JP2001260331A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink jet recorder which can record a high quality image having no defect of image quality, e.g. blur, strike-through or beading, caused by excess ejection of ink drop. SOLUTION: K (black), C (cyan) and M (magenta) image data of an image to be recorded produced at a color correcting section 14 is converted, at a multilevel processing section 16, into data for light ink and dark ink and image data of Y (yellow) is converted, at a binarizing section 18, into data for dark ink. On the other hand, a decision unit 28 determines the ejection timing of Y ink such that the total ejection quantity of ink at the time of ejecting light ink approaches the total ejection quantity of ink at the time of ejecting dark ink uniformly based on the difference of total ejection quantity of light ink and dark ink of K, C, M obtained through counters 20A-20F, adders 24A, 24B and a comparator 26, and the ejection quantity of dark ink of Y obtained through a counter 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an ink-jet recording apparatus which performs recording by discharging ink by scanning a plurality of scans for one line of image data on a recording medium. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording apparatus uses a signal corresponding to an image to be recorded (hereinafter referred to as a "recorded image signal").
The image recording is performed by ejecting ink droplets onto a recording medium in accordance with the above.

[0003] In such an ink jet recording apparatus,
Previously, a binary signal was used as a recording image signal, and image data corresponding to one pixel was recorded in accordance with the presence or absence of one dot. However, in order to form a higher-quality image, a multi-valued image data signal was used. It has become common to form images based on them.

[0004] As one of the recording methods for forming an image based on such a multi-valued image data signal, a plurality of inks having different densities for one color are used to replace or overlap ink droplets. There is a so-called density recording method in which multi-value recording is performed. According to this method, since the granularity can be made inconspicuous without reducing the size of the recording dot, it is an effective method for the inkjet recording method in which it is difficult to stably modulate the size of the ink droplet itself. is there.

[0005] A recording method using a conventional density recording method will be described below. FIG. 9 shows a configuration example of a recording head applicable to the grayscale recording method. In the example shown in the figure, in the case where recording is performed in four colors of black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y), for K, C, and M, light ink with a low dye concentration ( These are referred to as “light black LK”, “light cyan LC”, and “light magenta LM”, respectively, and dark inks having high dye concentrations (respectively referred to as “dark black DK”, “dark cyan DC”, and “dark magenta DM”). ), And for Y, only a dark ink having a high dye concentration (referred to as “dark yellow DY”) is used. Ink for Y has a characteristic that optical density is low even in dark ink and graininess is hardly conspicuous, so that light ink is generally not used.

The K recording head 50K, the C recording head 50C, and the M recording head 50M are each divided into two blocks, and the first block group 50K1, 5K
0C1 and 50M1 respectively discharge K, C and M light ink droplets, and form second block groups 50K2, 50C2 and 50M2.
Performs ejection of dark ink droplets of K, C, and M, respectively. Also, Y
Recording head 50Y, the first block 50Y1, the second
The block 50Y2 discharges dark ink droplets.

[0009] The operation of recording an image using the recording head having the configuration shown in FIG. 9 will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the recording head 50 (K recording head 5)
0K, the recording head 50C for C, the recording head 50M for M, and the recording head 50Y for Y) move in the main scanning direction, and from a nozzle group (not shown) arranged vertically to the main scanning direction. Ink droplets are ejected according to the image data, and recording is performed by the first block 501 of the recording head 50. The print image at that time is the image 61 in FIG.
It is.

Subsequently, the recording head 50 moves to the initial position at the same time as the paper feeding operation for the block width is performed. Then, the recording head 50 starts scanning in the main scanning direction again, and the recording by the second block 502 is performed at the place where the recording was performed by the first block 501, and an image corresponding to the block width is formed. The print image at this time is shown in FIG.
It is the image 62 of (B).

By repeating the above operation several times,
The entire image is formed. In the Y recording head 50Y, for the image data, for example, data that has been subjected to mask processing with a zigzag lattice mask pattern is recorded in the first block, and the zigzag pattern that has a pattern opposite to the zigzag lattice is recorded. The data that has been subjected to the masking process with the
Record in blocks.

Here, the arrangement of the ink droplets for each pixel is K, C, and M, as shown in FIG. 11A, after all the pixels are filled with the light ink droplets L and the light ink droplets L and the dark ink droplets. The ink droplet D is replaced, and the pixel is filled with the dark ink droplet D. In the case of Y, pixels are filled with only the deep ink droplet D as shown in FIG.

Here, image data corresponding to the pixel G1 shown in FIG. 11 as K and C, image data corresponding to the pixel G2 as M, and image data corresponding to the pixel G3 as Y are input. In this case, the first scan group in which ink droplets are ejected from the first block group (50K1, 50C1, 50M1, 50Y1) onto the recording medium and the second block group (50K2, 50C2, 50M2,
Table 1 shows the relationship from 50Y2) with the amount of ink in the second scan in which ink droplets are ejected onto the recording medium.

[0013]

[Table 1]

In this case, the total amount of ink to be ejected in the first scan increases, and exceeds the absorption capacity of the recording medium per unit time, and bleeds and the ejected ink escapes to the back surface of the recording medium. Image quality defects, such as beading, in which ink strikes through and ink does not absorb completely and interferes with each other, resulting in bead-like unevenness, appear in the printed image, and the recording quality is significantly reduced.

In order to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-180997 discloses a technique which can be expected to have a certain effect.
There was a technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. In this technique, in an ink jet recording method in which the same portion on a recording medium is scanned in a plurality of passes, the amount of ink ejected up to the last pass is smaller than the amount of ink ejected in the last pass. It is possible to prevent bleeding of the ink until the pass is performed.

[0016]

However, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-180997, the amount of ink in the last pass becomes extremely large. Although a certain effect can be expected, there is a problem that when a slow-drying ink is applied, bleeding is more likely to occur due to the ink ejected in the last pass.

That is, this technique is mainly intended to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles due to ink absorption of a recording medium in the middle of scanning in a plurality of passes. However, even if an attempt is made to avoid blurring, strikethrough, beading, etc., a sufficient effect cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to record a high-quality image free from image defects such as bleeding, strike-through, and beading caused by excessive ejection of ink droplets. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing the following.

[0019]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a plurality of recording heads for ejecting inks of different colors; An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink in a plurality of scans for one line of image data on a recording medium in each of the recording heads, wherein at least one of the plurality of recording heads One is a single-density recording head that discharges a single-density ink, and an adjusting unit that adjusts the amount of ink discharged in each scan so as to reduce the difference in the total amount of ink discharged in each scan.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, when each of a plurality of recording heads ejects ink by scanning a plurality of times for one line of image data on a recording medium, all recordings are not necessarily performed. The head does not always eject ink for each scan, and there is a scan in which a recording head that does not eject ink exists depending on image data or the like.
Further, not all pixels on the scanning line are necessarily ejected a plurality of times, and some pixels eject the ink only once depending on image data or the like.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of the plurality of recording heads is a single-density recording head that discharges a single-density ink, and each of the plurality of scanning heads is adjusted by the adjusting unit. The ink ejection amount in each scan is adjusted so that the difference in the total ink ejection amount in is reduced. As the ink, any of quick-drying ink and slow-drying ink can be used.

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the first aspect, when the ink is ejected in a plurality of scans for one line of image data, the difference in the total ink ejection amount in each scan is reduced. Since the amount of ink ejected in each scan is adjusted to be smaller, the maximum amount of ink ejected in each scan can be reduced, thereby reducing bleeding, strikethrough, beading, etc. due to excessive ejection of ink droplets. High-quality images without image quality defects can be recorded.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a plurality of recording heads for ejecting inks of different colors, and one line on a recording medium in each of the plurality of recording heads according to image data. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink in a plurality of scans for image data of one minute, wherein the recording of the ink is performed based on at least one of characteristics of the recording medium and characteristics of the ink. Adjustment means is provided for adjusting the recording heads, which have large bleeding on the medium, so as to eject ink by scanning different from each other.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, when each of a plurality of recording heads ejects ink by scanning a line of image data on a recording medium a plurality of times, all the recordings are not necessarily performed. The head does not always eject ink for each scan, and there is a scan in which a recording head that does not eject ink exists depending on image data or the like.
Further, not all pixels on the scanning line are necessarily ejected a plurality of times, and some pixels eject the ink only once depending on image data or the like.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the adjusting means is different from each other for the recording heads having a large bleeding of the ink on the recording medium based on at least one of the characteristic of the recording medium and the characteristic of the ink. It is adjusted so that ink is ejected by scanning. The recording medium includes plain paper, OHP sheet, coated paper, glossy paper, and the like. Further, the above-mentioned ink includes a pigment ink and a dye ink.

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording heads that greatly bleed the ink into the recording medium are different from each other based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink. Since the adjustment is performed so that the ink is ejected by scanning, it is possible to record a high-quality image free from image quality defects such as bleeding, strikethrough, and beading due to excessive ejection of ink droplets.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a plurality of recording heads for ejecting inks of different colors, and one line on a recording medium in each of the plurality of recording heads according to image data. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink in a plurality of scans with respect to image data for one minute, based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink. Adjustment means is provided for adjusting so as to reduce the amount of ink ejected per pixel.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, when each of the plurality of recording heads ejects ink in a plurality of scans for one line of image data on the recording medium, all recordings are not necessarily performed. The head does not always eject ink for each scan, and there is a scan in which a recording head that does not eject ink exists depending on image data or the like.
Further, not all pixels on the scanning line are necessarily ejected a plurality of times, and some pixels eject the ink only once depending on image data or the like.

According to the ink jet recording apparatus of the third aspect, the adjusting means reduces the ink ejection amount per pixel from the recording head based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink. It is adjusted to. The recording medium includes plain paper, OHP sheet,
Coated paper, glossy paper and the like are included. Further, the above-mentioned ink includes a pigment ink and a dye ink.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the adjusting means is arranged such that when the difference in optical density on the recording medium according to the amount of ink discharged per pixel is small, and when the ink absorptivity of the recording medium is small. In at least one of the cases where the ink discharge amount is low, a mode in which the amount of ink discharged per pixel is adjusted to be small can be applied.

That is, for example, when the recording medium is glossy paper or coated paper, since the surface is coated with an ink holding layer, the ink absorption rate is high, and the recording according to the ink ejection amount per pixel is performed. Since the difference in optical density on the medium is large, it is preferable not to reduce the ink ejection amount because a high-quality image can be recorded.

However, when the recording medium is plain paper, the ink absorptance is low and the optical density difference is small. Therefore, when the ink ejection amount is reduced, blurring, strikethrough, beading, and other image quality defects may occur. This is preferable because high-quality images can be recorded. If the recording medium is OH
In the case of a P sheet, since the ink absorptivity is remarkably low, it is preferable to reduce the ink discharge amount because a high-quality image free from image quality defects such as bleeding, strikethrough, and beading can be recorded.

As described above, according to the ink jet recording apparatus of the third aspect, the amount of ink ejected from the recording head per pixel is reduced based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink. , It is possible to record a high-quality image free from image quality defects such as bleeding, strikethrough, and beading caused by excessive ejection of ink droplets without deteriorating the image quality.

[0034]

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

[First Embodiment] In the first embodiment, an embodiment in which the configuration of the recording head is as shown in FIG. 9 will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ink jet printer 10A according to the first embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only a portion related to the control of ink ejection of each recording head, and omits other portions.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet printer 10A according to the first embodiment includes recording heads for each color (a recording head 50K for K, a recording head 50C for C, a recording head 50M for M, and a recording head for Y). 50Y), and a controller 12A for controlling the ink ejection of the recording head.

The control section 12A includes a color correction section 14, a multi-value processing section 16, a binary processing section 18, and six counters 20 (counters 20A, 20B,.
F), counter 22, two adders 24 (adder 24
A, adder 24B), comparator 26, determiner 28, mask pattern storage unit 30, band buffer 32, mask processing unit 34, and band buffer 36.

The color correction unit 14 is provided by an external application
R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image data each having an 8-bit configuration corresponding to an image to be recorded from the program 60 are configured to be inputtable. , “UI”), information about a sheet on which an image set by the user is recorded (hereinafter, referred to as “sheet information”) 70 can be input, and image data of K, C, and M of the color correction unit 14 can be input. Is connected to the multi-value processing section 16.

The six output terminals of the multi-value processing section 16 are connected to a band buffer 36 and connected to a corresponding adder 24 via a corresponding counter 20, respectively.
The output terminal of each adder 24 is connected to a comparator 26, and the output terminal of the comparator 26 is connected to a decision unit 28.

On the other hand, the output terminal of the color correction unit 14 for outputting the Y image data is connected to the binarization processing unit 18 and
The output terminal of the value processing unit 18 is connected to the determination unit 28 via the counter 22 and to the mask processing unit 34 via the band buffer 32. Also, the decision unit 28
Are connected to a mask processing unit 34 via a mask pattern storage unit 30. Further, the output terminals of the mask processing unit 34 are connected to a band buffer 36, and the four output terminals of the band buffer 36 are connected to the corresponding print heads.

Recording head 50K for K, recording head 5 for C
0C, M recording head 50M, and Y recording head 50
Y corresponds to the recording head of the present invention, and the control unit 12A corresponds to the adjusting unit of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 10A according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, R, G, and B image data each having an 8-bit configuration input from an application program 60 to a printer driver (not shown) are input to the color correction unit 14 and are output from the printer driver. Based on the paper information 70 set by the user on the UI, a color correction table stored in advance is selected according to the characteristics of the ink used in the inkjet printer 10A with respect to the recording medium (paper), and the color correction table has an 8-bit configuration. Is converted into C, M, Y, K image data.

In the color correction section 14, for example, input γ correction processing is performed on the input R, G, and B image data, and C, C, and C are processed by a DLUT (Direct Look Up Table).
After being converted into M, Y, and K image data, gradation processing is performed by output γ correction.

Thereafter, the K, C, and M image data are output to the multi-value processing section 16, and the multi-value processing section 16 generates light ink data of 1 bit for each pixel (each of "light black data"). LKD "," Light cyan data LCD ",
It is converted into “light magenta data LMD” and dark ink data (each called “dark black data DKD”, “dark cyan data DCD”, and “dark magenta data DMD”).

On the other hand, the Y image data is converted to a binary
And is converted to 1-bit dark ink data (referred to as “dark yellow data DYD”) by the binarization processing section 18.

In the multi-level processing section 16 and the binarization processing section 18, for example, multi-level or binary error diffusion processing, n × m
A process using a threshold value matrix (n and m are integers) is performed.

K obtained in the multi-value processing section 16,
The light ink data and dark ink data of 1 bit each of C and M are stored in the band buffer 36 for one scan, and the number of ON pixels of each ink data is counted by the corresponding counter 20, and the light color of each color is stored. Ink data (light black data LKD, light cyan data LCD,
The count value of the light magenta data LMD) is calculated by the adder 24A.
To the dark ink data (dark black data DKD,
The count values of the dark cyan data DCD and the dark magenta data DMD) are input to the adder 24B, and 1 except for Y is calculated.
The number of ink droplets ejected in the first block group and the number of ink droplets ejected in the second block group for scanning are derived by the adders 24A and 24B, respectively.

Information indicating the result of derivation by the adders 24A and 24B is output to the comparator 26. The comparator 26 compares the information indicating each derivation result, and the information indicating the comparison result is determined by the decision unit 28. Is output to On the other hand, in the dark yellow data DYD obtained by the binarization processing unit 18, data for one scan is stored in the band buffer 32,
The number of ejected ink droplets for one scan is derived by the counter 22, and information indicating the derived result is output to the determiner 28.

In the decision unit 28, a mask pattern for the Y image data is selected from the information inputted from the comparator 26 and the information inputted from the counter 22, based on the criteria shown in Table 2, for example. .

[0052]

[Table 2]

In the example shown in Table 2, the difference X between the count value of the adder 24A and the count value of the adder 24B in the comparator 26 is output to the determiner 28,
Then, based on the difference X and a half value of the number of ejected ink droplets for one scan of Y (expressed as “Y ink amount” in Table 2) inputted from the counter 22, the Y recording head is used. 5
A block for ejecting ink at 0Y and a mask pattern for Y image data are selected.

For example, the difference X is greater than 0 and equal to or less than 300, and the number of ejected ink droplets for one scan of Y is 2
If it is larger than 1 /, the second block is selected as the ejection block, and 0x0000 is selected as the mask pattern of the first block of the Y image data, and 0xFFFF is selected as the mask pattern of the second block. When the difference X is smaller than 0 and equal to or larger than -300 and the absolute value of the difference X is equal to or smaller than half the number of ink droplets ejected for one scan of Y, the first block and the ejection block are used as ejection blocks. While both of the second blocks are selected, 0xAAA is selected as the mask pattern of the first block of the Y image data, and 0x5555 is selected as the mask pattern of the second block.

Information indicating the mask pattern selected in this way is output to the mask pattern storage unit 30.
All the mask patterns shown in Table 2 are stored in the mask pattern storage unit 30 in advance, and the mask pattern corresponding to the information indicating the mask pattern input from the determination unit 28 is output to the mask processing unit 34.

The mask processing unit 34 uses the input mask pattern to store the Y stored in the band buffer 32.
Mask processing is performed on the image data of
Are stored in the band buffer 36.

From the band buffer 36, the recording heads (K recording head 50K, C recording head 50C,
The corresponding image data is sent to the M recording head 50M and the Y recording head 50Y), and recording is performed.

In the example shown in Table 2, the blocks for ejecting Y ink are based on the number of ink droplets ejected in the first block group, the number of ink droplets ejected in the second block group, and the number of Y ink droplets. Is determined.

For example, in the same manner as described in the background art, image data corresponding to the pixel G1 shown in FIG. 11 as K and C, image data corresponding to the pixel G2 as M, and pixel G3 as Y. When the corresponding image data is input, the adder 24A is used in the first embodiment.
Is a value equivalent to 225% by the adder 24B.
Is a value equivalent to 50%, and the comparison result by the comparator 26 (the addition result of the adder 24A−the adder 24B
Is the value corresponding to 175%.

On the other hand, the addition result by the counter 22 is 10
0%, which satisfies the uppermost condition shown in Table 2, so that the Y ejection block is only the second block, and as a result, the total ejection ink amount in the first block is 225%, For two blocks, it is 150%. As described above, by controlling the Y ejection block, the total number of ink droplets ejected in the first block group can be reduced, and the effects of bleeding, strikethrough, beading, and the like can be reduced.

That is, in the ink jet printer according to the first embodiment, when the ink is ejected in multiple scans (two in the present embodiment) for one line of image data, the total ink ejection in each scan is performed. Since the ink ejection amount in each scan is adjusted so that the difference in the amount is small, the maximum ink ejection amount in each scan can be reduced, thereby causing bleeding, strikethrough, and the like due to excessive ejection of ink droplets. High-quality images without image quality defects such as beading can be recorded.

[Second Embodiment] In the second embodiment, an embodiment in which the configuration of the recording head is as shown in FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 2A shows a configuration of a recording head used when recording is performed in the photo print mode, and FIG. 2B shows a configuration of a recording head used when recording is performed in the normal print mode.

The configuration in the photo print mode shown in FIG. 2A is such that the C ink and the M ink are light inks having low dye concentrations (light cyan LC and light magenta LM, respectively).
And medium inks having medium dye concentrations (respectively referred to as “medium cyan MC” and “medium magenta MM”), and dark inks having high dye concentrations (respectively dark cyan DC and dark magenta DM)
Recording with inks of three different dye concentrations,
For Y and Y, recording is performed only with dark ink (dark black DK and dark yellow DY, respectively).

On the other hand, the configuration in the normal printing mode shown in FIG. 2B is such that the dark inks (dark black DK, dark cyan DC, dark magenta DM, dark magenta DM,
The recording is performed only with the dark yellow DY).

This allows a user to select between a mode for performing high-quality recording with less graininess (photo print mode) and a mode for performing high-speed recording (normal print mode) in accordance with a user's request. , C and M ink tanks or heads and ink tanks (not shown) for photo
An ink tank filled with light ink in the block, a medium ink in the second block, and a dark ink in the third block, and an ink tank filled with dark ink for each of the normal (first, second, and third blocks) This is implemented by exchanging

In the second embodiment, a case will be described in which dye ink is used as the K ink in the photo print mode and pigment ink is used in the normal print mode.

As the coloring material of the ink used in the ink jet printer, those using a dye and those using a pigment are generally known. Dye inks are excellent in terms of color tone and ink ejection reliability, but inferior in terms of bleeding and edge sharpness. On the other hand, the pigment ink is excellent in water resistance, weather resistance and edge sharpness, but is inferior in reliability such as easy clogging of nozzles.

Further, both the dye ink and the pigment ink include a fast-drying ink having a high penetration rate into a recording medium and a slow-drying ink having a low penetration rate. For the color inks (C, M, and Y inks), from the viewpoint of bleeding between colors in color printing,
A quick-drying ink that has a high penetration (absorption) into the recording medium is used. In addition, K ink has a single-color image quality.
Slow-drying ink with slow penetration (absorption) is used (it is difficult to bleed by itself, but bleeding between colors is severe).

Hereinafter, the mode in each mode will be described while distinguishing between the photo print mode and the normal print mode. First, the mode in the photo print mode will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portion relating to the photo print mode of the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only a portion related to the control of ink ejection of each recording head, and omits other portions.

As shown in the figure, the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment has recording heads (K recording head 50K ', C recording head 50C',
M recording head 50M ', Y recording head 50Y')
And a control unit 12 for controlling ink ejection of the recording head.
B is provided.

The control section 12B includes a color correction section 14B, a multi-value processing section 16B, a binary processing section 18B, and six counters 2B.
0 (counter 20G, counter 20H,..., Counter 20L), two counters 22 (counters 22A and 22B), three adders 24 (adders 24C, 24D and 24E), and a comparator 26B , Decision unit 2
8B, mask pattern storage unit 30B, band buffer 3
2B, a mask processing unit 34B, and a band buffer 36B.

The color correction section 14B receives 8 images corresponding to images to be recorded from the external application program 60.
R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image data having a bit configuration can be input, and information on ink and paper for recording an image from outside (hereinafter referred to as “ink / paper information”) ) 72 can be input, and an output end of the color correction unit 14B for outputting C and M image data is connected to the multi-value processing unit 16B.

The six output terminals of the multi-value processing section 16B are connected to a band buffer 36B and are connected to the corresponding adders 24 via the corresponding counters 20, respectively. Is connected to the comparator 26B, and the output terminal of the comparator 26B is connected to the determiner 28B.

On the other hand, the output terminal of the color correction unit 14B for outputting K and Y image data is connected to the binarization processing unit 18B, and the two output terminals of the binarization processing unit 18B are connected to the corresponding counter 22. Via the band buffer 32B and the mask processing unit 34B via the band buffer 32B.
It is connected to the. The output terminal of the decision unit 28B is connected to the mask processing unit 34B via the mask pattern storage unit 30B. Further, two output terminals of the mask processing unit 34B are connected to the band buffer 36B, and four output terminals of the band buffer 36B are connected to the corresponding recording heads.

The above-described ink / paper information 72 can also be input to the decision unit 28B.

The K recording head 50K ', the C recording head 50C', the M recording head 50M ', and the Y recording head 5
0Y 'corresponds to the recording head of the present invention, and the control unit 12B corresponds to the adjusting means of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment in the photo print mode will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, image data of R, G, and B each having an 8-bit configuration input from an application program 60 is input to a color correction unit 14B, and the color correction unit 14B uses a UI of a printer driver. Color correction is performed based on the ink / paper information 72 set by the user, and the image data is converted into image data of 8-bit configuration for each of C, M, Y, and K. Here, the ink / paper information 72 is sent to the color corrector 14B and also to the determiner 28B.

The C, M, and C obtained in the color correction section 14B
The image data of 8 bits each for Y and K are input to the multi-level processing unit 16B for the C and M image data, and to the binarization processing unit 18B for the K and Y image data.

C and M input to multi-value processing section 16B
The 8-bit image data is subjected to a quaternization process, and the 1-bit light ink data (light cyan data LCD and light magenta data LMD) and the medium ink data (each medium cyan data MCD, Medium magenta data MMD), dark ink data (each dark cyan data D
CD, dark magenta data DMD).

On the other hand, the K input to the binarization processing unit 18B
, And 8-bit image data are respectively subjected to a binarization process to form 1-bit dark ink data (dark black data DKD and dark yellow data DY, respectively).
D).

The light cyan data LCD, medium cyan data MCD, dark cyan data DCD, light magenta data LMD, medium magenta data MMD, and dark magenta data DMD obtained by the multi-value processing section 16B are stored in the band buffer 36B for one scan. And the corresponding counter 20 counts the number of ON pixels of each data, and the count value of the light ink data of each color is added to the adder 24C.
, The count value of the medium ink data is output to the adder 24D, and the count value of the dark ink data is output to the adder 24E. The first, second, and third blocks for one scan in the C ink and the M ink, respectively. The number of ink droplets ejected in the group is derived.

Adder 24C, Adder 24D and Adder 2
4E is output to the comparator 26B and compared by the comparator 26B, and information indicating the result of the comparison is output to the determiner 28B.

On the other hand, K processed by the binarization processing unit 18B
And image data of one bit each of Y are stored in the band buffer 32B for each scan, and output to the counters 22A and 22B, respectively, and are discharged by the counters 22A and 22B for one scan. The number of ink drops is derived, and information indicating the result of the derivation is output to the determiner 28B.

The decision unit 28B compiles the information indicating the comparison result input from the comparator 26B, the information input from the counters 22A and 22B, and the ink / paper information 72 into Tables 3 and 4, for example. A mask pattern is selected based on the criterion as shown, and information indicating the result of the selection is output to the mask pattern storage unit 30B.

[0087]

[Table 3]

Here, SD indicates a slow drying ink, and FD indicates a fast drying ink.

[0089]

[Table 4]

In the mask pattern storage unit 30B, the decision unit 2
The mask pattern corresponding to the information input from 8B is selected from the mask patterns shown in Table 3 or Table 4 stored in advance and output to the mask processing unit 34B. The mask processing unit 34B uses the input mask pattern. Mask processing is performed on the image data of 1 bit each of K and Y stored in the band buffer 32B, and the masked image data of 1 bit each of K and Y is stored in the band buffer 36B.

Then, the recording heads (K recording head 50K ', C recording head 50K) are transferred from the band buffer 36B.
C ′, M recording head 50M ′, Y recording head 50
The image data is sent to Y ′) for recording.

In the example shown in Table 3, first, K and Y ejection blocks are determined from the relationship between the ink and sheet information indicated by the ink / sheet information 72 and the K and Y ink amounts.

In the example shown in Table 3, the K ink is only SD (slow drying ink), and the color inks other than K are only FD (fast drying ink).

Here, when the paper is plain paper, in order to prevent bleeding between colors, the K ink and the Y ink are discharged in different blocks so that they are not discharged in the same scan.

That is, in the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment, a recording head (here, corresponding to a recording head for K and a recording head for Y) in which ink bleeds greatly on the paper based on the characteristics of the paper. Is adjusted to eject ink at different timings, so bleeding due to excessive ejection of ink droplets,
High-quality images without image quality defects such as strikethrough and beading can be recorded.

The paper is coated paper, glossy paper or OHP
In the case of a sheet, the ejection block is determined based on the relationship between the ink amounts in the first, second, and third blocks of C and M as shown in Table 4. In Table 4, D,
E and F are an adder 24C, an adder 24D, and an adder 2, respectively.
4E corresponds to one of the output results. G
Is the corresponding value of the adder corresponding to D when the adder 24C, the adder 24D, and the adder 24E correspond to the values of 1, 2, and 3, respectively, and H is the adder corresponding to E as well. And I corresponds to the corresponding value of the adder corresponding to F, respectively.

For example, D is the output result from the adder 24C (ie, the number of ink droplets of LC + the number of ink droplets of LM), and E is the output result from the adder 24D (ie, the number of ink droplets of MC). + MM ejected ink drops)
And F is the output result from adder 24E (ie, DC
And the number of ejected ink drops of DM + the number of ejected ink drops of DM), and when D>E> F under condition 1 (that is, the first
(When the amount of ink ejected in the block> the amount of ink ejected in the second block> the amount of ink ejected in the third block), the condition 2 indicates that the difference between the amounts of ink in the first and second blocks is K and Y If the total ink amount is larger than one half of the total ink amount, the ejection blocks of the K ink and the Y ink are the second block and the third block, and the mask pattern at this time is 0x5555 for the second block and 0x5555 for the third block. Becomes 0xAAAAA.

That is, in this case, since the ejection amounts of the C ink and the M ink in the first block are much larger than those of the other blocks, the inks of the K ink and the Y ink are not used in the blocks other than the first block. Is discharged. As a result, since the operation is performed so that the amount of ink ejected in each block approaches uniformity, it is possible to prevent ink bleeding, strikethrough, beading, and the like.

In condition 2, the difference between the ink amounts of the first block and the second block is ２ of the total ink amount of K and Y.
If the second block and the third block are smaller than
The difference between the ink amount of the block and the total ink amount of K and Y is 2
If it is larger than one-half, the ejection blocks of the K ink and the Y ink are both only the third block, and the mask pattern of the third block at this time is 0xFFFF.

That is, in this case, since the ejection amount of the C ink and the M ink in the third block is significantly smaller than that of the other blocks, the ejection of the K ink and the Y ink is performed only in the third block. I am trying to do it. As a result, since the operation is performed so that the amount of ink ejected in each block approaches uniformity, it is possible to prevent ink bleeding, strikethrough, beading, and the like.

Next, the mode in the normal printing mode will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portion related to the photo print mode of the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only a portion related to the control of ink ejection of each recording head, and omits other portions.

As shown in the figure, the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment has print heads (K print head 50K ', C print head 50K) for each color.
C ″, M recording head 50M ″, Y recording head 5
0Y ') and a control unit 12B for controlling the ink ejection of the recording head.

The control unit 12B includes a color correction unit 14C, a binarization processing unit 18C, a decision unit 28C, and a mask pattern storage unit 3.
0C, a mask processing unit 34C, and a band buffer 36C.

The color correction section 14C receives 8 images corresponding to images to be recorded from the external application program 60, respectively.
The R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image data having a bit configuration can be input, and the ink / paper information 72 can be input from the outside.
An output end for outputting the image data of K, C, M, and Y of C is connected to the binarization processing unit 18C, and the binarization processing unit 1
The output terminal of 8C is connected to the mask processing unit 34C,
Further, the output terminal of the mask processing unit 34C is a band buffer 36.
It is connected to C.

On the other hand, the ink / paper information 72 is
The output terminal of the decision unit 28C is connected to a mask processing unit 34C via a mask pattern storage unit 30C.

The four output terminals of the band buffer 36C are connected to the corresponding recording heads.

The K recording head 50K ', the C recording head 50C ", the M recording head 50M", and the Y recording head 50Y' correspond to the recording head of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 10B according to the second embodiment in the normal printing mode will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the normal printing mode, the color correction unit 1
The image data of 8 bits each of C, M, Y and K output from 4C are all sent to the binarization processing unit 18C and
After being digitized, it is sent to the mask processing unit 34C.

In the mask processing section 34C, the ink / paper information 72 set by the user on the UI of the printer driver is set.
Based on the ink amount of each of the K ink and the Y ink, the mask processing is performed based on a determination criterion as shown in Table 5 as an example in cooperation with the determiner 28C and the mask pattern storage unit 30C. The data after the mask processing is sent to the band buffer 36C.

[0112]

[Table 5]

Here, CB indicates carbon black which is a kind of pigment ink.

In the example shown in Table 5, the ink / paper information 72
The ejection block of the K ink and the Y ink is determined only by the above.

For example, if the paper is plain paper, K ink and Y ink are not ejected in the same scan from the viewpoint of bleeding between colors. Also, due to the difference in optical density between the K ink and the Y ink, the K ink uses the second block and the third block to perform recording by division. That is, since the K ink has a visually higher density (conspicuous) than the Y ink, the K ink
The printing is divided into two blocks, and the printing is divided into two blocks to reduce white streaks due to non-ejection or defective ejection directionality.

When the paper is an OHP sheet, a coated paper, or a glossy paper, there is little bleeding between colors.
Using the first, second, and third blocks, three-division printing is performed to reduce white stripes due to poor ejection directionality.

Since the pigment ink has poor fixability on glossy paper, printing is performed on glossy paper in three colors of C, M, and Y.

[Third Embodiment] In the first and second embodiments described above, after the image data is converted into 1-bit data, the number of ON pixels of the actual image data is counted. In the third embodiment, a description has been given of an example in which the block in which the recording of Y or Y and K is performed is determined based on the count value.
An embodiment in which a block is determined based on the sampling result of 8-bit image data for each of Y and K will be described.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ink jet printer 10C according to the third embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only a portion related to the control of ink ejection of each recording head, and omits other portions.

As shown in the figure, the ink jet printer 10C according to the third embodiment has recording heads (K recording head 50K ', C recording head 50C',
M recording head 50M ', Y recording head 50Y')
And a control unit 12 for controlling ink ejection of the recording head.
C is provided.

The control section 12C includes a color correction section 14D, a multi-level processing section 16D, a binarization processing section 18D, a comparator 26D, a decision section 28D, a mask pattern storage section 30D, a mask processing section 34D, a band buffer 36D, Sampling unit 3
8. It includes a recording block ink amount calculator 40.

The color correction section 14D receives 8 images corresponding to images to be recorded from the external application program 60, respectively.
The R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image data having a bit configuration can be input, and the ink / paper information 72 can be input from the outside.
An output end for outputting the C and M image data of D is connected to a multi-value processing unit 16D, and furthermore, the multi-value processing unit 16D
Is connected to the band buffer 36D.

The output terminal of the color correction unit 14D for outputting the K and Y image data is connected to the binarization processing unit 18D, and the two output terminals of the binarization processing unit 18D are connected to a mask processing unit. It is connected to a band buffer 36D via 34D.

On the other hand, each output terminal of the color correction unit 14D is branched and connected to the sampling unit 38, and the output terminal of the sampling unit 38 is connected to the recording block ink amount calculator 40.
And a recording block ink amount calculator 4
The output terminal of the mask processing unit 34D is output through the comparator 26D, the decision unit 28D, and the mask pattern storage unit 30D in this order.
It is connected to the. The four output terminals of the band buffer 36D are connected to the corresponding recording heads.
The same recording head as that used in the second embodiment (see also FIG. 2) is used in the third embodiment. The control unit 12C corresponds to the adjusting unit of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 10C according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
Until the color correction unit 14D obtains image data of 8-bit configuration of each of C, M, Y, and K, the process is the same as that of the second embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

The image data converted into the 8-bit configuration of each of C, M, Y, and K by the color correction unit 14D is obtained by converting the C and M image data to the multi-value processing unit 16D and the K and Y image data to 2 bits. Each of the image data is sent to the value processing section 18D, and the C and M image data is subjected to ternarization processing, and the K and Y image data is subjected to binarization processing. Along with this, C, M,
The 8-bit image data of each of Y and K is sampled at an appropriate size by the sampling unit 38, and is sampled from 0 to 2
The pixel distribution of each color in the range up to 55 is sent to the recording block ink amount calculator 40 as a sampling result.

In the recording block ink amount calculator 40, C
And the amount of ink ejected in all of the first, second, and third blocks of the C recording head 50C ′ and the M recording head 50M ′, and the K recording head 50
The ejection ink amount for one scan of the K ′ and Y recording heads 50Y ′ is calculated, and the calculation result is sent to the comparator 26D.

In the comparator 26D, the recording head 50 for C
The ejection ink amounts of all the first, second, and third blocks of the C ′ and M recording heads 50M ′ are compared, and
Of the recording head 50K 'for Y and the recording head 50Y' for Y
The ejection ink amounts for the scans are compared, and information indicating the result of the comparison is sent to the determiner 28D, and the mask pattern is stored in the mask pattern storage unit 30D based on the determination criteria shown in Tables 3 and 4 as an example. Is selected,
The dark black data DKD and the dark yellow data D converted into 1-bit image data by the binarization processing unit 18D.
For YD, mask processing for allocating ejected ink droplets to the first, second, and third blocks is performed.

Also in the third embodiment, since the mask processing is performed according to the same criterion as in the second embodiment, the same effects as in the second embodiment can be obtained.

In the third embodiment, the data for one scan is sampled to determine each of the K and Y recording blocks for each scan, but the entire input image is determined. Sampling may be performed to determine each of the K and Y recording blocks from the distribution of the ink amount of the entire input image for each input image.

[Fourth Embodiment] In each of the above embodiments,
The control of the combination of the recording blocks is performed only for the head using the single density ink. In the fourth embodiment, a case will be described in which a combination of recording blocks is controlled for inks having a plurality of densities.

FIG. 6A shows an example of the gradation expression when printing is performed using dark and light ink in the configuration of the print head as shown in FIG. In the figure, for one pixel, the gradation 80A of one drop of light ink → the gradation 80B of two drops of light ink → the gradation 80C of one drop of dark ink → the dark ink 2
The case where the gradation is expressed by five gradations (including no ink) in the order of the gradation 80D of the droplet is shown.

FIG. 6B shows the relationship between each gradation and the optical density when recording is performed on a recording medium using the gradation expression of FIG. 6A. Here, as the recording medium, there are coated paper in which a coating layer holding ink in a direction perpendicular to the recording surface (the thickness direction of the recording medium) is applied to the recording medium, and plain paper in which the coating layer is not applied. Are shown.

As shown in FIG. 6B, in the case of coated paper,
Gray scale 80A → Gray scale 80B → Gray scale 80C → Gray scale 80
It can be seen that the optical density increases almost linearly as D increases. However, on plain paper, there is almost no difference in optical density between the gradation 80A of one light ink droplet and the gradation 80B of two light ink droplets, and the gradation 80C of one dark ink droplet is small.
There is also almost no difference in optical density between the gray level 80D and the two drops of dark ink. Therefore, since there is no difference in optical density, even if the gradation 80B of two drops of light ink and the gradation 80D of two drops of dark ink are used on plain paper, only the amount of ink to be ejected to one pixel increases, Cannot be obtained.

On the other hand, FIG. 7 shows the operation of the recording head of the ink jet printer and the state of the image to be printed in the fourth embodiment.

First, the recording head 50 moves in the main scanning direction, and the first block is divided into two divided blocks 51.
From 1, ink droplets corresponding to the input image data are ejected and printing is performed. The print image at that time is shown in FIG.
The image 63 of FIG.

Subsequently, a paper feeding operation is performed for a distance corresponding to a half of the block width, and at the same time, the recording head 50 is moved.
Moves to the first position.

Then, the recording head 50 starts scanning in the main scanning direction again.
The recording is performed in the other divided block 512 obtained by dividing the first block into two at the location recorded by 11. The print image at this time is the image 64 in FIG.

Thereafter, at the same time as the paper feeding operation is performed again for a distance corresponding to a half of the block width, the recording head 50 moves to the initial position, and one of the divided blocks 521 obtained by dividing the second block into two. The recording in is started.

In this way, an image of an area corresponding to one half of the block width is formed by four scans. By repeating this operation several times, the entire input image is formed. Here, in the first scan, FIG.
Are ejected to the pixels corresponding to the gray scales 80A and 80B shown in FIG. 7, similarly, the gray scale 80B in the second scan, the gray scale 80C and the gray scale 8 in the third scan.
At 0D and at the fourth grayscale at the fourth scan, ink droplets are ejected to the corresponding pixels. Incidentally, in the Y recording head, recording is performed in each scan for each quarter of the input image data.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ink jet printer 10D according to the fourth embodiment. It should be noted that FIG. 2 shows only a portion related to the control of ink ejection of each recording head, and omits other portions.

As shown in the figure, an ink jet printer 10D according to the fourth embodiment includes recording heads for each color (K recording head 50K, C recording head 50C, M recording head 50M, Y recording head 50M). 50Y), and a control unit 12D for controlling the ink ejection of the recording head.

The control section 12D includes a color correction section 14E, a multi-value processing section 16E, a binarization processing section 18E, a mask pattern storage section 30E, a mask processing section 34E, and a band buffer 36.
E, a configuration including a number-of-discharged-ink-drops setting unit 42.

The color correction unit 14E receives 8 images corresponding to the image to be recorded from the external application program 60.
R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image data having a bit configuration is configured to be inputtable.
0 of the color correction unit 14E.
An output terminal for outputting C and M image data is a multi-value processing unit 1
6E.

The output end of the multi-value processing section 16E is connected to the mask processing section 34E.
Is connected to the band buffer 36E.

On the other hand, the output terminal of the color correction unit 14E for outputting the Y image data is connected to the binarization processing unit 18E, and the output terminal of the binarization processing unit 18E is connected to the mask processing unit 34E.
It is connected to the.

The paper information 70 is also configured to be able to be input to the number-of-ejected-ink-drops setting section 42. One output terminal of the number-of-ejected-ink-drops setting section 42 is supplied to the multi-value processing section 16E and the other output terminal. The ends are connected to the mask processing unit 34E via the mask pattern storage unit 30E. Further, the four output terminals of the band buffer 36E are connected to the corresponding recording heads. The control unit 12D corresponds to the adjusting unit of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 10D according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, R, G, and B image data of 8 bits each input from the application program 60 are input to the color correction unit 14E,
In E, a color table is selected based on the paper information 70 set by the user on the UI of the printer driver, and the color table is converted into image data of 8 bits each of C, M, Y, and K.

The sheet information 70 is sent to the color correction section 14E and also to the ejection ink drop number setting section 42. The number-of-ejected-ink-drops setting unit 42 sets the maximum number of ejected ink drops for each pixel, the number of gradations, , Y recording blocks are determined, and information indicating the determined contents is sent to the multi-value processing section 16E and the mask pattern storage section 30E.

[0151]

[Table 6]

Then, in the mask pattern storage section 30E, a mask pattern is selected based on a criterion as shown in Table 7 as an example.

[0153]

[Table 7]

On the other hand, C, M,
Image data of 8-bit configuration for each of Y and K is output to the multi-level processing unit 16E for K, C and M, and to the binarization processing unit 18E for Y.

In the binarization processing section 18E, the Y image data is converted into 1-bit image data DYD and output to the mask processing section 34E. On the other hand, the multi-value processing section 16E
Are a plurality of multi-value processing units, for example, a ternary processing unit 171,
A quinary processing section 172;
In E, one of the multi-value processing units is selected based on the information input from the ejection ink droplet number setting unit 42, and the color correction unit 1 is selected.
The image data of K, C, and M each having an 8-bit configuration input from 4E is converted. Here, the quinary processing unit 172
Is selected, each block of K, C, and M
1-bit data divided into planes (for example,
In the case of K, light black data LK1, light black data LK2, dark black data DK1, and dark black data DK2) are output. When the ternarization processing unit 171 is selected, 1-bit data for each block of K, C, and M (for example, in the case of K, light black data LK1 and dark black data DK1) are stored. Is output.
The data output from the multi-value processing section 16E is input to the mask processing section 34E.

In the mask pattern storage section 30E, a mask pattern as shown in Table 7 as an example is selected based on the information input from the ejection ink drop number setting section 42, and the information is output to the mask processing section 34E. Is done.

In the mask processing section 34E, mask processing based on the mask patterns shown in Table 7 is performed, the data after the mask processing is stored in the band buffer 36E, and image data is sent to the recording head of each color. Recording starts.

In the example shown in Table 6, the paper is plain paper or OH
In the case of a P sheet, each block has a maximum of one drop of ink from the viewpoint of the relationship between the superimposed state of ink and the optical density shown in FIG. One pixel is recorded with a droplet.

As described above, in the ink jet printer 10D according to the present embodiment, based on the characteristics of the paper, the recording head having a small difference in the optical density on the paper according to the ink discharge amount per pixel (here, all print heads). The recording head) is adjusted so as to reduce the amount of ink ejected per pixel, so that a high-quality image free from image quality defects such as bleeding, strikethrough, and beading caused by excessive ejection of ink droplets can be obtained. Can be recorded.

Further, since the K ink uses a slow-drying ink and the color ink uses a quick-drying ink, the influence of bleeding on a portion where the K ink and the color ink come into contact with plain paper is large. , Especially Y having a large optical density difference
With ink, the image quality is significantly degraded due to the influence. Therefore, on plain paper, printing of Y ink is performed only in the first block, and printing is not performed by the same scan as that of dark black ink.

On the other hand, in the case of coated paper or glossy paper, FIG.
From the viewpoint of the relationship between the ink superposition state and the optical density shown with reference to (B) and the amount of ink absorption, each block prints one pixel with a maximum of two ink droplets and provides smooth gradation. Reproducible.

The gradation expression on each sheet is represented by plain paper and OHP.
In the sheet, for example, gradation 80A and gradation 8 in FIG.
0C, and for coated paper and glossy paper, for all gradations 80A to 80D.

In each of the above embodiments, a regular mask pattern is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a random pattern may be used.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the case where the block by each recording head is divided into any of two to four has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and five or more blocks may be used. It is needless to say that the form can be divided into two.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which the present invention is realized by hardware has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this, and may be realized by software such as a printer driver. In this case, the same effects as in the above embodiments can be obtained.

[0166]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the ink is ejected in a plurality of scans for one line of image data, the difference in total ink ejection amount in each scan is reduced. Since the amount of ink ejected in each scan is adjusted, the maximum amount of ink ejected in each scan can be reduced, thereby eliminating image defects such as bleeding, strikethrough, and beading caused by excessive ejection of ink droplets. The effect that a high quality image can be recorded can be obtained.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink, ink is ejected by scanning different from each other with respect to the recording heads in which the ink bleeds greatly into the recording medium. Therefore, an effect that a high-quality image free from image quality defects such as bleeding, strike-through, and beading caused by excessive ejection of ink droplets can be recorded can be obtained.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, the amount of ink discharged from the recording head per pixel is adjusted based on at least one of the characteristics of the recording medium and the characteristics of the ink. As a result, bleeding, strikethrough,
The advantage is that a high-quality image without image quality defects such as beading can be recorded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a recording head of an inkjet printer according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration in a photo print mode of an inkjet printer according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration in a normal print mode of an inkjet printer according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing an example of gradation expression in a grayscale recording method, and FIG. 6B is a graph showing the relationship between each gradation and the optical density in FIG. .

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an operation of a recording head and a state of a print image in an inkjet printer according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a recording head using a grayscale recording method.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an operation of the recording head of FIG. 9 and an example of a state of a print image.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of gradation expression in a grayscale recording method.

[Explanation of symbols]

10A, 10B, 10C, 10D Inkjet printer (inkjet recording device) 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D Control unit (adjustment means) 50K, 50C, 50M, 50Y Recording head 50K ', 50C', 50M ', 50Y' Recording head 50C '', 50M '' recording head

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor, Naosuke Ino 2274 Hongo, Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Ebina Office F-term (reference) 2C056 EA05 EA09 EA05 EA09 EA11 EB13 EB45 EB49 EC03 EC07 EC11 EC71 EC72 EC74 EC76 EC80 ED05 ED07 EE03 EE10 EE14 EE18 FA10 FB02 2C057 AF27 AF39 AF91 AH13 AJ02 AL03 AL14 AL21 AL32 AM03 AM14 AM15 AM28 AM30 AN01 CA07 DA05 DA06 DB03 DC02 DD09 DE07 DE08

Claims (3)

[Claims] A plurality of recording heads for ejecting inks of different colors, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads performs a plurality of times for one line of image data on a recording medium in accordance with image data. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink by scanning, wherein at least one of the plurality of recording heads is a single-density recording head that discharges a single-density ink. An ink jet recording apparatus including an adjusting unit that adjusts an ink discharge amount in each scan so that a difference in a total ink discharge amount is reduced. 2. A printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of recording heads each of which ejects ink of a different color; An ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording by discharging ink by scanning, wherein at least one of the recording head and the ink having a large bleeding to the recording medium based on at least one of the characteristic of the recording medium and the characteristic of the ink. An ink jet recording apparatus including an adjusting unit that adjusts ink to be ejected by different scans. 3. A printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of recording heads each of which ejects ink of a different color, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads performs a plurality of times for one line of image data on a recording medium in accordance with image data. An ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink by scanning, wherein an ink discharge amount per pixel from a recording head is reduced based on at least one of a characteristic of the recording medium and a characteristic of the ink. An ink jet recording apparatus provided with an adjusting means for adjusting the distance.