JP2003094753A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recorder which can instantaneously detect a carriage position immediately before a power supply is inputted and can speedily transfer the carriage to a home position in a state with low noise and low vibrations without wrong operations. SOLUTION: Position information of the carriage 15 is held to a guide rod 16, and a carriage position detecting part 22 is set to the carriage 15. The apparatus is made compact without increasing a parts count. Carriage position information immediately before the power supply is inputted is instantaneously and exactly detected and obtained by the carriage position detecting part 22. Even when the carriage 15 is moved by disturbances when the power supply is cut off, the carriage 15 can be quickly and exactly transferred to the home position without wrong operations. A DC motor is used as a carriage motor 11A, and therefore the carriage 15 can be transferred in a state without the noise and vibrations caused by the motor. A maintenance operation is carried out only at a predetermined condition time, so that component costs can be reduced and an image recording operation can be carried out efficiently.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image recording apparatus, which is the basis of the present invention, has a structure as shown in FIG. 7, in which a CPU 2 for controlling the overall operation transfers a recording target from a host computer via a bus B. A host interface 1 that performs an interface operation for capturing image data, a ROM 3 that stores a program for control operation, a RAM 4 that temporarily stores various data during control operation, and a non-volatile memory that stores various data even when the power is cut off. (NVRAM) is connected. Similarly, an operation panel 6 through which an operator inputs operation data of the device to the CPU 2 via the bus B,
An image processing unit 7 that performs signal processing such as rearrangement on image data to be recorded, a head drive control unit 10 that controls drive of a recording head, a motor drive unit 12 that drives a carriage motor, and a motor drive unit that drives a carry motor. 14 is connected. A recording head 8 for recording an image on a recording medium is connected to the head drive control unit 10 via a head driver 9, a stepping motor is connected to a motor drive unit 12 as a carriage motor 11, and recording is performed to a motor drive unit 14. A conveyance motor 13 that conveys the medium is connected.

In a conventional image recording apparatus, a guide rod on which a carriage carrying a recording head 8 is slidably held is arranged in the main scanning direction, and a carriage 15 driven by a carriage motor 11 is a guide rod. Although it is guided and moved, in the normal configuration, a linear scale is extendedly arranged in parallel with the guide rod, slits are formed at predetermined intervals in the linear scale, and the carriage is moved along with the movement of the carriage. An encoder sensor for reading the slit is attached, and a home position sensor for detecting that the carriage has returned to the home position position is provided.

In the conventional image recording apparatus having such a structure, the home position sensor detects that the carriage has returned to the home position position, and the carriage motor 11 drives the stepping motor to drive the carriage.
The position of the recording head 8 mounted on the carriage that is moved by being guided by the guide rod is detected based on the encoder signal output from the encoder sensor. Then, the host interface 1 is instructed by the CPU 2
With respect to the image data to be recorded that is taken in from, the image is recorded on the recording medium by the recording head 8 by the print timing signal output based on the encoder signal. Also, the carriage 15 returned to the home position
In response to a command from the CPU 2, maintenance operations such as capping of the ink nozzle surface, opening of the head cap, collection of waste ink and setting of a carriage stopper are performed.

[0005]

In contrast to the above-mentioned conventional image recording apparatus, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-141803, a boundary area of a slit serving as an absolute reference position is provided in a moving path of a carriage, and an encoder sensor is used as an absolute sensor. Disclosed is a drive control device for a printer, which controls a movement of a carriage to a home position by driving a carriage motor 11 which is a stepping motor by a preset number of steps after detecting a reference position and does not require a home position sensor. Has been done.

According to the drive control device for a printer according to this disclosure, since it is not necessary to provide a home position sensor separately, the structure of the device can be made compact and simple. However, in this method, the carriage is driven while the stepping motor is driven at a low speed. By detecting the absolute reference position provided on the movement path of and moving the carriage to the home position by the stepping motor by controlling the number of steps after that, a predetermined time is required until the device becomes operable. There is a problem that it is necessary. Further, unlike the stepping motor, the DC motor cannot detect and control the rotation speed by the open loop drive. Therefore, by using the DC motor as it is in the conventional image recording apparatus instead of the stepping motor, Low noise and low vibration cannot be achieved. Further, according to the disclosed device, since the absolute reference position is detected and determined by the logical value of the output signal of the encoder sensor, the absolute reference position may be erroneously determined when the carriage stops due to some disturbance. May cause malfunction of.

The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the operation of the image recording apparatus of this type as described above, and an object thereof is to instantly detect the carriage position immediately before the power is turned on, for example, to use a DC motor. An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus that can be used to quickly move the carriage to the home position without malfunction, maintaining the apparatus in a low noise and low vibration state.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a carriage equipped with a recording head is arranged in a main scanning direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of a recording medium on which an image is recorded. In an image recording apparatus which is driven to reciprocate, and which records an image on the recording medium by the recording head based on the conveyance of the recording medium and the reciprocal driving, when the power is turned on to the apparatus, the carriage immediately before being turned on. It is characterized in that it has a position information acquisition means for instantaneously detecting and acquiring position information.

According to such means, the carriage on which the recording head is mounted is reciprocally driven in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium on which an image is recorded, and the carriage of the recording medium and the reciprocating drive are performed. An image is recorded on the recording medium by the recording head, but when the power is turned on to the apparatus, the position information acquisition unit instantaneously detects and acquires the position information of the carriage immediately before the power is turned on, and the position information acquisition unit detects and acquires the position information. Based on the current position information of the carriage, the amount of movement to the home position and the driving condition of the motor required for the return are immediately calculated, the carriage is returned to the home position in a short time, and the carriage may be disturbed by some disturbance factor. Even if is moving, the carriage is returned to the home position with high accuracy based on the current position information of the carriage, High precision image recording suitable 確且 one performed efficiently on.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the drive source for reciprocating the carriage is a DC motor.

According to such means, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the drive source of the carriage is the DC motor, the noise and vibration at the time of driving the carriage are greatly reduced, and the image recording is performed. Done.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 3 is different from the invention according to claim 1 in that the carriage is disposed in the main scanning direction and holds the carriage. A guide rod for guiding the reciprocating drive of the carriage, and a position information carrying medium that is carried by the guide rod and carries the position information of the carriage.

According to such means, in addition to the function of the invention described in claim 1, the carriage is held and the reciprocating drive is guided by the guide rod arranged in the main scanning direction, and the guide rod is Since the position information carrying medium for carrying the position information of the carriage is provided, the position information acquiring means acquires the position information of the carriage accurately in a miniaturized configuration with a small number of parts, and High-precision drive control is performed.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 4 is the same as the invention according to claim 3, in which the detection means for detecting the position information of the carriage from the position information carrying medium is the above-mentioned. It is characterized in that it is provided in the carriage.

According to such means, in addition to the function of the invention described in claim 3, since the detecting means for detecting the position information of the carriage from the position information carrier is provided in the carriage, the entire structure is provided. With the size further reduced,
Accurately acquiring the position information of the carriage, high-precision drive control of the carriage is performed.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the position information carrying medium is disposed on the surface of the guide rod. It is characterized by being a resistor.

According to such means, in addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 3 or 4, since the position information carrier is a resistor provided on the surface of the guide rod, a simple detection circuit is provided. With this configuration, highly accurate position information of the carriage is acquired.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 6 requires detection and acquisition of position information of the carriage in addition to the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 5. It is characterized in that control means is provided which is limited in time.

According to such means, in addition to the operation of the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 5, the control means detects and acquires the position information of the carriage only when necessary. Therefore, the cost of used parts is reduced, and the overall manufacturing cost is reduced.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present embodiment, FIG.
Is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a main scanning mechanism portion of the present embodiment,
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the main scanning mechanism portion is shown in FIG.
The carriage 15 having the recording head 8 has a guide rod 16 slidably held in the main scanning direction, and is driven and transported by a carriage motor 11A which is a DC motor. The mounting portion of the timing belt 17 is fixed to the carriage 15,
The carriage 15 is driven by a carriage motor 11A via a timing belt 17 and is configured to reciprocate in the main scanning direction along a guide rod. The linear scale 1 is parallel to the guide rod 16.
8 are extended and arranged, slits are formed in the linear scale 18 at predetermined intervals, and the linear scale 1 is attached to the carriage 15 as the carriage 15 moves.
An encoder sensor 19 for reading the slit 8 is attached. Further, the conveying motor 13 shown in FIG.
A recording medium 21 such as coated paper or glossy paper that is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction is provided.

Further, for the carriage 15 located at the home position, which operates under a predetermined condition set by a command from the CPU 2 shown in FIG. 1, capping of the ink nozzle surface, opening of the head cap, recovery of waste ink and carriage. A maintenance adjustment unit 20 is provided for performing maintenance operations such as setting stoppers. In this embodiment, the carriage 1 is mounted on the guide rod 16.
Carriage position information corresponding to the movement position of No. 5 is held, and a carriage position detection unit 22 is provided on the carriage 15.

Corresponding to such a configuration, in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in contrast to the conventional image recording apparatus already described with reference to FIG. 7, the CPU 2 is connected to the linear scale via the bus B. An encoder sensor 19 for reading the slit of 18 is connected, a DC motor is used as the carriage motor 11A instead of the stepping motor, and a carriage position detection unit 22 for detecting and acquiring carriage position information carried on the guide rod 16 is provided. ing. Further, in the present embodiment, the CPU 2 is provided with maintenance command means for causing the maintenance adjustment unit 20 to perform a maintenance operation under a preset predetermined condition. The other parts of the configuration of the present embodiment are the same as those of the conventional image recording apparatus already described with reference to FIG.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described below.
A description will be given based on the flowchart of FIG. When the image recording apparatus is powered on, in step S1 of FIG.
Based on the command from U2, the carriage position detecting unit 22 detects the carriage position information on the guide rod 16, and the detected carriage position information is stored in the RAM 4, and in step S2, the CPU 2 causes the RAM to move to the RAM.
Based on the carriage position information read from No. 4, it is determined whether the carriage 15 is currently at the home position. When it is determined in step S2 that the carriage 15 is not located at the home position, the process proceeds to step S3, in which the CPU 2 moves the carriage 15 to the home position based on the carriage position information read from the RAM 4, And the drive condition of the carriage motor 11A for moving in the shortest time is calculated. Next, in step S4, the motor drive unit 12 is driven by the command of the CPU2, the carriage motor 11A is driven according to the calculated driving condition, and the carriage 15 is moved toward the home position. In step S5, it is determined whether or not the position of the carriage 15 has reached the home position.

When it is determined that the home position has not been reached, the process returns to step S4, the carriage motor 11A is driven, and when it is determined in step S5 that the carriage 15 is at the home position, the process proceeds to step S6. Then, according to the instruction from the CPU 2, the operation of the motor drive unit 12 is stopped and the carriage motor 11A is stopped at the home position.

In this state, the CPU 2 determines whether or not the predetermined condition for performing the maintenance operation is determined, and when it is determined that the maintenance operation is performed, the maintenance adjusting unit is instructed by the instruction from the CPU 2. 20, the carriage stopper is set, and maintenance operations such as capping the ink nozzle surface, releasing the head cap, and collecting waste ink are performed. Then, regardless of whether or not the maintenance operation is performed, the carriage 1
5 is at the home position, and the apparatus is in the standby state for the printing operation.

When the print operation mode is set from this state, the host interface 1 is instructed by the instruction of the CPU 2.
Image data to be image-recorded is captured via the, and the captured image data is temporarily stored in the RAM 4, and then the image processing unit 7 performs processing on the image data read from the RAM 4. Then, signal processing such as data rearrangement and necessary image processing is performed, and the image data subjected to the signal processing is transferred to the head drive control unit 10. Then, based on the image data from the head drive control unit 10, a drive signal is output from the head driver 9 to the recording head, and in response to a command from the CPU 2, the recording medium 21 is conveyed by the conveyance motor 13 in the sub-scanning direction. ,
Recording head 8 of carriage 15 transported in the main scanning direction
Ink is ejected from the recording medium 21 and image recording based on the image data is performed on the recording medium 21.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the carriage rod 15 has the carriage position information corresponding to the movement position of the carriage 15 and the carriage 15 has the carriage position detector 22. The apparatus can be downsized without increasing the number of parts, and the position information of the carriage 15 immediately before the power is turned on is
Since the carriage position detection unit 22 detects the carriage position information, it can be detected and acquired instantly and accurately. Therefore, even if the carriage 15 is moved due to some disturbance when the power is shut off, the carriage 15 can quickly move to the home position without causing a malfunction. It becomes possible to transfer accurately, and further, the DC motor is used as the carriage motor 11A and the carriage 15
Is transferred, it is possible to transfer the carriage 15 without noise or vibration caused by the motor.
Further, by performing the maintenance operation under a predetermined condition set in advance, it is possible to reduce the cost of the component parts and to perform an efficient image recording operation.

[Second Embodiment] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the main scanning mechanism portion of the present embodiment, FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the main scanning position and the detected voltage of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 shows the operation of the present embodiment. It is a flowchart shown.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a uniform resistor 24 is formed on the surface of the guide rod 16 over the entire length of the guide rod 16.
An end of the uniform resistor 24 on the home position side is grounded, and a predetermined voltage Vcc (for example, 5 V) is applied to the end of the uniform resistor 24 on the opposite home position side. For this,
As shown in FIG. 5, the uniform resistor 24 has a potential 0 at the home position end and a potential Vc at the anti-home position end.
A potential distribution corresponding to the position of the uniform resistor 24 is linearly set as c. Then, in the carriage 15,
A contact 25, which is in contact with the uniform resistor 24 of the guide rod 16 and is slidable on the uniform resistor 24 in a contact state, is attached. This contact 25 is connected to an input terminal of a noise removing filter 26. The output terminal of the filter 26 is connected to the CPU 2. As described above, in the present embodiment, the contact 25 and the filter 26 form the carriage position detector 22A. The configuration of the other parts of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment already described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described below.
This will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. When the image recording apparatus is powered on, in step S10 of FIG.
Based on the command of PU2, the detection voltage of the contact 25 contacting the uniform resistor 24 on the guide rod 16 is taken in as a detection signal, and the detection signal is subjected to AD conversion in the CPU 2 after noise is removed in the filter 26. Has been
Highly accurate carriage position information is acquired. The carriage position information obtained in this way is stored in the RAM 4 and is read by the CPU 2 in step S11.
Based on the carriage position information read from AM4, it is determined whether or not the carriage 15 is currently at the home position. When it is determined in step S11 that the carriage 15 is not located at the home position, the process proceeds to step S12 and the CPU 2 causes RA
Based on the carriage position information read from M4,
The amount of movement of the carriage 15 to the home position and the driving condition of the carriage motor 11A for moving in the shortest time are calculated. Next, the process proceeds to step S13, the motor driving unit 12 is driven by the command of the CPU2, the carriage motor 11A is moved toward the home position according to the calculated driving condition, and in the middle of the transfer, the command of the CPU2 causes the step S14 to be performed. Then, it is sequentially determined whether or not the position of the carriage 15 has reached the home position.

When it is determined that the home position has not been reached, the process returns to step S13 to drive the carriage motor 11A, and in step S14 it is determined that the detection voltage V = 0 and the carriage 15 is in the home position. Then, the process proceeds to step S15, and the operation of the motor drive unit 12 is stopped by the command of the CPU 2, and the carriage motor 11A stops at the home position.
Since the maintenance operation and the image recording operation in this embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment already described,
No duplicate explanation will be given.

According to the present embodiment, the guide rod 16
The uniform resistor 24 is formed on the carriage 15, and the carriage 15 is provided with a contact 25 slidable in contact with the uniform resistor 24.
Since the voltage corresponding to the position of the carriage 15 is detected by the contact 25, the device can be downsized without an increase in the number of components, and the position information of the carriage 15 immediately before the power is turned on is: Since the detection signal is instantly and accurately detected and obtained from the contact 25, even if the carriage 15 is moved due to some disturbance at the time of power shutoff, the carriage 15 can be quickly and accurately brought to the home position without causing a malfunction. Since the carriage 15 can be transferred using the DC motor as the carriage motor 11A, the carriage 15 can be transferred without noise or vibration caused by the motor. Further, by performing the maintenance operation under a preset predetermined condition, for example, the cost of the contact 25 can be reduced, the cost of the component parts can be reduced, and the efficient image recording operation can be performed.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the carriage equipped with the recording head is reciprocally driven in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium on which an image is recorded.
An image is recorded on the recording medium by the recording head based on the conveyance and reciprocation of the recording medium, but when the power is turned on to the apparatus, the position information acquisition means instantaneously outputs the position information of the carriage immediately before the power is turned on. Therefore, based on the current position information of the carriage detected and acquired by the position information acquisition means, the amount of movement to the home position and the drive condition of the motor necessary for return are immediately calculated, and the Allows the carriage to return to the home position, and even if the carriage is moving due to some disturbance factor, the carriage can be returned to the home position with high accuracy based on the current position information of the carriage. Therefore, it becomes possible to always carry out highly accurate image recording accurately and efficiently.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the invention, since the drive source of the carriage is a DC motor, noise and vibration generated during driving of the carriage can be significantly reduced. It becomes possible to record an image.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the invention, the carriage is held and the reciprocating drive is guided by the guide rod arranged in the main scanning direction, and the guide is guided. Since the position information carrying medium for carrying the position information of the carriage is carried on the rod, the position information acquiring means accurately acquires the position information of the carriage in a miniaturized configuration state with a small number of parts. Thus, it becomes possible to perform highly accurate drive control of the carriage.

According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect obtained by the invention described in claim 3, since the detection means for detecting the position information of the carriage from the position information carrier is provided in the carriage, It becomes possible to accurately acquire the position information of the carriage and perform the drive control of the carriage with high accuracy in a state where the entire configuration is further downsized.

According to the invention of claim 5, in addition to the effect obtained by the invention of claim 3 or 4, since the position information carrier is a resistor arranged on the surface of the guide rod, it is simple. With such a structure of the detection circuit, it becomes possible to obtain highly accurate position information of the carriage.

According to the invention described in claim 6, in addition to the effect obtained by the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 5, the control means limits the detection and acquisition of the position information of the carriage when necessary. Therefore, the cost of the parts used can be reduced and the overall manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main scanning mechanism portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main scanning mechanism portion according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a main scanning position and a detected voltage according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image recording apparatus which is a basis of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 CPU 7 Image processing section 8 recording head 11 Carriage motor 15 carriage 16 Guide rod 18 linear scale 19 Encoder sensor 22, 22A Carriage position detector 20 Maintenance adjustment unit 21 recording medium 24 Uniform resistor 25 contactor

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A carriage carrying a recording head is reciprocally driven in a main scanning direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of a recording medium on which an image is recorded, and the recording is carried out based on the conveyance of the recording medium and the reciprocating drive. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on the recording medium by a head is characterized by having position information acquisition means for instantaneously detecting and acquiring the position information of the carriage immediately before the power is turned on to the apparatus. Image recording device. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a drive source for reciprocating the carriage is a DC motor. 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide rod is disposed in the main scanning direction and guides the reciprocating drive of the carriage while holding the carriage. An image recording apparatus provided with a position information holding medium that is held and holds the position information of the carriage. 4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the carriage is provided with detection means for detecting position information of the carriage from the position information carrying medium. . 5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the position information carrying medium is a resistor provided on the surface of the guide rod. 6. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control means for performing detection and acquisition of position information of the carriage only when necessary. Characteristic image recording device.