JP2004122645A - Printing device, printing method, program, and computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quicken a printing time of an N up printing method in a combined apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A printing device acquires a plurality of images by carrying out a reading operation of reading an image from a document by a plurality of the number of times, and prints the plurality of images to predetermined positions of a medium, respectively (so-called N up printing). The printing device starts printing of already read images to the medium before the reading operation by the plurality of the number of times is finished. According to the printing device, the printing time of the N up printing method can be quickened in the combined apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method for printing an image on a medium. Further, the present invention relates to a program for controlling such a printing apparatus, and a computer system having such a printing apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art A printing method for printing a plurality of images on one sheet (hereinafter, referred to as an N-up printing method) is known.
Also, a multifunction device including a scanner unit that reads an image from a document and a printer unit that prints on paper is known.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When performing N-up printing in such a multifunction peripheral, each image is read from a plurality of originals, and then a layout in which the plurality of read images is arranged is created and printed. For this reason, since printing is started after reading a plurality of images, it takes time until printing is completed.
An object of the present invention is to shorten the printing time of the N-up printing method in a multifunction peripheral.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A main invention for achieving the above object is a printing apparatus that acquires a plurality of images by performing a reading operation for reading an image from a document a plurality of times and prints the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium, Before completion of the plurality of reading operations, printing of the already read image on the medium is started.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
[0005]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
=== Disclosure Overview ===
At least the following matters will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
A printing apparatus that performs a reading operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to acquire a plurality of images, and prints the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium, respectively.
A printing apparatus, wherein printing of the already read image on the medium is started before the plurality of reading operations are completed. According to such a printing apparatus, the printing speed can be increased.
[0006]
Such a printing apparatus, wherein the medium is intermittently conveyed, and the printing apparatus performs printing on the medium during the intermittent conveyance, wherein the printing of the already read image is completed. The intermittent conveyance is set to a standby state, and after the next reading operation is started, the intermittent conveyance is restarted so that the conveyance amount of the medium before and after the standby state is constant. Preferably, the medium is transported. According to such a printing apparatus, intermittent conveyance can be performed with a fixed conveyance amount, so that an image printed on the medium becomes uniform, and high-quality printing can be performed. Also, a printing apparatus that moves a plurality of nozzles in a scanning direction and discharges ink from the plurality of nozzles to perform printing on the medium, wherein after starting the next reading operation, When the nozzle moves in the scanning direction, a part of the image read before the standby state and a part of the image read after the standby state are transferred by the plurality of nozzles to the medium. It is preferably printed on. According to such a printing apparatus, a part of the image read before the standby state and a part of the image read after the standby state can be printed simultaneously (that is, the seam between the images can be simultaneously printed). Can be printed).
[0007]
A printing apparatus that intermittently conveys the medium and prints on the medium during the intermittent conveyance, wherein the printing is performed until the printing of the already read image is completed. When the printing of the already read image is completed, if the next reading operation is not started, the intermittent operation is continued until the next reading operation is started. It is desirable that the transfer be in a standby state. According to such a printing apparatus, it is possible to prevent an image from deteriorating due to a difference in a printing state (for example, a degree of drying of ink) before and after standby.
[0008]
In such a printing apparatus, based on the read image, creates data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles, and performs a printing operation of ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles moving in a scanning direction based on the data. A printing apparatus for performing, when the data corresponding to the plurality of nozzles are not aligned, the printing operation is put into a standby state, and after the next reading operation is started, the image read by the reading operation is started. It is preferable that data corresponding to the plurality of nozzles is created based on the data, and the printing operation is restarted. According to such a printing apparatus, it is determined whether or not to wait for a printing operation based on whether or not data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles has been prepared. Further, after creating the data based on the image read by the next reading operation, when the plurality of nozzles move in the scanning direction, the data created before the standby state. It is preferable that ink is ejected from the plurality of nozzles based on the data created after the standby state. According to such a printing apparatus, a part of an image read before the standby state and a part of the image read after the standby state can be simultaneously printed (that is, a seam between images can be printed simultaneously). can do).
[0009]
In this printing apparatus, it is preferable that, when a print stop instruction is issued in the standby state, the printing medium is ejected after printing of the already read image is completed. According to such a printing apparatus, it is possible to print the image already read.
[0010]
In the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus may be configured to print the medium by transporting the medium in a transport direction, wherein the plurality of images may be printed on the medium so as to be arranged in the transport direction. desirable. According to such a printing apparatus, printing can be performed from the read image, so that the printing speed can be increased. Preferably, the read image is rotated and printed at a predetermined position on the medium. According to such a printing apparatus, printing is possible even if the direction in which the image is read is different from the direction in which the image is printed. Further, it is preferable that two images are acquired from two originals by the two reading operations, and the two images are printed on the medium. According to such a printing apparatus, the speed of so-called two-up printing can be increased.
[0011]
In this printing apparatus, a printing apparatus that performs printing on the medium by moving a nozzle that ejects ink in a scanning direction, wherein the read images are arranged in the scanning direction in the order in which they are read. It is desirable to be printed. According to such a printing apparatus, data necessary for printing can be arranged quickly in the scanning direction, so that printing can be started early, so that the printing speed can be increased. Four images are acquired from four documents by the four reading operations, and the four images are printed on the medium. According to such a printing apparatus, the speed of so-called 4-up printing can be increased.
[0012]
Also disclosed are a printing method, a program, a storage medium storing the program, and a computer system.
[0013]
=== Schematic Configuration of Recording Device ===
The schematic configuration of the recording apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cover of a scanner unit 10 is opened, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an internal configuration of the recording apparatus, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the inside of the printer unit is exposed, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the operation panel unit. The recording apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a scanner function for inputting a document image, a printer function for printing an image on a medium such as paper based on image data, and a local copy function for printing an image input by a scanner function on paper or the like. (Hereinafter, referred to as an SPC multifunction peripheral).
[0014]
The SPC multifunction device 1 includes a scanner unit 10 for reading an image of a document 5 and inputting the image data as image data, a printer unit 30 for printing an image on a medium such as paper based on the image data, and an SPC multifunction device 1 as a whole. It has a control circuit 50 for controlling and an operation panel unit 70 as input means. Under the control of the control circuit 50, a scanner function, a printer function, and a local copy function of printing data input from the scanner unit 10 by the printer unit 30 are realized.
[0015]
The scanner unit 10 is disposed on the printer unit 30, and has a platen glass 12 on which the original 5 to be read is placed, and a platen when reading the sheet-shaped original 5 or when not in use. An original table cover 14 that covers the glass 12 is provided. The platen cover 14 is formed so as to be openable and closable, and also has a function of pressing a document placed on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12 when closed. A paper supply unit 32 for supplying the paper 7 to the printer unit 30 is provided on the back side of the SPC multifunction device 1, and the printed paper 7 is discharged on the lower side on the front side. An operation panel unit 70 as an input unit is provided on the upper side of the unit 34, and a control circuit 50 is built in the printer unit 30.
[0016]
The paper discharge unit 34 is provided with a paper discharge tray 341 capable of closing a paper discharge opening when not in use, and the paper supply unit 32 is provided with a paper feed tray 321 holding cut paper (not shown). ing. The medium used for printing may be not only cut-sheet printing paper such as cut paper, but also continuous printing paper such as roll paper. The SPC multifunction apparatus 1 has a paper feeding structure that enables printing on roll paper. May be.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 4, the printer unit 30 and the scanner unit 10 are connected by a hinge mechanism 41 on the back side, and the scanner unit 10 unitized around the pivoting part of the hinge mechanism 41 is located on the front side. Lifted from. When the scanner unit 10 is lifted, the inside of the printer unit 30 is exposed from an opening 301 provided on an upper portion of a cover that covers the printer unit 30. By exposing the inside of the printer unit 30 in this manner, the ink cartridge and the like can be exchanged, and a paper jam can be easily handled.
[0018]
A power supply unit for the SPC multifunction device 1 is provided on the printer unit 30 side, and a power supply cable 43 for supplying power to the scanner unit 10 is provided near the hinge mechanism 41. Further, the SPC multifunction apparatus 1 is provided with a USB interface 52 for capturing an image into the host computer 3 by a scanner function and outputting image data transmitted from the host computer 3 by a printer function. .
[0019]
=== Configuration of Operation Panel Unit 70 ===
As shown in FIG. 5, the operation panel unit 70 is provided with a liquid crystal display 72 as a display unit and a notification lamp 74 at substantially the center thereof. The liquid crystal display 72 can display 32 characters of 2 lines and 16 digits, and can display setting items, setting states, operating states, and the like by characters. The notification lamp 74 provided beside the liquid crystal display 72 is a red LED, and is lit when an error occurs to notify the user of the occurrence of the error.
[0020]
On the left side of the liquid crystal display 72, a power button 76, a scan start button 78, a setting display button 80, and a clear button 82 are provided. The power button 76 is a button for turning on and off the power of the SPC multifunction peripheral 1. The scan start button 78 is a button for starting reading of the original 5 by the scanner unit 10 in a state where the SPC multifunction peripheral 1 is connected to the host computer 3. The setting display button 80 is a button for displaying on the liquid crystal display 72 the setting state for the copy function set by the user. The clear button 82 is a button for clearing the setting for the copy function and changing each setting item to a default value.
[0021]
On the right side of the liquid crystal display 72, a color copy button 84, a monochrome copy button 86, a stop button 88, and a copy number setting button 90 are provided.
[0022]
The color copy button 84 is a button for starting color copying, and the monochrome button 86 is a button for starting monochrome copying. Therefore, the copy buttons 84 and 86 also serve as a copy operation start instruction and a selection unit for selecting whether the image to be output is color or monochrome. The stop button 88 is a button for stopping the copy operation once started. The number-of-copies setting button 90 is composed of two buttons 901 and 902 with “+” or “−” written on the front side. When the “+” button 901 is pressed, the set number is increased, and the “−” button 902 is set. By pressing, the set number of sheets is reduced. The number-of-copies setting button 90 is set so that the number is sequentially increased or decreased by keeping the button pressed, and the increasing or decreasing speed increases as the pressing time becomes longer.
[0023]
On the front side of the liquid crystal display 72, a menu button 92 for switching setting items displayed on the liquid crystal display 72 is provided. The menu button 92 is composed of two buttons arranged on the left and right, and a leftward arrow or a rightward arrow is described, respectively. Each time one of the left and right menu buttons 92 is pressed, the displayed setting items are sequentially switched in a predetermined order, and when the display is completed, the first setting item is displayed. The left and right arrows are used to change the order in which the setting items are displayed, and the two buttons 92 display the setting items in the reverse order of the display order when the other buttons are pressed. The menu button 92 is set so that the switching speed is increased by continuing to press the same as the copy number setting button 90.
[0024]
=== Configuration of Scanner Unit 10 ===
The scanner unit 10 includes a platen glass 12 on which the document 5 is placed, a platen cover 14 for pressing the reading surface of the document 5 placed on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12, A reading carriage 16 that faces the document 5 and scans along the document 5 while maintaining a constant space therebetween, a driving unit 18 for scanning the reading carriage 16, and the reading carriage 16 in a stable state. And a regulation guide 20 for scanning.
[0025]
The reading carriage 16 includes an exposure lamp 22 as a light source for irradiating the original 5 with light through the original table glass 12, a lens 24 for condensing light reflected by the original 5, and a lens 24 for reflecting light reflected by the original 5. , A CCD sensor 28 that receives the reflected light transmitted through the lens, and a guide receiving portion 29 that engages with the regulation guide 20.
[0026]
The CCD sensor 28 includes three linear sensors in which photodiodes for converting an optical signal into an electric signal are arranged in a row, and these three linear sensors are arranged in parallel. The CCD sensor 28 includes three filters (not shown) of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), and filters of different colors are provided for each linear sensor. Each linear sensor detects light of a component corresponding to the color of the filter. For example, a linear sensor having an R filter detects the intensity of red component light. The three linear sensors are arranged along a direction (hereinafter, referred to as a main scanning direction) substantially orthogonal to a moving direction of the reading carriage 16 (hereinafter, referred to as a sub-scanning direction).
[0027]
Since the length of the CCD sensor 28 is sufficiently shorter than the width (length in the main scanning direction) of the readable original 5, the image of the original 5 due to the reflected light is reduced by the lens 24 and formed on the CCD sensor 28. Will be imaged. That is, the lens 24 interposed between the document 5 and the CCD sensor 28 needs to be arranged close to the CCD sensor 28 side, and the distance between the document 5 and the lens 24 needs to be set long. Is done. Therefore, in order to secure the distance between the original 5 and the lens 24 in the limited space of the scanning carriage 16 for scanning, the light is reflected by the four mirrors 26 to secure a long optical path length.
[0028]
The light reflected by the original 5 is reflected by the four mirrors 26, passes through the lens 24, and reaches the CCD sensor 28. However, since the three linear sensors are arranged in parallel, they are simultaneously connected to each linear sensor. The reflection position of the reflected light to be imaged with respect to the document is shifted in the sub-scanning direction by an interval of the linear sensor. Therefore, in the scanner control unit 58 (FIG. 8) of the control circuit 50, a line-to-line correction process for correcting this deviation is performed. The line-to-line correction processing will be described later.
[0029]
The regulation guide 20 is provided along the sub-scanning direction, and is formed of a stainless steel cylindrical material. The restriction guide 20 is provided on the reading carriage 16 and penetrates two guide receiving portions 29 formed of thrust bearings. By widening the interval in the sub-scanning direction between the two guide receiving portions 29 provided on the reading carriage 16, it is possible to stably scan the reading carriage 16.
[0030]
The driving unit 18 includes an annular timing belt 181 fixed to the reading carriage 16, a pulley 182 meshing with the timing belt 181, a pulse motor 183 disposed at one end in the sub-scanning direction, and An idler pulley 184 is disposed on the end side and applies tension to the timing belt 181. The pulse motor 183 is driven by the scanner control unit 58 (FIG. 8) of the control circuit 50. The pulse motor 183 scans the read image in the sub-scanning direction by the scanning speed of the reading carriage 16 which is changed according to the speed of the pulse motor 183. Can be enlarged and reduced.
[0031]
Then, the scanner unit 10 irradiates the original 5 with the light of the exposure lamp 22 and moves the reading carriage 16 along the original 5 while forming the reflected light on the CCD sensor 28. At this time, a voltage value indicating the amount of light received by the CCD sensor 28 is read at a predetermined cycle, so that an image corresponding to the distance the reading carriage 16 has moved during one cycle is converted into data for one line of the output image. I will take in. At this time, three data of an R component, a G component, and a B component are taken in as data for one line.
[0032]
=== Configuration of Printer Unit 30 ===
The printer unit 30 has a configuration capable of outputting a color image. For example, the printer unit 30 applies four color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) to a medium such as printing paper. An ink-jet system is employed in which an image is formed by forming dots by discharging the ink on the top. As the color ink, in addition to the above four colors, light cyan (light cyan, LC), light magenta (light magenta, LM), and dark yellow (dark yellow, DY) may be used.
[0033]
Next, the printer unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 6, and 7. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement around the print head, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a driving unit of the printing paper transport mechanism.
As shown in the drawing, the printer unit 30 drives a print head 38 mounted on a writing carriage 36 to eject ink and form dots, and transports the writing carriage 36 to the paper 7 by a carriage motor 40. A mechanism for reciprocating in a direction perpendicular to the direction, and a mechanism for transporting the paper 7 supplied from the paper feed tray 321 (see FIG. 1) by a paper feed motor (hereinafter also referred to as a PF motor) 42. .
[0034]
The mechanism for discharging ink and forming dots includes a print head 38 having a plurality of nozzles as ink discharge units, and discharges ink from predetermined nozzles based on a print command signal. On the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, a plurality of nozzles form a row along the transport direction of the paper 7, and a plurality of nozzles are provided in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the paper 7. Details of the print head 38 and the nozzle arrangement will be described later. The print head 38 has a 16-bit memory corresponding to each nozzle, and data is transferred to each nozzle in 16-bit units from a head control unit 68 (FIG. 10) described later.
[0035]
A mechanism for reciprocating the writing carriage 36 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the paper 7 is conveyed by a carriage motor (hereinafter, also referred to as a CR motor) 40 for driving the writing carriage 36. A sliding shaft 44 movably held, a linear encoder 46 fixed to the writing carriage 36, a linear encoder code plate 461 having slits formed at predetermined intervals, and a rotating shaft of the carriage motor 40. It comprises a pulley 48 attached and a timing belt 49 driven by the pulley 48.
[0036]
A print head 38 and a cartridge mounting portion provided integrally with the print head 38 are fixed to the write carriage 36. The cartridge mounting portion includes black (K), cyan (C), and magenta (M). An ink cartridge containing ink such as yellow (Y) is mounted.
[0037]
A mechanism for transporting the paper 7 supplied from the paper feed tray 321 is disposed to face the print head 38 and serves as a guide member for guiding the paper 7 so that the paper 7 and the print head 38 are at an appropriate distance. And a transport roller 37 provided upstream of the platen 35 in the transport direction of the paper 7 to transport the supplied paper 7 so as to contact the platen 35 at a predetermined angle. On the other hand, a paper discharge roller 39 provided downstream of the paper 7 in the transport direction for transporting and discharging the paper 7 detached from the transport roller 37, and a PF for driving the transport roller 37 and the paper discharge roller 39 It has a motor 42, a rotary encoder 47 for detecting the transport amount of the paper 7, and a paper detection sensor 45 for detecting the presence or absence of the paper 7 and the leading and trailing edges of the paper 7.
[0038]
The transport roller 37 is provided below the transport path of the paper 7, and a driven roller 371 for holding the paper 7 is provided above the transport roller 37 so as to face the transport roller 37. The paper discharge roller 39 is also provided below the conveyance path of the paper 7, and a driven roller 391 for holding the paper 7 is provided above the paper discharge roller 39 so as to face the paper discharge roller 39. The opposing driven roller 391 is a roller made of a thin plate and provided with fine teeth on an outer peripheral portion thereof, and is configured so that ink does not rub even when it comes into contact with the surface of the paper 7 after printing.
[0039]
The contact position between the transport roller 37 and the sheet 7 is higher than the contact position between the platen 35 and the sheet 7. That is, the sheet 7 transported from the transport rollers 37 contacts the platen 35 at a predetermined angle, and is further transported. Thus, the sheet 7 is conveyed along the guide surface 351 of the platen 35 to be described later. For this reason, it is possible to obtain a good image by maintaining the sheet 7 at an appropriate position from the nozzle by the platen 35.
[0040]
The transport roller 37 and the paper discharge roller 39 are connected by the gear train 31, and the rotation of the PF motor 42 is transmitted and rotated, so that the transport speed of the paper 7 by the two rollers 37 and 39 is equal.
[0041]
The platen 35 has a guide surface 351 that faces the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, that is, the surface on which the nozzles are provided, and guides the paper 7 in contact therewith. The guide surface 351 is formed to be narrower than the area of the lower surface 381 of the print head 38 where the nozzles are provided, and some of the nozzles located on the most upstream side and the most downstream side in the transport direction of the paper 7 face the platen 35. Not. This prevents the ink ejected to the outside of the paper 7 from adhering to the platen 35 when printing the leading and trailing edges of the paper 7, and prevents the back surface of the paper 7 that is subsequently conveyed from becoming dirty. I have. That is, a space is provided without providing the platen 35 at a position facing the nozzles at the upstream end and the downstream end. In this space, an ink receiver is provided at a position lower than the guide surface 351 of the platen 35, and unnecessary ink is collected so that the inside of the printer is not stained.
[0042]
The paper detection sensor 45 is provided on the upstream side of the transport roller 37 in the transport direction, has a lever 451 having a rotation center at a position higher than the transport path of the paper 7, and is provided above the lever 451, and has a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. And a transmission type optical sensor 452. The lever 451 is disposed so as to hang down on the transport path by its own weight, and is an operation part 453 which is rotated by the sheet 7 supplied from the paper supply tray 321, and is located on the opposite side of the operation part 453 with respect to the center of rotation. , And a light shielding unit 454 provided so as to pass between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit. When the lever 451 is pushed by the supplied paper 7 and the paper 7 reaches a predetermined position, the light-shielding unit 454 blocks light emitted by the light emitting unit, so that the paper 7 reaches the predetermined position. Is detected. Thereafter, when the sheet 7 is conveyed by the conveying roller 7 and the rear end of the sheet 7 passes, the lever 451 hangs down by its own weight, the light shielding unit 454 comes off from between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit, and the light of the light emitting unit is received. The light receiving unit detects that the rear end of the sheet 7 reaches a predetermined position. Therefore, while the light blocking unit 454 blocks the light from the light emitting unit, it is detected that the sheet 7 exists at least in the transport path.
[0043]
=== Nozzle Configuration ===
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of nozzles on the lower surface 381 of the print head 38.
On the lower surface 381 of the print head 38, a black ink nozzle row 33 (K), a cyan ink nozzle row 33 (C), a magenta ink nozzle row 33 (M), and a yellow ink nozzle row 33 (Y) are formed. ing. Each nozzle row 33 includes a plurality of nozzles (10 nozzles in the present embodiment) which are ejection ports for ejecting ink of each color.
[0044]
The plurality of nozzles of each nozzle row 33 are aligned at a constant interval (nozzle pitch: kD) along the paper transport direction. Here, D is the minimum dot pitch in the paper transport direction (that is, the interval of the dots formed on the paper 32 at the highest resolution). For example, if the resolution is 720 dpi, 1/720 inch (about 35. 3 μm). K is an integer of 1 or more.
In addition, the nozzles of each nozzle row 33 are assigned smaller numbers toward the downstream nozzles, and are referred to as a first nozzle N1 to a tenth nozzle N10, respectively. Each nozzle is provided with a piezo element (not shown) as a drive element for driving each nozzle to eject ink droplets.
[0045]
At the time of printing, the paper 7 is intermittently conveyed by a predetermined conveyance amount F by the conveyance rollers 37 and the discharge rollers 39, and during the intermittent conveyance, the writing carriage 36 moves in the scanning direction and Ink droplets are ejected from.
[0046]
=== Print head drive ===
Next, driving of the print head 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive signal generation section provided in head control unit 68 (FIG. 10).
[0047]
9, the drive signal generator includes a plurality of mask circuits 204, an original drive signal generator 206, and a drive signal corrector 230. The mask circuit 204 is provided corresponding to a plurality of piezo elements for driving the nozzles N1 to N10 of the print head 38, respectively. In FIG. 9, the number in parentheses added to the end of each signal name indicates the number of the nozzle to which the signal is supplied. The original drive signal generator 206 generates an original drive signal ODRV commonly used for the nozzles N1 to N10. The original drive signal ODRV is a signal including two pulses of the first pulse W1 and the second pulse W2 within the main scanning period for one pixel. The drive signal correction unit 230 performs correction by shifting the timing of the drive signal waveform shaped by the mask circuit 204 back and forth over the entire return path. By the correction of the timing of the drive signal waveform, the deviation of the landing position of the ink droplet between the forward path and the return path is corrected, that is, the deviation of the dot formation position between the forward path and the return path is corrected.
[0048]
As shown in FIG. 9, the input serial print signal PRT (i) is input to the mask circuit 204 together with the original drive signal ODRV output from the original drive signal generator 206. This serial print signal PRT (i) is a 2-bit serial signal per pixel, and each bit corresponds to the first pulse W1 and the second pulse W2, respectively.
[0049]
The mask circuit 204 is a gate for masking the original drive signal ODRV according to the level of the serial print signal PRT (i). That is, when the serial print signal PRT (i) is at the 1 level, the mask circuit 204 passes the corresponding pulse of the original drive signal ODRV as it is and supplies it to the piezo element as the drive signal DRV, while the serial print signal PRT (i) ) Is at the 0 level, the corresponding pulse of the original drive signal ODRV is cut off.
[0050]
=== Internal Structure of Control Circuit 50 ===
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the control circuit 50.
The control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction device 1 includes a CPU 54 that controls the entire SPC multifunction device 1, a ROM 55 that stores a control program, and a control ASIC 51 that controls each of the scanner function, print function, and local copy function. The SDRAM 56, which can directly read and write data from the CPU 54, and an operation panel unit 70 as input means are connected by a bus. The control ASIC 51 is connected to the scanner unit 10, the print head 38, an ASIC SDRAM 69 capable of directly reading and writing data from the control ASIC 51, and the like.
[0051]
The control ASIC 51 includes a scanner control unit 58, a binarization processing unit 60, an interlace processing unit 62, an image buffer unit 64, a CPU interface unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPUIF unit) 66, a head control unit 68, A USB interface (hereinafter, referred to as a USBIF) 52 as an input / output unit with the host computer 3 and drivers such as motors and lamps included in the scanner unit 10 and the printer unit 30 are provided. The control ASIC SDRAM 69 is assigned a line buffer 691, an interlace buffer 692, and an image buffer 693. A so-called burst transfer in which the data transfer unit is 64 bits is performed between the control ASIC 51 and the ASIC SDRAM 69 in order to speed up the data transfer.
[0052]
The scanner control unit 58 controls each of the exposure lamp 22, the CCD sensor 28, the pulse motor 183 as a reading carriage drive motor and the like provided in the scanner unit 10, and transmits data read via the CCD sensor 28 via a line buffer 691. And has a function of sending out to the binarization processing unit 60.
The binarization processing unit 60 has a function of converting the transmitted multi-tone RGB data into CMYK binary data and transmitting the converted data to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0053]
The interlace processing unit 62 performs the so-called overlap printing in which one raster line (one line in the main scanning direction in the print image) is printed by scanning the writing carriage 36 a plurality of times, so that the CMYK data of one raster line is printed. Is divided into data to be printed for each scan of the writing carriage 36 to generate overlap printing corresponding data (hereinafter referred to as OL corresponding data). The generated OL-compatible data is stored in the interlace buffer 692 of the ASIC SDRAM 69.
In the interlace processing unit 62, the data stored in the interlace buffer 692 is read into the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62 for each predetermined size, and is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle array. 64 is provided.
[0054]
The image buffer unit 64 has a function of generating head drive data for causing the nozzles for each scan of the writing carriage 36 to eject ink from the data sent from the interlace processing unit 62.
The CPU IF unit 66 has a function of enabling the CPU 54 to access the control ASIC SDRAM 69 connected to the control ASIC 51. The control circuit 50 is used to drive the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data generated by the image buffer unit 64.
The head control unit 68 has a function of driving the print head 38 based on head drive data under the control of the CPU 54 to eject ink from nozzles.
[0055]
=== Flow of Data in Control Circuit 50 ===
<About the scanner function>
From the host computer 3 connected to the USB IF 52 of the control ASIC 51, an image reading command signal from the scanner unit 10 and reading information data such as reading resolution and reading area are transmitted to the control circuit 50. In the control circuit 50, the scanner control unit 58 is controlled by the CPU 54 based on the image reading command signal and the read information data, and the reading of the document 5 by the scanner unit 10 is started. At this time, in the scanner control unit 58, a lamp driving unit, a CCD driving unit, a reading carriage scanning driving unit, and the like are driven, and RGB data is read from the CCD sensor 28 at a predetermined cycle. The read RGB data is temporarily stored in a line buffer 691 allocated to the ASIC SDRAM 69, subjected to a line-to-line correction process for R, G, and B data, and sent to the host computer 3 via the USBIF 52. . The line-to-line correction process is a process for correcting the deviation of the reading position between the R, G, and B linear sensors that occurs due to the structure of the scanner unit 10.
[0056]
More specifically, the CCD sensor 28 included in the scanner unit 10 is a color sensor, and has a linear sensor of one line for each color for three colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). I have. Since these three linear sensors are arranged in parallel to the scanning direction of the reading carriage 16, the three linear sensors cannot simultaneously receive the reflected light applied to the same line of the document 5. That is, when the reflected light applied to the same line of the document 5 is received by each linear sensor, a time shift occurs. For this reason, this is a process for synchronizing data sent with a delay of the delay time associated with the linear sensor arrangement.
[0057]
<About the printer function>
At the time of the printer function, image data to be printed is converted into head drive data that can be printed by the printer unit 30 of the SPC multifunction device 1 by a printer driver of the host computer 3 connected to the USB IF 52 of the control ASIC 51. It is input from the USBIF 52. For example, in the case of interlaced printing, the head drive data is extracted by extracting raster data corresponding to the resolution of the image to be printed and the pitch and number of nozzles of the nozzle array 33 of the writing carriage 36. The data is rearranged in the order of printing for each scan of the print carriage 36 and serves as a signal for driving the print head 38. In the interlaced printing, the nozzle pitch (the interval between nozzles) is wider than the interval between dots formed on the paper.
[0058]
The head drive data is stored in an image buffer 57 allocated to an SDRAM 56 which can be directly read by the CPU 54. The image buffer 57 has two memory areas each having a capacity capable of storing head drive data for printing by one scan of the writing carriage 36. When data for one scan is written to one image buffer 571, the data is transferred to the head control unit 68. At this time, when the image data of one image buffer 571 is transferred to the head control unit 68, the other image buffer 572 stores head drive data for printing at the next scan. When the data for one scan is written to the other image buffer 572, the data is transferred to the head control unit 68, and the image data is written to the one image buffer 571. As described above, the print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 to perform printing while alternately writing and reading head drive data using the two image buffers 571 and 572.
[0059]
<About copy function>
Next, the flow of data during the copy function will be described. Here, only the flow of data during a normal copy operation will be described, and the two-up printing method of the present embodiment will be described later.
[0060]
The data read by the scanner unit 10 is taken into the line buffer 691 via the scanner control unit 58. The RGB data captured by the line buffer 691 is sequentially subjected to the above-described RGB inter-line correction processing, and the RGB data for the same line is sent from the scanner control unit 58 to the binarization processing unit 60.
The RGB data sent to the binarization processing unit 60 is subjected to halftone processing, and thereafter, is referred to a look-up table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69, and is converted into binary data for each CMYK color. The data is converted into data and sent to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0061]
The CMYK binary data sent to the interlace processing unit 62 is sorted from all the data of each raster line to data to be printed for each scan of the writing carriage 36 based on the specified interlace method. For example, when one raster line is formed by two scans of the writing carriage 36, the data is divided into data for forming odd-numbered dots from the end of the raster line and data for forming even-numbered dots. OL-compatible data is generated. The OL-compatible data is burst-transferred and stored in the interlace buffer 692 in 64-bit units.
[0062]
Further, the interlace processing unit 62 reads out the data stored in the interlace buffer 692 for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62. At this time, OL corresponding data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in correspondence with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the image resolution to be printed and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the resolution of the image to be printed is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, data spaced at intervals of three raster lines from the OL corresponding data is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
[0063]
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store. Here, the image buffer 693, 694 is assigned a memory area for storing head drive data for two scans of the writing carriage 36, and every time head drive data for one scan is accumulated, The data is sent to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54, and the writing of the head drive data corresponding to the next scan is started in the memory area for the remaining one scan. This process is similar to the image buffer process described above in the description of the printer function.
[0064]
The head drive data for each scan stored in the image buffers 693 and 694 is read by the CPU 54 via the CPUIF unit 66 under the control of the CPU 54, and is transferred to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. The print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data, and an image is printed.
[0065]
=== Printing method of the present embodiment ===
FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing a printing method (copy method) according to the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 5A denotes a first document, on which an image "A" is shown. Reference numeral 5B denotes a second document, on which the image "B" is displayed. Reference numeral 7 denotes a sheet printed by the SPC multifunction device 1. According to the printing method of the present embodiment, a print image in which the image “A” of the first document and the image “B” of the second document are reduced and arranged on the paper 7 is printed. That is, in this printing method, two images (image “A” and image “B”) are printed at predetermined positions on one sheet of paper 7, respectively. Hereinafter, this printing method is referred to as “two-up printing”.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, a margin is provided between the end of the sheet 7 and the image. Further, a margin is provided between the images.
[0066]
<Processing operation of 2-up printing>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the processing operation of the two-up printing of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows the flow of operations of the scanner unit, the control unit (or operation panel), and the printer unit of the SPC multifunction peripheral.
[0067]
Hereinafter, the two-up printing method of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that a program relating to the processing operation procedure of the two-up printing is stored in the ROM 55.
[0068]
First, the user sets the paper 7 on the paper feed tray of the SPC multifunction peripheral A (S121). In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of A4 size cut sheet printing papers are set. Note that the user may operate various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 to input information on the paper 7.
[0069]
Next, the user operates various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 and selects “2-up printing” of the present embodiment from a plurality of printing methods (S111). That is, first, the user sequentially switches the setting items displayed by the menu button 92 to bring up the display screen of the setting item “copy mode”. Next, the user sets the set value to “2-up printing” by pressing the two buttons 901 and 902. As a result, the printing method of the SPC multifunction peripheral 1 is selected as the two-up printing method. Similarly, the user operates various buttons on the operation panel unit 70 to set the size of the margin width t, whereby the SPC multifunction device 1 acquires information on margins (margin information). However, if the margin width t is not set by the operation panel unit 70, a predetermined default value is used as the margin width setting value. In the present embodiment, the margin information indicates that the width is t (mm).
[0070]
Next, the user sets the first document 5A as the first document on the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction device 1 (S101). The setting of the first original 5A will be described with reference to FIG. 13A. First, the user opens the platen cover 14 and places the first document 5 </ b> A on the platen glass 12. When the user places the first original 5A on the original glass 12, the side on which the image “A” is displayed faces downward, and the corner of the first original 5A is aligned with the origin mark at the corner of the original glass 12. . Then, the user closes the platen cover 14 and presses the first document 5 </ b> A on the platen glass 12 toward the platen glass 12 with the platen cover 14. Thus, the first document 5A is set on the scanner unit 10.
[0071]
Next, the user instructs the start of the reading operation of the first original 5A. Since the 2-up printing has already been set (S111), the reading operation is started when the user presses the color copy button 84 or the monochrome button 86 on the operation panel unit 70 (S112).
[0072]
Next, the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction peripheral starts reading the image “A” of the first original 5A (S102). While the scanner unit 10 is reading the image “A” of the document 5A, read data (RGB data) is output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle. In the present embodiment, the linear sensors of the CCD sensor are arranged in parallel with the horizontal direction of the image “A”, and the reading carriage 16 scans and moves in parallel with the vertical direction of the image “A” (that is, in the present embodiment). Then, the image “A” of the first document 5A in FIG. 11 is read by the scanner unit 10 from top to bottom.) Therefore, the read data output from the scanner unit is data obtained by sequentially outputting the horizontal line data of the image “A”.
[0073]
Next, the control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction peripheral creates head drive data based on the read data sequentially sent from the scanner unit 10 (S113). The head drive data created at this time is data for printing a portion of the image “A” of the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 of FIG. The process of creating the head drive data based on the read data will be described later. The created head drive data is sequentially sent to the head control unit 68.
[0074]
In the present embodiment, the writing carriage 36 scans in parallel with the short side direction of the sheet 7, conveys the sheet 7 in the long side direction of the sheet 7, and prints the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 (that is, the print image “AB”). In the present embodiment, the print image “AB” on the sheet 7 in FIG. 11 is printed from left to right). Therefore, the head drive data is data that sequentially outputs the vertical line data of the image “A”. As a result, the printer unit 30 can start printing the image “A” even before the head drive data of the image “B” is created. Therefore, in the present embodiment, before the reading of the image “B” of the second document is completed, the printing of the image “A” already read from the first document 5A is started.
[0075]
The printer unit 30 starts printing based on the head drive data sequentially sent to the head control unit 68 (S122). When the creation of the head drive data for the image “A” is completed (S114), the head drive data is not sent to the head control unit 68, so that the printer unit 30 stops the printing operation and waits for printing (S114). A standby state for various operations such as a transport operation of the sheet 7 and a printing operation for discharging ink (S123).
[0076]
After the operation of reading the first document is completed, the display unit of the SPC multifunction peripheral displays a message urging the user to replace the document. The user confirms the message and replaces the first original 5A set on the scanner unit 10 with the second original 5B. The state of document exchange will be described with reference to FIG. 13B. First, the user opens the platen cover 14 and takes out the first document 5 </ b> A placed on the platen glass 12. Then, the user sets the second document as the second document. The procedure for setting the second document is the same as the procedure for setting the first document described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0077]
In this embodiment, printing of the image “A” of the print image “AB” is started before the reading of the image “B” of the second document is started. Therefore, in the present embodiment, at the time of the document exchange operation, a part of the print image has already been discharged from the paper discharge unit 34 (see FIG. 13B).
[0078]
After exchanging the original, the user instructs to start the reading operation of the second original 5A. The reading operation of the second document is also started when the user presses the color copy button 84 or the monochrome button 86 of the operation panel unit 70 (S115).
[0079]
Next, the scanner unit 10 of the SPC multifunction peripheral starts reading operation of the image “B” of the second original 5B (S105). While the scanner unit 10 is reading the image “B” of the original 5B, read data (RGB data) is output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle.
[0080]
Next, the control circuit 50 of the SPC multifunction peripheral creates head drive data based on the read data sequentially sent from the scanner unit 10 (S116). The head drive data created at this time is data for printing the portion of the image “B” on the sheet 7 of FIG. The process of creating the head drive data based on the read data will be described later. The created head drive data is sequentially sent to the head control unit 68.
[0081]
The printer unit 30 restarts printing based on the head drive data sequentially sent to the head control unit 68 (S124). That is, after the reading operation of the image “B” is started, the printer unit 30 restarts the conveyance operation for intermittent conveyance of the paper 7 and the printing operation for discharging ink from the nozzles moving in the scanning direction. .
When the printing is completed (S117, S125), the paper 7 is discharged from the paper discharge unit 34. The print image “AB” is printed on the discharged paper 7 as shown in the paper 7 of FIG.
After the reading operation of the second document is completed, the display unit of the SPC multifunction peripheral displays a message urging the user to take out the second document. The user confirms the message and takes out the second document 5B set on the scanner unit 10.
[0082]
<Data flow in control circuit 50 during 2-up printing>
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the control circuit 50 at the time of 2-up printing. In FIG. 10 described above, two buffers are drawn as the image buffers 571 and 572 (or the image buffers 693 and 694) in order to perform writing and reading alternately. However, in FIG. Two buffers for alternately reading and reading are not shown.
[0083]
The hardware configuration is the same as that of the control circuit 50 of FIG. 10 described above, but the assignment of a memory area in the SDRAM 56 that can be directly read by the CPU 54 is different. In FIG. 10, the CPU 54 accesses only the image buffer 694, but in FIG. 14, the CPU 54 also accesses the line buffer 691 and the interlace buffer 692. The interlace buffer 692 is divided into two memory areas, and is logically two buffers.
[0084]
Hereinafter, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 during 2-up printing will be described with reference to FIG. Note that a program for controlling the flow of data in the control circuit 50 during the two-up printing is stored in the ROM 55. In the above description, one raster line is formed by two scans of the writing carriage 36. However, for simplification of description, one raster line is formed by one scan of the writing carriage 36. (That is, a case where the dot data of the raster line is not allocated to the odd-numbered and even-numbered raster lines, which will be described below).
[0085]
(1) First, the image “A” is read from the first original (first original 5A) (FIG. 12, S102), and the data in the control circuit 50 until printing is started (S122). Will be described.
[0086]
The CPU 54 receives an input signal of the color copy button 84 or the monochrome button 86 after setting “2 up printing” from the operation panel unit 70, and transmits a control signal to the scanner control unit 58. The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 based on a control signal from the CPU 54 and starts an operation of reading the image “A” from the first document 5A.
[0087]
Since the image “A” of the first original 5A is reduced and printed on the sheet 7, the scanner control unit 58 thins out the data in comparison with the case where the image “A” is read at the same magnification. The image “A” is read from the first original 5A. That is, the horizontal data of the image “A” is reduced by thinning out the data from the line sensor of the CCD sensor. This thinning-out process is performed by the scanner control unit 58 thinning out the output data from the line sensor. The vertical data of the image “A” is reduced by increasing the scanning speed of the reading carriage. This process is performed by controlling the scanner control unit 58 to increase the scanning speed of the reading carriage. In this manner, by thinning out the data of the vertical and horizontal image “A”, the image “A” is substantially reduced and read.
[0088]
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 and takes in the RGB data output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle into the line buffer 691. Then, the scanner control unit 58 performs an RGB line-to-line correction process (described above) on the RGB data once taken into the line buffer 691 and sends the RGB data for the same line to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0089]
The binarization processing unit 60 performs halftone processing on the sent RGB data. Then, the binarization processing unit 60 refers to the look-up table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69, and converts the halftone-processed data into binary data for each CMYK color. The binarization unit 60 sends binary data for each color of CMYK to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0090]
The interlace processing unit 62 converts the binary data for each CMYK color sent from the binarization processing unit 60 into one of two divided interlace buffers (referred to as a first interlace buffer 692A). take in. Then, the binary data captured by the first interlace buffer 692A is sent via the CPU interface unit 66 to the layout buffer 573 in the SDRAM 56 that can be directly read by the CPU 54.
[0091]
The layout buffer 573 is a buffer allocated in the SDRAM and is logically divided into two areas. One layout buffer (first layout buffer) 573A of the two areas receives the binary data sent from the first interlace buffer 692A. The other layout buffer (second layout buffer (also referred to as an intermediate buffer)) 573B stores layout image data created based on the binary data of the first layout buffer 573A, as described below.
[0092]
FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of the binary data sent to the first layout buffer 573A. Although the binary data is stored in a continuous memory area, if it is folded back and arranged according to the width of the image, it becomes image information as shown in FIG. Since the raster line is formed by one scan of the writing carriage 36, the number of image information becomes one.)
[0093]
The CPU 54 creates layout image data based on the binary data taken into the first layout buffer 573A. However, the second layout buffer 573B that stores the created layout image data is assigned only an area that can store only a few lines of line data for the width of the sheet. Therefore, the CPU 54 creates line-shaped layout image data, and sends the created layout image data to the second layout buffer 573B. Then, the layout image data for several lines sent to the second layout buffer 573B is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69.
[0094]
In the present embodiment, the read data output from the scanner unit is data obtained by sequentially outputting horizontal line data of the image “A”. Therefore, the binary data in the horizontal direction of the image “A” is sequentially sent to the first layout buffer. On the other hand, the head drive data needs to be data that sequentially outputs the vertical line data of the image “A”. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the first layout buffer 573A once takes in all the data of the image “A”, and when the CPU 54 creates the layout image data in the second layout buffer, the data of the image “A” is rotated. , Vertical line data (rotated data) of the image “A” is sequentially created. As a result, the data sequentially sent from the second layout buffer 573B to the second interlace buffer 692B becomes the vertical line data of the image “A”. Based on this data, the vertical head driving of the image “A” is performed. Data can be created sequentially.
[0095]
16A to 16G are conceptual diagrams of the layout image data sent to the second layout buffer 573B. The layout image data is stored in a continuous memory area. However, if the layout image data is folded back at the width of the paper and arranged, as shown in FIG. .
[0096]
Creation of layout image data is performed as follows. First, the CPU 54 creates Null data for the margin in order to create image data corresponding to the margin between the upper edge of the paper and the image (the margin on the left side of the image “A”) (FIGS. 16A and 16B). . After the Null data corresponding to the margin width is created, the CPU 54 creates a layout image in which the vertical line data (binary data) of the image “A” taken into the first layout buffer 573A is sequentially arranged (FIG. 16B). However, when arranging the vertical line data of the image “A”, the CPU 54 inserts Null data corresponding to the margin width from the side edge of the sheet to the image. As a result, horizontal margins (upper and lower margins of the image “A”) are created in the layout image. The generation of the vertical line data of the image “A” is performed for the horizontal region of the image “A” (FIGS. 16B to 16F). When the creation of the layout image for the area of the image “A” is completed, the CPU 54 creates Null data for the margin again in order to create image data for the margin between the images (FIGS. 16F and 16F). 16G). Thereby, a vertical margin (the right margin of the image “A”) is created in the layout image. The layout image data created as needed as described above is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69. The layout image data sent to the second interlace buffer 692B is binary data for each color of CMYK.
[0097]
The processing after the binary data (layout image data) is sent from the second layout buffer 573B to the second interlace buffer 692B is almost the same as the processing at the time of the above-described copy function. That is, the following processing is performed (however, for simplification of description, description of processing for alternately performing writing and reading is omitted).
[0098]
The interlace processing unit 62 reads the data stored in the second interlace buffer 692B for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62. At this time, binary data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in accordance with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the image resolution to be printed and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the resolution of the image to be printed is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, from the binary data, data spaced by three raster lines is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
[0099]
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store.
The head drive data for each scan stored in the image buffers 693 and 694 is read by the CPU 54 via the CPUIF unit 66 under the control of the CPU 54, and is transferred to the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. The print head 38 is driven by the head control unit 68 based on the head drive data, and an image is printed.
As a result, in the present embodiment, the image “A” can be arranged and printed on the sheet 7 as shown in FIG.
[0100]
(2) Next, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 from the start of printing (S122) to the print standby state (S123) will be described.
FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a printing state before reading the image “B” of the second document (second document). As described above, the head drive data of the image “A” (and surrounding margins) is sequentially accumulated in the image buffer. When the head drive data for one scan is stored, the CPU 54 sends out the head drive data stored in the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. Then, when the head moves in the scanning direction, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles of the head according to the head drive data. Therefore, in FIG. 5, the head drive data required from pass 1 (first scanning movement) to pass 8 is obtained by reading the image “A” of the first document (first document) and then sequentially reading the image “A”. It can be sent to the head control unit 68.
[0101]
On the other hand, the head drive data required in pass 9 (the ninth scanning movement) requires the head drive data of the image “B” of the second document. That is, if the image “B” of the second document is not read, the necessary head drive data (data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles) during pass 9 is not stored in the image buffer 693 (the head drive data is Therefore, the head cannot be driven in pass 9. As a result, before the head drive data of the image “B” of the second document is created, the printer unit cannot print the image at the position of pass 9.
[0102]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the printing of the pass 8 (eighth scanning movement) is completed, the scanning movement of the writing carriage 36 is stopped, and the printing carriage 36 is in a printing standby state. In other words, the portion to be printed after pass 9 has not been printed yet. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a part of the image “A” of the first document printed on the paper (the right side of the image “A”) is in a standby state while printing is being performed.
[0103]
In the present embodiment, when the clear button 82 is pressed in the standby state and a command to stop printing is issued, the SPC multifunction device 1 completes printing of the image “A” of the first document, and 7 is discharged and printing is stopped. This is because if the sheet 7 is discharged as it is in the standby state, the image "A" is interrupted.
[0104]
(3) Finally, the flow of data in the control circuit 50 from when the second document (second document) is set until printing is completed will be described.
After the reading operation of the first original 5A is completed, the CPU 54 causes the display unit to display an original exchange message. After the document is exchanged, the CPU 54 receives the input signal of the color copy button 84 or the monochrome button 86 and transmits a control signal to the scanner control unit 58. At this time, whether the input signal is the input signal of the color copy button 84 or the input signal of the monochrome button 86, the same control signal as that for the first original is transmitted to the scanner control unit 58. That is, the same operation as the operation of reading the image “A” of the first document is performed when the image “B” of the second document is read. The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 based on a control signal from the CPU 54, and starts an operation of reading an image “B” from the second document 5B.
[0105]
When receiving the input signal of the color copy button 84 or the monochrome button 86, if the creation of the head drive data of the image “A” has not been completed yet, the CPU 54 creates the head drive data of the image “A”. After finishing (or after entering the standby state), a control signal is transmitted to the scanner control unit 58. This is because it is necessary to secure an area of the memory (SDRAM 56 or SDRAM 69) necessary for creating the head drive data of the image “A”. In other words, the memory can be reduced by starting the operation of reading the second document after completing the creation of the head drive data of the first document (or after entering the standby state).
[0106]
The scanner control unit 58 controls the scanner unit 10 and takes in the RGB data output from the CCD sensor at a predetermined cycle into the line buffer 691. Then, the scanner control unit 58 performs an RGB line-to-line correction process (described above) on the RGB data once taken into the line buffer 691 and sends the RGB data for the same line to the binarization processing unit 60.
[0107]
The binarization processing unit 60 performs halftone processing on the sent RGB data. Then, the binarization processing unit 60 refers to the look-up table (LUT) 695 stored in the control ASIC SDRAM 69, and converts the halftone-processed data into binary data for each CMYK color. The binarization unit 60 sends binary data for each color of CMYK to the interlace processing unit 62.
[0108]
The interlace processing unit 62 takes in the binary data for each CMYK color sent from the binarization processing unit 60 into the first interlace buffer 692A. Then, the binary data fetched into the first interlace buffer 692A is sent via the CPU interface unit 66 to the first layout buffer 573A in the SDRAM 56 which can be directly read by the CPU 54.
[0109]
The CPU 54 creates line-shaped layout image data based on the binary data taken into the first layout buffer 573A. The CPU 54 sends the created layout image data to the second layout buffer 573B. Then, the layout image data for several lines sent to the second layout buffer 573B is sequentially sent to the second interlace buffer 692B in the control ASIC SRAM 69.
[0110]
The interlace processing unit 62 reads the data stored in the second interlace buffer 692B for each predetermined size, and performs burst transfer to the SRAM 621 in the interlace processing unit 62. At this time, binary data is read from the interlace buffer 692 in accordance with the nozzle arrangement of the print head 38 based on the image resolution to be printed and the nozzle pitch. For example, when the resolution of the image to be printed is 720 dpi and the nozzle pitch is 1/180 inch, three raster lines are printed between two raster lines printed by adjacent nozzles. For this reason, from the binary data, data spaced by three raster lines is read as data corresponding to the scanning of the writing carriage 36.
[0111]
The transferred data is rearranged on the SRAM 621 so as to correspond to the nozzle arrangement, and sent to the image buffer unit 64.
In the image buffer unit 64, the image data finely divided by the capacity of the SRAM 621 is burst-transferred to the image buffer 693 so as to become head drive data for ejecting ink to each nozzle of the writing carriage 36 for each scan. Align and store.
Then, in the image buffer, the head drive data of the image “B” (and surrounding margins) is sequentially accumulated. When the head drive data for one scan is stored, the CPU 54 sends out the head drive data stored in the head control unit 68 by the CPU 54. Then, when the head moves in the scanning direction, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles of the head according to the head drive data.
[0112]
In the present embodiment, the head drive data of the image “A” in the pass 9 (see FIG. 17) (the head drive data of the right portion of the image “A”) is the head drive data of the image “B”. Is not accumulated until they are collected (not aligned) and are not sent to the head control unit. Therefore, the head drive data of the image “A” in pass 9 remains in the image buffer until the head drive data of the image “B” is created (that is, until the reading operation of the image “B” is started). are doing. Then, after the reading operation of the image “B” is started, the head driving data of the left portion of the image “B” is accumulated in the image buffer in which the head driving data of the image “A” remains. When the head drive data for the scan of the pass 9 is stored in the image buffer, the drive data stored in the head control unit 68 is sent out by the CPU 54, and printing is resumed (that is, the printer unit 30 outputs the image “B”). After the head drive data is generated, the transport operation for intermittently transporting the paper 7 and the printing operation for discharging ink from the nozzles moving in the scanning direction are restarted). Therefore, the head drive data in pass 9 is head drive data created based on the image “A” and the image “B”. Therefore, in pass 9, a part of the right side of the image "A" and a part of the left side of the image "B" are printed at the same time.
As a result, in the present embodiment, the print image “AB” can be placed on the paper 7 and printed as shown in FIG.
[0113]
=== Configuration of Computer System, etc. ===
Next, an embodiment of a computer system, a computer program, and a recording medium on which the computer program is recorded will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0114]
FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of the computer system. The computer system 1000 includes a computer main body 1102, a display device 1104, an SPC multifunction device 1106, an input device 1108, and a reading device 1110. In the present embodiment, the computer main body 1102 is housed in a mini-tower type housing, but is not limited to this. The display device 1104 generally uses a cathode ray tube (CRT), a plasma display, a liquid crystal display device, or the like, but is not limited thereto. As the SPC multifunction device 1106, the SPC multifunction device described above is used. In the present embodiment, the input device 1108 uses the keyboard 1108A and the mouse 1108B, but is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the reading device 1110 uses the flexible disk drive device 1110A and the CD-ROM drive device 1110B, but is not limited thereto. For example, an MO (Magnet Optical) disk drive device or a DVD (Digital Versatile) is used. Disk).
[0115]
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the computer system shown in FIG. An internal memory 1202 such as a RAM and an external memory such as a hard disk drive unit 1204 are further provided in a housing in which the computer main body 1102 is stored.
[0116]
The above-described computer program for controlling the operation of the printer can be downloaded to a computer 1000 or the like connected to the SPC multifunction peripheral 1106 via a communication line such as the Internet, or can be stored in a computer-readable recording medium. It can be recorded and distributed. As the recording medium, for example, various recording media such as a flexible disk FD, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk MO, a hard disk, and a memory can be used. Note that the information stored in such a storage medium can be read by various reading devices 1110.
[0117]
FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a user interface of the printer driver displayed on the screen of the display device 1104 connected to the computer system. This printer driver complements the printer function of the SPC multifunction peripheral. The user can use the input device 1108 to make various settings for the printer driver.
[0118]
The user can select a print mode from this screen. For example, the user can select a high-speed print mode or a fine print mode as the print mode. Further, the user can select the dot interval (resolution) for printing from this screen. For example, the user can select 720 dpi or 360 dpi as the printing resolution from this screen.
[0119]
FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of the format of print data supplied from the computer main body 1102 to the SPC multifunction peripheral 1106. This print data is created from image information based on the settings of the printer driver. The print data has a print condition command group and a command group for each pass. The print condition command group includes a command indicating a print resolution, a command indicating a print direction (unidirectional / bidirectional), and the like. The print command group for each pass includes a target carry amount command CL and a pixel data command CP. The pixel data command CP includes pixel data PD indicating a recording state of each pixel of a dot recorded in each pass. Although the various commands shown in FIG. 1 each have a header section and a data section, they are illustrated in a simplified manner. Further, these command groups are intermittently supplied from the computer main body side to the printer side for each command. However, the print data is not limited to this format.
[0120]
In the above description, an example in which the SPC multifunction device 1106 is connected to the computer main body 1102, the display device 1104, the input device 1108, and the reading device 1110 to form a computer system has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. Not something. For example, the computer system may include the computer main body 1102 and the SPC multifunction peripheral 1106, and the computer system may not include any of the display device 1104, the input device 1108, and the reading device 1110. Further, for example, the SPC multifunction device 1106 may have a part of the functions or mechanisms of the computer main body 1102, the display device 1104, the input device 1108, and the reading device 1110. As an example, the SPC multifunction device 1106 includes an image processing unit for performing image processing, a display unit for performing various displays, and a recording medium attaching / detaching unit for attaching / detaching a recording medium for recording image data captured by a digital camera or the like. It is good also as composition which has etc.
[0121]
The computer system implemented in this way is a system superior to the conventional system as a whole.
[0122]
=== Other Embodiments ===
Although the above embodiment mainly describes an SPC multifunction device, it includes a recording device, a printing device, a printing method, a transport device, a program, a storage medium, a computer system, a display screen, a screen display method, and a printed matter. Needless to say, the disclosure of a manufacturing method, a recording apparatus, a liquid ejection apparatus, and the like is included.
Also, the SPC multifunction apparatus and the like as one embodiment have been described, but the above embodiment is for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and is not for limiting and interpreting the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and it goes without saying that the present invention includes its equivalents. In particular, the embodiments described below are also included in the present invention.
[0123]
<About the array of images>
According to the above-described embodiment, the images of two originals are read, and the two images are printed on paper. However, the number of documents and the number of images to be printed on paper are not limited to two.
FIG. 22A is a diagram illustrating a printing method according to another embodiment. In the figure, the images of four originals are acquired by four reading operations, and the four images are respectively arranged at predetermined positions on the paper 7 and printed (4-up printing).
[0124]
In the present embodiment, after reading the image “A” of the first document (first document), the binary data is sent to the first layout image buffer 573A on the CPU 54 side. Thereafter, the image “B” of the second document (second document) is read without starting printing. The binary data of the image “B” is sent to the first layout image buffer 573A on the CPU 54 side. It should be noted that the first layout image buffer 573A can store both data of the image “A” and the image “B” since each image is reduced and the data amount is small as compared with the above-described embodiment. it can. Then, the CPU creates linear layout image data in the second layout image buffer 573B based on the data of the two images in the first layout image buffer 573A. In the present embodiment, it is not necessary to rotate an image when creating layout image data, as compared with the above-described embodiment. The subsequent data flow is almost the same as in the above-described embodiment.
[0125]
In the present embodiment, the printing standby state is set before the printing of the lower part of the image “A” and the lower part of the image “B” are completed. Then, when the reading operation of the image “C” of the third document and the image “D” of the fourth document are completed, printing is resumed.
[0126]
FIG. 22B is a diagram illustrating a printing method according to another embodiment. In the drawing, the arrangement order of the images is different from that in the case of the 4-up printing described above. In the present embodiment, printing cannot be started until the image “C” of the third document is read. That is, in the case of 4-up printing, the embodiment of FIG. 22A in which the read image is arranged in parallel with the scanning direction of the writing carriage is advantageous since the printing can be started faster. However, even in the embodiment of FIG. 22B, a similar effect can be obtained in that printing can be started before reading the image “D” of the fourth document. However, in this embodiment, it is necessary to secure an area for storing data of three images in the memory (SDRAM 56 or SDRAM 69).
[0127]
As is apparent from these embodiments, the number of documents and the number of images to be printed on paper may be four. The number of documents and the number of images to be printed on paper may be any number. For example, N images may be read from N documents, and a print image in which the N images are arranged on paper may be printed (N-up printing). In this case, if the read image is arranged on the sheet so as to be parallel to the scanning direction of the writing carriage 36, it is advantageous since printing can be started quickly.
[0128]
<About printing standby>
According to the above-described embodiment, the printing operation is in a standby state before the printing of the image “A” is completed. However, the timing of the standby state is not limited to this.
[0129]
FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a printing method according to another embodiment. According to the figure, the relative movement distance of the head from pass 6 to pass 9 is smaller than the relative movement distance between passes up to that time. This enables printing of the image “A” regardless of whether the head drive data of the image “B” is created. If the reading operation of the image “B” has not been started when the printing of the image “A” has been completed, the operation of transporting the paper 7 (or from the nozzles) until the reading operation of the image “B” starts. (A printing operation for discharging ink) is set to a standby state. As described above, the timing of the standby state may be after the printing of the image “A” is completed.
According to this embodiment, since it is not necessary to enter the standby state during the printing of the image “A”, it is possible to prevent the image from deteriorating due to a difference in the printing state (for example, a difference in ink drying before and after the standby). Can be prevented.
On the other hand, when there is not much difference in the ink dryness, in the above-described embodiment, the relative movement distance of the head before and after the standby state is constant (or before and after the printing of the joint between the image “A” and the image “B”). , The relative moving distance of the head is constant), so that the entire image “A” can be printed evenly.
[0130]
<About margins>
In the above-described embodiment, a margin is provided between the edge (upper end or side edge) of the sheet and the image. In the above-described embodiment, a blank portion is provided between images. However, a blank portion may not be provided. When there is no margin between the edge of the sheet and the image, it is desirable not to provide a margin between the images.
In the above-described embodiment, a margin is simply provided between images. However, a cut line may be provided in the margin. This makes it easier to cut out a plurality of images printed on paper.
[0131]
<About the nozzle>
In the above-described embodiment, ink is ejected using the piezoelectric element. However, the method of discharging the liquid is not limited to this. For example, another method such as a method of generating bubbles in a nozzle by heat may be used.
[0132]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the printing apparatus of this invention, the operability of the user at the time of arranging several images on paper can be improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where a cover of a scanner unit is opened.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a recording apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the inside of the printer unit is exposed.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation panel unit.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement around a print head.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a driving unit of the printing paper transport mechanism.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement of nozzles.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a drive signal generation unit.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control circuit.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a two-up printing method according to the embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart of two-up printing of the embodiment.
13A and 13B are explanatory diagrams of a document set.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control circuit at the time of 2-up printing.
FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of binary data in a first layout buffer.
FIGS. 16A to 16G are conceptual diagrams of layout image data of a second layout buffer.
FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a state during printing before reading an image “B”.
FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of a computer system.
FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system.
FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a user interface of a driver.
FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of a format of print data.
FIG. 22A and FIG. 22B are explanatory diagrams of 4-up printing.
FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of a printing method according to another embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 SPC multifunction device, 3 host computer, 5 originals, 7 papers,
10 scanner unit, 12 platen glass, 14 platen cover,
16 reading carriage, 18 driving means, 181 timing belt
182 pulley, 183 pulse motor, 184 idler pulley
20 regulation guide, 22 exposure lamp, 24 lens, 26 mirror,
28 CCD sensor, 29 guide receiving part, 30 printer part, 301 opening, 31 gear train, 32 paper supply part, 33 nozzle row, 34 paper discharge part,
341 paper output tray, 35 platen, 36 writing carriage,
37 transport rollers, 38 print heads, 39 paper discharge rollers,
391 driven roller, 40 carriage motor, 41 hinge mechanism,
42 paper feed motor (PF motor), 45 paper detection sensor,
451 lever, 452 transmission type optical sensor, 453 action part, 454 light shielding part, 46 linear type encoder, 461 code plate for linear type encoder,
47 rotary encoder, 48 pulley, 49 timing belt,
50 control circuit, 51 control ASIC, 54 CPU, 55 ROM,
56 SDRAM, 58 scanner control unit,
60 binarization processing unit, 62 interlace processing unit,
64 image buffer units,
66 CPU interface unit (CPUIF unit),
68 head control unit, 69 ASIC SDRAM,
691 line buffer, 692 interlace buffer,
693 image buffer, 70 operation panel section, 72 liquid crystal display, 74 information lamp, 76 power button, 78 scan start button,
80 setting display button, 82 clear button, 84 color copy button,
86 monochrome copy button, 88 stop button,
90 copy number setting button, 92 menu button,

Claims (16)

A printing apparatus that performs a reading operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to acquire a plurality of images, and prints the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium, respectively.
A printing apparatus, wherein printing of the already read image on the medium is started before the plurality of reading operations are completed. The printing device according to claim 1,
A printing apparatus that intermittently conveys the medium and performs printing on the medium during the intermittent conveyance,
Before the printing of the already read image is completed, the intermittent conveyance is in a standby state,
After starting the next reading operation, restart the intermittent conveyance,
The medium is transported so that the transport amount of the medium before and after the standby state is constant. 3. The printing device according to claim 2, wherein
A printing apparatus that moves a plurality of nozzles in a scanning direction and discharges ink from the plurality of nozzles to perform printing on the medium,
After the start of the next reading operation, when the plurality of nozzles move in the scanning direction,
A part of the image read before the standby state and a part of the image read after the standby state are printed on the medium by the plurality of nozzles. The printing device according to claim 1,
A printing apparatus that intermittently conveys the medium and performs printing on the medium during the intermittent conveyance,
Printing until the printing of the already read image is completed,
When the printing of the already read image is completed, if the next reading operation is not started, the intermittent conveyance is waited until the next reading operation is started. State. The printing device according to claim 1,
Based on the read image, create data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles,
A printing apparatus that performs a printing operation of ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles moving in a scanning direction based on the data,
When data corresponding to the plurality of nozzles is not aligned, the printing operation is set to a standby state,
After starting the next reading operation, data corresponding to the plurality of nozzles is created based on the image read by the reading operation, and the printing operation is restarted. The printing device according to claim 5, wherein
After creating the data based on the image read by the next reading operation, when the plurality of nozzles move in the scanning direction,
Ink is ejected from the plurality of nozzles based on the data created before the standby state and the data created after the standby state. The printing device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein
If a print stop command is issued in the standby state, the printing medium is ejected after printing of the already read image is completed. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A printing apparatus that transports the medium in a transport direction and performs printing on the medium,
The plurality of images are printed on the medium so as to be arranged in the transport direction. 9. The printing device according to claim 8, wherein:
The read image is rotated and printed at a predetermined position on the medium. The printing device according to claim 8, wherein:
Acquiring two images from two originals by the two reading operations;
The two images are printed on the medium. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A printing apparatus that performs printing on the medium by moving a nozzle that ejects ink in a scanning direction,
The read images are printed so as to be arranged in the scanning direction in the order of reading. The printing device according to claim 11,
Four images are obtained from four documents by the four reading operations,
The four images are printed on the medium. A printing apparatus that performs a reading operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to acquire a plurality of images, and prints the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium, respectively.
Before the plurality of reading operations is completed, printing of the already read image on the medium is started,
A printing apparatus that intermittently conveys the medium and prints on the medium during the intermittent conveyance, wherein the intermittent conveyance is performed before the printing of the already read image is completed. In the standby state, after starting the next reading operation, restart the intermittent transport, the medium is transported so that the transport amount of the medium before and after the standby state is constant,
A printing apparatus that moves a plurality of nozzles in a scanning direction and discharges ink from the plurality of nozzles to perform printing on the medium, wherein after starting the next reading operation, the plurality of nozzles When moving in the scanning direction, a part of the image read before the standby state and a part of the image read after the standby state are printed on the medium by the plurality of nozzles. And
A printing apparatus that creates data corresponding to a plurality of nozzles based on the read image and performs a printing operation of ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles moving in a scanning direction based on the data, When the data corresponding to the plurality of nozzles is not aligned, the printing operation is set to a standby state, and after starting the next reading operation, the plurality of nozzles are set based on the image read by the reading operation. Create corresponding data, resume the printing operation,
After creating the data based on the image read by the next reading operation, when the plurality of nozzles move in the scanning direction, the data created before the standby state, Based on the data created after the standby state, ink is ejected from the plurality of nozzles,
If there is a print stop command in the standby state, after the printing of the already read image is completed, the medium is discharged,
A printing apparatus that performs printing on the medium by moving a nozzle that ejects ink in a scanning direction, wherein the read image is printed so as to be arranged in the scanning direction in the order in which the images are read,
A printing apparatus comprising: acquiring four images from four originals by performing the reading operation four times; and printing the four images on the medium. An obtaining step of performing a reading operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of images,
A printing step of printing the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium, respectively,
In the printing method, the printing step may start printing the already read image on the medium before completing the plurality of reading operations. A printing device that performs a reading operation of reading an image from a document a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of images, and prints the plurality of images at predetermined positions on a medium,
A program for realizing a function of starting printing of the already read image on the medium before the plurality of reading operations is completed. A computer system including a computer main body and a printing device,
The printing device,
A plurality of reading operations for reading an image from a document are performed to obtain a plurality of images, and the plurality of images are respectively printed at predetermined positions on a medium,
A computer system, wherein printing of the already read image on the medium is started before the plurality of reading operations are completed.

Images