JP2000085127A - Recording data processing method and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording data processing method and a recording device, with which the readout processing of recording data concerning a recording action can be executed at high speed. SOLUTION: A process for reading out recording data stored in a print buffer 25a with a DMA and then latching them in a latching circuit 291, a process for shafting the recording data outputted from the latching circuit 291 and temporarily stored in a shift register 292 by a shifting amount directed from outside and further a process for storing the above-mentioned shifted recording data in a dual port RAM 293, into or out of which data can be simultaneously inputted and outputted, can be executed concurrently with a process for reading out the data stored in the dual port RAM 293 and transferring them to a recording head.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print data processing method and a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a print data processing method from reading print data from a print buffer to transferring the print data to a print head, and printing using the method. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional serial printing apparatus, for example, in order to perform color printing using a plurality of printing materials,
Printing has been performed by mounting two or more print heads on a carriage in correspondence with each printing material. In such a case, the recording elements of these recording heads are generally arranged in parallel to the transport direction of a recording medium such as recording paper, and the recording heads are generally mounted so as to be arranged in the carriage movement direction.

In the case of color recording, each recording dot is expressed by superimposition of dots of a plurality of colors. Therefore, unless the recording positions of a plurality of recording heads for performing recording corresponding to each color are aligned, No. Therefore, it is necessary to shift the print data in a memory or a logic circuit inside the printing apparatus and adjust the position of the print data corresponding to each print element of the print head.

Conventionally, in order to perform such adjustment, print data read from a print buffer is shifted using a logic circuit, and then the shifted print data is printed using a printing material of each color. It was stored in a latch circuit corresponding to the head.

[0005]

However, as the density of the recording elements mounted on the recording head and the recording speed increase, the recording data to be recorded per unit time increases, and the recording data from the print buffer increases. The time required for reading the data has also increased. In addition, DMA (direct and
When (memory access) is adopted, DMA processing related to reading of recording data is to be waited until DMA processing related to other processing or memory access by the CPU is completed. Increases as the number of DMAs for reading recorded data increases.

On the other hand, in recent color printing, four color inks, for example, yellow (Y) ink, magenta (M) ink, cyan (C) ink, black (BK)
In addition to using ink, similar-colored inks are also printed using darker and lighter-density inks to perform printing with enhanced gradation.
Before recording with M ink, C ink, and BK ink, a liquid for enhancing the water resistance of a recorded image is discharged onto a recording medium. Such an operation requires recording data corresponding to each operation, so that the data amount to be handled by the recording apparatus increases. As a result, the time required for the reading process including the time required for reading the data and the waiting time for the reading increases.

Further, when the density of the recording elements mounted on the recording head is increased, unless the mechanical attachment accuracy to the recording apparatus is improved, the recording data shift amount required for adjusting the recording position is also increased. Therefore, the time required for the data shift processing for that also increases.

[0008] As described above, there are many factors that increase the time required for the data read processing, and the possibility that the processing according to the above-mentioned conventional example cannot cope with an increase in the recording speed increases. I have.

In addition, when the amount of data to be handled by the printing apparatus increases, the circuit scale of a latch circuit used for temporarily storing print data to be transferred to the print head increases, and the size of the apparatus decreases. There is also a problem that it becomes an obstacle to reduction of production and production cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and has as its object to provide a recording data processing method and a recording apparatus capable of performing high-speed reading processing of recording data relating to a recording operation.

[0011]

To achieve the above object, a recording data processing method according to the present invention comprises the following steps.

That is, a latch step of reading recording data stored in a buffer and latching the data in a latch circuit, temporarily storing recording data output from the latch circuit in a shift register, and storing the stored recording data in a shift register. A shift step of shifting the shift data in the shift register by a shift amount according to an instruction from the outside, a storage step of storing the recording data shifted in the shift step in a memory capable of simultaneous input and output, and a storage step of storing the data in the memory. And transferring the read data to the recording head in the transfer step, wherein the reading of the recording data from the memory and the transfer to the recording head in the transfer step include the latching step, the shifting step, and the A recording data processing method characterized by being executed in parallel with a series of steps in the storing step.

Here, the first and second shifts are performed in the shift step.
It is desirable to execute the storage operation of the recording data from the latch circuit in the second shift register during the execution of the shift operation in the first shift register, for further speeding up the processing.

In the above-mentioned recording head, at least two recording heads are arranged in the scanning direction, and when the recording data corresponding to the recording by the first recording head is stored in the shift register among the two recording heads. Therefore, it is desirable to start the latch process for the print data corresponding to the printing by the second print head for further speeding up the processing.

In order to adjust the relative positional relationship between a plurality of printing elements included in the first printing head and a plurality of printing elements included in the second printing head, the shift amount is specified. .

Further, the latching step further includes a synthesizing step of reading and latching the mask data stored in a buffer different from the buffer, and synthesizing the recording data and the mask data latched by the latch circuit. You may have it.

It is desirable that reading of the recording data from the buffer be performed using DMA from the viewpoint of speeding up the processing.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for performing printing using a plurality of print heads arranged in a scanning direction based on print data stored in a print buffer. Latch means for reading and latching the recorded data, and shift means for temporarily storing the recorded data output from the latch means and shifting the stored recorded data by a shift amount according to an external instruction. A storage unit capable of simultaneously inputting and outputting the print data shifted by the shift unit, and a transfer unit configured to read data stored in the storage unit and transfer the read data to the plurality of print heads, The reading of the print data from the storage means by the transfer means and the transfer to the print head are performed by a latch operation by the latch means, Stored shift operation by the shift means,
And a recording device which is executed in parallel with the storing operation in the storage means.

Here, a plurality of recording heads, for color recording, a first recording head for discharging black ink, a second recording head for discharging cyan ink, and a third recording head for discharging magenta ink. It is desirable to have a head and a fourth recording head for discharging yellow ink,
In this case, when the recording data of the black component corresponding to the recording by the first recording head is stored in the shift means, the latch for the recording data of the cyan component corresponding to the recording by the second recording head is performed. When the operation by the means is started and the cyan component recording data corresponding to the recording by the second recording head is stored in the shift means, the magenta component recording data corresponding to the recording by the third recording head is The operation by the latch means is started, and when the recording data of the magenta component corresponding to the recording by the third recording head is stored in the shift means, the yellow component corresponding to the recording by the fourth recording head is stored. It is preferable that the operation of the latch means for the recording data is started.

The first, second, third, and fourth recording heads use a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink in order to eject the ink using the thermal energy. It is desirable to have.

The shift amount is specified to adjust the relative positional relationship between a plurality of print elements included in each of the first, second, third, and fourth print heads.

Further, input means for reading and inputting mask data stored in a buffer different from the buffer, and synthesizing means for synthesizing the mask data with the recording data latched by the latch means are provided. You may have it.

The print buffer is provided with a DRA having a hyper page access mode from the viewpoint of speeding up processing.
Preferably, M is used, and the storage means is constituted by a dual port RAM.

With the above arrangement, the present invention provides a step of reading recording data stored in a buffer and latching the data in a latch circuit, temporarily storing recording data output from the latch circuit in a shift register, and storing the data in the shift register. The step of shifting the shifted recording data in the shift register by a shift amount according to an instruction from the outside and the step of storing the shifted recording data in a memory capable of simultaneously inputting and outputting are executed in the memory. The operation is performed in parallel with the execution of the step of reading the stored data and transferring it to the recording head.

[0025]

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

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the configuration of a printer having a recording head for performing recording in accordance with an ink jet system, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a recording sheet (or a recording medium such as a plastic sheet);
Recording paper 1 arranged above and below the recording area
, A sheet feed motor for driving the conveying rollers 2 and 3, a guide shaft 5 provided between the conveying rollers 2 and 3 and provided in parallel with the rotation axis of the conveying rollers 2 and 3. A carriage 6 reciprocates (arrow B) along the guide shaft 5, a carriage motor 7 for moving the carriage, and a belt 8 for transmitting the driving force of the carriage motor 7 to the carriage 6.

On the carriage 6, recording heads 9A to 9D for performing recording by discharging ink droplets in accordance with an ink jet system (hereinafter, these recording heads are collectively referred to as recording head 9). Is installed. The recording head 9 is for recording a color image, is arranged in the moving direction of the carriage 6, and has a cyan (C), a magenta (M), a yellow (Y), and a black (B
k) Four recording heads (K head) 9A, recording head (C head) 9B, recording head (M head) 9C, recording head (Y head) 9 provided corresponding to each color ink of k)
D. A front surface of each of the recording heads 9A to 9D,
That is, a predetermined distance (for example, 0.8 m) from the recording surface of the recording paper 1
m), a plurality of (e.g., 72 or 136) ink ejection ports are perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage 6 (i.e., the transport direction of the recording paper 1 (arrow A).
In the same direction). The logic circuits of the recording heads 9A to 9D have the same configuration.

These four recording heads 9A, 9B, 9
When C and 9D are mounted on the carriage 6, the ink ejection ports of the respective recording heads are mounted so as to be at the same position in the transport direction of the recording paper 1. However, since this position is not always the same position due to mechanical accuracy, the recording data is shifted and adjusted by the processing described later.

For these reasons, of the 72 or 136 ink ejection ports provided in each recording head, those that can be used for the actual recording operation can be used for recording by shifting the recording data. Except for the eight ink ejection ports provided as described above, there are 64 or 128 ink ejection ports. Therefore, the recording width of each recording head in one recording cycle is 64 dots or 128 dots.

The remaining eight ink ejection ports are spare ink ejection ports, and usually four ink ejection ports are provided above and below each recording head. When a shift in print data occurs, a spare ink ejection port is used in accordance with the shift amount. Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, it is possible to shift a maximum of 4 dots in the recording paper transport direction or the reverse direction. This shift is performed by causing a predetermined test pattern to be recorded on a recording sheet, so that the user of the apparatus visually confirms the shift amount from the recorded pattern, and key-inputs the shift amount from an operation panel described later. Thus, the relative mounting positions of the recording heads are adjusted.

Of course, the adjustable shift amount is not limited to the above example, and it is needless to say that the adjustable amount is large in a recording head provided with a large number of spare ink ejection ports.

An operation panel 64 mounted on an outer case (not shown) of the printer includes an online / offline switching key 60A and a line feed key 6A.
0B, recording mode switching key 60C, reset key 6
In addition to a key setting unit such as 0D, an LED lamp such as an alarm lamp 61A and a warning lamp such as a power lamp 61B, and an LCD 65 for displaying various messages are provided.

Reference numeral 80 denotes a platen, 92 denotes recording paper 1
And an ink tank for storing ink for recording a desired image. The ink tank 92 includes the recording heads 9A to 9A.
4 colors (cyan (C), magenta (M),
It is composed of four ink compartments 92A to 92D for storing yellow (Y) and black (Bk) inks.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink tank 92 is not limited to a structure that is separate from the recording head 9, but has a structure such as an ink cartridge in which the ink tank and the recording head are integrated. It goes without saying that you can do it.

As described in detail below, the CPU of the printer device
And the control unit including the ROM, RAM, etc.
A command signal and a data signal (recording information) are received from a host computer (hereinafter, referred to as a host) 100 having a display 103, and based on the command signal, various motors and the like are driven, and electric signals included in the recording heads 9A to 9D. A drive power supply (heat power supply) is applied to the heat converter (heater) to energize.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control circuit of the printer shown in FIG.

The microprocessor-type CPU 21 comprises:
It is connected to the host 100 via the interface 22, the ROM 24 storing the control program, the EEPROM 23 storing the updatable control program, the processing program, various constant data, and the like, and received from the host 100 via the interface 22. The RAM 25 that stores a command signal (command) and a recording information signal is accessed, and the recording operation is controlled based on the information stored in these memories. Further, the CPU 21 controls the output port 26
By moving the carriage 6 by operating the carriage motor 7 via the carriage motor control circuit 42, or by operating the sheet feed motor 4 via the output port 26 and the sheet feed motor control circuit 44, the transport rollers 2 The transport mechanism such as 3 is operated. Further, the CPU 21 can record a desired image on the recording paper 1 by driving the recording heads 9A to 9D via the recording head control circuit 29 based on the recording information stored in the RAM 25.

Therefore, a part of the RAM 25 is
Is used as a print buffer for transferring print data to the printer. In this embodiment, in order to speed up the reading of print data, a memory element used for a print buffer is provided with a hyper page mode accessible D
A RAM is used, and DMA is used for reading the RAM. The print head control circuit 29 temporarily stores print data to the Y head 9A, the M head 9B, the C head 9C, and the K head 9D, and controls a shift register for controlling or adjusting the transfer. A latch circuit and a memory element are provided.

The power supply circuit 28 outputs a logic drive voltage Vcc (for example, 5 V) for operating the CPU 21 and the printhead control circuit 29, and various motor drive voltages Vm.
(For example, 30 V), a heat voltage Vh (for example, 25 V) for driving the recording head 9, a backup voltage VDDH for protecting the recording head 9, and the like. Then, the heat voltage Vh is applied to the recording head 9, and the backup voltage VDDH is applied to the recording head control circuit 29 and the recording head 9, respectively.

Further, an instruction input from the operation keys 60A to 60D is transmitted to the CPU 21 via the input port 32, and when a command from the CPU 21 is transmitted to the LED emission control circuit 62 via the output port 36, the LED 61A,
When 61B is turned on or transmitted to the display control circuit 66, a message is displayed on the LCD 65.

The CPU bus 70 is used for interconnecting the above-mentioned components, and is composed of an address bus and a data bus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the recording head control circuit 29.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation timing of each block shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, a description will be given of a process of reading recorded data which is executed in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the print buffer 25
a via the CPU bus 70 read out from the CPU 2a by DMA (direct memory access).
91 is transferred in parallel. This data transfer is performed in units of each color component and in units of print cycles corresponding to the four print heads. That is, with respect to the color recording data, data of 72 dots (effective dots 64 + spare dots 8) or 136 dots (effective dots 128 + spare dots 8) of the black (BK) component is transferred, and thereafter, the same amount of data is transferred. The cyan (C) component, the magenta (M) component, and the yellow (Y) component are transferred. Here, the data of the spare dots corresponding to the eight spare ink ejection ports are as follows.
Dummy data that does not cause ink ejection
21 is automatically generated and added to the actual recording data.

Next, the 1 latched by the latch circuit 291
The data of one color component (first BK component) and one recording cycle are transferred to the load shift register 292 in parallel and loaded.

When the loading is completed (t = t0 in FIG. 4), the latch circuit 291 becomes available for the subsequent processing, so that the data for one recording cycle of the C component as the next color component is obtained. From the print buffer 25a (including the waiting time for the reading process).

On the other hand, the data of the BK component loaded into the shift register 292 is stored in the CPU 21 at t = t0.
The print data is shifted by the shift amount instructed in the transport direction of the recording paper in accordance with the instruction from. When this is completed, the shifted recording data is transferred to the dual port RAM 293 in parallel and written. The dual port RAM 293 is configured so that data writing and data reading can be performed simultaneously. The capacity of the dual port RAM 293 is at least 4 (the number of color components) if print data of one bit and one bit is required.
X The number of ink ejection nozzles (72 or 136) bits is required. When this writing is completed, the shift register 2
91 becomes available for subsequent processing.

In order to realize simultaneous execution of data input / output, instead of the dual port RAM 293, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, an SRAM 295 composed of two SRAMs 295a and 295b may be used, and at an arbitrary timing, one SRAM may be used for writing and the other SRAM may be used for reading for data transfer. . That is, in one recording cycle, SR
In the next recording cycle, data is read from the SRAM 295a to transfer the data to the recording head.
Data used for recording in the next recording cycle is written to the RAM 295b. Then, in the next recording cycle, data is read from the SRAM 295b and transferred to the recording head, and data used for recording in the next recording cycle is written in the SRAM 295a. Hereinafter, such an operation is repeated.

The SRAM 295 has a capacity of at least 4 if 1 dot / bit print data is required.
(Number of color components) x number of ink ejection nozzles (72 or 13)
6) × 2 (the number of SRAMs) bits are required.

When data for one recording cycle of the C component is read from the print buffer 25a and latched by the latch circuit 291, if the shift register 291 is usable, the data is transferred to the shift register 29a.
2 is loaded. And following that load, CP
According to the instruction from U21, the recording data is shifted by the shift amount instructed in the transport direction of the recording paper.

Here, when the loading into the shift register 292 is completed, the latch circuit 291 becomes available for subsequent use at that time (t = t1 in FIG. 4). Is started from the print buffer 25a.

On the other hand, when the shift in the shift register 292 is completed, the shifted C component data is written to the dual port RAM 293. Hereinafter, similarly, the M component,
Data for one recording cycle of the Y component is also written to the dual port RAM 293.

Next, the dual port RA
The data written in M293 is sequentially read out in parallel, and the data is parallel-to-serial converted by an interface (I / F) 294 and serially transferred to a recording head.
Recording is performed (for reference, FIG. 4 illustrates a state in which data written in the dual port RAM 293 during the previous recording cycle is read and a recording operation is performed). Therefore, the dual port RAM described above
Writing data to 293 and dual port RAM 29
3 and the transfer of recording data to the recording head occur simultaneously.

In the recording operation of the recording head, the recording element provided in each recording head is divided into n blocks, and time division recording is performed in block order. Further, during this printing operation, data of four color components used for printing in the next printing cycle is read out from the print buffer 25a, and
As described above, the data is stored in the dual port RAM 293.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, data read processing from a print buffer, latch processing to a latch circuit, print data shift processing, print data write processing and read processing to a dual port RAM, and Since the data transfer process to the recording head can be performed simultaneously in parallel, the total throughput of the read process can be increased.

Furthermore, even if a wait occurs when data is read from the print buffer using DMA, other processing, such as writing and reading data to and from the dual port RAM, and data transfer to the recording head can be executed. Therefore, it is possible to allocate more time to the waiting without lowering the total throughput.

Further, since a data shift operation for recording position alignment when a plurality of recording heads are used can be incorporated in the above-described parallel processing, there is an advantage that the performance is not reduced by the data shift operation. is there.

[0060]

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, the case where one shift register is used has been described. Here, an example in which a plurality of shift registers are used will be described.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printhead control circuit 29 according to this embodiment. In this figure, the same components as those described in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. Here, only the configuration and operation unique to this embodiment will be described.

As can be seen by comparing FIG. 5 and FIG.
The print head control circuit according to this embodiment includes two shift registers with load, and each shift register stores print data for one print cycle corresponding to each of the two print heads. I have.

The recording data read from the print buffer 25a is stored in the latch circuit 29 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment.
After that, the data is stored in two shift registers 292 and 292a. At this time, the recording data read and stored can be recorded simultaneously by two recording heads (72 or 1).
36) × 2 bits of data.

Now, these two shift registers 29
2, while the data stored in 292a is being shifted in accordance with the instructed shift amount, the dual port R
Writing to AM 293 cannot be performed, and latch circuit 291
You can't load from. Further, these shift registers are required to hold data until writing to the dual port RAM 293 is completed.

However, in this embodiment, since two shift registers are used, for example, the loading of data into the shift register 292 is completed, and the loading into the shift register 292a is performed during the shift operation. The shift operation is performed if the shift operation in the shift register 292 is completed and the loading in the shift register 292a is completed while the data is being written into the dual port RAM 293.

In this way, two consecutive
A load operation of the recording data of one color component into the shift register, a shift operation by the shift register, and a write operation to the dual port RAM 293 are performed in parallel.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, parallel processing is performed in connection with the data operation related to the shift register, so that the processing speed can be further increased.

[0068]

Another embodiment of the present invention will now be described, for example, with reference to the reading and transferring process of masked print data in multi-pass printing.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the printhead control circuit 29 according to this embodiment. In this figure, the same components as those described in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. Here, only the configuration and operation unique to this embodiment will be described.

The mask buffer 2 shown in FIG.
5b includes a print buffer 2
D that can be accessed in hyper page mode as in 5a
A RAM is used, and DMA is used for reading the RAM.

As described in the above embodiment, after the print data is transferred from the print buffer 25a by the DMA and latched in the latch circuit 291, the mask data is transferred from the mask buffer 25b provided in the RAM 25 by the DMA. The data is transferred and latched by another latch circuit 291a. When the print data and the mask data are latched by these two latch circuits, these data are then input to the synthesis circuit 296,
By combining these, data used for the actual recording operation is generated. After that, the generated data is loaded into the shift register 292 as in the above-described embodiment. Subsequent processing is the same as in the above-described embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

If the mask pattern is common for each color component and is common for one scan of the print head, once the data latched in the latch circuit 291a is held as it is, the subsequent mask The data reading need not be performed until the printing operation for one scan is completed.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above,
For example, even in the case of using print data masked for each scan of the print head as in multi-pass printing, reading of print data and mask data is performed in parallel, and the speed of the processing is increased.

In this embodiment, a dedicated latch circuit is provided for latching mask data, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a synthesizing circuit 296 is provided before the latch circuit 291, and the recording data latched by the latch circuit 291 can be fed back to the synthesizing circuit 296 and transferred from the mask buffer 25b. The mask data may be input to the synthesizing circuit 296, and the mask data and the print data may be synthesized (for example, by taking a logical product) to generate masked print data.

As a result, the number of latch circuits can be reduced, which contributes to a reduction in the overall circuit scale.

In the above embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the liquid droplets ejected from the recording head are ink, and that the liquid stored in the ink tank is ink. It is not limited. For example, an ink tank may contain a processing liquid discharged to a recording medium in order to improve the fixability and water resistance of the recorded image or to improve the image quality.

The above-described embodiment is particularly provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for performing ink ejection even in an ink jet recording system. By using a method in which a change in the state of the ink is caused by energy, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described, for example, in 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 can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type.
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding the film boiling to the electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or the liquid path holding the Since thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer and film boiling occurs on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis can be formed. It is valid. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. 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 the 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.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angle liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting surface is arranged in a bent region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, for multiple electrothermal transducers,
JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which a common slot is used as a discharge part of an electrothermal transducer, and JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy corresponds to a discharge part. A configuration based on 138461 may be adopted.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is determined by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. This may be either a configuration satisfying the above requirements or a configuration as a single recording head formed integrally.

In addition to the cartridge type recording head in which an ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself described in the above embodiment, the recording head is electrically connected to the apparatus main body by being mounted on the apparatus main body. A replaceable chip-type recording head, which enables a simple connection and supply of ink from the apparatus main body, may be used.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like to the configuration of the printing apparatus described above, since the printing operation can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof. It is also effective to provide a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection that is different from printing, in order to perform stable printing.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, and may be a single recording head or a combination of plural recording heads. Alternatively, the apparatus may be provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the embodiments described above, the description is made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid. However, even if the ink solidifies at room temperature or lower, it is possible to use an ink that softens or liquefies at room temperature. Or, in the ink jet method, generally, the temperature of the ink itself is controlled 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.
It is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state,
Alternatively, in order to prevent evaporation of the ink, an ink which solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start to solidify when reaching 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, as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, the ink is held in a liquid state or a solid state in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. It is good also as a form which opposes an electrothermal transducer. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to those provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, It may take the form of a facsimile machine having functions.

The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), but it can be applied to a single device (for example, a copier, a facsimile). Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, and CD.
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0094]

As described above, according to the present invention, the step of reading the recording data stored in the buffer and latching it in the latch circuit, and temporarily storing the recording data output from the latch circuit in the shift register Storing and shifting the stored print data in the shift register by a shift amount in accordance with an external instruction; and storing the shifted print data in a memory capable of simultaneous input and output. Since the execution is performed in parallel with the step of reading data stored in the memory and transferring the data to the printhead, there is an effect that the speed of processing relating to data readout transfer from the buffer to the printhead can be increased.

By such parallelization, for example, DMA
Even if there is a wait for data read processing from the print buffer due to, the other processing is executed, preventing a decrease in total throughput and dealing with a large amount of recorded data processing while maintaining high processing speed It is possible to do.

[0096]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view illustrating a configuration of a printer device having a print head that performs printing according to an ink jet system, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control circuit of the printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printhead control circuit 29.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing operation timings of the blocks shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printhead control circuit 29 according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printhead control circuit 29 according to still another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printhead control circuit 29 according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording medium 2, 3 Conveyance roller 4 Sheet feed motor 5 Guide shaft 6 Carriage 7 Carriage motor 8 Belt 9A-9D Recording head 10A-10D Contact part 21 CPU 22 Interface 23 EEPROM 24 ROM 25 RAM 25a Print buffer 25b Mask buffer 26, 36 Output Port 28 Power Supply 29 Recording Head Control Circuit 42 Carriage Motor Control Circuit 44 Sheet Feed Motor Control Circuit 60A-60D Operation Keys 61A, 61B LED 62 LED Light Emission Control Circuit 64 Operation Panel 65 LCD 66 Display Control Circuit 70 CPU Bus 92A , 92B, 92C, 92D Ink compartment 100 Host 103 Monitor 291, 291a Latch circuit 292, 292a Shift register with load 2 3 dual port RAM 294 interface (I / F) 295,295a, 295b SRAM 296 combining circuit

Claims (15)

[Claims] A latch step of reading recording data stored in a buffer and latching the data in a latch circuit; temporarily storing recording data output from the latch circuit in a shift register; A shift step of shifting the shift data in the shift register by a shift amount according to an instruction from the outside; a storage step of storing the recording data shifted in the shift step in a memory capable of inputting and outputting simultaneously; Transferring the read data from the memory and transferring the read data to the print head in the transfer step, wherein the read step reads the data and transfers the print data to the print head. A recording data processing method, which is executed in parallel with a series of steps in the storing step. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shift step uses first and second shift registers. During execution of the shift operation in the first shift register, the recording data from the latch circuit to the second shift register is transferred to the second shift register. The recording data processing method according to claim 1, wherein the storage is performed. 3. The printhead, wherein at least two printheads are arranged in a scanning direction, and print data corresponding to printing by a first printhead among the two printheads is stored in the shift register. 2. The print data processing method according to claim 1, wherein the latch step for print data corresponding to printing by the second print head is started at a point in time. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shift amount is specified to adjust a relative positional relationship between a plurality of print elements included in the first print head and a plurality of print elements included in the second print head. 4. The recording data processing method according to claim 3, wherein the recording data processing is performed. 5. The latching step includes reading and latching mask data stored in a buffer different from the buffer, and combining the recording data latched by the latch circuit with the mask data. The recording data processing method according to claim 1, further comprising: 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reading of the recording data from the buffer is performed using DMA.
2. A recording data processing method according to item 1. 7. A printing apparatus for performing printing using a plurality of print heads arranged in a scanning direction based on print data stored in a print buffer, wherein the printing apparatus reads out the print data stored in the print buffer. Latch means for latching, temporarily storing print data output from the latch means, and shifting the stored print data by a shift amount according to an external instruction; shifting by the shift means Storage means for simultaneously storing input and output print data, and transfer means for reading data stored in the storage means and transferring the read data to the plurality of print heads. The reading of the recording data from the means and the transfer to the recording head are performed by a latch operation by the latch means and a case by the shift means. Shift operation, and a recording apparatus characterized by being performed in parallel to the storing operation to the storing means. 8. The shift means includes first and second shift registers. During execution of a shift operation using the first shift register, the shift means shifts from the latch means to the second shift register. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the recording data is stored. 9. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of recording heads are a first recording head that ejects black ink, a second recording head that ejects cyan ink, and a third recording head that ejects magenta ink for color recording. And a fourth recording head that ejects yellow ink. When the recording data of the black component corresponding to the recording by the first recording head is stored in the shift unit, the second recording head When the operation by the latch means for the cyan component print data corresponding to the recording in the above is started, and when the cyan component print data corresponding to the recording by the second recording head is stored in the shift means, The operation by the latch means for the recording data of the magenta component corresponding to the recording by the third recording head is started, and the recording by the third recording head is performed. When the recording data of the magenta component corresponding to the recording is stored in the shift unit, the operation by the latch unit for the recording data of the yellow component corresponding to the recording by the fourth recording head is started. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: 10. The thermal energy converter according to claim 1, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth recording heads generate thermal energy to be applied to the ink in order to eject the ink using thermal energy. The recording apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: 11. The shift amount is designated to adjust a relative positional relationship between a plurality of print elements included in each of the first, second, third, and fourth print heads. The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: 12. An input unit for reading and inputting mask data stored in a buffer different from the buffer, and a synthesizing unit for synthesizing the recording data latched by the latch unit and the mask data. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: 13. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the reading of the recording data from the print buffer is performed using a DMA. 14. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the print buffer uses a DRAM having a hyper page access mode. 15. The storage device according to claim 15, wherein said storage means is a dual port RA.
The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the recording apparatus is configured by M.