JP2011218763A - Image recorder and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recorder and a control method therefor which can cut a recording medium into different sizes continuously.SOLUTION: Based on information showing a cutting length in job information from a host apparatus 15, a cutting drive part 4 performs the control of the size of the recording medium 21 which is cut by controlling the cutting drive part 4 and a rotation drive part 37.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on continuous paper, and more particularly to an image recording apparatus having a mechanism for cutting a recording medium on which image recording has been performed, and a control method for the image recording apparatus.

Among image recording apparatuses such as printers, fax machines, and copiers, there have been improved image throughput apparatuses such as inkjet image recording apparatuses having a line head.
As the throughput is improved, the image recording apparatus is also used in industrial applications for recording images on a continuous recording medium (continuous paper) such as roll paper.

  Some image recording apparatuses that use a continuous recording medium such as roll paper as such a recording medium include a cutting mechanism that cuts the recording medium to a predetermined length while the recording medium is running after performing image recording as a post-processing mechanism. When a rotary cutter is used as the cutting mechanism, a large force is required to simultaneously cut the entire paper width, so a method of arranging the cutting blade slightly spirally from the rotating shaft is used.

In this case, since the cutting blade and the recording medium do not intersect at the time of cutting, there is a problem that the cut recording medium does not become a correct rectangle. In order to solve this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for inclining the edge line of the fixed blade of the rotary cutter in a direction perpendicular to the paper traveling direction in accordance with the conveyance speed of the recording medium.
In the method of Patent Document 1, a so-called cut mark is attached to the recording medium, and when a mark detection signal is output from the mark sensor, the rotary cutter is activated and stopped by one rotation in response to an operation command. .

JP-A-7-266645

  In Patent Document 1, when continuously cutting recording media into different sizes, it is necessary to start and stop the rotary cutter with high accuracy, and high-precision acceleration / deceleration control is required. Therefore, processing control becomes complicated. Further, by repeating the frequent acceleration / deceleration control, the torque required for the drive source of the rotary cutter increases, and the drive source becomes large.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of continuously cutting a recording medium into different sizes and a control method therefor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of continuously cutting a recording medium into different sizes and a control method thereof without requiring a large torque with simple control.

  The image recording apparatus is an image recording apparatus that performs image recording on a conveyed continuous recording medium based on job information from a host apparatus, and an image recording control unit that performs control for performing the image recording; A medium cutting unit that cuts the continuous recording medium during conveyance after the image recording, and a cutting control unit that controls the medium cutting unit to cut the continuous recording medium into a predetermined size based on the job information; It is characterized by providing.

  Further, the control method of the image recording apparatus is a control method of the image recording apparatus that records an image on a continuous recording medium based on job information from a host device, and performs the image recording and is transported after the image recording When the continuous recording medium is cut, a control for cutting to a predetermined size is performed based on the job information.

According to the present invention, continuous recording media can be continuously cut into different page sizes by a simple cutting unit and control method.
In addition, the load applied to the cutting unit during cutting can be reduced, the drive source of the cutting unit can be reduced, and the entire apparatus can be configured to be small and inexpensive.

It is a figure which shows the typical arrangement | positioning of each component except the control part of the image recording device of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration centering on a control unit of the image recording apparatus in the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic layout diagram of a rotary cutter unit of the image recording apparatus in the present embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a cutting | disconnection control part. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of each page when a page of a different size is mixed. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement process of the control part at the time of the image recording apparatus of this embodiment recording an image.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, the case where the image recording apparatus of the present embodiment is configured as an ink jet type image recording apparatus having a line head in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium will be described as an example. To do. Note that the image recording apparatus of the present embodiment is not limited to the ink jet system, and may be of another recording system such as an electrostatic recording system.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic arrangement of each component excluding the control unit of the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration centering on the control unit of the image recording apparatus 1 in the present embodiment.

The image recording apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a medium supply system 22, an image recording system 24, and a medium cutting system 32.
Note that the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described assuming that a continuous recording medium having a width of 297 mm is used as the recording medium 21.

First, the medium supply system 22 will be described.
The medium supply system 22 is arranged as an unwinding unit that rotatably holds the recording medium 21 and unwinds the recording medium 21 to the image recording system 24. In the present embodiment, the medium supply system 22 holds roll paper as a recording medium. The medium supply system 22 further includes a powder clutch 23, and performs a function of applying a predetermined back tension to the recording medium 21 in the direction opposite to the conveying direction.

Next, the image recording system 24 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image recording system 24 includes a transport unit for a recording medium 21 (a plurality of free rollers (not shown), a first medium carrier 25-1, and an n-th medium carrier 25-n ( (Not shown), a first image recording unit 2-1, and an nth image recording unit 2-n.

  The image recording system 24 introduces the recording medium 21 conveyed from the medium supply system 22, holds the recording medium 21 by the first medium carrier 25-1, and immediately below the first image recording unit 2-1. Transport to. After the recording process is performed on the recording medium 21 by the first image recording unit 2-1, the image recording system 24 winds and holds the recording medium 21 with the nth medium carrier 25-n, and the nth image recording unit. It is transported directly under 2-n. In the image recording system 24, the n-th image recording unit 2-n performs a recording process on the recording medium 21, and then the medium is transferred to the medium cutting system 32 by the medium transport motor 6.

  Note that the image recording system 24 of FIG. 2 is configured to be able to record on both surfaces of the recording medium 21 by the two image recording units 2-1 and 2-n. However, the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the image recording apparatus 1 includes a set of the image recording unit 2 and the medium carrier 25 and performs recording processing on one side of the recording medium 21. It is also possible to use a configuration that performs the above-described configuration, or a configuration that includes three or more sets of the image recording unit 2 and the medium carrier 25 may be used. In the following description, the above-described nth image recording unit 2-n is hereinafter referred to as a second image recording unit 2-n. Similarly, the nth medium carrier 25-n is hereinafter referred to as a second medium carrier 25-n.

  The recording medium 21 unwound from the medium supply system 22 is conveyed to the first medium carrier 25-1 via one free roller. The first medium carrier 25-1 of the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an aluminum drum. In the first medium carrier 25-1, the recording medium 21 can be wound at a wrapping angle of 330 degrees, and corresponds to about three A3 size vertical (420 mm) sheets at a wrapping angle of 330 degrees. Designed for perimeter. In the recording medium 21, a vertical drag is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the first medium carrier 25-1 by the tension at the start of winding and the tension at the end of winding of the first medium carrier 25-1, and the first medium carrier 25-1. 1 and the recording medium 21 are held on the first medium carrier 25-1 by the friction coefficient. The first medium carrier 25-1 is configured as a driven drum that rotates via the recording medium 21.

  The first conveyance information generating unit 3-1 is connected to the rotation shaft of the first medium carrier 25-1. The rotation axis of the first transport information generation unit 3-1 rotates with the rotation of the first medium carrier 25-1. The first transport information generation unit 3-1 outputs a detection pulse corresponding to the rotational position of the first medium carrier 25-1 to the image recording control unit 11 of the control unit 8. Then, the image recording control unit 11 inputs this detection pulse to the first image recording unit 2-1 and the cutting control unit 12. In synchronization with this detection pulse, the first recording head (not shown) of the image recording unit 2-1 performs image recording processing by ejecting ink onto the recording medium 21 by the first head driving unit (not shown).

  In the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a rotary encoder that outputs 18000 pulses per rotation is used for the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1. The resolution in the conveyance direction of the recorded image is 300 dpi, and is designed to be one recording line per output pulse of the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1. As a result, the diameter of the first medium carrier 25-1 is 25.4 inches ÷ 300 dpi × 18000 pulses / circumference π = 485 mm.

After the end of winding of the first medium carrier 25-1, the recording medium 21 is conveyed to the second medium carrier 25-n via a plurality of free rollers.
Similar to the first medium carrier 25-1, the second medium carrier 25-n is configured such that the recording medium 21 can be wound at a winding angle of 330 degrees. In the recording medium 21, a normal force is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the second medium carrier 25-n by the tension at the start of winding and the tension at the end of winding of the second medium carrier 25-n, and the second medium carrier 25-n And the recording medium 21 are held on the second medium carrier 25-n by the friction coefficient.

  The second medium carrier 25-n is configured as a driven drum that rotates via the recording medium 21, and the recording medium 21 is driven by the medium conveyance motor 6 disposed downstream of the second medium carrier 25-n. Is conveyed by.

  Similarly to the first medium carrier 25-1, the n-th transport information generation unit that outputs 18000 pulses when the second medium carrier 25-n makes one rotation also on the rotation axis of the second medium carrier 25-n. 3-n is linked. The n-th conveyance information generation unit 3-n outputs a detection pulse corresponding to the rotational position of the second medium carrier 25-n to the image recording control unit 11. The image recording control unit 11 inputs this detection pulse to the second image recording unit 2-n. In synchronization with this detection pulse, the second recording head (not shown) of the image recording unit 2-n is controlled to eject ink onto the recording medium 21 by a second head driving unit (not shown).

In the following description, the n-th conveyance information generation unit 3-n is also referred to as a second conveyance information generation unit 3-n, like the above-described second image recording unit 2-n.
A medium edge detection sensor 31 is arranged between the first medium carrier 25-1 and the second medium carrier 25-n. The medium edge detection sensor 31 detects the positions of both ends of the recording medium 21 on the conveyance path. The recording medium 21 is continuous paper, and the position orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium may change by several millimeters depending on the processing quality of the continuous paper. The image recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment corrects the image recording position in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction with respect to the recording medium 21 by acquiring both-end position information of the recording medium 21 by the medium end detection sensor 31.

  When the image recording process by the second image recording unit 2-n is completed and the recording medium 21 is unwound from the second medium carrier 25-n, the medium is cut through the plurality of free rollers and the medium transport motor 6. It is sent to the system 32.

Next, the medium cutting system 32 will be described. The medium cutting system 32 includes a cutting drive unit 4, a cutting unit roller 5, a cutting origin sensor 7, a blade 34, an anvil roller 18, and a cutting position detection unit 33.
The cutting part roller 5 driven by the cutting driving part 4 is a spiral cutter having one blade 34 as shown in FIG. 3A, and the cutting part roller 5 has a circumferential length of 420 mm. have. The blade 34 is attached to the rotating shaft 19 of the cutting unit roller 5 with a predetermined angle θ1. By having this inclination, the sound and cutting torque at the time of cutting can be reduced. The cutting drive unit 4 is driven by issuing a pulse train command to the cutting control unit 12 using a so-called servo motor. Note that the cutting drive unit 4 is not limited to the servo motor but may be a stepping motor or the like.

  The cutting origin sensor 7 is arranged so as to be able to detect that the position of the blade 34 has reached the medium cutting position 35 for cutting the recording medium 21, and notifies the arithmetic processing device 9 of the timing of cutting by the blade 34. . The cutting position detection unit 33 is configured by an encoder that outputs 10,000 pulses per rotation, and the rotation angle of the cutting unit roller 5 can be detected by counting the number of output pulses by the encoder. The arithmetic processing unit 9 can know the positional relationship between the recording medium 21 and the blade 34 from this rotation angle. For example, if the pulse of the cutting position detector 33 is counted 5000 with reference to the cutting origin sensor 7, the arithmetic processing unit 9 indicates that the blade 34 is at a position of 180 degrees with respect to the cutting position of the recording medium 21. Can be judged to be cut after a further 210 mm.

Next, the control unit 8 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 8 is configured such that the arithmetic processing unit 9, the storage unit 10, the image recording control unit 11, the cutting control unit 12, and the input / output unit 13 are connected to each other via a bus 14. ing. In addition, the control unit 8 receives a user instruction from the host apparatus 15 connected to the image recording apparatus 1 and executes an image recording process based on the instruction.

  The storage unit 10 stores a control program for controlling the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, various adjustment parameters, and the like. In addition, the storage unit 10 temporarily stores recording data, cutting information, and the like from the higher-level device 15. The image recording control unit 11 averages the conveyance information of the recording medium 21 output by the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1 and the second conveyance information generation unit 3-n, and the first image recording unit 2-1, the second conveyance information generation unit 3-n. The image is output to the image recording unit 2-n and the cutting control unit 12. The cutting control unit 12 instructs the cutting driving unit 4 to drive.

  The image recording control unit 11 and the cutting control unit 12 may be realized as dedicated hardware, or a software method by the arithmetic processing unit 9 of the control unit 8 executing a control program in the storage unit 10. It may be realized by.

Next, the rotary cutter unit 38 having the characteristic part of the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3B is a schematic layout diagram of the rotary cutter unit 38.

  The rotary cutter unit 38 of the image recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can move the arrangement position of the recording medium 21 in the width direction depending on the size of the recording medium 21 to be cut. Thereby, the angle in the width direction of the recording medium 21 of the blade 34 can be changed according to the size of the recording medium 21 to be cut.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the rotary cutter unit 38 is arranged in the width direction of the recording medium 21 with the reverse end portion 40 on the side provided with the rotation driving unit 37 as a fulcrum in the conveyance direction of the recording medium 21 (FIG. The angle θ2 with respect to the x direction) of b) is configured to be rotatable. A rotation drive unit 37 is connected to the other end of the rotary cutter unit 38. The rotation drive unit 37 includes a ball screw 37a and a stepping motor 37b. By driving the ball screw 37a with a stepping motor 37b, the rotary cutter unit 38 moves the recording medium 21 in the transport direction (FIG. 3 ( It rotates in the y direction) of b).

  By this rotation operation, the rotary cutter unit 38 is inclined by a predetermined angle θ2 with respect to a direction (y direction in FIG. 3B) perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 21. As a result, the angle at which the blade 34 abuts the recording medium 21 when the recording medium 21 is cut can be changed.

  In the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a position that is perpendicular to the conveyance direction (y direction) of the recording medium 21 as a reference position of the rotary cutter unit 38, that is, a position where the tilt angle θ2 = 0 ° is stored in the storage unit 10. Remember it. Further, a table in which the inclination angle θ2 is associated with the number of steps from the reference position of the stepping motor 37b is stored in the storage unit 10. When the rotary cutter unit 38 is tilted, first, the number of steps of the stepping motor 37b is obtained by referring to the table based on the tilt angle θ2. Next, the stepping motor 37b is driven by the difference between the number of steps and the number of steps at the current position of the rotary cutter unit 38.

  In this embodiment, the stepping motor 37b is used for the rotation driving unit 37. However, the rotation driving unit 37 may be configured to use a servo motor or another drive source instead of the stepping motor. The rotation drive unit 37 may be configured to adjust the angle using a sensor that detects the angle θ2, or may be a mechanism that manually rotates without having a drive source.

Next, the cutting control unit 12 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the cutting control unit 12.
The cutting control unit 12 includes a frequency conversion unit 36 and a rotation drive amount calculation unit 42.

  The frequency conversion unit 36 converts the number of input pulses from the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1 or the second conveyance information generation unit 3-n into a drive instruction for driving the cutting drive unit 4. The rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 obtains an amount for driving the rotary cutter unit 38 and gives a drive instruction to the rotation drive unit 37.

  The conveyance information generated by the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1 is input to the cutting control unit 12 via the image recording control unit 11. From this conveyance information, the frequency conversion unit 36 of the cutting control unit 12 can know the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21.

  Further, information indicating the sheet size is notified together with the image data as job information for instructing image recording from the host device 15 to the image recording device 1. Based on the information indicating the paper size, the arithmetic processing unit 9 of the control unit 8 notifies the cutting control unit 12 of cutting length information indicating the length of the recording medium 21.

  Now, it is assumed that the upper apparatus 15 notifies the image recording apparatus 1 of A4 as the paper size together with the image data as job information. Since the recording medium 21 has a width of 297 mm and the size of A4 is 297 × 210 mm, the length of the recording medium 21 required by the arithmetic processing unit 9 is 210 mm. Since the cutting section roller 5 has a circumference of 420 mm, the cutting control section 12 needs to control the recording medium 21 so that it makes one round while the recording medium 21 is conveyed by 210 mm.

  Since the output pulse of the first transport information generation unit 3-1 has a resolution of 300 dpi, 210 / 25.4 × 300 = 2480 pulses are output while the recording medium 21 is transported 210 mm. 1 to the cutting control unit 12. The frequency conversion unit 36 of the cutting control unit 12 controls the cutting unit roller 5 to make one round when the 2480 pulses are input, so that the number of output pulses is 10,000 pulses with respect to the number of input pulses 2480. After frequency conversion is performed and correction is performed based on the position information of the blade 34 from the cutting position detection unit 33, it is output to the cutting drive unit 4 as a drive instruction. Thereby, the recording medium 21 is cut into a length of 210 mm by the cutter 34 of the cutting unit roller 5.

  As described above, the frequency conversion unit 36 sequentially converts the input pulses from the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1 and outputs the converted pulses to the cutting drive unit 4, so that the cutting unit roller 5 changes the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21. Rotate synchronously. Therefore, the rotation speed of the cutting unit roller 5 changes according to the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21. The conveyance speed of the recording medium 21 and the rotation speed of the cutting unit roller 5 can be changed in units of pages.

  Information on the paper size is sent to the image recording apparatus 1 as job information from the host apparatus 15 together with the image data. In the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, one type of paper size is recorded on one job information. Not necessarily. When one job information is for instructing image recording of a plurality of pages, for example, the sheet size up to the fifth sheet (1-5 pages) is A3 portrait, and the sheet size after the sixth sheet (6 pages) is There are cases where the paper size varies from page to page, such as A4 landscape.

FIG. 5 shows an arrangement example of each page when pages of different sizes are mixed.
In the figure, one page is recorded in the A4 landscape, but the second and third pages are recorded in the A3 portrait, and the fourth to sixth pages are recorded in the A4 landscape.

  Even in such a case, the arithmetic processing unit 9 sends the cutting length information of the recording medium 21 to the cutting control unit 12 for each page, so that the frequency conversion unit 36 cuts to the length specified for each page. Frequency conversion is performed. For example, when paper information indicating that the size of the next page of A4 horizontal size is A3 size vertical is included in the job information from the host device 15, the frequency conversion unit 36 increases the number of input pulses to 4960 pulses. On the other hand, frequency conversion is performed so that the number of output pulses is 10,000 pulses. As a result, the rotational speed of the cutting roller 5 is ½ that of the A4 side, the cutting length of the recording medium 21 is twice that of the A4 side, and the recording medium 21 is cut into the A3 vertical size.

  As described above, the rotation speed of the cutting unit roller 5 is determined according to the conveyance speed and the cutting length of the recording medium 21, and the cutting unit roller 5 is driven at this rotational speed, whereby the recording medium 21 is moved to the paper. It can be cut into sizes according to the size information. Therefore, the image recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can perform image recording in which pages of different sizes are mixed.

Next, the rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 will be described.
Now, the cutter 34 is attached to the cutting portion roller 5 with a predetermined angle θ1. If the predetermined angle θ1 and the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 are not in a correct relationship, the recording medium 21 is cut obliquely.

  As described above, the rotational speed of the cutting unit roller 5 is determined by the cutting length of the recording medium 21. Therefore, it is necessary to change the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 according to the cutting length information of the recording medium 21.

  If the peripheral speed of the cutting roller 5 and the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21 are the same, the recording medium 21 can be accurately rectangular if the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 described above is set to be the same as the angle θ1 of the blade 34. Will be cut off. The peripheral speed of the cutting part roller 5 at this time is referred to as a reference speed.

However, when the cutting length of the recording medium 21 is 210 mm, the peripheral length of the cutting roller 5 is 420 mm in the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.
420 mm (peripheral length of the cutting roller 5) / 210 mm (cutting length of the recording medium 21) = 2
Thus, the peripheral speed of the cutting section roller 5 is driven at a speed twice the reference speed. This speed is defined as a cutting speed ratio R. Cutting speed ratio R is
The cutting speed ratio R is determined by the circumferential length of the cutting unit roller 5 and the cutting length information for the recording medium 21.

  When the cutting speed ratio R is 2, if the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 and the angle θ1 of the blade 34 are the same angle, the cut surface of the recording medium 21 is not an accurate rectangle. The amount by which the recording medium 21 is cut obliquely by the cutter 34 of the cutting unit roller 5 is determined by the tan at the angle θ1 of the cutting unit 34 and the peripheral speed of the cutting unit roller 5.

In this embodiment, since the width of the recording medium 21 is 297 mm, the amount L (mm) by which the recording medium 21 is cut obliquely when the cutting roller 5 is at the reference speed is
L = tan θ1 × 297
become.

Here, since the peripheral speed of the cutting roller 5 is twice the reference speed, L / 2 (mm), which is ½ of L (mm), is an amount that is cut obliquely.
The angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 for obtaining an accurate rectangle is θ2 = tan−1 ((L / 2) / 297). Therefore, the rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 obtains the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 from the cutting speed ratio R. Then, the rotational drive amount calculation unit 42 issues a drive command to the rotational drive unit 37 so that the rotary cutter unit 38 has this angle θ2.

Since the angle θ1 of the cutter 34 is a specified value, the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 is determined by the angle θ1 of the cutter 34 and the cutting speed ratio R, and has the following relationship.
θ2 = tan−1 (tan θ1 / R) (1)
The rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 obtains the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 from the equation (1), and refers to the table in the storage unit 10 with the obtained θ2 to obtain the number of steps of the corresponding stepping motor 37b. . Then, a drive instruction is given to the stepping motor 37b of the rotation drive unit 37 so that the inclination of the rotary cutter unit 38 becomes the angle θ2.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation process of the control unit 8 when the image recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment performs image recording.
The processing in FIG. 7 is realized by the arithmetic processing unit 9 of the control unit 8 executing the control program in the storage unit 10.

In step S1, the control unit 8 receives job information from the device 15 in the process of FIG.
Next, the control unit 8 sets “1” to a counter m that counts the number of pages on which image recording is performed.

  Then, the control unit 8 obtains the cutting length of m pages from the information on the paper size of m pages in the job information received in step S1 as step S3. For example, if the width of the recording medium 21 is 297 mm and the paper size of m pages is A4 landscape, the cutting length is 210 mm.

  Then, in step S4, the control unit 8 sets the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21 in the image recording control unit 11 in order to perform m page image recording. Based on this setting, the image recording control unit 11 controls the rotational speed of the medium transport motor 6. Thereby, the recording medium 21 is conveyed at a conveyance speed based on the paper size of m pages.

  When the conveyance of the recording medium 21 is started, in step S5, the control unit 8 controls the first image recording unit 2-1 and the nth image recording unit 2-n to perform recording based on the recording data in the job information. Image recording on the medium 21 is started.

  Next, in the control unit 8, the frequency conversion unit 36 converts the conveyance information that is an output pulse from the first conveyance information generation unit 3-1 or the second conveyance information generation unit 3-n into the image recording control unit 11 in step S <b> 6. The frequency is converted into a pulse for driving the cutting drive unit 4. In step S7, the frequency conversion unit 36 generates a drive instruction for controlling the driving of the cutting unit roller 5 based on the signal frequency-converted in step S6 and information on the position of the blade 34 from the cutting position detection unit 33. This is output to the cutting drive unit 4. As a result, the cutting roller 5 of the medium cutting system 32 is driven to cut the recording medium 21 to a cutting length of m pages.

  On the other hand, the rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 of the control unit 8 obtains the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 from the equation (1) using the conveyance speed of the recording medium 21 as step S8. Then, in step S9, the rotation drive amount calculation unit 42 refers to the table in the storage unit 10 for the number of steps of the stepping motor 37b necessary to tilt the rotary cutter unit 38 to the angle θ2 obtained in step S8. And ask. In step S 10, a drive instruction necessary to change the tilt angle from the current tilt angle of the rotary cutter unit 38 to the angle θ 2 obtained in step S 8 is output to the rotation drive unit 37. Accordingly, the rotary cutter unit 38 tilts the angle to θ2 so as to cut to a cutting length of m pages.

  As a result, image recording and cutting of m pages are performed. In step S11, the control unit 8 determines whether m has reached the total number of pages specified by the job information. If the total number of pages has not been reached (No in step S11), the page is set in step S12. The counter m is incremented by 1, and the processing of steps S3 to S11 is repeated for the next page.

  In step S11, if the value of the page counter m reaches the total number of pages (step S11, Yes), the image recording by the job information accepted in step S1 is completed, and thus this processing is terminated.

  As described above, in the image recording apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, the cutting unit roller 5 is driven at a rotational speed determined according to the conveyance speed and the cutting length of the recording medium 21, so that the job information is received from the host apparatus 15. The recording medium 21 can be cut to a cutting length corresponding to the page size designated by the user.

  Further, by setting the angle θ2 of the rotary cutter unit 38 to a value obtained from the angle θ1 of the blade 34 and the cutting speed ratio R, the recording medium 21 can be cut into an accurate rectangle.

  Furthermore, it is possible to continuously cut different paper sizes with a simple cutting mechanism and control method, and at this time, the load on the drive source of the medium cutting system 32 can be reduced. It can be realized as a simple configuration.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image recording device 2-1 1st image recording part 2-n nth image recording part (2nd image recording part)
3-1 1st conveyance information generation part 3-n nth conveyance information generation part (2nd conveyance information generation part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 Cutting drive part 5 Cutting part roller 6 Medium conveyance motor 7 Cutting origin sensor 8 Control part 9 Arithmetic processing unit 10 Storage part 11 Image recording control part 12 Cutting control part 13 Input / output part 14 Bus 15 Host apparatus 18 Anvil roller 19 Cutting roller Rotating shaft 21 Recording medium 22 Medium supply system 23 Powder clutch 24 Image recording system 25-1 First medium carrier 25-n nth medium carrier (second medium carrier)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 31 Medium edge detection sensor 32 Medium cutting system 33 Cutting position detection part 34 Cutting tool 35 Arrow which shows medium cutting position 36 Frequency conversion part 37a, b rotation drive part 38 Rotary cutter unit 42 Rotation drive amount calculation part

Claims (12)

An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a continuous recording medium conveyed based on job information from a host apparatus,
An image recording control unit that performs control for performing the image recording;
A medium cutting unit for cutting the continuous recording medium during conveyance after the image recording;
A cutting control unit for controlling the medium cutting unit to cut the continuous recording medium into a predetermined size based on the job information;
An image recording apparatus comprising: A calculation unit, and a control unit including at least a storage unit that stores a control program in advance;
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit functions as the image recording control unit and the cutting control unit by causing the arithmetic processing unit to execute the control program. The medium cutting unit has a cutter, and includes a cutting unit roller that cuts the continuous recording medium with the cutter by rotating,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cutting control unit controls a rotation speed of the cutting unit roller based on the predetermined size.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the cutting control unit changes the rotation speed of the cutting unit roller in units of a predetermined length of the continuous recording medium. The medium cutting unit has a cutter, and includes a cutting unit roller that cuts the continuous recording medium with the cutter by rotating,
The cutting control unit changes an angle at which the blade contacts the continuous recording medium when the blade cuts the continuous recording medium according to the predetermined size that the medium cutting unit cuts. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The cutting control unit changes an angle at which the blade contacts the continuous recording medium by changing an angle θ2 formed by a width direction of the continuous recording medium of the cutting unit and a rotation axis of the cutting unit roller. The image recording apparatus according to claim 5. When the angle of attachment of the blade to the cutting part roller is θ1, and the circumferential length of the cutting part roller / the cutting length of the continuous recording medium is R, the angle θ2 is
θ2 = tan ⁻¹ (tan θ1 / R)
The image recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image recording control unit changes a conveyance speed of the continuous recording medium based on the predetermined size. The medium cutting unit has a cutter, and includes a cutting unit roller that cuts the continuous recording medium with the cutter by rotating,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cutting control unit changes a peripheral speed of the cutting unit roller based on the conveyance speed. A control method for an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a continuous recording medium based on job information from a host apparatus,
Perform the image recording,
A control method for an image recording apparatus, wherein when the continuous recording medium being transported is cut after the image recording, control is performed to cut to a predetermined size based on the job information.   11. The image recording according to claim 10, wherein the rotational speed of a cutting roller that has a blade and rotates the continuous recording medium with the blade is controlled based on the size of the paper. Control method of the device.   12. The image according to claim 11, wherein an angle at which a blade when the continuous recording medium is cut contacts the continuous recording medium is changed according to the predetermined size cut by the medium cutting unit. Control method of recording apparatus.