JP2007296663A - Inkjet printer and control method of inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet printer which refrains from unnecessary ink suction processing in recovery processing from an error state, and to provide a control method of the inkjet printer. <P>SOLUTION: A combination processor 1 has a printing means which performs printing to a check S by making the ink ejected, a cap which caps a printing head 19 that ejects the ink, a capping state storage part 60 which stores a capping state of the cap, an ink suction means which sucks the ink from the printing head 19, and a main control part 63 which controls the ink suction means to suck the ink if the capping state is a state yet to be capped, and not to suck the ink if the capping state is a state already capped when the error is recovered. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet printer having a cleaning mechanism and a control method thereof.

  Ink jet printers that perform printing by ejecting ink from the nozzles of the print head require a print head cleaning process in order to maintain good print quality. In the cleaning process, the ink attached to the surface of the head is wiped off with a rubber wiper in addition to the ink suction process in which ink is sucked from the nozzle after capping the print head mainly for the purpose of discharging thickened ink and bubbles in the ink path. A rubbing process for wiping off ink adhering to the head surface using a wiping process or a sponge is performed.

  When the ink suction process is executed, it is necessary to cover the print head with a cap member in order to suck the ink by generating a negative pressure by the pump mechanism. Patent Document 1 describes an ink cartridge including a cap member that covers a discharge port surface of a recording head. Each time the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one, the cap member is also replaced with a new one, so that stable ink suction from the ejection port of the recording head can always be executed.

  The ink suction process in the ink jet printer is an indispensable operation, but it is not preferable because the ink is wasted if it is performed unnecessarily. Therefore, in Patent Document 2, when the ink jet printer is started up and the ink jet printer mechanism is initialized, if the ink suction of the print head is unnecessary, the ink suction process is not performed and the ink consumption is relatively small. An ink jet printer configured to perform flushing is described. By configuring in this way, wasteful ink suction is not executed, so that it is possible to suppress ink consumption.

  By the way, in general, the ink jet printer is set to cap the print head by retracting the carriage to the home position (standby position) in order to prevent drying of the nozzles of the print head when the power is turned off. In the ink jet printer described in Patent Document 2, when it is confirmed by a flag when the power is turned on that the print head is capped when the power is turned off, the ink suction process is not performed and the flushing is performed.

JP 08-39827 A JP 2006-62265 A

  However, the print head is normally capped when the power is turned off. However, when an error state such as a paper jam error or a roll paper cover open error occurs, the error recovery process (with the print head not capped) ( May be executed). For this reason, in order to guarantee the print quality, the error recovery process is always started after the ink suction process is executed.

  For example, when a reading process that does not involve a printing process is executed in a composite processing apparatus that includes an image reading processing apparatus in addition to the printing mechanism, the printing head is capped because no printing process is performed. However, if a paper jam error or the like occurs during the reading process, the print head is capped and ink suction is not necessary, but wasteful ink suction is performed in the error recovery process. For this reason, it is required to omit unnecessary ink suction processing executed in the error recovery processing.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer and an inkjet printer control method in which unnecessary ink suction processing is not performed in the recovery processing from an error state in consideration of the above problems.

The present invention is achieved by the following configurations.
(1) printing means for printing on a printing medium by discharging ink;
Capping means for capping the print head for discharging the ink;
Cap state storage means for storing a cap state of the cap means;
Ink suction means for sucking the ink from the print head;
A control unit that controls the ink suction unit so that the ink is sucked if the cap state is an uncapped state and the ink is not sucked if the cap state is a capped state upon error recovery. Inkjet printer characterized by.
(2) When an error occurs, the control unit controls the cap unit to cap the print head if the cap state is an uncapped state, and stores the capped state so as to store the capped state. The inkjet printer according to (1), wherein the inkjet printer is controlled.
(3) The ink jet printer according to (2), wherein when an error occurs, the control unit places the cap at an initial position if the cap state is an uncapped state.
(4) The ink-jet printer according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the cap state storage unit stores the cap state in a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit.
(5) A control method for an ink jet printer that covers a print head including a nozzle from which ink is ejected with a cap and sucks ink from the nozzle,
A method of controlling an ink jet printer, comprising: at the time of error recovery, sucking the ink if the cap state is an uncapped state, and not sucking the ink if the cap state is a capped state.
(6) The method for controlling an ink jet printer according to (5), wherein when an error occurs, the print head is capped if the cap state is an uncapped state, and the capped state is stored.
(7) The ink jet printer control method according to (6), wherein the cap is disposed at an initial position before the print head is capped.

  According to the ink jet printer and the ink jet printer control method of the present invention, at the time of error recovery, if the cap state is a capped state, the ink is not sucked. Therefore, in the return processing from the error state, it is possible to eliminate waste of ink consumption and ink suction time due to unnecessary ink suction. In addition, if the present invention is applied to a composite processing apparatus including a printing apparatus and an image reading processing apparatus, even if a paper jam error or the like occurs during the reading process that does not involve the printing process, Unnecessary ink suction is not performed, and waste of ink consumption and ink suction time can be saved.

  In addition, according to the inkjet printer and the inkjet printer control method of the present invention, when an error occurs, the print head is capped if the cap state is an uncapped state. In addition, when the error is recovered, the ink is sucked if the cap state is an uncapped state. Therefore, in principle, when an error occurs, the print head is capped. However, even if some reason occurs and the capping is not performed, the capping state is determined again when the error is restored. Can be aspirated. For this reason, the ink suction necessary to maintain the ink ejection state of the nozzles is performed reliably.

  Further, according to the ink jet printer and the ink jet printer control method of the present invention, when an error occurs, if the cap state is an uncapped state, the cap is arranged at the initial position before the print head is capped. ing. Therefore, for example, even when the cap is being attached / detached when an error occurs and the cap is not positioned at the initial position, the cap is always moved to the initial position, so that the print head is reliably capped. It is possible.

  Further, according to the inkjet printer and the inkjet printer control method of the present invention, the cap state is stored in the rewritable non-volatile storage unit. Therefore, in the error recovery process, when the power is turned off once and then the power is turned on. However, it is possible to securely hold the cap state.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of an inkjet printer and an inkjet printer control method according to the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a composite processing apparatus that operates in response to an instruction from a host computer that is communicably connected to the host computer as an inkjet printer is taken as an example, and a composite process configured by the host computer and the composite processing apparatus. The structure and control operation of the system will be specifically described.

(About the configuration of the compound processing equipment)
The mechanical structure of the composite processing apparatus in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the composite processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a top view showing mechanical components provided facing the conveyance path of the composite processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the composite processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a check S loaded in an ASF (Auto Sheet Feeder) 3 that is a paper feeding unit formed in a housing 1 a. While being conveyed along the paper conveyance path P1, it is configured to be able to read a double-sided image on the check S, read a magnetic ink character on the check S, and print on the check S. Further, the composite processing apparatus 1 can read the front side image on the card C while transporting the card C inserted from the card insertion slot 20 along the paper transport path P2 formed in the housing 1a. It is configured.

  In addition, the composite processing apparatus 1 is provided with a roll paper storage unit 30a that stores roll paper at a lower portion of a roll paper cover 30 provided in a central portion surrounded by the paper transport path P1 in the housing 1a. Printing on the roll paper stored in the roll paper storage unit 30a is executed by spraying ink ejected from the nozzles of the print head 19 mounted on the carriage 14 as the carriage 14 moves in the transport direction. . The printed roll paper is discharged from the roll paper discharge port to the outside of the combined processing apparatus 1.

  Furthermore, the composite processing apparatus 1 is configured to be able to insert a validation paper from a validation insertion port (not shown), and is configured to be able to execute printing on the validation paper.

  That is, the composite processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is a composite multi-function printer that has an image reading function and a magnetic ink character reading function and can print on the check S, roll paper, and validation paper.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the paper transport path P1 and the paper transport path P2 are common at a portion corresponding to the U-shaped bottom portion of the paper transport path P1. In the following description, this common part is referred to as an intermediate conveyance path. Various reading devices are provided in the sheet conveyance path P1 and the intermediate conveyance path. An ASF 3 capable of loading a plurality of checks S is provided on the upstream side of the paper transport path P1. The check S is inserted into the paper transport path P1 through the ASF 3 from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, and the plurality of checks S loaded on the ASF 3 are separated one by one and sent out into the paper transport path P1.

  In the intermediate conveyance path, a back image reading device 11 that reads a back image such as a check S and a front image reading device 12 that reads a front image are installed on both sides of the intermediate conveyance path in a state shifted in the conveyance direction. . Each of the back image reading device 11 and the front image reading device 12 of the check S is a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) type scanner.

  A magnetic ink character reader (hereinafter referred to as MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Reader)) 13 for reading magnetic ink characters is installed below the drive roller 17. The MICR 13 is a sensor for reading magnetic ink characters printed on the surface of the check S. The MICR 13 performs reading in a state in which the check S is pressed against the surface of the MICR 13 by a pressing lever arranged to face the MICR 13 via the intermediate conveyance path. In this embodiment, it is configured to read the magnetic ink character recording area of the check S on which information such as an account number is printed with magnetic ink characters.

  A carriage 14 is disposed between the conveyance roller 7 and the discharge roller 8 in a linear region along the paper conveyance path P1 so as to be movable along a straight line portion of the paper conveyance path P1. The carriage 14 is provided with a print head 19 having a plurality of ink nozzles for ejecting ink, and by ejecting ink from the plurality of ink nozzles of the print head 19 in accordance with an instruction from the host computer 110 described later. The endorsement printing on the check S, the printing on the validation paper, or the printing on the roll paper is executed. The print head 19 is connected to an ink cartridge via an ink supply path (not shown). When the ink in the ink cartridge runs out, it can be replaced with a new ink cartridge.

  The paper transport path P1 includes four paper detectors: an ASF detector (paper feed detector) 9, a TOF (Top Of Form) detector 10, a validation detector 26, and a discharge detector 28. Is provided. These detectors 9, 10, 26, and 28 are optical paper detectors, for example, and are configured to detect the presence or absence of paper on the front surface of each detector.

(About print head capping when an error occurs)
The composite processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment causes the print head 19 to be moved when an error such as a check S discharge error, an ASF home position detection error, a roll paper cover open error during printing, a mechanically operable non-recoverable error, or the like occurs. It is set to be capped by a cap means (not shown). When the composite processing apparatus 1 recovers from an error, it is determined whether or not to perform ink suction depending on the cap state of the print head 19, and wasteful ink suction is not performed.

  Hereinafter, how the composite processing apparatus 1 determines whether or not to perform ink suction so as not to perform useless ink suction in the return processing from the error state will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing internal processing of the composite processing apparatus 1. In this embodiment, the ink suction process is a process executed for the purpose of cleaning the print head 19 and generates a negative pressure by suction means such as a pump (not shown) after the print head 19 is capped. This is a process for sucking ink from the nozzles.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the composite processing apparatus 1, a receiving unit 51 that receives various commands and print data transmitted from the host computer 110, and various commands and print data received by the receiving unit 51 are temporarily stored. A reception buffer 52 is provided. The data received by the reception buffer 52 is analyzed by the command analysis unit 53. In the case of a control command, the data is transferred to the control command buffer 54 by DMA transfer or the like. The control command data temporarily stored in the control command buffer 54 is read out by the main control unit 63, and processing according to the control command such as reading of the magnetic ink characters of the check S, reading of the image, and back side printing processing is executed. The On the other hand, in the case of print data, data expansion processing is performed and data conversion is performed. Finally, dot pattern data corresponding to the nozzle row of the print head 19 is generated and temporarily stored in the print buffer 55.

  The print control unit 58 drives a printing mechanism such as the print head 19 and the carriage 14 based on the dot pattern data stored in the print buffer 55. By forming an image on the check S, the check S Execute back side printing. When a cleaning instruction is received via a cleaning control unit 59 described later, the carriage 14 is retracted to the standby position X or a small amount of ink is ejected from the print head 19 (flushing).

  The reading control unit 56 controls image reading processing by the image reading devices 11 and 12 and magnetic ink character reading processing by the MICR 13.

  The cleaning mechanism 57 includes an unillustrated cap member that covers the nozzles of the print head 19 and an ink suction mechanism such as a pump that applies negative pressure to the capped print head to suck ink from the nozzles.

  The cleaning control unit 59 controls the cleaning operation according to the cleaning instruction. For example, when a cleaning instruction is received, the print controller 58 is instructed to retract the carriage 14 to the standby position X, or the print head 19 is covered with a cap member at the standby position, and the ink suction mechanism is driven to drive the print head 19. Ink is sucked from the nozzle.

  The cap state storage unit 60 is a flag holding area set in a non-illustrated nonvolatile flash ROM. When the cleaning control unit 59 drives the cleaning mechanism and caps the print head 19 with the cap member, the cap state storage unit 60 Set the flag to “capped”. Specifically, when a system initialization, a capping operation when the power is turned off, a capping operation when an error condition occurs, the cap state flag is set to “capped”.

  The detector control unit 61 controls the operation of the four sheet detectors of the ASF detector 9, the TOF detector 10, the validation detector 26, and the discharge detector 28. In the present embodiment, for example, when a discharge error of the check S is detected by the discharge detector 28 or a paper feed error of the check S is detected by the ASF detector 9, the main control unit 63 prints on the cleaning control unit 59. Instructs the head 19 to cap.

  Next, a print head capping process and an error recovery process when an error occurs will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the print head capping process when an error occurs. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining error recovery processing. Here, a paper jam of the check S is cited as an error factor to be generated, and a case where a discharge error of the check S is detected by the discharge detector 28 will be described.

  First, when the main control unit 63 detects a discharge detection error of the check S via the detector control unit 61, the main control unit 63 reads the cap state flag in the cap state storage unit 60, and the print head 19 is capped by the cap member when an error occurs. It is determined whether or not it is performed (step S11). If the cap state flag is set to “capped”, the capped state is held as it is (step S11: Yes, step S15).

  On the other hand, if the cap state flag is not set to “capped” when an error occurs, the main control unit 63 initializes the cap position via the cleaning control unit 59 (step S11: No, step S12). . This is because if the cap is being attached / detached when an error occurs, the accurate standby position X of the carriage 14 cannot be detected unless the cap is aligned with the initial position. Thereby, even when an error occurs, the cleaning control unit 59 can detect the standby position X of the carriage 14 and can retract the carriage 14 via the print control unit 58 (step S13). When the carriage 14 is retracted to the standby position, the cleaning control unit 59 caps the print head 19 with the cap member and sets the cap state flag to “capped” (steps S14 and S15).

  Next, when the check S in which a discharge error has occurred is taken out and an error release instruction is given to the composite processing apparatus 1, error recovery processing is started. The main control unit 63 reads the cap state flag and confirms the cap state (step S21). If the cap state flag is set to “capped”, the process according to the instruction is subsequently executed, and the error recovery process is terminated (step S22: Yes). On the other hand, if the cap state flag is not set to “capped”, the cleaning control unit 59 drives the cleaning mechanism to recover the ink ejection state and performs ink suction (step S22: No, step S23). ).

  Thus, in this embodiment, when an error occurs, the cap state flag is held as “capped” if the print head 19 is capped, and the cap is capped if the print head 19 is not capped. By setting the cap state flag to “capped” after that, the print head 19 is capped, and the error ends in the “capped” state. Therefore, when executing the error recovery process, since the cap state flag is normally “capped”, the ink suction is not executed, so that the ink is not executed unnecessary. It is possible to reduce consumption.

  On the other hand, when the cap state flag is not in the “capped” state in the error recovery process, it is considered that some problem has occurred in the cap process when an error occurs. That is, a case where a carriage standby position detection error has occurred in step S13 can be considered. In this case, since step S15 is not executed and the print head 19 is not capped, the ink suction state is executed to maintain a good ink discharge state and maintain the print quality. Is possible.

  Further, when printing is performed while the carriage 14 is moved, when a paper jam occurs and the carriage 14 hits the jammed check S and causes a step-out (carriage step-out error), the jammed check S is removed. The carriage 14 cannot be retracted to the standby position X unless it is removed. That is, since the carriage 14 is not retracted to the standby position X in step S13, steps S14 and S15 are not executed, and the print head 19 is not capped. Therefore, in such a case, since the cap state flag is not in the “capped” state at the time of error recovery, ink suction is executed in step S23. As described above, in the present embodiment, the ink suction that is indispensable for maintaining the ink ejection state of the nozzles is performed reliably.

  Further, in the composite processing apparatus 1 including the image reading processing apparatuses 11 and 12 and the MICR 13 as in the present embodiment, only the check S image and / or magnetic ink character reading process is executed, and the back side printing is not performed. Cases are also envisaged. In this case, even if a paper jam error or the like occurs during the reading process, the print head 19 should be capped. That is, it is determined in step S11 that capping has been completed, and in step S15, the cap state flag is held at “capped”. Therefore, unnecessary ink suction is not performed in the error recovery process (step S22: Yes), and the ink consumption and ink suction are compared with the case where the ink suction is always performed in the error recovery process as in the prior art. It is possible to save time.

It is a perspective view which shows the compound processing apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a sheet conveyance path in the combined processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is the control block diagram which showed the internal process of the compound processing apparatus of this embodiment. 6 is a flowchart for explaining print head capping processing when an error occurs. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an error recovery process.

Explanation of symbols

1: composite processing device, 11, 12: image reading device, 13: MICR, 14: carriage, 19: print head, 55: print buffer, 56: read control unit, 57: cleaning mechanism, 58: print control unit, 60 : Cap state storage unit, 61: detector control unit, 110: host computer, S: check, P1, P2: paper transport path

Claims (7)

Printing means for discharging ink to print on a print medium;
Capping means for capping the print head for discharging the ink;
Cap state storage means for storing a cap state of the cap means;
Ink suction means for sucking the ink from the print head;
A control unit that controls the ink suction unit so that the ink is sucked if the cap state is an uncapped state and the ink is not sucked if the cap state is a capped state upon error recovery. Inkjet printer characterized by.   When an error occurs, the control unit controls the cap unit to cap the print head if the cap state is an uncapped state, and controls the cap state storage unit to store the capped state. The inkjet printer according to claim 1.   3. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, wherein when an error occurs, the controller places the cap in an initial position if the cap state is an uncapped state.   The ink-jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the cap state storage unit stores the cap state in a rewritable nonvolatile storage unit. A control method of an ink jet printer that covers a print head including a nozzle from which ink is ejected with a cap and sucks ink from the nozzle,
A method of controlling an ink jet printer, comprising: at the time of error recovery, sucking the ink if the cap state is an uncapped state, and not sucking the ink if the cap state is a capped state.   6. The method of controlling an ink jet printer according to claim 5, wherein when an error occurs, if the cap state is an uncapped state, the print head is capped and the capped state is stored. The method according to claim 6, wherein the cap is disposed at an initial position before the print head is capped.

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