JPH0478537A - Ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, recording apparatuses that perform recording on recording media such as paper and OHP sheets (hereinafter also referred to as recording paper or simply paper) have been proposed in the form of mounting recording heads using various recording methods. These recording heads include those based on a wire tod type, a thermal type, a thermal transfer type, and an inkjet type.

In particular, the inkjet recording method jets ink directly onto the recording paper, so running costs are low.
It is attracting attention as a quiet recording method.

In such an inkjet recording device,
Depending on the type of recording medium and the type of recorded data, the drying of the ink deposited on the recording medium due to the recording operation, that is, the fixability of the recorded data differs.

When ink takes a long time to dry, that is, when fixing performance is poor, a fixing heater has conventionally been used to improve fixing performance. For example, it may be installed integrally with a platen that regulates the recording surface of the recording medium at the recording position by the recording head, or it may be installed integrally with a conveyance guide member at a position on the downstream side of the recording position on the conveyance path of the recording medium. was.

Furthermore, fixing performance has been improved by providing a fixing time every time one line is recorded on a recording medium.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional fixing heaters that improve fixing performance have disadvantages such as increased power consumption and cost increases due to the provision of the mechanism. Furthermore, those that improve the fixing performance by providing a fixing time have the disadvantage that the recording time increases due to the fixing time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording apparatus capable of fixing without providing a fixing heater or a fixing time.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention includes a thinning means for thinning the recording data supplied to the recording head to lower the recording density, and a thinning means for thinning the recording data supplied to the recording head to reduce the recording density. The present invention is characterized by comprising a thinning control means for controlling the thinning according to the timing.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration, the recording density is reduced by thinning the recorded data according to the type of recording medium and the type of recorded data that affect the fixing performance, so the amount of ink that adheres to the recording surface of the recording medium is reduced. As a result, fixing performance can be improved without providing a fixing heater or fixing time.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the external configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

Here, 1 is a head cartridge having ink, an ink ejection port, and an electrical connection part inside, and 2 is a carrier for mounting the head cartridge and scanning in the direction of arrow AB in the figure. 3 is a hook for attaching the head cartridge 1 to the carrier 2, and 4 is a lever for operating the hook 3.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a recess into which a protrusion 24 (to be described later) is inserted, and is formed on the carrier 2. Reference numeral 6 denotes a support plate for supporting the electrical connection portion to the head cartridge 1.

7 is a flexible cable for connecting the electrical connection section and the main body control section. A guide shaft 8 is inserted through the carrier 2 to guide the carrier 2 in the direction A-B. Reference numeral 9 denotes a timing belt to which the carrier 2 is fixed and which transmits power for moving the carrier 2 in the direction A-B, and is stretched around pulleys 10A and IOB arranged on both sides of the device. Driving force is transmitted to one Boullier OB from the carrier motor 11 via a transmission mechanism such as a gear. 12 is a recording medium such as paper (hereinafter also referred to as recording paper)
It is a platen roller that regulates the recording surface of the printer and transports it during recording, etc., and the transport motor 1
3. 14 guides the recording medium to the recording device (
A paper pan 15 is a feed roller disposed in the recording medium feeding path to press the recording medium toward the conveyance roller 12 and convey it.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a paper discharge roller that is disposed downstream of the recording position in the recording medium conveyance direction and discharges the recording medium toward a paper discharge port (not shown). Reference numeral 17 denotes a spur provided corresponding to the paper ejection roller 16, which connects the paper ejection roller 16 via the recording medium.
is pressed to generate a force for conveying the recording medium by the paper ejection roller 16. A platen 18 is provided at a position facing the ink ejection opening of the head cartridge 1, and presses the recording medium against the paper pan front part 19 by an elastic member (not shown).

This apparatus employs an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink. Therefore, the distance between the ink ejection ports of the print head and the recording surface of the print medium is relatively small, and the sensation must be strictly controlled to avoid contact between the print medium and the ejection ports. Part 19
It is effective to regulate the position of the recording medium. 20 is a feed roller 15 and a spur 1 when the recording medium is attached and detached.
7. A release lever for releasing each bias of the platen 18. A second sensor is a sensor for detecting the position of the carrier 2, and detects the position of the carrier 2 by passing through a convex portion (not shown) of the carrier 2.

22 is the head cartridge 1 at the home position.
It is a cap formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and is provided at a position facing the ink ejection orifice forming surface, and is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and detach from the head cartridge 1. This cap 22 is used to protect the ink ejection ports of the head cartridge 1 during non-printing times and during ejection recovery processing. Ejection recovery processing is a process in which ink is ejected from all ejection ports by driving an energy generating element provided inside the ejection ports and used for ink ejection.
(preliminary ejection), or by applying suction force to cover the ejection port formation surface with a cap and suctioning the ink from the ejection port (suction recovery), air bubbles, dust, or thickening may occur. This process removes the causes of ejection failure of ink that is no longer suitable for printing.

A pump 23 is used to apply a suction force for forcibly discharging the ink and to attract the ink received in the cap 22 during ejection recovery processing by such forced ejection or ejection recovery processing by preliminary ejection. A protrusion 24 that fits into the recess 5 of the carrier 2 is formed on the outside of the pump 23 .

25 is a waste ink tank for storing waste ink sucked by the pump 23, and 26 is a tube that communicates the pump and the waste ink tank 25. Reference numeral 27 denotes a blade for wiping the ejection port forming surface of the head cartridge 1, which protrudes toward the head cartridge 1 side and engages with the ejection port forming surface at a position for wiping during the movement of the head cartridge 1. It is movably supported in a retracted position and not in a retracted position. 28 is a recovery system motor, 2
A cam device 9 receives power from the recovery system motor 28 to move the drive system of the pump 23, the cap 22, and the blade 27, respectively.

Next, details of the above-mentioned head cartridge 1 will be explained.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the head cartridge 1 in which the ejection unit 1a and the ink tank 1b, which form the main body of the inkjet recording head, are integrated. In the figure, reference numeral 1e denotes a pawl that is hooked by a hook 3 provided on the carrier 2 when the head cartridge 1 is mounted. As is clear from the figure, the pawl 1e is disposed inside the entire extension of the recording head. In addition, in front of the head cartridge 1 and near the ejection unit 1a, a positioning abutment part is provided, although not shown in this figure. 1f is carrier 2
This is a head opening into which a support plate 6 that stands upright and supports a flexible board (electrical connection part) and a rubber pad is inserted.

Next, a control configuration when the inkjet recording device configured as described above is applied to a document processing device will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

In the figure, reference numeral 100 is a control unit that processes characters, etc. input from a keyboard (not shown) and displays them on a display (not shown), and operates the printer unit 200 based on recording instructions from the keyboard. , which constitutes the document processing section. This control unit 100 includes an MPU 1000 that executes various control procedures, a ROM 100I that stores the above-mentioned control procedures and data, a RAM 1002 that is used as a work area for executing the above-mentioned control, and stores character patterns such as characters input from the keyboard. CG 1003, and an interface unit 1004, which connects to external devices such as a keyboard. The control section 100 and the printer section 200 are electrically connected by a signal line 1005.

The printer unit 200 is a head cartridge (recording head)
It has a printer control section 80 that performs first control. The printer control unit 80 has almost the same configuration as the control unit 100, and includes an MPU 800, a ROM 801, and a RAM 802.
and an interface section 803.

Of the printer unit 200, the printer control unit 80 controls the recording head 1, carriage motor 11,
They are a transport motor 13 and a recovery system motor 28, each of which is a head driver IA.

Driven by motor drivers 11A, 13A, and 28A.

In the above control configuration, when a document creation process is performed and a print start command is issued by pressing a print key (not shown) on the keyboard, the MPU 100O of the control unit 100 converts the input text and other documents to the CG 1003. Convert to recorded data. The MPU 1000 adds a control command to the converted print data and transfers it to the printer control unit 80 via the interface unit 1004 and signal line 1005. MPU of the printer control unit 80 that received the transfer data
800 ROs the control command added to the recording data.
Printing is executed by controlling the recording head 1 and the like while interpreting the command table stored in M801.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data format transferred from the control section 100 to the printer control section 80 of the printer section 200.

First, a command Dl indicating the size of the recording medium (A4, B4, postcard, etc.) (postcard size in this case) is transferred, and then the type of recording data (character data (character data includes Mincho font, Gothic font, etc.) is transferred. A command (in Mincho font here) D2 indicating the image data) is transferred. Then, print command D3 indicating that the number of recorded data indicated by the next transferred data is transferred and the number of transferred data (M
) D4 is transferred, followed by M pieces of data D5.

When the type of recording data changes in the middle of a line, the changed recording data is transferred in the same format as the previous commands D2 to D5. For example, if the data changes to image data in the middle of a line, a command D6 indicating that the type of recording data is image data is transferred. and print command D
7. Number of transferred data (N) D8 and N pieces of data D9 are transferred.

When one line of recorded data is transferred as described above,
A print end command D10 indicating the end of one line is transferred. Further, one page of recording data is composed of multiple lines of recording data, and the end thereof is indicated by a paper ejection command (not shown).

Next, a control procedure in which the printer control section 80, which has received the transfer data from the control section 100 as described above, performs the thinning process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Here, the type of recording medium has poor fixing properties,
In addition, when the type of recording data is image data, thinning processing is performed. This is because image data generally has a higher density than character data, and the amount of ink that adheres to the recording surface of the recording medium increases, resulting in poor fixability.

Further, a postcard will be explained as an example of a recording medium with poor fixing properties.

When a document creation process is performed and a print start command is issued using the print key on the keyboard, this control procedure is activated. First, in step S1, a command indicating the type of recording medium is received from the control unit 100. - Generally, when inputting a document to a document processing device, the document is input after specifying the size of the recording medium. Therefore, document processing devices can handle plain paper, postcards,
The type of recording medium such as manuscript paper can be recognized.

Based on this recognition, the control section 100 transfers a command indicating the type of recording medium (postcard command D1 in FIG. 4) to the printer control section 80.

In step S2, it is determined whether the type of recording medium is a postcard, and if it is a postcard, the postcard flag is turned on in step S3 and the process proceeds to step S4. If it is determined in step S2 that it is not a postcard, the process advances to the next step S4.

In step S4, a command indicating the type of recording data to be sent next is received. In step S5, the receiver determines whether the type of recorded data received in step S4 is image data, and if it is not image data, step S
6, the recording data that is continuously sent is stored as is in the memory (RAM 802 in FIG. 3), and the process proceeds to step S.
Go to 9. Further, when it is determined in step S5 that the data is image data, the process advances to step S7 and it is determined whether the postcard flag is turned on. If it is not ON, proceed to step S6; if it is ON, proceed to step S8.
Proceed to. In step S8, the recording data sent thereafter is thinned out and stored in the memory.

As an example of this thinning method, to reduce the recording density to 3/4, one line (
Mask (replace with 0) the recorded data in column 64)
There is something to do. Further, as an example of reducing the recording density to 1/2, as shown in FIG. 6(b), odd numbered columns of recording data are masked with odd numbered dots, and even numbered columns are masked with even numbered dots. Here, the print pattern in the arrangement direction of the ejection ports of the print head is called a column, and each one of the print patterns is called a dot. Then, when step S8 ends, the process advances to step S9.

In step S9, it is determined whether one line of recorded data has been completed, and if it has not been completed, the process returns to step S4. on the other hand,
If one line of data has been completed, the process advances to step SIO, where one line of recorded data stored in the memory is printed. Then, the process goes to step S11, and it is determined whether one page has been completed. This determination is made based on a paper discharge command sent from the control unit 100. If the process has not ended in step Sll, the process returns to step S4, and if it has ended, the process exits from this control procedure.

As explained above, in this embodiment, when it is determined that the type of recording medium is a postcard with poor fixing properties and the recorded data is image data, thinning processing is performed to lower the recording density. It reduces the amount of ink that adheres to the recording surface of the medium, which improves fixing performance.It also does not include a fixing heater, so it does not increase costs, and it does not take time for fixing during recording. There is no delay in recording time.

In this embodiment, a postcard is used as a recording medium with poor fixing properties, but a water-repellent medium (thermal transfer paper) or the like may also be used.

Furthermore, the present invention brings about excellent effects particularly in bubble jet recording apparatuses among inkjet recording apparatuses. - This is because such a method can achieve higher recording density and higher definition.

As for typical configurations and principles thereof, it is preferable to use the basic principles disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740,796. This method is applicable to both so-called on-demand type and continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, the electrothermal transducer placed corresponding to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the liquid path is required to respond to the recorded information and rapidly exceed nucleate boiling. Applying at least one drive signal that provides a temperature increase causes the electrothermal transducer to generate thermal energy and cause film boiling on the thermally active surface of the recording head. As a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. The growth and contraction of the bubble causes liquid (ink) to be ejected through the ejection opening to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to use this drive signal in a pulse form, since the growth and contraction of bubbles can be carried out immediately and appropriately, making it possible to eject liquid (ink) with particularly excellent responsiveness. This pulse-shaped drive signal is:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,359, U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,26
Those described in Specification No. 2 are suitable.

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, in addition to the combination configuration of ejection ports, liquid paths, and electrothermal converters (straight liquid path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, a heat acting section. The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the wafer is placed in a bending region. In addition, JP-A-59 discloses a configuration in which a slit common to a plurality of electrothermal converters is used as a discharge part of the electrothermal converters.
-123670, and JP-A No. 5, which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing pressure waves of thermal energy corresponds to a discharge part.
The effects of the present invention are also effective even with a recording head configuration based on Publication No. 9-138461. In other words, regardless of the form of the printhead, printing 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 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 the serial type is used as in the above example, it is a convertible chip type that can be attached to the main body of the device to enable electrical connection with the main body of the device and supply of ink from the main body of the device. The present invention is also effective when using a recording head or a cartridge type recording head provided integrally with the recording head itself.

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 are also multiple types installed to 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 of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a printer, etc., or a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting and receiving function. It may also be one that takes

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since print data is thinned out according to the type of print medium and the type of print data, fixing performance can be improved without providing a fixing heater or fixing time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the head cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the embodiment. 4 is a data format transferred in the control configuration, FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation in the control configuration, and FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining thinning processing in the control configuration. 1...Head cartridge (recording head) 80...
Printer control unit 100...Control unit 200...Printer unit 800.1000...MPU 801.1001...ROM 802.1002...RAM0 Fig. 4(a) Fig. 6(b)

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A print head that performs printing by ejecting ink onto a print medium according to print data, a thinning means for reducing the recording density by thinning out the print data supplied to the print head, and a thinning means that reduces the recording density. An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by comprising a thinning control means for performing thinning according to the type of recording medium and the type of print data. (2) It is characterized in that it can be connected to a recording data generation device that outputs type data indicating the type of recording medium along with the recording data, and the type of recording medium is recognized by the type data output from the recording data generation device. The inkjet recording device according to claim (1). (3) It is characterized in that it can be connected to a record data generator that outputs type data indicating the type of record data together with the record data, and that the type of record data is recognized by the type data output from the record data generator. The inkjet recording device according to claim (1). (4) The recording head is provided with a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink, and is provided for each corresponding ejection port, causes a state change in the ink due to heat, and ejects ink from the ejection port based on the state change. Claim (1) characterized in that it has a thermal energy generating means for causing flying droplets to be formed.
The inkjet recording device described in .