JP2002079662A - Apparatus for controlling printing of ink jet printer and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for controlling printing of an ink jet printer whereby raster data can be printed without transmitting data again from a host computer when the raster data with colors alone changed are to be printed, and printing can be carried out if there is a usable printing head although part of printing heads cannot be used, both of which were not realized by the conventional method of controlling printing of the ink jet printer. SOLUTION: A process of selecting printing heads corresponding to colors and a process of selecting whether or not printing is to be executed again by changing conditions after finishing printing are added to a printing data development process part. Also a setting function for selecting printing heads is added to a panel process part, and a judgment process based on the set information is added to the printing data development process part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a host computer for transmitting print data, and a print control method in an ink jet printer for analyzing and developing print data received from the host computer and controlling printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a printing mechanism of an ink jet printer will be described with reference to FIG.

The printing mechanism 30 of the ink jet printer
Is a first print head 1 for ejecting ink.
1, a second print head 12, a third print head 13, a fourth print head 14, a carriage 8 for mounting the four print heads, and a carriage motor 9 for moving the carriage 8 in a horizontal direction. And a guide rail 34 serving as a support for the movement of the belt 10, the carriage 8, and a paper feed motor 31 for feeding the printing paper 33.
And the tractor 32. Although the number of print heads differs depending on the product series, FIG. 13 shows a case where only four print heads are mounted as an example for explanation.

In the printing operation, the carriage 8 is moved by the carriage motor 9 via the belt 10 and prints on the printing paper 33 by ejecting ink from the print head in synchronization with the amount of movement of the carriage 8. When the carriage 8 moves by a predetermined width, printing for one scan is completed.
By the one scan, the number of lines corresponding to the number of nozzles in the vertical direction of the print head is printed.

When printing for one scan is completed, the tractor 32 is driven by the paper feed motor 31 in preparation for the next printing, and a paper feed operation for feeding the printing paper 33 by a fixed amount is executed. The printing operation proceeds by repeating the scanning operation and the paper feeding operation.

Next, the configuration of a conventional ink jet printer control device will be described with reference to FIG.

The data to be printed is sent from the host computer 20 to the inkjet printer control device 19 with a command added as required. In the inkjet printer control device 19, first, the reception processing unit 21 receives data, and stores the received data in the reception buffer 22. Next, based on the data in the reception buffer 22, the raster data development processing unit 23 analyzes the command as necessary,
The raster data is created, and the result is stored in the raster data storage device 24. If the raster data is color data, raster data is created separately for the number of colors. Therefore, the raster data storage device 24 has a capacity capable of storing raster data for all colors. Next, in the print data development processing unit 25, based on information such as the number of colors of the raster data, the raster data in the raster data storage device 24, and the number of print heads mounted in the printing mechanism unit 30, the print head Then, the data to be printed is stored in the print data storage device 26 for one scan.

When the data for one scan is stored in the print data storage device 26, the print data development processing unit 25 sets necessary information to the print control processing unit 27 and requests the start of printing. In the print control processing unit 27,
Upon receiving a print start request, the print head controller 28
To start the printing operation, and the operation of the carriage motor 9 is started. The print head control unit 28 controls the print data storage device 26 in accordance with the operation of the carriage 8.
The printing is executed by reading data from the printer and ejecting ink from a print head in accordance with the content of the data. 1
When the scanning operation is completed, the print control processing unit 27
The paper feed motor 31 is driven to feed a fixed amount of paper.

An ink jet printer control device 1
The operation panel 4 is connected to the control panel 9.
9 performs processing such as status display and key input. The panel control unit 29 will be described with reference to FIG.

The panel control unit 29 monitors the status of the printer, and performs processing for updating the display when the status changes. Also, it is checked whether or not a key operation has been performed on the operation panel. When a key operation has been performed, selection and execution processing of various functions corresponding to each key input are performed.

Next, the processing of the print data development processing unit 25 described with reference to FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIG.

Generally, a print head of an ink-jet printer is composed of a plurality of nozzles. In order to reduce the influence of crosstalk caused by simultaneous ejection of ink from each nozzle, the nozzles are arranged in a plurality of rows. And printing is performed by shifting the ejection timing temporally for each row. Therefore, based on the raster data received from the host computer, the data is rearranged in accordance with the nozzle arrangement of the print head. It is the print data development processing unit that executes this rearrangement process.

The print data development processing section first initializes a raster data read pointer and a color number. Then, a read pointer for raster data corresponding to the print head is calculated based on the color number. In the case of the present example, for example, yellow corresponds to the first print head, magenta corresponds to the second print head, and so on. Each color uniquely corresponds to each print head. Which print head is to be used. The start address of the memory where raster data is stored is IMGBP, the number of rasters that can be printed by one print head is L, the number of horizontal bytes of raster data is WB, and the current color number is CN (CN = 0,1,2, 3 ...)
Then, the raster data read pointer IMGRP becomes “IMG
BP + CN * L * WB ".

The raster data read pointer IMGR
The data is read out sequentially from P, and print data corresponding to each color is created. When the print data for one color is completed, the color number is updated.

When the print data for all colors, that is, print data for all print heads is completed, a printing operation is enabled. A feed amount of printing paper after one scanning operation is set, and a scanning operation start request is issued. Wait for the end of one scan operation. If the operation of one scan is completed, and if it is not the last scan, the above-described processing is repeated to create print data for the next scan, and the print data development processing is completed when all scans have been completed.

The above-described configuration of the print head can be realized by mounting the same print head for all four ink colors, mounting the print heads for all four ink colors different from each other,
There are various combinations depending on the product configuration.

An example of the printing operation will be described with reference to FIG. 10 showing the relationship between each scanning operation and the printing result and FIG. 13 described above, taking the case of four color printing as an example.
As shown in FIG. 10B, the ink colors are four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), and print heads of each color are mounted in order from the top. It is assumed that

First, the host computer 20 shown in FIG. 13 converts the data to be printed into a command and data for transmitting to the inkjet printer control device 19 and then transmits the command and data to the inkjet printer control device 19.
At this time, the data including the color information of the data to be printed is transmitted as a command and data. That is, information such as whether or not the color is used and the number of colors are transmitted as color information. In the inkjet printer control device 19, the raster data development processing unit 23 performs a development process to raster data based on the received data and the color information. FIG. 10A shows the state of the raster data developing process 23.

As shown in FIG. 10A, host raster data is raster data received from a host computer, and includes yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C),
It is composed of four colors of black (K), and the size in the vertical direction is set to be equal to four print heads in this description. Assuming that the number of print lines per print head is L, the number of vertical lines of the host raster data in this example is 4L.
It is. As shown in FIG. 10A, the host raster data is developed into raster data for each color of raster data Y, raster data M, raster data C, and raster data K by the raster data development processing unit 23 described with reference to FIG. I do. Further, for the sake of explanation, the raster data is divided into a plurality of areas in the vertical direction, and the areas are (a), (b), (c) and (d) in order from the top.

FIG. 10B shows a printing result at each scanning operation. The ink of the first print head 11 is yellow (Y), the ink of the second print head 12 is magenta (M), and the ink of the second print head 12 is magenta (M). The ink of the third print head 13 is cyan (C), and the ink of the fourth print head 14 is black (K).

In order to print the host raster data as shown in FIG. 10A, the area of the area (a) of the raster data K is printed by the fourth print head 14 in the first scan. In the second scan, the third print head 1
3 prints the area (a) of the raster data C, and the fourth print head 14 prints the area (b) of the raster data K. In the third scan, the area (a) of the raster data M by the second print head 12, the area (b) of the raster data C by the third print head 13, and the fourth print head 14. The area (c) of the raster data K is printed. In the fourth scan, the area (a) of the raster data Y by the second print head 11, the area (b) of the raster data M by the second print head 12, and the third print head 13 The area (c) of the raster data C and the area (d) of the raster data K are printed by the fourth print head 14, respectively. Thereafter, similarly, the corresponding raster data area is sequentially printed by each print head, and as shown in FIG. 10B, in the case of the present example, printing is completed after a total of seven scans. In the case of this example, after each scanning operation, the print head 1
The sheet feeding operation for the number (L) is executed.

By the way, as described above, the raster data to be printed is created by the host computer, and the color composition of the entire area is determined at that time. For example, as a result of printing raster data composed of four colors in the same manner as in the above example, since the desired color is different from the desired color, if it is desired to change only one color part to another color and print it, the raster data must be re-printed on the host computer. Data is created, and a command is added to the inkjet printer control device as necessary, as described above, and the data is retransmitted and printed.

In the case of an ink-jet printer, if printing is continued, the ink eventually runs out and printing cannot be performed. Alternatively, printing may not be possible due to a failure of the print head itself. In the case of the above-described four-color printhead configuration, a plurality of printhead configurations of the same color, or a printhead configuration of any other combination of colors, one or more printheads cannot be used. Since the printing cannot be performed by itself, the apparatus is down until the ink is supplied or the failure is repaired.

[0024]

In the conventional control method described above, if the color tone is different from the desired one and desired to be changed as a result of the actual printing, the raster data other than the color is the same even if the raster data is the same. However, it is necessary to change the color of the raster data again on the host computer side and transmit the data again, which causes a problem that the operability is poor. In addition, in the case of an inkjet printer equipped with multiple printheads, even if there is a printhead that can be used, if one or more printheads cannot be used due to a failure or the like, the device itself cannot be used. There is a problem that downtime occurs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to perform printing without retransmitting data from the host computer when only the color of print data is changed, and can be used in the case of a plurality of print head configurations. An object of the present invention is to provide a print control method for an inkjet printer that can execute a printing operation without bringing down the apparatus itself when a print head is present.

[0026]

According to the present invention, print data received from a host computer is stored in a storage device as raster data, and the print data is created based on the data. For this purpose, the print data development processing unit adds processing for selecting which print head to use in accordance with the color and determination processing for selecting whether or not to print again under another condition at the end of printing. Thus, printing can be executed without retransmitting data from the host computer.

Also, a function of selecting a print head to be used is added to the panel control processing unit, and a process of determining a print head to be used is added to the print data development processing unit. If there is a print head that can be used even in the event of a failure, the printing operation can be performed, and downtime of the apparatus can be minimized.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 by taking an ink jet printer having a plurality of print heads as an example.

First, the processing of the print data development processing section of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the print data development processing unit, as in the case of the conventional example, first, the read pointer and the color number of the raster data are initialized. Then, in this example, the print head selection processing 1 selects a print head corresponding to the color number. At this time, by referring to the print head correspondence table described later, which print head is used to print the raster data of the color to be currently developed is selected. When a print head to be used is selected, a raster data read pointer is calculated, and print data is created.

Thereafter, as in the case of the conventional example, the creation of print data for the print head corresponding to the designated color is repeated while updating the color number, and the print data for all the colors used are created. I do. When the print data for one scan is ready, the print operation is possible, so the paper feed amount after one scan operation is set,
A scan operation start request is issued and the operation of one scan is completed. If the operation of one scan is completed and it is not the last scan, the above processing is repeated to create print data for the next scan, and these are executed for all scans.

After all scans are completed, in this example, additional reprint determination processing 2 is used to select whether or not to execute printing again without changing or changing the printing conditions, such as changing the color. A selection screen is displayed to prompt the operator to make a selection. The mode for executing the reprinting is referred to as a reprinting mode. Although not shown, this mode can be designated in advance. The selection screen is displayed only when the reprint mode is designated, and otherwise the printing is terminated. This is because, when there are a plurality of print jobs, the print operation is stopped by displaying the selection screen as to whether or not to perform the reprint for each print job, and the printing efficiency may be poor. There is a function to avoid it.

When the above-described reprint mode is designated, a setting screen for associating colors with printheads is displayed to enable a setting operation. This setting screen will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a setting screen for associating colors with printheads on the operation panel 4.
The operator uses the UP key 15 or the DOWN key 16 to display the print head number (1, 2, 3, 4) corresponding to each color (Y, M, C, K). When the desired print head number is displayed, press the ENTER key 17. E
When the NTER key 17 is pressed, the cursor 1 moves to the next color setting area.
8, the print head number desired to correspond to each color is set in the same manner as described above, and the setting is performed for all the colors. When the setting of the association of the print heads for all the colors is completed, the selection result is stored in a table called a print head correspondence table.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the print head correspondence table 3 described above. As shown in FIG. 2, each color (Y, M, C,
K), the print head numbers corresponding to the respective print head numbers are sequentially stored.

As described above, the operator can arbitrarily set which color is to be printed by which print head. Then, when the setting of all colors is completed, FIG.
In the reprint determination process 2, the operator selects whether or not to perform printing again under the printing conditions set above, and when performing printing again, returns to the top of the print data development processing unit and performs the same operation as described above. Execute the processing of Thus, by the print head selection processing 1 described above, printing can be executed under the new printing conditions set above.

According to the above-described control processing, according to the color and the print head corresponding conditions set in advance by the operator.
Since reprinting can be performed without receiving data from the host computer again, raster data change work and raster data transmission processing on the host computer, which takes a relatively long time, are not required, and the raster whose color has been easily changed is not required. Data can be printed.

In the application of the first example, for example, when two printheads of magenta (M) and two printheads of black (K) are mounted, two printheads of the same color are mounted. Since it is possible to set so that printing is performed by the other print head even if only one ink runs out, even in such a case, the raster data change work by the host computer or the raster data Raster data can be printed without transmitting the image data.

Further, the printing conditions set by the reprint determination processing 2 in FIG. 1 are the correspondence between the colors and the print heads. In this application, the scan speed of the print head, the ink ejection cycle, the one-way It is also possible to change the printing conditions such as the designation of the scanning operation in both directions and the printing conditions such as the printing paper size, and to print again according to the above-mentioned settings. It is also possible to print.

In the above-described example described above, the case where the plurality of print heads are all different color print heads has been described. However, when the plurality of mounted print heads are all the same color print heads, A second example will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a setting screen for designating the use of a print head on the operation panel 4. The operator selects either ○ or × with the UP key 15 or the DOWN key 16 and presses the ENTER key 17. . Set “○” for the print head to be used, and set “×” for the print head not to be used. When the ENTER key 17 is depressed, the cursor 18 moves to the selection section of the next print head, and selects "O" or "X" in the same manner as described above, and the setting for all print heads is performed.

On the other hand, a print head selection setting process 6 is added to the panel control process of this embodiment shown in FIG.
The printhead selection processing 6 provides the operator's selection input function. When all the print heads have been selected, the selection results are stored in a table called a print head information table.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of the print head information table 7 described above. As shown in FIG. 6, a table configuration is used in which the number of print heads to be used and information on whether or not each print head is selected are sequentially stored.

With the above control processing, the operator can arbitrarily select a print head to be used.

Next, the processing of the print data development processing unit of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The print data development processing section first initializes a raster data read pointer and a print head number. Then, in the additional printhead use designation determination processing 5 in this example, it is determined whether or not the use of the printhead is designated by referring to the printhead information table 7 described in FIG. .
When the print head is used, the raster data read pointer is updated and print data is created. When the corresponding print head is not used, the process for updating the feed amount of the printing paper after printing is performed, and the print data is not created. The print paper feed amount is updated because the print paper feed amount after scanning changes depending on the configuration of the print head used.

Thereafter, as in the case of the conventional example, the print data is created only for the print head for which use is designated, and print data for all the print heads to be used is created. When the print data for one scan is ready, the print operation can be performed. Therefore, the paper feed amount after one scan operation is set, a scan operation start request is made, and the end of one scan operation is waited. 1
If the scanning operation is completed, and if it is not the final scan, the above processing is repeated to create print data for the next scan, and when all the scans have been completed, the print data development processing ends.

As described above, the printing operation using only the print head set in advance by the operator becomes possible.
Even if one of the print heads fails, by designating that the failed head is not used, the apparatus can be used continuously.

A more specific example of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

As an example, as shown in FIG. 8, the number of printable lines per print head is L, and the number of vertical lines of raster data to be printed is 8L.

The condition is, as shown in FIG. 8B, a total of four print heads of a first print head 11, a second print head 12, a third print head 13, and a fourth print head 14. (PH1, PH2, PH3, PH4
), And all four print heads are filled with the same color ink. Here, two of PH2 and PH3 cannot be used due to a failure, and only PH1 and PH4 can be used.

In the case of this example, only two available print heads, PH1 and PH4, are selected by the print head selection function of the operation panel described above.

FIG. 8A shows a printing result in each scanning operation when the printing operation is performed under the above conditions. As shown in FIG. 8A, portions (a) and (d) of raster data in the first scan, portions (b) and (e) of raster data in the second scan, and raster data in the third scan. of
(c) and (f) show the raster data in the fourth scan.
The part (g) and the part (h) of the raster data are printed in the fifth scan, and the printing is completed in a total of five scans. The reason why only one print head is printed in the fourth and fifth scans is that there is no raster data to be printed in this example.

The paper feed amount at the end of each scan is
As described with reference to FIG. 4, it is calculated and controlled for each scan by the sheet feed amount update processing. In the case of this example, FIG.
As shown in (A), the paper is fed by 4L at the end of the third scan and by L in the other cases.

On the other hand, although not shown, the print head
In the case of this example, in the case of this example, the raster data (a), (b), (c) and (d) are used in the first scan, and the raster data (e) and (f) are used in the second scan. ), (G), (h), and (i) are printed, so that printing can be performed in a total of two scans.
On the other hand, when only two print heads can be used as described above, the number of scans required for printing increases because the number of print heads is small, but the apparatus does not go down.

In the ink jet printer of the second example described above, a plurality of print heads are mounted in order to increase the printing speed, and each print head uses exactly the same print head. Any print head may be mounted on the printer. In the case of the specific example described above, as shown in FIG. 8B, the print heads mounted at physically distant positions (PH1 and PH4) are designated to be used as they are and printed. The print head can be mounted, for example, at the positions of PH1 and PH2, and the operation panel can be used to specify that PH1 and PH2 are used. An example in this case will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the present example, as shown in FIG.
H2 is set, and only two available printheads, PH1 and PH2, are selected by the printhead selection function of the operation panel.

FIG. 9A shows a print result in each scan operation when the print operation is performed under the same conditions as the example described in FIG. In FIG. 9A, the number of scans is smaller than in the case of FIG. 8, even though the same two print heads are used. In other words, even if the number of print heads used is the same, the number of scans will be different by changing the mounting method, which means that the printing time is reduced.

Therefore, in the operation of the panel control unit or the print data development processing unit when designating the use of the print head, the operation panel is informed that the printing time can be reduced by changing the physical mounting position of the print head. The display allows the operator to recognize that fact. Then, after the operator changes the optimal physical mounting position of the print head based on the display and selects the print head using the operation panel, the printing can be executed at the optimal print speed.

As described above, as in the second example described above, even when the print head cannot be partially used, printing can be executed using the available print head, and the down time of the apparatus can be minimized. It is possible to limit.

By combining the first example and the second example, both effects can be obtained simultaneously. For example,
If only black ink is lost during printing using a device equipped with a four-color print head, raster data that should be printed in black can be printed in cyan ink, for example. It can be used continuously as long as the operator can tolerate it. Further, in the second example, the operator sets the print head to be used on the operation panel. However, a failed print head is automatically detected, and the print head is not used. It is also possible to control to create print data.

[0062]

According to the present invention, the print data development processing section determines which print head to use in accordance with the color, and determines whether or not to print again under another condition at the end of printing. By adding a determination process for selection, printing can be performed without retransmitting print data from the host computer, and operability can be improved.

Further, a setting function for selecting a print head is added to the panel processing section, and a judgment processing based on the setting information is added to the print data development processing section, so that the print data adapted to the usable print head is added. Since data can be created, a printing operation can be performed even if a printhead failure occurs, so that downtime of the apparatus can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a print data expansion processing unit according to a first example of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a printhead correspondence table according to a first example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a color and print head association setting screen according to the first example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a print data expansion processing unit according to a second example of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a panel control unit according to a second example of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a printhead information table according to a second example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a printhead selection setting screen according to a second example of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a first specific example of a print result according to the second example of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a second specific example of a print result in the second example of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional color printing operation.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional print data development processing unit.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional panel control unit.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an inkjet printer control device and a printing mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a print head selection process, 2 is a reprint determination process,
3 is a print head compatible table, 4 is an operation panel, 5
Is a printhead use designation determination process, 6 is a printhead selection setting process, 7 is a printhead information table,
1 is a first print head, 12 is a second print head, 15 is a first nozzle row, and 16 is a second nozzle row.

Claims (7)

[Claims] A plurality of printheads having nozzles for ejecting ink; a reception processing unit for receiving print data from a host computer and storing the data in a reception data storage device; and the reception data storage device. A raster data development processing unit for converting the data of the raster data into raster data, a raster data storage device for storing the raster data developed by the raster data development processing unit, and printing the raster data according to the configuration of a print head. In a control device of an ink jet printer having a processing unit for creating print data to be output to a head, without retransmitting data from a host computer,
A print control apparatus for an ink jet printer, having a function of printing again without changing or changing printing conditions. 2. A control apparatus for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a function of designating which print head to print each color of two or more colors of printing data. Control device. 3. The control device for an ink-jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of print heads each having two or more inks of the same color, wherein when one or more print heads fail or the ink becomes empty, A printing control method for an ink jet printer, wherein printing is performed using a print head of another same color ink. 4. A print control apparatus for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising a function of setting whether or not to enable a function of printing again without changing or changing printing conditions. Print control device for inkjet printer. 5. A plurality of print heads having nozzles for ejecting ink, a reception processing unit for receiving print data from a host computer and storing the data in a reception data storage device, and the reception data storage device A function of selecting one or a plurality of printheads to be used for printing in a control device of an ink jet printer having a processing unit for creating print data to be output to the printhead in accordance with the printhead configuration based on the data of And controlling to print using the selected print head. 6. A control method for an ink jet printer according to claim 5, further comprising a function of detecting that the print head is unusable due to a failure or the like, and performing printing without using said unusable print head. Control method for an ink-jet printer, characterized in that the control is performed as described above. 7. A control method for an ink jet printer according to claim 5, further comprising a function of notifying an operator whether or not the mounting position of the print head is optimal.