JP2007125843A - Recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a highly flexible partial discharge of a processing agent in discharging for improving recordability to a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A leading recording device 201 discharges the processing agent to the recording medium P in order to enhance the recordability of a recording material to be recorded on the recording medium P. Further, the recording device 201 has an operating mode in which a part where the processing agent is discharged and a part where the processing agent is not discharged, are formed by discharging the processing agent to a partial region to be decided by a recording image inside the recordable region of the recording medium P. A user can variably set the size of the partial region, when he selects this operating mode. The leading recording device 201 is configured independently of recording devices 202 to 207, and keeps the recording heads of the recording devices 202 to 207 capped in case no recording data are available to the recording heads, in discharging the processing agent. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording system that discharges a processing agent to a recording medium.

  Currently, image forming devices such as printers, copiers, and facsimiles use an ink jet recording system that forms images by ejecting ink droplets onto a recording medium because of the advantages of ease of color recording, high speed, and quietness. The ones that have been used are widespread.

  As a recording apparatus adopting such an ink jet recording system, an ink recording head that performs recording by discharging ink onto a recording medium, and a processing liquid (fixing) for promoting ink fixing and improving image density and water resistance There has been proposed a full-line type ink jet recording apparatus provided with a fixing accelerating liquid head for discharging an accelerating liquid) (see Patent Document 1).

Also proposed is a serial ink jet recording device (printing device) that improves the printing quality by using colorless and transparent clear ink ink cartridges to improve the gloss and color development of printing along with multiple color ink cartridges. (See Patent Document 2). The settings related to the area where clear ink is recorded include “off” that does not use clear ink, “on (front)” that discharges clear ink to the front of the recordable area, and clear to the image data area. “On (automatic)” can be set to discharge ink in a superimposed manner.
JP 2004-106359 A JP 2005-119279 A

  In the above-described conventional technique, the clear ink is ejected to a partial area, and the clear ink is ejected on the spot where the black or color ink is ejected. The ejection area is fixed depending on the ink ejection position. As a result, it was impossible to eject clear ink in a range desired by the user.

  In addition, the ink jet recording head is usually subjected to so-called capping in which the ink ejection surface of the recording head is covered with a cap in order to prevent the ink ejection nozzles from drying. Such capping can be performed in common for a plurality of heads or individually. In the configuration where the recording is performed individually, capping can be performed individually for each recording head, but there is a disadvantage that the apparatus cost increases and the control becomes complicated. On the other hand, in the configuration in which capping is performed in common for a plurality of heads, the apparatus cost is reduced and the control is simplified. In this case, in a recording system that performs recording on a single recording medium using a plurality of recording apparatuses, there is a problem that the capping state of all the recording heads must be released only for the discharge of the fixing accelerating liquid.

  The present invention has been made in such a background, and an object thereof is a recording system capable of performing partial ejection with higher flexibility when a processing agent for improving recording properties is ejected onto a recording medium. Is to provide.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording system that performs recording on a single recording medium using a plurality of recording apparatuses, and when there is no recording data even when a processing agent is discharged onto the recording medium, the recording head is capped. An object is to provide a recording system capable of maintaining the state.

  The recording system according to the present invention includes a processing agent discharging means for discharging a processing agent onto a recording medium, and the processing agent is discharged to a partial area determined by a recorded image in a recordable area of the recording medium. It is characterized by comprising control means for forming a portion where the ink is discharged and a portion where the ink is not discharged, and a variable setting means for the user to variably set the size of the partial area.

  For example, the variable setting means can determine an enlarged area in which the area is enlarged by an amount designated by the user around the area determined by the dot group to be recorded. The enlargement of the area may be either a form commonly applied to both the recording width direction and the recording length direction, or a form separately applied to the recording width direction and the recording length direction.

  The control means includes: a first operation mode in which the processing agent is discharged over the entire recordable area; a second operation mode in which the processing agent is discharged over a part of the recordable area; and the recordable area. A third operation mode in which the treatment agent is not discharged. Thereby, the user can select a more appropriate discharge mode according to the property of the recording medium and the use of the recorded matter.

  A recording system according to the present invention is a recording system that performs recording on a single recording medium using a plurality of recording devices, and a plurality of recording devices that share printing of different width portions of the recording medium, and the plurality of recording devices The apparatus is provided with one recording apparatus for discharging a processing agent that is disposed upstream or downstream in the conveyance direction of the recording medium with respect to the apparatus and that discharges the processing agent onto the recording medium.

  By using a combination of a plurality of independent recording devices, a recording system corresponding to the desired recording width of the recording medium can be constructed, and the recording device for discharging the processing agent is independent of other recording devices, thereby recording an image. It is possible to independently control the recording apparatus for recording and the recording apparatus for discharging the processing agent.

  For example, when each of the plurality of recording devices includes an independent inkjet recording head and a capping unit that performs capping of each inkjet recording head, each recording device has its own recording device even after printing of print data is started. When there is no print data in charge, the capping unit can be controlled to be in a capping state.

  According to the recording system of the present invention, when the processing agent is discharged onto the recording medium, the enlargement range in which the processing agent is discharged also around the image is made variable according to the user's request, thereby providing high flexibility. Partial discharge can be performed.

  According to another recording system of the present invention, in a recording system that performs recording on a single recording medium using a plurality of recording devices, when there is no recording data even when a processing agent is ejected, the recording device unit. A capping state can be maintained. Accordingly, it is possible to maintain the performance of each recording apparatus while suppressing wasteful ink consumption such as preliminary ejection.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording system according to the present embodiment. This recording system includes a plurality (six in this case) of color recording apparatuses 202 to 207 that perform color image recording, and one recording apparatus that discharges a predetermined processing agent that is shared by these recording apparatuses. 201 and a medium conveying device (not shown in FIG. 1) for conveying the recording medium P to the recording devices 202 to 207. The intended use (effect) of this predetermined processing agent is to improve printing glossiness, color development, water resistance, weather resistance, light resistance, fixability, etc., prevent ink bleeding, etc. (collectively these are called recording properties) In this embodiment, it is a transparent liquid. A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 100 as an external device is connected to the PRESTO recording apparatus 201 and the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207 via individual communication interfaces 201a to 207a, respectively. As the communication interface, a network cable, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable, a wireless LAN, or the like can be employed. The PC 100 divides the image data to be recorded and sends it to the color recording devices 202 to 207 as recording data, and also sends processing agent recording data to the pre-printing recording device 201.

  The recording medium P is transported in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 by the medium transporting device, and the recording devices 202 to 207 are arranged so as to be aligned in the width direction of the recording medium P, and different areas in the width direction of the recording medium P ( (Width part) is divided and recorded. That is, the recording apparatuses 202 to 207 constitute a recording system that jointly forms one image. When arranging in the width direction of the recording media P, it is not always necessary to arrange them in a straight line, and they may be arranged in a staggered manner so that several dots at the ends of adjacent recording heads overlap each other. By determining in advance which nozzles at the end are effective, it is possible to control so that no blank is generated in the image at the boundary between adjacent recording heads.

  Each of the recording apparatuses 202 to 207 in the present embodiment constitutes a printer unit (“recording apparatus”) that is an independent engine, and includes an ink jet recording head in which nozzle rows extend in the width direction of the recording medium P. The ink as the recording material is ejected from the ink jet recording head based on the image data received from the PC 100. In this example, four ink jet recording heads for discharging yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) inks are provided to record a full color image.

  By using a plurality of independent recording apparatuses in this way, the recording width of one recording apparatus is set as a unit recording width (for example, 4 inches), and the number of recording apparatuses to be used is changed to cope with various paper widths. A recording system can be configured. In addition, when a failure or malfunction of an individual recording apparatus occurs, only the recording apparatus can be replaced. Therefore, the maintenance cost is relatively reduced even if the entire system becomes large. Such a recording system is suitable for business use.

  In addition, one pre-printing apparatus 201 corresponds to the entire width of the recording medium P, and discharges the processing agent to the recording medium P before the recording apparatuses 202 to 207 perform recording. In this example, the pre-recording apparatus 201 includes six ink jet recording heads having the same configuration as the ink jet recording heads in each recording apparatus in order to discharge the processing agent corresponding to all of the recording apparatuses 202 to 207. Thereby, also in the pre-recording apparatus 201, the size in the width direction can be changed according to the number of recording apparatuses used. Of course, instead of this, one recording head having the maximum width that can be used as the recording head of the pre-recording apparatus 201 may be used.

  FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration example of the PC 100 shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the PC 100 executes an application (program) for generating image data, a recording control program (printer driver), and the like under the control of the operating system. In this example, “Windows (registered trademark)” is used as the operating system. Specifically, the PC 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 102 that constitutes a control unit that performs various controls of the PC 100, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is a memory that provides a work area and a temporary storage area for the CPU 102. 103 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 104 which is a non-volatile memory for storing a boot program initially executed by the CPU 102 are connected to each other via a system bus 109. A display 110 that is a display device is connected to a system bus 109 via a video interface 108. A mouse 111 as a kind of pointing device is connected to the system bus 109 via a mouse interface 105. A hard disk device 113, which is a large-capacity external storage device storing an operating system and various programs, is connected to the system bus 109 via a hard disk interface 107. The system bus 109 is connected to the recording devices 201 to 207 via the printer interface 101. This printer interface 101 corresponds to the communication interfaces 201a to 207a shown in FIG.

  When controlling the printing system in the PC 100, a program stored in the hard disk device 113 is loaded into the RAM 103 and executed by the CPU 102.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a recording apparatus 202 as a recording apparatus that is a part of the recording system 200 of FIG. Further, the PC 100 and the medium transport device 218 are shown together. The configuration of the other recording devices 203 to 207 is the same as that of the recording device 202.

  The CPU 210 constitutes a control unit that controls the overall operation of the recording apparatus 202, and via a bus, a memory controller 212, an interface controller 213, a program ROM 214, a work RAM 215, an EEPROM 216, a recording head control circuit 219, and an I / O port 221. Connected with.

  The memory controller 212 is connected to the VRAM 211 that is a memory for storing recording data, writes the recording data to the VRAM 211 under the control of the CPU 210, and reads out from the VRAM 211 in synchronization with the output signal from the synchronization circuit 217. I do. The synchronization circuit 217 has a function of generating a signal to the memory controller 212 in synchronization with the recording medium conveyance state in the medium conveyance device 218. The medium conveying device 218 is configured to share the one corresponding to the maximum width of the recording medium with all the recording devices, or to operate the conveying devices of the individual recording devices in conjunction with each other.

  The interface controller 213 is a part that performs data communication with a PC via a communication interface (an example of USB in the figure) under the control of the CPU 210.

  The program ROM 214 is a non-volatile memory that stores a computer program for realizing the operation of the recording device 202. The work RAM 215 is a readable / writable memory that provides a work area used by the CPU 210 and a temporary storage area for data. The EEPRPM 216 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and is used to record user setting data in a nonvolatile manner, for example.

  The recording head control circuit 219 receives the recording data from the memory controller 212 under the control of the CPU 210 and transfers the corresponding recording data to the recording heads 220 for each color of KCMY.

  The I / O port 221 gives a control signal to the motor driving unit 222 under the control of the CPU 210 to control an external output device such as the capping motor 223 or the pump motor 224. The capping motor 223 is a power source that drives a capping mechanism (capping means) 225 that caps the recording head 220 to prevent ink drying when not in use. It is assumed that capping in this embodiment is performed for every recording head of each recording apparatus. The pump motor 224 is a power source for driving a pump 226 that applies pressure to the ink in the recording head to perform a recovery operation of the recording head.

  With reference to FIG. 4, a prescription method that is a discharge method in the preprint recording apparatus 201 in the present embodiment will be described. Here, three operation modes selectable by the user as shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C are shown.

  FIG. 4A shows an operation mode (partial writing) in which the figure recording apparatus 201 forms figures 311 and 313 on the figure 310 and 312 formed on the recording medium P by the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207 and the periphery thereof. Method). That is, the figures 311 and 313 include the figures 310 and 312, respectively. As will be described later, the user can set how much the original figure protrudes from the periphery. Although the portion where the processing agent is discharged is shown in gray for convenience, it is actually transparent and invisible.

  FIG. 4B shows an operation mode in which the pretreatment recording apparatus 201 ejects the processing agent to the entire recordable area 323 regardless of the figures formed by the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207 (full ejection method). Is shown.

  FIG. 4C shows an operation mode (empty job method) in which the pretreatment recording apparatus 201 does not discharge the processing agent regardless of the figures formed by the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a recording data generation method of the processing agent recording apparatus when the partial prescription method of FIG. 4A is selected will be described.

  A case where red graphic data 505 and black graphic data 514 are recorded on the recording medium P is taken as an example. In the case of an ink jet recording apparatus, input data is RGB data. However, for the recording operation of the recording apparatus, RGB data must be converted into CMYK and converted into binary data for each color using error diffusion processing or the like. In the present embodiment, recording is performed using inks of four colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, so the data is cyan data 501, magenta data 502, yellow data 503, and black data 504. Break down into value data. After binarizing the data for each color, data for the processing agent is generated. Since the processing agent must perform ejection corresponding to the nozzle portion that ejects one of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, the OR (logical sum) of binary data of each color is taken, and cyan, Data 520 and 522 are generated for a location where at least one of magenta, yellow, and black is recorded. Since the processing agent is colorless and it is difficult to perform registration adjustment, as shown in the enlarged data 507, after binary data of each color is ORed, the areas 551 and 523 larger than the actual recording area are discharged. In addition, the discharge portion (recording data) is thickened.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the ejection method selection screen of the pre-printing apparatus 201 in the present embodiment. This screen is opened on the PC 100 by a predetermined operation (for example, selection from a menu) by the user. When the partial prescription 601 is selected, recording data for recording in the operation mode shown in FIG. 4A is generated. Radio buttons 601, 602, and 603 that provide operation mode options are presented, and the user selects one of them. When “partial pre-rendering” is selected, the user can specify “enlarged dot number” 604. It is possible to set how many dots the processing agent is enlarged with respect to the original dots to perform ejection. However, the range of the number of dots may be limited to allow input. Alternatively, the user may be allowed to select and select the number of dots that can be selected using a pull-down menu or the like. In the present embodiment, an example in which the expansion range of the processing agent is set by the number of dots is shown, but it may be set in other units such as mm and inch.

  When the “all discharge” radio button 602 is selected, recording data for recording in the operation mode shown in FIG. 4B is generated. If “not used” 603 is selected, print data is generated in the operation mode shown in FIG.

  Next, a method of fattening the ejection portion (recording data) in the partial pre-writing will be described using FIG. This figure shows bitmap data for a plurality of lines as a result of ORing binary data of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. In this example, consider the case where 1-dot recording data 701 has been generated for the sake of simplicity. If the number of enlargement dots specified on the screen of FIG. 6 is 3, the upper 3 dots (702), the lower 3 dots (705), the right 3 dots (703), and the left 3 In order to widen the recording data for the dots (704), the generated discharge area of the processing agent is the recording area 708. Such processing is performed for all dots of the recording data.

  FIG. 8 shows a flow of processing for generating recording data executed in the PC 100. This process is realized by the CPU 102 of the PC 100 reading and executing a program in the ROM 104 or the hard disk device 113.

  When the generation of recording data is started in response to a user instruction, the PC 100 acquires RGB data to be recorded (S801), and converts the data from RGB to CMYK (S802). Next, the CMYK data is converted into binary data (S803). This binary data is data recorded by the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207. Next, when “partial pre-printing” is designated (S804, Yes), in order to generate data to be recorded by the pre-printing recording apparatus 201, the data of each color is ORed to generate all data. A discharge portion is extracted (S805). Next, enlargement processing for enlarging the foreword data by the designated number of dots is performed (S806).

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the number of dots to be enlarged is commonly applied to both the recording width direction and the recording length direction has been described. However, the number of dots to be enlarged separately is designated for the recording width direction and the recording length direction. And may be applied.

  Here, an advantage of providing the preprint recording apparatus 201 as shown in FIG. 1 as a single independent apparatus separate from the color recording apparatuses 202 to 207 will be described.

  As described above, the ink jet recording head of each color recording apparatus can prevent the ink from being dried by exposing the ink discharge nozzle to the atmosphere by performing capping. By enabling the recording head to be capped independently for each color recording apparatus, even after the recording operation of the recording system 200 is started, there is no color recording for which there is no recording data in charge depending on the image to be recorded. There may also be a device. For such a color recording apparatus, wasteful ink drying can be prevented by maintaining the capping state even during the recording operation of other color recording apparatuses. However, in the configuration in which the pre-recording head is installed in each color recording apparatus, when performing “full discharge” pre-recording, it is necessary to cancel the capping state even in a recording apparatus that is not in charge of image recording. Even in the case of partial pre-writing, it is necessary to cancel the capping state when only the enlarged range portion covers the shared portion of the recording apparatus. In the configuration of the recording system shown in FIG. 1, such a problem is solved because the pre-recording head is a recording apparatus that is separate from the color recording apparatus.

  In the pre-printing, ink is discharged for recording the superimposed image after discharging the processing agent. In this case, it is preferable to discharge ink after the treatment agent is dried as much as possible. In the configuration of FIG. 1, the preprint recording head can be arranged as a preprint recording device as a separate recording device from the color recording device, and can be disposed upstream of the color recording device. Therefore, the preprint recording head is provided in each color recording device. Compared to the configuration, there is an advantage that an extra drying time of the treatment agent can be secured.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but various modifications and changes other than those mentioned above can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the pre-recording apparatus that performs processing before color recording has been described, but the same applies to a so-called post-recording apparatus that is disposed downstream of the color recording apparatus and performs processing after color recording. Processing can be performed. In addition, although the number of recording heads used in one recording apparatus is four, it may be smaller or larger. A plurality of recording devices are not essential for the partial pre-characteristic described above, and a single recording device may be used.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording system in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a PC illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the recording device which is a part of recording system shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the different discharge methods (a) (b) (c) in the pre-printing apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the recording data production | generation method of a processing agent recording device when the partial prescription method of Fig.4 (a) is selected. It is a figure which shows an example of the selection screen of the discharge system of the pre-printing apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the method of fattening the recording data in the partial prescription of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which produces | generates the recording data performed in PC of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Printer interface 105 ... Mouse interface 106 ... Keyboard interface 107 ... Hard disk interface 108 ... Video interface 109 ... System bus 110 ... Display 111 ... Mouse 112 ... Keyboard 113 ... Hard disk device 200 ... Recording system 201 ... Prelude recording device 202-207 ... Color recording devices 201a to 207a ... Communication interfaces 202 to 207 ... Color recording devices 211, 213 ... Graphic 212 ... Memory controller 213 ... Interface controller 214 ... Program ROM
215 ... Work RAM
217 ... Synchronization circuit 218 ... Medium transport device 219 ... Recording head control circuit 220 ... Recording head 221 ... I / O port 222 ... Motor drive unit 223 ... Capping motor 224 ... Pump motor 225 ... Capping mechanism 226 ... Pumps 310, 312 ... Graphic 507 ... Enlarged data 520, 522 ... Data 523 Area larger than actual recording area 551 ... Area larger than actual recording area 601, 602, 603 ... Radio button 701 ... Recording data 708 ... Recording area P ... Recording medium

Claims (7)

A processing agent discharging means for discharging the processing agent onto the recording medium;
Control means for discharging the processing agent to a partial area determined by a recording image in a recordable area of the recording medium, and forming a portion where the processing agent is discharged and a portion where the processing agent is not discharged;
A recording system comprising: a variable setting unit that allows a user to variably set the size of the partial area.   2. The recording according to claim 1, wherein the variable setting means determines an enlarged area in which the area is enlarged by an amount designated by the user around the area determined by the dot group to be recorded. system.   3. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the enlargement of the area is commonly applied to both the recording width direction and the recording length direction.   3. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the enlargement of the area is applied separately in a recording width direction and a recording length direction.   The control means includes: a first operation mode in which the processing agent is discharged over the entire recordable area; a second operation mode in which the processing agent is discharged over a part of the recordable area; and the recordable area. The recording system according to claim 1, further comprising a third operation mode in which the processing agent is not discharged. A recording system for recording on a single recording medium using a plurality of recording devices,
A plurality of recording devices that share printing of different width portions of the recording medium;
One recording apparatus for discharging a processing agent that is disposed upstream or downstream in the conveyance direction of the recording medium with respect to the plurality of recording apparatuses and that discharges the processing agent onto the recording medium. system.   Each of the plurality of recording devices includes an independent ink jet recording head and capping means for capping each ink jet recording head, and each recording device is responsible for printing even after printing of print data is started. 7. The recording system according to claim 6, wherein when there is no data, the capping unit is put into a capping state.

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