JP2007106041A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a restriction on the installation site of a recording device by providing a means to switch a paper ejection mode in accordance with a user's instruction. <P>SOLUTION: The inkjet recording device has: an input means to input a user's instructions; and a paper ejection mode switching means having a paper ejection reservation mode which reserves a paper ejection action in a position where the rear edge of printed matter is held by a paper ejection member 204 which performs a paper ejection action in ejecting printed matter, and switches between the paper ejection reservation mode, and an ordinary paper ejection mode to eject papers until the printed matter is completely discharged, in accordance with the user's instruction input by the input means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus, and in particular, in an inexpensive and compact recording apparatus that does not have a discharge tray, the discharge operation is suspended at a position where the rear end of the sheet is held by a discharge member that performs the discharge operation. And switching between the paper discharge hold mode and the normal paper discharge mode for discharging paper until the printed matter is completely discharged in accordance with a user instruction input by the input unit. The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing the above.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an ink jet recording apparatus that includes a paper discharge tray for stacking discharged printed matter and that holds the discharged paper with a dedicated holding member for holding the print medium (Canon JP 2000-71537 A). ). However, the present invention has a discharge tray and a dedicated discharge sheet holding member, which is different from the present case that does not have them.
Conventionally, the user has not been able to switch between the above-described discharge hold mode and the normal discharge mode. In addition, there is no control for resuming printing by pulling out the printed matter whose discharge is suspended.
JP 2000-71537 A

  When a user tries to install a recording device that does not have a paper discharge tray in a high place such as a shelf, the printed material will fall and scatter if there is no excess space equivalent to the paper length discharged in the paper discharge direction. As a result, there are many restrictions on the installation location even in a compact size.

  An object of the present invention is an inkjet recording apparatus that does not include a paper discharge tray, and an input unit that inputs a user's instruction, and a paper discharge member that performs a paper discharge operation at the rear end of the paper when the printed material is discharged. A paper discharge hold mode for holding the paper discharge operation at a position held by the printer, and the paper discharge hold mode and a normal paper discharge mode for discharging paper until the printed matter is completely discharged are input by the input means. By providing an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a discharge mode switching means that can be switched in accordance with an instruction of a user, the restriction of the installation location of the recording apparatus is reduced. Furthermore, the user-friendliness is improved by detecting that the paper on which the paper discharge has been held is pulled out and starting the printing of the next page.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an input unit for inputting a user instruction and a paper discharge operation at a position where a rear end portion of the paper is held by a paper discharge member that performs a paper discharge operation when the printed matter is discharged. In accordance with a user instruction input by the input means, the paper discharge hold mode and the normal paper discharge mode for discharging paper until the printed matter is completely discharged are provided. Discharge mode switching means that can be switched is provided. Furthermore, it has a drawing detection means for detecting that the printed material held on the paper discharge member has been pulled out, and has a printing control means for restarting the printing process for the next page when the drawing of the printed material is detected. It is characterized by.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in an ink jet recording apparatus that does not include a paper discharge tray, an input unit that inputs a user's instruction, and a paper discharge operation is performed at the rear end of the paper when paper is discharged. A paper discharge hold mode for holding the paper discharge operation at a position held by the paper discharge member, and a normal paper discharge mode for discharging paper until the printed matter is completely discharged. By providing an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a discharge mode switching means capable of switching according to a user's instruction input by the input means, restrictions on the installation location of the recording apparatus can be reduced. . Furthermore, the user-friendliness is improved by detecting the withdrawal of the paper whose discharge is suspended and starting the printing of the next page.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. The print medium 105 inserted into the paper feed position of the recording apparatus 100 is fed in the direction of arrow P by the feed roller 106 and conveyed to the printable area of the recording head 104. A platen 107 is provided below the print medium 105 in the printable area. The carriage 101 is movable in the direction along the axial direction by two guide shafts 102 and 103, and the scanning area including the printing area is the main scanning direction by driving a CR motor (not shown). Reciprocal scanning is performed along the directions indicated by arrows Q1 and Q2. When one main scan is completed, the print medium is fed by a fixed amount in the sub-scanning direction (arrow P direction) by driving an LF motor (not shown) to prepare for the next main scan. These main scanning and sub-scanning are repeated to perform printing operation for one page.

  In FIG. 1, a recording head 104 mounted on a carriage 101 includes an ejection port capable of ejecting ink and an ink tank that accommodates ink, and the ejection port of the recording head applies ink to a print medium positioned below. It is mounted on the carriage so as to discharge and print. Reference numeral 108 denotes a switch unit and a display unit. The switch unit is used to turn on / off the recording apparatus and set various printing modes. The display unit is configured to display the status of the recording apparatus. Yes. Reference numeral 109 denotes a paper discharge port from which the recording medium is discharged. A recording medium is fed to the paper discharge port by a paper discharge roller pair 204 described in FIG.

  The configuration of the recording head is capable of printing four colors Y, M, C, and Bk, the number of Y, M, and C ejection openings is 128 each, and the number of Bk is 320, and the arrangement of ejection openings for each color The pitch is 1/600 dpi and about 42 microns with respect to several sub-scanning directions. The drive frequency of the recording head is 15 kHz, and a printing operation is possible at a density of 600 dpi in the main scanning direction. Therefore, the main scanning speed of the carriage during the printing operation is 25 inches / s.

  In the present embodiment, a heating element that generates thermal energy is provided in the vicinity of each ejection port of the recording head in order to eject ink droplets. The ink in the nozzle heated rapidly by the heat generated by the heating element forms bubbles by film boiling, and ink droplets are ejected toward the print medium by the pressure of bubble generation to form characters and images. A recording method using a heating element, which is an electrical / thermal converter, is called a so-called bubble jet (registered trademark) recording method because it uses bubbles formed by applying thermal energy when ink droplets are ejected.

  In the present invention, the recording head is not limited to this type, and for example, an ejection type recording head using a piezoelectric element may be used.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main part of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applicable. Character or image data to be printed is transmitted from the host apparatus 500 to the recording apparatus 100 and stored in the reception buffer 401. Further, data for confirming whether the data is correctly transferred and data for informing the operation state of the recording apparatus 100 are transmitted from the recording apparatus 100 to the host apparatus 500.

  Data stored in the reception buffer 401 is processed into data for performing printing when the recording head performs main scanning under the control of the CPU 402, and is stored in the print buffer unit in the random access memory unit 403. . The data of the print buffer unit is transferred to the recording head 104 by the recording head control unit 410, and the recording head is controlled to print character and image data. Further, the recording head control unit 410 detects temperature information indicating the state of the recording head 104 and sends it to the CPU 402, transmits the information to the recording head control unit 410, and controls the recording head.

  A machine control unit 404 drives and controls a machine unit 405 such as a carriage motor or a line feed motor in response to a command from the CPU 402.

  The sensor / SW control unit 406 sends a signal from the sensor / SW unit 407 including various sensors and SW (switch) to the CPU 402.

  The display element control unit 408 is configured to control the display unit 409 composed of LEDs, liquid crystal display elements, and the like of the display panel group according to a command from the CPU 402.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating holding of a print medium by a paper discharge member of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. Reference numeral 202 denotes a recording head, and 203 denotes a platen. The print medium 206 records an image with ink ejected from the recording head 202 on the platen 203. Reference numeral 201 denotes a pair of conveying rollers, which intermittently feed the recording medium 206 in the direction P by a predetermined amount. Reference numeral 204 denotes a pair of paper discharge rollers, which normally sends out the print medium on which image recording has been completed to the paper discharge port shown in FIG. In the present invention, in the paper discharge hold mode, as shown in FIG. 3B, the paper discharge is held in such a manner that the rear end of the recording medium is sandwiched between the paper discharge roller pair, and the printing apparatus is placed at a high place such as a shelf. When installed, the recording medium should be hung. This prevents the printed material from falling and scattering. Also, a recording medium detection sensor 205 is provided to detect when the paper is pulled out, and when there is print data for the next page, the printing process is resumed. When a DC motor with an encoder is used to rotate the pair of paper discharge rollers, it is possible to substitute for the recording medium detection sensor by utilizing the fact that the slit of the encoder is displaced when the paper is pulled out. is there.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the print control operation of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. A program for realizing this processing is stored in the ROM 411 in FIG. 2, and the CPU 402 executes the program. In this embodiment, printing is performed based on a print command and data transferred by the host computer to the reception buffer 401 in FIG. The print command includes a command for setting the paper discharge mode instructed by the user. The paper discharge mode can also be set by input using the switch shown in FIG. The paper discharge mode instructed by the user is stored in the RAM 403 in FIG.

  When printing is started, the recording apparatus performs a printing process in step S301. In step S302, it is determined whether or not to start a paper discharge process performed after the image recording is completed. When the paper discharge process is started, it is determined in step S303 whether or not the paper discharge hold mode is instructed. If not instructed, the process proceeds to step S306 to perform normal paper discharge processing. Thereafter, if it is determined in step S307 that there is print data for the next page, the process returns to step S301 to perform print processing for the next page. If there is no next page in step S307, printing is terminated.

  If the paper discharge hold mode is set in step S303, the process proceeds to step S304, and the paper discharge operation is interrupted in the state shown in FIG. Thereafter, when the user pulls out the paper, the pulling is detected in step S305, and the process proceeds to step S307. If there is print data for the next page, the process returns to the print processing in step S301.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an outline of a recording unit of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows discharge | emission of the recording medium in the inkjet recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of printing processing in the inkjet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (2)

A recording head that is connected to the host computer through a bidirectional interface and can eject ink from a plurality of ejection ports, reciprocates in the main scanning direction while ejecting, and conveys the print medium in the sub-scanning direction. In an inkjet recording apparatus that prints on a print medium,
Inkjet recording device that does not have a paper discharge tray for stacking discharged printed matter,
An input means for inputting a user instruction and a paper discharge hold mode in which the paper discharge operation is held at a position where the rear end portion of the paper is held by a paper discharge member that performs the paper discharge operation when the printed matter is discharged. A paper discharge mode capable of switching between the paper discharge hold mode and a normal paper discharge mode for discharging paper until the printed matter is completely discharged in accordance with a user instruction input by the input unit. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising switching means.   In the paper discharge hold mode, there is a print control unit that has pull-out detection means for detecting that the printed material held on the paper discharge member has been pulled out, and restarts the printing process for the next page when the pull-out of the printed material is detected 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means.

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