JP2001146054A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize higher resolution and print accuracy through an inexpensive arrangement regardless of variation in the speed of a carriage using a low resolution encoder for detecting the position and speed of the carriage. SOLUTION: An encoder 2 outputs pulses A, B depending on the movement of a carriage 101 for mounting a recording head in the reciprocal direction. A position counter 5 determines the moving position of the carriage 101 based on these pulses. A measuring counter 6 measures the period of the edge of these pulses A, B depending on the relation of phase thereof. A divider 7 divides the output from the position counter 5 by a constant corresponding to a set accuracy of control. A multiplied pulse generating circuit 8 generates a multiplied number of pulses depending on a control accuracy being set by a quotient. A logical processing circuit 12 processes the multiplied pulses and the outputs from the position counter 5 to calculate a position corresponding to the accuracy of the encoder 2, and controls movement of the carriage 101 based on the calculation results.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that uses a low-resolution encoder for detecting the position and speed of a controlled object (head / carriage) to achieve higher printing accuracy than that resolution. The present invention relates to a recording device to be realized.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recording apparatus having an encoder for detecting the position and speed of a head carriage, in order to realize a required high-resolution recording apparatus, an encoder having the same resolution as the print resolution is used. Motor drive and print /
Generally, timing is controlled.

[0003] However, this method leads to a demand for a higher-precision encoder in the present age in which higher-resolution print output is required. In order to realize a high-precision encoder, higher-precision technology and processing are required mechanically and optically, which is a major factor in cost increase.

Accordingly, in order to provide a low-cost recording apparatus, a moving speed (time) of a carriage, which is a controlled object, is measured from output information of an encoder using a low-resolution encoder. A method of generating a multiplied pulse corresponding to the print resolution to be performed is adopted.

Further, in the conventional method, both edges of a two-phase signal output whose phase is shifted by 90 degrees from the encoder are detected in order to obtain a high-resolution and high-precision multiplied pulse.
In a generally known method of obtaining a multiplied pulse, it is possible to generate a multiplied pulse corresponding to a duty change of another edge with respect to one edge or a duty change of another phase with respect to one phase due to the characteristics of the encoder. Can not. Therefore, as a solution, a method of measuring the time of only one side edge of one phase and obtaining a target multiplied pulse from the measured time has been proposed.

However, since the proposed method is based on the measurement time of only one side edge of one phase, if the speed of the carriage, which is the controlled object, fluctuates, all of the multiplied pulses are contained within the unit section of the encoder. There is a possibility that a problem that the data cannot be generated may occur.

That is, in order to generate m multiplied pulses of m times in the n-th section based on the position count value of the encoder, the movement time in the (n-1) -th section is measured, and this is calculated as m
Is generated in the n-th section, but if the carriage speed fluctuates in the n-th section due to the influence of disturbance or the like, the carriage in the next (n + 1) -th section is generated. When the speed is lower than the speed in the n-th section, m number of multiplied pulses can be sufficiently generated, but the moving time (speed) in the (n + 1) -th section is n-th.
If it is faster than the moving time in the section, the position pulse of the encoder in the next (n + 2) section is input while the m number of multiplied pulses are generated in the (n + 1) section. .

In this case, the horizontal direction of the recording paper (main scanning direction)
In contrast, the required number of multiplied pulses cannot be generated. Further, printing cannot be performed at a regular position synchronized with the output pulse of the encoder, which is a physical position. That is, the printing position in the main scanning direction is different between the line printed during the speed fluctuation and another line to be printed next, which significantly deteriorates the print quality.

[0009]

As described above, in the prior art, if the speed fluctuation of the carriage occurs in a short time, the speed fluctuation can be sufficiently reduced for the purpose of providing a low-cost, high-resolution printing apparatus. In a situation that is difficult to absorb. Further, in order to perform high-resolution carriage position control with a larger multiple of the resolution of the encoder, speed fluctuation is a disadvantageous factor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and has been made in consideration of the above-described problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus capable of controlling carriage movement at a high resolution regardless of speed fluctuation and printing out at a resolution higher than that of an encoder.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pulse output means for outputting a two-phase pulse in response to a movement of a controllable object on which a recording head can be mounted; Position determining means for determining the position of the controlled object from the two-phase pulse, measuring means for measuring the cycle of the two-phase pulse, and a measuring pulse for generating a measuring pulse in a unit of measurement for the measuring means to measure Generating means, multiplying means for obtaining a specified multiplied value from the output value of the measuring means, multiplied pulse generating means for generating a pulse train of a specified multiplied number from the multiplied value by the multiplying means, and Control means for controlling the movement of the controlled object, a recording apparatus for performing recording by the recording head by controlling the movement of the controlled object at a higher resolution than the resolution of the pulse output means, The measuring means measures the cycle of the edge of each of the two-phase pulses, and the multiplied pulse generating means generates the multiplied pulse that is stable with respect to the speed variation of the controlled body from the measured result. Provided is a recording device having improved recording accuracy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the measuring unit detects the period of one rising edge of the two-phase pulse and one falling edge of the two-phase pulse. , The cycle of the other rising edge of the two-phase pulse, and the cycle of the other falling edge of the two-phase pulse, and the multiplied pulse generating unit calculates the most recent result of the measured result, A recording apparatus is provided wherein n / 4 number of the multiplied pulses are generated for the specified multiplied value n by the multiplying means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, there is provided a phase detecting means for detecting a phase relationship between the two-phase pulses, and when the phase relationship does not satisfy a predetermined condition, The measuring means measures one cycle of one rising or falling edge of one of the two-phase pulses and one cycle of the other rising or falling edge of the two-phase pulse. Is obtained by comparing the latest multiplied value n by the multiplying means with n
A recording apparatus for generating / 2 of the multiplied pulses.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the third aspect, the predetermined condition is that a phase difference between the two-phase pulses is larger than 90 degrees by a predetermined value or more. Recording device is provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the third aspect, the predetermined condition is that the duty ratio of each of the two-phase pulses is shifted by a predetermined value or more from 50%. A recording device is provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, further comprising means for counting the multiplied pulse and setting a recording range according to the recording accuracy. A recording device characterized by the above features is provided.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the output timing of the multiplied pulse from the multiplied pulse generating means is set to a forward direction or a reverse direction of the controlled object. The present invention provides a recording apparatus, comprising: means for setting a delay in a direction and correcting a positional shift of an image corresponding to an input image signal when the controlled body moves in the forward direction or the backward direction.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, in order to obtain the multiplied pulse of the specified multiplied number, a multiplied number setting for inputting a predetermined constant is provided. There is provided a recording device comprising means.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to the eighth aspect, wherein the multiple setting unit is a CPU.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, the recording head ejects ink to a recording medium using thermal energy. A recording device is provided.

The above-mentioned measuring means of the present invention measures, for example, the time between both edges of each of the two-phase pulse signals A and B, and generates a target multiplied pulse based on the latest measured time.

Further, in order to enable recording from a designated position, a print start position register and a print end position register having a resolution of a multiplied pulse can be provided.

With respect to recording during reciprocal recording, since the measurement time and the recording timing are different, the moving direction of the controlled object can be detected or the timing can be changed with respect to the specified moving direction to generate a multiplied pulse. .

However, the two-phase output of the pulse output means is not necessarily guaranteed to have a phase of 90 degrees. Also one
50% is not guaranteed for the duty for each phase.

For this reason, when it is determined by some means that the phase shift of the pulse output means exceeds the allowable value, the measuring means for measuring the falling or rising cycle of the edge of the pulse output means outputs A and B is used. In the n sections of the position count, the measurement time of A is m for n / 2 sections.
M / 2 number of multiplied pulses are generated, and the remaining n / 2
The section is configured to generate m / 2 multiplied pulses obtained by multiplying the measurement time of B by m.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the position of the controlled object is obtained by counting the phase signals from the pulse output means. Measure the period between rising or falling edges.

Here, if the phase guarantee of each phase of the pulse output means is sufficiently satisfied for 90 degrees and the duty of each phase is sufficiently allowable for 50%, A, By providing the B phase with four counters for measuring the interval between the respective edges, it is possible to have four times the information on the speed fluctuation as compared with the related art.

Since the generation of the multiplied pulse is based on the quadrupled information, the conventional technique generates the multiplied pulse of m times by the measurement data of one measuring means, whereas the conventional technique generates the multiplied pulse by the measuring data of one measuring means. The unit section is time-divided into 1/4, and m / 4 multiplied pulses of m times are generated at this interval.

On the other hand, if the phase shift of the pulse output means cannot be tolerated, the A and B phase outputs from the pulse output means are measured for either the rising edge or the falling edge. By providing a counter, it is possible to have twice as much information on speed fluctuations as in the prior art.

Since the generation of the multiplied pulse is based on the doubled information, the conventional technique generates the multiplied pulse of m times by the measurement data of one measuring means, whereas the conventional technique generates the multiplied pulse by the measuring data of one measuring means. The unit section is time-divided by １ ／, and m / 2 multiplied pulses are generated at this interval.

In either case, according to the present embodiment, the speed fluctuation can be sufficiently absorbed for the speed fluctuation in a short time interval as compared with the conventional technology, and the accuracy sufficiently coped with the speed fluctuation in a short time. To generate a multiplied pulse having a high frequency.
Accordingly, it is possible to control the movement of the controlled object at a high resolution regardless of the fluctuation of the speed of the controlled object, and to record and output at a resolution higher than the resolution of the pulse output means. In addition, the margin for the output pulse of the next pulse output means is increased as compared with the related art, so that more accurate recording control can be performed.

[0032]

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

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an example of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. In FIG. 1, a carriage 101, which is a controlled object, has a cartridge guide 103, and guide shafts 104 and 105. And can move in the axial direction (main scanning direction).
Here, the drive mechanism of the carriage 101 is not shown.
The carriage 101 has a recording head 102 mounted thereon.
The recording head 102 includes an electrothermal transducer such as a heater, and drives a recording element that ejects ink to a recording medium using thermal energy in accordance with an input image signal, that is, a so-called inkjet head. Can be used. Further, the carriage 101 may have a configuration in which the recording head 102 can be removably mounted.

Reference numeral 109 denotes a slit extending in the same direction as the movement of the carriage 101, and is set to a resolution lower than the intended print resolution. An optical encoder unit (not shown) including a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit arranged so as to sandwich the slit 109 is provided on the lower side of the carriage 101 in the figure. The encoder unit outputs a two-phase pulse signal generated by the light receiving unit (photoelectric conversion unit) in accordance with the light from the light emitting unit passing through the slit 109. This pulse signal is output according to the movement of the carriage 101 in the reciprocating direction, and the phases of the respective phases are shifted from each other by 90 degrees.

The recording paper 106 is fed into the main body by a paper feed roller 107 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction. The paper feed roller 108, a pinch roller (not shown), and a paper pressing plate (not shown) are provided. ), The print is sent forward to the recording head 102 in FIG. A color cartridge 110 storing three color inks of C (cyan), M (magenta) and Y (yellow) and a black cartridge 111 storing black ink are separately inserted into the cartridge guide 103. To the recording head 102.

The following two embodiments, in which the present invention is applied to the ink jet recording apparatus having the above configuration, show an example in which a recording pulse for outputting a print at a resolution eight times as high as the resolution of an encoder is output. ing.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a main part of the inkjet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
In FIG. 3 and FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

Generally, the two-phase output of the encoder is not always guaranteed to have a phase difference of 90 degrees, and the duty for each phase is not guaranteed to be 50%. However, when it is detected that the phase guarantee of each phase of the encoder is sufficiently satisfied with respect to 90 degrees and the duty of each phase is sufficiently allowable with respect to 50%, the configuration shown in both figures is adopted. It can be used effectively.

In FIG. 2, a carriage 101 as a controlled object has a recording element (not shown) and can move in the horizontal direction in the figure. The slit 109 is arranged in the horizontal direction similarly to the carriage 101, and an opening group is configured so that the resolution is lower than the target resolution. The optical encoder unit 3 has a slit 109
, So that two-phase pulse signals A and B whose phases are shifted by 90 degrees from the opening of the slit 109 can be output. Here, signals A and B satisfy the above-mentioned phase condition.

The measurement pulse generator 3 generates an optimum measurement pulse having a shorter cycle than the signals A and B, and inputs the pulse to the measurement counter 6. The signal discriminating circuit 4 generates a pulse based on a two-phase signal provided by the encoder unit 2 and having a phase difference of 90 degrees, thereby discriminating the moving direction and the moving amount of the carriage 101. The position counter 5 is composed of an up / down counter.
The position of 1 can be counted in real time.

The measurement counter 6 has four measurement counters 6
A group of counters consisting of 1 to 64
Based on a pulse of only one phase of the output of the unit 2 (either the pulse signal A or B), a time between a rising edge of the pulse and a rising edge of the next cycle is counted by a measurement pulse.

As described above, by providing four counters 61 to 64 for measuring the interval between each edge for the A-phase and B-phase outputs of the encoder unit 2, information of four times the speed fluctuation can be obtained. Can have.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the first embodiment of the present invention.
The A-phase output of the unit 2 and (b) are the B-phase outputs of the encoder unit 2 and each have a period N.

As shown in the chart, the measurement counter 6
1 measures the time A1 between the rising edges of the A phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG. Measurement counter 62
Measures the time B1 between the rising edges of the B phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG. Measurement counter 63
Measures the time A2 between the falling edges of the A phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG. The measurement counter 64 measures the time B2 between the rising edges of the B phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG.

Then, a multiplied pulse (FIG. 4 (g)) at the time of multiplication by 8 is generated based on the quadrupled information measured as described above. 4 (g), _P61 is a multiplied pulse (recording pulse) based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 61, P
₆₂ is a multiplied pulse based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 62,
P ₆₃ is a multiplied pulse based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 63, and P ₆₄ is a multiplied pulse based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 64.

Conventionally, a multiplied pulse of m = 8 times is generated by the measurement data of one measurement counter, but in the present embodiment, the unit section of the encoder unit 2 is divided by 1 / 4, and m = 8 at this interval.
The multiplied pulses P ₆₁ , P ₆₂ , P ₆₃ , and P ₆₄ are m =
By generating 8/4, the detection position accuracy can be improved.

Note that the measurement counter 6 is
Outputs data delayed by one cycle at the output of the encoder unit 2 with respect to the movement of. The measurement counter 6 clears the data when the data obtained at the timing of the rising edge of the pulse from the encoder unit 2 is passed to the next stage, and starts the next measurement count together with the clear.

The above-described series of operations are performed based on a system clock which is a reference for controlling the present circuit. The time measurement data obtained by the above operation is transferred to the next block when the signal discriminating circuit 4 detects the occurrence of both edges of each phase.

The multiplied data latch & divider 7 divides the data provided by the measurement counter 6 and divides an encoder cycle according to a specified multiplication number to calculate divided data. The multiplied data latch & divider 7 in the present embodiment is configured to shift data and divide the data by a power of two.

Also in this division block, when the signal discriminating circuit 4 detects the occurrence of both edges of each phase, the original data to be divided is updated, and the divided multiplied pulse time (divided data) is passed to the next block. It has become.

The multiplied data latch & divider 7 will be specifically described. The multiplied data latch & divider 7 inputs the measured data sequence (Q0, Q1, Q2,... Qn) from the measurement counter 6 if the specified multiplication factor is 2, and multiplies the multiplied data sequence (Q1, Qn, Q3,... Qn) can be configured as a selector for selecting and outputting, and the selection can be controlled by the CPU 1. If you specify 8 times multiplication, of course,
A data string multiplied by 8 such as (Q3, Q4, Q5,... Qn) is selected and output to the next stage.

These timings are processed at the timings shown in FIG.

The multiplied pulse generator 8 generates multiplied pulses of the specified multiplied number of control accuracy set by the CPU 16 based on the data corresponding to the specified multiplied number obtained by the multiplied data latch & divider 7. I do. Multiplier pulse generator 8
Is the measurement pulse (count data) of the measurement counter 6
Is used to generate a multiplied pulse.

The recording element of the recording head 102 in the carriage 101 is driven based on the multiplied pulse to perform a printing operation. At this time, whether or not the multiplication pulse can be generated is determined by the CPU.
1 can be controlled. Also, in order to perform a printing operation in a specified range, a start position register 10 in which a print start position can be set in advance, and an end position register 1 in which a print end position can be set in advance.
1 is provided. The AND operation circuit 12 sets the CPU 1 and sets the start position register 10 and the end position register 11
Is performed, and a multiplication pulse is output from the calculation result, and the printing operation is started and ended at each predetermined position.

The multiplied pulse is used for reciprocal printing
The print timing is adjusted by the timing circuit 15 and then sent to the recording element. In other words, the reciprocating print timing circuit 15 is configured to be programmable, and a pre-calculated value is set so that the optimal print timing is obtained in the forward print and the reverse print in order to improve the accuracy in the reciprocal print. Adjust the multiplication pulse.

The multiplied pulse counter 9 counts multiplied pulses from the multiplied pulse generator 8. From the information of the position counter 5 and the information of the multiplied pulse counter 9, a position count of the target resolution can be obtained.

The servo circuit 13 drives the carriage 101 by the carriage motor 14 to perform servo control. The CPU 1 receives the moving speed information of the carriage 101 from the measurement value of the measurement counter 6 and receives the information from the count value of the position counter 5. Receiving the position information of the carriage 101,
Servo control is performed based on both information.

In order to actually perform printing and print in a specified range at a target resolution, print start position information is set in the start position register 10 and print end position information is set in the end position register 11. Keep it. Then, the movement of the carriage 101 is started by instructing the operation of the carriage motor 14 from the CPU 1, and when the target constant speed area is reached, the CPU 1 sets the generation of multiplied pulses and prints out.

As the setting for the reciprocating printing, each value is set in the reciprocating printing timing circuit 15 as the printing timing of the multiplied pulse depending on whether the printing is the forward printing or the reverse printing before the printing is started.

During execution of printing, the position counter 5 updates the counter value in real time as the carriage 101 moves, and the multiplied pulse generator 8 continues to generate multiplied pulses of the desired resolution. And the AND operation circuit 12
Detects that the carriage 101 has reached the designated print area from the set values of the start position register 10 and the end position register 11, when the reciprocal print timing circuit 15
The multiplied pulse from the multiplied pulse generator 8 is transmitted to the recording element of the carriage 101 through the controller. As a result, it is possible to realize carriage position control for achieving a target print resolution in a specified print area.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to sufficiently absorb the speed fluctuation with respect to the speed fluctuation at a short time interval as compared with the prior art, and to obtain a highly accurate multiplied pulse which sufficiently copes with the speed fluctuation at a short time. Occurs. Therefore, the carriage movement can be controlled at a high resolution regardless of the carriage speed fluctuation, and the printout can be performed at a higher resolution than the resolution of the encoder. Also, the margin for the output pulse of the next encoder will be larger than before,
Higher precision print control becomes possible.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. The configuration shown in the figure is obtained by replacing the measurement counter 6 in the first embodiment with another measurement counter 16, and the phase shift between the two-phase outputs of the encoder unit 2 and the duty for each phase are as described above. On the other hand, when it is unacceptable, that is, when the phase difference of 90 degrees and the duty are not guaranteed at 50%, it can be effectively used.
The main part block diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 is omitted here.

In FIG. 5, a carriage 101 as a controlled object has a recording element (not shown) and can move in the horizontal direction in the figure. The slit 109 is arranged in the horizontal direction similarly to the carriage 101, and an opening group is configured so that the resolution is lower than the target resolution. The optical encoder unit 2 has a slit 109
, So that two-phase pulse signals A and B whose phases are shifted by 90 degrees from the opening of the slit 109 can be output. Here, signals A and B do not allow the above phase condition.

The measurement pulse generator 3 generates an optimum measurement pulse having a shorter cycle than the signals A and B, and inputs the pulse to the measurement counter 6. The signal discriminating circuit 4 generates a pulse based on a two-phase signal provided by the encoder unit 2 and having a phase difference of 90 degrees, thereby discriminating the moving direction and the moving amount of the carriage 101. The position counter 5 is composed of an up / down counter.
The position of 1 can be counted in real time.

The measurement counter 16 is a group of counters composed of two measurement counters 65 to 66, and outputs a pulse (either one of the pulse signals A or B) of only one phase of the output of the encoder unit 2. Based on this, the time between the rising edge and the rising edge of the next cycle is counted by the measurement pulse.

As described above, the two counters 65 and 66 for measuring the interval between either the rising edge or the falling edge with respect to the A-phase and B-phase outputs of the encoder unit 2.
, It is possible to have twice the information on the speed fluctuation as compared with the related art.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The A-phase output of the unit 2 and (b) are the B-phase outputs of the encoder unit 2 and each have a period N.

As shown in the chart, the measurement counter 6
5 measures the time A1 between the rising edges of the A phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG. Measurement counter 66
Measures the time B1 between the rising edges of the B phase of the encoder unit 2 as shown in FIG. Both counters 65,
66, the time A2, B2 between the falling edges of each phase
May be measured (FIGS. 6E and 6F).

Then, a multiplied pulse (FIG. 6 (g)) at the time of multiplication by 8 is generated based on the double information measured as described above. 6 (g), P ₆₅ is a multiplied pulse (recording pulse) based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 65, and P _65
66 is a multiplied pulse based on the measurement value of the measurement counter 66.

Conventionally, a multiplied pulse multiplied by m times is generated by the measurement data of one measurement counter. In the present embodiment, however, the unit section of the encoder unit 2 is reduced by half.
In this 区間 section, m = 8/2 multiplied pulses P ₆₅ generated by multiplying the measurement time of the A phase by m, and the remaining 1
The / 2 section is a multiplied pulse P ₆₆ obtained by multiplying the B-phase measurement time by m.
By generating m = 8/2, the detection position accuracy can be improved.

Note that the measurement counter 16 is
The encoder unit 2 outputs data delayed by one cycle with respect to one movement. The measurement counter 16 clears the data when passing the data obtained at the timing of the rising edge of the pulse from the encoder unit 2 to the next stage,
The next measurement count starts with the clearing.

The above-described series of operations is performed based on a system clock which is a reference for controlling the present circuit. The time measurement data obtained by the above operation is transferred to the next block when the signal discriminating circuit 4 detects the occurrence of both edges of each phase.

The multiplied data latch & divider 7 divides the data provided by the measurement counter 16 and divides an encoder cycle according to a specified multiplication number to calculate divided data. The multiplied data latch & divider 7 in the present embodiment is configured to shift data and divide the data by a power of two.

Also in this division block, when the signal discrimination circuit 4 detects the occurrence of both edges of each phase, the original data to be divided is updated, and the divided multiplied pulse time (divided data) is passed to the next block. It has become.

The multiplied data latch & divider 7 will be specifically described. The multiplied data latch & divider 7 inputs the measurement data sequence (Q0, Q1, Q2,... Qn) from the measurement counter 16 if the designated multiplication number is 2, and
The multiplied data sequence (Q1, Q2, Q3,... Qn) is configured as a selector for selecting and outputting, and the selection can be controlled by the CPU 1. When the multiplication by eight is designated, a data string of eight multiplication such as (Q3, Q4, Q5,... Qn) is selected and output to the next stage.

These timings are processed at the timings shown in FIG.

The multiplied pulse generator 8 generates multiplied pulses of the specified multiplied number of the control accuracy set by the CPU 16 based on the data corresponding to the specified multiplied number obtained by the multiplied data latch & divider 7. I do. Multiplier pulse generator 8
Is the measurement pulse (count data) of the measurement counter 6
Is used to generate a multiplied pulse.

The recording element of the recording head 102 in the carriage 101 is driven based on the multiplied pulse to perform a printing operation. At this time, whether or not the multiplication pulse can be generated is determined by the CPU.
1 can be controlled. Also, in order to perform a printing operation in a specified range, a start position register 10 in which a print start position can be set in advance, and an end position register 1 in which a print end position can be set in advance.
1 is provided. The AND operation circuit 12 sets the CPU 1 and sets the start position register 10 and the end position register 11
Is performed, and a multiplication pulse is output from the calculation result, and the printing operation is started and ended at each predetermined position.

The multiplied pulse is used for reciprocal printing
The print timing is adjusted by the timing circuit 15 and then sent to the recording element. In other words, the reciprocating print timing circuit 15 is configured to be programmable, and a pre-calculated value is set so that the optimal print timing is obtained in the forward print and the reverse print in order to improve the accuracy in the reciprocal print. Adjust the multiplication pulse.

The multiplied pulse counter 9 counts multiplied pulses from the multiplied pulse generator 8. From the information of the position counter 5 and the information of the multiplied pulse counter 9, a position count of the target resolution can be obtained.

The servo circuit 13 drives the carriage 101 by the carriage motor 14 to perform servo control. The CPU 1 receives the moving speed information of the carriage 101 from the measurement value of the measurement counter 6 and receives the information from the count value of the position counter 5. Receiving the position information of the carriage 101,
Servo control is performed based on both information.

In order to actually print and print in a specified range at a target resolution, print start position information is set in the start position register 10 and print end position information is set in the end position register 11. Keep it. Then, the movement of the carriage 101 is started by instructing the operation of the carriage motor 14 from the CPU 1, and when the target constant speed area is reached, the CPU 1 sets the generation of multiplied pulses and prints out.

As the setting for the reciprocating printing, each value is set in the reciprocating printing timing circuit 15 as the printing timing of the multiplied pulse depending on whether the printing is the forward printing or the reverse printing before the printing is started.

During the printing operation, the position counter 5 updates the counter value in real time as the carriage 101 moves, and the multiplied pulse generator 8 continues to generate multiplied pulses of the desired resolution. And the AND operation circuit 12
Detects that the carriage 101 has reached the designated print area from the set values of the start position register 10 and the end position register 11, when the reciprocal print timing circuit 15
The multiplied pulse from the multiplied pulse generator 8 is transmitted to the recording element of the carriage 101 through the controller. As a result, it is possible to realize carriage position control for achieving a target print resolution in a specified print area.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the carriage movement can be controlled at a high resolution regardless of the carriage speed fluctuation, and the print output can be performed at a higher resolution than the resolution of the encoder. Will be possible.

The form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with an image reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function. It may take a form.

[0087]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, a pulse output means (encoder) having a lower resolution than the intended resolution is used, and higher-resolution recording control can be performed at low cost. This has the effect that it can be realized with a relatively simple circuit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an example of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a main part of the inkjet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Encoder unit 3 Measurement pulse generator 4 Signal discrimination circuit 5 Position counter 6, 16 Measurement counter 7 Multiplied data latch & divider 8 Multiplied pulse generator 9 Multiplied pulse counter 10 Start position register 11 End position register 12 AND operation circuit 13 Servo circuit 14 Carriage motor 15 Reciprocal print timing circuit 101 Carriage (controlled body) 102 Recording head 109 Slit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C480 CA01 CA31 CA33 CA47 CB34 CB42 EB03 EC03 EC04 EC14 2F077 AA25 AA33 CC02 TT47 TT52 TT79 5H303 AA28 BB01 BB06 BB11 CC01 DD01 DD25 EE03 EE07 FF10 GG27 HJ05 H07H05LL

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A pulse output means for outputting a two-phase pulse in response to a movement of a controlled object on which a recording head can be mounted; a position determining means for determining a position of the controlled object from the two-phase pulse; Measuring means for measuring a cycle of a two-phase pulse; measuring pulse generating means for generating a measuring pulse in a unit of measurement for the measuring means to measure; and multiplying means for obtaining a specified multiplied value from an output value of the measuring means. And a control means for controlling the movement of the controlled object in accordance with the multiplied pulse, and a pulse output means. A recording device that controls the movement of the controlled object at a resolution higher than the resolution of the recording head and performs recording by the recording head, wherein the measuring unit measures the circumference of each edge of the two-phase pulse. Was measured by the multiplied pulse generating means, the recording apparatus characterized by having improved recording accuracy by the results of the measurements to generate a stable the multiplied pulses to speed variations of the controlled member. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit detects a cycle of one rising edge of the two-phase pulse, a cycle of one falling edge of the two-phase pulse, and the two-phase pulse. The period of the other rising edge of the pulse and the period of the other falling edge of the two-phase pulse are measured. A recording apparatus for generating n / 4 said multiplied pulses for a multiplied value n. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a phase detection unit configured to detect a phase relationship between the two-phase pulses. The period of one of the rising edges or the falling edges of one of the phase pulses;
The cycle of either the rising edge or the falling edge of the other phase pulse is measured, and the multiplied pulse generating means determines the specified multiplied value n by the multiplying means by n 2. A recording apparatus for generating / 2 said multiplied pulses. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition is such that a phase difference between the two-phase pulses is 90%.
A recording device which is larger than a predetermined value by a predetermined value or more. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition is that a duty ratio of each of the two-phase pulses is shifted by a predetermined value or more from 50%. . 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for counting the multiplied pulses and setting a recording range according to the recording accuracy. 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output timing of the multiplied pulse from the multiplied pulse generating means is set to be delayed in a forward direction or a backward direction of the controlled object. A recording apparatus, comprising: means for correcting a positional shift of an image according to an input image signal when the controlled object moves in the forward direction or the backward direction. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a multiplier setting means for inputting a predetermined constant in order to obtain the specified multiplied pulse. Recording device. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said multiplier setting means is a CPU. 10. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head ejects ink to a recording medium using thermal energy.