JP2000351221A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect the accurate residual amt. of ink by simple constitution without being affected by the posture or vibration of an ink cartridge. SOLUTION: An ink jet printer has an ink cartridge housing ink, a recording head for discharging the ink supplied from the ink cartridge to a recording medium, a feed part for feeding the recording medium, a drive part 52 driving the recording head to the recording medium and a control part 50 for controlling the driving of the recording head, the feed part and the drive part. In this case, a memory part 53 having an ink residual amt. holding register is provided and the control part 50 renews the content of the ink residual amt. holding registor of the memory part 53.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer in which ink supplied from an ink cartridge is ejected onto a recording medium by a recording head to perform printing, and in particular, the ink remaining amount of the ink cartridge is reduced. It relates to the method of detection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a so-called ink jet printer discharges ink droplets supplied from an ink cartridge from a discharge port of a recording head in accordance with a recording signal, and records the recording on a recording medium such as paper or film. In recent years, it has been rapidly spread because it is easy to reduce the size and cost. Here, in the conventional ink jet printer, when detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge, the following two methods are roughly classified.

[0003] The first method is a so-called recovery means for removing bubbles, dust and the like in the recording head by discharging the ink in the recording head to the outside by suction or extrusion in order to clean the ink in the recording head. A method in which a user determines that the remaining amount of ink is very small when a good print cannot be obtained even after printing after continuously operating the recovery means several times in an ink jet printer provided with It is. The second method is a method of directly measuring the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge. For example, a current is passed between electrodes provided in the ink cartridge, and based on a change in impedance, or The weight of the cartridge is measured, and the amount of ink remaining is detected based on the change in the weight.

[0004]

However, such a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink has the following problems. First, in the first method, the operation for detecting the remaining amount of ink is complicated, and the judgment that the amount of remaining ink is very small is made by the operator's subjective judgment that the print quality is good. There has been a problem that the determination of the amount tends to be inaccurate and erroneous determination is likely to occur. Further, in the second method, the structure for detecting the remaining amount of ink is complicated, and the state of ink between the electrodes changes due to the posture or vibration of the ink cartridge. Even if it is sufficient, there is a problem that a malfunction may occur, for example, it is determined that the remaining amount of ink is very small.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention provides an ink jet printer which has a simple structure and can accurately detect the remaining amount of ink without being affected by the posture or vibration of the ink cartridge. It is intended to be.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge containing ink, a recording head for discharging ink supplied from the ink cartridge from a discharge port to a recording medium, and a recording medium. An ink jet printer comprising: a feeding unit that conveys; a driving unit that drives the recording head with respect to the recording medium; and a control unit that drives and controls the recording head, the feeding unit, and the driving unit. The present invention is achieved by an ink jet printer comprising a storage unit having an ink remaining amount holding register, wherein the control unit updates the content of the ink remaining amount holding register of the storage unit.

According to the above configuration, the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge is written into the remaining ink amount register in the storage unit. Then, the control unit calculates the consumed ink amount and writes the new ink remaining amount into the ink remaining amount holding register, so that the content of the ink remaining amount holding register is constantly updated. Therefore, by reading the contents of the remaining ink amount register, the control unit can always detect the accurate remaining ink amount at that time.

Preferably, in the configuration of claim 1, the storage unit is a non-volatile storage unit, and includes a counting unit that counts a driving signal of the recording head. The recovery unit calculates the consumed ink amount based on the count of the counting unit, updates the content of the ink remaining amount register of the storage unit, and discharges the ink from the discharge port of the recording head to perform the recovery process. This can be achieved by an ink jet printer that calculates the consumed ink amount and updates the contents of the ink remaining amount holding register of the storage unit.

Since the ink remaining amount register is written in a non-volatile storage unit, the contents of the ink remaining amount register can be stored without erasing even if the power of the ink jet printer is turned off. , And when the power of the ink jet printer is turned on again, the content of the ink remaining amount holding register remains valid as it is. Further, when the ink is ejected by the recording head and the recovery process is performed by the recovery unit, the control unit calculates the consumed ink amount and writes the new remaining ink amount into the remaining ink amount holding register. Will always be updated. Also, since this control unit accurately calculates the amount of consumed ink based on the printhead drive signal,
An accurate remaining amount of ink can always be recorded without being affected by the posture, vibration, etc. of the ink cartridge.

Preferably, in the configuration of claim 2, the ink cartridge is replaceable.
This is achieved by an ink jet printer characterized in that the control unit initializes the contents of an ink remaining amount register of the storage unit when the ink cartridge is replaced.

According to the above configuration, when the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one, the ink remaining amount register is initialized, so that the ink remaining amount register always holds the accurate ink remaining amount.

Preferably, in the configuration according to claim 2, the non-volatile storage unit is provided in the ink cartridge, and when the ink cartridge is mounted, the control unit controls the non-volatile storage unit. This is achieved by an ink jet printer characterized by reading the contents of an ink remaining amount holding register from a unit.

According to the above configuration, the non-volatile storage section is provided in the ink cartridge, and when the ink cartridge is mounted, the control section operates the register for holding the remaining ink amount of the newly replaced ink cartridge. , The accurate remaining ink amount can be detected for each ink cartridge. In this case, even if the ink cartridge is replaced during use and is used again, the remaining ink amount during use is written in the ink remaining amount holding register in the nonvolatile storage unit of the ink cartridge. By reading the contents of the ink remaining amount register of the ink cartridge by the control unit, it is possible to accurately detect the ink remaining amount even if the ink cartridge is being used.

Still preferably, in an ink jet printer according to the first aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a display unit for displaying a remaining ink amount based on the contents of the remaining ink amount register of the storage unit. Achieved.

According to the above configuration, since the display unit for displaying the remaining ink amount is provided based on the contents of the remaining ink amount holding register in the storage unit, the operator can operate the display unit of the ink jet printer. , The remaining amount of ink can be easily grasped with a simple configuration without performing a troublesome operation.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. still,
Since the embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention, various technically preferred limitations are added.
The scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments unless otherwise specified in the following description.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of an ink jet printer according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an ink jet printer 10 is a so-called serial type ink jet printer, and includes a recording head 20 for printing on a printer paper 11 as a recording medium, and an exchangeable printer disposed adjacent to the recording head 20. It includes an ink cartridge 30, a display unit 40, and a control unit 50.

The printer paper 11 is wound around a cylindrical drum 12 as a feeding unit, and is pressed against the surface of the drum 12 by a pressure roller 13 provided in parallel with the axis of the drum 12. Is held. When the control unit 50 controls the rotation of the motor 14, the drum 12 is driven to rotate by the feed motor 14, and the printer paper 11 is fed in the direction of arrow A.

The recording head 20 is slidably supported along a guide 21 extending parallel to the axis of the drum 12, and is controlled by a control unit 50 so that the recording head 20 moves along the guide 21. Transported. As a result, the recording head 20 scans the printer paper 11 in the horizontal direction. The recording head 20
Is a known configuration in which the density of print dots can be controlled by mixing and discharging an ink and a diluent at an appropriate ratio from the ink cartridge 30 using a piezo element, A color image of a natural color can be printed based on the print data and the control signal input to the unit 50.

The ink cartridge 30 has a known configuration, and is exchangeably mounted adjacent to the recording head 20 of the ink jet printer 10 so as to be scanned integrally with the recording head 20. The ink cartridges 30 are provided for each color, and are configured to be independently replaceable.

The display section 40 is composed of a light emitting section such as an LED, and is driven and controlled by the control section 50.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 50 receives a control signal and print data from the outside via a printer interface 51 to control a printer driving unit 52 including the motor 14, the recording head 20, and the like. Drive control to print on printer paper 11 and
An EE-PROM 53 as a nonvolatile storage unit provided in the inkjet printer 10
It is connected via a ROM interface 54.
Here, the EE-PROM 53 stores the ink cartridge 3
It holds an ink remaining amount holding register having the ink remaining amount of 0 as a content.
Initially set or updated by the control unit 50. Note that the ink remaining amount register of the EE-PROM 53 is provided individually for each color ink cartridge.

The controller 50 calculates the remaining amount of ink in each ink cartridge as follows, and calculates the EE-PRO
The data is written to the ink remaining amount register of M53. That is, the control unit 50 functions as a counting unit, counts a printhead drive signal for controlling the drive of the printhead 20, and based on the count, controls the ink of each color necessary for printing one dot. Calculate the consumed ink amount. Then, the control unit 50 updates the content of the ink remaining amount register, that is, subtracts the register value according to the calculated consumed ink amount. Further, when the ink cartridge 30 is replaced, the control unit 50 detects this, and sets the content of the ink remaining amount holding register to the initial setting, that is, the register value corresponding to the maximum ink remaining amount.

Further, the control section 50 controls the drive of the recording head 20 by functioning as a recovery section,
A so-called recovery process is performed by discharging ink from the ejection openings of the recording head 20. At the same time as performing the recovery process, the control unit 50 calculates the amount of ink consumed in the recovery process by functioning as a counting unit, and according to the calculated amount of consumed ink, stores the contents of the ink remaining amount holding register. Is to be updated.

The ink jet printer 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, and the control unit 50 controls the print data and control signals input from outside of a personal computer or the like via the printer interface 51. By controlling the drive of the motor 14 and the recording head 20 based on the above, the recording head 20 and the ink cartridge 30 are scanned in the horizontal direction with respect to the printer paper 11, and the printer paper 11 is fed in the direction of arrow A, Printing is performed on the printer paper 11.

In this case, the control unit 50 operates as follows in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 3, when the power supply of the ink jet printer 10 is turned on and the ink jet printer 10 is activated, the control unit 50 is activated in step ST1.
Determines whether to perform the recovery process. If the recovery process is to be performed, the above-described recovery process is performed in step ST2, the remaining amount of ink consumed in the recovery process is calculated, and the register value of the ink remaining amount register of the EE-PROM 53 is subtracted. I do.

Subsequently, in step ST3, the control unit 50
Reads the remaining ink amount from the ink remaining amount register of the EE-PROM 53, and displays the display unit 40 in step ST4.
Is displayed for the remaining amount of ink. The display of the remaining amount of ink is performed by blinking a light emitting unit of the display unit 40 as described later. And step S
At T5, the control unit 50 determines whether or not the read ink remaining amount is very small, and if it is, at step ST6, displays a display of an ink cartridge replacement request on the display unit 40 at step ST6. Do. The display of the ink cartridge replacement request is performed, for example, by causing a dedicated light emitting unit provided separately from the light emitting unit to emit light.

In response to this, when the ink cartridge 30 is replaced in step ST7, the control unit 50 detects this and initializes the ink remaining amount holding register of the EE-PROM 53, for example, the maximum ink amount. , And the remaining amount of ink is displayed on the display unit 40.

Thereafter, or if the remaining amount of ink is not very small in step ST5, the control unit 50 proceeds to step S5.
At T8, printing is started by controlling the drive of the motor 14 and the recording head 20. Then, the control unit 50
In step ST9, the drive signal of the recording head 20 at the time of printing is counted by functioning as a counting unit.

Next, after printing is completed, the control unit 50 calculates the amount of ink consumption corresponding to the count of the driving signal during printing in step ST10, and calculates the amount of ink remaining in the EE-PROM 53 according to the amount of consumed ink. The content of the amount holding register is updated, that is, the register value of the ink remaining amount register is subtracted. Thereafter, the control unit 50 determines in step ST11 that
The printer enters a standby state, waits for a control signal and print data from the printer interface 51, and returns to step ST1.

Here, the display of the remaining amount of ink by the light emitting unit of the display unit 40 is performed, for example, when the remaining amount of ink is 8 to 10.
ml, the lighting time is 1 ms and the light-off time is 0.2 ms. When the time is 0.2 ms, the ink remaining time is 2 to 4 ml, the lighting time is 0.4 ms and the light-off time is 0.2 ms. When the ink remaining amount is 0 to 2 ml, the light-on time is 0.2 ms and the light-off time is 0.2 ms. The blinking is performed so that the blinking interval becomes shorter as the remaining amount of ink decreases. Accordingly, when the light emitting unit is not turned on, the remaining amount of ink is a sufficient amount of 10 ml or more. However, when the light emitting unit is blinking, the shorter the blinking interval, the lower the remaining ink amount. This can be easily recognized simply by looking at the display unit 40.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge 30 is EE-P
The data is written in the ink remaining amount register in the ROM 53, and when printing or recovery processing is performed, the control unit 50
Calculates the amount of consumed ink, and writes the new remaining ink amount into the remaining ink amount holding register. Therefore, by reading the content of the ink remaining amount register by the control unit 50, the accurate remaining ink amount at that time can always be detected. Further, when the control unit 50 displays the remaining ink amount on the display unit 40 based on the contents of the ink remaining amount holding register, the operator looks at the display unit 40 of the ink jet printer 10 to be troublesome. The user can easily know the remaining amount of ink without performing an operation.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the ink jet printer according to the present invention. 4, the inkjet printer 60 is different from the inkjet printer 10 according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the EE-PROM 3 as a nonvolatile storage unit is used.
1 has a different configuration in that it is built in the ink cartridge 30.

According to the ink jet printer 60 having such a configuration, the ink jet printer 60 operates in the same manner as the ink jet printer 10 according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and operates when the ink cartridge 30 is replaced. Indicates that the control unit 50 determines that the EE
-Read the register value of the remaining ink amount register from the PROM 31 to detect the remaining ink amount of the ink cartridge 30. In this case, since the remaining ink amount is written in the EE-PROM 31 of the ink cartridge 30 as an ink remaining amount holding register, an accurate remaining ink amount is recorded for each ink cartridge.

Therefore, even if the ink cartridge 30 is replaced while the remaining amount of the ink does not become small or zero during use, the ink cartridge 30 can be replaced.
In the EE-PROM 31, an accurate remaining ink amount is written in an ink remaining amount holding register. Thus, when the ink cartridge 30 is mounted again on the ink jet printer 60 and used, the control unit 50 does not initialize the ink remaining amount holding register and initializes the ink amount with the replacement of the ink cartridge 30. By reading out the register value of the remaining ink amount register from the EE-PROM 31 of the cartridge 30, it is possible to detect the accurate remaining ink amount of the ink cartridge 30.

In the above-described first and second embodiments, the EE-PROM 53 is used as a nonvolatile storage unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other types of nonvolatile storage units, for example, Obviously, a flash memory, a battery backup type S-RAM, or the like can also be used. Further, in the first and second embodiments described above, the display unit 40 includes the light emitting unit for displaying the remaining ink amount and the light emitting unit for requesting the replacement of the ink cartridge, but is not limited thereto. It is obvious that the remaining amount of ink may be displayed numerically or symbolically by using, for example, a liquid crystal display device. Furthermore, in the above-described first and second embodiments, the ink cartridge replacement request is displayed by the light emitting unit, but is not limited to this, and may be audible, for example, by generating a warning sound. Obviously, it may be displayed.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of ink by the simple structure without being affected by the posture or vibration of the ink cartridge. A printer can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a first embodiment of an ink jet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the inkjet printer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of an inkjet printer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 10 ... Inkjet printer, 11 ... Printer paper, 12 ... Drum, 13 ... Crimping roller, 1
4 ... motor, 20 ... recording head, 21 ... guide, 30 ... ink cartridge, 31 ... EE
-PROM (non-volatile storage unit), 40 ... display unit,
50: control unit, 51: printer interface, 52: printer drive unit, 53: EE-PR
OM (non-volatile storage unit), 54 ... EE-PROM
Interface.

Claims (7)

[Claims] An ink cartridge containing ink; a recording head for discharging ink supplied from the ink cartridge to a recording medium from a discharge port; a feeding unit for conveying the recording medium; And a control unit for controlling the driving of the recording head, the feeding unit and the driving unit, and a storage unit having an ink remaining amount holding register. Yes,
An ink jet printer, wherein the control unit updates the content of an ink remaining amount register of the storage unit. 2. The storage unit according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a non-volatile storage unit, and includes a counting unit that counts a driving signal of the recording head. Calculating the consumed ink amount, updating the content of the ink remaining amount register of the storage unit, and calculating the consumed ink amount by the recovery unit that performs the recovery process by discharging the ink from the discharge port of the recording head, 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the content of the ink remaining amount register of the storage unit is updated. 3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said ink cartridge is replaceable, and said control unit initializes the contents of an ink remaining amount register of said storage unit when said ink cartridge is replaced. 3. The inkjet printer according to 2. 4. The non-volatile storage section is provided in the ink cartridge, and when the ink cartridge is mounted, the control section stores the contents of an ink remaining amount register from the non-volatile storage section. The inkjet printer according to claim 2, wherein reading is performed. 5. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying the remaining amount of ink based on the content of the remaining ink amount register of the storage unit. 6. The ink jet printer according to claim 4, wherein a request for replacing the ink cartridge is displayed on the display unit based on the contents of an ink remaining amount register of the storage unit. 7. The display device according to claim 4, wherein the display unit includes a light emitting unit, and the light emitting unit blinks in a shorter cycle when the remaining amount of the ink becomes low. An inkjet printer according to item 1.