JPH05270008A - Ink jet color record method and device, and restoration method for use therein - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to form a color image having two or more colors of high quality in a stable manner by a method wherein a control means is provided to differentiate a mode wherein a restoration sequence relating to ink delivery of an ink record head is recorded one time on the same record medium. CONSTITUTION:When a mode, wherein a plurality of ink record heads are used, has been recognized, an automatic suction is prohibited and then aging of the ink record heads is conducted. The aging is performed 5000 times, which, however, may be varied corresponding to the kinds of the record heads. Next, reserve delivery conditions, capping conditions and wiping conditions are set in a plurality of modes. And when an ordinary mode, wherein a single ink record head is used, has been detected or recognized, an automatic suction is set to perform aging, following which reserve delivery conditions, capping conditions, and wiping conditions are set in ordinary conditions. Usually, in an ink record head for use in a single color ink jet record device, single color or black ink in most cases is used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color ink jet recording method and apparatus utilizing single color ink jet recording,
Furthermore, the present invention relates to an epoch-making invention in which a monochrome ink jet recording apparatus can be efficiently used as a color recording apparatus. The present invention uses liquid ink (hereinafter, simply referred to as ink) for paper,
It can be applied to an apparatus for recording on a recording medium such as a cloth or OHP sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Although a method of recording a liquid ink by adhering it to a recording medium for forming a color recorded image is known before electrophotographic color recording, there are few products to be used, and in the market, it is exclusively electronic. Photographic color recording devices are the mainstream. Generally, a recording medium that supplies a recording medium to a recording apparatus and is ejected from the apparatus on which color images of a plurality of colors are formed is known as a color recording apparatus.

As the ink jet recording apparatus, a monochromatic ink jet recording apparatus capable of monochrome monochromatic recording and a color ink jet recording apparatus performing color recording have been put on the market in recent years, but the former is inexpensive, while the latter is It is expensive and the device becomes large. In particular, a color ink jet recording apparatus can record various kinds of recording media such as plain paper and OH even if sufficient recording can be performed on a specific recording medium.
A sheet known as a P sheet sometimes had a relatively poor image quality.

On the other hand, for a user who uses a monochrome ink jet recording apparatus, although the request frequency is low,
There is a tendency to require color records. As a result, there is a demand for a color ink jet recording apparatus that is small and inexpensive and can be used more easily by users.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention generally recognizes that a single-color ink jet recording apparatus cannot afford to additionally mount a plurality of recording heads, and as a result it is impossible to perform a plurality of color recordings. This was achieved by paying attention to the advantages peculiar to inkjet by developing the above-mentioned concept of reversal.

That is, in the conventional ink jet color recording apparatus, how to supply ink of a plurality of colors to a recording medium in a recording area in a short time to prevent ink flow and form a high quality color image. Although I am studying it, under the present conditions, it is not possible to obtain a sufficient image if the specific conditions are not met. That is, when a plurality of inks are supplied, not only the inks but also the expansion of the recording medium and the occurrence of extra color mixture due to the ink overflow can be seen. On the other hand, like a single-color inkjet recording device, when a recording medium is recorded in a single color and then ejected out of the device, the fixability of the image is relatively stable, and this recorded recording medium is supplied again from the paper feeding device. Then, for sequential recording, at the time when the recording area is reached, the previously recorded image is completely fixed, and the state of the recording medium is
It was found that the state before the ink recording that was previously recorded was restored. Further, under this condition, if inks of different colors are printed on the image previously printed, the recording position of the preceding image is comparable to the position where the preceding image should be recorded on the recording medium before recording. The image formed by the ink color had high image quality and excellent color tone.

The results were the same even when the above steps were carried out using three types of ink and four types of ink.

[0008]

However, in an ink jet recording apparatus for recording on the same recording medium by using a plurality of ink recording heads, the same or different ink recording heads are used a plurality of times on the same recording medium. When the recording is performed, the recording is not always performed in the same state, and the following problems may occur.

(1) Color Mixing by Suction Recovery When a plurality of ink recording heads are used in the same ink jet recording apparatus, the different color ink sucked at the time of the previous suction recovery remains in the recovery apparatus. When the suction recovery is performed in this state, the remaining ink is entrained in the ink convection during suction and adheres to the ink recording head, and is directly drawn into the nozzle and mixed with different ink. Also, even if it is not drawn directly into the nozzle,
If a wiping operation or the like is performed in order to perform stable recording, different-color inks in the vicinity of the nozzles may be guided into the nozzles and mixed in colors. When such color mixing occurs, the image quality is significantly impaired.

(2) Image quality on the same recording medium When recording on the same recording medium over a plurality of sheets, the ink recording heads are not always in the same state but continuously recorded. The difference between the temperature rise of the ink recording head and the temperature rise when recording is performed intermittently is
The temperature rise of the ink recording head also varies depending on the duty. When the temperature of the ink recording head is different, the ejection amount is different, and the optimum recovery sequence for the ink recording head is also different. Further, the optimum recovery condition varies depending on the environmental temperature and the frequency of use of the ink recording head.

The above problems occur because a plurality of ink recording heads are used for recording on the same recording medium a plurality of times, and a single-color ink jet recording apparatus uses a plurality of ink recording heads to stably and stably. This is a problem that must be solved to form a high-quality color image of at least two colors.

[0012]

Therefore, according to the present invention, when a plurality of ink recording heads are used in an ink jet recording apparatus, a plurality of ink recording heads are detected or recognized as a mode in which printing is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium, and a plurality of ink recording heads are detected. In order to perform stable recording even when using the ink recording head, the recovery condition and sequence are set automatically or by the user's setting so that the plural ink recording head mode can be performed. Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet color recording method capable of forming a stable and high-quality color image of at least two colors even when a plurality of recording heads are used in the single-color inkjet recording apparatus. ..

[0013]

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

FIGS. 5 to 10 show ink jet unit IJU, ink jet head IJH, ink tank IT, ink jet cartridge IJC, ink jet recording apparatus main body IJRA, and carriage HC which are suitable for implementing or applying the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between the two. The configuration of each part will be described below with reference to these drawings.

(I) General Description of Apparatus Main Unit FIG. 5 shows an ink jet recording apparatus I applied to the present invention.
It is an example of a general view of JRA. In the figure, the driving force transmission gear 501 is interlocked with the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013.
Lead screw 500 rotating through 1,5009
The carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of No. 5 has a pin (not shown) and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. The carriage HC is equipped with an ink jet cartridge IJC. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate that holds the paper platen 500 in the carriage moving direction.
Press against 0. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this region and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 is a member for supporting a cap member 5022 for capping the front surface of the recording head. Reference numeral 5015 is a suction means for sucking the inside of the cap to perform suction recovery of the recording head through the inside-cap opening 5023. 5017 is a cleaning blade.
Reference numeral 019 denotes a member that allows this blade to move in the front-rear direction, and these members are supported by the main body support plate 5018. Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this example instead of this form. Fifty
Reference numeral 24 is a temperature or humidity sensor, which can detect the temperature and humidity of the ink jet recording apparatus.
It is also possible to predict the temperature of the ink recording head. This may be attached to the inkjet cartridge IJC.

Further, FIG. 13 shows a structure of a cleaner for cleaning the cleaning blade 5017. The function is to absorb or scrape large ink droplets attached to the cleaning blade 5017 to prevent reattachment to the inkjet head IJH. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the ink absorber 5100 provided on the carriage 5014.
Therefore, the ink droplets adhering to the cleaning blade 5017 are absorbed. Although this absorber is provided on the carriage in this drawing, it may be fixed on the ink jet cartridge IJC to be dedicated, and may be disposable together with the IJC.

Reference numeral 5012 is a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, and a cam 5020 for engaging with the carriage.
And the driving force from the drive motor is controlled by known transmission means such as clutch switching.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that the desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the home position side area. Any of these can be applied to the present example if the desired operation is performed at the timing.

Ink jet cartridge IJ in this example
As can be seen from the perspective view of FIG. 7, C has a large ink storage ratio, and has a shape in which the tip of the ink jet unit IJU slightly projects from the front surface of the ink tank IT. The ink jet cartridge IJC is fixedly supported by the carriage HC (FIG. 5) mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus main body IJRA, which will be described later, and electrical contacts, and is attached to and detached from the carriage HC. It is a possible type.

(Ii) Ink jet unit IJU configuration description The ink jet unit IJU is a system for recording by using an electrothermal converter which generates thermal energy for causing film boiling to ink in response to an electric signal. It is a unit of.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 100 denotes an electrothermal converter (ejection heater) arranged in a plurality of rows on a Si substrate, and electric wiring such as Al for supplying electric power to the electrothermal converter, which is formed by a film forming technique. It is a heater board consisting of. Reference numeral 200 is a wiring board for the heater board 100.
It has a wiring corresponding to the wiring of 0 (for example, it is connected by wire bonding), and a pad 201 located at the end of this wiring and receiving an electric signal from the main body device.

Reference numeral 1300 denotes a grooved top plate provided with a partition wall and a common liquid chamber for dividing each of a plurality of ink flow paths, and an ink receiving port 1500 for receiving the ink supplied from the ink tank and introducing it into the common liquid chamber. And an orifice plate 400 having a plurality of discharge ports are integrally molded. Polysulfone is preferable as the integrally molded material,
Other molding resin materials may be used.

Reference numeral 300 denotes a support member made of, for example, a metal, which supports the back surface of the wiring board 200 on a flat surface, and serves as a bottom plate of the ink jet unit. Reference numeral 500 denotes a presser spring, which has an M-shape and presses the common liquid chamber at the center of the M-shape, and at the same time the front portion 5
At 01, a part of the liquid passage is pressed by linear pressure. Heater board 10
0 and the top plate 1300 are pressed, and the foot portion of the spring is the support member 300.
By engaging the back surface side of the support body 300 through the holes 3121 of the support body 300 and engaging them with each other while sandwiching them, the pressing force of the pressing spring 500 and the front slant portion 501 causes the heater board 100 and The top plate 1300 is pressure-bonded and fixed. In addition, the support 300 is the ink tank IT 2
Positioning ridges 1012 and positioning holes 31 engaging with the positioning and heat-fusion-holding ridges 1800 and 1801.
In addition to having 2,1900 and 2000, the device main body IJRA
2500 for positioning the carriage HC of the
2600 is provided on the back side. In addition, the support 300 also has a hole 320 that allows an ink supply pipe 2200 (described later) that allows ink to be supplied from the ink tank to pass therethrough. The wiring board 200 is attached to the support 300 by adhering it with an adhesive or the like. The recesses 2400 and 2400 of the support 300 are respectively the positioning protrusions 2
In the assembled ink jet cartridge IJC (FIG. 6), which is provided in the vicinity of 500 and 2600, the surrounding three sides are at the extension points of the head end region formed by a plurality of parallel grooves 3000 and 3001. In addition, dust and ink are located so as not to reach the protrusions 2500 and 2600. This parallel groove 3000 is formed. As shown in FIG. 7, the lid member 800 forms an outer wall of the ink jet cartridge IJC and also forms a space for accommodating the ink jet unit IJU. The ink supply member 600 in which the parallel groove 3001 is formed is the same as the ink supply tube 22 described above.
The ink conduit 1600 continuous to 00 is formed as a fixed cantilever on the supply pipe 2200 side, and a sealing pin 602 for securing a capillary phenomenon between the fixed side of the ink conduit and the ink supply pipe 2200 is inserted. Reference numeral 601 is a packing for sealing the ink tank IT and the supply pipe 2200, and 700 is a filter provided at the end of the supply pipe on the tank side.

Since the ink supply member 600 is molded, the ink supply member 600 is inexpensive, has high positional accuracy, and eliminates a decrease in accuracy in forming and manufacturing. In addition, the cantilevered conduit 1600 allows the ink supplying member 600 to be used for mass production. The pressure contact state of 1600 to the ink receiving port 1500 can be stabilized. In this example, it is possible to reliably obtain a complete communication state by simply pouring the sealing adhesive from the ink supply member side under this pressure contact state. The ink supply member 600
Is fixed to the support 300 by fixing the holes 19 of the support 300.
01, 1902, the back side pins (not shown) of the ink supply member 600 are inserted into the holes 1901, 1902 of the support 300.
It is easily performed by projecting through the via and heat-sealing the portion projecting to the back surface side of the support 300. Since the slightly projected area of the heat-sealed back surface is accommodated in the recess (not shown) in the side wall of the ink jet unit IJU mounting surface of the ink tank IT, the positioning surface of the unit IJU can be accurately obtained. ..

(Iii) Description of Ink Tank IT Configuration In the ink tank, after the cartridge main body 1000, the ink absorber 900, and the ink absorber 900 are inserted from the side surface of the cartridge main body 1000 opposite to the unit IJU mounting surface, It is composed of a lid member 1100 for sealing this. Reference numeral 900 denotes an absorber for impregnating ink, which is arranged in the cartridge main body 1000.
Reference numeral 1200 is a unit I including the above parts 100 to 600.
It is a supply port for supplying ink to the JU, and the unit is connected to the cartridge cartridge main body part 1
It is also an injection port for impregnating the absorber 900 with ink by injecting the ink from the supply port 1200 in the step before arranging in 010.

In this example, the ink supply portion is the atmosphere communication port and this supply port, but the rib 2300 and the lid member inside the main body 1000 for favorably supplying the ink from the ink absorber. 1100 partial ribs 2500, 2
The air existing area in the tank formed by 400 and
The ink supply port 12 is continuously formed from the atmosphere communication port 1401 side.
Since it is formed over the farthest corner area from 00, it is important that the ink supply to the absorber is relatively good and uniform from the supply port 1200 side. This method is extremely effective in practice. The rib 1000 has four ribs parallel to the carriage movement direction on the rear surface of the main body 1000 of the ink tank to prevent the absorber from adhering to the rear surface.
In addition, the partial ribs 2400 and 2500 are the same as the rib 100.
It is provided on the inner surface of the lid member 1100 which is an extension corresponding to 0, but unlike the rib 1000, it is in a divided state, and the space in which air is present is increased compared to the former. The partial ribs 2500 and 2400 are used for the lid member 10.
No. 00 has a form dispersed on less than half of the total area. These ribs made it possible to more stably stabilize the ink in the corner region farthest from the tank supply port 1200 of the ink absorber, and surely guide it to the supply port 1200 side by capillary force. 1401 is an atmosphere communication port provided in the lid member for communicating the inside of the cartridge with the atmosphere. Reference numeral 1400 denotes a liquid repellent material arranged inside the atmosphere communication port 1401.
This prevents ink from leaking from the air communication port 1401.

The above-described rib arrangement is particularly effective because the ink storage space of the above-mentioned ink tank IT has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and has long sides on its side surfaces, but it is long in the moving direction of the carriage. In the case of having a side or a cube, the ribs may be provided on the entire lid member 1100 to stabilize the ink supply from the ink absorber 900.

The unit IJ of the ink tank IT is also used.
The configuration of the mounting surface of U is shown by FIG. Let L1 be a straight line that passes through substantially the center of the protrusion of the orifice plate 400 and is parallel to the mounting reference plane of the bottom surface of the tank IT or the surface of the carriage, and two positioning protrusions that engage with the holes 312 of the support 300. 1012 is on this straight line L1. The height of the protrusion 1012 is slightly lower than the thickness of the support 300, and the support 300 is positioned. On the extension of the straight line L1 in this drawing, there is located a pawl 2100 with which the 90 ° angle engaging surface 4002 of the carriage positioning hook 4001 is engaged, and the positioning force for the carriage is the straight line L1. It is configured to operate in a plane area parallel to the reference plane that includes. As will be described later with reference to FIG. 9, these relationships are effective because the positioning accuracy of only the ink tank is equal to the positioning accuracy of the head ejection port.

Further, the protrusions 1800 and 1801 of the ink tank corresponding to the fixing holes 1900 and 2000 on the side of the ink tank of the support 300 are longer than the above-mentioned protrusion 1012 and protrude through the support 300. This is for fixing the support 300 to the side surface by heat-sealing the portion. When the straight line passing through the protrusion 1800 perpendicular to the line L1 is L3 and the straight line passing through the protrusion 1801 is L2, the center of the supply port 1200 is located on the straight line L3. This is a preferable configuration because it acts to stabilize the connection state with the supply pipe 2200, and the load on these connection states can be reduced even when dropped or impacted. Also, the straight lines L2 and L3 do not match, and the head IJH
Around the protrusion 1012 on the discharge port side of the protrusions 1800, 180
1 is present, it further produces the reinforcing effect of positioning the head IJH with respect to the tank. The curve indicated by L4 is the outer wall position when the ink supply member 600 is mounted. Since the projections 1800 and 1801 are along the curve L4, sufficient strength and positional accuracy are given to the weight of the tip side structure of the head IJH. 2700
Is the brim of the tip of the ink tank IT, the front plate 4 of the carriage
It is inserted into the 000th hole and is provided for an abnormal case where the displacement of the ink tank becomes extremely bad. 210
Reference numeral 1 is an engaging portion with a further positioning portion with the carriage HC.

The ink tank IT has a shape that surrounds the unit IJU except for the lower opening by covering the unit IJU with the lid 800 after mounting the unit IJU. Since the lower opening for doing is close to the Carriage HC,
A substantial four-way surrounding space is formed. Therefore, although the heat generated from the head IJH in this enclosed space is effective as a heat retaining space in this space, the temperature rises slightly for long-term continuous use. For this reason, in this example, a slit 1700 having a width smaller than this space is provided on the upper surface of the cartridge IJC in order to help the support body to radiate heat naturally to prevent the temperature from rising and to make the temperature distribution of the entire unit IJU uniform. It was possible to make the conversion independent of the environment.

When assembled as an ink jet cartridge IJC, the ink is supplied from the inside of the cartridge to the inside of the supply tank 600 through the supply port 1200, the hole 320 provided in the support 300 and the introduction port provided on the back side of the supply tank 600. To the ink inlet 150 of the top plate 400 through the outlet.
Flow into the common liquid chamber via 0. A packing such as silicone rubber or butyl rubber is arranged at the connecting portion for ink communication in the above, and sealing is performed by this and an ink supply path is secured.

In this embodiment, the top plate 1300 is made of a resin such as polysulfone, polyether sulfone, polyphenylene oxide, polypropylene, etc., which has excellent ink resistance, and is integrally formed in the mold together with the orifice plate portion 400. It is molded at the same time.

As described above, since the integrally molded component is the ink supply member 600, the top plate / orifice plate integrated, and the ink tank main body 1000, not only the assembly accuracy becomes high, but also the quality of mass production is extremely improved. Is. Further, since the number of parts can be reduced as compared with the conventional one, excellent desired characteristics can be surely exhibited.

(Iv) Installation of ink jet cartridge IJC on carriage HC 500 in FIG.
Reference numeral 0 denotes a platen roller that guides the recording medium P from the lower side to the upper side of the paper surface. Carriage HC is a platen roller 300
The front plate 4000 (thickness: 2 mm) located on the front platen side of the carriage on the front side of the inkjet cartridge IJC and the cartridge IJ.
Pad 2 corresponding to pad 201 of C wiring board 200
A flexible sheet 4005 provided with 011 and a support plate 4003 for an electrical connection portion holding a rubber pad 4006 for generating an elastic force that presses the flexible sheet 4005 against each pad 2011 from the back side, and an ink jet cartridge IJC are recorded. A positioning hook 4001 for fixing in position is provided. The front plate 4000 has two positioning protrusion surfaces 410 corresponding to the above-mentioned positioning protrusions 2500 and 2600 of the cartridge support 300, and receives a vertical force toward the protrusion surface 4010 after the attachment of the cartridge. For this reason, the reinforcing rib has a plurality of ribs (not shown) on the platen roller side of the front plate, which are oriented in the direction of the vertical force. This rib also forms a head protection protrusion that protrudes slightly (about 0.1 mm) toward the platen roller from the front position L5 when the cartridge IJC is mounted. The support plate 4003 for the electrical connection portion has a plurality of reinforcing ribs 4004 in the vertical direction instead of the direction of the ribs, and the hook 400 is provided from the platen side.
The ratio of lateral protrusion toward the 1 side is reduced. This also has the function of inclining the position when the cartridge is attached as shown in the figure. In addition, the support plate 4003 stabilizes the electrical contact state, so that the positioning surface 4 on the platen side is provided.
008 and a hook side positioning surface 4007, and a pad contact area is formed between them and the pad 20
The deformation amount of the rubber sheet 4006 with a punch corresponding to 11 is uniquely defined. These positioning surfaces are
When the JC is fixed at a recordable position, the wiring board 300
Is in contact with the surface of. In this example, since the pads 201 of the wiring board 300 are distributed symmetrically with respect to the line L1 described above, the rubber sheet 4006.
The amount of deformation of each of the
The contact pressure of 1 is more stable. Pad 201 of this example
The distribution of is in the upper and lower two rows and in the vertical two rows.

The hook 4001 has an elongated hole that engages with the fixed shaft 4009, and the platen roller 500 is rotated after rotating counterclockwise from the position shown in the figure using the moving space of the elongated hole.
By moving to the left along 0, the ink jet cartridge IJC is positioned with respect to the carriage HC. The hook 4001 may be moved by any means, but it is preferable that the hook 4001 can be moved by a lever or the like. In any case, when the hook 4001 rotates, the cartridge IJC moves to the platen roller side, and the positioning protrusion 2500,
2600 moves to a position where it can abut the positioning surface 4010 of the front plate, and the hook 4001 moves to the left by 90 °.
Hook surface 4002 of the cartridge 2100 of the cartridge IJC
While contacting the 90 ° surface of the cartridge cartridge IJC, the cartridges IJC are swung in the horizontal plane around the contact area of the positioning surfaces 2500 and 4010, and finally the contact between the pads 201 and 2011 starts. When the hook 4001 is held at a predetermined position, that is, a fixed position, the pads 201 and 2011 are in perfect contact with each other, the positioning surfaces 2500 and 4010 are in perfect contact with each other, and the 90-degree surface 4002 and the 90-degree surface of the claw are in contact with each other. The two-side contact and the surface contact between the wiring board 300 and the positioning surfaces 4007 and 4008 are simultaneously formed, and the holding of the cartridge ridge IJC to the carriage is completed.

(V) Description of Heater Board FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the heater board 100 of the head used in this embodiment. The temperature adjustment (sub) heater 8d for controlling the temperature of the head, the ejection portion array 8g in which the ejection (main) heater 8c for ejecting ink is arranged, and the drive element 8h are positioned as shown in FIG. Because of this, they are formed on the same substrate. By arranging each element on the same substrate in this way, the head temperature can be detected and controlled efficiently, and the head can be made compact and the manufacturing process can be simplified. The figure also shows the positional relationship of the cross section 8f of the outer peripheral wall of the top plate, which is divided into a region where the heater board is filled with ink and a region where it is not. The discharge heater 8d side of the outer peripheral wall cross section 8f of the top plate functions as a common liquid chamber. In addition, the liquid passage is formed by the groove portion formed on the discharge portion row 8g of the outer peripheral wall cross section 8f of the top plate.

(Vi) Description of Control Configuration Next, the control configuration for executing the recording control of each unit of the above-described apparatus configuration will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing the control circuit, 10 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, 11 is an MPU, 1
Reference numeral 2 is a program ROM that stores a control program executed by the MPU 11. Reference numeral 13 is a dynamic RAM that stores various data (the above-described recording signals and recording data supplied to the head). The number of times the recording head has been replaced can also be stored. 14 is a recording head 1
8 is a gate array for controlling supply of recording data to the interface 8, interface 10, MPU 11, RAM 13
It also controls the transfer of data between them. Reference numeral 20 is a carrier motor for carrying the recording head 18, and 19 is a carrying motor for carrying the recording paper. Reference numeral 15 is a head driver for driving the head, and 16 and 17 are motor drivers for driving the carry motor 19 and the carrier motor 20, respectively.

FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram showing the details of each part of FIG. The gate array 14 includes a data latch 141,
It has a segment (SEG) shift register 142, a multiplexer (MPX) 143, a common (COM) timing generation circuit 144, and a decoder 145. The recording head 18 has a diode matrix configuration, and a drive current flows through the ejection heaters (H1 to H64) where the common signal COM and the segment signal SEG match, and the ink is heated and ejected.

The decoder 145 decodes the timing generated by the common timing generation circuit 144 and selects any one of the common signals COM1 to COM8. The data latch 141 latches the recording data read from the RAM 13 in units of 8 bits, and the multiplexer 143 stores the recording data in the segment shift register 1
According to 42, it outputs as segment signals SEG1-8. The output from the multiplexer 143 can be variously changed according to the contents of the shift register 142, such as 1 bit unit, 2 bit unit, or all 8 bits as described later.

The operation of the above control structure will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 10, the recording signal is converted between the gate array 14 and the MPU 11 into recording data for printing. Then, the motor drivers 16 and 17 are driven, and the recording head is driven according to the recording data sent to the head driver 15 to perform printing.

Specific examples of the present invention will be described below using such an apparatus.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the entire system of the present invention. As a configuration, an IJC unit including a recording unit, preferably a type determination unit attached to the unit, a replacement detection unit, and the like, a blade for performing head maintenance on the IJC unit at the home position, and the blade are cleaned. Blade cleaner (first cleaner), ink receiving member (second cleaner) that receives the ink ejected to maintain a stable recording state from the recording unit, and forced ink discharge for forcibly discharging the ink from the nozzle of the recording unit. A control unit having a cleaning unit composed of a recording means, a recording means driving element for giving a recording signal to the recording means, and a memory means such as a line buffer memory for giving a print pattern to the recording element driving means, and the control unit from the host. Select the print pattern It is composed of a host unit consisting of a printer driver to fix into a form suitable for Control Unit. Further, it has a recording medium conveying means for recording an image on the recording medium by the recording means, and preferably a registration adjusting means for aligning the recording medium at that time. As a result, even if the same recording medium is conveyed a plurality of times by the recording medium conveying means to perform print recording, the position for each recording time is prevented from shifting. Further, it has a paper discharge means for discharging the recording medium after recording. At this time, some methods have already been shown for the sheet discharging means, but in general, a sheet discharging spur is generally used to discharge the recording medium after printing while holding the printing surface of the recording medium by the spur.

A specific example of the exchange detecting means of FIG. 14 will be shown. FIG. 15 shows a discrimination method for discriminating whether or not the recording element and the recording data match in the present invention. FIG. 15A shows a state in which which data is selected from the host data is read from the head ID provided in the printing element, and the data is selected by the instruction and sent to the printing element.

FIG. 15B shows a configuration in which when the user selects data, it is determined what kind of recording element is currently selected and if there is a difference, an instruction is issued.

In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording on the same recording medium using a plurality of ink recording heads,
A method of controlling the recovery sequence for stabilizing the ejection will be described.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a recovery sequence for implementing the present invention. When the replacement detection unit detects or recognizes the replacement of the ink recording head, first, the mode of the ink recording head is detected or recognized.

When it is detected or recognized that the mode is one in which a plurality of ink recording heads are used, the automatic suction is prohibited first. This prevents the color quality from being deteriorated and the image quality to be remarkably deteriorated when the ink of a color different from that of the ink recording head which is normally used is mounted and suction recovery is performed. Next, the ink recording head is aged. In the case of a plurality of modes of the ink recording head, recording is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium, so that even one illegal recording has a great influence as compared with the case of using a normal single ink recording head. Therefore, aging is performed in order to reliably perform printing, but aging is performed only when the ink recording head is replaced in terms of the amount of ink consumed.
Further, although the aging is 5000 shots, this may be changed according to the type of print head, the environmental temperature and humidity, and the like.
Next, the preliminary ejection condition, the capping condition, and the wiping condition are set to a plurality of modes. These conditions may also be changed according to the type of recording head, environmental temperature and humidity, and the like. In addition, the prohibition in this mode is not limited to the automatic suction, and the suction recovery is not performed even when the suction recovery command is issued by the user, and it is displayed separately on the error display or on the host CRT. It encourages the recovery of suction.

When the normal mode in which a single ink recording head is used is detected or recognized, the automatic suction is first set and aging is performed. Aging may be performed for the same reason as in the multiple mode, because this mode may be entered during recording with multiple ink recording heads on the same recording medium. Next, the preliminary ejection condition, the capping condition, and the wiping condition are set to the normal condition. Normally, the ink recording head used in a single-color inkjet recording device is a single color, and black (Bk) ink is used in most cases, but it is not always necessary to use black ink and one ink-jet recording device may be used. The state in which one type of ink recording head is used is the normal mode.

Power ON in multiple mode of ink recording head
FIG. 2 shows an example of the sequence, FIG. 3 shows an example of the power OFF sequence, and FIG. 4 shows an example of the suction check. As shown in FIG. 2, the ink recording head replacement detection is performed at the timing when the power is turned on and when printing is started. The preliminary ejection during printing is 50. After wiping, it is considered that the different color ink adhering to the head face surface is mixed into the nozzle due to the wiping. Therefore, the number is set to 200 in order to reliably remove the different color ink mixed in the nozzle. Further, after capping and wiping, there is a high possibility that different color inks will be mixed into the nozzles, so 500 preliminary ejections are performed. Although the preliminary discharge interval is 12 sec, the interval may be shortened in order to improve the reliability. Further, instead of time management, control may be performed by counting the print duty (dot number).

Further, when the print data is not present for 60 seconds or more, capping is performed. However, capping may transfer the different color ink remaining in the cap to the head face surface. It may be set not to cap at all.

Further, the wiping is not controlled by time in order to effectively perform the wiping, but is controlled by the print duty count so that the wiping is performed according to the wet condition of the head face surface. Since wiping may mix different color inks into the nozzles, it is possible to set no wiping in the plural modes of the ink recording head as in capping.

Although the suction recovery is not performed, the error display or the CRT of the host is displayed to prompt the user to recover the suction separately, but the automatic suction timer should be used as it is and the suction recovery should be performed. When the time comes, a similar method is used to encourage users to recover by suction. Instead of suction recovery, a recovery mode combining aging and wiping, which has an effect similar to suction recovery in terms of head face cleaning, may be performed.

As described above, by detecting or recognizing that it is a mode in which printing is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium,
By setting the recovery condition and the sequence to the unique multiple ink recording head mode, stable recording can be performed even when using a plurality of ink recording heads.

(Embodiment 2) In this embodiment, a case where the conditions of the recovery sequence are changed according to the type or state of each ink recording head will be described.

When a plurality of ink recording heads are used, the state of the ink recording head is different between the case where the ink recording head is used for the first time after replacement and the case where the recording and replacement are continuously repeated and used. .. Since the discharge heater is not used sufficiently in the initial stage, the surface may be contaminated, and it is necessary to perform sufficient aging. On the other hand, when recording and replacement are continuously repeated, the ink recording head is sufficiently aged by ejection, and there is no remarkable effect due to further aging, which is a waste from the viewpoint of ink consumption. Is considered to be.

Therefore, when the ink recording head replacement is detected, the number of times the ink recording head is replaced is stored in the RAM or the like, and the number of aging is changed according to the number of replacements according to the table shown in Table 1. In this embodiment, only 100 is set for the first time.
Aging of 00 is performed, and the number of aging is reduced from the second onward according to the number of exchanges. This makes it possible to stabilize ejection and reduce ink consumption even in a recording method using a plurality of ink recording heads. The RAM for recording the number of times of replacement has an area for storing the number of times of replacement for each ink type of each ink recording head, and when the same type of ink recording head is mounted, the count may be reset. ..

[0057]

[Table 1]

Similarly, the wiping interval can be controlled by counting the number of times the ink recording head is replaced. A water repellent material is applied to the face surface of the ink recording head, but this water repellent material is weak against friction and gradually peels off as the number of wiping operations increases.
In the ink recording head from which the water repellent material has been peeled off, there is a high possibility that ink will be deposited in the vicinity of the nozzle, which may cause improper ejection. Therefore, wiping may be performed a lot in order to reduce the amount of ink deposited, but when printing is performed a plurality of times on the same printing medium, the wiping may cause color mixing and cannot be increased unnecessarily. ..

In this embodiment, the number of times the ink recording head is replaced is counted to predict the frequency of use of the ink recording head, and the wiping interval is controlled according to Table 2. This makes it possible to predict the state of the ink recording head and newly set the wiping timing for each recording head without newly providing a wiping counter or the like. For the preliminary ejection, capping, etc., the recovery condition can be set according to each ink recording head by the same method.

[0060]

[Table 2]

As described above, by counting the number of times the ink recording head has been replaced, which is peculiar to the mode in which recording is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium, it is possible to stabilize ejection and maintain high image quality at low cost. .. The procedure is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the recovery condition setting for the plural modes of the ink recording head.

(Embodiment 3) In this embodiment, the case where the conditions of the recovery sequence are changed according to the environmental temperature or the temperature of the ink recording head will be described.

The state of the ink recording head varies depending on the environmental temperature, and in a high temperature environment, as the ink ejection amount increases, the defoaming uncompleted bubbles in the nozzles increase and the ink drops easily. On the contrary, in a low temperature environment, ejection becomes difficult, and the ink ejection amount decreases. Therefore, in order to perform stable ejection while maintaining high image quality,
It is necessary to set recovery conditions according to the environmental temperature or the ink recording head temperature. In a mode in which recording is performed multiple times on the same recording medium, recovery conditions are set for each ink recording head by detecting the environmental temperature or the ink recording head temperature when the ink recording head is replaced. Can be done. Since the recovery condition is set when the ink recording head is replaced, it is possible to set the optimum condition for the ink recording head.

Specific recovery conditions are shown below. Aging at the time of ink recording head replacement is performed in a mode in which recording is performed multiple times on the same recording medium, in order to perform recording more reliably than when using a normal single ink recording head. Aging may rather promote the generation of bubbles and cause ink drop. Further, under a low temperature environment, aging can be performed in order to maintain high image quality, and the temperature of the ink recording head can be increased to reduce the decrease in the ejection amount. Therefore, the aging frequency may be set for each ink recording head according to the environmental temperature or the ink recording head temperature when the ink recording head is replaced. Table 3 shows a table of setting conditions. As a result, the harmful effects of aging in a high temperature environment can be reduced as much as possible, and aging in a low temperature environment can be performed more effectively.

[0065]

[Table 3]

Further, in the mode in which the same recording medium is recorded a plurality of times by the same method, when notifying the user of the suction recovery time, the timing is set to the environmental temperature or the ink recording head temperature when the ink recording head is replaced. It can be set accordingly. Bubbles are actively generated in a high temperature environment, and there is a high possibility of causing ink drop when printing is performed for a long time. According to the table of Table 4, the optimum recovery condition can be set by setting for each ink recording head according to the environmental temperature at the time of ink recording head replacement or the ink recording head temperature. Preliminary discharge in the same way,
Also in wiping, capping, etc., it is possible to set the optimum recovery condition for the environmental temperature or the ink recording head temperature.

[0067]

[Table 4]

As described above, by setting the recovery condition according to the environmental temperature or the temperature of the ink recording head when the ink recording head is replaced, which is peculiar to the mode in which the recording is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium, the optimum condition for the environment can be obtained. It is possible to stabilize the ejection under the recovery condition. The procedure is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the recovery condition setting for the plural modes of the ink recording head.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the ink jet recording apparatus that ejects ink to perform recording, the ink recording is properly recovered by recording on the same recording medium a plurality of times, so that the problem of color mixture is solved, and at least two or more colors are easily solved. It is possible to stably perform the color image of 1 if the high quality is maintained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a recovery sequence when an ink recording head is replaced for explaining the basic concept of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a power-on sequence in a plurality of modes of the ink recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a power-off sequence in a plurality of modes of the ink recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a suction check sequence of a plurality of modes of the ink recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an inkjet recording apparatus main body to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating details of part of the inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the attachment of the inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a heater board.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the embodiment.

12 is a block diagram showing details of the control configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a cleaning unit of the recording apparatus main body used in the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the entire system according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows a discrimination method for discriminating whether or not the recording element and the recording data match in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8c Ejection heater 11 MPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 Gate array 18 Recording head 81 Nozzle 82 Common liquid chamber

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location B41J 2/05 2/125 H04N 1/23 101 C 9186-5C 8306-2C B41J 3/04 102 H 9012-2C 103 B 9012-2C 104 K (72) Inventor Shoji Otsuka 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Kentaro Yano 3-chome Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 2 in Canon Inc. (72) Inventor, Mr. Iwasaki, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor, Atsushi Arai, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Within the corporation

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A mounting portion for mounting and dismounting an ink recording means for discharging a single color ink to record on a recording medium, a supply means for supplying the recording medium to a recording area by the ink recording means, An inkjet color recording method for forming a predetermined multi-color color image on the same recording medium by using a single-color inkjet recording device provided with a discharging unit for discharging the recording medium that has passed through the recording area to the outside of the apparatus. A control means is provided, which detects or recognizes a mode in which recording is performed a plurality of times on a medium, and makes a recovery sequence relating to ink ejection of an ink recording head different from a mode in which recording is performed once on the same recording medium. And an inkjet color recording method. 2. The ink jet color recording method according to claim 1, further comprising detection means for detecting whether or not the ink recording head has been replaced. 3. The ink jet color recording method according to claim 1, further comprising a recognition unit that recognizes whether or not the ink recording head has been replaced. 4. The ink jet color recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink recording head has an electrothermal converter as a thermal energy generator that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink. .. 5. The inkjet color according to claim 1, wherein the single-color inkjet recording device includes a blade for cleaning an ink ejection portion of the ink recording means, and a cleaning means for cleaning the blade. Recording device. 6. The ink jet color recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the single color ink jet recording apparatus includes means for detecting an ambient temperature or an ink recording head temperature. 7. A mounting portion for mounting and dismounting an ink recording means for discharging a single color ink to record on a recording medium, a supply means for supplying the recording medium to a recording area by the ink recording means, and In an inkjet color recording method for forming a predetermined multi-color image on the same recording medium by using a single-color inkjet recording device including a discharging unit that discharges the recording medium that has passed through the recording area to the outside of the apparatus, A method for recovering an ink jet color recording apparatus, wherein a recovery sequence relating to ink ejection is made different in a mode of recording a plurality of times on the same recording medium and a mode of recording once on the same recording medium. 8. The recovery method according to claim 7, wherein a recovery condition is set according to a state of each ink recording head in a recovery sequence of a mode in which recording is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium. 9. The recovery method according to claim 7, wherein a recovery condition is set in accordance with an environmental temperature or an ink recording head temperature in a recovery sequence of a mode in which recording is performed a plurality of times on the same recording medium. 10. A mounting portion for mounting and dismounting an ink recording means for discharging a single color ink to record on a recording medium, a supply means for supplying the recording medium to a recording area by the ink recording means, and An ink jet color recording method for forming a predetermined multi-color color image on the same recording medium by using a single color ink jet recording apparatus provided with an ejecting unit for ejecting a recording medium passing through a recording area to the outside of the apparatus, the ink recording method comprising: An ink jet color recording method comprising a recovery sequence dedicated to the exchanged ink recording means, which is executed in response to the exchange of ink recording means of different means.