JP2002029043A - Ink jet printer and method for printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate a collating work by recording an image print and a print order information in series. SOLUTION: A recording sheet magazine 20 of a rolled recording sheet 23 is provided for recording an image. A recording sheet magazine 21 of a cut sheet-like recording sheet 24 is provided for recording order information. Images of the same order are recorded on the sheet 23 by an ink jet head 33. The recorded images are separated at a cut part 14, and integrated in a tray 80 as an image print 81. After image recording, the sheet 23 is rewound, and the order information regarding the image in the same order is recorded on the sheet 24. An order information print 45 is discharged on the print 81, and the both are gathered to one set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink-jet printer and a printing method, and more particularly, to an ink-jet printer and a printing method for printing image data and print instruction information for each order.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A photographed image recorded on a photographed photo film is printed by a photo printer for each print order and stored in a sorting tray. Further, customer information specifying the customer and print instruction information such as the number of prints and the print fee are output to a printer different from the photo printer. Then, the operator checks the print order received from the customer, the output print instruction information, the image prints stored in the sorting tray, the number of prints, and the like. To be stored.

[0003]

However, the above-described printing method requires two printers, a photo printer for printing a photographed image and a printer for printing print instruction information. Therefore, there is a problem of cost increase. In addition, there is a problem in that the image prints printed by different printers and the print instruction information are compared with each other, so that it is troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide an ink jet printer and a printing method which can eliminate the need for collating an image print with print instruction information such as print order information. I do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet printer and a printing method according to the present invention use an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles arranged thereon to discharge ink from each nozzle to a recording paper. Means for inputting print instruction information corresponding to an image to be recorded in an ink jet printer for recording an image;
A first recording paper storage unit for storing the first recording paper, a second recording paper storage unit for storing a second recording paper of a type different from the first recording paper, and a first recording paper storage unit. An image is recorded on a recording sheet to obtain an image print, print instruction information is recorded on a second recording sheet to obtain an instruction information print, and these image prints and instruction information corresponding to this image print are obtained. And a control unit for grouping prints.

The instruction information print is located at the beginning or end of the image print, and is customer information for specifying the orderer or order identification information for identifying each print order, and includes image identification information or image print charge information. Is included.

Also, in an ink jet printing method in which an ink is ejected from each nozzle and an image is recorded on a recording paper using an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles arranged, print instruction information corresponding to the image to be recorded is inputted, An image is recorded on a first recording sheet using a head, and print instruction information is recorded on a second recording sheet for each image order unit.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ink jet printer embodying the present invention. The inkjet printer 10 includes a paper feed unit 11, an image recording unit 12, a recording paper reservoir 13, a cutting unit 14, a sorter 15, and a system controller 16. The system controller 16 includes an image processing device 17.
An image input device 18 and a data input device 19 provided outside the inkjet printer 10 are connected. Hereinafter, each part will be described.

In a system controller 16, an image processing device 17 provided therein performs predetermined image processing on image data input from an image input device 18, and stores image recording data to be recorded in an image recording section 12. create. Further, the customer name, telephone number, reception date and time, order number, image identification number,
Order information recording data for recording the order information print described later, which displays the order information such as the number of prints, in the image recording unit 12 is created.

The paper feed section 11 includes first and second recording paper magazines 20 and 21, and a paper guide 22. In the first recording paper magazine 20, a roll recording paper 23 made of strip-like glossy paper for image recording is stored. Also, the second
The recording paper magazine 21 stores cut sheet-shaped recording paper 24 made of plain paper for recording order information. Each of the recording papers 23 and 24 is sent out of each of the recording paper magazines 20 and 21 by the rotation of each of the paper feed rollers 25 and 26, and is guided by the paper guide 22 to the first transport roller pair 30 of the image recording unit 12. Conveyed. The transport of these recording papers is controlled by the system controller 16, and either one of the recording papers is transported to the image recording unit 12 according to the recording of the image or the order information.

The image recording section 12 includes first and second pairs of transport rollers 30, 31, a thermal head 32, a first inkjet head 33, and a second inkjet head. The first and second transport roller pairs 30, 31 are driven to rotate by a motor 35, and transport the recording papers 23, 24 at a constant speed. The rotation of the motor 35 is controlled by the system controller 16 via the driver 36.
A thermal head 32, a first inkjet head 33, and a second inkjet head 34 are sequentially arranged between the first and second transport roller pairs 30, 31 in the recording paper feed direction. The thermal head 32 and the first inkjet head 33 are arranged in parallel with a recording paper width direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the recording paper feeding direction, and the second inkjet head 34 is arranged on the back side of the recording paper. Further, platen rollers 37 and 38 are arranged below the thermal head 32 and the first inkjet head 33 to support the recording papers 23 and 24, respectively.

The thermal head 32 is provided with a number of heating elements 39 arranged in a line in the main scanning direction.
The thermal head 32 can be moved up and down by a shift mechanism 40. When the recording by the first inkjet head 33 is not performed, the thermal head 32 is raised and set to the retracted position. During recording, the recording paper 23 is lowered and set at an appropriate recording position, and the recording paper 23,
Hold 24. Then, the recording elements 23 and 24 are preheated by the respective heating elements 39. In the preheating, the ink discharged from the first inkjet head 33 is applied to each of the recording papers 23 and 2
4 to dry in a short time. Each heating element 39
Is controlled by the system controller 16 via the thermal head driving unit 41. The preheating energy of each heating element 39 of the thermal head 32 is determined according to the amount of ink ejected to each pixel of the first inkjet head 33.

Although not shown, the first ink jet head 33 is provided with nozzles for line recording of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) arranged in the main scanning direction. Piezo elements are arranged in the ink flow paths near these nozzles. A drive signal corresponding to the image recording data created by the image processing device 17 is
By applying the ink droplets to the respective piezo elements from the first inkjet head driving unit 42, ink droplets of a size and quantity corresponding to the image recording data are released toward and adhere to the recording papers 23 and 24. As a result, Y and Y corresponding to the image recording data created by the image processing device 17 are stored in the roll recording paper 23.
A full-color image is recorded by the adhesion of M, C, and K inks. In addition, a cutting unit 14 described later is provided at a boundary between the images.
, A cut mark for cutting the roll recording paper 23 for each image and a sort mark indicating a break of an order are recorded. On the recording paper 24, an order information print 45 is recorded by attaching Y, M, C, and K inks according to the order information recording data created by the image processing device 17.

The second ink jet head 34 has a recording nozzle of only black (K).
Except that the number of nozzles is small for recording rows,
It has the same configuration as the inkjet head 33. In the second inkjet head 34, an order number and an image identification number corresponding to the image recording data printed by the first inkjet head 33 are recorded on the back surface of the roll recording paper 23.

The ink adhering to each of the recording papers 23 and 24 is
Each of the recording papers 23 and 24 is
Is dried in a short time because of preheating. Therefore, the ink adhering to the recording papers 23 and 24 does not dry and re-adhere to the second conveying roller pair 31 without drying.
The recording papers 23 and 24 are not stained by the ink. Also, since the ink dries in a short time, each recording paper 2
3, 3 and 24 do not absorb ink and do not partially expand.

Here, the order information print 45 is, as shown in FIG.
7 and a reorder sheet portion 48 below the broken line 46. The print order matching unit 47 includes a customer name 50, a telephone number 51, a reception date and time 52, an order number 53,
A total number of prints 54, a print fee 55, a bar code 56 indicating an order number, an image identification number 57 of the printed image, and a specification table 59 listing the number of prints 58 are recorded. In the reorder sheet section 48, a print order slip 62 displaying a list of image identification numbers 60 and an entry column 61 for the number of prints is recorded. When ordering a print again, the customer may enter the number of prints in the entry column 61 next to the image identification number 60 for which the print order slip 62 is to be printed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording paper reservoir 13
Is composed of the second conveying roller pair 31 of the image recording unit 12, the movable guide 65, and the third conveying roller pair 70 of the cutting unit 14. When the roll recording paper 23 is being conveyed, a speed difference (including stopping one roller pair 70) is provided between the two conveying roller pairs 31 and 70 so that the pair of conveying roller pairs 31 and 70 is provided between the two conveying roller pairs 31 and 70. The roll recording paper 23 is hung down and temporarily stored. The movable guide 65 is provided coaxially with the lower roller 31 a of the second conveying roller pair 31, and cuts the leading end of each of the recording papers 23 and 24 into the third portion of the cut section 14.
A guide position (indicated by a two-dot chain line) for guiding to the transport roller pair 70, and a retreat position in which the display device hangs vertically (solid line).
And rotate between. As the roll recording paper 23 hangs down in the space where the movable guide 65 is retracted, the roll recording paper 23 is temporarily stored.

The cutting section 14 includes a third, fourth, and fifth transport roller pairs 70, 71, 72, a mark sensor 73, and a cutter 74. The third, fourth, and fifth transport roller pairs 70, 71, 72 are rotationally driven by a motor 75, and the rotation of the motor 75 is controlled by a system controller 16 via a driver 76. The cutter 74 is controlled by the system controller 16 via the driver 77. When a cut mark and sort mark detection signal read by the mark sensor 73 is input to the system controller 16, the motor 75
, And each image boundary portion recorded on the roll recording paper 23 is sequentially sent to the cutter 74. Then, the front and rear of each image boundary portion are cut by the cutter 74.

The sorter 15 is configured by arranging a number of trays 80 on a belt conveyor (not shown). Then, a new tray 80 is set by driving the belt conveyor by the mounting pitch of each tray 80 for each print order by the system controller 16. In the cutting section 14, the roll recording paper 23
The image prints 81 formed by cutting off the image boundaries recorded in each tray are stored in one tray 80 for each print order.
And sorted.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
When the power of the inkjet printer 10 is turned on, the paper feed roller 25 of the first recording paper magazine 20 and the first and second
The transport roller pairs 30 and 31 rotate to transport the roll recording paper 23 for image recording to the image recording unit 12. At this time,
The thermal head 32 is set at the retracted position so as not to obstruct the passage of the leading end of the roll recording paper 23. When the leading end of the roll recording paper 23 passes through the second conveying roller pair 31, the feeding of the roll recording paper 23 is stopped and the print standby state is set.

When the print key is operated to instruct the start of printing, the thermal head 32 is set at the recording position by the shift mechanism 40. Thereafter, the image processing apparatus 1
The roll recording paper 23 is preheated by the heating element 39 based on the image recording data created in Step 7. Each nozzle of the first inkjet head 33 is controlled by the first inkjet head driving unit 42, and predetermined ink droplets are ejected from each nozzle in accordance with image recording data, and inkjet recording is performed. When the recording for one line is completed, the roll recording paper 23 is conveyed for one line, and the recording for the next one line is performed. In this manner, the inkjet recording and the transport of the roll recording paper 23 are repeated until the recording of one image is completed. At the same time as the recording of the image recording data, print data of the order number and the image identification number is recorded on the back surface of the roll recording paper 23 by the second inkjet head 34.

At each image boundary portion, a cut mark is first placed.
Recording is performed by the inkjet head 33. Further, at the break of the order, a sort mark also serving as a cut mark is similarly recorded by the first inkjet head 33.
In the cutting section 14, this cut mark is
When No. 3 is detected, the boundary portion of each image is positioned on the cutter 74, and a blank portion including a cut mark is cut off. When a sort mark is detected, each image is cut off at this sort mark position in the same manner as a cut mark.
Then, the roll recording paper 23 is rewound and stored in the first recording paper magazine 20 by the system controller 16.

In the image processing device 17, the data input device 1
The order information record data of the order information print 45 shown in FIG.
Then, the order information recording data is recorded on the recording paper 24 sent from the second recording paper magazine 21 and conveyed to the image recording unit 12, and the order information print 45 is recorded. The order information print 45 is stored in the same tray 80 as the image print 81 previously recorded. Then, the belt conveyor on which the trays 80 are arranged is driven by the system controller 16, and a new tray 80 is set. Thus, the image print 81 and the order information print 45 are sorted on the same tray 80 for each order. As described above, the image print 81 and the order information print 45 are put into the same tray 80 for each order, and they are grouped into one.

In the above embodiment, the order information print 45
Is recorded on plain paper, but if colored paper is used as the recording paper 24, the visibility of the boundaries between orders is improved. In this case, the sorter 15 may be omitted, and the image prints 81 and the order information prints 45 may be simply collected. When an envelope or the like is used as the recording paper 24, the image print 81 can be stored as it is, so that sorting for each order can be performed reliably. Further, a seal paper may be used as the recording paper 24 and may be attached to an envelope.

In the above embodiment, the order information print is continuously recorded after the image prints in the same order are recorded,
These are grouped together, but in addition to these, the order information prints may be recorded after the image prints are continuously recorded, or the image prints may be recorded after the order information prints are recorded. May be. In this case, the order number and the image identification number recorded on the back side of the image print are compared with the order number and the image identification number of the order information print.

In the above embodiment, the order number and the image identification number corresponding to each image are recorded on the back surface of the roll recording paper 23, but may be recorded on the front surface. In this case, when there is a margin, when there is no margin or when it is not desired to visually record the order number or the like even if there is a margin, ink that reflects in response to ultraviolet rays or ink that reflects in response to infrared rays May be recorded, and irradiation light corresponding to these inks may be applied to visually confirm these.

In the above embodiment, a roll recording paper is used as the recording paper for image printing, and a cut sheet recording paper is used as the recording paper for order information printing.
Without being limited to this, cut paper may be used for both systems, and roll paper may be used for both systems. Alternatively, cut sheet-like gloss recording paper may be used for image printing, and roll-shaped plain paper may be used for order information printing.

In the above embodiment, the print order information is input by the data input device provided in the ink jet printer. However, the print order information is input by a device provided outside the ink jet printer, and the print order information is input to the ink jet printer. May be transferred to

In the above embodiment, the information to be recorded on the second recording paper is the print order information such as the customer's name, order number, and number of prints. However, the present invention is not limited to this. I just need. The print instruction information includes print correction information, print number information, print size information, and the like, in addition to the print order information.

[0030]

As described above, according to the ink jet printer and the printing method of the present invention, the image print and the instruction information print in the same print order are continuously recorded by one printer, Since the image print and the instruction information print are grouped together, it is not necessary to collate the image print with the print order.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an ink jet printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an order information print in which print order information is recorded.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 inkjet printer 16 system controller 17 image processing device 19 data input device 20 first recording paper magazine 21 second recording paper magazine 23 roll recording paper 24 recording paper 32 thermal head 33 first inkjet head 34 second inkjet head 65 movable guide 73 Mark sensor 74 Cutter 80 Tray 81 Image print

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kiyotaka Kaneko 798, Miyadai, Kaisei-cho, Ashigara-gun, Kanagawa Photo Film Co., Ltd. Incorporated F term (reference) 2C056 EC12 HA28 2C061 AQ04 AQ05 AR01 AS02 AS06 HH03 HJ03 HK03 HN02 HN17 HN18 2C087 AC07 BD56 CB03 CB07 CB13 DA16 3F343 FA02 FB04 FC30 GA01 GB01 HB03 HC03

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer that records an image on recording paper by ejecting ink from each of the nozzles using an ink jet head having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a line, comprising: means for inputting print instruction information corresponding to the image. A first recording paper storage unit for storing a first recording paper, a second recording paper storage unit for storing a second recording paper of a type different from the first recording paper, and using the inkjet head. The image is recorded on the first recording paper from the first recording paper storage to obtain an image print, and the print instruction information is recorded on the second recording paper from the second recording paper storage. And a control unit that obtains the instruction information print by recording the image information and collects the image print and the instruction information print corresponding to the image print. Ettopurinta. 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the instruction information print is positioned at the beginning or end of the image print. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction information is customer information for specifying an orderer or order identification information for identifying each print order. 4. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction information includes identification information of the image or print fee information of the image. 5. An ink-jet printing method for discharging an ink from each of the nozzles and recording an image on a recording sheet by using an ink-jet head having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a line, wherein print instruction information corresponding to the image is inputted. The image is recorded on the first recording paper from the first recording paper storage unit using the inkjet head, and the image is recorded on the second recording paper from the second recording paper storage unit using the inkjet head. An ink-jet printing method comprising: recording print instruction information; and recording the print instruction information for each image order unit.