JP2001071530A - Method and apparatus for regulating ink end value of ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent waste of ink by providing means for correcting an ink end detection value with a correction value corresponding to delay or lead in the alarm of ink exchange timing. SOLUTION: A host PC is connected with a print control means 100 which operates a print means 400 based on a command from the host PC and controls an ink consumption control means 200 by fetching data from an environmental temperature detecting means 510. The ink consumption control means 200 fetches information from a maintenance operation control means 300 and corrects an ink end detection value with a correction value corresponding to delay or lead in the alarm of ink exchange timing by exchanging information with a correction value calculating means 640 thus preventing waste of ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of a printing apparatus such as an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-136432 (known example 1), which is known as this kind of technology, discloses a counting means for counting the number of black dots to be ejected from nozzles of an ink jet head, An ink out-of-ink detecting means for detecting ink out based on the count value of the counting means, wherein the counting means is used for head cleaning for eliminating the number of black dots to be printed and clogging of nozzles of the inkjet head. An invention is disclosed in which the amount of ink consumption is grasped with high accuracy by counting the number of processes in the method described above, and ink exhaustion is detected.

[0003] Similarly, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-316856 (known example 2), at the time of printing, the number of print dots actually printed is stored in a print dot number storage means. , By the storage control means,
The ink suction amount is added to and stored in the print dot number storage means as the number of print dots, and when checking the remaining ink amount, the remaining ink detection means uses the number of printable dots corresponding to the total ink capacity of the ink cartridge and the print dots. An invention is disclosed in which the remaining amount of ink is accurately detected by obtaining the remaining amount of ink from the ratio with the number of print dots stored in the number storage means.

[0004]

The above-mentioned known examples 1, 2
In some cases, the ink consumption or the remaining amount can be detected effectively, but there is still a point where improvement is desirable.

That is, in this type of ink-jet printer, the amount of ink used per dot mainly varies depending on the use environment such as the environmental temperature, characters or pictures, or the density of the ink. If the warning is given without delaying the ink replacement time as in the case of No. 2 above, there is a concern that the ink may be wasted because it is excessive, or that the ink replacement may be delayed and hinder printing.

A first problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device which can prevent the above-mentioned problems beforehand.

A second problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device which performs correction of ink end detection based on a delay amount of a warning of ink replacement timing to improve detection accuracy.

A third problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device capable of preventing waste of ink and delay of ink replacement by improving ink end detection accuracy. is there.

[0009]

Means for solving the above-mentioned problems are as follows.

(1) At least a print control unit, a maintenance operation control unit, and an ink consumption control unit are provided.
In an ink jet printer capable of performing a printing process by a printing unit controlled by each of the control units, the ink consumption control unit is provided by a discharge dot number counting unit, an ink remaining amount detection unit, an ink consumption calculation unit, and a correction value calculation unit. The ink value of the ink jet printer is configured to be operable on the basis of such information based on the information, and the correction value calculation means can correct the ink end detection value by a correction value according to a delay in warning of ink replacement or a preceding time. End value adjustment device.

(2) At least printing control means, maintenance operation control means, and ink consumption control means are provided,
An ink end value adjusting method in an ink jet printer capable of performing a printing process by a printing unit controlled by each of the above-described control units. And an adjustment method for correcting the ink end detection value from the delay amount or the preceding amount of the warning.

(3) The adjustment method according to (2), wherein the delay or advance of the warning can be input by a user.

(4) The adjustment method according to the above (2), wherein the correction of the ink end detection is calculated by multiplying a table of cleaning and ink ejection amount by a correction value.

(5) The adjustment method according to the above (2), wherein the correction of the ink end detection is calculated by multiplying the available ink amount by a correction value.

Therefore, the ink end detection is executed with high accuracy, and the ink can be replaced in a timely manner.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The contents of an ink jet printer (printer) 1000 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

1. Means (1) Overall Configuration As shown in the functional block diagram of FIG.
00 is a print control unit 100, an ink consumption control unit 200
In addition, a control system such as the maintenance operation control unit 300 is provided with means for measurement, detection, calculation, and the like described below in a related manner, and is configured so that the printing unit 400 can function to perform printing processing. Thus, the ink end value can be corrected according to the user's use situation.

(2) Configuration for Each Control System Printing control means 100 is connected to the host PC, can operate the printing means 400 based on a command from the host PC, and transmits data from an environmental temperature detecting means 510 described later. The take-in and ink consumption control means 200 can be controlled.

The ink consumption control means 200 operated by a command from the host PC includes a maintenance operation control means 300 described later.
And the ink consumption table 5
20 and inputting the cleaning dot information and the like from the printer 20 and exchanging information among the discharging dot number counting unit 610, the remaining ink amount detection unit 620, the ink consumption calculation unit 630, and the correction value calculation unit 640, which will be described later. Is controlled so that the ink consumption status is recorded in the rewritable nonvolatile memory 650, the ink end is displayed by the ink end display means 660, and the information is fed back to the host PC. ing.

The maintenance operation control means 300 is controlled by the host PC, and is operated by the operation panel 310. The maintenance operation control means 300 is capable of controlling the temperature information of the environmental temperature detecting means 510 and the information from the time measuring means 320 such as a timer. The printing unit 400 can be maintained based on this.

The printing unit 400 including the head 410, the pump 420, the carriage 430, the medium transporting unit 440, and the like is provided by the printing unit 100 and the maintenance operation control unit 300.
Is controlled by

The function of each means will be described later in the section of use procedure.

2. Use Procedure Next, the use procedure of the printer 1000 will be described with reference to a flowchart and the like for each print control procedure, maintenance operation control procedure, and ink consumption control procedure.

(1) Print control procedure The print resolution information processed by a printer driver (not shown), print mode information as shown in Table 1, black (K), cyan (C), magenta ( In addition to the four colors of M) and yellow (Y), if necessary, color data of six colors including light cyan and light magenta, and print data such as bitmap data are received by the printer 1000 side. To enter.

Next, a print signal and a head drive signal corresponding to the environmental temperature detected by the environmental temperature detecting means 510 are generated from a drive signal generating circuit (not shown).
The printing operation is executed by controlling the ejection of dots to appropriate positions in accordance with the bitmap data while controlling carriage movement and medium conveyance by instructing the carriage 430 and the medium conveyance means 440.

(2) Maintenance Operation Control Procedure A maintenance operation for cleaning the head 410 of the printing means 400 is started under one of the following four conditions.

(A) Elapse of a predetermined time from the start of use of the head. (B) Operation of the panel maintenance buttons as required by the operator. (C) The maintenance command is received from the printer driver when the maintenance button on the user interface of the printer driver of the host PC is pressed. (D) Carriage position such as cap opening, cap closing, near flushing position, etc.

Such a maintenance operation is mainly performed.
The flushing operation is divided into a flushing operation and a cleaning operation, and the flushing operation is an operation of discharging ink at a cap or a predetermined flushing position. In the case of normal flushing, the following (e) to (g) are distinguished.

(E) Performed every predetermined time during printing,
Discharges the thickened ink at the nozzle. (F) Immediately before the cap closing operation, discharge the thickened ink and moisturize the cap. (G) Perform immediately after the cleaning operation to prevent color mixing.

In the case of power flushing, the following (h) and (h) are distinguished.

(H) When the power is turned on, the ink in the nozzle portion that has solidified when not in use is discharged. (I) Perform when the cap is released, and discharge the solidified ink from the nozzles when not in use.

The cleaning operation mainly includes two operations, i.e., a suction / ink discharging operation by a pump in which a cap is brought into close contact with a nozzle (not shown) and a wiping operation for wiping the nozzle. The amount of ink discharged is determined according to the timing and purpose of the cleaning operation. (Consumption) is somewhat different.

This cleaning operation is usually performed in the following cases.

(G) Immediately after purchasing the printer, at the time of initial filling such as ink filling performed when the power is first turned on and the cartridge is mounted. (L) When replacing the cartridge. (ヲ) When a cleaning button (not shown) is pressed or a cleaning command is received (cleaning 1). (W) When a cleaning button (not shown) is continuously pressed or when a cleaning command is continuously executed (cleaning 2). (F) In accordance with the elapsed time of non-operation of the printer 1000,
When the elapsed time is relatively short (timer cleaning 1). (Y) According to the elapsed time of non-operation of the printer 1000,
When the elapsed time is relatively long (timer cleaning 2).

(3) Ink Consumption Control Procedure The following steps are executed for the ink consumption control procedure.

Recording of Correction Value The correction value α is calculated in advance for each cartridge and recorded in the non-volatile memory 650. When the ink end is detected and a warning is displayed on the host as shown in FIG. The user can make at least the following three selections.

(4) Replace immediately The carriage moves to the replacement position, and the cartridge can be replaced. ◆ Replacing the carriage later When replacing the host, such as when there is no replacement cartridge, press the exchange button on the printer panel to move the carriage to the exchange position. ◆ Optimizing the display of the remaining amount of ink When there is no warning even though the ink is exhausted or when the ink cannot be used to the end, the button of the same function is used in the printer driver properties as shown in Fig. 10. Pressing this opens the window shown in FIG.

That is, when the warning is delayed as shown in FIG. 2 (S1), the number of defective pages -i is "manually input (S2)", and the ratio of the remaining ink amount to the total ink consumption is calculated. (S3) A correction value is calculated, but if a warning is issued in a state where ink remains (S1), whether the amount of remaining ink is small, small, or large is input as shown in FIG. (S4), the correction value is corrected by multiplying the count by 1.01, 1.03 or 1.05, respectively (S5 to S7), and the correction value is calculated. It is to be recorded.

Here, for better understanding, the display states of the windows in FIGS. 7 to 9 will be described as follows.

In FIG. 7, either the optimization for the absence of a warning or the optimization for the remaining ink is selected. By selecting Next, the window shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9 opens.

FIG. 8 shows a window which is opened when "No warning was issued even when ink is exhausted". The user is prompted to input the number of pages operated without ink. According to the flow of FIG. 2, the ink consumptions of pages 1 to i pages are read from the memory and totaled, and a correction value α for the usable ink amount is calculated for each cartridge and stored in the memory.

FIG. 9 shows a window that opens when "Ink could not be used to the end. It remains." The user can visually check the amount of ink remaining in the cartridge and select it. Or select the user's desire to use it a little more.

According to the flow of FIG. 2, the correction value α is corrected by multiplying the correction value α by the counts 1.01, 1.03, and 1.05, respectively, and stored in the memory.

Detection of Ink Remaining Level Next, at the time of execution of an interruption with the passage of time, maintenance operation, carriage return, page break, etc., detection of ink end in FIG. 3 and calculation and storage of ink consumption in FIG. 4 start. However, in the ink remaining amount detecting procedure of FIG. 3, since 40000000000 is the usable amount of ink in the cartridge, and α is a correction value, which is stored at the time of shipment, it is compared with the total ink consumption (T1). If the total ink consumption is larger, no usable ink remains, and the ink is exhausted (T2), and the ink end display means 660 blinks or a warning as shown in FIG. 6 is transmitted to the host PC.

When there is ink (T3), the remaining amount of ink is calculated (T4) and displayed on the host PC in the properties of the printer driver as shown in FIG.

Incidentally, in order to reduce the burden on the user, the detection of the remaining amount of ink is preferably performed for each cartridge when all the colors are independent, and for a cartridge in which several colors are integrated, It is preferable to perform detection and display based on the color with the least remaining amount.

Calculation and Storage of Ink Consumption As shown in FIG. 4, if the page has not been changed (U
1) It is determined whether or not the cleaning operation has been performed (U2). When the cleaning operation is performed (U2),
The cleaning amount corresponding to the cleaning mode is accumulated by the ink consumption calculating means 630 into the total ink consumption amount and the current page ink consumption amount for each color based on the cleaning table of
The data is stored in the nonvolatile memory 650 (U3), (U4).

For example, when the cleaning 1 is operated, 300000 is added and accumulated.

At this time, the total ink consumption stores the ink consumption of the cartridge currently in use for each color, and the current page ink consumption stores the ink consumption of the currently printing page for each color. .

At times other than the cleaning operation, (U
2) Whether the printing operation or the flushing operation has already been executed or the ink ejection has not been executed, and the ink consumption calculating unit 630 calculates the ink consumption amount by multiplying the number of ejection dots by the ejection dot amount. And accumulates the total ink consumption and the current page ink consumption for each color,
The data is stored in the nonvolatile memory 650.

The number of ejection dots is appropriately counted by the ejection dot number counting means at the time of ink ejection, so that in the case of a printing operation, the number of ejection dots for each color is calculated from the color information of the data received from the host PC and the bit map data. Cumulative,
The mode and the number of dots for each color are stored in the nonvolatile memory 650 (U5, U6).

In the case of a maintenance operation, the number of ejection dots is a constant stored in an ejection dot number table (not shown). When the ink ejection is not executed, the number of ejected dots is 0, and therefore, no addition is performed.

The ejection dot amount differs depending on the mode, the temperature and the color detected by the environmental temperature detecting means 510, and is based on the ejection dot amount table in Table 1. If the environmental temperature is between the values in the table, , By linear approximation.

For example, the amount of black ejection dots at 15 ° C. in normal dot printing 1 is calculated as follows.

50+ (51-50) × (15 ° C.-10
° C) / (20 ° C-10 ° C) = 50.5

Further, when the number of black ejection dots is 10,000, the value obtained by multiplying the ejection dot amount is added to the total ink consumption amount and the current page ink consumption amount and accumulated.

10,000 × 50.5 = 505000

If the page has been changed (U
1) The page numbers of the ink consumption amounts from the current page to the (n-1) th page before each color which have already been stored are exchanged. As in the flow, the ink consumption of the (n-1) th page becomes the ink consumption of the nth page, and the ink consumption of the current page becomes the ink consumption of the previous page (U7 to U10). in this way,
Since the ink consumption for n pages is stored in the memory, the ink remaining amount display can be optimized, and it is determined whether or not the cleaning operation has been performed (U2).
Subsequently, the process proceeds to the aforementioned steps (U3 to U6).

[0059]

The specific effects provided by the present invention are as follows.

The detection value of the ink end can be corrected according to the usage environment of the user, and the detection accuracy can be improved.

The ink exchange can be executed in a timely manner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for calculating a correction value in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of calculating the remaining amount of ink in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of ink consumption calculation and storage in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a display diagram of a window of the host PC in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a display diagram of the printer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is another display diagram of the printer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is another display diagram of the printer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is another display diagram of the printer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a display diagram of a window of the host PC in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is an ejection dot amount table diagram of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a diagram of the cleaning table of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 printing control unit 200 ink consumption control unit 300 maintenance operation control unit 610 ejection dot number counting unit 620 ink remaining amount detection unit 630 ink consumption calculation unit 640 correction value calculation unit 1000 inkjet printer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer comprising at least a print control unit, a maintenance operation control unit, and an ink consumption control unit, wherein the ink consumption control is performed by a printing unit controlled by the control units. Means is operable based on information provided from the ejection dot number counting means, the ink remaining amount detecting means, the ink consumption calculating means, and the correction value calculating means, and the correction value calculating means determines the timing of ink replacement. An ink end value adjusting device for an ink jet printer which is capable of correcting an ink end detection value by a correction value according to a delay of a warning or a preceding one. 2. An ink end value adjusting method in an ink jet printer, comprising at least a print control unit, a maintenance operation control unit, and an ink consumption control unit, and capable of performing a printing process by a printing unit controlled by each of the control units. And an adjustment method for correcting an ink end detection value from a delay amount or a preceding amount of the warning when an ink consumption amount is calculated from cleaning and the number of ink ejections to warn of an ink replacement time. 3. The adjustment method according to claim 2, wherein a delay or advance of the warning can be input by a user. 4. The adjustment method according to claim 2, wherein the correction of the ink end detection is calculated by multiplying a table of cleaning and ink ejection amount by a correction value. 5. The adjustment method according to claim 2, wherein the correction of the ink end detection is calculated by multiplying the available ink amount by a correction value.