JP2000309110A - Ink jet recorder and method for controlling motor of the recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet recorder wherein a motor for driving a carriage is controlled corresponding to a residual quantity of ink in an ink tank to make an arrival position of the ink constant. SOLUTION: An ink jet recorder performs recording by scanning a carriage across a recording medium. A plurality of driving data tables having different characteristics are stored in a memory and one of the data table to be used is selected by a data table selecting circuit 101 in accordance with a residual quantity of ink in an ink tank detected by a residual ink quantity detecting circuit 214 and a top address of the table is designated by an address controller 103. A data reading section 104 and a data transferring section 105 are controlled by a sequence controlling section 102 and the address controller 103, then the data corresponding to one time of scanning is sequentially read from the data table to be transmitted to a motor driver 206.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a method for controlling a motor of the recording apparatus.
The present invention relates to a serial-type ink jet printing apparatus that controls a motor that drives a carriage on which a print head is mounted according to the remaining amount of ink, and a motor control method for the printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known as a recording apparatus for recording information such as characters and images on a sheet-like recording medium such as paper or film, which is desired as an information output apparatus in a word processor, a personal computer, a facsimile or the like. Things have printers.

A printer has a recording head having a plurality of recording elements according to desired recording information.
Recording is performed while scanning the recording head in a direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium (recording paper or the like),
A serial scan type, which conveys recording paper by the width of the recording head at the end of recording of one line and forms an image by repetition, is widely used because it is inexpensive and easy to miniaturize. Have been.

Further, as a recording method of a printer, various methods such as a dot impact method, a thermal method, and an ink jet method are known. In recent years, the ink jet system has been particularly attracting attention because it is easy and quiet.

[0005] A serial scan type recording apparatus using an ink jet system analyzes data and commands sent from a host and prints bit image data in a memory corresponding to the dot configuration of an image to be recorded on a one-to-one basis. Store in buffer. Subsequently, the print data is read from the print buffer, and while the data corresponding to the width of the print head is sequentially transferred to the print head, the print element (ink discharge nozzle) is driven every time the print element is moved by a distance corresponding to one pixel. To form

In recent years, in order to realize high definition of images,
The pitch between the recording elements of a printer tends to be small, and the accuracy of the landing position of the ejected ink on the recording paper has also become important.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the speed and the moving distance when the carriage makes one scan in the main scanning direction in a serial scan type ink jet recording apparatus. In the figure, A1 is an acceleration region of the carriage, A2 is a constant speed region, and A
Reference numeral 3 denotes a deceleration area in which ink is ejected in the constant speed area of A2 to form an image.

In a serial scan type ink jet recording apparatus, it is general that a recording head and an ink tank are integrally formed and mounted on a carriage.
In such a recording apparatus, the weight of the carriage is different between the state where the ink tank is sufficiently filled with ink and the state where the ink is consumed. There has been a problem that displacement occurs.

When the same torque is applied irrespective of the weight of the carriage, the acceleration of the carriage increases as the ink is consumed and the carriage becomes lighter, and the ink is ejected from the original position where dots are to be formed. This is because the ink landing position is shifted.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the time and the moving distance for one step of the pulse motor in the constant speed region of A2. A curve S1 represents a state where the ink is sufficiently filled, and a curve S2 represents a state where the remaining amount of the ink is small. When a constant torque is applied in this manner, the acceleration becomes larger when the weight of the carriage is lighter. Therefore, the movement distances of the carriage at time t1 are y1 and y1, respectively.
y2. Therefore, if the timing at which the ink is ejected is set to the same time t1, the landing position of the ejected ink will shift depending on the weight of the carriage.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-080613 discloses such a shift in the landing position by changing the driving frequency of ink ejection according to the remaining amount of ink in an ink tank and performing printing at an appropriate printing speed. There has been proposed an ink jet recording apparatus capable of improving image quality by eliminating the problem.

In the recording apparatus of this publication, the ink is ejected at the timing of t2 when the ink is sufficiently filled so that the landing position of the ink is y2 in the graph of FIG. In a state where the remaining amount of the ink is reduced, the driving frequency for discharging the ink is increased to discharge the ink at the timing of t1, thereby adjusting the discharge timing of the ink and eliminating the displacement of the landing position of the ink.

[0013]

In the recording apparatus described in the above-mentioned publication, when the acceleration of the carriage, which has been lightened by consuming ink, increases, the driving frequency for discharging ink is increased by increasing the driving frequency of ink. The displacement of the landing position has been eliminated.

However, in recent years, the driving frequency of the recording element has been increasingly increased in order to achieve a higher recording speed, and it has become difficult to further increase the driving frequency with consumption of ink.

In an ink jet type recording apparatus, the capacity of ink droplets ejected from each nozzle is reduced with the increase in definition and density of a recording head for improving recording density. It has become difficult to keep the volume of ink droplets constant when the frequency is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and controls a motor for driving a carriage in accordance with the remaining amount of ink in an ink tank so that the ink landing position can be adjusted without changing the driving frequency. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printing apparatus and a motor control method for the printing apparatus, wherein

[0017]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a recording head for discharging ink to perform recording and a carriage having an ink tank for supplying ink to the recording head. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning on a recording medium, comprising: a memory unit that stores a plurality of drive data of a motor that drives the carriage; and an ink remaining amount detecting unit that detects an ink remaining amount in the ink tank. And selecting means for selecting drive data to be used from the plurality of drive data stored in the memory according to the remaining amount of ink.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a motor control method for an ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a recording head for discharging ink to perform recording; and a carriage having an ink tank for supplying ink to the recording head. A method for controlling a motor for driving the carriage of an ink jet printing apparatus that performs scanning by performing printing on the carriage, wherein a storage step of setting a plurality of drive data of the motor and storing the data in a memory; An ink remaining amount detecting step of detecting an amount, and a selecting step of selecting driving data to be used from the plurality of driving data stored in the memory according to the ink remaining amount.

That is, a carriage is driven in an ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording by scanning a recording head for ejecting ink to perform recording and a carriage equipped with an ink tank for supplying ink to the recording head on a recording medium. As the drive data of the motor, a plurality of drive data having different characteristics are stored in the memory means, the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank is detected, and the plurality of drive data stored in the memory is detected in accordance with the detected remaining amount of ink. The drive data to be used is selected from the drive data.

Accordingly, even if the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank is reduced by performing recording, the driving data used by the driving motor can be made appropriate according to the remaining amount of ink. Regardless of the remaining amount of ink inside, a good image can be formed with the ink landing position being fixed.

[0021]

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. 6 is an external perspective view showing an outline of the configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, the driving force transmission gears 5009 to 5011 are interlocked with the forward / reverse rotation of the carriage motor 208.
Spiral groove 5 of lead screw 5005 rotating through
The carriage HC that engages with 004 has a pin (not shown), and is supported by the guide rail 5003 and reciprocates in the directions of arrows a and b. On the carriage HC, an integrated type ink jet cartridge IJC containing a recording head 207 and an ink tank IT is mounted.

Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper holding plate, and a carriage H
The recording paper P is pressed against the platen 5000 over the moving direction of C. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detectors for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this region and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013.

A member 5016 supports a cap member 5022 for capping the front surface of the recording head 207.
Reference numeral 15 denotes a suction device that suctions the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head through the opening 5023 in the cap. 5
Reference numeral 017 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member which allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. These members are supported by a main body support plate 5018. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form and a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example.

Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for recovery from suction, and a cam 5020 which engages with the carriage.
The driving force from the carriage motor is controlled by a known transmission mechanism such as clutch switching.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired operations can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. If a desired operation is performed at the timing, any of the embodiments can be applied.

As described above, the ink tank IT and the recording head 207 may be integrally formed to constitute a replaceable ink cartridge IJC. However, the ink tank IT and the recording head 207 may be separated. It may be configured so that only the ink tank IT can be replaced when the ink runs out.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing the structure of an ink cartridge IJC in which the ink tank and the head can be separated. As shown in FIG. 7, the ink cartridge IJC holds the ink tank IT and the recording head 2 at the position of the boundary line K.
07 is separable. When the ink cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC, the ink cartridge IJC is provided with an electrode (not shown) for receiving an electric signal supplied from the carriage HC, and the electric signal causes the recording head 207 to operate as described above. Is driven to eject ink.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 500 denotes an ink ejection port array. The ink tank IT is provided with a fibrous or porous ink absorber for holding ink, and the ink is held by the ink absorber.

Hereinafter, a control configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the present embodiment. Reference numeral 203 denotes an MPU, and reference numeral 204 denotes a ROM that stores a program executed by the MPU 203. 20
Reference numeral 5 denotes an ASIC that performs interface control with a connected host computer or the like, image conversion, recording control, motor control, and the like. Reference numeral 201 denotes an interface for receiving data from a host computer or the like.

The received data is stored in a reception buffer (not shown) in the memory 202 area such as a DRAM from the I / F control unit 210 via the DMA controller 211. The data stored in the reception buffer is held in an image buffer (not shown) in a memory 202 area such as a DRAM after a command analysis is performed. Recording control unit 21
Reference numeral 2 reads data in the image buffer via the DMA controller, performs recording processing such as mask processing, and then transfers the recording data to the recording head 207 at a predetermined timing.

Reference numeral 214 denotes an ink remaining amount detecting circuit for detecting the remaining amount of ink based on the output from the ink remaining amount detecting sensor 213. A motor control circuit 215 reads out data from a motor control data table of the DRAM 202Pl via the DMA controller 211 and transfers the data to the motor driver 206 via the DMA controller 211. Carriage motor 208, paper feed motor 209
Are driven by a pulse output from the motor driver 206. An interrupt control circuit 216 generates an interrupt to the MPU 203.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the motor control circuit 215 and its peripheral circuits in more detail. The motor driver 206, the DMA controller 211, and the remaining ink amount detection circuit 214, which are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2, indicate the same components as those in FIG.

The motor control circuit 215 includes a data table selection circuit 101, a sequence control unit 102, an address controller 103, a data read unit 104, a data transfer unit 105, and an interrupt generation circuit 106.

The data table selection circuit 101 responds to a signal from the ink remaining amount detection circuit 214 by
A data table to be used is selected from a plurality of motor control data tables held in the two areas, and the sequence control unit 102 controls a motor driving sequence according to the data table selected by the data table selection circuit 101.

The address controller 103 controls an address for reading data in the data table based on the sequence control unit 102, and
4 reads data from the data table based on the output of the sequence control unit 102 and the output of the address controller 103, and the data transfer unit 105 transfers the data read from the data table by the data read unit 104 to the motor driver 206. I do.

The ink jet recording apparatus of the present embodiment
With the above configuration, the carriage motor 208 is controlled so that there is no difference in the acceleration of the carriage due to a change in the amount of ink remaining in the ink tank mounted on the carriage, so that the landing position of the ejected ink does not shift. It is to be.

In the present invention, the control of the motor is performed by detecting the remaining amount of ink. However, the configuration and method for detecting the remaining amount of ink are not particularly limited, and various known types of ink may be used. Things can be used.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-135001, a conductive metal film is provided on the inner wall of an ink tank, and between the metal films is charged via electrodes drawn from both metal films on the opposing wall surfaces. A method for detecting the remaining amount of ink by measuring the capacitance between charged metal films is disclosed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-114488 discloses that the light emitted from an LED as a light emitting unit is irradiated on an ink tank, and the reflected light is detected by a phototransistor to detect the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank. A method is disclosed.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling the carriage motor according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.

The data table used for controlling the carriage motor is held in the DRAM 202 area. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Has a type of data table. Each data table Tn holds data for motor control corresponding to one scan from when the carriage stops after passing through the acceleration region to the constant speed region and the deceleration region.

In the initial state where the ink is sufficiently filled, the motor is controlled by using the data table T1 shown in FIG. 5 and sequentially switching to the data tables T2 to T4 as the remaining ink amount decreases.

When the motor drive start signal is transmitted from the MPU 203, the data table selection circuit is set so as to select the data table T1 by default.
The address controller 103 stores the start address c0000h of the data table T1 in the sequence control unit 1
02, and the data reading unit 104 reads the address C00 from the data table T1 through the DMA controller 211 based on the instruction from the sequence control unit 102.
The data at address 000h is read.

When the data at the address C0000h is read from the data table T1, the address controller 103 counts up the read address. The data transfer unit 105 transfers the data read at a predetermined timing to the motor driver 206. When the data transfer to the motor driver 206 ends, the sequence control unit 102 starts the operation of reading the next data.

One scan is performed by repeating the above sequence to sequentially read the data of the motor control data table T1 and drive the motor.

When recording is performed and ink is consumed, and a signal indicating that the remaining ink amount is equal to or less than the first threshold value is transmitted from the remaining ink amount detection circuit 214, the data table selection circuit 101 Is switched from T1 to T2.

The switching of the data table is performed when the carriage has finished the current scan or when the printing of the page being printed has been completed. Therefore, the data table selection circuit 101 performs one scan or one scan.
A data table to be used may be selected every time printing of a page is completed, or a signal of the remaining ink amount detection circuit 214 may be checked.

When a signal indicating data table switching is transmitted from the data table selection circuit 101, the sequence control unit 102 outputs a signal indicating change of the data table to the address controller 103. The address controller 103 specifies the start address c01000h of the data table T2.

In this way, the data of the data table T2 is read from the next scan or page, and the carriage motor is driven by the data corresponding to the weight reduced by the ink consumption.

Further recording is performed and ink is consumed.
When the remaining amount of ink becomes equal to or less than the second and third threshold values, the data table is sequentially switched to T3 and T4 to execute motor control according to the weight of the carriage.

Referring now to the flowchart of FIG.
The motor control method according to the present embodiment will be described again.

When the recording operation is started, step S81 is performed.
, A data table is selected by the data table selection circuit 101. In the initial setting after ink tank replacement, the selected table is T1. Then, in step S82, the read address specified by the address controller 103 is set as the head address of the table.

Proceeding to step S83, the data transfer section 10
5 transfers the data to the motor driver 206 to start the movement of the carriage. In step S84, 1
It is determined whether or not the scanning is completed. If the scanning is not completed, the read address specified by the address controller 103 is incremented in step S85, and the process returns to step S83.

If it is determined in step S84 that one scan has been completed, then in step S86 the remaining ink amount detection circuit 2
Check the 14 output signals. If it is determined in step S87 that the signal from the remaining ink amount detection circuit 214 indicates data table switching, the data table selected by the data table selection circuit 101 is switched in step S88.

In step S89, it is determined whether or not the recording is completed. If it is determined that the recording is not completed, step S8 is performed.
Return to step 2 to start the next scan. If it is determined in step S89 that the recording has been completed, the information of the currently selected data table is stored in a memory such as the DRAM 202, and the operation ends.

As described above, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment, even when the weight of the carriage to be driven changes as the ink in the ink tank is consumed and the remaining amount decreases, the movement of the carriage is reduced. It is possible to keep the relationship between time and moving distance constant, that is, control so that the acceleration of the carriage does not depend on the weight. Thus, regardless of the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank, the ink can always be ejected at the same position to keep the ink landing position constant.

Further, since a motor control data table suitable for the weight of the carriage is used, the driving current can be reduced as the weight of the carriage decreases, and the power consumed by driving the motor can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the droplets ejected from the recording head are ink, and that the liquid contained 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.

Although the number of recording heads and ink tanks mounted on the carriage is not specifically described, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an ink jet recording apparatus having a plurality of sets of recording heads and ink tanks. . In this case, the remaining ink amount may be detected for each ink tank to calculate the total remaining ink amount, and the data table may be selected according to the calculated total remaining ink amount.

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 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 can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
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.

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 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-angled 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 the 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 the recording head may be integrally formed or a combination of a plurality of recording heads. Alternatively, the apparatus may be provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the above-described embodiment, the description has been made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid. However, even if the ink solidifies at room temperature or lower, the ink that softens or liquefies at room temperature is used. 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, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5
No. 6,847, or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-71260, in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter while being held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. It may be. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile, etc.) Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments are recorded to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. It is needless to say that the present invention can also be achieved by a CPU or an MPU) reading and executing 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.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the operating system (OS) 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 the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, the CPU included in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the above-described flowchart (shown in FIG. 8).

[0079]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when recording is performed and the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank is reduced, the driving data used by the driving motor can be appropriately adjusted according to the remaining amount of ink. Thus, there is an effect that a good image can be formed with the ink landing position being fixed irrespective of the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a motor control circuit in an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the speed and the moving distance when the carriage makes one scan in the main scanning direction.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a relationship between time and distance corresponding to one step of the pulse motor in the constant speed region of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data table in a memory area.

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing a recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a motor control method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Data Table Selection Circuit 102 Sequence Control Unit 103 Address Controller 104 Data Read Unit 105 Data Transfer Unit 106 Interrupt Generation Circuit 201 I / F 202 DRAM 203 MPU 204 ROM 205 ASIC 206 Motor Driver 207 Recording Head 208 Carriage Motor 209 Paper Feed Motor 215 Motor control circuit

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording by scanning a recording medium on which a recording head for discharging ink to perform recording and an ink tank for supplying ink to the recording head is mounted on a recording medium. Memory means for storing a plurality of drive data of a motor for driving the ink tank; remaining ink amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank; and An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a drive unit for selecting drive data to be used from the drive data. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of drive data respectively correspond to different carriage weights, and are set so that the time to reach each position in a printing area in the scanning is equal. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each drive data is a series of data corresponding to one scan of the carriage. 4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores the plurality of drive data in the form of a table. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the drive data to be used every time one scan is completed. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the drive data to be used every time one page of recording is completed. 7. The drive data to be used according to which of a plurality of remaining ink ranges corresponding to each drive data includes the remaining ink amount. Item 7. The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 6. 8. The memory according to claim 7, wherein the memory stores a threshold value defining the plurality of remaining ink ranges.
3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1. 9. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the recording head discharges ink by using thermal energy, and includes a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink. Item 10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 8. 10. A printing head for performing printing by discharging ink, and a carriage equipped with an ink tank for supplying ink to the printing head is driven on a printing medium to drive the carriage of an inkjet printing apparatus for printing. A method for controlling a motor, the method comprising: setting a plurality of drive data of the motor and storing the data in a memory; a remaining ink amount detecting step of detecting an amount of remaining ink in the ink tank; Selecting a drive data to be used from the plurality of drive data stored in the memory. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of drive data respectively correspond to different carriage weights, and are set so that the time to reach each position in a printing area in the scanning is equal. A motor control method for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 10. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein each drive data is stored in one of the carriages.
12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the data is set as a series of data corresponding to the number of scans. 13. The motor control method according to claim 10, wherein the storage step stores the plurality of drive data in the memory in the form of a table. . 14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the selecting step is performed each time one scan is completed. 15. The motor control method according to claim 10, wherein the selecting step is performed each time printing of one page is completed. 16. The driving data to be used is selected in accordance with which of the plurality of ink remaining amount ranges corresponding to each driving data contains the remaining ink amount. Any one of items 10 to 15
13. A motor control method for an ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the above items. 17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising a step of storing a threshold value defining the plurality of remaining ink ranges in the memory.