JP2016150539A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording method by which even when a recording medium is not horizontally placed in a handy type inkjet recording device, recording-position displacement caused by a gravitational influence is made less noticeable on an image.SOLUTION: Inclination of ink in a discharge direction relative to a direction of gravity and a distance between a recording medium and a nozzle surface are detected so as to acquire amounts of recording position displacement caused by gravity in the recording medium. Then, in order to correct the amounts of the recording position displacement, discharged energy to be imparted to a recording head and a position of the nozzle to be used for recording are adjusted.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, such as a handy printer, in which the scanning speed and scanning direction during printing are not fixed.

  In a handy printer in which a user holds a small recording apparatus and records an image while moving the recording apparatus with respect to the recording medium, there is a possibility that the image quality may be deteriorated with a change in speed and inclination during the movement. To deal with such a problem, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of providing a mechanism for detecting the position of an apparatus with respect to a recording medium and determining the recording position of each pixel based on the detected result. . According to Patent Document 1, such an image can be output without tilting or scaling even when the recording apparatus is not moved at a constant speed in a certain direction.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a handy printer that detects an inclination of a recording apparatus with respect to a moving direction and outputs an image without inclination to a recording medium by inclining image data in a direction opposite to the detected inclination. Yes. Further, in Patent Document 2, in the case of an ink jet method, in consideration of the influence of gravity on the ejected ink droplets, the inclination angle of the ejection direction with respect to the gravity direction is detected, and the ink ejection force is determined according to the inclination angle. A method of adjusting is also disclosed.

  If the ink discharge force can be adjusted according to the inclination angle in the ink discharge direction as in Patent Document 2, the ink droplet discharge speed and the time from the time when the recording head discharges ink until it lands on the recording medium. Can be adjusted. As a result, even if the inclination is greatly affected by gravity, the ejection speed can be increased, and the distance that the ejected ink droplet moves in a direction different from the ejection direction due to gravity can be shortened.

JP 2004-106330 A JP2013-14114A

  However, even when the method of Patent Document 2 is adopted, the time from ejection to landing cannot be reduced to zero. There is also an upper limit in the setting of the discharge force and the discharge speed. For this reason, it may be difficult to increase the ejection speed to such an extent that the recording position shift due to gravity is not noticeable on the image.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. Therefore, the object is to make the recording position shift due to the influence of gravity on the image inconspicuous even when the recording medium is not horizontally arranged in the hand-held type ink jet recording apparatus. It is to provide a recording method.

  To this end, the present invention is an ink jet recording apparatus that detects an amount of movement with respect to a recording medium and records an image on the recording medium by discharging ink from the recording head based on the amount of movement. An inclination detecting means for detecting the inclination of the direction, a paper gap detecting means for detecting the distance between the recording medium and the nozzle surface of the recording head, and a recording position shift caused by gravity on the recording medium based on the inclination and the distance. An acquisition unit for acquiring the amount, an energy control unit for adjusting discharge energy applied to the recording head to discharge ink, and a nozzle for discharging ink toward the recording medium are associated with the recording data. According to the nozzle setting means to be set and the recording position deviation amount acquired by the acquisition means, the recording deviation amount is corrected. And a controlling means for controlling the nozzle setting means and serial energy controlling means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to expand the range in which correction is possible while increasing the accuracy of correction of a recording position shift caused by gravity as compared with the conventional case.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus used in a first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of a recording apparatus used in the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the mechanism which adjusts discharge energy and correct | amends a recording position shift. It is a figure which shows the mechanism which corrects the recording position shift by adjusting the position of the discharge nozzle. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process at the time of recording in 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram of the recording device used in 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the recording device used by 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process at the time of recording in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows another example of the process at the time of recording.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a handy type ink jet recording apparatus 21 used in the present embodiment. The recording device 21 is provided with a recording head 22 in which a plurality of nozzles that eject ink as droplets are arranged. In use, the user grasps the handle 28 and manually moves the recording device 21 in the Z direction in the figure with the nozzle surface F of the recording head 22 facing the recording medium P. During the movement, ink is ejected from the plurality of nozzles arranged in the recording head 22 according to the image data, and a predetermined image is recorded on the recording medium P.

  The recording device 21 includes a paper gap detection unit 23 for measuring the distance between the nozzle surface F and the recording medium, an inclination detection unit 24 for detecting the inclination of the recording device 21 with respect to the gravity direction (Y direction), and the recording device 21. A movement amount detection unit 25 is provided for detecting the movement amount in the Z direction. As the inclination detection unit 24, for example, an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor can be used. As the movement amount detection unit 25, an acceleration sensor can be used, or a combination mechanism of a roller and an encoder can be used. In the recording apparatus 21, a display unit 26 for a user to check various information and an operation unit 27 for inputting commands are provided on the surface opposite to the recording head 22.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a control configuration of the recording apparatus 21. The CPU 100 controls the entire apparatus via the bus 118 in accordance with a program stored in the memory 101. The I / O control unit 102 mediates various information. Specifically, the CPU 100 provides the CPU 100 with the results detected by the paper gap detection unit 23, the inclination detection 24, and the movement amount detection 23, and the command received from the operation unit 27, and displays various information on the display unit 26 according to instructions from the CPU 100. I will let you. In addition, under the instruction of the CPU 100, the image data received from the image input unit 117 is provided to the image processing unit 109. The power control unit 104 performs control so that stable power can be supplied to each mechanism in the apparatus under the instruction of the CPU 100. Since a handy printer can have various power supply modes, it is necessary to prepare a control unit corresponding to each power source.

  The image data received from the image input unit 117 via the I / O control unit 102 is subjected to predetermined image processing by the image processing unit 109 under the control of the CPU 100 and can be recorded by the recording head 22. Is converted to At this time, the discharge nozzle setting unit 110 associates each of the generated print data with any of the plurality of nozzles arranged in the print head 22. The recording data generation unit 111 aligns the recording data associated with the individual nozzles by the ejection nozzle setting unit 110 according to an instruction from the CPU 100 and provides the recording data to the head driving unit 106.

  The head driving unit 106 performs an ejection operation according to the received recording data. At this time, the ejection timing generation unit 107 controls the timing at which each nozzle ejects ink according to the movement amount obtained from the movement amount detection unit 25 under the control of the CPU 100. The ejection energy control unit 108 controls energy applied to eject ink from individual nozzles in accordance with instructions from the CPU 100.

  The recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105 calculates the recording position deviation amount in the gravitational action direction assumed for the recording medium P based on the detection information obtained from the paper gap detection unit 23 and the inclination detection unit 24. The CPU 100 controls the ejection energy control unit 108 and the ejection nozzle setting unit 110 so that the deviation amount is corrected based on the obtained printing position deviation amount.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a mechanism for correcting the recording position deviation by controlling the ejection energy. Here, the distance between the nozzle surface F of the recording head 22 and the recording medium P is L, and the ejection direction is inclined by θ with respect to the direction of gravity. In such a state, when ink is ejected from the nozzle 11a of the recording head 22 at the ejection speed V0, gravitational acceleration acts on the flying ink droplet, so the recording position on the recording medium P is higher than the ejected position. Shifts downward by D0. However, if the ejection speed from the nozzle 11a is changed to V1, which is larger than V0, the ink droplet can land on the recording medium in a shorter time, so that the influence of gravitational acceleration can be suppressed and the recording position deviation amount D1. Can also be made smaller than D0.

  At this time, the recording position deviation amount D0 depends on the distance L and the inclination θ in addition to the ejection speed V0. In the present embodiment, the distance L and the inclination θ are acquired from the sheet interval detection unit 23 and the inclination detection unit 24. I can do it. The recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105 can calculate the recording position deviation amount D0 based on the distance L and the inclination θ obtained from the paper interval detection unit 23 and the inclination detection unit 24. Further, the ejection energy control unit 108 adjusts the ejection energy applied to the nozzle 11a in accordance with the recording position deviation amount D0 calculated by the recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105, so that the recording position deviation amount D0 approaches zero. I can do it.

  On the other hand, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mechanism for correcting the recording position deviation by adjusting the position of the ejection nozzle by the ejection nozzle setting unit 110. Here, similarly to FIG. 3, the distance between the nozzle surface F of the recording head 22 and the recording medium P is L, and the inclination of the ejection direction with respect to the gravitational direction is θ. . At this time, if the nozzle to be ejected is changed from the nozzle 11a to the nozzle 11b which is higher in the direction of gravity, the ink droplet recording position can be moved higher, and the actual recording position can be brought closer to the target position. I can do it. FIG. 4 shows a state where the recording position deviation amount D0 is set to 0 by changing the nozzle to be ejected from the nozzle 11a to the nozzle 11b.

  However, even when the method of adjusting the discharge energy as described with reference to FIG. 3 is adopted or when the method of changing the discharge nozzle as described with reference to FIG. There are limits. For example, when the method of adjusting the discharge energy is employed, there is an upper limit to the energy that can be applied to each nozzle, and the time from discharge to landing cannot be completely reduced to zero. Further, even when the method of changing the discharge nozzle is adopted, the discharge operation cannot be changed to a nozzle that is above the nozzle located at the end. That is, there is a limit to the range in which correction is possible for the inter-paper distance L and the inclination θ with respect to the direction of gravity. If these are too large, sufficient correction cannot be performed and a preferable image may not be obtained. In view of such a situation, in the present embodiment, both the method of modulating the ejection energy at each nozzle as described in FIG. 3 and the method of adjusting the position of the nozzle to be ejected as described in FIG. Use together. As a result, it is possible to expand the range in which correction is possible in the inter-paper distance L and the inclination θ with respect to the gravity direction, and it is possible to increase the correction accuracy.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing executed by the CPU 100 during the recording operation. When this process is started, the CPU 100 first checks in step S100 whether or not the movement detection unit 25 has detected movement, that is, whether or not the user has started movement of the recording device 21. When the movement is confirmed, the process proceeds to step S101, and based on the movement amount (movement speed) detected by the movement detection unit 25, the discharge timing generation unit 107 generates the discharge timing corresponding to the movement speed.

  In subsequent step S102, the inter-paper distance L detected by the inter-paper detection unit 23 is acquired, and in step S103, the inclination amount θ detected by the inclination detection unit 24 is acquired. Further, in step S104, the information is provided to the recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105 to calculate the recording position deviation amount D0.

  In step S105, the CPU 100 sets the ejection energy that the ejection energy control unit 108 applies to the nozzles based on the recording position deviation amount D0 acquired in step S104. Specifically, in order to adjust the ejection speed from the nozzle, the pulse width and voltage magnitude of the voltage pulse applied to the nozzle are set. Furthermore, in step S106, the CPU 100 causes the ejection nozzle setting unit 110 to associate individual print data with individual nozzles based on the print position deviation amount D0 acquired in step S104.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S107, and the CPU 100 generates recording data according to the above information in the recording data generation unit 111, and transfers the recording data to the head driving unit 106 (step S108). In step S109, the head driving unit 106 is caused to perform an ejection operation according to the various settings described above. As described above, the steps from S100 to S109 are executed in units of the drive timing of the recording head.

  In the subsequent step S110, it is determined whether or not the recording process for all the recording data has been completed. If it is determined that there is still recording data to be recorded, the process returns to step S100 for the next drive. On the other hand, when it is determined that the recording process has been completed for all the recording data, this process ends.

  According to the present embodiment described above, it is possible to perform correction while improving the accuracy of correction of the recording position shift due to gravity by using the modulation of the discharge energy in each nozzle and the adjustment of the position of the nozzle to be discharged. The range to be expanded can be expanded as compared with the conventional case.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a handy type ink jet recording apparatus 21 used in the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining a control configuration in the present embodiment. In these drawings, the difference from the first embodiment is that two inter-paper distance detection units 30a and 30b are provided in order to detect the inter-paper distance L.

  In the case of the first embodiment, the distance L to the recording medium P can be accurately measured at the location where the inter-paper distance detection 23 is installed, but the entire area of the recording head 22 having a certain length. It is not possible to obtain an accurate inter-paper distance L. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the nozzle surface F is inclined with respect to the recording medium P, it is not possible to perform preferable correction over the entire area of the recording head 22.

  For this reason, in the present embodiment, the inter-paper distance detection units 30a and 30b are installed at the front end position and the rear end position of the recording head 22, and the recording surface relative angle calculation unit 700 is prepared. Then, the inclination α of the nozzle surface F with respect to the recording medium P is calculated from the distance between the sheets detected by the two detection units 30a and 30b.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining processing executed by the CPU 100 of the present embodiment during the recording operation. Steps 200 and S201 are the same as steps S100 and S101 in the first embodiment.

  In step S202, the CPU 100 obtains two inter-paper distances L1 and L2 using the inter-paper distance detection units 30a and 30b. In step S203, the recording surface relative angle α is calculated based on the inter-paper distances L1 and L2 obtained in step S2.

  In step S204, the inclination amount θ detected by the inclination detection unit 24 is acquired. The recording surface relative angle α calculated in step S203 and the tilt amount θ acquired in step S204 are managed independently.

  In step S205, the CPU 100 provides the recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105 with the information obtained in steps S202 to S204, and causes the recording position deviation amount D0 to be calculated. At this time, if the recording surface relative angle α is not 0, the recording position deviation amount D0 varies depending on the positions of the nozzles arranged in the recording head 22. Therefore, in this embodiment, the recording position deviation amount is calculated for each nozzle and managed.

  In the subsequent step S206, the CPU 100 sets, for each nozzle, the ejection energy that the ejection energy control unit 108 applies to the nozzle based on the recording position deviation amount D0 acquired in step S205. Specifically, in order to adjust the ejection speed from the nozzle, the pulse width and voltage magnitude of the voltage pulse applied to the nozzle are set. Furthermore, in step S207, the CPU 100 causes the ejection nozzle setting unit 110 to associate individual print data with individual nozzles based on the print position deviation amount D0 acquired in step S104.

  Thereafter, the processes from step S208 to step S211 are the same as the processes of steps S107 to S210 in the first embodiment.

  According to the present embodiment described above, even when the nozzle surface F is inclined with respect to the recording medium P, it is possible to suitably correct the recording position shift caused by gravity over the entire recording head.

  In the above description, the individual correction processing is performed for each of the plurality of nozzles based on the recording surface relative angle α. However, individual control has a heavy processing load and may not be possible due to the configuration of the drive circuit. . In such a case, for example, individual correction processing may be performed in units of blocks for each predetermined number of nozzles. Alternatively, the average value of the inter-sheet distance may be obtained from the recording surface relative angle α, and the entire recording head may be collectively controlled based on the average value. Even in this case, it is possible to perform more preferable correction as compared with the first embodiment in which the correction value is obtained based on the distance of only one side of the recording head 22.

  In the above embodiment, the recording position deviation amount calculation unit 105 has been described to calculate the recording position deviation amount based on the detected sheet interval L and the inclination θ with respect to the direction of gravity. However, the present invention has such a configuration. It is not limited to. For example, the recording position deviation D0 corresponding to the combination of the sheet interval L and the inclination θ may be measured in advance, and the corresponding relationship may be recorded as a table in advance. Even in such a case, it is possible to uniquely acquire the recording position deviation amount D0 based on the detected paper gap L and the inclination θ. The acquisition of the recording surface relative angle α in the recording surface relative angle calculation unit 700 is the same.

  Furthermore, even if the modulation of the ejection energy at each nozzle and the adjustment of the position of the nozzle to be ejected are used together as in the above embodiment, the inter-paper distance L, the inclination θ with respect to the gravity direction, and the recording surface relative angle α are too large. If it is large, there may be cases where sufficient correction cannot be made. In such a case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9, the user is notified through the display unit 26 that appropriate correction cannot be performed, and the distance L between the sheets is reduced or the recording surface relative angle α is decreased. The user can be prompted to

21 Recording device
22 Recording head
23 Inter-paper distance detector
24 Tilt detector
25 Movement amount detector
100 CPU
105 Recording position deviation amount calculation unit
108 Discharge energy control unit
110 Discharge nozzle setting section
F Nozzle surface
P Recording medium

Claims (5)

An inkjet recording apparatus that detects an amount of movement with respect to a recording medium and records an image on the recording medium by discharging ink from a recording head based on the amount of movement,
Inclination detecting means for detecting the inclination of the ink ejection direction with respect to the gravity direction;
A paper gap detecting means for detecting a distance between the recording medium and a nozzle surface of the recording head;
An acquisition means for acquiring a recording position shift amount due to gravity in the recording medium based on the inclination and the distance;
Energy control means for adjusting ejection energy applied to the recording head in order to eject ink;
Nozzle setting means for setting a nozzle for ejecting ink toward the recording medium in association with recording data;
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: the energy control unit and a control unit that controls the nozzle setting unit so as to correct the recording deviation amount according to the recording position deviation amount acquired by the acquisition unit. Means for detecting a relative angle of the nozzle surface with respect to the recording medium;
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the recording position shift amount based on the tilt, the distance, and the relative angle.   The acquisition unit acquires the recording position shift amount for each of a plurality of nozzles arranged on the nozzle surface, and the control unit controls the energy control unit and the nozzle setting unit for each of the plurality of nozzles. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2.   The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means for notifying a user that a recording operation is impossible when the recording position deviation amount is larger than a predetermined value. Inkjet recording device.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement with respect to the recording medium is performed manually.

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