JP2005074945A - Recording device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to supply electric power to peripheral devices without increasing electric power capacity. <P>SOLUTION: A recording device performs recording by scanning a carriage, which can carry a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction, on a recording medium in the direction crossing the arrangement direction of the recording elements. An interface is provided in the recording device, wherein the interface is intended for connecting peripheral equipment and capable of supplying electric power to the connected peripheral equipment. When peripheral equipment is connected to the interface, it is judged whether power should be supplied to the peripheral equipment or not (S412). When power is supplied to the connected peripheral equipment, multi-path recording is set (S413, S414), and the number of nozzles to be used and the number of paths are determined from current consumption by the peripheral equipment (S415). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method, and in particular, a carriage on which a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction can be mounted on a recording medium in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the recording elements. The present invention relates to a recording method when a peripheral device is connected in a recording apparatus having an interface for performing recording and connecting the peripheral device and capable of supplying power to the connected peripheral device.

  For example, as information output devices in word processors, personal computers, facsimiles, and the like, printers that record desired information such as characters and images on a sheet-like recording medium such as paper or film are widely used.

  Various types of recording methods are known for printers, but inkjet methods have recently been used for reasons such as non-contact recording on recording media such as paper, easy colorization, and high quietness. In particular, the configuration is a serial in which a recording head for ejecting ink according to desired recording information is mounted and recording is performed while reciprocating scanning in a direction crossing the feeding direction of a recording medium such as paper. In general, the recording method is widely used because it is inexpensive and easy to downsize.

  As image input devices such as digital cameras become widespread, there is an increasing demand for users who want to print directly from a digital camera without using a host computer, and it has an interface to external devices such as digital cameras, A printer having a so-called direct printing function (hereinafter also referred to as a direct printer) that directly reads an image from an external device and executes recording without going through a host device has attracted attention.

  Many direct printers employ USB (Universal Serial Bus) as an interface. One of the features of USB is that power can be supplied from a host device to a peripheral device through a USB cable (power supply line; Vbus). The power that can be supplied is rated at 5 V and is set to 500 mA at maximum for each peripheral device.

  A general direct printer has a configuration in which the printer functions as a USB host device and recognizes a connected digital camera as a peripheral device. However, connectable digital cameras are limited. A connectable digital camera is a so-called self-powered type that can operate without being supplied with power from a host device.

  Therefore, it is sufficient for a direct printer to have a capability of supplying a current of 100 mA or less through a USB cable. Further, when it is detected that the connected USB device (peripheral device) uses a current of 100 mA or more from the USB cable, the power supply is forcibly cut off.

  In this way, since the direct printer restricts the power supplied via the USB cable, the load on the internal power supply does not change so much depending on whether the peripheral device is connected, and the peripheral device is connected. Sometimes there is no special power control.

  In recent years, various USB devices have been developed, and among them, there are many so-called bus power devices that operate by receiving power from a host device. There is an increasing demand for enabling connection of such bus power devices.

  As described above, the maximum supply current in the USB interface is 500 mA at a rating of 5 V. However, the power supply capacity of a printing apparatus such as a normal printer is not designed with a margin with respect to the maximum power consumption.

  Therefore, in order to supply such electric power to the peripheral devices, it is easiest to increase the power supply capacity, but this increases the cost and the size of the entire apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to enable power supply to peripheral devices without increasing the power supply capacity.

A recording apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention that achieves the above object includes a carriage on which a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction can be mounted, and a recording medium in a direction intersecting the arrangement direction of the recording elements. A recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning above,
An interface for connecting peripheral devices, and an interface capable of supplying power to the connected peripheral devices;
Supply determination means for determining whether or not to supply power to the peripheral device when a peripheral device is connected to the interface;
Printing element number limiting means for limiting the number of printing elements used in one scan when it is determined by the supply determining means to supply power to the connected peripheral device.

  That is, in the present invention, in a recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning a carriage on which a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction can be mounted on a recording medium in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the recording elements. An interface for connecting a peripheral device, which is capable of supplying power to the connected peripheral device, and supplying power to the peripheral device when the peripheral device is connected to the interface It is determined whether or not to perform, and when supplying power to the connected peripheral device, the number of printing elements used in one scan is limited.

  In this way, since the power used when driving the recording element is reduced, it is possible to supply power to the connected peripheral devices without increasing the power supply capacity.

  The number-of-recording-element limiting means should limit the number of recording elements used in one scan by increasing the number of scans required to record each recording area, and more preferably connected peripherals. The number of scans and the number of printing elements are determined based on the current consumption of the device.

  As the interface, it is preferable to use USB.

  The peripheral device can output information to be recorded to the recording device, and the recording device is preferably configured to record the information output from the peripheral device. As a specific example of the peripheral device, there is a digital camera.

  The recording head is preferably an ink jet recording head that performs recording by discharging ink, and more preferably is a recording head that discharges ink using thermal energy and generates thermal energy applied to the ink. The thermal energy conversion body for is provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, there is provided a recording method in which a carriage capable of mounting a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction is recorded in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the recording elements. An interface for connecting a peripheral device by scanning on a medium and recording, and a recording method of a recording apparatus provided with an interface capable of supplying power to the connected peripheral device,
A connection detection step of detecting whether a peripheral device is connected to the interface;
A supply determination step for determining whether to supply power to the peripheral device; and
A recording element number limiting step of limiting the number of recording elements used in one scan when it is determined in the supply determination step that power is supplied to the peripheral device.

  The above object can also be achieved by a computer program for realizing the above recording method by a computer device, and a computer readable storage medium storing the computer program.

  According to the present invention, since the electric power used when driving the recording element is reduced, it is possible to supply electric power to the connected peripheral device without increasing the power supply capacity.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the constituent elements described in the embodiments to be described are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to them.

  In the embodiment described below, a recording apparatus using a recording head according to an ink jet method will be described as an example.

  In this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “printing”) is not only for forming significant information such as characters and figures, but also for human beings visually perceived regardless of significance. Regardless of whether or not it has been manifested, it also represents a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or the medium is processed.

  “Recording medium” refers not only to paper used in general recording apparatuses but also widely to cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, and the like that can accept ink. Shall.

  Furthermore, “ink” (sometimes referred to as “liquid”) is to be interpreted broadly in the same way as the definition of “recording (printing)” above. It represents a liquid that can be used for forming a pattern or the like, processing a recording medium, or processing an ink (for example, solidification or insolubilization of a colorant in ink applied to the recording medium).

  Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the “nozzle” is a generic term for an ejection port or a liquid channel communicating with the nozzle and an element that generates energy used for ink ejection, and corresponds to a “recording element”. It shall be.

<Outline configuration>
FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing the outline of the configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 which is a representative embodiment of the present invention, with the cover removed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a recording apparatus) transmits a driving force generated by a carriage motor M1 to a carriage 2 on which a recording head 3 that performs recording by discharging ink according to an ink jet method can be mounted. The information is transmitted from the mechanism 4, and the carriage 2 is reciprocated in the direction of the arrow A. For example, a recording medium P such as recording paper is fed through the paper feeding mechanism 5 and conveyed to the recording position. Recording is performed by ejecting ink from 3 to the recording medium P.

  Further, in order to maintain the state of the recording head 3 satisfactorily, the carriage 2 is moved to the position of the recovery device 10 and the ejection recovery process of the recording head 3 is intermittently performed.

  In addition to mounting the recording head 3 on the carriage 2 of the recording apparatus 1, an ink cartridge 6 for storing ink to be supplied to the recording head 3 is mounted. The ink cartridge 6 is detachable from the carriage 2.

  The recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 3 is capable of color recording. For this reason, the carriage 2 contains four inks each containing magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) inks. An ink cartridge is installed. These four ink cartridges are detachable independently.

  Now, the carriage 2 and the recording head 3 can achieve and maintain a required electrical connection by properly contacting the joint surfaces of both members. The recording head 3 applies energy according to a recording signal to selectively eject ink from a plurality of ejection ports for recording. In particular, the recording head 3 of this embodiment employs an ink jet system that ejects ink using thermal energy, and includes an electrothermal transducer to generate thermal energy, which is applied to the electrothermal transducer. Electric energy is converted into thermal energy, and ink is ejected from the ejection port by utilizing pressure changes caused by bubble growth and contraction caused by film boiling caused by applying the thermal energy to the ink. The electrothermal transducer is provided corresponding to each of the ejection ports, and ink is ejected from the corresponding ejection port by applying a pulse voltage to the corresponding electrothermal transducer in accordance with the recording signal.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the carriage 2 is connected to a part of the driving belt 7 of the transmission mechanism 4 that transmits the driving force of the carriage motor M <b> 1, and slides in the direction of arrow A along the guide shaft 13. It is guided and supported freely. Accordingly, the carriage 2 reciprocates along the guide shaft 13 by forward and reverse rotations of the carriage motor M1. A scale 8 is provided for indicating the absolute position of the carriage 2 along the moving direction of the carriage 2 (the direction of arrow A). In this embodiment, the scale 8 uses a transparent PET film with black bars printed at a necessary pitch, one of which is fixed to the chassis 9 and the other is supported by a leaf spring (not shown). Yes.

  Further, the recording apparatus 1 is provided with a platen (not shown) facing the discharge port surface where the discharge port (not shown) of the recording head 3 is formed, and the recording head 3 is driven by the driving force of the carriage motor M1. At the same time as the carriage 2 loaded with is reciprocated, recording is performed over the entire width of the recording medium P conveyed on the platen by giving a recording signal to the recording head 3 and discharging ink.

  Further, in FIG. 3, 14 is a conveyance roller driven by a conveyance motor M2 to convey the recording medium P, 15 is a pinch roller that abuts the recording medium P against the conveyance roller 14 by a spring (not shown), and 16 is a pinch. A pinch roller holder 17 that rotatably supports the roller 15 is a conveyance roller gear fixed to one end of the conveyance roller 14. Then, the transport roller 14 is driven by the rotation of the transport motor M2 transmitted to the transport roller gear 17 through an intermediate gear (not shown).

  Further, reference numeral 20 denotes a discharge roller for discharging the recording medium P on which an image is formed by the recording head 3 to the outside of the recording apparatus, and is driven by transmitting the rotation of the transport motor M2. . The discharge roller 20 abuts on a spur roller (not shown) that presses the recording medium P by a spring (not shown). Reference numeral 22 denotes a spur holder that rotatably supports the spur roller.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the recording apparatus 1 includes a desired position (for example, a home position) outside the range of reciprocating motion (outside the recording area) for the recording operation of the carriage 2 on which the recording head 3 is mounted. A recovery device 10 for recovering the ejection failure of the recording head 3 is disposed at a position corresponding to the position).

  The recovery device 10 includes a capping mechanism 11 for capping the ejection port surface of the recording head 3 and a wiping mechanism 12 for cleaning the ejection port surface of the recording head 3, and interlocks with the capping of the ejection port surface by the capping mechanism 11. Ink recovery such as forcibly discharging ink from the discharge port by suction means (suction pump or the like) in the recovery device, thereby removing ink or bubbles having increased viscosity in the ink flow path of the recording head 3 Process.

  Further, at the time of non-recording operation or the like, by capping the ejection port surface of the recording head 3 by the capping mechanism 11, the recording head 3 can be protected and ink evaporation and drying can be prevented. On the other hand, the wiping mechanism 12 is disposed in the vicinity of the capping mechanism 11 and wipes ink droplets adhering to the ejection port surface of the recording head 3.

  The capping mechanism 11 and the wiping mechanism 12 can keep the ink ejection state of the recording head 3 normal.

<Control configuration>
Next, the control configuration of the recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration example of the recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a control board on which electrical components for controlling the printing apparatus are mounted. The control board 100 includes a system LSI 101, a ROM 108 for storing a control program, an area used as a reception buffer and a print buffer, a RAM 109 used as a work area, and a motor that outputs control signals to the motor group 114. A driver 113 is mounted.

  The control board 100 includes a recording head 3 via a dedicated cable, the carriage motor M1 and the conveyance motor M2 described above with reference to FIG. A motor group 114 including a recovery device and a head maintenance motor that performs a suction operation is connected. Further, it can be connected to the host computer 118 via a Centronics or USB interface, and is connected to peripheral devices such as the digital camera 119 via a USB interface. In the following, these interfaces such as Centronics and USB are collectively indicated by 110.

  In the system LSI 101, a CPU_CORE 102 that controls each unit in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM 108, an interface control circuit 103 that transmits / receives data to / from the host computer 118 and the digital camera 119 via the interface 110, a reception buffer in the RAM 109, and a print To the data control circuit 104 that controls reading / writing of data with respect to the buffer, the print data generation circuit 105 that generates print data based on information transmitted from the host computer, and the recording head 3 for the generated print data Are provided with a head control circuit 106 for controlling the data transfer and ink ejection of the recording head 3, and a motor control circuit 107 for controlling the driving of the motor group 114 via the motor driver 113.

  An operation during recording according to the present embodiment will be described. When image data or the like is received from the host computer 118 via the interface 110, the received data is temporarily stored in a reception buffer allocated in the RAM 109 by the data control circuit 104 from the interface control circuit 103 in the system LSI 101. The received data stored in the reception buffer is subjected to command analysis, and the actual image data is converted into print data by the print data generation circuit 105 and then stored in the print buffer allocated in the RAM 109. When a necessary amount of data is stored in the print buffer, the print data is read from the print buffer at a predetermined timing by the head control circuit 106 and transferred to the recording head 3. During the main scan of the carriage on which the recording head 3 is mounted, a drive pulse is applied to the recording head 3 by the head control circuit 106, whereby ink is ejected and recording is performed to form an image. Scanning of the carriage on which the recording head 3 is mounted and conveyance of the recording medium are performed by driving the carriage motor M1, the conveyance motor M2, and the paper supply / discharge motor at a predetermined timing via the motor driver 113 by the drive control circuit 107. The

  When direct printing is performed with the digital camera 119 connected to the interface 110, data transmitted from the digital camera 119 is received, image processing such as binarization is performed, and print data is printed in the same manner as described above. Generate and record.

<Power supply system>
Conventionally, in a recording apparatus that supports a direct printing function from a digital camera 119, it is common to use a USB as an interface. In USB, power can be supplied from the host side to the peripheral device through the USB cable, and the maximum supply current at a rated voltage of 5 V is 500 mA per peripheral device. Conventionally, peripheral devices that can be connected to a recording apparatus are only so-called self-powered devices that can operate without being supplied with power from a host device, as described above. That is, it is sufficient for the recording apparatus to be capable of supplying a current of 100 mA or less to Vbus which is a USB power line.

  In contrast to this, in this embodiment, it is also possible to connect a bus-powered device that operates by receiving power supply from a USB host device. Therefore, the power supply is controlled so that a maximum current of 500 mA can be supplied from the Vbus of the USB interface.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the power supply system of this embodiment. Reference numeral 201 denotes a power supply for the printing apparatus. In the present embodiment, the power supply voltage VM for driving the motor and the power supply voltage VH for ink ejection (drive) of the printhead are output. A logic power generation circuit 202 generates a logic power supply voltage from a motor power supply voltage VM by a step-down DC / DC converter. In the present embodiment, the logic power supply generation circuit 202 is mainly used as a power supply voltage for logic, 1.5 V which is a power supply voltage for internal logic of the system LSI, ROM, RAM, and I / O for the system LSI. Three types of power supply voltages of 3.3V and 5V are generated.

  Connection to a peripheral device such as a digital camera is made via the USB interface 110. Reference numeral 203 denotes a USB connector. The signal lines to be connected include four data lines: D + and D− of the data line and Vbus and GND of the power supply line. Vbus is generated by the logic power generation circuit 202. Is supplied.

<Detection of peripheral devices and power supply>
In this embodiment, a method for detecting that a peripheral device is connected to the USB interface conforms to the USB standard. Specifically, the USB device (peripheral device) has one of the data lines D + and D− depending on the transfer speed (mode) of the device (D + for the device in the high speed mode and D− for the device in the low speed mode). A pull-up resistor is connected to the device, and it is detected that one of the data lines is pulled up to a predetermined threshold voltage or more for 2.5 μs or more after the device is connected to the hub or host port. By doing so, it is detected that a new device has been connected.

  All USB devices are defined to operate at 100 mA or less immediately after being connected. The host device usually requests configuration information from the USB device, checks the type of device and the requested transfer mode, and makes settings for the device. At this time, when the host device detects that a USB device using bus power is connected, the host device reads the current consumption of the device and allocates power.

  In this embodiment, when the interface control circuit of the recording apparatus detects that a peripheral device (for example, a digital camera) that can operate with the power supplied to the recording apparatus via the USB interface is connected, Control is performed to suppress the power used for recording so that the load does not increase.

  As a method of suppressing the power used for recording, the number of nozzles of the recording head used in one scan is reduced so as to be a predetermined number or less. When reducing the number of nozzles, the method of reducing the recording width in one scan, that is, the method of restricting the use of nozzles at the end, and the region to be recorded in one scan are usually recorded in multiple scans. As described above, there is a so-called multi-pass printing method in which nozzles are thinned out in each scan, and the latter method is preferably adopted when performing multi-pass printing.

  Multi-pass printing is, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-169681, divided into a plurality of main scans by masking print data in a print buffer with a predetermined pattern. This is a recording method for completing the recording of the area. By performing such multi-pass recording, it is possible to reduce the density unevenness of the image and perform recording with higher image quality.

  In this embodiment, when the interface control circuit of the recording apparatus detects that a peripheral device (for example, a digital camera) capable of operating with a power supplied via the USB interface is connected, the recording method is one pass. If it is set to printing, it is changed to multi-pass printing, and if the printing method is set to multi-pass printing, the number of passes is increased to reduce the number of nozzles used in one scan.

  In this case, the number of nozzles used in one scan may be obtained by referring to a pre-stored table from the current consumption value requested by the peripheral device, or may be calculated according to a predetermined calculation formula. . However, when performing multi-pass printing, the number of nozzles used in one scan is preferably set to 1 / integer of the total number of nozzles.

  Hereinafter, the connection detection operation of the peripheral device in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4A. The process of each step shown in FIG. 4A is executed by, for example, the interface control circuit 103 in FIG.

  First, in order to determine whether or not a peripheral device is connected, the voltage level of the data line is examined as described above (step S401). If the voltage level of any data line is equal to or higher than the threshold voltage, it is determined that the peripheral device is connected (step S402). If connection is detected, the peripheral device is requested to transmit configuration information, and the current consumption of the peripheral device is examined (step S403). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S402 that the connection is not established, the process returns to step S401 to check the voltage level of the data line again.

  It is determined from the current consumption of the peripheral device checked in step S403 whether or not it is a bus power device (step S404). If it is a bus power device, the supply flag indicating that power is supplied via the USB bus is set to ON, and the current consumption value of the peripheral device is stored in a predetermined memory area (for example, the RAM 109) (step S405). ), Starting the supply of power and setting the connected peripheral device (step S406). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S404 that the connected peripheral device is not a bus power device, the power supply is not performed, and settings are made for the connected peripheral device in step S406.

  FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing the operation at the time of executing the recording operation according to the present embodiment regarding the setting of the recording method. The process of each step illustrated in FIG. 4B is executed by controlling each unit related to the CPU_CORE 101 in FIG. 1, for example.

  It is determined whether or not a recording command has been received from the host computer or the connected peripheral device (step S411). When the recording command is received, power supply to the peripheral device is set in step S405 of FIG. 4A. It is checked whether or not the supply flag indicating is ON (step S412). On the other hand, if the recording command is not received in step S411, it is determined whether or not the recording command is received again at a predetermined interval.

  If it is determined in step S412 that the supply flag is ON, it is determined whether multipass printing is set as the recording method (step S413). If multi-pass printing is not set, multi-pass printing is set (step S415), and the number of used nozzles and the number of passes in one pass are determined based on the current consumption value stored in step S405 of FIG. 4A. Determination is made (step S415). If the recording method is set to multi-pass recording in step S413, step S415 is executed without executing step S414.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S412 that the supply flag is not ON, that is, it is determined that power is not supplied to the peripheral device, the recording method designated by the recording command is set.

  Printing is performed according to the printing method (number of used nozzles, number of passes, etc.) set as described above.

  The operations described in the flowcharts of FIGS. 4A and 4B described above may be executed independently or may be executed continuously. However, even if a peripheral device that requests power supply via the USB bus is connected during the execution of the recording operation, it is preferable to delay the start of power supply until recording is completed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a peripheral device that operates by receiving power supply via the interface is connected, if 1-pass recording is being performed, it is changed to multi-pass recording. When multi-pass printing is set, the number of nozzles used in one scan is limited so as to increase the number of passes. Accordingly, it is possible to supply power to peripheral devices without increasing the power supply capacity of the recording apparatus, and convenience can be improved without increasing the cost of the apparatus.

(Other embodiments)
In the above embodiment, the recording apparatus adopting the ink jet method has been described as an example. However, if the recording apparatus is a serial type recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning a recording head on which recording elements are arranged on a recording medium, the ink jet recording apparatus may be used. The present invention can also be applied to a recording apparatus of a system other than the system.

  In the above embodiment, the liquid droplets ejected from the recording head have been described as ink, and the liquid stored in the ink tank has been described as ink. However, the container is limited to ink. It is not a thing. For example, a treatment liquid discharged to the recording medium may be accommodated in the ink tank in order to improve the fixability and water resistance of the recorded image or to improve the image quality.

  The above-described embodiments include means (for example, an electrothermal converter) that generates thermal energy as energy used to perform ink ejection, particularly in the ink jet recording system, and changes the state of the ink by the thermal energy. High density and high definition of the recording can be achieved by using the generating method.

  In the above embodiment, a digital camera has been described as an example of a peripheral device. However, the present invention is a device such as a digital camera or a PDA as long as it can operate with power supplied from a host device via an interface. The present invention is not limited to a device capable of outputting information to a recording apparatus, and can be applied to various peripheral devices.

  Note that the present invention can be applied to a system (for example, a copier, a facsimile machine, etc.) consisting of a single device even when applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.). You may apply.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for implementing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the above-described storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowcharts described above (shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a power supply system of the recording apparatus in FIG. 1. 1 is an external perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing a detection operation of a peripheral device of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing a recording method setting operation of the recording apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 control board 101 system LSI
102 CPU CORE
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 Interface control circuit 104 Data control circuit 105 Print data generation circuit 106 Head control circuit 107 Motor control circuit 108 ROM
109 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 110 Interface 113 Motor driver 114 Motor 115 Recording head 118 Host computer 119 Digital camera 201 Power supply 202 Logic system power generation circuit 203 USB connector

Claims (9)

A recording apparatus that performs recording by scanning a carriage on which a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction can be mounted on a recording medium in a direction intersecting the arrangement direction of the recording elements,
An interface for connecting peripheral devices, and an interface capable of supplying power to the connected peripheral devices;
Supply determination means for determining whether or not to supply power to the peripheral device when a peripheral device is connected to the interface;
Printing element number limiting means for limiting the number of printing elements used in one scan when it is determined by the supply determining means to supply power to the connected peripheral device. Recording device.   2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording element number limiting unit limits the number of recording elements used in one scan by increasing the number of scans required to record each recording area.   The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording element number limiting unit determines the number of scans and the number of the recording elements based on current consumption of a connected peripheral device.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interface is a USB.   5. The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral device can output information to be recorded to the recording device, and the recording device records information output from the peripheral device. The recording apparatus according to item 1.   The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the peripheral device includes a digital camera.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an ink jet recording head that performs recording by discharging ink.   The recording head according to claim 7, wherein the recording head is a recording head that ejects ink using thermal energy, and includes a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Recording device. A carriage capable of mounting a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a predetermined direction is scanned on a recording medium in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the recording elements, and a peripheral device is connected. A recording method of a recording apparatus comprising an interface and an interface capable of supplying power to a connected peripheral device,
A connection detection step of detecting whether a peripheral device is connected to the interface;
A supply determination step for determining whether to supply power to the peripheral device; and
And a recording element number limiting step of limiting the number of recording elements used in one scan when it is determined in the supply determination step that power is supplied to the peripheral device. Method.

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