JP2001287427A - Print controller and medium storing its operation program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print a page image at correct positions on the opposite sides of a print sheet using a perfecting ink jet printer. SOLUTION: At the time of feeding a recording sheet A printed on the surface side, resist rollers 410a, 410b are turned in the direction D1 for pushing back the recording sheet A while turning a feed roller 407 in the direction C1 for feeding the recording sheet A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording technique, and more particularly to a printer capable of recording a high-quality image even in double-sided printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet printer described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-254376 is known as a printer capable of printing a page image on both sides of a sheet. When the two-sided printing mode is specified with this inkjet printer, the paper in the paper feed cassette is first conveyed between the recording head and the platen, passes through it, is once switched back, and From the recording head to the platen. While such automatic conveyance is being performed, an odd-numbered page image is first printed on one side of the paper, and an even-numbered page image is then printed on the opposite side (hereinafter, the page image is first printed). Is referred to as a front surface, and a surface printed on a page image after printing on the front surface is referred to as a back surface).

In addition to this ink jet printer, there is also known an ink jet printer which can print a page image on both sides of a sheet, and manually inverts the sheet on which the page image has been printed on the front side. Have been. When you specify the duplex printing mode with this inkjet printer, paper is sent out from the paper feed tray,
First, an odd page image is printed on the front side of these sheets. Then, when the user reverses the sheet on which the odd-numbered page image has been printed and re-sets it on the paper feed tray, the paper is sent out from the paper feed tray, and then the even-numbered page image is printed on the back side. . If the number of page images to be printed on the sheet is three or more, the printing of even-numbered page images is started after the printing of all odd-numbered page images is completed.

In these two types of ink-jet printers, the rotation of upper and lower registration rollers disposed in front of the recording head is temporarily stopped, and the leading edge of the sheet being conveyed is abutted between the valleys, whereby the leading edge of the sheet with respect to the recording head is moved. Is performed. The upper and lower registration rollers resume rotation after a lapse of a predetermined time from the stop, and feed the paper toward the recording head.

[0005]

By the way, the state of the sheet is clearly different before and after the page image is printed on the front side as described below.

For example, a sheet on which a page image is printed on the front side contains ink, and therefore is heavier than that of a blank sheet containing no ink at all. The sheet whose weight has been increased by the amount of ink does not proceed smoothly even if the sheet is conveyed in the same condition as that of a blank sheet.

[0007] Further, the paper on which the page image is already printed on the front side contains ink and has a reduced hygroscopicity, so that the ink is harder to dry than a blank sheet containing no ink. When a page image is newly printed on the back side of the sheet having reduced hygroscopicity, the page image does not dry as quickly as the page image printed in the blank state.

However, the above two types of conventional ink jet printers do not change the way of transporting the paper when printing on either the front or back side of the paper.

Therefore, when printing a page image on the back side, the paper is not transported as smoothly as when printing a page on the front side. As a result, the sheet conveying speed is reduced, and the upper and lower registration rollers may restart rotating even though the entire leading edge of the sheet is not completely abutted between the valleys of the upper and lower registration rollers. When this occurs, the sheet is pushed out toward the recording head without accurately positioning the leading end of the sheet with respect to the recording head.
If printing of the page image on the back side starts as it is,
Since the page image is not printed in an appropriate area on the back side of the sheet, there arises a problem that the images on both sides of the sheet are not parallel.

Further, when a page image of three or more pages is printed on both sides, the ink on the back side of the paper on the paper output tray may not be sufficiently dried, but the paper may be stacked one after another. is there. When this happens, the ink on the back side of each sheet on the output tray will be transferred to the front side of the other sheet, so the image quality of the page image will be on both sides of each sheet on the output tray. Decrease. In particular, such a case is likely to occur when a photographic image or the like is printed on the back surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to continuously print a high-quality page image on an appropriate area on both sides of a plurality of sheets by an ink-jet printer capable of printing on both sides. And, in order to achieve this object, the present invention provides:
Specifically, the present invention provides a print control device that causes a printer to execute such printing, and a storage medium that stores an operation program of the print control device.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus for outputting a command for giving a printer capable of printing a page image on both sides of a sheet. A print mode designation accepting unit for accepting designation of a two-sided print mode in which both sides of the sheet are to be printed on a page image; and (2) the printer receives the designation of the duplex mode by the print mode designation accepting unit. For a plurality of page images to be printed, a paper feed command for delaying the start of paper supply of a sheet on which a second page image to be printed later is printed out of a pair of page images having consecutive page numbers is created. Command creation means for
(3) A print control device, comprising: a command output unit that outputs a sheet feed command created by the command creation unit as the command.

According to the printing control apparatus of the present invention, a waiting time is provided before feeding the recording paper having the front side printed thereon, so that the ink on the front side of the paper is sufficiently dried. , The page image printing on the back side of the sheet can be started. Therefore, even if the front side of the sheet comes into contact with a roller or the like during conveyance of the sheet for back side printing, the image quality of the page image on the front side of the sheet does not deteriorate. Therefore, a high-quality image can be printed on both sides of the sheet.

The print control apparatus according to the present invention further comprises: (4) information correlated with the amount of ink used in printing the first page image to be printed first among the pair of page images. (2) the command output means detects the start of feeding of the paper on which the second page image is printed for the first page paired with the second page. Create a paper feed command that delays by the waiting time according to the information detected by
You may do so.

With this configuration, the minimum necessary waiting time for the ink on the front surface of the paper to dry is set.
It is also possible to prevent a decrease in throughput.

Alternatively, in the print control device according to the present invention,
(5) By providing a printing condition storage unit that stores the waiting time in association with the type of paper or the type of ink,
(2) The command output unit is associated with the type of paper on which the second page image is printed, or the type of ink used for printing the first page image paired with the second page image. The waiting time may be retrieved from the printing condition storage means, and a paper feed command may be created to delay the start of paper feeding on which the second page image is printed by the waiting time.

In this way, the characteristics of the paper in use,
The waiting time can be set according to the characteristics of the ink being used.

Further, in the print control apparatus according to the present invention, (2) the command creating means may determine a waiting time until the start of feeding of a sheet on which the second page image is printed, by changing a printing time of the second page image. You may make it shorten according to the elapsed time from completion | finish.

In this way, since the time required for printing the succeeding paper is added to the waiting time for the paper that has been printed earlier, it is possible to prevent the printing time from being unnecessarily prolonged. This is particularly useful when there are many printed pages.

Further, if the printer is a printer in which the advance of the sheet fed by the rotation of the feed roller is temporarily stopped by a registration roller in the forward direction of the sheet,
(2) The command creation means sets the registration roller to:
Until before the resumption of the advance of the sheet, an instruction to rotate the sheet in a direction to retreat the sheet and rotate the feed roller in accordance with the rotation of the registration roller is supplied to the sheet on which the second page image is printed. It can be included in a paper feed command that delays the start of paper.

In this way, the front-printed sheet is fed toward the registration roller at the time of paper feeding, and the leading end of the sheet is rebounded by the registration roller, so that the skew of the sheet being transported is reduced. Corrected, the leading edge of the sheet can be correctly positioned with respect to the recording head. Therefore, the page image can be printed at an appropriate position even on the back side of the front-printed sheet. Therefore, a high-quality image can be printed at an appropriate position on both sides of the sheet. Further, according to the present invention, a page image can be printed on both sides of the sheet as a storage medium storing an operation program of the print control device. A storage medium storing a program for causing a print control device to output a paper feed command to be given to a simple printer, wherein the program causes the print control device to: (1) print both sides of the sheet on a page image to be printed; A process for receiving a designation of a duplex printing mode as a surface,
(2) a process of detecting information correlated with the amount of ink used in printing the first page image to be printed by the printer first, out of a pair of page images having consecutive page numbers; When the designation of the duplex printing mode is received, the sheet feeding start of the sheet on which the second page image to be printed later by the printer is started out of the pair of page images is set as the second page. A storage medium for executing a process of creating a paper feed command to delay by a waiting time according to information detected for the first page to be set, and (4) a process of outputting the paper feed command. provide.

In the above, the constituent elements listed as necessary items for specifying the present invention have a degree of freedom of combination as much as possible, and any combination thereof constitutes the invention. . A specific example of the combination will be described below as an embodiment of the present invention, but this is merely an example, and a form in which some of the invention specific matters are appropriately deleted therefrom is excluded from the embodiment of the present invention. Not something. In addition, each of the components specifically described below is only one subordinate concept of the superordinate concept having the same function.

[0023]

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

First, the configuration of the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, a system configuration including a printer that enables a user to perform double-sided printing by reversing a recording sheet will be described as an example.

The printing system according to the present embodiment has the configuration shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a host 100, a printer 300, a cable 200 connecting the host 100 and the printer 300,
Etc.

Here, the host 100 has a hardware configuration as a normal information processing device. Specifically, a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM
103, display controller 104, keyboard controller 105, floppy (registered trademark) disk drive 106, hard disk 107, CD-ROM
A drive 108, a printer interface 109 to which the cable 200 is connected, and a communication line 110a if necessary.
And a bus 112 for transmitting data between them. Further, as external input / output devices, the keyboard 105 a is used as the keyboard controller 105, and the display device 104 a is used as the display controller 10.
4 is connected.

The built-in hard disk 107 of the host 100 has a floppy disk 107a and a CD.
-Various application programs are installed in advance from a storage medium such as the ROM 108a.
For example, a drawing program for creating a page image or the like to be printed on the printer 300 and a printer control program in which a printer control process described later is defined are also included therein. Note that various control programs and the like are stored in the ROM 102 in advance.

The host 100 realizes a functional configuration for executing a printer control process, which will be described later, by such a hardware configuration and a program and data read into the memory. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, an input unit 150 for a user to input data, a display unit 151 for displaying various display screens, a user interface control processing unit 152 for controlling the input unit 150 and the display unit 151, An application execution unit 153; a print data creation unit 154 for converting print data from the drawing application execution unit 153 into print data for a printer; a paper feed command creation unit 156 for creating a paper feed command to be given to the printer 300; A spooler 155 for spooling print data from the creation unit 154 and a paper feed command from the paper feed command creation unit 156, and a transmission / reception control unit 1 for controlling data transmission / reception with the printer 300
57 is realized.

On the other hand, inside the housing of the printer 300, components of a printing mechanism 400 for executing a printing process, components of a control system 500 for controlling the entire printer, and the like are incorporated. A liquid crystal monitor 301 and an operation panel 302 are provided outside the housing.

The components of the control system 500 include a CPU 50
1. ROM 502, RAM 504, input / output interface 505 to which cable 200 is connected, LCD monitor 31
And a panel controller 5 for controlling the operation panel 32
03, a bus 50 for transmitting data between them
6, etc. are included. Then, at the time of executing the page image printing, the transmission / reception control unit 550 that controls data transmission / reception with the host 100 by using these constituent devices and programs, as shown in FIG. 3, in response to a print request from the host 100 side. A print control processing unit 551 that causes the printing mechanism 400 to execute a page image printing process is realized.

As shown in FIG. 4, the components of the printing mechanism 400 include a recording head 401, detachable ink cartridges 405 for each color, a head moving device (not shown), a platen 402, a paper tray 403, and a discharge tray. Paper tray 404,
It includes an ink circulation device 405, a paper transport device, a high voltage generation circuit, and the like.

During the page image printing process, the head moving device reciprocates the recording head 401 in a direction crossing the recording paper A intermittently fed by the following paper transport device. For this purpose, the head moving device 401 includes a carriage on which the recording head 401 and the ink cartridge 405 are mounted, a driving belt for reciprocating the carriage in the main scanning direction, two pulleys, and a print control unit 551 of the control system 500. And a stepping motor for rotating the driving pulley in response to the control command.

The ink ejection section 401a of the recording head 401 faces the platen 402 with a predetermined gap t. The paper transporting device transports the printing paper A so as to pass through the gap t. For this purpose, the paper transport device includes a call roller 406 for calling the print paper A on the paper feed tray 44, and a vertical guide for guiding the print paper A between the ink ejection unit 401 a of the print head 401 and the platen 402. Feeding rollers 407 for feeding the printing paper A between the plates 408a, 408b and the upper and lower guide plates 408a, 408b, and the upper and lower guide plates 408a, 40
8b, and upper and lower registration rollers 410a, 410 for positioning the leading end of the printing paper A passing between the upper and lower guide plates 48a, 48b.
b, up and down sending rollers 411a and 411b for pulling out the printing paper A from the interval t between the ink ejection unit 401a of the recording head 401 and the platen 402, and rotating each roller according to a control command from the printing control unit 551 of the control system 500. And a plurality of stepping motors (not shown). In addition,
The upper registration roller 410a is pressed against the lower registration roller 410b by the elastic force of the spring 412.

Next, the paper feed command created by the paper feed command creator 156 will be described. In the following, for one piece of printing paper, the surface on which the page image is printed first is called the front surface, and the surface on which the page image is printed after printing on the front surface is called the back surface. Call.

The paper feed command creator 156 generates two types of paper feed commands (normal paper feed command and back paper feed command) to be issued to the printer.

The normal paper feed command is a command for operating the paper transport device of the printer as follows.

When a normal paper feed command is issued, first,
The rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b stops, and the calling roller 406 and the feeding roller 407
It starts rotating at a predetermined speed in a predetermined direction (directions B and C ₁ for sending out the recording paper A). As a result, the calling roller 406
The uppermost printing paper A that is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the paper feeding cassette 403 is called out from the paper feeding cassette 403 and delivered to the rotating feeding roller 407. Then, the recording paper A includes the upper and lower guide plates 4.
08a and 408b, the leading end of which is abutted between the valleys of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b during which rotation is stopped.

Then, the paper detection sensor 409 detects that the paper has passed.
Is detected for a predetermined time Δs₁ Is sent after
The roller 407 stops rotating. At this time,
The roller 407 inserts the notch 407a into the recording paper A.
I am aiming. At this time, the recording paper A is
Can be loosened by contact with strollers 410a and 410b
About between the upper and lower guide plates 408a and 408b
Have been. For this reason, the entire leading edge of the recording paper A
During the stoppage of the distrollers 410a and 410b,
It is indeed added.

In this state, the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b start rotating at a predetermined speed in a predetermined direction (a direction D ₁ for feeding the recording paper A). Thus, the recording paper A held between the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b starts to advance again and is transferred between the upper and lower sending rollers 411a and 411b. in this way,
The upper and lower registration rollers 410a,
The skew of the recording sheet A being conveyed is corrected by feeding the recording sheet A again by the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b after securely holding the recording sheet A between them.

Thereafter, the rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b is stopped at a predetermined timing.
The upper and lower feed rollers 411a and 411b start intermittent rotation in a predetermined direction (a direction in which the recording paper A is sent to the paper discharge tray 404). Accordingly, the recording paper A advances while rotating the rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b by friction, and is finally discharged onto the paper discharge tray 404.

According to the normal paper feed command, when the front side printing is performed in the normal one-sided printing processing and the two-sided printing processing,
The recording sheet A can be correctly positioned with respect to the recording head 401. Therefore, the page image can be printed at an appropriate position on the recording paper.

On the other hand, the back sheet feeding command is a command for operating the sheet conveying device of the printer as follows.

When a backside feed command is issued, first,
The rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b stops. Thereafter, when a predetermined waiting time Δt elapses, the calling roller 406 and the feeding roller 407 move in a predetermined direction.
It starts to rotate at a predetermined speed in the direction (B, C _{1 in} which the recording paper A is sent out). Therefore, the paper feed cassette 403 is delayed by a waiting time Δt from the case where the normal paper feed command is issued.
Is called from the uppermost printing paper A.

[0044] When the sheet sensor 409 detects a predetermined time Delta] s ₁ from the elapsed sheet passage, the upper and lower resist rollers 410a, 410b begins to rotate at a predetermined speed in a direction D ₂ to push back the recording paper A . However, in this case, unlike the case of the normal paper feed command is issued, the infeed rollers 407 does not stop the rotation in the direction C ₁ to feed the recording paper A. Therefore, the recording paper A is
The tip is pushed back by the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b while being pushed toward the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b. Thereafter, at predetermined timing, the upper and lower registration rollers 410a, 410b
And the feed roller 407 both stop rotating.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 6 (A), the recording paper A is skewed, as shown in FIG. 6 (B), one of the corner portions a ₁ of the leading edge of the sheet vertical registration rollers 410a, 410
Although arrives first to b, the corner portion a ₁ is vertical registration rollers 410a, is pushed back by the reverse rotation D ₁ of the 410b. During that time, the feeding roller 407 keeps the recording paper A
The other corner portion a ₂
Also reach the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b.

Therefore, even if the recording paper has been printed on the front side (recording paper which is heavier by the amount of ink, recording paper which has been deformed due to irregular waving, etc.), it is sufficiently loosened. The upper and lower registration rollers 4
The valleys 10a and 410b hit each other (hereinafter, this is referred to as a sheet butt). If the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b stop once in such a state, FIG.
As shown in (C), the entire leading edge of the recording paper A is held between the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b. For this reason, the skew of the recording sheet A being conveyed is corrected.

As described above, when the entire leading edge of the recording paper A is held between the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b, the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b
Starts rotating at a predetermined speed in a predetermined direction (a direction D ₁ for sending out the recording paper A). At the same time, the feeding roller 40
7 starts rotating at a predetermined speed in the reverse direction (the direction C ₂ for pushing back the recording paper A). Thereby, the leading end of the recording paper A is vertically transferred from the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b to the rollers 411a and 411b, and the trailing end of the recording paper A is moved toward the paper feed tray 403 by the claw 407a of the feed roller 407. The sheet is pushed back (hereinafter, this is referred to as a sheet return). The leading end of the second recording sheet may be dragged out of the sheet tray 403 due to friction with the uppermost recording sheet A read from the sheet tray 403.
At this time, since the rear end of the uppermost recording sheet A is pushed back to the sheet feeding tray 403 side, the leading end of the second recording sheet is also pushed back to the sheet feeding tray 403 by being dragged by this.

Then, at predetermined timing, the rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b and the feeding roller is stopped, and this time, the upper and lower sending rollers 411a and 411 are turned off.
b starts intermittent rotation in a predetermined direction (the direction in which the recording paper A is sent to the paper discharge tray 404). At this time, the feeding roller 407 has its notch 407a facing the recording paper A. Accordingly, the recording paper A advances while rotating the rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b by friction, and is finally discharged onto the paper discharge tray 404.

According to the backside paper feed command, even if the front side of the recording paper A is printed, the leading end thereof can be correctly positioned with respect to the recording head. Therefore, the page image can be printed at an appropriate position even on the back side of the recording paper A on which the front side has been printed.
Further, since a predetermined waiting time Δt is provided before the recording paper A is fed, the page image printing on the back side of the recording paper A is performed after the ink on the front side of the recording paper A is sufficiently dried. You can start. Therefore, even if the front side of the recording paper comes into contact with the rollers or the like during the paper conveyance for the back side printing, the image quality of the page image on the front side of the recording paper is maintained.

Therefore, if the host 100 appropriately issues these two paper feed commands, a high-quality page image can be printed at an appropriate position on both sides of the paper by an ink jet printer capable of printing on both sides. Hereinafter, a printer control process executed by the host 100 for that purpose will be described with reference to FIG.

On the host 100 side, when the user inputs a print mode designation to the input unit 150 and further inputs a print execution command to the input unit 150, the user interface control unit 152 causes the user to specify the print mode. Is received, and it is determined whether or not the mode is the duplex printing mode (S50).

At this time, the user interface control unit 1
52 determines that the print mode specified by the user is a print mode other than the duplex print mode,
54 and the like execute a normal one-sided printing process. That is,
The print data from the drawing application execution unit 153 is sequentially converted into print data for a printer, and the print data is transmitted to the printer 300 together with a normal paper feed command in ascending order of page numbers (S65). This allows
On the printer 300 side, the page images are printed on one side of the recording paper A in ascending order of the page numbers. Host 1
The printer control process on the 00 side also ends (S64).

On the other hand, the user interface control unit 152
However, if it is determined that the print mode designated by the user is the double-sided print mode, the feed command creating unit 156 resets the back side print flag F to start printing a page image on the front side of the recording sheet A ( (S51) Further, an initial value (Page = 1) is set in the page counter Page (S5).
2).

Then, the paper feed command creation unit 156 determines which of odd-numbered page printing and even-numbered page printing is to be started from the set value of the back side print flag F (S5).
3) After that, a process according to the determination result is executed. Specifically, the back side print flag F is set to an initial value (for example, 0).
Has been set, it is determined that the execution of odd-numbered page printing has started, and the following first processing (S54 to S59) is executed. If any other value (for example, 1) has been set, , It is determined that the execution of the even-numbered page printing is started, and the following second processing (S60 to S63) is executed.

(1) First Processing (S54 to S59) When the feed command creation unit 156 determines that the execution of the odd-numbered page printing is started, first, it is determined whether or not the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages. (S
54).

If the set value of the page counter Page is less than the total number of print pages, the print data creation unit 154 creates one page of odd page print data for the printer. Specifically, among the unconverted print data from the drawing application execution unit 153, the data of the odd-numbered page (1, 3, 5,...) With the smallest page number is converted into RGB image data. After performing various processes such as a color conversion process on the RGB data of the odd-numbered pages,
Convert to MYK binarized image data. Finally, C
The MYK binarized image data is converted into print data for a printer.

The paper feed command creator 156 creates a normal paper feed command each time the print data creator 154 creates one page of print data. The normal paper feed command and one page of print data created at this time are temporarily stored in the spooler 155 as a spool file, and then transmitted and received by the transmission / reception control unit 157 to the printer 300.
Sent to The printer 300 receiving this prints an odd-numbered page image on the front side of each recording sheet A (S55).

Thereafter, when the host receives a print end message from the printer 300, the paper feed command creation unit 156 increments the set value of the page counter Page by +2, and the transmission / reception control unit 157
The transmitted odd page print data and the normal paper feed command are deleted from the spooler 155 (S56).

Until the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages (S54), the above processing (S55, S55)
56) is repeatedly executed. Then, when the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages, the user interface control unit 152 causes the display unit 151 to display a recording paper reset message (S57). In addition,
The content of this message is to urge the user to reverse the bundle of recording paper on the paper discharge tray 404 and then reset it on the paper supply tray 403.

When the user in response to this message inputs a recording paper reset setting completion command to the input unit 150, and the user interface control unit 152 detects this, the user inputs a command (S5).
8) The paper feed command creation unit 156 sets a predetermined value (for example, 1) to the back side print flag F (S59). Then, the process returns to S52.

(2) Second Processing (S60 to S63) When the feed command creation unit 156 determines that the execution of the even-numbered page printing is started, first, it is determined whether the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages. (S
60).

If the set value of the page counter Page is less than the total number of print pages, the print data creation unit 154 creates one even page print data for the printer in the same manner as the creation of odd page print data. . And 1
Each time even page print data for a page is created,
The paper feed command creation unit 156 creates a paper feed command for the back side (S61). Then, the back-side feed command and the print data for one page created at this time are temporarily stored in the spooler 155 as a spool file, and then transmitted to the printer 300 by the transmission / reception control unit 157. In the printer 300 receiving this, the even-numbered page image is printed on the back side of each recording sheet A.
(S62).

Thereafter, when the host receives a print end message from the printer 300, the paper feed command creation unit 156 increments the set value of the page counter Page by +2, and the transmission / reception control unit 157
The transmitted even-page print data and the back side feed command are deleted from the spooler 155 (S63).

This processing (S61 to S63) is repeated until the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages.
It is executed repeatedly. And the page counter Page
When the set value of the host 100 exceeds the total number of printed pages, the printer control processing of the host 100 ends (S64).

According to such a printer control process, the above-described two types of paper feed commands are appropriately given to the ink jet printer capable of printing on both sides, so that high-quality page images are printed at appropriate positions on both sides of the printing paper. be able to.

The above-described back-side paper feed command is for instructing the printer 300 on the rotation direction of the upper and lower registration rollers 47a and 47b and the feed roller 407.
The rotation speed is not changed appropriately. Therefore, the upper and lower registration rollers 47a, 4
7b and the feeding roller 407 are in any direction C ₁ , C
₂ , D ₁ and D ₂ also rotate at a substantially constant speed. In addition, the above-described back-side paper feed command outputs a wait of a predetermined waiting time Δt to the printer 30 prior to paper feed for back side printing.
Although 0 is designated, the length is not changed appropriately. Therefore, the printer 300 is always in a standby state with a certain waiting time before the start of the sheet feeding operation for the back side printing.

However, this is not always necessary. For example, the length of the waiting time, the rotation speed of the upper and lower registration rollers 47a and 47b, and the rotation speed of the feed roller 407 are changed according to the amount of ink adhering to the recording paper A on which the front image has been printed by the back paper feed command. May be controlled.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the host 100 has an ink amount detection unit 158 and a paper supply condition storage unit 159 in addition to the above-described functional configuration (see FIG. 2). . Note that these new functional configurations are also realized by the hardware configuration of the host and the programs and data read into the memory, as described above.

The paper feed condition storage unit 159 stores a waiting time management table and a roller rotation speed management table.

As shown in FIG. 8, the waiting time management table includes a range 700 of the ink duty of the recording paper A (ratio of ink occupied area to the area of the recording paper A), a waiting time Δt before printing the back side of the recording paper. Is registered. According to the waiting time management table, the more ink adheres to the front surface of the recording paper, the longer the waiting time Δt before printing the back side of the recording paper.

On the other hand, in the roller rotation speed management table,
As shown in FIG.
The range 800 of (%), the number of drive pulses 801 of the upper and lower registration rollers 410 at the time of paper abutment, the number of drive pulses of the feed roller 407 at the time of paper abutment, and the number of drive pulses of the feed roller 407 at the time of paper return are registered. Have been. According to the roller rotation speed management table, the more ink adheres to the front surface of the recording paper A, the higher the rotation speed of the upper and lower registration rollers 410 and the feeding roller 407 at the time of abutting the paper, and the subsequent paper return The rotation speed of the feed roller 407 at the time will increase.

The ink amount detector 158 calculates the ratio of the area occupied by the ink to the area of the recording paper A after the front side printing is completed. Specifically, the print data creation unit 154
Calculates the number of dots for each color from the print data created by the printer, and calculates the ink duty of the recording paper A after the front side printing from the calculation result, the dot area, and the paper size.
(%) Is calculated.

The printer control processing in the host 100 to which these two functional configurations are added is different from the above-described printer control processing (see FIG. 5) in the following points.

The user interface control unit 152 determines that the print mode designated by the user is the duplex print mode (S5).
0), when the print data creation unit 154 creates the print data for the printer, the ink amount detection unit 158 uses the print data of the odd number page among the print data to print the recording paper A after the front side printing is completed. Calculate the ink duty (%). Then, the ink amount detection unit 158 stores the calculation result in association with the number of pages.

Thereafter, in the second processing (S60 to S63), the paper feed command creation unit 156 sets the page counter Pa
If it is determined that the set value of “ge” is less than the total number of printed pages, the ink duty is extracted from the stored data of the ink amount detection unit 158 in ascending order of the page number. Then, based on the acquired ink duty, the set value of the waiting time Δt and the number of pulses supplied to the drive stepping motors of the rollers 410 and 407 are determined. Specifically, from the waiting time management table (see FIG. 8) of the paper feeding condition storage unit 159,
The waiting time Δt associated with the range 700 in which the acquired ink duty falls is searched. Similarly, from the roller rotation speed management table (see FIG. 9) of the paper feed condition storage unit 159, three pulse numbers 801, 802, 803 associated with a range 800 in which the acquired ink duty falls. Then, a paper feed command for the back side including these search results is created (S61).

This back sheet feed command is different from the above-described back sheet feed command in that the sheet conveying device of the printer 300 that receives the command operates as follows. Here, only differences from the above-described case will be described.

After the rotation of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b is stopped, the waiting time Δt included in the
When but elapsed, call rollers 406 and infeed roller 407, the direction B to feed the recording paper A, start to rotate at a predetermined speed in C _1. For this reason, the recording paper A is called from the paper supply cassette 403 with a delay of a waiting time Δt corresponding to the amount of ink attached to the front surface. That is, recording paper A
The timing of calling from the paper feed cassette 403 is delayed as the amount of ink attached to the front surface increases.

For this reason, for each recording sheet, a minimum necessary waiting time for drying the ink adhered to the front surface is secured. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image quality of the page image on the front surface of the recording paper from being reduced while the paper is being conveyed for the back side printing, and to prevent the throughput from being further reduced.

At the time of paper abutment, the pulses of the number of pulses (the number of drive pulses of the upper and lower registration rollers 901 at the time of paper abutment) included in the back side feed command are applied to the drive stepping motors of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b. It is supplied within a unit time. At the same time, the drive stepping motor of the feed roller 407 is supplied with the number of pulses (the number of drive pulses of the feed roller 902 at the time of sheet abutment) included in the back side feed command within a unit time. You. Therefore, as the amount of ink adhered to the recording paper A increases, the upper and lower registration rollers 410a, 410b
But rotated at high speed in a direction D ₂ to push back the recording paper A, the infeed rollers 407 are rotated at a high speed in the direction C ₁ to feed the recording paper A. Generally, the larger the amount of ink adhered, the more difficult it is for the recording paper A to move.
0a, 410b, and 407 rotate in this manner, the recording paper A is smoothly pushed out from the rear toward the valleys of the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b, regardless of the amount of ink adhesion. ,
It is pushed back in the valley of 410b. Therefore, regardless of the recording paper A having a small amount of ink adhered or the recording paper A having a large amount of ink adhered, the slack is sufficiently loosened, and the entire tip certainly reaches the valley between the upper and lower registration rollers 410a and 410b. For this reason, the skew of the recording paper A being conveyed for back side printing can be reliably corrected.

At the time of returning the sheet, the number of pulses (the number of driving pulses 902 of the feeding roller at the time of returning the sheet) included in the back sheet feeding command is applied to the feeding roller 40.
7 is supplied to the drive stepping motor 7 in a unit time. Thus, infeed rollers 407, as the ink deposition amount of the recording sheet A is increased, rotates at a high speed in the direction C ₂ to push back the recording paper A. As described above, the recording paper A
Is generally difficult to move as the amount of ink adhered increases, but if the feed roller 407 rotates in this way, the recording sheet A is moved toward the paper feed tray 403 side regardless of the amount of ink adhered. Pushed back smoothly. Therefore, other recording paper dragged by the recording paper A can be reliably pushed back to the paper feed tray 403.

Here, the amount of ink adhering to the front side of the recording paper A is calculated based on the print data. However, if an ink remaining amount detection sensor is mounted on the printer, Before and after the printing of the odd-numbered page images for the pages, the host inquires the printer of the remaining ink amount, and calculates the difference of the inquiry result as the ink adhesion amount on the front surface of the recording paper A. You may.

In this case, the length of the waiting time Δt is changed according to the ink duty of the recording paper A.
For example, a waiting time table with a longer waiting time for recording paper that is less likely to absorb ink (see FIG. 10A), and a waiting time table with a longer waiting time for ink that is harder to dry
By using (see FIG. 10B), the length of the waiting time Δt may be changed according to the type of recording paper and the type of ink used.

Here, the case where the motor for rotating each roller is a stepping motor is described.
When the motor for rotating each roller is a DC motor, the control may be performed based on the number of pulses from the encoder.

In the above description, a system configuration including a printer that enables a user to perform double-sided printing by reversing a recording sheet has been described as an example. However, the application of the present invention is not limited to this. Absent. For example,
The present invention is also applicable to a printing system including a printer having a recording sheet reversing mechanism. Hereinafter, this printing system will be described.

The overall configuration of this printing system is almost the same as the above-mentioned printing system (see FIG. 1). However, the hardware configuration of the printer included in this printing system is different from the above-described printer (see FIG. 4). Specifically, the printer included in this system is as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, in addition to the configuration of the above-described printer,
Further, a recording paper reversing mechanism 450 is provided. The recording paper reversing mechanism 450 includes upper and lower sending rollers 411a and 411a.
1b, a switching guide 451 for switching the traveling direction of the recording sheet A, and the recording sheet A guided to the switching guide 451.
Rollers 452a, 452 for reversing the traveling direction of
b, a paper detection sensor 453 for detecting the recording paper A passing through the upper and lower rollers 452a and 452b, and the upper and lower guide plates 40
A guide plate 454 for guiding the recording paper A is provided between 8a and 408b. Note that the print control unit 551
By controlling the rotation angle of the switching guide 451,
When the paper detection sensor 453 detects the recording paper A,
The traveling direction of the recording paper A is switched from the recording paper reversing mechanism 450 side to the paper discharge tray 404 side.

The host 100 executes the printer control processing shown in FIG. 12 for the printer having such a hardware configuration.

On the host 100 side, when the user inputs a print mode designation to the input unit 150 and further inputs a print execution command to the input unit 150, the user interface control unit 152 Is received and it is determined whether or not the mode is the duplex printing mode (S70).

At this time, the user interface control unit 1
If the print data generation unit 52 determines that the print mode specified by the user is a print mode other than the duplex print mode, the print data creation unit 154 and the like execute a normal single-sided print process, as in the case described above. That is, the drawing application execution unit 1
The print data from the printer 53 is sequentially converted into print data for the printer, and the print data is transmitted to the printer 300 together with the normal paper feed command in ascending order of page numbers (S80). Thus, on the printer 300 side, the page images are printed on one side of the recording paper A in ascending order of the page numbers. Further, the printer control process on the host 100 side is also terminated (S81).

On the other hand, the user interface control unit 152
However, if it is determined that the print mode designated by the user is the duplex print mode, the paper feed command creation unit 156 first sets an initial value (Page = 1) in the page counter Page.
(S71). After that, the following print data transmission processing starts.

The paper feed command creating section 156 determines whether or not the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages (S72).

At this time, if it is determined that the set value of the page counter Page exceeds the total number of printed pages,
The paper feed command creation unit 156 determines that transmission of all print data has been completed. Thereby, on the host 100 side,
The printer control process ends (S81).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the set value of the page counter Page is less than the total number of printed pages, the paper feed command creation unit 156 determines whether the next printing is to be performed on the even page based on the set value of the page counter Page. Is determined (S73). Subsequent processing is separated according to the determination result at this time. Specifically, when an odd number is set in the page counter Page, it is determined that the next printing is an odd page printing, and the following third processing (S74 to S76) is executed. In this case, the next printing is determined to be an even-numbered page printing, and the following fourth processing (S77 to S80) is executed.

(1) Third Processing (S74 to S76) When the feed command creation unit 156 determines that the next print is an odd page print, the print data creation unit 154 sends the unconverted print data from the drawing application execution unit 153. Of the data, print the odd-numbered page print data with the smallest page number.
Convert to odd page print data for printer. When one page of printer odd page print data is created, the ink amount detection unit 158 performs the same processing as described above, based on the printer print data, and sets the ink duty (% ) Is calculated and stored, and the paper feed command creating unit 156 is calculated.
Creates a normal paper feed command. The normal paper feed command and the odd page print data for one page are temporarily stored as a spool file in the spooler 15.
5 is transmitted to the printer 300 by the transmission / reception control unit 157. Printer 3 that accepted this
On the 00 side, an odd-numbered page image printing process is performed on the front side of each recording sheet A (S75).

Thereafter, when the host receives a print end message from the printer 300, the transmission / reception control unit 15
7 is a spooler 15 for transmitting the transmitted odd-numbered page print data.
5 and the paper feed command creation unit 156
Increments the set value of the page counter Page by +1 (S76). Thereafter, the process returns to S72.

(2) Fourth Process (S76 to S79) When the feed command creation unit 156 determines that the next print is an even-numbered page print, the print data creation unit 154 sends the unconverted print data from the drawing application execution unit 153. Of the data, the even page print data with the smallest page number is
Convert to even-page print data for printer.

Then, the paper feed command creating unit 156 performs the same processing as in the above-described case by using the ink amount detecting unit 158.
(The ink duty of the recording paper A on which the odd-numbered previous page is printed) of the waiting time Δ
The set value of t and the number of pulses supplied to the drive stepping motors of the rollers 410 and 407 are determined. Further, the result of this determination (set value of waiting time Δt, each roller 410, 407)
A sheet feed command for the back side including the number of pulses supplied to the drive stepping motor (S77) is created (S77).

The back side feed command and the even-page print data created for the printer are temporarily stored in the spooler 155 as a spool file, and then transmitted to the printer 300 by the transmission / reception control unit 157.
In the printer 300 receiving this, each recording paper A
Even-numbered page image print processing is performed on the back side
(S78).

Thereafter, when the host receives a print end message from the printer 300, the transmission / reception control unit 15
7, the spooler 15 transmits the transmitted even-page print data.
5 and the paper feed command creation unit 156
Increments the set value of the page counter Page by +1 (S79). Thereafter, the process returns to S72.

According to such a printer control process, as in the case described above, the front side printed recording paper A is also correctly positioned with respect to the recording head. The page image can be printed at an appropriate position even on the back surface of the sheet A. Also, as in the case described above, since a waiting time is set before the back side printing is started, it is possible to prevent the image quality of the page image on the front side from deteriorating during paper transport for the back side printing. it can.

In the above embodiments, the elapsed time from the end of printing on the front side of the paper is not considered as the waiting time. However, in the case where there are many printed pages, the ink on the paper on which the front side printing has been completed in the first direction starts to dry while the printing process on the front side of the other paper is being performed. I have. Therefore, counting the elapsed time from the end of printing on the front side of the paper as the waiting time should be useful for improving the throughput. Hereinafter, a method for realizing this will be described with reference to the processing shown in FIG.

As described above, in order to count the elapsed time from the end of printing on the front side of the paper as the waiting time, in step S76 of the above-described third process, the paper feed command creation unit 156 transmits and acquisition time receives an end command message (referred to as a front surface printing end time T ₁₎ from the internal counter, so that holds it.

Then, in S77 of the above-described fourth processing, the paper feed command creating unit 156
8 (the ink duty of the recording paper A on which the odd-numbered previous page is printed) based on the held data Δ
After determining the t, further obtains the current time T _2, the internal counter, the difference between the current time T _2,, a front surface printing end time T ₁ which had been stored in the third process of the previous T ₂ −
So as to calculate the T _1. Then, the difference T ₂ −T ₁
Is subtracted from the waiting time Δt, and the value Δt− (T ₂ −T ₁ ) is 0.
If it is less than 0, 0 is set as the actual waiting time, and if its value Δt− (T ₂ −T ₁ ) is larger than 0, its value Δt
− (T ₂ −T ₁ ) may be set as the actual waiting time.

In this way, the waiting time is not prolonged unnecessarily, so that the throughput can be improved as described above. This is the same for the processing shown in FIG.

[0104]

According to the present invention, a page image can be printed at an appropriate position on a sheet by an ink jet printer. If it is an inkjet printer that can print on both sides, even on the back side of the paper with the front side printed,
A page image can be printed at an appropriate position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a host according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional configuration diagram of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inside of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a printer control process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining skew correction of a recording sheet being conveyed.

FIG. 7 is a functional configuration diagram of a host according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of a waiting time management table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of a waiting roller rotation speed management table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of a waiting time management table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of the inside of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a printer control process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Host 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 Display controller 104a Display device 105 Keyboard controller 105a Keyboard 106 Floppy disk drive 107 Hard disk 108 CD-ROM drive 109 Printer interface 110 Network interface 112 ... Bus 150 ... Input unit 151 ... Display unit 152 ... User interface control processing unit 153 ... Drawing application execution unit 154 ... Print data creation unit 155 ... Spooler 156 ... Sheet feeding command creation unit 157 ... Transmission control unit 300 ... Printer 400 ... Printing Mechanism 401 printhead 402 platen 403 paper feed tray 404 paper discharge tray 405 ink cartridge 406 Outgoing rollers 407: Sending rollers 408a, 408b: Upper and lower guide plates 409: Paper detection sensors 410a, 410b: Upper and lower registration rollers 411a, 411b: Upper and lower sending rollers 412: Spring 500: Printer control system 501: CPU 502: ROM 503 ... RAM 504 ... Panel controller 505 ... Input / output interface 506 ... Bus

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A print control device for outputting a command for giving a printer capable of printing a page image on both sides of a sheet, and specifying a double-sided print mode in which both sides of the sheet are printed on a page image. Print mode designation receiving means for receiving, and when the print mode designation receiving means receives designation of the double-sided printing mode, a set of two page images having continuous page numbers for a plurality of page images printed by the printer A command creating means for creating a paper feed command for delaying the start of feeding of paper on which a second page image to be printed later is printed, and a paper feed command created by the command creating means as the command And a command output means for outputting. 2. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein information correlated with the ink usage in printing the first page image to be printed first is detected from the set of two page images. The command output unit determines the start of feeding of the paper on which the second page image is printed in accordance with the information detected by the detection unit for the first page paired with the second page. A print control device for generating a paper feed command for delaying the paper feed command by a waiting time. 3. The printing control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing condition storage unit that stores a waiting time in association with a paper type or an ink type; The type of paper on which the page image is printed, or
The waiting time associated with the type of ink used for printing the first page image paired with the second page image is retrieved from the printing condition storage means, and the supply of paper on which the second page image is printed is performed. A print control device for creating a paper feed command for delaying the start of paper by the waiting time. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein
The print control device according to claim, wherein the command creation unit is configured to change a waiting time until the start of feeding of a sheet on which the second page image is printed according to an elapsed time from the end of printing of the second page image. A print control device characterized in that the print control device is shortened. 5. The print control device according to claim 1, wherein the printer controls the advance of the sheet fed by the rotation of a feed roller. In the case of a printer in which the registration roller is temporarily blocked by a registration roller in the forward direction, the command creating unit rotates the registration roller in a direction to retract the sheet until before the advance of the sheet is resumed, and A print control device, comprising: an instruction to rotate a roller in accordance with the rotation of the registration roller is included in a feed command for delaying start of feeding of a sheet on which the second page image is printed. 6. A storage medium storing a program for causing a print control device to output a paper feed command for giving a printer capable of printing a page image on both sides of a sheet, wherein the program is configured to execute the print control device. A process of detecting information correlated with the amount of ink used in printing the first page image to be printed first by the printer, out of a pair of page images having consecutive page numbers; Receiving a specification of a double-sided printing mode in which is set as a print target surface of a page image;
Waiting for the start of feeding of a sheet on which a second page image to be printed later by the printer among the set of page images is printed according to the information detected for the first page to be paired with the second page. A storage medium for executing a process of creating a paper feed command delayed by a time and a process of outputting the paper feed command.