JP2001018373A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink jet printer producing a multilevel halftone image without using a plurality of colors of ink for halftoning. SOLUTION: A processing liquid for making ink insoluble, for example, is imparted in pattern (b), cyan ink is then imparted in pattern (c), and processing liquid is imparted in pattern (d) to obtain a three level halftone image as shown on fig.5(a).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink-jet printing apparatus, and more particularly, to an ink-jet printing apparatus for applying ink and a liquid for improving printability onto a print medium.

[0002] The present invention is applicable to all devices that apply ink to print media such as cloth, leather, non-woven fabric, OHP paper, metal, etc., as well as general paper used in general. Examples of typical equipment include office equipment such as printers, copiers, and facsimile machines, and industrial production equipment.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording method is a low-noise, non-impact recording method for recording an image by directly discharging ink onto a recording material. In addition, since this method does not require a complicated device for implementation, low running costs, miniaturization of the device, colorization, and the like are easy. Therefore, recording apparatuses such as printers, copiers, facsimile machines, word processors and the like to which the ink jet recording method has been applied have been practically used.

However, the ink used in the above-described recording apparatus to which the ink jet recording method is applied is generally an ink containing a water-soluble dye. Therefore, when an image is formed on a recording material called plain paper, the water resistance of the dye constituting the formed image is insufficient, and bleeding may occur due to adhesion of water droplets and the like. . In recent years, as a method for improving the water resistance of an image, an ink in which the dye contained in the ink has water resistance has been put to practical use. However, its water resistance is insufficient to suppress the bleeding. Also, such water resistance,
This is achieved by drying the ink containing the dye which is hardly soluble in water, so that nozzle clogging of the ink discharge means (recording head) is likely to occur, and the apparatus configuration must be complicated to prevent this.

When a color image is obtained, bleeding between colors occurs when ink having low permeability is used. If ink with high permeability is used to suppress bleeding between colors, feathering and reduction in color density will occur. Therefore, it is difficult to simultaneously obtain a high-density image without feathering and an image without bleeding between colors,
As a result, color image quality may be significantly reduced.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 56-84792 discloses a method in which a material for fixing a dye is coated on recording paper in advance. However, in this method, it is necessary to use a specific recording paper, and in order to apply a material for fixing the dye in advance, an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus is unavoidable, and furthermore, the recording medium is stably printed. There is a problem that it is difficult to apply the above-mentioned material at a predetermined film thickness.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-63185 discloses that
There is disclosed a technique in which a colorless ink for insolubilizing a dye (hereinafter, referred to as a “treatment liquid”) is attached onto recording paper by an inkjet recording head. According to this method, the dot diameter of the processing liquid is made larger than the dot diameter of the image ink, so that the desired characteristics can be satisfied even at a position where the landing position of the image ink and the processing liquid is shifted. I have.

In such a printing apparatus, as one configuration for improving the quality of a printed image, a high-density ink ejection port is employed, thereby enabling printing of a particularly high-resolution image.

However, there is a limit in increasing the density of ink ejection ports. On the other hand, such an ink jet printing system is a so-called digital printing system in which ink dots are formed or not for one pixel. It is. For this reason, it is relatively difficult to express a gradation, and particularly in a highlight portion of an image, an ink dot is conspicuous individually, so that an image having a so-called grainy feeling may be obtained.

[0010] As one configuration for solving this problem,
2. Description of the Related Art A method has been conventionally proposed in which the amount of ink to be ejected is reduced and ink is ejected a plurality of times to the same pixel on a print medium in accordance with density data to form dots in a superposed manner. However, there is a limit in reducing the amount of ejected ink, and there is a problem in that the printing speed is reduced because this method performs the overprinting.

As another method for improving the image quality without increasing the density of the ink ejection ports, for example, using inks of the same color having different dye densities to make the ink dots inconspicuous and increasing the speed. A method has also been proposed. However, since this method uses a plurality of types of inks of the same color, the configuration for that purpose causes an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus, and when the usage amounts of the dark ink and the light ink cannot be balanced, There is also a problem that only one of them is consumed quickly.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-216396,
A method is disclosed in which a pixel to which a processing liquid is applied and a pixel to which the processing liquid is not applied are used to realize printing with good gradation without using dark and light ink. However, in this method, since the processing liquid is not applied to the “light” data, the colorant cannot be insolubilized, water resistance cannot be obtained, and bleeding between colors occurs. I will.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a high-gradation property without preparing a plurality of types of inks. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus which has high water resistance and can obtain a high quality image with substantially no bleeding between colors.

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ink jet apparatus for printing by discharging at least one or more colored inks and a treatment liquid for insolubilizing a coloring material in the inks onto a print medium. A printing apparatus, wherein at least one ink discharge unit having a nozzle group for discharging the colored ink, at least one processing liquid discharge unit having a nozzle group for discharging the processing liquid, and A multi-valued data generator for generating multi-valued density data of at least three values based on the multi-valued data based on the multi-valued density data generated by the multi-valued data generator. The application condition of the processing liquid is determined according to the colored ink ejection data generating means for causing the multi-valued data to be generated by the multi-valued data generating means. Characterized by comprising a treatment liquid deposition condition determining means for.

Preferably, the colored inks are black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and the multi-valued data generation means and the ejection data generation means for black ink are:
It is different from the multi-value data generating means and the ejection data generating means for cyan, magenta and yellow inks.

Preferably, the treatment liquid contains a low molecular component and a high molecular component cationic substance, and the ink contains an anionic dye or an anionic pigment.

Preferably, the ink has a relatively high permeability.

Preferably, the treatment liquid has a relatively low permeability.

According to the above-described configuration, by changing the order of applying the processing liquid and the amount of application according to the input image, it is possible to realize multiple gradations and to reduce bleeding between colors. A print excellent in water resistance can be realized.

In the present invention, the treatment liquid acts on the ink to improve the image quality such as density, saturation, sharpness of the edge portion, dot diameter, etc., to improve the fixability of the ink, and to improve the water resistance. It has functions including improving weather resistance such as light resistance, that is, image storability, and suppressing the occurrence of bleeding and white haze. Further, the processing liquid is a liquid containing a substance that insolubilizes or aggregates the coloring material in the ink, and includes a liquid that insolubilizes the dye in the ink, a liquid that causes the pigment in the ink to be dispersed and destroyed, and the like. . Here, the insolubilization means that the anionic group contained in the dye in the ink and the cationic group of the cationic substance contained in the printability improving liquid ionically interact with each other to form an ionic bond. This is a phenomenon in which the uniformly dissolved dye separates from the solution. In the present invention, even if all the dyes in the ink are not necessarily insolubilized, effects such as suppression of color bleeding, improvement of color development, improvement of character quality, and improvement of fixability as described in the present invention can be obtained. Aggregation is used in the same meaning as insolubilization when the colorant used in the ink is a water-soluble dye having an anionic group. When the colorant used in the ink is a pigment, a pigment dispersant or a cationic group of a cationic substance contained in the printability improving liquid and the pigment surface causes ionic interaction to disperse the pigment. This includes destruction and an increase in pigment particle size. Usually, the viscosity of the ink increases with the aggregation.

[0021]

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

First, FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the ink jet recording apparatus used in this embodiment.

A carriage 11 on which an ink jet cartridge is mounted, a carriage motor 12 for scanning and moving the carriage, a flexible cable 13 for sending an electric signal from a control unit (not shown) of the ink jet apparatus to the ink jet cartridge, and a recovery process of the ink jet head unit Recovery means 14 for performing
Paper feed tray 1 for storing print media such as paper in a stacked state
5 and an optical position sensor 16 for optically reading the position of the carriage. The inkjet apparatus having such a configuration performs serial scanning of the carriage 11 and performs printing with a width corresponding to the ejection ports (the number of nozzles) of the inkjet head, and also prints the print medium in a non-printing state in an amount that has already been determined. Transported.

Further, the recovery means 14 is enlarged and shown in the upper right circle in FIG. Here, 141 is a suction and leaving cap, 142 is a discharge receiver for receiving the processing liquid discharged at the time of discharge recovery, 143 is a discharge receiver for receiving the discharged ink at the time of discharge recovery, and 144 is a wiper blade for wiping the face surface. Wiping the face while moving in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electric control system of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 301 denotes a system controller for controlling the entire apparatus, including a microprocessor, a storage element (ROM) storing a control program, and a storage used when the microprocessor performs processing. An element (RAM) and the like are arranged. Reference numeral 302 denotes a driver for driving the recording head in the main scanning direction, and similarly, reference numeral 303 denotes a driver for moving the recording material in the sub-scanning direction. Reference numerals 304 and 305 are motors corresponding to the drivers 302 and 303, respectively, and operate by receiving information such as speed and moving distance from the drivers.

Reference numeral 306 denotes a host computer for transferring information to be printed to the recording apparatus of the present invention. The form may be a computer as an information processing device, or may be an image reader or the like. Reference numeral 307 denotes a reception buffer for temporarily storing data from the host computer 306.
The received data is accumulated from 1 until the data is read.

Reference numeral 308 (308k, 308c, 3
08m, 308y) is a frame memory for expanding data to be recorded into image data, and has a memory size necessary for recording for each color. here,
Although a frame memory capable of storing one sheet of recording paper will be described, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the size of the frame memory. Reference numeral 309 (309
s, 309k, 309c, 309m, and 309y) are storage elements for temporarily storing data to be printed, and the storage capacity changes according to the number of nozzles of the print head.

Reference numeral 310 denotes a recording control unit for appropriately controlling the recording head in accordance with a command from the system controller 301, and for controlling the printing speed, the number of print data, and the like. Also, data for discharging the processing liquid is created. Reference numeral 31
Reference numeral 1 denotes a recording head 17s for discharging the processing liquid,
7s', print head for ejecting ink 17
These are drivers for driving k, 17c, 17m, and 17y, and are controlled by signals from the recording control unit 310.

In the above configuration, the image data supplied from the host computer 306 is
7 is temporarily stored and developed in a frame memory for each color. Next, the developed image data is read by the system controller 301 and developed in the buffer 309. The recording control unit 310 creates data for discharging the processing liquid based on the data developed in the buffer 309, and generates the processing liquid buffer 3.
Expand to 09s. The recording control unit 310 controls the recording head 17 based on the image data in each buffer and the processing liquid.
s, 17s', 17k, 17c, 17m, and 17y
Control the operation of.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of a shading distribution table in the multi-value processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the figure shows the relationship between the density input value and the output value for each pixel of the image data, and the typical print pixel density represented by each output value is shown on the right side of the arrow. Also,
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the multi-value processing.

First, an input value (density value) is determined for each pixel of an input signal (image data) (step S51 in FIG. 3). Next, a table having the contents shown in FIG. 2 is accessed by an address corresponding to the determined input value, and converted into one of three output values (distribution).
Then, the output value is stored in the memory 308. That is,
If the input value of the target pixel is 0 ≦ x <96, the output value is set to 0 according to FIG. 2 (steps S52 and S53). In this case, no ejection is performed. If the input value is 96 ≦ x <224, the output value is set to 192 (“light”) and stored in the memory (steps S54 and S55). The input value is 224 ≦ x <
If it is 256, the output value is set to 255 ("dark") and stored in the memory (steps S56 and S57).

Since the density value obtained by the above multi-value processing has an error with respect to an actual input,
The image density in the vicinity of the pixel of interest is stored by allocating this error to pixels in the vicinity of the pixel of interest (step S5).
9). That is, in this example, the multi-value conversion is performed using the error diffusion method. The distribution of the error is performed at a predetermined distribution ratio. As a result, a value obtained by adding an error of the target pixel to the original input value of a neighboring pixel to be processed next to the target pixel becomes a new input value. The shade is again assigned to the new input value by the shade assignment table according to the relationship of FIG.

As an example, if the input value of a pixel of interest is 1
In the case of 60, the output becomes “light” at 192 by the processing shown in FIG. At this time, the error is the difference between 192 and 160, which is +32. This error +32 is distributed to neighboring pixels. As a result, for the neighboring pixels, a value obtained by adding the value of the distributed error to the original input value becomes a new input value.

Note that the above configuration shows an example of a shading distribution table, and it is a matter of course that an optimum threshold value is set according to the type of ink or processing liquid, and a shading distribution table corresponding to this is set.

<Embodiment 1> FIG. 4 is a view showing the head used in the present embodiment as viewed from the ejection port side. Heads A and F are processing liquids, B is black, C is cyan, D is magenta, and E is yellow. This is the ejection amount per ejection (per drop) of each head.
10 ng of processing solution, 20 for cyan, magenta and yellow
ng and black are 40 ng. The number of nozzles is 300 for the processing liquid and the black head, and 100 for the other colored inks.

This unit performs printing while scanning in the forward and backward directions shown in the figure. Here, the ejection amount of the black ink is increased in order to realize a high density. In addition, if the processing liquid is applied one-to-one to the data of the major ink with the same ejection amount as that of the color ink, the character thickening occurs. Therefore, the ejection amount of the processing liquid is reduced by reducing the ejection amount, and the character thickening due to excessive ejection is suppressed. The distance between the heads is 0.5 inch, and the ejection frequency of the head is 10 KHz. The head prints at a pitch of 600 dpi while moving at a speed of 16.7 inch / sec in the main scanning direction. cyan,
The permeability of the magenta and yellow inks is high, the surface tension is about 30 dyne / cm, and the permeability of the black ink is low, and the surface tension is about 42 dyne.
/ Cm. The permeability of the treatment liquid is lower for the colored ink, and the surface tension is about 42 dyne / cm. The permeability of each ink is acetylenol (a trademark of Kawaken Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd.) which is a nonionic surfactant, and the surfactant contained is ethylene oxide-2,
4,7,9-tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol. Hereinafter, it is referred to as acetylenol. ), Treatment liquid, black, cyan, magenta,
Acetylenol is 0.02% by weight in the order of yellow,
0.02%, 0.7%, 0.7%, 0.7%. The reason why the permeability is reduced for black ink is to prevent feathering in black characters.

In this embodiment, ternarization is performed for cyan, magenta, and yellow, and binarization is performed for black.

Next, the formation of ejection data in this embodiment will be described. Table 1 shows the processing liquid when applying the processing liquid and the cyan ink to the same pixel on the recording paper using the heads A and C in FIG. 4 in this embodiment, and the order and density of the application of the cyan ink. It is. As is clear from the table, when the colored ink is applied after the processing liquid is applied in advance (hereinafter referred to as "Sakigake").
Can achieve higher density than the case where the processing liquid is applied after the application of the colored ink (hereinafter referred to as “afterglow”). For this reason, for the “dark” data, the head A and the head C are used when scanning leftward in FIG.
After the treatment liquid is applied, the influential ink is applied. Then, with respect to the “light” data, when scanning in the leftward direction in FIG. 4, the processing liquid is applied after applying the color ink using the heads C and F.

FIG. 5 shows an example of multi-value data of cyan ink. When the data is printed by scanning in the leftward direction, the data A of the processing liquid by the head A and the data C of the cyan ink by the head C in FIG. Is printed, and the data of FIG.

FIG. 5A shows an image obtained as a result.

By adopting such a printing method,
"Do not print" for one type of colored ink,
It is possible to realize three-gradation printing of “post-print” and “pre-print”.

[0043]

[Table 1]

Hereinafter, the printing process in this embodiment will be described. FIGS. 6A and 6B show a printing method for printing “dark” with cyan ink in the present embodiment. In this figure, it is assumed that the head performs main scanning in the left direction. At this time, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, the processing liquid is applied prior to the application of cyan by the A head which is the head on the leading side in the main scanning direction. Next, FIG.
By applying cyan ink with the head C as shown in FIG. Next, a printing method for printing “light” with cyan ink will be described. In this figure, the head performs main scanning in the left direction. First, cyan ink is applied as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 6D, after the head moves by one inch, the processing liquid is applied to the same place by the F head. Thereby, the treatment liquid can be applied after the application of the colored ink. For one main scan, 100 nozzles in the sub-scanning direction, that is, 1/6
Send inch paper. In the head configuration of this embodiment,
It goes without saying that reciprocal printing can be performed.

Next, a description will be given of the difference in density between the beginning and the end. FIG. 7A and FIG.
(B) shows the case where the colored ink is applied after the application of the treatment liquid. In this case, since the permeability of the processing liquid is low, the processing liquid is relatively large on the paper at the time when the colored ink is applied, and the cyan ink and the processing liquid react on the paper, so that the ink is below the paper. The percentage that remains on the paper without penetrating into the paper is high, and a high concentration can be realized. FIG. 7 (c), FIG.
(D) is a state in which the treatment liquid is applied after the colored ink is applied. In this case, since the colored ink having high permeability is used, the treatment liquid is applied after the colored ink has penetrated below the paper surface, so that the coloring material becomes insoluble below the paper surface.
This reduces the amount of color material remaining on the recording paper,
Printing with low density is possible.

Next, with regard to the bleeding between colors, at the time of the precedent, when the colored ink is applied,
Since the treatment liquid is applied and the coloring material is insolubilized, the movement of the ink is unlikely to occur, so that the bleeding between colors can be prevented. In the post-processing, when the colored ink is applied, the processing liquid is not applied, but because the highly permeable colored ink is used, the permeation below the paper surface is faster than the bleeding between colors. No bleeding between colors occurs.
In addition, since black ink has low permeability, blurring between colors will occur at a later time. However, by performing binarization of black print data, only the preceding is performed, so that No bleeding between colors occurs.

In addition, since the processing liquid reacts with the colored ink both at the beginning and at the end, water resistance can be realized.

<Embodiment 2> FIG. 8 shows a head of a processing liquid and a colored ink in this embodiment. There are six heads A to F with 300 orifices arranged at a 1/600 inch pitch. This unit performs printing while scanning in the forward direction shown in the figure.
A and F discharge processing liquid, B discharges black, C discharges cyan, D discharges magenta, and E discharges yellow ink, respectively. The ejection amount of the ink ejected from the ejection port is about 40 ng for the black ink, the ejection amount of the processing liquid is about 10 ng, and the other inks are about 20 ng. The driving frequency of the head, the moving speed of the head, and the physical properties of the ink are the same as in the first embodiment. In this head configuration, 300 nozzles, that is, 0.5 inch paper, can be moved in the sub-scanning direction in one main scan.

In this embodiment, different types of colored ink are applied to the same dot area for one scan. Therefore, printing such as “light” for cyan and “dark” for magenta cannot be performed on the same pixel in the same manner as in the first embodiment. For this purpose, the input image is once decomposed into six colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green and blue, and each data is ternarized. In Table 2, the ink and the processing liquid to be applied in the shades of each color are indicated by black circles. In Table 2, the direction from right to left is the forward printing direction. Based on this, the pixels to which the pre-treatment liquid head A, cyan head B, magenta head C, yellow head D, black head E, and post-treatment liquid head F are applied are determined. It goes without saying that reciprocal printing is also possible in this embodiment.

For black, binary data of only "dark" and "not printed" is used.

[0051]

[Table 2]

<Embodiment 3> This embodiment is a method having the same head configuration as in Embodiment 2 and performing printing of four gradations. The input image is once decomposed into six colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green, and blue, and quaternized. As shown in Table 3, the density when binarized is "dark",
When “medium” and “light” are set, the processing liquid is applied first and last in the case of dark (hereinafter, referred to as “scissors”). In addition, it is done in the middle, and it is done in the "light". For black, binary data of only “dark” and “not printed” is used. In Table 3,
The ink and treatment liquid to be applied are indicated by black circles.

In the case of scissors, the treatment liquid is sufficiently applied in two steps, so that a sharper print can be obtained with a higher density than in the case of scissors. The increase in density due to the scissors is remarkable in the secondary colors.
It is also possible to adopt a method such as ternarization for binarization, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

[0054]

[Table 3]

<Embodiment 4> This embodiment has a head configuration shown in FIG. A discharges a processing liquid, B discharges black, C discharges cyan, D discharges magenta, and E discharges yellow ink. At this time, multi-value conversion is performed by the same method as in the second embodiment, that is, color is converted to ternary data, and black is converted to binary data. In this head configuration, paper is fed by 150 nozzles in the sub-scanning direction with respect to one main scan, and printing by the length of the head is completed by two scans. In other words, 1/4 inch paper feed is performed for one main scan. The processing liquid is processed by the head A for the data of "dark" for cyan, and the cyan ink is applied by the head C to perform the pre-processing. Cyan “light”
After applying only the colored ink to the data, the processing liquid is applied in the next scan, thereby realizing post-processing. The same method can be applied to other colored inks.

In the forward main scanning, a processing liquid for forming "dark" pixels and a colored ink are applied by pre-scanning, and the backward main scanning is performed without paper feeding. At this time, a method of forming a “light” pixel by performing post-printing with a colored ink and a processing liquid may be employed.

Further, at the time of printing in the forward direction, the processing liquid of all the color ink pixels and the processing liquid of the "dark" pixels are printed.
When printing in the backward direction, a printing method in which only the processing liquid is applied to “light” pixels may be employed.

By employing such a method, the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of heads of the processing liquid by one.

<Embodiment 5> This embodiment has a head configuration similar to that of FIG. There are six heads A to F with 300 orifices arranged at a 1/600 inch pitch. This unit performs printing while scanning in the forward direction shown in the figure. A and C are black, B is a processing liquid, D is cyan, E is magenta, and F is yellow ink. The ejection amount of each head is 20 ng. The printing method in this embodiment is the same as that in the fourth embodiment. The reason why there are two heads for black is to realize high density with the same discharge amount as for color.
Regarding the processing liquid, the discharge amount of 20 ng is large, but 50%
By thinning out the data, it is possible to prevent the character from being swallowed.

By adopting such a head configuration,
Because all 6 heads can be made by the same manufacturing method,
Cost reduction can be realized.

Embodiment 6 In the above embodiment, the amount of ink ejected from the ink ejection head is constant for one head. In this embodiment, an example in which the ejection amount of ink is changed will be described.

By changing the amount of ink, it is possible to express more gradations. The ejection amount of the ink can be changed by a conventionally known method such as providing a plurality of heating elements for generating thermal energy for ejecting the ink.

The ink ejection head applicable to the present embodiment has two heating elements for generating thermal energy, and the amount of ink ejected from the ink ejection head is one.
It can be changed in three stages of 5 ng, 25 ng and 40 ng. When printing is performed with each ink ejection amount, four levels of density can be expressed. Further, depending on whether or not the processing liquid is applied, “no printing”, “printing at 15 ng”, “previous 15 ng”, “25 ng”
, "25 ng before", "40 ng after", and "40 ng before". In this case, it is needless to say that an optimal shading distribution table is provided according to the type of each ink and processing liquid.

As described above, in this embodiment, seven levels of gradation can be expressed. However, the seven-step gradation processing takes a long time to process, and there is a possibility that the printing speed may be adversely affected. In that case, of the seven possible concentrations,
It is also possible to select an optimum density of about three levels and perform a quaternization process. For example, "40n"
g ink ”,“ 25 ng PREKI ”,“ 1
In the case of the combination of “afterward with 5 ng of ink”, the processing liquid is applied to the pixel having the highest density and the pixel having the two-step lower density than the quaternary data.

In the above examples, the following inks were used.

(Black ink) Glycerin 7.5 parts by weight Thiodiglycol 7.5 parts by weight Urea 7.5 parts by weight Food Black 2 3.5 parts by weight Isopropyl alcohol 4 parts by weight Ammonium sulfate 0.45 parts by weight NaOH 0.36 parts by weight Part acetylenol 0.02 parts by weight water balance

(Yellow Ink) Glycerin 7.5 parts by weight Thiodiglycol 7.5 parts by weight Urea 7.5 parts by weight Project Fast Yellow2 3.5 parts by weight Acetylenol 0.7 parts by weight Triethanolamine 0.74 parts by weight 4N -Lithium hydroxide 1.88 parts by weight ammonium sulfate 0.25 parts by weight isopropyl alcohol 4 parts by weight Water balance

(Magenta ink) Glycerin 7.5 parts by weight Thiodiglycol 7.5 parts by weight Urea 7.5 parts by weight Project Fast Magenta 2 2.5 parts by weight Ammonium sulfate 0.27 parts by weight Acetylenol 0.7 parts by weight 10%- LiOH 1.84 parts by weight Triethanolamine 0.86 parts by weight Isopropyl alcohol 4 parts by weight Water balance

(Cyan ink) Glycerin 7.5 parts by weight Thiodiglycol 7.5 parts by weight Urea 7.5 parts by weight Direct Blue 199 3 parts by weight Acetylenol 0.7 parts by weight Isopropyl alcohol 4 parts by weight Water remaining part

(Treatment liquid) Glycerin 7 parts by weight Diethylene glycol 5 parts by weight PAA-1L-15B 3.8 parts by weight Acetic acid 3.51 parts by weight Acetyleneol 0.02 parts by weight Water remainder

The present invention provides an excellent effect particularly in an ink jet recording head and a recording apparatus in which a flying droplet is formed by utilizing thermal energy in the ink jet recording method and recording is performed.

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 nucleate boiling to an electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which This is effective because heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, causing film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, and as a result, air bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding one-to-one to this drive signal can be formed. It is. 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 a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the ejection 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 the heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region may be adopted.

In addition, JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters or absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy. A configuration based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which an opening corresponds to a discharge unit, may be employed.

In addition, the print head is replaceable with a print head of a replaceable chip type, which can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus or supplied with ink from the main body of the apparatus, or integrated with the print head itself. Alternatively, a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank may be used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as components of the printing apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If you list these specifically,
Capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means for the printhead, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof, and a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection other than recording Is also effective for performing stable recording.

Further, as a recording mode of the recording apparatus,
An apparatus having at least one full-color printing mode of multiple colors of different colors, or a mixed color, or a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, by integrally configuring the printing head or by combining a plurality of printing heads It can also be a device.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens at room temperature, or which is liquid, In general, in the ink jet method, 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. What is necessary is just to be liquid.

In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink is solidified in a standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. Either ink may be used, or in any case, the ink may be liquefied by application of heat energy according to the recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or may already start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The use of ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time by heat energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-71260, in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter while being held in a liquid or solid state in the concave portions or through holes 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.

[0081]

As described above, according to the present invention, multi-gradation expression can be achieved by changing the application sequence and the application amount of the processing liquid to the ink in accordance with the input image, and furthermore, the inter-color space can be obtained. A print excellent in water resistance with little bleeding can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of an inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a shading distribution table.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a multi-value processing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state viewed from a discharge port side of a head.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of multi-valued data of cyan ink.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a printing process.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which a treatment liquid and a color ink are applied in a different application order;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a head configuration of a processing liquid and a colored ink.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of a head configuration.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electric control system of the inkjet recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 carriage 12 carriage motor 13 flexible cable 14 recovery means 141 suction and leaving cap 142 wiper blade 15 paper feed tray 16 optical position sensor 17 head 18 treatment liquid 19 cyan ink 20 colored ink application area 21 processing liquid application area 22 black ink 23 Recording space 301 System controller 308 Frame memory 309 Buffer 310 Recording control unit 311 Driver

Claims (9)

[Claims] An ink jet recording apparatus for performing printing by discharging at least one or more colored inks and a processing liquid for insolubilizing a coloring material in the inks to a print medium, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is configured to discharge the colored inks. At least one ink discharge unit having a nozzle group of at least one, a at least one processing liquid discharge unit having a nozzle group for discharging the processing liquid, and at least 3
A multi-valued data generating means for generating multi-valued density data equal to or more than a value, and a colored ink ejection data generating means for discharging the colored ink in accordance with the multi-valued density data generated by the multi-valued data generating means An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a processing liquid application condition determining unit that determines a processing liquid application condition according to the multi-valued density data generated by the multi-value data generation unit. 2. The multi-value data for the color ink is 3
The processing liquid is applied to the data having the highest density by the processing liquid application condition determining means before the application of the colored ink, and the data having the density next to the data having the highest density is applied to the data. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the treatment liquid is applied after applying the colored ink. 3. A processing liquid discharging unit for discharging the processing liquid includes first and second processing liquid discharging units, and discharging units for discharging the ink and the processing liquid are arranged in a main scanning direction. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an ink discharge unit configured to discharge a color ink between the first processing liquid discharge unit and the second processing liquid discharge. 4. The processing liquid application condition determining means,
In the multi-valued data of the colored ink, for the data of the highest density, it is necessary to apply the processing liquid at least twice in a dot area which is an area unit of one dot in the image. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The color ink is black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and the multi-value data generation unit and the color ink ejection data generation unit for black ink are:
5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data different from the multi-value data generating means and the color ink ejection data generating means for cyan, magenta, and yellow inks is generated. 6. The processing liquid according to claim 1, wherein the treatment liquid contains a cationic substance of a low molecular component and a high molecular component, and the ink contains an anionic dye or an anionic pigment. Inkjet recording device. 7. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color ink has higher permeability than the treatment liquid. 8. The discharge section for discharging the colored ink and the processing liquid generates bubbles in the colored ink or the processing liquid by using thermal energy, and discharges the ink by generating the bubbles. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1. 9. The discharge unit that discharges the color ink and the processing liquid has a variable discharge amount.
9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of items 1 to 8.