JP2002001935A - Facsimile apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facsimile apparatus which analyzes a cause of fault in discharging ink, notifies a user of the cause and can recover from the faulty state in discharging ink immediately. SOLUTION: When a fault in discharging ink from an ink-jet recording head is detected, a cause of the fault in ink discharge, for example, a breakdown of recording head, clogging of a nozzle of the recording head, running-out of ink and the like are specified. Accordingly to the specified faulty cause in discharging ink, messages are displayed and a recording action is recovered.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus that performs recording using an ink jet recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional ink jet recording apparatus having a function of detecting a defective ink ejection, an optical axis of light emitted from a light emitting element of a photo interrupt type ink sensor to a light receiving element is cut off. The presence or absence of the remaining amount of ink has been determined by examining the output of a sensor that changes in accordance with a change in the amount of light received by the light receiving element based on the ejected ink.

Further, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, ink is forcibly ejected from the ink cartridge, and a recovery operation for preventing ejection failure due to clogging of ink ejection nozzles of the recording head or sticking of ink to the recording head is performed. , Regardless of the presence or absence of ink.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, it is possible to determine whether or not there is a remaining amount of ink by detecting that ink is not discharged after performing an ink discharging operation. It has not been possible to detect that ink has not been ejected due to some failure in the ink cartridge itself including the recording head and no ink ejection operation.

Therefore, in a facsimile apparatus using an ink jet recording apparatus as a recording section, it is not possible to detect an ink ejection failure in the case of a malfunction or failure of a recording head or an ink cartridge, and it is not possible to record the image at the time of facsimile reception. The recording paper will be output. In such a case, there is a problem that the user cannot determine whether the remaining amount of the ink is empty or whether the recording head or the ink cartridge has failed.

In addition, since the recovery operation is performed irrespective of the presence or absence of ink, there is a problem that ink is wasted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and a facsimile apparatus capable of analyzing a cause of an ink discharge failure, notifying a user of the cause, and promptly recovering from the ink discharge failure state. It is intended to provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

A facsimile apparatus using a replaceable ink jet recording head and a replaceable ink tank containing ink to be supplied to the ink jet recording head for recording on a recording medium. Communication means for transmitting and receiving facsimile data, storage means for temporarily storing facsimile data received via the communication line, detection means for detecting an ink ejection state from the ink jet recording head, and the detection means When an ink ejection failure is detected, the device includes a specification unit that specifies a cause of the ink discharge failure, and a display unit that displays a message according to the ink discharge failure cause specified by the specification unit. It has a facsimile machine.

Further, recovery means for recovering the ink jet recording head, temperature detecting means for detecting the internal temperature of the ink jet recording head, and a plurality of recording elements of the ink jet recording head are divided into a plurality of blocks. It is preferable to provide a driving unit for applying a driving pulse in a time-division manner to each block to drive the inkjet recording head in a time-division manner.

The specifying means drives the ink jet recording head in a time-division manner using the driving means, and there is a temperature change inside the ink jet recording head in accordance with a detection result from the temperature detecting means every time each block is driven. First determining means for determining whether or not the ink ejection failure is still continued according to a detection result obtained by operating the detecting means again after the recovery operation is performed by the recovery means. It is preferable to have

According to the result of the determination by the first determining means, the display means displays a first message indicating that the ink jet recording head has failed and the ink jet recording head needs to be replaced. The display means may display a second message indicating that there is no ink in the ink tank and the ink tank needs to be replaced in accordance with the determination result.

Here, it is preferable that the second determination means determines the presence or absence of ink after performing the recovery operation a predetermined number of times. On the other hand, when the second determination means determines that the ink ejection failure has been eliminated by the recovery operation within the predetermined number of times, control is performed to perform printing again based on the facsimile data stored in the storage means. good.

Further, when the ink jet recording head or the ink tank is replaced in accordance with the first or second message, it is desirable to control the recording to be performed again based on the facsimile data stored in the storage means. . In addition, after the recording is made again,
The detecting means is driven to detect whether or not there is an ink ejection failure, and when it is confirmed that re-recording is normally performed, the facsimile data stored in the storage means is erased. Good to control.

[0015] The detecting means includes: a light emitting means for emitting light to a position through which ink ejected from an ink ejection port of the ink jet recording head passes; a light receiving means for receiving the light; Measuring means for measuring the time during which the light is blocked between the light receiving means and the light receiving means, and comparing means for comparing the time measured by the measuring means with a threshold value. It is preferable to adopt a configuration for detecting a defect.

[0016] The ink jet recording head includes:
In order to eject ink using thermal energy, it is preferable to include an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink.

It is preferable that the display means includes an LCD.

With the above arrangement, according to the present invention, when an ink ejection failure from an ink jet recording head is detected, the cause of the ink ejection failure is identified, and a message is displayed according to the identified cause of the ink ejection failure. Works as follows.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus having a recording unit for performing recording by a recording head according to an ink jet system, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic configuration of the facsimile machine will be described. In FIG. 1, A is a reading unit that optically reads a document, B is a recording unit that performs recording in accordance with an ink jet system, and C is a recording unit that separates recording media such as recording paper P loaded in a paper feed cassette one by one. This is a paper feeding unit to be supplied to the unit B.

First, the flow of the recording paper P will be described.
The transport path of the recording paper P is as shown by the arrow G. That is,
The recording paper P stacked in the paper feeding cassette 1 of the paper feeding unit C is picked up by the paper feeding roller 2 and the retard roller 3 and sent to the recording unit B by the paper feeding roller 2.
The recording unit B conveys the recording paper P in accordance with the recording while performing recording by discharging ink onto the recording paper P by the recording head 5. When the recording is completed, the recording paper P is discharged and stacked on the discharge stacker 7 by the discharge roller 6.

Next, a specific configuration of the sheet feeding section C will be described.

In FIG. 1, a sheet cassette 1 for stacking and storing a plurality of recording sheets P is provided with an intermediate plate 4 for stacking recording sheets P. The middle plate 4 is urged upward from the back surface by a middle plate spring 10 arranged to face the feed roller 2. Further, the intermediate plate 4 has a structure in which the recording sheet P can be easily replenished when the recording sheet P is reduced or disappears by being pressed downward by a cam or the like during the sheet feeding standby.

On the other hand, when the recording signal is detected and the paper feeding operation is started, the downward pressing of the middle plate 4 by the cam or the like is released, and
The recording paper P is picked up by the paper feed roller 2.
The retard roller 3 is located at a position facing the paper feed roller 2 and changes the position of the recording paper P in conjunction with the middle plate 4. When the paper feeding operation is performed, the recording sheet P urged by the middle plate 4 and picked up by the paper feeding roller 2 is separated and fed only at the uppermost sheet by the cooperation of the paper feeding roller 2 in the J section. Send. The separated and fed recording paper P is conveyed to the recording section B while being nipped so as to be sufficiently wound around the feeding roller 2.

Next, a mechanism for discharging the recording paper P recorded by the recording section B will be described.

The recording paper P discharged by the discharge roller 6 is discharged and stacked on a discharge stacker 7. The paper discharge stacker 7 is provided with a paper discharge auxiliary tray 9 having a hinge K as a rotation center. When the recording paper P to be used is vertically long, the paper discharge stacker 7 is rotated to move the paper discharge stacker in the recording paper discharge direction. Can be lengthened. Further, the paper discharge stacker 7 has a structure also serving as a cover of the paper feed cassette 1. The discharge stacker 7 and the discharge auxiliary tray 9 are provided with a plurality of ribs (not shown), and the recording paper P on which recording has been performed slides on the plurality of ribs and is sequentially stacked.

Next, the flow of the image document S will be described.

The document conveying path is as shown by an arrow F in FIG. In FIG. 1, an image original S is stacked on an original stacking tray 41 with its image surface facing down. Document loading tray 4
The image document S stacked on the sheet 1 is positioned by a slider 42 movable in the width direction. When the image document S is stacked on the document stacking tray 41, the document is pressed from above by a pre-conveyance spring 43 by a pre-conveyance pressing piece 43, and separated and preliminarily conveyed by cooperation with the separation roller 46.

Next, the preliminarily conveyed image document S is separated and conveyed one by one from below by the cooperation of the separating piece 45 and the separation roller 46 pressed by the ADF spring 47 from above. Further, the separation roller 46 also has a role of conveying the separated image document S to the reading position.
The image drawn on the image document S separated and conveyed to the reading position by the separation roller 46 in this manner is read by the photoelectric conversion sensor 48. The CS roller 49 is urged from above by the CS pressing spring 50 along the reading line of the photoelectric conversion sensor 48, and the separated and conveyed image document S is brought into close contact with the reading line. Further, the CS roller 49 determines the reading speed of the image document S in the sub-scanning direction (the direction in which the image document is transported), and also serves to discharge the image document S that has been read. Finally, the discharged image document S is placed on the document discharge tray 5.
1 is stacked. The document discharge tray 51 has a structure detachable from the apparatus main body.

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective view showing a detailed configuration of the recording section B. As shown in FIG. 2, the recording head 5 has a built-in ink tank, but the recording head and the ink tank are separable. When the ink runs out, only the ink tank is used. It is included in a separately replaceable separate ink cartridge. Further, a sensor such as a diode for measuring the internal temperature of the head, for example, is provided inside the recording head 5, and the sensor output can be transferred to a control unit described later.

It should be noted that an ink tank and a recording head are integrated with each other in place of the separation type ink cartridge, and an integral type ink cartridge which can be replaced with a new recording head together with the recording head when the ink runs out can be used.
However, in this case, if either the ink runs out or the recording head fails, the entire ink cartridge needs to be replaced.

Next, the configuration of the recording section B will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, while the carriage 15 holds the recording head 5 with high precision, the carriage 15 moves in a direction (main scanning direction, arrow H direction) perpendicular to the recording paper P transport direction (sub-scanning direction, arrow G direction). Move back and forth. The carriage 15 is slidably held by a guide rod 16 and an abutting portion 15a. The reciprocating movement of the carriage 15 is performed by a pulley 17 and a timing belt 18 driven by a carriage motor 30 (not shown). At this time, a recording signal and electric power given to the recording head 5 are transmitted to a main body of the apparatus by a flexible cable 19. Supplied from the circuit. The recording head 5 and the flexible cable 19 are connected by press-contacting their respective contacts.

A cap 20 is provided at the home position of the carriage 15 of the recording section B, and functions as ink receiving means. The cap 20 moves up and down as needed,
When ascending, it is in close contact with the recording head 5 and covers its nozzle to prevent evaporation of ink and adhesion of dust. A pump for sucking the ink discharge nozzles of the print head 5 to perform suction recovery is provided in the cap 20, and a print head 5 is provided near the cap 20 along the moving direction of the print head 5. A cleaning blade (not shown) for wiping the ink adhered to the ink ejection surface of the ink jet printer is provided.
By the operation of these pumps and cleaning blades,
The ink is sucked and discharged from the ink discharge nozzles of the recording head, or the ink fixed on the ink discharge surface of the recording head is removed, and the normal ink discharging operation is restored. These operations are called recovery operations.

In this apparatus, in order to position the recording head 5 and the cap 20 so as to be relatively opposed to each other, a carriage home sensor 21 provided on the apparatus main body and a light shielding provided on the carriage 15 are provided. Board 15b
Is used. A photo-interrupter is used for the carriage home sensor 21. When the carriage 15 moves to the standby position, light emitted from a part of the carriage home sensor 21 is blocked by the light shielding plate 15b. Then, it is detected that the recording head 5 and the cap 20 are at positions relatively opposed to each other.

The recording paper P is fed upward from the lower side in FIG.
It is bent in the horizontal direction by the feed roller 2 and the paper guide 22 and is conveyed in the direction of arrow G (sub-scanning direction). The feed roller 2 and the discharge roller 6 are each driven by a recording motor (not shown), and a carriage 15
The recording paper P is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction with high precision in conjunction with the reciprocating movement of the recording paper P. Further, a roller 23 which is made of a material having high water repellency in the sub-scanning direction and comes into contact with the recording paper P only at its blade-shaped circumferential portion is provided. The rollers 23 are disposed at a plurality of positions on the shaft 23a at predetermined positions in the main scanning direction at a position opposed to the paper discharge rollers 6 so that even if the roller 23 comes into contact with an unfixed image on the recording paper immediately after recording, the image is formed. The recording paper P is guided and conveyed without affecting the recording paper P.

As shown in FIG. 3, the photo sensor 8 is disposed between the cap 20 and the end of the recording paper P so as to face the nozzle row 5c of the recording head 5, and discharges from the nozzles of the recording head 5. This is a photo-interrupter that directly and optically detects the ink droplet to be ejected, and can determine the state of the recording head 5 with no ink from its output.

The photo sensor 8 used here uses an infrared LED as a light emitting element, a lens is integrally formed on the LED light emitting surface, and can project light substantially parallel to the light receiving element. A phototransistor is used for the light receiving element, and the light receiving surface of the light receiving element is 0.7 mm ×
A hole of 0.7 mm is formed on the optical axis, and the detection range is 0.7 m in the height direction in the entire region between the light receiving element and the light emitting element.
m, the width direction is reduced to 0.7 mm. The optical axis connecting the light emitting element and the light receiving element is arranged in parallel with the nozzle row 5c of the recording head 5, the interval between the light receiving element and the light receiving element is wider than the nozzle row 5c of the recording head 5, and the optical axis and the recording When the positions of the nozzle rows 5c of the head 5 match, all the ink droplets ejected from each nozzle of the recording head 5 can pass through the detection range between the light emitting element and the light receiving element. When the ink droplet passes through the detection range, the ink droplet blocks light from the light emitting side, reduces the amount of light to the light receiving side, and changes in the output of the phototransistor as the light receiving element can be obtained.

That is, while the ink is being ejected, the output from the phototransistor drops during that time, that is, while the ink is blocking the optical axis of the photosensor 8, but if the ink is not being ejected, Does not block the optical axis of the photosensor 8 and the output from the phototransistor does not decrease. In this embodiment, since the output of the phototransistor is inverted and output, if the ink is ejected from the recording head, the output of the photosensor 8 becomes high level "H". The output of No. 8 is at low level "L". This signal is called a detection pulse in this embodiment, and its output detection pulse is transmitted through a signal line described later.

The nozzle array of the recording head 5 and the photo sensor 8
The carriage home sensor 21 provided on the apparatus main body is used in the same manner as the positioning with the cap 20 in order to position them so as to be relatively opposed to each other.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the nozzle row 5 of the recording head 5 at the home position (HP)
The distance (L) from the position c to the optical axis of the photosensor 8 is converted into the number of steps of the motor for driving the carriage 15 and is set in advance as a constant in a control program for executing the recording operation. In this manner, by moving the carriage by a certain amount after detecting the home position, the position of the ink row of the recording head 5 and the optical axis of the photo sensor 8 can be accurately positioned at a position relatively opposed to each other.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 24 denotes a control unit for controlling the entire apparatus. The control unit 24 includes a CPU 25 and a CP.
A ROM 26 storing a control program and various data executed by the U 25 and a ROM 26 used as a work area when the CPU 25 executes various processes and temporarily storing various data (for example, facsimile transmission / reception data). It has a RAM 27 and the like.

As shown in FIG. 4, the recording head 5 is connected to a control unit 24 via a flexible cable 19, and the flexible cable 19 is connected to the control unit 24 by the recording head 5.
, A control signal line, an image signal line, and a sensor output signal line from a temperature sensor 5a built in the recording head 5. The output of the photosensor 8 is converted into a numerical value by an A / D conversion circuit 28 and can be analyzed by the CPU 25. The carriage motor 30 is a motor drive circuit 3
The motor is rotatable by the number of pulse steps according to 2. Further, the control unit 24 controls the carriage motor 30 via the motor drive circuit 33, the transport motor 31 via the motor drive circuit 32, the read motor 52 via the motor drive circuit 53, and outputs the output from the carriage home sensor 21. You are typing.

Further, the control unit 24 controls the reading sensor 4
8, a printer interface 54 for receiving recording commands and recording data from an external computer 56, a modem 60 for modulating and demodulating facsimile transmission / reception data, accepting facsimile reception data from a public telephone line 57, and transmitting a facsimile to the public telephone line 57 Line control circuit (NCU) 5 serving as an interface for outputting data
5 is connected to an image data input device, and can operate as facsimile transmission / reception and copying, and as a printer of an external computer.

Further, the control unit 24 is provided with an operation panel 5 having keys for the user of the apparatus to perform various operations and instructions.
8 are connected. From the operation panel 58, it is possible to instruct whether or not to display a message (abnormality notification message) indicating that the remaining ink amount is not normally detected in the ink discharge failure detection and notification process described below. . The operation panel 58 is provided with an LCD 59 for displaying a message.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, of the detection, notification, and recording control processing of an ink ejection failure using the apparatus having the above-described configuration.

First, in step S201, when reception of facsimile data is confirmed, the process proceeds to step S2.
In step 02, the data is received, and the image is recorded while the received facsimile data is stored in the image memory set in the RAM 27.

When the recording of one page of the recording paper is completed,
In step S203, the process moves the recording head 5 to the position of the photosensor 8 to perform an ink discharging operation, and checks whether the ink is normally discharged.
This is done by checking the width of the detection pulse output from the photo sensor 8. That is, whether the time during which the detection pulse is at the high level “H” is shorter than a predetermined threshold (TH), in other words, whether the width (PW) of the detection pulse is smaller than the predetermined threshold (TH) Find out.

Here, if PW <TH, it is determined that the recording head 5 is in an ejection failure state, and the process proceeds to step S
Proceed to 205. On the other hand, when PW ≧ TH,
It is determined that the ink has been ejected normally, and the process proceeds to step S2
In step 04, it is determined that the recording operation has been normally performed, the received facsimile data is deleted from the image memory, and the process is terminated.

Now, the process proceeds to step S205.
It is checked whether or not the cause of the ink ejection failure is a failure of the print head. That is, in the same manner as in the case where several hundreds of ink ejection nozzles provided in the print head 5 are divided into several blocks and driven in a time-division manner in a normal printing operation, the heat generated in the nozzles is provided for each block. A heat pulse is applied to the elements to heat them sequentially, and the recording head 5
Is measured by the temperature sensor 5a to confirm whether the temperature has risen normally.

Here, when it is confirmed that all the blocks are properly heated, it is determined that there is no abnormality in the recording head, and the process proceeds to step S206. In step S206, a recovery operation of the print head is executed to determine whether the cause of the ink ejection failure is “no ink” or “clogging of nozzles of the print head”.

In step S207, this recovery operation is performed by N
It is determined whether the operation has been performed twice. Here, if it is determined that the Nth recovery operation has been completed, no ink ejection is detected regardless of the predetermined number of recovery operations, so that it is determined that the cause of the ejection failure is “ink out” and the processing is performed. Proceeds to step S209. On the other hand, if the number of recovery operations has not reached the predetermined number N, the process proceeds to step S208. Note that N times here are the same as the control unit 2
This is the prescribed number of times managed in 4, and is set in consideration of conditions such as the type of ink cartridge, the outside air temperature, and the humidity.

Then, in step S208, step S208 is executed.
As in step 203, it is checked whether or not the ink ejection has been performed normally. Here, if it is confirmed that the ink ejection has been performed normally, the process proceeds to step S211. On the other hand, if it is confirmed that ink ejection is not performed normally, the process returns to step S206 and repeats the recovery operation.

On the other hand, in step S209, normal ejection of ink cannot be detected despite the N-1 recovery operations,
Judge that the cause of the ejection failure is "no ink",
A message “no ink” is displayed on LCD 59,
Prompts the user to replace the ink tank. Thereafter, the process waits for replacement of the ink tank in step S210. Here, if the ink tank is replaced and the user performs an operation to restart image recording, the process proceeds to step S211.

Now, in step S205, if
If at least one block that is not properly heated is detected, it is determined that there is a failure in the recording head, and the process proceeds to step S212, where a message indicating that there is a failure in the recording head is displayed on the LCD 59 to notify the user. Prompts the user to replace the recording head. Next, the process proceeds to step S
At 213, the process waits for the recording head replacement. here,
If the recording head is replaced and the user performs an operation to restart image recording, the process proceeds to step S211.

In step S211, the facsimile reception data stored in the image memory is read from the image memory, and an image based on the data is recorded on a recording sheet. Thereafter, the process returns to step S203, and determines again whether or not the recording has been normally completed.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, every time one page of image recording based on the received facsimile image data is performed on the recording paper, in addition to the detection of the ink ejection by the photo sensor, the heat pulse is applied to the recording head. To check whether the print head has a failure by monitoring the rise in temperature of the print head and applying an operation that combines recovery operation and detection of ink ejection by the photo sensor. By identifying the cause of the ink discharge failure and displaying a message to that effect, the user can be encouraged to take a measure based on the cause.

In this way, it is possible to quickly solve various problems associated with ink ejection failure.

In the above embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the droplets ejected from the recording head are ink, and that the liquid contained in the ink tank is ink. It is not limited. For example, an ink tank may contain a processing liquid discharged to a recording medium in order to improve the fixability and water resistance of the recorded image or to improve the image quality.

The above-described embodiment is particularly provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for performing ink ejection even in an ink jet recording system. By using a method in which a change in the state of the ink is caused by energy, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding the nucleate boiling to an electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or the liquid path holding the Since thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer and film boiling occurs on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis can be formed. It is valid. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.

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

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting surface is arranged in a bent region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, for multiple electrothermal transducers,
JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which a common slot is used as a discharge part of an electrothermal transducer, and JP-A-59-123670 which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy corresponds to a discharge part. A configuration based on 138461 may be adopted.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is determined by a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. This may be either a configuration satisfying the above requirements or a configuration as a single recording head formed integrally.

In addition, not only the recording head of the cartridge type in which the ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself described in the above-described embodiment but also the main body of the apparatus can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus. A replaceable chip-type recording head that allows for easy connection and supply of ink from the apparatus body may be used.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like to the configuration of the printing apparatus described above, since the printing operation can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof. It is also effective to provide a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection that is different from printing, in order to perform stable printing.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but may be a single recording head or a combination of plural recording heads. Alternatively, the apparatus may be provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the embodiments described above, the description is made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid. However, even if the ink solidifies at room temperature or lower, it is possible to use an ink that softens or liquefies at room temperature. Or, in the ink jet method, generally, the temperature of the ink itself is controlled within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range.
It is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, the temperature is positively prevented.
Alternatively, in order to prevent evaporation of the ink, an ink which solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, the application of heat energy causes the ink to be liquefied by application of the heat energy according to the recording signal and the liquid ink to be ejected, or to start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The present invention is also applicable to a case where an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is used. In such a case, as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, the ink is held in a liquid state or a solid state in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. It is good also as a form which opposes an electrothermal transducer. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to those provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, It may take the form of a facsimile machine having functions.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), a device including one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine) Etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (a computer) of the system or the apparatus. Or CPU and MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium,
Needless to say, this is achieved. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also based on the instructions of the program code,
The operating system (OS) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. , The CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention, when an ink ejection failure from an ink jet recording head is detected, the cause of the ink ejection failure is identified, and the identified cause of the ink ejection failure is identified. Is displayed, the user can quickly know the cause of the ink discharge failure, and take measures to resolve the ink discharge failure, for example, quickly replace the ink jet recording head or the ink tank. There is an effect that can be.

As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the recording operation is performed without ejecting ink even though facsimile data is received, a blank sheet is output, and the received image is lost. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus having a recording unit that performs recording by a recording head according to an ink jet system, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional perspective view showing a detailed configuration of a recording unit B of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration around a photo sensor 8 of a recording unit B;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an ink ejection failure detection, notification, and recording control process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 5 recording head 5a temperature sensor 8 photo sensor 24 control unit 25 CPU 26 ROM 27 RAM 58 operation panel 59 LCD

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/034 B41J 3/04 102Z F-term (Reference) 2C056 EA14 EA29 EB07 EB30 EB38 EB40 EC24 EC26 EC39 FA03 KD06 2C061 AP03 AQ05 CQ24 CQ33 CQ42 HK10 HV02 HV14 5C051 AA02 CA04 DB07 DB26 DE02 DE04 5C062 AA02 AA05 AB22 AB25 AB33 AB42 AB47 AC04 AC05 AC23 AC58 AE15 AF06 BA00

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus using a replaceable ink jet recording head and a replaceable ink tank containing ink to be supplied to the ink jet recording head for recording on a recording medium, comprising: A communication unit for transmitting and receiving facsimile data at a storage unit for temporarily storing facsimile data received via the communication line; a detection unit for detecting an ink ejection state from the inkjet recording head; and the detection unit When an ink ejection failure is detected, the device includes a specification unit that specifies a cause of the ink discharge failure, and a display unit that displays a message according to the ink discharge failure cause specified by the specification unit. Facsimile machine. A recovery unit for recovering the inkjet printhead; a temperature detection unit for detecting an internal temperature of the inkjet printhead; a plurality of printing elements of the inkjet printhead divided into a plurality of blocks; 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a driving unit that applies a driving pulse in a time-division manner to each block to drive the inkjet recording head in a time-division manner. 3. The ink jet recording head is time-divisionally driven by using the driving unit, and a temperature change is caused inside the ink jet recording head according to a detection result from the temperature detecting unit every time each block is driven. A first determining means for determining whether or not there is an error, and a second determining means for determining whether or not the ink discharge failure is still continued according to a detection result obtained by operating the detecting means again after the recovery operation is performed by the recovery means.
3. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a determination unit. 4. In accordance with the result of the determination by the first determining means, the display means displays a first message indicating that the ink jet recording head has failed and the ink jet recording head needs to be replaced, and The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display means displays a second message indicating that the ink tank has no ink and the ink tank needs to be replaced in accordance with a result of the determination by the determination means. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said second determination means determines the presence or absence of ink after performing a predetermined number of recovery operations. 6. When the ink jet recording head or the ink tank is replaced in accordance with the first or second message from the display means, control is performed so that printing is performed again based on facsimile data stored in the storage means. 5. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising control means for performing the operation. 7. When the second determination means determines that the ink ejection failure has been eliminated by the recovery operation within the predetermined number of times, the recording is performed again based on the facsimile data stored in the storage means. 7. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising recovery record control means for performing control. 8. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit drives the detection unit after printing is performed again to detect whether there is an ink ejection failure. 9. A storage control for controlling to delete facsimile data stored in the storage means when it is confirmed from the detection result by the detection means that the re-recording has been normally performed. 9. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means. 10. The light-emitting means for emitting light to a position through which ink ejected from an ink ejection port of the ink-jet recording head passes; a light-receiving means for receiving the light; 2. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measuring unit for measuring a time during which the light is blocked between the light receiving unit and the light receiving unit. 11. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the detecting unit further includes a comparing unit that compares the time measured by the measuring unit with a threshold value, and detects the ink ejection failure according to a comparison result by the comparing unit. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 10. 12. The ink-jet recording head according to claim 1, further comprising an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink in order to discharge the ink using thermal energy. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 1. 13. The facsimile apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display means includes an LCD.