JP2009255383A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder which can prevent ink discharge into the holes to record an image on a recording medium with holes by using a recording head to discharge ink, even if the image recording data does not consider the presence of the holes. <P>SOLUTION: The printer forms an image onto a wrist band 100 as a recording medium to be relatively carried to a recording head to discharge ink, by discharging ink from the recording head according to recording data. In this processing, the printer acquires information on holes 111 to 117 provided on the recording medium, and corrects the recording data so that ink is net discharged into the holes of the recording medium from the information on the holes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that mounts a recording head capable of ejecting ink and records an image on a recording medium, and more particularly to recording data correction control of a recording medium having holes.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an inkjet recording apparatus is known as a recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink from a recording head according to recording data on a recording medium that is transported relative to a recording head capable of ejecting ink. It has been. Ink jet recording apparatuses can easily record full-color images by using a plurality of colors of ink.

  In order to improve the recording speed, a line-type ink jet recording apparatus using a so-called line head in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged along a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium is also known.

As one of the uses of an inkjet recording apparatus, a medical wristband creating apparatus that performs color recording on a wristband made of a nonwoven fabric, felt, or the like has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-058805 A

  In an ink jet recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink onto a recording medium having a hole (through hole) like the wristband described in Patent Document 1, when printing is performed on the hole portion In addition, there is a problem that the ink lands on the conveying belt through the hole, and the ink adheres to the recording medium and the recording medium becomes dirty. In particular, in the wristband for the above-described use, since the solid color printing is performed on the area including the hole, the ink discharge amount is not necessarily small even in the hole alone. This is especially true since there are a plurality of such holes.

  It is conceivable that the hole portion is blanked in consideration of the hole position of the recording medium at the stage of creating the image data in advance. However, depending on the conveyance accuracy, the blank position may deviate from the actual hole position. For recording media with different positions, it is troublesome because it is necessary to recreate image data for each recording medium.

  The present invention has been made in such a background, and an object of the present invention is to record data in which holes are not considered when an image is recorded on a recording medium having holes using a recording head capable of ejecting ink. Even so, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of preventing ink from being discharged into the hole.

  A recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink from a recording head according to recording data on a recording medium that is conveyed relative to a recording head capable of ejecting ink. Based on the hole information obtained by the hole information obtaining means for obtaining information on the holes provided in the recording medium and the hole information obtaining means, ink is not discharged into the holes of the recording medium. Recording data correction means for correcting the recording data is provided.

  Thus, if the hole information is known, the pixels in each hole can be specified. Thereby, the recording data portion corresponding to each hole can be corrected, and ink ejection into the hole can be suppressed. In addition, the recorded data other than the holes can be left as they are.

  As the hole information acquisition means, a reading device installed upstream of the recording head in the relative conveyance path of the recording medium is used. By reading, existing means in the recording device can be shared for the present invention.

  The hole information obtained by the hole information acquisition means is at least the position of the hole in the transport direction and the size of the hole in the transport direction. In particular, if the shape of the hole is known, it becomes easy to specify the pixels in each hole.

  The hole information acquisition means may use, as hole information, recording medium information transmitted from a host computer that outputs the recording data, instead of detecting each hole with a reading device.

  The recording data correction unit replaces the recording data with non-recording data for pixels in which ink is ejected into the holes. The timing may be when developing the recording data received from the host computer, or when transferring the recording data subjected to the image development to the recording head.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress ink discharge to the hole portion of the recording medium with a relatively simple configuration and prevent the device portion behind the recording medium from being soiled. Can be provided. Further, there is an effect of saving ink by not printing in the hole portion, and an effect of extending the life of the recording head by not performing wasteful ink discharge.

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

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration example of a medical wristband 100 serving as a recording medium in the recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. The wristband 100 is constituted by an elongated belt-like member 101 such as paper, nonwoven fabric, or felt. The belt-like member 101 has color bars 103 to 106 that clearly show information such as blood type and allergies in addition to text information 102 representing personal information such as a patient's name, date of birth, age, and blood type. It is recorded. In this example, the color bars 103 to 106 are solidly printed over the entire width of the belt-like member 101 with red, gray, yellow, and blue inks, respectively. In the figure, different colors are indicated by different hatching for convenience. A single hole 111 is provided on one end side of the belt-like member 101, and a plurality of holes 112 to 117 are provided on the other end side in the longitudinal direction. These holes are opened along the center line of the width of the belt-like member 101. The wristband 100 is wrapped around the patient's wrist, and one of the plurality of holes 112 to 117 is connected to the hole 111 by a clip or the like (not shown). In the illustrated example, there are holes 112 in the gray color bar 104, holes 113 in the yellow color bar 105, and holes 114 and 115 in the blue color bar 105. Therefore, when printing is performed by the inkjet image forming apparatus using the belt-like member 101 having these holes as a recording medium, if ink ejection pixels are present in the holes, the ink is transmitted from the holes to the back. This stains the back conveyor belt and causes the back side of the subsequent recording medium to be soiled.

  In the example of FIG. 1, the shapes of the holes 111 to 117 are all the same, but they are not necessarily the same. Further, the shape, position and number of holes are not necessarily the same as those shown in the figure.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main part of the wristband recording apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment together with the host computer 201 which is an external apparatus.

  The wristband recording apparatus 200 and the host computer 201 are connected via a printer cable such as a USB.

  The wristband recording apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is a recording head 202 (black), 203 (cyan), 204 (magenta), 205, which is a line head in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged over the entire width of the recording medium. (Yellow) is mounted, and a full color image can be formed. The recording apparatus 200 includes a recording medium detection sensor 207 for obtaining recording start timing information of each recording head. Here, the wristband 100 before printing is fed (feeded), the wristband 100 is transported by the transport belt 206, and each recording head is triggered by the detection of the leading end of the wristband 100 by the recording medium detection sensor 207. The recording start timing is determined and recording is sequentially performed on the wristband 100. The recording medium detection sensor 207 is also used as a “reading device” installed upstream of the recording heads 202 to 205 in the relative conveyance path of the recording medium in the present invention. That is, the recording medium detection sensor 207 is installed at the center in the width direction of the paper feeding unit, and can detect the state of the central part between the both sides of the wristband 100. The configuration of the recording medium detection sensor 207 is not particularly limited, but here, a sensor that detects the presence or absence of a wristband that is a recording medium from the difference in reflectance of the projected infrared rays is used. However, the detection method is not limited to this. Any sensor that can detect the difference between the surface of the belt-like member and the surface of the conveying belt behind is sufficient. By installing the “reading device” in the upstream portion of the conveyance path, the reading device can read the hole during conveyance for recording the recording medium. Therefore, a special processing time is not required for reading the hole, and the processing can be performed in the same processing time as the normal recording processing.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of control hardware of the recording apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment. The control unit 301 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 302, executes a control program stored in a nonvolatile memory (ROM) 303, and controls each peripheral device. The control unit 301 includes a work area for various data processing, a memory (RAM) 304 used as a reception buffer, an image memory 305 used as an image development unit, and the like. Further, the control unit 301 drives a head driving circuit 306 for driving the recording heads 202 to 205, and motors for driving various motors 307 for controlling the cleaning operation and the recording operation for keeping each recording head in an optimum state for recording. The driver 308 includes a sensor 309 for controlling various operations and detecting a recording medium, and further includes an image memory 305, a head driving circuit 306, a motor driver 308, a control circuit 311 for controlling various sensors 309, and the like. Yes.

  The recording apparatus 200 includes a USB controller 310 that basically receives image data, a cleaning command, and the like transmitted from the host computer 201 via a printer cable such as a USB, and operates according to the received various command instructions. To do. However, the interface is not limited to USB.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing for acquiring hole information of wristband 100 in the present embodiment. This process is realized by the CPU 302 reading and executing the program in the ROM 303. The same applies to the processing of other flowcharts to be described later.

  First, sensor monitoring processing (printing processing) is started by an instruction from the host computer 201 (S400). As a result, the conveyor belt starts operating. When the wristband 100 before printing, which is a recording medium, is inserted into the paper feeding unit, the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects the tip of the wristband 100 (S401). With this as a trigger, the location management counter starts (S402). The counter may be a software counter managed by the CPU 302, or may be a hardware counter provided separately. In any case, the clock count operation of this counter is synchronized with the recording cycle of each recording head in the transport direction. If the recording resolution in the transport direction is 600 dpi, the wristband 100 is transported by 0.0425 mm in one clock.

  In the present embodiment, the recording medium is also referred to as “paper” for convenience. As mentioned above, in practice, the wristband 100 material need not be paper.

  When the wristband 100 is conveyed and the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects a change from the “paper present” state to the “paper absent” state (S403, Yes), the value of the position management counter at that time is used as the counter value at the start of the hole. Is stored in a memory (for example, the RAM 304) (S404). Next, when the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects a change from “no paper” to “paper present” (S405, Yes), the conveyance direction position is determined as the end of the hole, and the value of the position management counter at this time Is stored (S406). Based on the difference between the hole end counter value stored at this time and the hole start counter value stored in S404, the hole transport direction size is calculated (S407). In this example, since the shape of the hole is a perfect circle, the size in the transport direction corresponds to the diameter of the hole. Similarly, the positions and diameters of the subsequent holes are obtained and stored in the memory.

  If the paper out state continues for a predetermined count or more after detecting “no paper” (S408, Yes), it is determined that the wristband 100 is at the end (S409), and the sensor monitoring control is terminated (S410).

  FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram illustrating details of the hole information acquisition of the wristband 100 according to the present embodiment.

  An output waveform 500 is a detection result of the recording medium detection sensor 207 that detects the presence / absence of a sheet along the center line between both sides of the wristband 100. That is, when the wristband 100 is transported within the recording apparatus 200 and the recording medium detection sensor 207 first detects the wristband 100 (time 501), the position management counter is activated. Thereafter, when the recording medium detection sensor 207 next detects “no paper” (time 502), it is considered that the recording medium detection sensor 207 has reached the tip of the hole. The position management counter value at this time is stored in the memory as the counter value at the start of the hole (1). Next, when the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects “paper present” (time point 503), the time period from time point 502 to time point 503 corresponds to the hole opening period, that is, the hole conveyance direction size (diameter). By taking the difference between the counter value at the time of hole end and the counter value at the time of hole disclosure, the size (diameter) of the hole (1) in the transport direction can be calculated.

  Similarly, for the hole (2), the diameter of the hole can be calculated based on the counter values at the start time 504 and the end time 505 of the hole.

  In this way, hole information including the position and size (diameter) of the hole is obtained based on the counter values at the start time and end time of all holes. An example of a summary of the obtained information is shown in a measurement result table 510 in FIG. The numerical values of “hole start” and “hole end” in this table are counter values of the position management counter, and “diameter” is a difference value between the counter values.

  If the diameter of each hole is known, it is sufficient to detect only one of the hole start time and the hole end time.

  6 and 7 are explanatory diagrams of a method for correcting image data based on the hole information detected as described above.

  The ejection start timing of each recording head can be defined by the count value of the position management counter since the distance from the recording medium detection sensor 207 to each recording head is known. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the timing at which each recording head approaches the hole position can be obtained by referring to the above-described hole position information. For example, the count value from when the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects the tip of the wristband 100 until the tip reaches the recording position of the Bk head is the b count 601, and the position of the hole (1) 111 is the wristband 100. If the a count is 600 from the tip, the Bk head reaches the hole (1) at the c count 602 which is the sum of both counts.

  Therefore, a correction process for correcting the recording data corresponding to the period from when the recording head Bk reaches the position of the hole until it finishes passing through the hole is executed until the recording of the area starts. In this example, since the hole is a perfect circle, it is possible to calculate by calculation which pixel is included in the hole depending on the individual recording position (transport direction position) from the start point to the end point of the hole. it can. As a result, the pixels included in the circle are replaced with non-printing data (Null data that does not eject ink) according to the individual printing positions. Thus, in this embodiment, the recording data is corrected in real time based on the hole detection result.

  For example, the example of FIG. 7 shows a case where the hole diameter is 10 pixels (10 lines of the line head). When the recording head reaches the hole, the first α line 700 is the center 2 pixels, the α + 1 line 701 is 6 pixels, the α + 2 line 702 is 8 pixels, and so on. Thus, the image in the hole can be changed to a non-recording state. Similarly, each recording head corrects the recording data for all the holes, thereby preventing ink from being ejected into the holes.

  Here, it is assumed that correction is performed by rewriting the data in the memory holding the image data. However, when the recording data is transferred to the recording head, the hardware is automatically set according to preset parameters. Alternatively, the transfer data may be corrected. For convenience of explanation, the hole diameter is set to 10 pixels. However, if the recording resolution in the transport direction is 600 dpi, the pitch for one pixel is 0.0425 mm. For example, the hole diameter is 4.3 mm. In actuality, the calculation is 100 pixels.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects the position information and size information of the holes opened in the wristband 100, corrects the recording data of each recording head, By inhibiting printing, it is possible to form an image on the wristband 100 without attaching ink to the transport belt.

  In other words, with the relatively simple configuration, the information on the hole opened in the recording medium is detected, and the image data of the holed portion is automatically converted into non-recorded data, thereby performing the conveyance. It is possible to prevent the recording medium from being contaminated by the ink and the recording medium.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which an image is formed on a wristband that has been separated in units of one sheet in advance has been described. On the other hand, the wristband may be in a roll shape and may be configured to be used by separating one by one after forming an image.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration example for explaining a main part in which a host computer is connected to such a recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Constituent elements similar to those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  The wristband recording apparatus 800 according to the present embodiment includes a wristband roll 806 mounted on the top of the main body in addition to the recording heads 202 to 205, the conveyance belt 206, and the recording medium detection sensor 207 similar to those of the first embodiment. Prepare. The wristband roll 806 is composed of a plurality of belt-like members connected in a roll shape, and is continuously fed to the main body recording unit through a predetermined path. The wristband roll 806 is perforated so that it can be easily separated one by one after the recording operation, and a predetermined inter-page mark (on the opposite side from the recording surface) can be recognized in advance so that the recording device can recognize the boundary between pages. (Not shown). An inter-page mark detection sensor 807 is installed in the paper feed unit, and by this, detection of the inter-page mark of the wristband is used as a trigger, and recording is sequentially performed on the belt-like members constituting the individual wristbands. The specific configuration of the inter-page mark and its detection method are not particularly limited, and any existing one may be used.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing for acquiring hole information in the present embodiment.

  First, sensor monitoring processing (printing processing) is started by an instruction from the host computer (S900). Thereby, the operation of the conveyor belt starts. In addition, since it is a continuous roll paper, processing such as backfeeding depending on the state of the wristband is included, but description of the processing is omitted.

  When the leading end of the wristband as a recording medium is detected by the inter-page mark detection sensor 807 or the recording medium detection sensor 207 (S901, Yes), a position management counter is started (S902).

  When the wristband is conveyed and the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects a change from “paper present” to “paper absent” (S903, Yes), the value of the position management counter at that time is stored in the memory as the counter value at the start of the hole. Save (S904).

  Next, when the recording medium detection sensor 207 detects a change from “no paper” to “paper present” (S905, Yes), the conveyance direction position is determined as the end of the hole, and the value of the position management counter at this time Is stored as a counter value at the end of the hole (S906). Based on the difference between the hole end counter value and the hole start counter value stored in S904, the hole transport direction size is calculated (S907). Similarly, the positions and diameters of the subsequent holes are obtained and stored in the memory.

  If an inter-page mark is detected (S908, Yes), it is determined that the wristband is at the end (S909), and the sensor monitoring control is terminated (S910). If there is a subsequent wristband print job, the process returns to the first step S900.

  Similarly, in a recording apparatus that feeds a roll-shaped wristband to form an image, the position information and diameter of the hole are detected, and the recording data of each recording head is corrected to the hole portion. It is possible to form a wristband image without preventing printing of ink and without attaching ink to the conveyor belt.

[Other embodiments]
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 embodiment, the case where the hole of the recording medium and the recording medium detection sensor are located at the center in the recording width direction has been described. However, the recording medium detection sensor is moved in the recording width direction according to the hole position of the recording medium. If it is possible to do so, the hole position need not be centered.

  Assuming that the holes 111 to 117 of the recording medium are all the same size, the image correction method does not correct the data of only the hole portion as in the first embodiment, but records as shown in FIG. You may make it correct | amend all the image data for the recording width corresponding to the diameter of the hole 111 from the hole 111 located in the front end of the wristband 100 which is a medium to the rear end. For example, such a simple correction is effective if an image including only characters and not including characters is formed as shown in FIG. Further, even if the holes 111 to 117 are not all the same size, for example, if the sizes of holes other than the holes (for example, the holes 111) that are not targets of ink ejection into the holes are the same, the diameter of the holes is set. It is possible to take measures to correct all image data corresponding to the corresponding recording width.

  In the first and second embodiments, the recording data is corrected by acquiring the hole information by the recording medium detection sensor. However, the recording medium information transmitted from the host computer that outputs the recording data is the hole information. Can also be used. For example, the hole information may be acquired together with the paper size as a parameter of the recording medium transmitted from the host computer to the recording apparatus. In this case, recording data is received from the host computer as shown in FIG. 11 (S1101), and the recorded image data is expanded on, for example, a memory (S1102), and the image of the hole portion is corrected based on the hole information ( After that, the recording operation can be started (S1104). In this case, it is not necessary to detect the hole with a sensor or the like during the recording operation.

  In the first and second embodiments, the device for recording various medical information on the wristband has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to application to such a wristband. For example, it may be worn on a part other than the arm (for example, an ankle).

  The recording medium is not limited to medical use, and any recording medium having a hole-like recording medium can be used for various media such as labels, postcards, and plain paper. Further, the recorded image may be a monochrome type instead of a full color.

  Further, although the recording apparatus configured to convey the recording medium to the fixedly arranged recording head has been described, the recording head may be configured to move relative to the fixed recording medium.

  Further, although the line type recording head is used, a serial type recording head may be used.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the outline of the medical wristband used as the recording medium in the recording device by embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the principal part of the wristband recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention with the host computer which is an external device. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the control hardware of the recording device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the process example for the wristband hole information acquisition in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the hole information acquisition and measurement result table of the wristband in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the method of correct | amending image data based on the hole information detected in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of image data correction processing following FIG. 6. It is the figure which showed the structural example for demonstrating the principal part which connected the host computer to the recording device concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the process for hole information acquisition in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of other embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the process of further another embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Wristband 101 ... Belt-like member 102 ... Text information 112-117 ... Hole 103-106 ... Color bar 200 ... Wristband recording device 201 ... Host computer 202-205 ... Recording head 206 ... Conveyor belt 207 ... Recording medium detection sensor 301 ... Control unit 305 ... Image memory 306 ... Head drive circuit 307 ... Various motors 308 ... Motor driver 309 ... Various sensors 310 ... Controller 311 ... Control circuit 500 ... Output waveform 510 ... Measurement result table 800 ... Wristband recording device 806 ... List Band roll 807 ... Inter-page mark detection sensor

Claims (8)

In a recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting ink from a recording head according to recording data on a recording medium that is conveyed relative to a recording head capable of ejecting ink,
Hole information acquisition means for acquiring information of holes provided in the recording medium;
Recording data correction means for correcting the recording data so as not to discharge ink into the holes of the recording medium based on hole information obtained by the hole information acquisition means apparatus.   The hole information acquisition means is a reading device installed at an upstream portion of the recording head in a relative conveyance path of the recording medium, and the reading device reads the hole when conveying the recording medium for recording. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is performed.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hole information obtained by the hole information acquisition unit is at least a position of the hole in the transport direction and a size of the hole in the transport direction.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the hole is known.   The recording medium detection sensor which detects the presence or absence of a recording medium and obtains the recording start timing information of each recording head, and uses the recording medium detection sensor as the reading device. Recording device.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hole information acquiring unit uses, as hole information, recording medium information transmitted from a host computer that outputs the recording data.   4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording data correction unit replaces the recording data with non-recording data for pixels in which ink is ejected into the holes. 5.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is a wristband recording apparatus that records predetermined medical information on a medical wristband.