an OFF-state, the density of the whole of an image is uniformly increased, for example, density is also increased with respect to an English character 'H'. At this time, density is increased according to the ON-state of the density increase change-over switch. In the case of the ON-state of the density increase change-over switch, two dots are added in the lateral direction of a character dot pattern and the density further increases. A density change is performed by adding dots one at a time but, according to circumstances, it is also possible to add dots in a plurality of dot units when there is resolving power.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a recording device and a recording method, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a recording device and a recording method.
The present invention relates to a recording device used in a printer, facsimile, etc., and a recording method used in the device.

[Prior Art] This type of recording device used in printers, facsimile machines, copying machines, etc. drives recording elements in a recording head based on recording data such as character fonts and image data, and prints images corresponding to these. It is configured to form information on a recording sheet as a recording medium.

This type of recording device uses a scanning method of the recording head to record while main scanning in the recording digit direction, and a serial method in which the recording sheet is conveyed line feed (sub-scanning), and a serial method that supports the entire width of the recording paper being conveyed. It can be divided into a full-line type that uses a full-line type print head with arrayed print elements and prints one line at a time only by sub-scanning the print sheet.

In addition, the above-mentioned recording device has different recording head drive methods.
Inkjet method records by ejecting ink droplets. It can be divided into a thermal method, which records by ink transfer or heat sensitivity by heating a heating element, a wire dot method, which records by point pressure of a wire, and a laser method, which records by point irradiation with a light beam.

In such recording apparatuses, the size of the dots themselves and the dot pitch have been becoming finer in recent years, and as a result, the resolution of recorded images has increased and the recording quality has been improved. For example, while the conventional dot density constituting an image was 180 dots/inch, it is now possible to achieve a resolution of 360 to 400 dots/inch, which is more than double the resolution.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in a recording apparatus, there is a problem in that the quality and density of a recorded image inevitably differ depending on the recording paper used for recording.

This is because the ink transfer properties of the recording paper in a thermal recording apparatus and the ink absorption characteristics of the recording paper in an inkjet recording apparatus differ depending on the recording paper used. For this reason, by using paper with good smoothness and good transfer efficiency and coated paper with good ink absorption as recording paper, it has been possible to always stably obtain a predetermined density in a recorded image.

However, in consideration of the usability of the recording apparatus and the interests of the user, it goes without saying that it is desirable to be able to obtain a predetermined density even when using special recording paper.

In addition, in a thermal type device, as another configuration to solve the problem of the density difference mentioned above, the amount of ink transferred is changed by adjusting the electrical energy applied to the heating element using a density volume, etc. There are some that control the concentration.

However, in this system, there is a limit to the range of concentration that can be changed, and this is determined mainly by the durability of the heating element. Therefore, depending on this configuration, it was not always possible to obtain satisfactory recording results. Furthermore, in the thermal method, the amount of ink transferred, that is, the area of the pixel dot, changes relatively depending on the energy applied to the heating element, but in the inkjet method, this is almost impossible.

On the other hand, there is also the problem that the appropriate density differs depending on the type of image information to be recorded.

For example, the appropriate density is different between text image information containing many hiragana characters and text image information containing many kanji characters, and there is also a difference in normal density between an image image and a text image.

Furthermore, when such different types of image information are mixed in one recorded image, conventionally, it has generally been the case that the appropriate density of one of them is sacrificed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and
The purpose of this is to make it possible to adjust the density of a recorded image depending on the recording paper (recording medium) used and the image to be recorded in a recording device that composes image information using dots, as well as to make it possible to adjust the density of the recorded image in various ways. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a recording method that can record each piece of image information at an appropriate density even when recording an image containing a mixture of image information.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the present invention provides a recording device that records image information using a dot configuration, including a density indicating means capable of indicating a plurality of image densities, and a density indicating means capable of indicating a plurality of image densities. a density changing means capable of changing the density of the image information according to the image density to be changed; a density changing image instruction means for instructing the image information whose density is to be changed by the density changing means; The image forming apparatus is characterized by comprising a control means for causing the density changing means to change the density of the instructed image information based on an instruction from the changed image instruction means.

Alternatively, in a recording method in which image information is recorded by a dot configuration, one of a plurality of image densities that can be specified is specified, and the image information to be recorded according to the specified image density is specified. The present invention is characterized in that it has each process of changing the density of the instructed image information to the instructed image density.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, image information whose density is to be changed is specified, and this image information is recorded at one of a plurality of densities that can be specified. This makes it possible to select, for example, increasing the density of only numbers in the entire image among the image information, or it is also possible to increase the density of the entire image.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a thermal transfer recording apparatus equipped with a thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This recording device is used as the recording section of various devices such as word processors, electronic typewriters, and facsimile machines. In FIG. 1, 100 is a control unit that controls the entire printer. The control unit 100 includes, for example, an MPtl 100A and an MPUIOOA in the form of a microprocessor, etc., and a RAM that stores control procedures, font data, etc., which will be described later.
IOOB,'7-Queria Toshite<7) RAMIOO
C, etc., and manually inputs recording data from the data input section 102 and controls operations such as recording operations based on this data. 10
1 is a recording density changeover switch and a detection section; 3
A predetermined switch detection signal is output according to the states of the two recording density changeover switches 1, 2 and 3.

A carriage 103 carries a thermal head 104, an ink ribbon 105, etc., and scans and moves along the recording surface of the recording paper. A carriage motor drive section 106 drives a carriage motor 107 which is a motor for scanning the carriage 103. The motor drive unit 106 controls the rotation of the carriage motor 107 in accordance with a control signal sent from the control unit 100. A feed motor drive unit 108 drives a feed motor 109 that feeds the recording paper according to a control signal sent from the control unit l00.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a density increase changeover switch for instructing whether to increase the density of the entire recorded image or only a portion of the image information of this image.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of a recording section in the thermal transfer recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. Components common to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 2, a thermal head 104 includes a heating element, heats it according to image recording data, and transfers ink from an ink ribbon 105 to a recording sheet 21 backed up by a platen 20.

The carriage 103 is mounted so as to be movable along a guide shaft 22 installed parallel to the platen 20. Then, a drive system consisting of a carriage motor 107 composed of a stepping motor, a driving pulley 23, a driven boot 24, and a belt 25 wound around these boots and coupled to the carriage 103 moves the arrow R. A reciprocating movement is performed for scanning in the direction. When one line of recording is executed by scanning the thermal head 104 as the carriage 103 moves, the paper feed mode 109 (see FIG. 1) rotates the platen 20 to feed the recording sheet 2l. Convey one line in the direction of arrow P.

As described above, the thermal head 104 includes, for example, 16 electrothermal conversion elements as heat generating elements arranged in one vertical row. Further, the thermal head 104 is mounted so as to be driven to swing between a down position where it is in pressure contact with the recording sheet 2l via an ink ribbon 105 and an up position where it is separated from the recording sheet 2l. These drive controls are performed by the control section 100.

A ribbon cassette 26 is removably set on the carriage 103 for supplying the ink ribbon 105 to a portion of the thermal head 104 facing the electrothermal conversion element. During recording, the ink ribbon 105 wound around the supply shaft 27 in the ribbon cassette 26 is transported for the above-mentioned supply in synchronization with the movement of the thermal head by a ribbon drive shaft (not shown) provided on the carriage 103. It is sequentially wound up on the winding shaft 28.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the recording apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 200 denotes an upper cover of the apparatus, which is provided so that it can be opened and closed as necessary, such as when replacing an ink ribbon. Reference numeral 201 denotes a paper ejection 2l tray, which stacks the recording sheets 2l that are ejected after recording has been completed. Reference numeral 202 denotes an operation panel, which is provided with a density changeover switch 101 in addition to switches for instructing start and stop of the recording operation for 1 hour, etc.
There are three switching positions, 0, 1, and I1, corresponding to switches 1 to 3 shown in FIG. 1, respectively. The user can specify the density of the recorded image by operating this switch. Further, 110 is the density increase changeover switch described above in FIG. 1, and similarly, when operated by the user, it indicates the portion of the image where the density is to be increased. A dial 203 is provided on the side surface of the apparatus cover and is used to manually rotate the platen 20 and feed the recording sheet 2l.

FIG. 4 (A1 to (B)) are explanatory diagrams showing aspects of concentration control according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in this figure, the concentration up changeover switch 11
The number "1" is recorded by selectively increasing the density based on the instruction given by 0, and the letter "H" increases the density only when increasing the density of the entire image. It shows.

In this way, it is determined in advance whether or not the density is to be selectively increased depending on the characters to be recorded. For example, in the process described later in FIG. 5, this is determined based on the character code. Ru. Further, if the image information is not a character but an image, the above-mentioned determination can be made based on the dot density, for example.

In FIG. 4(A), the density increase selector switch is on, that is, the density is selectively increased by only the number "1", and the increased density is determined by turning on the density selector switch 2 (at the recording position shown in FIG. 3). This shows that case I) is the case. in this case,
One dot is added in the horizontal direction of the dot pattern forming the number "1".

FIG. 4(B) shows a case where the density increase switch is off and the density of the entire image is uniformly increased; therefore,
The concentration also increases for the English letter r}IJ. At this time, the concentration is increased according to the ON state of the concentration changeover switch 2.

FIGS. 4(C) and (D) show density control modes corresponding to FIGS. 4(A) and (B) when the density selector switch 3 is on (switching position ■ shown in FIG. 3), respectively. shows. By turning on the density changeover switch 3, two dots are added in the horizontal direction of the character dot pattern, further increasing the density.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure for the above-mentioned density control.

This processing procedure is started when the power is turned on, and step Fl
Each part is initialized, and then it is ready to receive human data. When the data is received, the received data is judged in step F2, and if it is not record data but record command data, the process proceeds to step F3, and the RAMIOOC
Recording for one line is performed based on the recording data stored in the image line buffer. Thereafter, in step F3^, it is determined whether or not recording has ended. If the determination is affirmative, this process is ended, and if the determination is negative, the process returns to step F2.

If it is determined in step F2 that the received data is record data, in step F4 the character font corresponding to the character code that is the content of the record data is read from ROMIOOB and placed in RAMIOOC. ~A. Store in the area defined by . Here, n represents the number of rows of a character font composed of dot rows, and A represents the recorded content of that one dot row.

Next, in step F5, the concentration increase changeover switch 110
The state of the switch is read and it is determined in step F6 whether or not this switch is on. If it is on, proceed to step F7,
Based on the previously received character code, it is determined whether the character corresponding to this character code is designated to be increased in density, such as the number "1" shown in FIG. 4, for example.

Here, if the determination is negative, the entire recorded data will not be subjected to the density increase, and the process will proceed to step F13, which will be described later.

If the determination is affirmative, the process advances to step F8, where the concentration information from the concentration changeover switch 100 is read, and based on this, step F9. Depending on the judgment process of the FIO, the process branches to each process corresponding to the instruction of the concentration changeover switch.

If it is determined in step F9 that the concentration changeover switch 1 is on, that is, the switching position is O, then step F13 is reached. ~Eight. The data is stored in the image line buffer in an unprocessed state. If the concentration changeover switch is in the ■ position, the process advances to step F12, and A. Processing is performed to add one dot in the horizontal direction of the character dot pattern to the data of ~An. If the judgment in step FIO is negative, that is, the switching position of the switch is II, then in step FIO, ^. ~Eight.

Processing is performed to add two dots in the horizontal direction to the data. After completing the processing of steps Fil and Fl2,
In step F13, these processed data are stored in the image line buffer, and the process returns to step F2.

In the above embodiment, one concentration increase switch is provided,
I switched whether the density increase was all or part, but it was a kanji. It may also be possible to specify density increase corresponding to each of hiragana, image data, etc.

Further, in the above embodiment, the density changeover switch attached to the recording apparatus is used as the density instruction means, but it is naturally possible to control the density by commands from the host device. The same applies to the concentration increase selector switch.

Further, in the above embodiment, the density change is performed by adding one dot at a time, but it is of course possible to add multiple dots at a time if the resolution is improved.
Furthermore, although the dots are added uniformly in the horizontal and vertical directions, for example, the dots may be thinned out and added every other dot, and by doing this, the density that can be specified can be increased. You can increase the steps. In addition, it is also within the scope of the present invention to reduce the density by reducing the number of dots compared to the case of normal recording.

(Others) In the above embodiments, the recording head is of a thermal type, but the present invention can be applied to any recording apparatus as long as it is a recording type that forms an image using dots, and is particularly applicable to an inkjet recording type. The recording device is valid. Among them, bubble jet recording heads and recording apparatuses provide excellent recording results. This is because such a system can achieve higher recording density and higher definition.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an example of a bubble jet recording head.

In the figure, reference numeral 52 denotes ejection ports for shaping ejected ink droplets, and a plurality of ejection ports are provided in this recording head. These ejection ports 52 are arranged in the sub-scanning direction during printing, and by ejecting ink droplets as the print head moves in the main-scanning direction, it is possible to print image information in the dot configuration described above.

53 is an ink liquid path formed in communication with each of the ejection ports 52, and the ink liquid path 53 is provided with an electrothermal conversion element 54 that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink droplets. be done. 55 is a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to each ink liquid path 53.

5l is a substrate formed of Si or the like;
1, an electrothermal conversion element 54 is formed by laminating a heating resistor layer, etc., and a liquid path wall 53^ is formed by laminating a resin layer. Furthermore, by joining a top plate 56 made of glass or the like on top of these layers,
The ejection port 52, the ink liquid path 53, and the common liquid chamber are configured.

For typical configurations and principles of bubble jet recording heads, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129. It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of the same No. 4740796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand P type, it is necessary to arrange the liquid (ink) corresponding to the sheet and liquid path where it is held. By applying at least one drive signal that corresponds to recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to the electrothermal transducer, the electrothermal transducer generates thermal energy, and the recording head This is effective because it causes film boiling on the heat acting surface of the drive signal, resulting in the formation of bubbles in the liquid (ink) that correspond one-to-one to this drive signal. The growth and contraction of the bubble causes liquid (ink) to be ejected through the ejection opening to form at least one droplet. When this drive signal is in the form of a pulse, the bubbles are immediately and appropriately contracted, and liquid (ink) ejection with particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. As this pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. No. 4,463,359 and US Pat. No. 4,345,262 are passed. Furthermore, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 concerning the invention regarding the temperature increase rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, even more excellent recording can be performed.

The configuration of the recording head includes ejection ports and liquid channels. U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4 disclose a configuration in which a heat acting part is arranged in a bending region in addition to a combination configuration of electrothermal converters (straight liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path).
A configuration using the specification of No. 459600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, JP-A-59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge part for a plurality of electrothermal transducers, and a hole that absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy is disclosed. The effects of the present invention are also effective even with a structure based on Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461 which discloses a structure corresponding to the discharge section. In other words, regardless of the form of the recording head, recording can be performed reliably and efficiently.

Furthermore, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium that can be recorded by a recording apparatus.

Such a recording head may have either a configuration in which the length is satisfied by a combination of a plurality of recording heads, or a configuration as a single recording head formed integrally. In addition, even if it is a serial type, it may be a replaceable chip type print head that can be attached to the main body of the device to enable electrical connection with the main body of the device or supply of ink from the main body of the device, or the print head itself. The present invention is also effective when using a cartridge type recording head that is integrally provided with the recording head.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus, to the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, these include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element, or a combination thereof; It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing in order to perform stable printing.

In addition, regarding the type and number of recording heads installed, for example, in addition to one type that corresponds to single-color ink, there is also a plurality of recording heads that correspond to multiple inks with different recording colors and densities. It may be something that can be done.

In addition, the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention can be used as an image output terminal for information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader, etc., or a facsimile machine having a sending/receiving function. It may also be one that takes ．． [Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, image information whose density is to be changed is specified, and this image information is recorded at one of a plurality of densities that can be specified. This makes it possible to select, for example, increasing the density of only numbers in the entire image among the image information, or it is also possible to increase the density of the entire image.

As a result, it has become possible to perform fine density control in accordance with the image information to be recorded, and also to perform appropriate density control in accordance with the recording paper used for recording.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the main configuration of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 and 2, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode of concentration control according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an illustration of the concentration control mode shown in FIG. 4. Flowchart showing the processing procedure. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a bubble jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention. 100...Control unit, 100^...MPU, 100B...ROM, 100C...RAM, 101...Concentration changeover switch, 102...Data input unit, 103...Carriage, 104. ...Thermal head, 105... Ink ribbon, 106... Motor drive section, 107... Carriage motor, 108... Motor drive section, 109... Paper feed motor, 110... Density Up changeover switch. +07 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A recording device that records image information using a dot configuration, comprising: a density indicating means capable of indicating a plurality of image densities; and according to the image density instructed by the density indicating means, a density changing means capable of changing the density of the image information; a density changing image instruction means for instructing the image information whose density is to be changed by the density changing means; 1. A recording apparatus comprising: control means for causing the density changing means to change the density of the instructed image information based on the image information. 2) In a recording method that records image information using a dot configuration, specifying one of a plurality of image densities that can be specified;
and instructing image information to be recorded according to the instructed image density, and changing the density of the instructed image information to the instructed image density. Method. 3) The recording device or recording device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the density in the image information is changed by changing the number of dots that make up the image information in a predetermined direction. Method. 4) The recording apparatus or method according to claim 1, wherein the dots are formed by transferring ink onto a recording medium using heat generated by a heating element. 5) The recording apparatus or method according to claim 1, wherein the dots are formed by ink droplets ejected using heat generated by an electrothermal transducer.