JP2003136755A - Inkjet recorder and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To optimize a recording operation and to improve the efficiency by reducing a total recording time period including a recovery operation by a method wherein the timing is selected by considering a data transferring time period or a moving time period of a carriage to efficiently move a recording head in an inkjet recorder. SOLUTION: Recovery operation sections (a preliminary ejection receptive section) 23, 24 for maintaining or recovering an ink ejection performance of a recording means are provided to both sides of a recordable region, respectively. A total recording time period including a recovery operation is calculated based on a time period of from the start to the completion of the recording of the recording data and a time period to the next recovery operation when the recording data is received in case the recovery operation is performed before receiving the next recording data and in case the recovery operation is performed after the next recording operation is performed. The recording operation is performed by a pattern having the shorter total recording time period calculated in the above.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a control method for the recording apparatus, and more specifically, it shortens the total recording time including the recovery process of recording means for recording while moving along a recording medium. The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus and a method for controlling the recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording device having functions such as a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile, or a recording device used as an output device such as a composite electronic device including a computer and a word processor, a workstation, etc. An image (including characters, symbols, etc.) is recorded on a recording medium (recording material) such as or a plastic thin plate. The recording device is an inkjet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, or a recording type.
It can be divided into laser beam type and the like.

Among them, the ink jet type recording apparatus (ink jet recording apparatus) records ink by ejecting ink from an ink jet recording means to a recording medium, and the recording means can be easily made compact and a high definition image can be obtained. Can be recorded at high speed, and can be recorded on plain paper without any special treatment. The running cost is low, and the non-impact method reduces noise, and many types of ink (for example, color It is advantageous in that it is easy to record a color image by using (ink). Further, in the inkjet recording device,
There are various requirements for the material of the recording medium (recording material), and in recent years, the development for these requirements has progressed,
In addition to ordinary recording media such as paper (including thin paper and processed paper) and resin thin plates (such as OHP), recording devices using cloth, leather, non-woven fabric, and metal as recording media are also used. Has become.

In the ink jet recording apparatus as well, a serial recording method is generally used in which recording is performed while performing main scanning in a direction intersecting the conveyance direction (paper feeding direction, sub-scanning direction) of the recording medium. In a type of recording apparatus, an image is recorded (main scanning) by a recording unit (recording head) mounted on a carriage that moves along a recording medium, and after recording one line, a predetermined amount of paper is fed (sub-scanning). Pitch conveyance as scanning) is performed, and then the image of the next row is recorded on the recording medium that has stopped again (main scanning).
Recording of the entire recording medium is performed by repeating this operation.

Further, the serial type ink jet recording apparatus is constructed such that ink is ejected from recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium to perform recording. In general, when expanding data received from a host such as a personal computer into recording data,
Each time the data is developed so that the amount of print data corresponding to one scan (main scan) is obtained, printing based on the print data is sequentially performed. Therefore, when a recovery process such as preliminary ejection is performed in the middle of a recording operation by an inkjet recording head as a recording unit, the recovery process execution timing is determined by a method of determining whether or not the recovery process is performed when recording the next data. The time management of (time interval) is performed.

[0006]

However, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, as described above, when recording the recording information (recording data) of the next recording scan, the preliminary ejection (recovery) is performed at the time of the recording scan. (Processing) is performed or not, it is wasteful in the moving distance and the moving sequence of the recording head in the recording operation, and as a result, the total recording time including the recovery processing becomes long. There was a technical problem that had to be solved.

Further, the ink jet recording apparatus generally maintains the ink ejection performance of the recording head every time the ink ejection operation (recording operation) is performed a fixed number of times or a fixed time.
The recovery process for recovery is executed to maintain the print quality during continuous printing. However, even in such an ink jet printing apparatus, the next scan (the next one line by the print head is used. Since only the recording start position and the recording end position of the main scanning) are managed, the time sequence of the recording head movement sequence including the recovery process, that is, the entire recording operation including the recovery process is performed in the optimum state. It wasn't forgotten and wasted extra time due to useless movement sequences.

For example, in the prior art, it is possible to calculate backward how many seconds or minutes the recovery process is required at the time of receiving the print data of the next scan, but it is necessary. In order to accurately predict in which sequence the recovery process is performed, it is impossible to receive the record data until the time when the recovery process is predicted to be performed. In order to receive the print data up to the point when the recovery process is performed in advance, the receive buffer and the print buffer are provided so that the data corresponding to many scans can be received and expanded and stored in the printing apparatus. It is necessary to drastically increase the capacity of, and such a coping method is practically impossible. Further, in such a coping method, since the printing operation cannot be performed for a long time until the print data of an amount corresponding to a large number of scans is obtained, the waiting time after instructing the printing is increased. Another problem is that it will end up.

If it takes a long time to transfer data from a host such as a personal computer to the ink jet recording apparatus, a wait occurs every scan.
Therefore, even when the recording operation is possible immediately after the expansion processing of the next print data is completed, the recovery processing of the print head is executed after a certain period of time elapses,
The recording is interrupted, and as a result, the waiting time is further increased. Generally, the recovery process of the print head is executed when the print data for one scan is received by the print unit or after the print operation is completed. The moving sequence in which the recording head is accelerated again to move to a predetermined position where the recovery process is performed and then stopped again is performed, and the moving sequence is not efficient in consideration of shortening the entire recording time.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional technique, and an object of the present invention is to shorten the total recording time including the recovery process to improve the efficiency of the recording operation. A recording apparatus and a method for controlling the recording apparatus are provided. A further object of the invention is
By moving the recording means more efficiently and selecting the recovery processing timing in consideration of the transfer time of the recording data, the development time of the recording data, and the moving time of the recording means,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording apparatus and a control method of the recording apparatus, which can reduce the entire recording time including the moving time.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention ejects ink from a recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium to perform recording. The inkjet recording apparatus for performing the above is characterized by having a recording operation control means for selecting and executing a sequence of recording operations so that the total recording time including the recovery process becomes shorter. According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the structure of claim 1, a recovery processing unit for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording means is arranged on both sides of the recordable area, and the recording data is received. Sometimes, based on the time until the recording of the record data is completed and the time until the next recovery process, the recovery process is performed before the next record data is received and the recovery process is performed at the end of the next record process. The above-described object can be efficiently achieved by calculating the total recording time including the recovery process and performing the sequence in which the calculated total recording time is shorter.

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording apparatus control method according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention is an ink jet recording method in which ink is ejected from a recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium to perform recording. A method of controlling a recording apparatus is characterized in that a recording operation sequence is selected and executed so that a total recording time including a recovery process becomes shorter. According to the invention of claim 12, in addition to the structure of claim 11, a recovery processing section for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording means is arranged on both sides of the recordable area, and the recording data is received. Sometimes, based on the time until the recording of the record data is completed and the time until the next recovery process, the recovery process is performed before the next record data is received and the recovery process is performed at the end of the next record process. The above-described object can be efficiently achieved by calculating the total recording time including the recovery process and performing the sequence in which the calculated total recording time is shorter.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals denote the same or corresponding parts throughout the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an inkjet recording apparatus 10 suitable for applying the present invention.
2 is a schematic perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an example of No. 0. FIG. In FIG. 1, a recording head 10 as a recording unit is mounted on a carriage 12, and the carriage 12 is guided and supported by two guide rails 13A and 13B installed in the apparatus main body so as to be capable of reciprocating. A carriage motor 14 for moving the carriage 12 is attached to one end of the apparatus body. An idler pulley 15 is arranged at the other end of the device body. Then, between the drive pulley (motor pulley) 14A attached to the output shaft of the carriage motor 14 and the idler pulley 15, a timing belt 16 driven along a movement path parallel to the guide rails 13A and 13B is provided. It is stretched.

A part of the timing belt 16 is connected to the carriage 12. In addition, the timing belt 16 is an idler pulley 1 slidably supported.
A predetermined tension is applied by a tension spring 17 attached so as to urge 5 outwardly. Thus
The carriage 12 is reciprocated by the forward and reverse rotations of the carriage motor 14, and the carriage motor 1
The position and the moving speed of the carriage 12, that is, the position and the moving speed (main scanning speed) of the recording head 10 are controlled by the rotation amount and the rotating speed of the carriage 4.

A platen 18 is disposed in parallel with the guide rails 13A and 13B with a predetermined gap provided at a position facing the ink ejection portion (ejection port surface) of the recording means (recording head) 10. The platen 18 sets the position of the recording medium P such as recording paper at the recording position (printing position) to an appropriate distance between sheets (distance between the ejection port surface and the recording medium).
And is arranged over the recordable area within the reciprocating range of the recording head 10. On the upstream side of the platen 18 in the sheet passing direction, feed rollers (conveying rollers, paper feeding rollers) (not shown) are arranged parallel to the guide rails 13A and 13B. By pressing the pinch roller 20 supported by the pinch roller guide 19 against the feed roller, the recording medium sent from the automatic paper feeder 25 is rubbed against the feed roller and the pinch roller 20. Is configured to be conveyed through the recording unit on the platen 18. Reference numeral 22 denotes a line feed motor (conveying motor) for driving the feed roller (conveying roller, paper feeding roller).

At the recording position (recording portion), the carriage 12 is driven to perform the main scanning of the recording head 10, and the recording head 10 is driven in synchronization with the main scanning based on the recording information. Recording (printing) is performed on the recording medium P conveyed by the feed roller and the pinch roller 20. Platen 1
A discharge roller 21 and a spur (not shown) for discharging the recording medium that has passed through the recording unit are provided on the downstream side in the sheet passing direction of 8, and here also the friction between the discharge roller 21 and the spur is provided. The recording medium P on which the recording is performed is sequentially fed out by the conveying force.

A recovery system unit 26 is arranged at a position outside the recordable area on the right side of the platen 18 in the figure (a position outside the recordable area). The recovery system unit 26 is provided with a cap 27 for sealing the ink ejection portion of the recording head 10. The recovery system unit 26 operates a suction pump that communicates with the inside of the cap while the ink ejection portion is sealed with the cap 27 (the recording head 10 is capped).
A negative pressure is generated in the cap 27, and the negative pressure is used to suck out thickened ink, adhered ink, bubbles, dust (paper dust, etc.) together with ink from the ejection port, thereby refreshing the ink in the ejection port. However, the ink ejection performance of the recording head 10 is maintained and restored.

The cap 27 is used as a negative pressure acting portion (suction portion) in the suction recovery operation of the recording head 10 as recording means, and also during transportation of the recording apparatus or during non-recording (during storage, etc.). It is also used to prevent the ink from drying inside the ejection port. Further, the recovery system unit 26 has a wiping member (for example, a blade made of a rubber-like elastic material or an ink-absorbing member) for wiping and cleaning foreign matters such as ink and dust adhering to the ejection port surface of the recording head 10. A wiping member etc.) 29 is also provided.

Further, the ink jet recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
Preliminary ejection receiving portions 23 and 24 for receiving preliminary ejection ink for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording head 10 are provided at the left and right ends of the recording head 00, respectively.
The recovery operation of the recording head 10 can be performed not only by the ink suction operation (suction recovery operation) and the wiping operation described above but also by an ejection operation (preliminary ejection) for pressurizing and ejecting (ejection) the ink in the ejection port. , The preliminary discharge receiving portion 2
Reference numerals 3 and 24 are for receiving such ink to be preliminarily ejected. That is, in the inkjet recording apparatus of FIG. 1, in addition to the suction recovery operation and the wiping operation (cleaning operation) by the recovery system unit 26,
Preliminary discharge receiving portions 23, 24 provided on both sides of the apparatus main body
It is also possible to perform the preliminary ejection operation of ejecting ink droplets to both or either of the above.

The automatic paper feeding device 25, the feed roller (not shown), the discharge roller 21, the recovery system unit 26, and the like are driven by, for example, a conveyance motor (line feed motor, paper feed motor) 22 as a drive source. , Through a transmission mechanism (driving force transmission mechanism) including gears and clutches (not shown). In addition, in the ink jet recording apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, one recording head 10 is mounted on the carriage 12, but in the present invention, a plurality of recording heads are mounted on the carriage 12 to perform color recording and gradation. The same can be applied to an inkjet recording apparatus configured to record.

The recording head 10 as recording means is
An ink jet recording head for ejecting ink by utilizing thermal energy, which is provided with an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy. In addition, the recording head 10 causes film boiling in the ink by the thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter, and ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing the pressure change due to the growth and contraction of bubbles generated at that time. Then, the recording is performed. The electrothermal converter is arranged corresponding to each of the plurality of ejection ports, and the corresponding ejection port is applied by applying a pulse voltage to the corresponding electrothermal converter according to recording information (recording signal). The ink is ejected from.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the structure of the ink ejection portion of the recording head 10. In FIG. 2, the ejection port surface 81 facing a recording medium P such as recording paper with a predetermined gap (for example, about 0.2 to about 2.0 mm) has a plurality of ejection ports at a predetermined pitch. 82 is formed, and each liquid passage 8 connects the common liquid chamber 83 and each discharge port 82.
An electrothermal converter (heat generating resistor, etc.) 85 for generating energy for ejecting ink is disposed along the wall surface of No. 4. The recording head 10 is mounted on the carriage 12 in such a positional relationship that the ejection ports 82 are arranged in a direction intersecting the main scanning direction (moving direction of the carriage 12).
In this way, the corresponding electrothermal converter 85 is driven (energized) based on the image signal or the ejection signal to cause the ink in the liquid passage 84 to film-boil, and the pressure generated at that time ejects the ink droplet from the ejection port 82. A recording head is configured to perform recording.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a recording system using the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, the inkjet recording apparatus 100 and the personal computer 200 are connected via a predetermined interface so as to enable bidirectional communication, and the inkjet recording apparatus 100 internally prints the recording data received from the computer 200. A data processing unit 110 that performs data expansion processing according to the configuration of 10 and a recording unit 120 that performs recording processing of the recording data processed by the data processing unit 110 on the recording medium P.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic structure of a recording processing unit in an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 4, a recording head 10 as a recording means mounted on a carriage 12 movable in a main scanning direction along a recording medium such as a recording sheet is driven based on recording data, and is directed from the recording head to the recording medium. Recording is performed by ejecting ink by the ink. In the recordable area of one scan, the leftmost end position L1 of actual recording and the rightmost end position R1 of actual recording are set, and the first preliminary ejection receiving portion 23 is arranged on the left side of the recordable area. The second preliminary ejection receiving portion 24 is arranged on the right side of the recordable area. Further, the recording direction of the recording head 10 is set to the main scanning direction, and the traveling (conveying) direction of the recording medium P is set to the sub-scanning direction, which form the overall configuration of the recording processing unit.

As will be described later, in the preliminary ejection operation for performing the recovery process of the recording head 10, the recording head 1
There are two types of operations: a flow preliminary ejection operation in which ink is ejected while moving 0 (without stopping), and a fixed position preliminary ejection operation in which the recording head 10 is stopped to eject ink. The preliminary discharge receiving portion 23 and the second preliminary discharge receiving portion 24 may be configured so as to be compatible with both of these two types of preliminary discharge operations. In some cases, either one of the fixed position preliminary discharge operations may be performed. It can be appropriately configured as needed, for example, it is possible to deal with only the preliminary discharge receiving portion.

FIG. 5 is a data flow timing chart exemplifying the flow of the processing operation in each processing unit of the recording system shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is for two scans based on the flow of the recording processing operation of FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a movement pattern of the carriage 12 when recording the data of 1 to 3 in time for each operation. In FIG. 5, a host 200 such as a computer
The print data (print data or the like) is sent from the printer to the inkjet printing apparatus (printing apparatus) 100, and the data processing unit 110 in the inkjet printing apparatus 100 expands the print data. The recording unit 120 in the recording apparatus receives and the recording unit 120 executes a recording process for recording on a recording medium. In FIG. 5, the vertical axis represents the name of each processing unit in the actual recording processing, and the horizontal axis represents the processing time spent in each processing. Here, in FIG.
The n-th print data for each 0 scan is shown.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, the data expansion processing time e for one scan is set longer than the recording time a for one scan, and the recording diagram 120 shows time b (b) for each scan. = E-a) is set to wait for data. Further, the time a indicates the print processing time per scan when printing is performed by the main scan at the carriage speed matching the specified print quality, and the time b indicates the next one scan from the time when the print processing of one scan is completed. The waiting time in the recording unit 120 until receiving the print data is indicated by a time c. The time c indicates the time spent for moving the carriage 12 to a predetermined position at a speed matching the moving distance without printing, and a time d Indicates the time required to stop the carriage 12 at a predetermined position (position facing the second preliminary discharge receiving portion 24) and perform fixed position preliminary discharge toward the preliminary discharge receiving portion 24.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the time c is from the left end position of the recording head 10 to the position of the second preliminary ejection receiving portion 24 on the right side (or of the second preliminary ejection receiving portion 24). (From the position to the left end position) is a moving time when moving at a non-recording speed, and the time a is a recording processing time (moving time of the recording head 10) when recording for one scan, and generally, Is set to be much longer than the time c. Further, the vertical line on the left side in FIG. 6 indicates the position of the first preliminary discharge receiving portion 23.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording pattern in the first embodiment of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The embodiment of FIG. 7 shows a case where the data waiting time is longer than the time obtained by adding the moving time of the recording head and the fixed position preliminary ejection time. In FIG. 7, in the present embodiment, either the pattern A or the pattern B is selected as a print pattern and can be executed. In any pattern, first, print data expanded for scans is developed. From the position to the left of the leftmost end position L1 in the recordable area from the left to the right, and to the rightmost end position R1.
Recording is performed while moving the carriage 12 up to, and the carriage 12 is stopped at a position to the right of the rightmost end position R1. At this position, when the print data for the next one scan is received, the time from the start of printing to the end of the print for the one scan and the time until the next recovery operation (preliminary ejection operation) are acquired, It is calculated which of the two types of recording patterns, pattern A and pattern B, the recording operation time will be shorter, and the recording end position of the recording process for the next one scan is determined.

That is, when the pattern A has a shorter recording operation time, as shown in the pattern A in FIG.
The recording process for the next one scan (re-recording from right to left) is performed, and the recording is finished at the recording start position of the first scan (position on the left side of the leftmost end position L1 in the recordable area). . On the other hand, if the pattern B has a shorter recording operation time, as shown in the pattern B in FIG.
The recording process for the next one scan (re-recording from right to left) is performed, and the recording head 10 is moved to the position of the first preliminary ejection receiving portion 23 arranged on the left side of the recordable area. To end the recording.

FIG. 8 shows the recording operation of the recording head 10 and the preliminary ejection in the recording pattern A (pattern A in FIG. 7) of the first embodiment of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is a diagram showing a state of operation. In Figure 8, position 1 to
When the second scan (second scan) is recorded from right to left at the position after the data waiting time from position to after the scan (first scan) is recorded, the next scan is started. When it is temporally determined that the next preliminary ejection process (recovery process) must be performed before the next print data is received, the next print end position is set to the print leftmost position L1 and the second scan print process is performed. After completing (print scan of), print head 1
0 is moved rightward from the recording leftmost position L1 to the second preliminary ejection receiving portion 24 (FIG. 4) arranged on the right side of the recordable area at a non-recording speed (head moving time c in FIG. 6). (Position to position), the recording head 10 (carriage 12) is stopped at a position facing the second preliminary discharge receiving portion 24, and the fixed position preliminary discharge operation (to) is performed.
To execute.

After performing the fixed-position preliminary discharge to the second preliminary discharge receiver 24, the recording head 10 is again recorded at the recording start position (position) of the third scan (third scan).
To a non-recording speed (head moving time c in FIG. 6) (position to position). When the movement at the non-recording speed is completed, the recording unit 120 shifts to the next recording data receiving process (position-data waiting time), and the next recording process (recording for the fourth scan of 10) is executed. To do. In this way, when it is determined that the total recording time is shorter when the recovery process is executed by comparing the remaining time until the next recovery process and the data waiting time (-),
By moving the carriage 12 (recording head 10) based on the pattern A therein, the data waiting time (~
), The recovery process (preliminary ejection) is performed during the wasted data waiting time.
Can be performed, which makes it possible to shorten the total recording time when recording with recovery processing is performed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a conventional recording pattern corresponding to the recording operation of the pattern A of FIG. As shown in the related art of FIG. 9, after the recording of the second scan (the second scan of ~), the timer processing unit notifies that the next recovery process should be performed, and based on this notification, the action of the recovery process is performed. When the carriage 1 is caused to move, the carriage 12 is moved to the second preliminary ejection receiving portion (fixed position preliminary ejection receiving portion) 24 to perform preliminary ejection (-), and the carriage 1 is again moved to the next recording start position (position).
Since the next print data may have been transmitted to the print unit while moving 2 (before the carriage 12 reaches the print start position of the position), the total print time (total print time ) Will take a lot. That is, when the pattern A is printed based on the conventional technique, the useless time t shown in FIG. 9 occurs, but the pattern A printing operation in the inkjet printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied (FIGS. 7 and 7). According to 8), the total recording time can be shortened by eliminating such a wasteful time.

FIG. 10 shows the recording operation and the preliminary ejection of the recording head 10 in the recording pattern B (pattern B in FIG. 7) in the first embodiment of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is a diagram showing a state of operation. That is, the pattern B
In the case where the recording operation time is shorter than that, as shown in the pattern B in FIG. 7, the recordable area is set when the recording process of the next second scan (re-recording from right to left) is performed. The recording head 10 is moved to the position of the first preliminary ejection receiving portion 23 arranged on the further left side to complete the recording.

In the pattern B shown in FIG. 10, recording is performed for the first scan (first scan) at the positions 1 to 4, and at the position after the data waiting time for the positions 1 to 4 elapses from the right to the second scan (the first scan). Two
When the (scan) recording is started, the total recording time (total recording time) when the pattern A is executed and when the pattern B is executed is compared, and it is determined that the pattern B has a shorter total recording time. If so, recording is performed based on the pattern B as shown in FIG. That is, at the time of the position, instead of ending the next printing process (printing of the second scan) and executing the fixed position preliminary ejection process as shown in FIG. 8, in the next printing process (printing of the second scan) The end position of the carriage 12 is designated as the first preliminary ejection receiving portion 23 instead of the leftmost recording end position L1.
To the first preliminary discharge receiving portion 23, and after receiving the print data of the next print processing (3rd scan-) between the positions 1 to 3, the print processing (3rd scan-) is received.
), The sequence of the recording operation of executing the flow preliminary ejection operation is adopted.

The recording pattern B of FIG. 10 is different from the recording pattern A of FIG. 8 in the points described above, but is executed in substantially the same sequence in other points. The above-described flow preliminary discharge operation in the first preliminary discharge receiving section 23 is performed while moving the carriage 12 when starting to move the carriage 12 from the position after receiving the print data in the data waiting time from the position to. This is performed by ejecting ink (preliminary ejection) from each ejection port (each ejection port array) of the recording head 10 toward the first preliminary ejection receiving portion 23 at the same timing. With the recording operation shown in FIG. 10, it is possible to perform a recording process without wasting consumption time, and it is possible to shorten the total recording time including the recovery process.

FIG. 11 shows the second recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
6 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording pattern in the embodiment of FIG.
In this embodiment, the preliminary ejection time interval is slightly shifted from the specified value (for example, it is shifted in the range of a value smaller than the printing time of one scan), thereby eliminating a wasteful sequence such as non-printing movement of the carriage, thereby recovering. This shortens the total recording time (total recording time) including processing.

In FIG. 11, first, in the data processing unit 110 of the ink jet recording apparatus 100, the recording data from the host 200 is subjected to data expansion processing in conformity with the recording head 10, and a recordable area (recordable area) as shown in FIG. The leftmost recording position L1 and the rightmost recording position R1 within the range) are stored in the RAM for several scans, and both the leftmost recording position L1 and the rightmost recording position R1 continue for several scans. Then, it is judged (estimated) that the subsequent scan (the subsequent recording process) is also the same. Assuming this, when performing the recording operation in a pattern in which the actual recording area with respect to the recordable area is offset to either side in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG. 11, the preliminary ejection time interval is calculated by the following equation. Sometimes it can be represented. Preliminary ejection time interval = (2n + 1) × T _scan Here, n is the scan count and T _scan is the time required for one scan recording.

In the case of the preliminary ejection time interval which applies to the above equation, in order to execute the preliminary ejection (recovery process) as in the pattern D in FIG. 11, the preliminary ejection receiver close to the current position of the recording head 10 is used. It is necessary to move the carriage 12 to a part or a preliminary ejection receiving portion near the print start position of the next scan, which results in a wasteful print sequence of moving the carriage 12 in the non-printing position. On the other hand, in an actual inkjet recording apparatus, even when the preliminary ejection is set at a predetermined (constant) time interval, it is possible that the time is up during recording (the next preliminary ejection execution time is reached). Therefore, it is impossible to consider the necessity of executing the process (sequence) of interrupting the recording and performing the preliminary ejection. Therefore, if the time set (determined) for the preliminary ejection time interval is within the time range of one scan, it is considered that there is no problem even if there is a time error. That is, the preliminary ejection time interval can be set as in the following equation. Preliminary ejection time interval = {(2n + 1) ± 1} × T _scan

On the premise of this, a value (value of the preliminary discharge time interval Tj) to be set (set) for the timer process for counting the preliminary discharge time interval Tj can be set within the range represented by the following equation. it can. {(2n + 1) -1} × T _scan ≦ Tj ≦ {(2n + 1)
+1} × T _scan, that is, by setting the preliminary ejection time interval within the range as described above, it is possible to adopt a recording operation sequence with no non-recording movement, such as the pattern C in FIG. It will be possible. Thus, by omitting the wasteful recording sequence processing, there is provided an inkjet recording apparatus capable of performing the recording operation for the entire recording time including the recovery processing in a short time not including the wasteful sequence.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ink jet recording apparatus 100 according to the embodiment described above is a personal computer having a notifying means for notifying designated recording information to the recording apparatus via a predetermined communication medium P. It is communicably connected to a host (data processing device) 200 such as a computer. Further, the inkjet recording device 100 described above.
Print data transferred from the data processing device (host) 200 to a printing unit (print head) 1 of the printing device.
A data processing unit 110 having a developing unit that develops the recording data suitable for the configuration of 0, and a recording unit 120 that drives the inkjet recording unit 10 by the developed recording data to perform a recording operation. Further, the data processing unit 110, within the range in the main scanning direction (recordable area) to be recorded next from the recording information notified from the data processing device (host) 200, the range of the width in the main scanning direction of the scan ( The leftmost position L1 and the rightmost position R1 of the actual recording range)
Equipped with a calculation means for calculating.

The recording unit 120 is the data processing unit 1.
Recording data developed in 10 and the leftmost position L1 of the recording
Also, the recording medium P is configured to receive the information on the recording rightmost position R1 and drive the recording unit (recording head) 10 and the carriage 12 based on the information to perform recording on the recording medium P. The recording unit 120 further includes a recovery processing unit for performing a recovery operation including a preliminary ejection operation of the recording head 10, and a previous recovery process (preliminary ejection) to the next recovery process (preliminary ejection) of the recording head 10. And a means for obtaining the time in real time (means for calculating the remaining time until the next recovery). Further, in the above-described embodiment, as the recovery processing means, the flow preliminary ejection receiving portion 13 that preliminarily ejects while moving the recording head 10 before the recording is started and the recording head 10 is moved to a predetermined position and the preliminary ejection is performed in a stopped state. There are two types of recovery processing means including the fixed position preliminary discharge receiving portion 14 and the recovery processing means.

The moving speed of the carriage 12 on which the recording head 10 is mounted differs between recording and non-recording, and the moving speed during non-recording is set higher. The moving speed varies depending on the moving distance and the required printing quality, and the printing operation control section is provided with a multi-stage carriage moving speed table. Further, the recording unit 120 is provided with a timer unit that counts (measures) a time interval from the transfer of one scan of data to the transfer of the next one scan of data. There is also provided judgment means for deciding whether or not to perform the recovery processing of the recording head 10 based on the above.

In the operation sequence of the control method of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the above-described embodiment, in order to record while the recording head 10 scans the recording medium P, the information (recording data) transmitted from the outside is transmitted to the external device. A data conversion step of converting the information transmitted from the print head 10 into print data suitable for the configuration of the print head 10, and a print area (actual print range) from print data of an amount corresponding to one scan converted by the data conversion step. ), A recording area calculating step for calculating the position and range, a recovery time calculating step for determining how much time has elapsed from the previous recovery processing of the recording head 10, and a time for which the recording information is notified to the recording section 120. The recording data notification interval time calculating step for obtaining the interval, and the recording pattern for which the recording time is the shortest are obtained from these calculated times. And a, a recording pattern calculation step.

Further, in the above embodiment, the average notification time is calculated while the recording data is notified to the recording unit a plurality of times, and the time until the next recovery process of the recording head 10 is executed during that period is calculated. Based on the calculated notification time and the recovery wait time, there are two types of recovery processing: preparatory ejection while moving before recording and preparatory ejection when the recording head is moved to a fixed position and stopped. From the recovery process,
A recording pattern that minimizes the total recording time including the recovery process is selected, and the recording operation is performed according to the recording pattern. As a result, the recording operation is performed according to the recording pattern in which the total recording time including the movement and recovery time of the recording head 10 is the shortest among the plurality of types of recording patterns. The recording time of can be shortened.

Further, in the second embodiment of FIG. 11, it is further obtained by expanding the recording data sent from the data processing device (host) 200 according to the configuration of the recording head 10. If the leftmost and rightmost recording positions are internally stored for several scans and the left and right positions stored for several scans are the same, the leftmost and rightmost positions remain the same. By providing a predicting step of predicting the position, by slightly shifting the preliminary ejection time interval from the specified value when there is a condition that the recovery process of the recording head 10 must be performed with a certain time width during recording. By eliminating unnecessary sequences such as non-recording movement of the carriage, the total recording time including the movement time of the recording head 10 and the recovery processing time is minimized. Select pattern can perform recording operation in accordance with the recording pattern.

That is, the present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from a recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium,
To provide an inkjet recording apparatus having a recording operation control unit that selects and executes a sequence of recording operations so that the total recording time including a recovery process becomes shorter.
In the above-described embodiment, recovery processing units 23 and 24 for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording unit 10 are provided on both sides of the printable area, and when the print data is received,
Based on the time until the recording of the record data is completed and the time until the next recovery process, when the recovery process is performed before receiving the next record data (Pattern B) and when the next recording process is completed. When the recovery process is performed (Pattern A), the total recording time including the recovery process is calculated, and the calculated total recording time is shorter.

In this case, as the recovery processing units 23 and 24, a preliminary ejection receiving unit that receives the ink ejected from the recording unit 10 is used, and the carriage 12 is stopped in one preliminary ejection receiving unit 24. Fixed position for performing preliminary discharge Performs preliminary discharge operation, and the other preliminary discharge receiving portion 23
In this case, a recording operation is performed in which a flow preliminary ejection operation is performed in which preliminary ejection is performed while moving the carriage 12. Further, the leftmost end position L1 and the rightmost end position R1 of the next print scan are calculated from the received print data, and the moving speed of the carriage 12 is set so as to be higher in the non-printing time than in the printing time.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the data waiting time required to transfer the print data for one scan is calculated for each scan, and the data waiting time is compared with the time required for the preliminary ejection operation. However, a control method is adopted that shortens the total recording time by selecting the sequence in which the time until the recording data of the next scan is transferred to the recording unit is selected. On the other hand, in the above-described second embodiment, it is determined whether the positions of both ends of the print scan are continuously the same, and if they are the same, the preliminary ejection time interval is determined according to the positions of both ends of the print scan. A control method is adopted in which the total recording time is shortened by varying the number of times within the time required for one recording scan.
Then, according to the above-mentioned embodiment, the recording means is moved more efficiently by selecting the recovery processing timing in consideration of the transfer time of the recording data, the developing time of the recording data, and the moving time of the recording means. (EN) Provided are an inkjet recording apparatus and a control method of the recording apparatus, which can shorten the total recording time including a recovery process and can further improve the efficiency of recording operation.

In the above embodiment, the carriage 12
One recording means (recording head, head cartridge)
Although the case of mounting 10 is described as an example, the present invention can be freely implemented regardless of the number of recording heads, and is for color recording using a plurality of recording heads using inks of different colors. The same applies to an inkjet recording apparatus, an inkjet recording apparatus for gradation recording that uses a plurality of recording heads that use inks of the same color and different densities, and an inkjet recording apparatus that combines these. It is possible to achieve the same effect.

Furthermore, the present invention uses a replaceable ink jet cartridge (head cartridge) in which the recording means (recording head) and the ink storage portion (ink tank) are integrated, and the recording means and the ink storage portion are provided separately. The present invention can be similarly applied to any arrangement of the recording means and the ink storage portion, such as a structure in which a tube for supplying ink is connected between them, and the same effect can be obtained. Note that the present invention can be applied to an inkjet recording apparatus that uses an inkjet recording head that uses an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, for example, but among them, ink is ejected by utilizing thermal energy. The present invention brings excellent effects in an inkjet recording apparatus using a system inkjet recording head. This is because such a method can achieve high density and high definition of recording (printing).

[0052]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting the ink from the recording means mounted on the carriage movable along the recording medium. Since the recording operation control means for selecting and executing the sequence of the recording operation is performed so that the total recording time including the recovery processing becomes shorter, by shortening the total recording time including the recovery processing,
Provided is an inkjet recording apparatus capable of improving the efficiency of recording operation. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, recovery processing units for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording unit are arranged on both sides of the recordable area, and the recording data is received. Sometimes, based on the time until the recording of the record data is completed and the time until the next recovery process, the recovery process is performed before the next record data is received and the recovery process is performed at the end of the next record process. The total recording time including the recovery process is calculated for the case of performing and the sequence in which the calculated total recording time is shorter operates so that the transfer time of the recorded data, the expanded time of the recorded data and the Provided is an ink jet recording apparatus capable of more efficiently moving the recording means and shortening the total recording time including the recovery processing by selecting the timing of the recovery processing in consideration of the moving time of the recording means. It is.

According to the invention of claims 3 to 5, in addition to the above-mentioned configuration, a configuration is provided in which the recovery processing section is provided with a preliminary ejection receiving section for receiving ink ejected from the recording means, and one preliminary ejection receiving section. Part is configured to perform a fixed position preliminary ejection operation in which the carriage is stopped and preliminary ejection is performed, and the other preliminary ejection receiving portion is configured to perform a flow preliminary ejection operation in which preliminary ejection is performed while moving the carriage, or from the received recording data. Since the leftmost end position and the rightmost end position of the next print scan are calculated, by selecting the recovery processing timing in consideration of the print data transfer time, the print data development time, and the print unit movement time. In addition, it is possible to move the recording unit more efficiently to shorten the total recording time including the recovery process, and to further improve the efficiency of the recording operation. Tsu door recording device is provided.

According to the invention of claims 6 to 8, in addition to the above configuration, the moving speed of the carriage is faster during non-recording than during recording, and the data waiting time required to transfer the print data for one scan. Is calculated for each scan, the data waiting time is compared with the time required for the preliminary ejection operation, and the sequence in which the time until the print data of the next scan is transferred to the print unit is selected is selected. Alternatively, it is determined whether the positions of both ends of the print scan are continuously the same,
If they are the same, the preliminary ejection time interval is changed within the range of the time required for one print scan depending on the positions of both ends of the print scan.
By selecting the recovery processing timing in consideration of the expansion time of the recording data and the moving time of the recording means, it is possible to move the recording means more efficiently and shorten the total recording time including the recovery processing. Provided is an inkjet recording device capable of further improving the efficiency of operation.

According to the eleventh aspect of the invention, in the control method of the ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from the recording means mounted on the carriage movable along the recording medium, all recording including recovery processing is performed. Since the recording operation sequence is selected and executed so that the time becomes shorter, the overall recording time including the recovery processing can be shortened to improve the efficiency of the recording operation. A method is provided.

According to the invention of claim 12, the above-mentioned claim 1
In addition to the configuration of 1, the recovery processing unit for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording unit is provided on both sides of the recordable area, and when the recording data is received, until the recording of the recording data is completed. Based on the time and the time until the next recovery process, all records including the recovery process when the recovery process is performed before receiving the next recording data and when the recovery process is performed at the end of the next recording process Since the time is calculated and the sequence is such that the calculated total recording time is shorter, the recovery process is performed in consideration of the transfer time of the recording data, the expansion time of the recording data, and the moving time of the recording means. By selecting the timing, there is provided a control method for an inkjet recording apparatus that can more efficiently move the recording unit and shorten the total recording time including the recovery process.

According to the thirteenth to fifteenth aspects of the present invention, in addition to the constitution of the above-mentioned constitution, the recovery processing section is provided with a preliminary ejection receiving section for receiving ink ejected from the recording means. In the preliminary discharge receiving part, a fixed position preliminary discharge operation is performed in which the carriage is stopped to perform the preliminary discharge, and in the other preliminary discharge receiving part, the preliminary preliminary discharge operation is performed to perform the preliminary discharge while moving the carriage. Since the leftmost position and the rightmost position of the next print scan are calculated from the print data, the recovery processing timing is selected in consideration of the transfer time of the print data, the development time of the print data, and the moving time of the printing means. By doing
(EN) Provided is a method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus, which can move the recording means more efficiently to shorten the total recording time including the recovery process and can further improve the efficiency of the recording operation.

According to the sixteenth to eighteenth aspects of the present invention, in addition to the constitution of the above-mentioned constitution, the constitution is such that the moving speed of the carriage during non-recording is set higher than the carriage moving speed during recording.
The data waiting time required to transfer the print data for one scan is calculated for each scan, the data waiting time is compared with the time required for the preliminary ejection operation, and the print data for the next scan is transferred to the printing unit. Until the time is shorter, or it is determined whether the positions of both ends of the print scan are the same continuously, and if they are the same, preliminary ejection is performed according to the positions of both ends of the print scan. Since the time interval is changed within the range of the time required for one print scan, the recovery processing timing is selected in consideration of the print data transfer time, the print data development time, and the moving time of the printing means. Inkjet recording capable of moving the recording unit more efficiently to shorten the total recording time including the recovery process and further improving the efficiency of the recording operation. Control method of the apparatus is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus suitable for applying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the structure of an ink ejection portion of the recording means in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording system using the inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a recording processing unit in an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

5 is a data flow timing chart illustrating the flow of processing operation in each processing unit of the recording system shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a movement pattern of a carriage at the time of each operation when printing data for two scans based on the flow of the recording processing operation of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording pattern in the first embodiment of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 8 is a pattern A in FIG. 7 of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the states of the recording operation and the preliminary ejection operation of the recording means in FIG.

9 is a diagram illustrating a conventional recording pattern corresponding to the recording operation of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the states of the recording operation and the preliminary ejection operation of the recording unit in the pattern B in FIG. 7 of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a recording pattern in the second embodiment of the recording operation including the preliminary ejection operation in the inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Recording Means (Recording Head) 12 Carriage 13A Guide Rail 13B Guide Rail 14 Carriage Motor 16 Timing Belt 18 Platen 20 Pinch Roller 21 Ejection Roller 22 Conveyor Motor 23 First Preliminary Ejection Receiver 24 Second Preliminary Ejection Receiver 25 Automatic Paper feeding device 26 Recovery system unit 27 Cap 29 Wiping member 81 Discharge port surface 82 Discharge port 83 Common liquid chamber 84 Liquid path 85 Electrothermal converter 100 Inkjet recording device 110 Data processing unit 120 Recording unit 200 Host (data of personal computer etc. Processing device) L1 recording leftmost position R1 recording rightmost position P recording medium (recording paper, etc.)

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from a recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium, so that the total recording time including recovery processing is shortened. An inkjet recording apparatus having a recording operation control means for selecting and executing a sequence. 2. A recovery processing section for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording means is provided on both sides of the recordable area, and when the recording data is received, the time until the recording of the recording data is completed and Based on the time to the next recovery process and
Calculate the total recording time including the recovery process when the recovery process is performed before receiving the next record data and when the recovery process is performed at the end of the next record process. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus operates according to the sequence. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recovery processing unit is provided with a preliminary ejection receiving unit that receives ink ejected from the recording unit. 4. One of the preliminary ejection receiving portions performs a fixed position preliminary ejection operation of stopping the carriage to perform the preliminary ejection, and the other preliminary ejection receiving portion performs a flow preliminary ejection operation of performing the preliminary ejection while moving the carriage. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is performed. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the leftmost end position and the rightmost end position of the next print scan are calculated from the received print data. 6. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving speed of the carriage is higher during non-recording than during recording. 7. The data waiting time required to transfer the print data for one scan is calculated for each scan, and the data waiting time is compared with the time required for the preliminary ejection operation to print the print data for the next scan. 2. The sequence having the shorter transfer time to the copy is selected.
7. The inkjet recording device according to any one of to 6. 8. A determination is made as to whether or not both end positions of a print scan are continuously the same, and if they are the same, the preliminary ejection time interval is set to the time required for one print scan according to both end positions of the print scan. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording apparatus is varied within a range. 9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit includes an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used to eject ink. . 10. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the recording unit ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in the ink by the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter. . 11. A method of controlling an inkjet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from a recording means mounted on a carriage movable along a recording medium, so that a total recording time including a recovery process is shortened. A method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus, comprising selecting and executing a sequence of recording operations. 12. A recovery processing section for maintaining and recovering the ink ejection performance of the recording means is provided on both sides of the recordable area,
When the recording data is received, based on the time until the recording of the recording data is finished and the time until the next recovery processing, the recovery processing is performed before the next recording data is received and the next recording processing is performed. 12. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a total recording time including the recovery processing is calculated for a case where the recovery processing is performed at the end of step 1, and the calculated total recording time is shorter. Control method. 13. The method of controlling an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the recovery processing unit is provided with a preliminary ejection receiving unit that receives ink ejected from the recording unit. 14. One of the preliminary ejection receiving portions performs a fixed-position preliminary ejection operation of stopping the carriage to perform the preliminary ejection, and the other preliminary ejection receiving portion performs a flow preliminary ejection operation of performing the preliminary ejection while moving the carriage. The method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the method is performed. 15. The method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the leftmost end position and the rightmost end position of the next print scan are calculated from the received print data. 16. The method of controlling an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the carriage movement speed during non-recording is set to be faster than the carriage movement speed during recording. 17. A data waiting time required to transfer print data for one scan is calculated for each scan, and the data waiting time is compared with the time required for the preliminary ejection operation to print the print data for the next scan. 17. The method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a sequence having a shorter transfer time to a copy unit is selected. 18. It is determined whether or not both end positions of a print scan are continuously the same, and if they are the same, a preliminary ejection time interval of one print scan is set according to both end positions of the print scan. The method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the method is varied within a range. 19. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the recording means includes an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink. Control method. 20. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the recording unit ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in the ink by the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter. Control method.