JP2005056138A - Recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To equalize recording material consumption in each recording device to reduce replenishment work for a recording material, in a recording system having the plurality of recording devices. <P>SOLUTION: In this system, a controller such as a computer 100 controls a prescribed number of recording devices among the plurality of recording devices 201-204. The computer 100 makes an image processing part 107 generate record information to be recorded in the recording device, detects a residual amount of the recording material stored in each the recording device by a CPU 102 or the like, and distinguishes a usable recording device on the basis of the residual amount of each the recording device. A record control part 108 transfers the record information to only the recording device distinguished to be used, and performs recording operation only in the recording device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording system that enables high-speed recording by simultaneously performing a recording operation using a plurality of recording apparatuses.

  As a system capable of speeding up a recording operation on a plurality of recording media, conventionally, a plurality of recording devices are connected to a control device such as a computer capable of generating and sending recording information, and the recording information is recorded. There is known a recording system in which a recording operation is executed almost simultaneously by each recording device by sending it to each recording device, and a plurality of recordings are realized in a recording time of about one sheet.

  Such a recording system composed of a plurality of recording devices is applied to an automatic recording device or the like that eliminates human operations as much as possible in recording management operations. As an example, a vending machine that can obtain a certain number of recording results in a short time by inserting a memory that stores images captured by an imaging device or the like that can send digital video information. Format recording devices.

  In such a vending machine type recording device, for example, assuming that a maximum of three recorded items are issued for one use, the recording information is sent to three recording devices and each recording device. It is most effective to reduce the time required for recording to be constituted by one computer for sending.

  Therefore, when adopting a recording system having a plurality of recording devices as described above, it is conceivable to increase or decrease the number of installed recording devices in accordance with the maximum number of output of one recorded matter. Since the installation volume of the recording apparatus constituting the recording system and the system configuration price will change, it will be difficult to realize. In particular, it is practically impossible to configure a recording system that can arbitrarily change the maximum output number of recorded materials in one use.

  Therefore, at present, in a recording system including a plurality of recording devices, when outputting a number of recorded materials exceeding the number of installed recording devices in one use, for example, three recording devices A, B, C In the case of outputting four or more recorded materials in the system equipped with the recording device A, the recording device A, the recording device B, and the recording device C first output three recorded materials, and the recording operation of the recording device A is completed. After that, it has been proposed and implemented that the recording apparatus A again outputs the fourth recorded matter (Patent Document 1).

  By adopting such a method, even when an arbitrary number of recorded matter is output for one use, it is possible to cope without changing the number of installed recording apparatuses in the recording system.

  Also, the recording material in the recording material storage unit (for example, ink cartridge, ink ribbon, etc.) that supplies the recording material (for example, ink, ink ribbon, etc.) to the recording head loaded in the recording apparatus is consumed by the recording operation, and the recording operation When the recording material cannot be continued, it is necessary to artificially replace the recording material storage unit. The less frequently the recording material storage unit is replaced, the more suitable for automatic operation of the recording system.

JP 2000-62295 A JP 2002-169682 A

  However, as described above, in the recording system constituted by a plurality of recording devices, if the number of output of one recorded matter is not constant, the recording material in the recording material storage unit loaded in each recording device There is often a difference in consumption, and there is a difference in timing when the recording apparatus becomes unusable due to a shortage of recording materials. When even one of the plurality of recording devices cannot be recorded, the entire system is stopped.

  For this reason, the replenishment operation of the recording material may only be necessary to replace one recording material storage unit among the plurality of recording devices with a new one, and the replacement operation of the recording material storage unit for the remaining recording devices There is a time lag between the two. As a result, the frequency of replacement work of the recording material storage unit increases and the work efficiency decreases, which causes a problem of hindering automatic operation.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the problems of the prior art described above, and in a recording system having a plurality of recording devices, it is possible to achieve uniform consumption of recording materials in each recording device. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of reducing the replenishment work of the recording material in the apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, the present invention includes a plurality of recording devices that have a storage unit that stores a predetermined amount of recording material and performs a recording operation using the recording material in the storage unit based on recording information, and the plurality of recording devices In a recording system that performs recording by driving a predetermined number of recording devices, recording information generating means for generating recording information and the remaining amount of recording material in each storage unit of each recording device are detected And a remaining amount detecting means for outputting remaining amount information representing the detected remaining amount, and a recording device determination for determining a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on each remaining amount information in each recording device And a control means for executing a recording operation using only the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determining means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to make the consumption amount of the recording material uniform in each recording apparatus, and it is possible to greatly reduce the replenishment operation of the recording material that is manually performed in each recording apparatus and to improve the efficiency. Thus, the recording apparatus can be activated.

  In other words, when the recording material remaining shortage occurs in a specific recording device, and the recording operation cannot be continued, the recording operation can be continued in another remaining recording device, and more automatically. It is possible to provide a recording system suitable for operation.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the recording system in this embodiment. In the figure, this recording system is provided with a plurality of recording devices (four recording devices 201 to 204 in the figure) and a control device 100 for controlling each recording device 201. The apparatus 100 and the recording apparatuses 201 to 204 are connected via a connection cable 300, and data exchange between the recording apparatuses 201 to 204 and the control apparatus 100 is performed via the connection cable 300. The control device 100 is configured by a computer that realizes functions to be described later, and generates recording information to be recorded in each of the recording devices 201 to 204. At this time, the computer generates recording information for the pages (the number of recording media) to be recorded in one continuous recording operation, and stores the recording information in a storage device provided in the computer 100. . Based on the remaining amount of the recording material stored in the recording apparatus and the amount of recording information to be recorded at one time, a recording apparatus capable of recording operation is determined, and the recording information is distributed, transferred, and recorded. It is configured.

  As the recording apparatus applied to the recording system, any apparatus can be applied as long as the recording operation based on the recording information is performed while the recording material is applied to the recording medium. For example, the recording apparatus shown in FIG. What has a mechanism can be used.

  The recording mechanism shown here is an ink jet recording apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium by using liquid ink as a recording material and ejecting the ink as ink droplets from nozzles formed on the recording head onto the recording medium. ing.

  The recording mechanism 50 employs a serial scanning method, and a carriage 53 is guided by guide shafts 51 and 52 so as to be movable in the main scanning direction indicated by an arrow A. The carriage 53 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction by a driving force transmission mechanism such as a carriage motor (not shown) and a belt for transmitting the driving force. The carriage 53 is mounted with a recording head 57 and an ink tank 58 that stores ink to be supplied to the recording head 57.

  After the paper P as a recording medium is inserted from the insertion port 55 provided at the front end of the apparatus, the transport direction is reversed, and then the paper P is transported in the sub-scanning direction indicated by the arrow B by the feed roller 56. The recording apparatus 50 moves the recording head 20 in the main scanning direction, ejects ink toward the recording area of the paper P on the platen 57, and sub-scans the paper P by a distance corresponding to the recording width. Images are sequentially recorded on the recording medium P by repeating the conveying operation of conveying in the direction.

  The recording head 20 may use thermal energy generated from the electrothermal transducer as energy for ejecting ink. In that case, film boiling occurs in the ink due to the heat generated by the electrothermal transducer, and the ink can be ejected from the ink ejection port by the foaming energy at that time. Further, the ink ejection method in the recording head 20 is not limited to such a method using an electrothermal transducer, and may be a method for ejecting ink using a piezoelectric element, for example.

  The ink jet recording apparatus shown here can form a color image, so that the recording head 20 is provided with four types of inks of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (Bk). One having four types of ejection port arrays for ejection is used, and four ink tanks 10 are mounted corresponding to each recording head 20. Each ink tank 10 has a configuration that can be individually replaced with respect to the recording head 20, and when the remaining amount of ink in a specific ink tank is insufficient, only the ink tank is replaced. It has come to be able to do. However, the present invention can also be applied to a recording apparatus in which all the ink tanks are integrated, and can also be applied to a case in which the ink tank and the recording head are integrated.

Here, based on the block diagram shown in FIG. 2, a schematic configuration of the control apparatus 100 and the recording apparatuses 201 to 204 constituting the recording system will be described.
As described above, the control device 100 has a block diagram shown in FIG. 3 described later and a program corresponding to the control flow shown in FIG. 4 and a processing unit that executes a program corresponding to a control operation such as calculation, determination, and control. CPU102, ROM103 which stores the control program etc. corresponding to the control flow shown in the block diagram shown in FIG.3 and FIG.4 which are read and executed in this CPU102, various data or programs, etc. are stored, and by CPU102 A RAM 104 functioning as a work area for arithmetic processing, and an input device or an output device (keyboard input device and pointing device, or the like used to give a processing trigger to the control device 100 or to input a processing command by the user) Input / output unit to which a display etc. is connected 05, a storage device 106 that stores predetermined software such as an image processing program and recording information, and information generation means for generating recording information that can be recorded in each recording device 201 in accordance with an instruction input from the user by the input device The image processing unit 107, the recording control unit 108 for performing control such as transmission of recording information to the plurality of recording devices 201 to 204 and execution of the recording operation, and data between the computer 100 and each of the recording devices 201 to 204. An interface (I / F) 109 and the like.

  The recording control unit 108 has a function of independently controlling execution and stop of recording operations in the plurality of recording devices 201 to 204. In the present embodiment, the recording operation of each recording device is controlled by independently controlling the transmission and stop of recording information for each recording device 201 to 204 for each recording device.

  In the present embodiment, the image processing unit 107 and the recording control unit 108 provided in the control device 100 are required to generate the program information of the software program code stored in the storage device 106, the ROM 103, the RAM 104, or the like. This is realized by reading out only when necessary and executing it in cooperation with the image processing apparatus or the recording control unit. Further, the functions of the image processing unit 107 and the recording control unit 108 are realized by reading the program code stored in the storage device 106 as in the present embodiment and executing the program code read by the processing unit such as the CPU 102. In addition to the above, the same function can be realized by connecting the image processing unit 107 and the recording control unit 108 configured by hardware to the control device 100.

  On the other hand, each recording device 201-204 connected to the control device 100 has the following configuration. The recording apparatuses shown in FIG. 1 all have the same configuration, and in FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 is assigned as a symbol representing each recording apparatus.

  The recording apparatus 200 includes an operation of each unit including the recording mechanism 50 according to a recording mechanism 50 of each recording apparatus, a program corresponding to an operation description to be described later stored in the ROM 214, and recording information stored in the RAM 213. The CPU 212 of the processing unit that controls the above and an interface 215 that exchanges signals with the control device (hereinafter referred to as a computer) 100 that is connected to the connection cable.

In the recording system configured as described above, when a predetermined recording device 200 in each recording device is designated by the recording control unit 108, the recording information generated by the computer 100 is transmitted from the interface 109 to the connection cable 300. To the interface 215 of the recording apparatus 200 instructed via the interface. The recording apparatus 200 temporarily expands the received recording information in the RAM 213, and then drives the recording mechanism 50 according to the recording information to apply a recording material to the recording medium to form a recorded image.
In this embodiment, signal transmission between the computer and the recording apparatus is performed via the cable 110. However, signal transmission between the computer and the recording apparatus is not limited to wired communication but can be performed by wireless communication. It is.

Next, more specific contents of processing operations executed by the image processing unit 107 in the computer 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
Information input to the image processing unit 107 includes an R (red) signal, a G (green) signal, a B (blue) signal or a C (cyan) signal, an M (magenta) signal, and a Y (yellow) signal that form an image. , And K (black) signals are processed as input information.
Usually, the display device connected to the computer 100 uses the former R, G, B signals. Also, an optical reading device typified by an image scanner is connected to the computer 100, and the reading information of the target document generated by the optical reading device is often composed of R, G, B signals. Has been. The recorded information such as images and characters recorded by the recording device 200 is often images and character information displayed and generated by the display device or the optical reading device as described above.

  Therefore, the image processing unit 103 according to the present embodiment is such that the input image and character information are RGB signals, and the information input or output to the image processing unit is data such as an image, a character, and a line drawing. However, these are all assumed to be bitmap data having color information for each pixel and CMYK signals, and the following processing is performed.

  First, the RGB or CMYK signal input to the image processing unit 103 is composed of 8 bits for each color, and the luminance or density of the target signal is determined by the magnitude of the numerical value. For example, when R = 255, G = 0, and B = 0, the color is brightest red, and when R = 0, G = 0, and B = 0, the color is black. When C = 255, M = 0, Y = 0, K = 0, the darkest cyan is obtained, and when C = 0, M = 0, Y = 0, K = 0, white is obtained.

  When such an RGB / CMYK input signal 401 is input, luminance density conversion 202 is performed in order to convert it into information that can be recorded by the recording apparatus 200. By this conversion, the RGB signal is converted into a CMY signal, and the meaning of the signal is converted from luminance to density.

  Next, in order to convert the converted CMY signal into a color signal unique to the recording apparatus, the color conversion processing unit 403 performs color conversion, and the density adjustment / each color density adjustment processing unit 404 performs adjustment processing to convert the CMYK signal. Generate. In this embodiment, since the configuration of the recording head for applying the recording material mounted on the recording apparatus 100 is four colors of CMYK, it is separated into four signals. Therefore, a recording apparatus having six recording heads may be separated into six signals.

  From the separated signals, it is necessary to generate a type of signal corresponding to the number of types of recording materials applied by the recording head of the recording apparatus, and to perform n-value processing 405 on each signal. In addition, this n-value conversion process has a binary value of “1” meaning that a recording material represented by an ink jet printer is applied to the recording medium and “0” indicating that the recording material is not applied to the recording medium. It is necessary to perform binarization processing and convert the signal value of 8 bits for each color into 1 bit.

  At this time, when the recording head has means capable of increasing / decreasing the amount of the recording material applied in one recording operation in a plurality of stages, n of n-values is determined according to the number of stages of increase / decrease of the recording material. Any method can be applied to the present embodiment.

The recording information completed up to the n-value conversion processing 405 as described above is stored as recording information for each recording page in the storage device 106 provided in the computer 100, and the CPU 102 refers to the program and status information. The data is sent to the designated recording device 200.
The operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to a flowchart.

Here, the control operation executed in the processing unit 102 of the computer 100 will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the ink remaining amount in the ink tank 58 of each of the recording devices 201 to 204 is acquired (step S1). At this time, the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 58 is always detected by an ink remaining amount detection sensor as a remaining amount detecting means provided in each of the recording devices 201 to 204, and the detection information (ink remaining amount) is detected. Can be transmitted to the processing unit CPU 102 of the computer 100 via the connection cable 300.

  Various types of remaining ink detection sensors have been proposed at present. For example, by detecting the amount of transmitted light that changes according to the remaining amount of ink, the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank is detected, and the position of the member floating on the ink surface in the tank is detected electrically and optically. It is possible to do. Further, the computer 100 side cumulatively counts the number of times the recording head is driven, calculates the amount of ink consumed according to the number of times of driving, and subtracts the amount of consumption from the maximum ink storage amount of the ink tank. It is also possible to calculate the remaining ink amount at.

  Thereafter, the CPU 102 of the computer 100 has a recording that has only a remaining amount of ink in which the recording operation cannot be continued in each of the recording devices 201 to 204 based on the remaining amount of ink acquired in the previous step S1. The apparatus, that is, the recording apparatus that is out of ink is determined (step S2), and the recording apparatus that has run out of ink is excluded from the use target in the subsequent recording operation (step S3).

  Next, the recording device with the largest remaining amount of ink is set as a recording device that records the first page of the recording information (step S4). For example, the recording information of the first page is transferred to the recording device, and the remaining recording devices At the same time, the recording information is sequentially transferred page by page, for example (step S5). However, the recording information is not transferred to the recording apparatus excluded from the use target in the previous step S3.

  The recording apparatus to which the recording information is transferred from the computer 100 executes a recording operation based on the recording information in accordance with an instruction from the processing unit CPU 102 of the computer (step S6), and the number of recording pages of the recording information is less than the number of recording apparatuses. When the recording of the recording information is completed, the recording operation is completed (step S7).

  If the number of recording pages is greater than the number of recording devices and it is determined that recording of all the recording information has not been completed, the remaining amount of ink is detected again because the recording devices must continue recording again. (Step S8), and the presence of the recording device in which the ink shortage has occurred is confirmed (step S9).

  At this time, if a new recording device with insufficient ink remaining is generated, the recording device is specified as an unusable device (step S10), and it is determined that the recording device can be used again by moving to step S5. The recording information is sent to the recording apparatus, and the operations in steps S5 to S10 are repeated until all the recording information is recorded.

  Next, an example of the recording information transfer operation from the computer 100 to each of the recording devices 201 to 204 in the recording system of the present embodiment will be described. In the following description, the storage amount of the recording material stored in each of the recording devices 201 to 204 is the same amount at the beginning of recording, and the recording information recorded in one recording operation is 1 It is assumed that the recording information is for pages (for one recording medium).

The CPU 102 in the computer 100 determines to which recording device the recording information generated by the image processing unit 107 is to be sent, and the recording control unit 108 records the recording information in accordance with the determination. For example, it is sent as follows to a predetermined recording device in the control device.
As shown in FIG. 5A, when recording information P1, recording information P2, and recording information P3 that are different for each recording device is repeatedly recorded a plurality of times, the recording information P1 is recorded in the recording device in the first recording operation. 201, the recording information P2 and the recording information P3 are simultaneously recorded by the recording device 202 and the recording device 204, respectively. In the first recording operation, the recording device 204 is not used. For this reason, at the end of the first recording operation, the remaining amount of recording material in the recording material storage unit of the recording device 204 is larger than the remaining amount of recording material of the other recording devices 201 to 203.
Therefore, in the second recording operation (see FIG. 5B), recording is performed from the recording device 204 with the largest remaining amount of recording material, and the recording device 203 is not used.

  Subsequently, also in the third recording operation (see FIG. 5C), the recording information P1 is sent to the recording device 203 that has not been used in the same manner as described above, and the recording information P2 is stored in the recording device 204. The recording information P3 is sent to the recording device 201, and the recording device 202 is not used. As described above, by performing recording from the recording apparatus having the largest amount of remaining ink, the operating rate of each recording apparatus can be made uniform, so that the ink consumption rate can be kept substantially uniform.

  Next, when the recording apparatus is driven under the same conditions as the recording operation shown in FIG. 5, the recording material in the recording apparatus 204 is almost completely consumed, and the recording operation falls into a state where the recording operation cannot be continued. The recording information transfer operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the first recording operation, as shown in FIG. 6A, recording information P1, P2, and P3 are transferred to the recording devices 201, 202, and 203, respectively, and are simultaneously recorded in the recording devices 201, 202, and 203. The operation is performed and the recording device 204 is not used. It is assumed that the recording material in the recording apparatus 202 is almost consumed by this recording operation, and it becomes impossible to perform the next recording operation.

  Here, in the second recording operation (see FIG. 6B), the recording device 204 that was not used at the previous recording is preferentially used. That is, the recording device 202 that has run out of ink in the previous recording operation is excluded from the transfer target of the recording information, the recording information P1 is recorded in the recording device 204, the recording information P2 is recorded in the recording device 201, and the recording information P3 is recorded in the recording device 203. And recording is performed by the recording devices 201, 203, and 204. At this stage, each of the recording devices 201 to 204 executes the recording operation once, and there is no recording device that is not used.

  Next, it is assumed that the remaining amount of recording material in the recording apparatus 203 is insufficient in the second recording operation, and the next recording operation becomes impossible. In this case, in the third recording operation (see FIG. 6C), the recording information P1 is transferred to the recording device 201, the recording information P2 is transferred to the recording device 204, and the remaining recording information P3 is transferred to the recording device 201. After the recording of the recording information P1 is completed, it is transferred and recorded here.

  Next, in the fourth recording operation (see FIG. 6D), since the recording device 201 performs more recording than the recording device 204 in the previous recording operation, the remaining amount of ink is greater than that of the recording device 204. There is a high possibility that it is decreasing. Therefore, the recording information P1 is transferred to the recording device 204, the recording information P2 is transferred to the recording device 201, and the recording information P3 is transferred to the recording device 204 after the recording of the recording information P1 by the recording device 204 is completed. To be recorded.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the number of recording operations of each recording apparatus is detected to determine the remaining amount of the recording material in each recording apparatus, and the next recording operation is performed according to the remaining amount of the recording material. The recording information to be used is determined, and the recording information is transmitted only to the recording apparatus determined to be used, and the recording information is prohibited from being transmitted to recording apparatuses other than the recording apparatus to be used.

  For this reason, the remaining amount of the recording agent in each recording apparatus is not biased toward a specific recording apparatus, and a substantially uniform remaining amount of the recording material can be obtained in each recording apparatus. However, if the information to be recorded is different in one recording operation as described above, there is a possibility that a difference in the remaining amount of the recording material may occur between the recording apparatuses depending on the amount of the information, and the recording operation cannot be performed. In this embodiment, a recording apparatus that has entered a recording impossible state is excluded from the transfer target of recording information, and a recording operation can be performed using only a recording apparatus that can record. Therefore, the recording operation can be continued until all the recording apparatuses are unable to perform recording due to insufficient recording material.

  Therefore, the frequency of the recording material replenishment operation can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional case where one of the plurality of recording devices stops the entire recording system due to insufficient recording material remaining. It becomes possible to reduce human work. For this reason, the present embodiment is extremely suitable for an automatic recording apparatus of a vending machine type configured for the purpose of saving labor.

  In the above embodiment, when a remaining amount of recording material becomes a certain value or less among a plurality of recording apparatuses, a certain amount of recording information (for example, recording information for one page) cannot be recorded. It is determined that the remaining amount is insufficient. That is, in the above embodiment, whether or not the recording apparatus is usable is determined based on the remaining amount of the recording material and the amount of recording information to be recorded continuously. If the determination is performed in consideration of not only the remaining amount of recording material and the amount of recording information but also the type of recording information, more efficient control can be performed.

  For example, each recording apparatus has a plurality of recording material storage units (ink tanks) as shown in FIG. 7, and the remaining amount of recording material in any one of the recording material storage units. Even if a shortage occurs, the recording device is not immediately judged to be unusable, and the next image to be recorded can be recorded with a recording material of a different color from the recording material whose remaining amount is insufficient. In this case, the recording apparatus can also include the recording information to be transferred to perform the recording operation, and according to this, the recording material can be used more effectively.

  In the above embodiment, the drive and stop of the recording device are controlled depending on whether or not the recording information generated by the computer is sent to the recording device, but the recording information is transmitted to all the recording devices. Similarly, the control of whether or not to execute the recording operation can be performed by a command transmitted from the computer. In this case, when the information to be recorded simultaneously in each recording device is different from 1 page to 3 pages, the data indicating the number of pages to be recorded is added to the recording command and transmitted to the recording device.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the plurality of recording apparatuses all have the same performance and function, but it is also possible to use apparatuses having different performance and functions such as recording speed and recording material storage capacity.

  In the above description, a case where a plurality of recording devices are simultaneously recorded by simultaneously driving a plurality of recording devices has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also effective when recording the same or different recording information one by one. It is.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a recording system in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the function of the computer and recording device in embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the image process part in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control operation in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the transfer operation | movement of the recording information from the computer to each recording device in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows other of the transfer state of the recording information from the computer to each recording device in embodiment of this invention. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

50 Recording Mechanism 58 Ink Tank 57 Recording Head 100 Computer 102 CPU
103 ROM
104 RAM
105 Input / Output Unit 107 Image Processing Unit 108 Recording Control Unit 109 Interface 201-204 Recording Device 212 CPU
213 RAM
214 ROM
215 Interface P Paper

Claims (16)

A plurality of recording devices having a storage unit for storing a predetermined amount of recording material and performing a recording operation using the recording material in the storage unit based on recording information, and a predetermined number of the plurality of recording devices In a recording system that performs recording by driving a recording device,
Recording information generating means for generating recording information;
A remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the recording material in each storage section of each recording apparatus and outputting remaining amount information representing the detected remaining amount;
A recording device determining means for determining a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on each remaining amount information in each recording device;
A recording system comprising control means for executing a recording operation using only the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determining means.   The control means sends the recording information from the recording information generating means only to the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determination means, and prohibits the sending of the recording information to recording apparatuses other than the recording apparatus to be used. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording operation is executed only by the recording apparatus to be used.   The control means sends a command that enables driving only to the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determination means, thereby causing the recording operation to be executed only by the recording apparatus to be used. The recording system according to claim 1.   4. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes a recording operation to be performed on the same recording information in a plurality of recording apparatuses to be used.   5. The control means according to claim 1, wherein, in a plurality of recording devices to be used, the same recording data is sent to each recording device, and the same recording information is recorded almost simultaneously in each recording device. The recording system according to any one of the above.   5. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein in the plurality of recording devices to be used, different recording information is sent to each recording device, and different recording information is recorded almost simultaneously in each recording device. Recording system.   4. The remaining amount detecting means determines a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on each remaining amount information and recording data in each recording device. A recording system according to the above.   The remaining amount detecting means detects the number of operations of applying a recording material by each of the recording devices, and obtains the consumption amount of the recording material stored in the storage container based on the detection result. Item 8. The recording system according to any one of Items 1 to 7.   The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount detecting unit electrically or mechanically detects a remaining amount of the recording material in a storage unit of each recording apparatus.   The recording device determining means determines a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on the amount of recording data and / or the type of data to be recorded and the remaining amount information of the recording material. A recording system according to any one of claims 1 to 9.   11. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording device determination unit determines a recording device having a large amount of recording material as a recording device to be preferentially used.   The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the recording device determination unit prohibits the use of a recording device in which a remaining amount of recording material is a predetermined value or less.   13. The recording apparatus determining means determines a recording apparatus containing a recording material exceeding a consumption amount of a recording material required for recording recording information to be continuously recorded as a use recording apparatus. The recording system according to any one of the above.   14. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus includes an ink storage portion that stores liquid ink as a recording material, and the ink stored in the ink storage portion is ejected as ink droplets from a recording head. Recording system described in. In a recording control device that has a storage unit that stores a predetermined amount of recording material and controls the driving of a plurality of recording devices that perform a recording operation using the recording material in the storage unit based on recording information.
A remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the recording material in each storage section of each recording apparatus and outputting remaining amount information representing the detected remaining amount;
A recording device determining means for determining a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on each remaining amount information in each recording device;
And a control means for executing a recording operation using only the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determining means. In a recording control method for controlling a plurality of recording devices that have a storage unit for storing a predetermined amount of recording material and perform a recording operation using a recording material in the storage unit based on recording information,
A remaining amount detecting step for detecting the remaining amount of the recording material in each storage unit of each recording apparatus and outputting remaining amount information indicating the detected remaining amount;
A recording device determination step for determining a recording device to be used among the plurality of recording devices based on each remaining amount information in each recording device;
A recording control method comprising: executing a recording operation using only the recording apparatus to be used determined by the recording apparatus determination step.

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