JP2000015796A - Ink-jet record method and ink-jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink-jet record method which shortens an ink fixation time in printing with the use of a process liquid. SOLUTION: In an ink-jet recording apparatus having a first head for discharging a first ink of a first color, a second head for discharging a second ink of the same color as the first color and a third head for discharging a process liquid insolubilizing the ink, when the ink or process liquid is to be discharged sequentially from the first head, third head and second head to an area, the first head discharges based on thinned image data, whereby an application amount X1 by the first head and an application amount X2 by the second head hold X1<X2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an ink jet recording method and apparatus for an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, paper, cloth, plastic, OH
An ink jet recording apparatus capable of recording on a recording medium such as a sheet for P is capable of high-density and high-speed recording operation. Therefore, an information processing system such as a copier, a facsimile, an electronic typewriter, a word processor, and a workstation The printer has been widely used and commercialized as a printer as an output means of the above, or as a handy or portable printer provided in a personal computer, a host computer, an optical disk device, a video device and the like.

Such an ink jet recording apparatus has a carriage on which a recording head unit mainly composed of a recording head and an ink tank is mounted, means for conveying a recording medium, and control means for controlling these. Generally, it is composed. In this configuration, the recording head is serially scanned in a direction (hereinafter, referred to as a main scanning direction) orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium (hereinafter, referred to as a sub-scanning direction). By ejecting ink droplets from the ejection openings, recording can be performed on a recording medium. When the recording for one line is completed, the recording medium is intermittently conveyed by a predetermined amount. In addition, an ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head in which a large number of ejection ports for ejecting ink droplets are arranged in a line in the sub-scanning direction has been developed, and has a width corresponding to the number of ejection ports in one scan (usually, Can be recorded.

[0004] The ink jet recording apparatus as described above,
Since recording is performed by discharging ink droplets, running costs are low and quiet during operation. Since the recording for the width of the head can be performed in one scan, the speed of the recording operation can be increased, and it has been widely used.

[0005] Further, a color ink jet recording apparatus having three to four colors of recording heads in which discharge ports are arranged in a line in the sub-scanning direction has been put to practical use. This ink jet recording apparatus includes yellow (Y), magenta (M),
Equipped with four types of recording heads and ink tanks corresponding to three primary colors of cyan (C) or four colors including black (B) to these three primary colors, a full-color image can be formed by a conventional inkjet recording method. I could do it. In recent years, an ink jet recording apparatus has been developed which has a recording head for ejecting inks of lower density than the respective inks in addition to Y, M and C, and is capable of smoother gradation expression.

As described above, an ink jet recording apparatus which can form both a full-color image and a single-color image such as a character by itself is becoming mainstream.

By the way, when a color image is formed on plain paper by the above-described ink jet recording method, it is possible to prevent ink bleeding in the boundary areas of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, to increase the density of the black image, and to perform feathering. It is very difficult to obtain a high-density image free from bleeding or feathering, because it is a contradictory problem to prevention of bleeding.

Generally, when a color image is obtained on plain paper by an ink jet recording method, the ink is prevented from bleeding in a boundary region of each color by using a quick-drying ink having a high penetration rate into plain paper. In. But,
When a quick-drying ink is used, the density of a black image is low, while the color image portion other than black has low color developability. In addition, since the quick-drying ink easily permeates along the fiber of the paper, feathering easily occurs. In particular, characters printed in black are more conspicuous in feathering than those in other colors, and become unclear characters lacking in sharpness. As a result, the quality of the image is significantly reduced as a whole.

Therefore, in general, the density of the black image portion is high,
In order to obtain a high-quality image free from feathering, a method is used in which ink, which penetrates relatively slowly into plain paper, is applied to the same location to some extent. However, in this method, since the permeation of each ink into the paper is slow, bleeding occurs on the contrary. In particular, in the boundary region between the black image portion and the color image portion, bleeding between the black ink and the color ink occurs, and the quality of the image is significantly impaired.

In order to improve these drawbacks, an ink jet recording method has been put into practical use in which a heater is provided in the recording apparatus to promote drying of the ink, and a color image having high color development and no bleeding between colors is obtained. Has been However, in this method, a heater sufficient for drying the ink is provided inside the apparatus, so that the apparatus is inevitably increased in size and cost.

Also, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-146355, a method has been proposed in which an area along a boundary area between a black image portion and a color image portion is not printed.
However, this method has a disadvantage that data to be printed changes during image formation.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-158049, a multi-color head for character recording and a head for character recording are provided. There is proposed a method of recording by switching between the recording head and the recording head. In this method, the black ink of the head for color recording and the black ink of the head for character recording are different, so the black image recorded by the head for color recording and the black image recorded by the head for character recording are mixed. In such a case, a sense of incongruity occurs due to a difference in quality between the two.

Further, a certain black area along the boundary between the black image portion and the color image portion is not printed with black ink,
A method of preventing bleeding in a boundary region between a black image portion and a color image portion by forming a black image by overprinting three colors of Y, M, and C inks has been considered. However, a black image formed by over-printing three color inks of Y, M, and C has poorer color developability than a black image formed by only normal black ink.

On the other hand, as described in JP-A-56-89992 and JP-A-64-63185,
A method of preventing bleeding and feathering using a liquid for insolubilizing a dye has also been proposed. In other words, by mixing and fixing the liquid for insolubilizing the dye and the ink on the recording medium, the ink does not sink into the recording medium but bleeds,
Feathering can be prevented.

The ink jet recording method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-84792 is a method in which a material for fixing a dye is coated on recording paper in advance. However, when printing by this method, it is necessary to use a specific recording paper, and in order to apply a material for fixing the dye in advance, an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus is inevitable. There is a problem to be solved such that it is difficult to stably apply the material with a predetermined film thickness on paper.

As described in JP-A-64-63185, there is a method in which a colorless ink for insolubilizing a dye is attached to a recording medium by an ink jet recording head.

According to this method, the dot diameter of the colorless ink is made larger than the dot diameter of the image ink. It is said that the characteristics of can be satisfied. However, the amount of colorless ink that is applied to the portion corresponding to the image position is usually larger than the amount of ink for the image to be applied, so that not only the drying time of the ink is increased, but also a very fuzzy image is obtained. There was a problem that had to be solved.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-19523,
By applying the above-described colorless ink to the surface of the recording medium prior to the ink jet recording, color printing in one pass can be achieved.

As described above, the methods disclosed in each of the above-mentioned documents have problems to be solved. However, since the colorless ink described above insolubilizes the dye in the ink, it is difficult to apply the method to color recording. There is a possibility that ink bleeding between colors can be prevented.

The present applicant has already solved the above problems,
While using a liquid that insolubilizes the dye, this consumption is kept as low as possible to realize low running cost, and even on plain paper, it shows better water resistance than before, and it is also possible to obtain a high density image. An ink jet recording method has been proposed which can obtain a high color image without bleeding between colors when applied to color recording (JP-A-8-397).
No. 95).

Further, in order to increase the density, a first step of discharging ink to a predetermined area, a second step of discharging a liquid for insolubilizing a dye in the ink to a predetermined area, and the same color as the first step A method of recording on a recording medium in a total of three stages, that is, a third stage of discharging the ink to a predetermined area, has also been considered. As a result, compared to the image obtained by the conventional method, the applied amount of the ink is increased as a whole, and as a result, an image having a high density and a clear contrast can be obtained.

[0022]

However, when the above-mentioned conventional ink jet recording method is used, there are the following problems.

That is, the ink applied in the first stage on the recording medium reacts with the treatment liquid applied in the second stage to insolubilize the ink, and the ink is further applied in the third stage. Therefore, it takes time to penetrate, and the time required for fixing becomes long. This is a problem that hinders a high-speed recording operation.

By the way, if the image density satisfies a certain level, among the densities higher than that level,
Even if it is thin, it is not visually inferior.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, to prevent the ink fixing time from being prolonged without significantly lowering the image density, and to increase the speed of the recording operation. A recording method and apparatus are provided.

[0026]

According to an ink jet recording method of the present invention, a first head having a discharge port for discharging a first ink exhibiting a first color, and exhibiting the same color as the first color are provided. Ink jet recording having a second head having an ejection port for ejecting a second ink, and a third head having an ejection port for ejecting a processing liquid for insolubilizing the first ink and the second ink. In the inkjet recording method in the device, based on the same image data,
For an area to be recorded by the image data, a first head, a third head, an ink in the order of the second head,
Or when forming an image by discharging the processing liquid respectively,
Irrespective of the same image data, the applied amount X1 of the first head to the area and the applied amount X2 of the second head to the area satisfy X1 <X2 or X1> X2. It is assumed that.

The amount X1 of the first head applied to the pixel and the amount X2 of the second head applied to the pixel are represented by
0.5 ≦ X1 / X2 <1 or 1 <X1 / X2 ≦ 2.

Further, by thinning out the image data based on a fixed pattern, the first head application amount X1
Alternatively, the amount of application X2 of the second head may be reduced.

Further, the discharge amount of the discharge port for discharging the first ink or the discharge amount of the discharge port for discharging the second ink may be reduced.

Further, the discharge port for discharging the first ink, the discharge port for discharging the second ink, and the discharge port for discharging the third ink use heat energy in the ink or the processing liquid, respectively. The method may be characterized in that bubbles are generated, and the ink or the processing liquid is discharged by the pressure of the bubbles.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, a first head having an ejection port for ejecting a first ink exhibiting a first color, and a second ink ejecting a second ink exhibiting the same color as the first color are ejected. The same image in an ink jet recording apparatus including a second head having an ejection port for ejecting the first ink and a third head having an ejection port for ejecting a processing liquid for insolubilizing the first ink and the second ink. Based on the data, for the area to be recorded with the image data,
When the first head, the third head, and the second head eject ink or processing liquid respectively to form an image, regardless of the same image data, the first head of the region When the applied amount X1 and the applied amount X2 of the second head to the area are X1 <X2 or X1> X
2 is set.

The amount X1 of the first head applied to the pixel and the amount X2 of the second head applied to the pixel are represented by
0.5 ≦ X1 / X2 <1 or 1 <X1 / X2 ≦ 2.

Further, by thinning out the image data based on a fixed pattern, the first head application amount X1
Alternatively, the amount of application X2 of the second head may be reduced.

Further, the discharge amount of the discharge port for discharging the first ink or the discharge amount of the discharge port for discharging the second ink may be reduced.

Further, the discharge port for discharging the first ink, the discharge port for discharging the second ink, and the discharge port for discharging the third ink use heat energy in the ink or the processing liquid, respectively. The method may be characterized in that bubbles are generated, and the ink or the processing liquid is discharged by the pressure of the bubbles.

According to the above arrangement, it is possible to prevent the total amount of application to the recording medium from decreasing, and as a result, the fixing time from increasing.

[0037]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The object of the present invention is to improve the image quality and shorten the fixing time in one pass in response to higher image quality and higher speed.

(Embodiment 1) A first stage of discharging black ink, a second stage of discharging ink (processing liquid) for insolubilizing the dye, and a third stage of discharging black ink, based on print data While scanning in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the ejection port array, recording is performed on a predetermined area of the recording medium. Then, the application amount of the ink ejected in the first stage was adjusted by thinning out the print data, thereby shortening the fixing time. On the other hand, a high-density image with sharp edges and sharp edges was obtained.

(Embodiment 2) It has a first stage of discharging black ink, a second stage of discharging ink for insolubilizing dye, and a third stage of discharging black ink.
Recording is performed in a predetermined area of the recording medium while scanning in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the ejection port array based on the print data. Then, the application amount of the ink to be ejected in the third stage was adjusted by thinning out the print data, thereby shortening the fixing time. On the other hand, a high-density image with sharp edges and sharp edges was obtained.

(Embodiment 3) In Embodiments 1 and 2, the amount of ink to be ejected in the first or third stage is adjusted by the amount of ejection, thereby shortening the fixing time. On the other hand, a high-density image with sharp edges and sharp edges was obtained.

(Embodiment 4) In the above embodiment, black ink is used, but similar effects were confirmed for cyan, magenta, and yellow color inks.

[0042]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus 1 using the ink jet recording method of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a recording head unit 2 provided in the ink jet recording apparatus 1.

The ink jet recording apparatus 1 includes a carriage 1 on which an ink jet cartridge (not shown) is mounted.
1, a carriage drive motor 12 for scanning and moving the carriage 11, a flexible cable 13 for sending an electric signal from a control unit (not shown) to the ink jet cartridge, and a recovery process for the recording head unit 2 provided inside the ink jet cartridge. And a paper feed tray 15 that stores recording media such as paper in a stacked state, an optical position sensor 16 that optically reads the position of the carriage 11, and the like.

The recording head unit 2 comprises three heads, each of which has 256 discharge ports 21. The discharge ports 21 are arranged in a line for each head,
The nozzle pitch is 600 dpi. Of the three heads (hereinafter also referred to as “ejection port arrays”), a black ink is ejected from the ejection port row A, and a liquid that insolubilizes the dye (hereinafter also referred to as “treatment liquid”) is emitted from the ejection port row B. Black ink is ejected from the ejection port array C, respectively. The discharge amount of each discharge port array is about 18 ng.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment, an electric / heat converter is arranged corresponding to the discharge port 21, and a drive signal corresponding to the recording information is applied to the electric / heat converter, and the ink is discharged from the discharge port 21. Is adopted.

An electric-to-heat converter (hereinafter, referred to as "electric-heat converter")
The heating elements are also arranged so as to generate heat independently. And, by the heat generated by this heating element,
A bubble is formed in the ink near the heating element heated rapidly by film boiling, and the ink near the ejection port 21 is pushed out by the pressure of the generated bubble, and is ejected toward the recording medium to form a character or an image. It is.

As described above, the recording method using the electric / thermal converter uses a bubble generated by applying thermal energy when ejecting ink droplets, and is therefore usually called a bubble jet recording method. .

In the ink jet apparatus 1 having such a structure, the carriage 11 is moved in the recording medium conveyance direction (arrow q).
, A serial scan is performed in a main scanning direction (direction indicated by arrow p) orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction,
Printing is performed by discharging predetermined ink from each discharge port 21 in the recording head unit 2. Since printing is performed in one pass in the main scanning direction, printing can be performed by the width of the ejection opening array in one scan. Further, the recording medium is intermittently conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by a predetermined amount in one scan.

(Embodiment 1) An ink jet recording method of the present invention using such an ink jet recording apparatus 1 will be described below with reference to an example of printing a solid image of 256 dots square as shown in FIG. Note that one square surrounded by a lattice in the figure is one pixel, and a black circle is print data.

The recording head unit 2 performs recording while moving in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow p as shown in FIG. At this time, the ejection is performed in the order of the ejection port array A, the ejection port array B, and the ejection port array C in one pass. In other words, focusing on one pixel,
First, the black ink is ejected from the ejection port array A, then the processing liquid is ejected from the ejection port array B, and the black ink is ejected from the ejection port array C.

Here, if the black ink is ejected twice as much as usual, the ink is insolubilized on the recording medium, so that it takes time to penetrate and the fixing time becomes longer. Therefore, in this embodiment, among the ejection port arrays A and C for ejecting black ink, the ejection from the ejection port array of A is thinned out, thereby reducing the total applied amount and preventing the fixing time from becoming long. Is what you do.

FIG. 5 shows a part of print data recorded by each ejection port array. The actual print data is a continuation of the pattern shown in the figure.

FIG. 5A shows a part of the print data recorded in the ejection port array A, FIG. 5B shows the print data recorded in the ejection port array B, and FIG. This is a part of the print data recorded in the ejection port array C. That is, the print data of the ejection port array A is recorded by thinning it to 50%. The print data is thinned using a print mask as shown in FIG. 6 so that the thinning is performed uniformly. Thus, the ejection amount of ink from the ejection port array A is set to 50% of the ejection amount of ink from the other ejection port arrays.

After printing on plain paper in one pass according to the above-described ink jet recording method, the plain paper was superimposed on the solid portion, a load of about 100 g was applied, and the time during which the ink was not transferred to the superimposed plain paper was measured. (Hereinafter referred to as fixing time). The optical density (OD) of the printed image was measured for 24 hours after printing by storing it in a normal temperature and normal humidity environment using a Macbeth optical density meter RD914.

The results are shown in Table 1.

[0057]

[Table 1]

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, the same examination as described above was conducted for characters. Black portions are print pixels.
FIG. 8 shows print data obtained by thinning out the print data of FIG. 7 to 50%. The print data of FIG. 8 is printed by the ejection port array A, and the print data of FIG. 7 is printed by the ejection port array B and the ejection port array C.

Regarding the character quality, an image with sharp edges was obtained.

(Embodiment 2) Another example of an ink jet recording method using the same ink jet recording apparatus 1 as in Embodiment 1 will be described below.

As in the case of the first embodiment, a case where a solid image of 256 dots square shown in FIG. 3 is printed will be described. In the first embodiment, the print data of the ejection port array A is thinned out, but here, the print data of the ejection port array C is thinned out and printed. That is, FIG. 5A shows print data recorded in the ejection port array C, FIG. 5B shows print data recorded in the ejection port row B, and FIG. Handle as print data. The recording method is such that when the recording head unit 2 moves in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow 3 in FIG.
The ejection port array B and the ejection port array C are recorded in this order. The method for measuring the fixing time and the OD is described in Example 1.
Is the same as

The results of these measurements are shown in Table 1 above.

On the other hand, the characters shown in FIG. 7 were examined in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Here, FIG.
7 is a pattern in which FIG. 7 is thinned out to 50%. The print data of FIG. 8 is printed by the ejection port array C, and the print data of FIG. 7 is printed by the ejection port array B and the ejection port array A.

As for the character quality, an image having sharp edges was obtained as in Example 1.

(Comparative Example 1) As Comparative Example 1, an image printed by a conventional ink jet recording method is given. That is, a case is described in which all the print data of the ejection port array A, the ejection port array B, and the ejection port array C are recorded with the same applied amount without thinning out. 5B of the print data used in the first embodiment is treated as the print data of the discharge port array B, and FIG. 5C is treated as the print data of the discharge port row A and the discharge port row C. Then, as in Example 1, the fixing time and the OD were measured.

The results of these measurements are shown in Table 1 above.

Although a high density result can be obtained for OD, the fixing time is very long, and it takes four times as long as in the first embodiment and twice as long as in the second embodiment.

On the other hand, the characters shown in FIG. 7 were examined in the same manner as in the above embodiment. The print data of FIG. 7 is printed by the ejection opening array A, the ejection opening array B, and the ejection opening array C.

Here, as for the character quality, the first embodiment
The image had sharp edges similar to those of the images No. 2 and No. 2.

(Comparative Example 2) As Comparative Example 2, among the print data used in Example 1, the print data of the discharge port array A was changed to the discharge port row B and the discharge port row C as shown in FIG. Here, the print data which is thinned out so as to have a duty of 25% with respect to the print data is printed.

The fixing time and O
D was measured.

The measurement results are shown in Table 1 above.

For OD, the result is a much lower concentration. On the other hand, the fixing time is short, which is half that of the embodiment.

On the other hand, the characters shown in FIG. 7 were examined in the same manner as in the above embodiment. The print data in FIG. 9 is obtained by thinning out the print data in FIG. 7 so as to have a duty of 25%. The print data of FIG. 9 is printed by the ejection port array A, and the print data of FIG. 7 is printed by the ejection port array B and the ejection port array C.

Here, as for the character quality, the first embodiment is used.
As compared with Comparative Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Example 1, the edge was sharp, but the density was low and the contrast was inferior.

(Comparative Example 3) As Comparative Example 3, the ejection port array A
The print data is printed by thinning out the print data of No. 1 with respect to the print data of the discharge port arrays B and C so as to have a duty of 75% (not shown). Fixing time and OD were measured in the same manner as in Example 1. As shown in Table 1, the fixing time is 80 (seconds) and the OD is 1.35.

Comparative Example 4 As Comparative Example 4, the ejection port array C
Is printed out by thinning out the print data of No. 1 with respect to the print data of the discharge port arrays A and B so as to have a duty of 75% (not shown). Fixing time and OD were measured in the same manner as in Example 1. As shown in Table 1, the fixing time is 100 (seconds) and the OD is 1.34.

Considering the results of Example 1, Example 2, Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, Comparative Example 3, and Comparative Example 4,
Compared with the conventional inkjet recording method, the fixing time is
In the first embodiment, it is reduced to one fourth, and in the second embodiment, it is reduced to half. In addition, the OD of Example 1 was 1.30, which was 0.30 in comparison with Comparative Example 1.
It is less than 10. In Example 2, the value was 1.25, which was 0.15 lower than that of Comparative Example 1. However OD
1.30 and 1.25 are acceptable ranges, and it is difficult to say that the quality of the formed image is significantly reduced. In an ink jet recording apparatus using a conventional penetrating type ink, a value around OD = 1.30 is normal. In addition, since the OD in the mode for performing simple recording called the draft mode is usually around 1.2, it is sufficient if the OD is higher than the draft mode.
May be regarded as the lower limit of 1.2.

In each of the above embodiments, black ink was used. However, similar effects were confirmed for cyan, magenta, and yellow color inks.

The effect was confirmed not only in one pass but also in multi-pass printing of two or more passes. Here, a case in which two-pass printing is performed will be described.

FIG. 10 shows a print mask used in two-pass printing. A print mask composed of 256 pixels vertically and 1024 pixels horizontally is divided into two regions of an S region and a T region in units of 128 pixels in the vertical direction. The print mask data is such that 0 and 1 are alternately arranged for each pixel. Further, a complementary relationship is established over the entire print mask, and the T region is a reverse pattern of the S region. Therefore, a1 and a
2, b1 and b2 are complementary to each other. That is, a random pattern in which 0 or 1 occupies 50% of the data in both the S region and the T region. Here, the use of the random pattern for the print mask is based on the fact that the average of the image data is thinned out so that the discharge port array A is always scanned by one scan.
This is to make the ratio of the duty printed in each of the ejection port arrays B and C equal to that in the case of one-pass printing.

Next, a printing method will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, one head will be described. The other heads are similarly printed using the same print mask. The print target is black data.

As shown in FIG. 11, the lower half of the print head in the sub-scanning direction, in which the direction of arrow p is the main scanning direction and the direction of arrow q is the sub-scanning direction, is printed on the recording medium in the first scan. I do. At this time, data to be printed (hereinafter referred to as print data) is AND data of black data and print mask data of the S area. For example, AND data between pixel 1 of black data and pixel a1 of print mask data becomes pixel a3 of print data, and AND data of pixel 2 of black data and pixel b1 of print mask data becomes pixel b3 of print data. . After printing to the end of the recording medium, the recording medium is moved by half (h / 2) of the width h of the head.

In the second scan, printing is performed on the recording medium by the entire head. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12, the upper half of the head in the sub-scanning direction prints the AND data of the black data and the T area of the print mask data. For example,
Pixel 1 of black data and pixel a2 of print mask data
Is printed, and becomes pixel a4 of the print data. The lower half of the head in the sub-scanning direction prints AND data of the black data and the S area of the print mask data.
For example, AND data of the pixel 128 of the black data and the pixel a1 of the print mask data is printed. After printing to the end of the recording medium, the recording medium is moved by half (h / 2) of the width h of the head.

In the third scan, as shown in FIG. 13, the upper half of the head in the sub-scanning direction prints the AND data of the black data and the T area of the print mask data. For example, the AND data of the pixel 128 of the black data and the pixel a2 of the print mask data is printed, and becomes the pixel a5 of the print data. As described above, the black data is printed on the recording medium by the two scans. In the two scans, AND processing is performed on the print mask data in both the S area and the T area. However, since the S area and the T area are in a complementary relationship, the same effect as in the case of one-pass printing can be expected. .

(Embodiment 3) In Embodiments 1 and 2, the print data is thinned out by a certain thinning-out pattern to reduce the total applied amount. The same effect can be obtained even if the overall applied amount is reduced by manipulating the discharge amount.

Hereinafter, an example of the ink jet recording method of the present invention in which the discharge amount from the discharge port is reduced will be described.

As in the first and second embodiments, a case where a solid image of 256 dots square shown in FIG. 3 is printed will be described as an example. The print data of each of the ejection port arrays A, B, and C all use the pattern of FIG. 5B. Similarly, for the characters, the ejection port array A, ejection port array B, and ejection port array C are all printed using the pattern of FIG. Then, the discharge amount from the discharge port is operated as follows.

For example, when the discharge amount of the discharge port array A is 9 ng and the discharge amounts of the discharge port arrays B and C are 18 ng, that is, the applied amount from the discharge port array A is
In the same case, the same result as in Example 1 was obtained.

Further, when the ejection amount of the ejection opening array A and the ejection opening array B is 18 ng and the ejection amount of the ejection opening array C is 9 ng, that is, the applied amount from the ejection opening array C is the same as that of the second embodiment. In this case, the same result as in Example 2 was obtained.

Further, when the ejection amount of the ejection opening array A is 6 ng and the ejection amounts of the ejection opening array B and the ejection opening array C are 18 ng, that is, when the applied amount from the ejection opening array A is the same as that of the comparative example 2. The same result as that of Comparative Example 2 was obtained.

Investigation by controlling the discharge amount (OD / fixing time) gave the same results as in Table 1.

As for the character quality, the same results as in Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Example 2 were obtained.

As described above, in the ink jet recording method of the present invention, the means for reducing the amount of ink applied to the recording medium may thin out print data or control the discharge amount of the discharge port.

In the above examples, the following inks were used.

(Treatment solution) Glycerin: 7.0% Diethylene glycol: 5.0% PAA-1L-15B (15% aqueous solution): 24.0% 50% acetic acid aqueous solution: 7.0% Cation G50 (51% aqueous solution) 1.92% butyl triglycol: 0.95% pure water: 54.11% (black ink) glycerin: 7.5% thiodiglycol: 7.5% urea: 7.5% IJA260 (10% aqueous solution) : 9.50% Projet Fast Black 2 (4% aqueous solution): 36.5% Daiwa Yellow 330EP: 0.27% Direct Blue 199 (10% aqueous solution): 7.20% Ammonium sulfate: 0.45% Isopropyl alcohol: 4 0.000% pure water: 19.22% NaOH: 0.36% (cyan ink) Glycerin: 7.5% Thiodiglycol: 7.5% Urea: 7.5% Projet Fast Cyan 1C ( 0% aqueous solution): 28% acetylenol EH: 0.1% pure water: 44.4% 50% IPA aqueous solution: 5% (magenta ink) glycerin: 7.5% thiodiglycol: 7.5% urea: 7. 5% Projet Fast Magenta 2C (5% aqueous solution): 45% ammonium sulfate: 0.27% acetylenol EH: 0.1% 10% -LiOAc (10% aqueous solution): 1.84% triethanolamine: 0.84% pure Water: 24.43% 50% IPA aqueous solution: 5% (yellow ink) Glycerin: 7.5% Thiodiglycol: 7.5% Urea: 7.5% Projet Fast Yellow 2 (4.3% aqueous solution): 52 .33
% Daiwa Yellow 330GR: 0.65% Ammonium sulfate: 0.25% Acetylenol EH: 0.1% 4N-LiOH: 1.88% Triethanolamine: 0.74% Pure water: 16.55% 50% IPA aqueous solution: 5% (Others) The present invention includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for performing ink ejection, particularly in an ink jet recording system. An excellent effect is obtained in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a type in which a change in the state of ink is caused by the thermal energy. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
Although it can be applied to any type of continuous type, in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to a sheet holding liquid (ink) or an electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding the nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and film boiling occurs on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis.
This is effective because air bubbles inside can be formed. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

[0098] The configuration of the recording head may be a combination of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,558,333 and 44, which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
A configuration using the specification of Japanese Patent No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an aperture for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be reliably and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, 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 on which a recording apparatus can record. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads, or a configuration as one integrally formed recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as described above, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body or the electric connection with the apparatus main body or the ink from the apparatus main body is attached to the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add ejection recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like as the constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, the recording head is heated using capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, an electrothermal transducer, another heating element or a combination thereof. Pre-heating means for performing the pre-heating and pre-discharging means for performing the discharging other than the recording can be used.

Further, the types and the number of recording heads to be mounted are not limited to those provided only for one color ink, for example, and for a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities. A plurality may be provided. That is, for example, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, but may be any of integrally forming a printing head or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of the recording modes of full color by color mixture.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. In general, the ink jet method generally controls the temperature of the ink itself within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Sometimes, the ink may be in a liquid state. In addition, in order to positively prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or to prevent evaporation of the ink, the ink is solidified in a standing state and heated. May be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by the application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start solidifying when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1260, it is also possible to adopt a form in which the sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in a state where it is held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to those used as image output terminals of information processing equipment such as computers, copying apparatuses combined with readers and the like, and facsimile apparatuses having a transmission / reception function. It may take a form.

[0105]

As described above, when the ink jet recording method of the present invention is used, a sharp image having a sharp edge and a high density can be formed, and the image is fixed as compared with the conventional ink jet recording method. Time can be shortened, and higher-speed recording can be supported.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a recording head unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of print data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement of ejection port arrays of a recording head unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a print pattern of the inkjet recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a print mask used in the ink jet recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of a print pattern of the inkjet recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another example of a print pattern of the inkjet recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating another example of a print pattern of the inkjet recording method of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a print mask used in two-pass printing.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a printing flow of a first scan in the case of two-pass printing.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a printing flow of a second scan in the case of two-pass printing.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the flow of printing of the third scan in the case of two-pass printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink jet recording apparatus 2 Recording head unit 21 Discharge port

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C056 EA01 EC71 EC72 ED07 FA03 HA42 2C057 AF39 CA07 2H086 BA02 BA03 BA05 BA59

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A first head having an ejection port for ejecting a first ink exhibiting a first color, and a first head having an ejection port ejecting a second ink exhibiting the same color as the first color. A second head and a third head having an ejection port for ejecting a processing liquid for insolubilizing the first ink and the second ink. A first head, a third head,
When an image is formed by ejecting ink or processing liquid in the order of the second head, regardless of the same image data, the first head application amount X1 to the area and the second amount to the area An ink jet recording method, wherein the applied amount X2 of the head is set to satisfy X1 <X2 or X1> X2. 2. An application amount X1 of the first head to a pixel and an application amount X2 of the second head to the pixel are 0.5 ≦ X1 / X2 <1 or 1 <X1 / X2 ≦ 2.
The inkjet recording method according to claim 1, wherein 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the application amount X1 of the first head or the application amount X2 of the second head is reduced by thinning out the image data based on a predetermined pattern. 3. The inkjet recording method according to item 2. 4. The inkjet according to claim 1, wherein the ejection amount of the ejection port for ejecting the first ink or the ejection amount of the ejection port for ejecting the second ink is reduced. Recording method. 5. An ejection port for ejecting the first ink, an ejection port for ejecting the second ink, and an ejection port for ejecting the third ink, each of which uses ink for processing or ink. 5. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein bubbles are generated in the liquid, and the ink or the processing liquid is discharged by the pressure of the bubbles. 6. A first head having an ejection port for ejecting a first ink having a first color, and a first head having an ejection port for ejecting a second ink having the same color as the first color. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a second head; and a third head having a discharge port for discharging a processing liquid for insolubilizing the first ink and the second ink. The first head, third head,
When an image is formed by ejecting ink or processing liquid in the order of the second head, regardless of the same image data, the first head application amount X1 to the area and the second amount to the area An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the applied amount X2 of the head is set to X1 <X2 or X1> X2. 7. An application amount X1 of the first head to a pixel and an application amount X2 of the second head to the pixel are 0.5 ≦ X1 / X2 <1 or 1 <X1 / X2 ≦ 2.
The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: 8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the application amount X1 of the first head or the application amount X2 of the second head is reduced by thinning out the image data based on a fixed pattern. 8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to 7. 9. The inkjet according to claim 6, wherein the ejection amount of the ejection port for ejecting the first ink or the ejection amount of the ejection port for ejecting the second ink is reduced. Recording device. 10. An ejection port for ejecting the first ink,
The ejection port for ejecting the second ink and the ejection port for ejecting the third ink respectively generate bubbles in the ink or the processing liquid by using thermal energy, and the ink or the processing liquid respectively generate pressure by the pressure of the bubbles. 10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processing liquid is discharged.