JP2017071078A - Recording device and recording control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording device that sets a priority for a recording image to inhibit recording quality from deteriorating in recording high-priority information, and to provide a recording control method.SOLUTION: The recording device sets priority for each area of a recording medium and drives a block that records on an area to which high priority is set, in an initial stage of divided drive when recording one line.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording control method for transporting a recording medium and ejecting a liquid thereon to form an image.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes that drive control of a recording head is performed in synchronization with an encoder signal that is output in synchronization with the movement of a conveyed recording medium, in order to suppress a deviation in the landing position of ejected ink. . Further, it is described that when the encoder signal exceeds the drive capability of the recording head, recording is performed by thinning out a predetermined color.

JP-A-11-170623

  The information recorded on the recording medium may have a different priority depending on the recorded information, and high-quality recording is required for recording information with a high priority.

  When recording is performed by thinning out a predetermined color as in the method of Patent Document 1, the recording quality of the entire image to be recorded is degraded.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a recording control method that can set a priority to a recorded image and can suppress a decrease in recording quality in recording information with a high priority. .

  The recording apparatus of the present invention comprises a conveying means for conveying a recording medium, a plurality of recording elements, a recording means for recording on the recording medium conveyed by the conveying means, and the plurality of recording elements in a plurality of groups. Priority for acquiring recording priority set for each area of the recording medium divided in a direction that intersects the conveyance direction of the recording medium in a recording apparatus that includes driving means that performs time-division driving separately The apparatus further comprises an acquisition unit, and a control unit that changes the driving order of the plurality of groups in the time-division driving according to the priority acquired by the priority acquisition unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a recording apparatus and a recording control method capable of suppressing a decrease in recording quality in recording information with high priority.

1 is a diagram illustrating a recording system in which a host computer is connected to a recording apparatus. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the recording apparatus. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a recording head. FIG. It is the figure which showed the drive pulse signal for driving a heater. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a driving method of time division driving for each block in the recording head. FIG. 4 is a timing chart of drive pulses for driving a recording element. It is the figure which showed the host computer used in this embodiment. It is the figure which showed the priority for every recorded image and its area. It is the figure which showed the control command transmitted from a host computer. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating conveyance of a recording medium in a recording apparatus in stages. It is the graph which showed transition of the conveyance speed of a conveyance belt. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a driving waveform of a recording head. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a recorded image that is recorded when an increase in conveyance speed occurs. 3 is a flowchart illustrating drive control of a recording head of the recording apparatus. It is the figure which showed the time division drive method in each set priority. It is the figure which showed the time division drive method in each set priority. It is the figure which showed the time division drive method in each set priority. It is the figure which showed the time division drive method in each set priority. It is the figure which showed the recorded image. It is the flowchart which showed the encoder interruption process. It is the figure which showed the control command transmitted from a host computer. It is explanatory drawing of the division drive method.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a recording system in which a host computer is connected to a recording apparatus 101 to which this embodiment can be applied. The recording apparatus 101 is an ink-jet color card recording apparatus using a long line head. The recording apparatus 101 and the host computer are connected by a printer cable 107 and are configured to record various data processed by the host computer with the recording apparatus 101. The recording apparatus 101 includes an upper cover 103 for opening and closing a line head and a conveyance unit, which will be described later, and a front cover 104 for opening and closing a tank unit for storing liquid ink as an ejection medium supplied to the line head, which will be described later. It is equipped with. The recording apparatus 101 further includes a paper feeding unit 109 that feeds the recording medium loaded on the paper feeding tray 102 to the recording unit 108, and a paper discharge unit 110 that stores the recording medium conveyed from the recording unit 108. ing. The recording apparatus 101 further includes a power switch 105, an operation panel 106 as input means for setting an operating environment, and an error lamp 111 and an LCD 112 as means for notifying the user of an error occurrence state of the recording apparatus. .

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the recording apparatus 101. The paper feeding unit 109 feeds the recording medium 201 to the recording unit 108 by a paper feeding roller 202 that rotates by driving of a paper feeding motor (not shown). The recording unit 108 includes a conveyance motor 209 that rotates the conveyance roller 208, a conveyance belt 203 that moves in the direction indicated by the arrow in response to the rotation of the conveyance roller 208, and a TOF (Top Of) for detecting the position of the sheet. Form) sensor 204. The recording unit 108 further includes a recording head 205 that ejects ink and an ink tank unit 206 that supplies the ink to the recording head 205. A rotary encoder (not shown) is provided on the rotation shaft of the conveyance roller 208, and a rotation signal is output to a main controller described later in synchronization with the movement of the conveyance belt 203. The ink tank unit 206 is connected to the recording head 205 by a tube (not shown), and supplies ink to the recording head 205 by controlling a recovery motor (not shown). The interval between the slits of the rotary encoder is the same as the recording resolution in the transport direction of the recording apparatus 101, and the movement amount detection capability of the transport belt 203 is configured to be equal to the resolution. The recording medium 201 fed by the paper feeding unit 109 is sandwiched between the conveyance belt 203 and the passive roller 210 of the recording unit 108 and conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow. The transport position of the recording medium 201 is managed from the output signals of the TOF sensor 204 and the rotary encoder. When the recording medium 201 reaches the recording position, ink is ejected from the recording head 205 and ink is sprayed on the surface of the recording medium to form an image. A power supply unit 207 is provided behind the ink tank unit 206 to supply power to an electric circuit board (not shown), the recording head 205, and various motors.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the recording apparatus 101. The main controller 301 that controls the entire recording apparatus has a function as a storage unit that stores input data, which will be described later, and a function as a data control unit and a setting unit. The main controller is connected to a host computer and configured to exchange signals with each other. The ROM 302 is connected to the main controller and stores control programs and the like. The main controller 301 operates using the RAM 303 as a working memory according to these programs. An image buffer (recording data storage means) 304 stores image data transmitted from the host computer. The head driving circuit 305 drives a heating element (not shown) built in the recording head for each color, and records an image according to the image data recorded in the bitmap format stored in the image buffer. The transport mechanism drive circuit 312 drives a transport motor 307 provided in the transport unit. The paper feed mechanism drive circuit 313 drives a lift motor 316 that raises and lowers the paper feed tray 102 of the paper feed unit and a paper feed motor 308 that feeds the recording medium 201. The recovery mechanism drive circuit 311 is a drive circuit that drives a recovery motor 306 that supplies ink in the ink tank unit to the recording head 315. All of these drive circuits are controlled by the main controller 301. The sensor circuit 314 is a circuit that inputs the output signals of the TOF sensor 309 and the rotary encoder 310 described above to the main controller 301.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the recording head 205. The recording head 205 is provided with an ejection port provided therein with 640 recording elements such as electrothermal conversion elements, and ink is ejected from the ejection port by the action of the recording element. The discharge ports are arranged in a straight line at intervals of 0.0425 mm. That is, the recording head 205 is capable of recording with a resolution of 600 dpi (600 dots per inch) and a maximum recording width of 27.2 mm.

  In the recording operation in the recording head in which the discharge ports are arranged at high density as described above, when all the recording elements are driven simultaneously, a voltage drop due to a loss of the common power supply line is increased due to a large current. As the number of recording elements that are driven simultaneously increases due to this voltage drop, the drop in the drive voltage applied to the recording elements increases and recording stability is impaired. Furthermore, inconveniences such as requiring a power source that can withstand a momentary large current occur. For this reason, all the ejection openings from the recording head are divided into a plurality of blocks of several to several tens, and the recording elements corresponding to the ejection openings in each block are sequentially time-division driven. The discharge ports # 1 to # 640 are divided into 40 blocks and are driven by being divided into 16 blocks.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a drive pulse signal 501 for driving a heater which is a recording element provided in the ejection port. The recording apparatus 101 employs a drive pulse width modulation method, and first applies a preheat pulse 502 and then applies a main heat pulse 504 via an interval time 503. The preheat pulse 502 is a pulse for mainly controlling the ink temperature in the ejection port, and applies a pulse width of a region not ejected to the heater. The interval time 503 is provided with a certain time interval so that the preheating period 502 and the main heating period 504 do not interfere with each other, and has a function of equalizing the temperature distribution of the ink in the ejection ports. The main heat pulse 504 generates a foaming phenomenon in the ejection port and ejects ink droplets from the ejection port. The amount of ink ejected increases in proportion to the interval time 503 until a certain point in time. By utilizing this characteristic, it is possible to correct the change in the ink discharge amount due to the temperature variation of the recording head 205. In order to eject ink from the ejection port, a total of 5.0 microseconds is required for the preheat pulse 502, the interval time 503, the main heat pulse 504, and other wait times.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a driving method of time-division driving for each block in the recording head 205. The power supply unit 207 has, for example, a power supply capacity that simultaneously drives the recording elements of a maximum of 40 ejection openings in the recording head 205. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, all the 640 recording elements can be driven by dividing and driving the recording elements of the 40 discharge ports in one block 16 times. The driving order is as follows, for example. The recording elements of 40 discharge ports belonging to one block in each group, for example, the discharge ports of # 1 to # 40, are driven, and after 5.0 microseconds, the discharge ports of the next group, for example, # 161 to # 200 The recording element at the ejection port is driven. Subsequently, the recording elements of the third ejection openings # 321 to # 360 and finally the ejection openings # 600 to # 640 are sequentially driven. In this way, the blocks in the same group are not continuously driven. It is preferable that the ejection port discharged last time is not easily affected by the vibration of the ink generated when the ink is ejected, and is rubbed from a remote ejection port. Because.

  FIG. 7 is a timing chart of driving pulses for driving the recording elements of the recording head 205 in the time division driving method. For example, the recording apparatus 101 drives the recording head 205 at an ejection frequency of 1080 Hz (period 92.6 microseconds), and conveys the recording medium 201 at a constant speed of 18 (inch / second), so that the resolution is 600 dpi in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Image recording is possible. The recording apparatus 101 suppresses the peak current by driving the recording head 205 in a time-sharing manner. Further, the recording head control circuit 305 can change the driving order for each block in accordance with an instruction from the main controller 301.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a host computer used in the present embodiment. A keyboard 801 and a mouse 802 as input devices are connected to the host computer. Information input from these input devices is processed by a CPU (not shown) inside the host computer and then stored in a memory (not shown) or a hard disk (not shown). An operating system for performing such processing is stored in the hard disk in advance and is read when the host computer is turned on. The host computer and the recording apparatus 101 are connected by connection means such as a printer cable 103 (see FIG. 1) to enable information communication, and a recording command to be described later can be transmitted to the recording apparatus 101.

  Next, a method for creating recorded image information using a host computer will be described. Image information to be recorded is created by dedicated application software stored in the hard disk of the host computer. Such a creation function is adapted to the function of the recording apparatus 101, and includes a function for processing a barcode, a serial number, and the like. Depending on the type of recorded image information to be created, general-purpose image creation application software may be used. This dedicated application software has a function of laying out arbitrary recorded image information as an image image 804 and displaying it on the CRT 803 and performing various settings such as the number of recorded sheets 805 and the paper size 806. The input paper size 806 is reflected in the image image 804 on the CRT 803, and in the image image 804, a rectangle 809, a line 807, characters 808, image information 810, a barcode 811, and the like are freely arranged. An angle etc. can be specified.

  The host computer used in this embodiment includes a priority setting function 812, and the priority setting function 812 can select the priority of the recorded image from “high” or “low”. These pieces of information are transmitted to the recording apparatus 102 by a command system described later according to an instruction from the operator.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing recorded images and priorities for each area. Each area is divided in a direction crossing the transport direction. An operator can create an arbitrary recorded image by the above-described host computer, and the recorded image 901 is an example. The recorded image 901 is a coupon ticket distributed to a customer by a retailer. Some of these coupons are managed by giving IDs to prevent forgery, and these IDs are recorded on the coupons as two-dimensional barcodes. Since the character information 903, 904, and 905 are only required to be visually discriminable by a store clerk or a coupon user, even if some image defects occur, it does not cause a big problem. However, since the two-dimensional barcode is read and managed by a barcode reader or the like at each store or the like, it is the most important recorded image data among the recorded images of the coupon. Therefore, the operator sets the priority of the group 4 of the recording head corresponding to the recording position of the two-dimensional barcode to “high” by the priority setting function 812 described above, and the priority of the other groups (groups 1 to 3). Set to “Low”.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a control command transmitted from the host computer. In all commands, an identification code for identifying the type of command is arranged at the head of the command, and an operand for setting an incidental instruction regarding the command follows the identification code. Depending on the type of command, there may be no operand and only an identification code.

  As control commands, there are a sheet setting command 1001 for notifying the size and number of recording media such as a card, a data command 1002 for notifying image data of a recorded image, and a priority setting command 1003 for setting the priority of image data. is there. Further, as a control command, there is a job start command 1003 indicating the end of the recording data. In the group 1 priority setting data 1006, group 2 priority setting data 1007, group 3 priority setting data 1008, and group 4 priority setting data 1009 of the priority setting command 1003, each group set by the operator by the above-described method is used. Is stored.

  FIGS. 11A to 11F are diagrams illustrating the conveyance of the recording medium 201 in the recording apparatus 101 in a stepwise manner. Upon receiving a job start command 1004 from the host computer, the recording apparatus 102 feeds the uppermost recording medium 1301 stacked on the paper feeding unit 109 by the paper feeding roller 202 in the conveyance direction indicated by the arrow. Note that the recording apparatus 101 can record on recording media having various thicknesses. The thickness of the recording medium 1301 described in this embodiment is 10 mm, and the thickness of the recording medium 1302 set below the recording medium 1301. Is 0.3 mm.

When the recording medium 1301 is fed from the paper feeding unit 109 by the paper feeding roller 202, the recording medium 1301 collides with the passive roller 1305 as shown in FIG. It is done. The recording medium 1301 is nipped and conveyed by the depressed passive roller 1305 and the conveyance belt 203. Subsequently, when the recording medium 1301 reaches the passive roller 1304 and collides, the passive roller 1304 is pushed downward by the collision. Similarly, when the recording medium 1301 reaches the passive roller 1305 and collides, the passive roller 1303 is pushed down, and the recording medium 1301 is conveyed as shown in FIG. Thereafter, when the trailing end of the recording medium 1301 passes through the passive roller 1305, the passive roller 1305 returns upward by the spring pressure as shown in FIG. The passive rollers 1304 and 1303 also return upward due to the spring pressure when the rear end of the recording medium 1301 passes through the passive roller 1305, and the recording medium 1301 is discharged to the paper discharge unit. When the rear end of the recording medium 1301 passes through the passive roller 1305, the recording medium 1302 is conveyed toward the recording unit 205 under the driving of the paper feed roller 202.

  FIG. 12 is a graph showing changes in the conveyance speed of the conveyance belt 203 when the recording medium 1301 is conveyed. The recording medium 1301 transported in advance has a thickness of 10 mm, and the recording medium 1302 transported in succession is a thin recording medium having a thickness of 1.0 mm. The recording medium is controlled by the main controller 301 so that the recording medium is conveyed at a speed of 18 (inch / second). However, when the recording medium 1301 having a thickness of 10 mm passes through the passive roller 1303, the conveyance load decreases rapidly. The conveyance speed temporarily increases. Therefore, the main controller 301 controls to decrease the speed when detecting an increase in the transport speed, so that the transport speed returns to 18 (inch / second).

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a driving waveform of the recording head when the conveyance speed of the recording medium is increased. As described above, the recording apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment requires a time of at least 80 microseconds at a transport speed of 18 (inch / second) in order to eject from all of the 640 ejection ports of the recording head. However, if the transport speed is increased to 22.2 (inch / second), the driving time is reduced to 75 microseconds. In that case, there is not enough time to discharge from all 640 discharge ports. If there is not enough time, an encoder output signal serving as a drive start trigger for the next line is input to the main controller 301 before the discharge is started in the block 16 scheduled for the final discharge as shown in FIG. , No discharge is made from the discharge ports belonging to the block 16. In such a case, white spots occur in the portions where the ejection has not been performed.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a recorded image that is recorded when the conveyance speed increases. Here, after the ejection of the ejection ports corresponding to the blocks that perform printing in areas 1 to 3 is completed, the ejection is performed from the ejection ports corresponding to the blocks corresponding to area 4. Since the conveyance speed has increased, in Area 4, there is not enough time to discharge from all the discharge ports, and white spots have occurred in some areas. Further, white spots are generated in the two-dimensional barcode portion, and it is not preferable that white spots occur in information having high priority (importance) as recorded information.

  In the present embodiment, recording control is performed so that white spots that occur in this way do not occur in areas set with high priority. In other words, when the transport speed is increased, the discharge ports that are no longer discharged are the discharge ports that belong to the block that is discharged in the latter half of the drive of the one-line recording head. The recording head is driven so that ejection is performed in the initial stage of the divided driving.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing drive control of the recording head of the recording apparatus according to this embodiment. Hereinafter, drive control of the recording head will be described using this flowchart.

  The encoder interrupt process is executed when the output signal of the rotary encoder is input to the main controller 301. When the encoder interrupt process is executed, in step S1102, the main controller detects an elapsed time from the previous rotary encoder input signal to the current rotary encoder input signal. Thereafter, in step S1103, the encoder time interval detected in step S1102 is compared with the time (92.6 microseconds) required for ejection from all ejection ports. As a result of the comparison, if the detected encoder time interval is longer (discharge is possible at all discharge ports), the process proceeds to step S1104. If the time required for discharge from all the discharge ports (92.6 microseconds) is longer (discharge cannot be performed from the discharge ports belonging to the latter block), the process proceeds to step S1105. When the process proceeds to step S1104, the head drive circuit 305 is instructed to perform time-division driving in a default discharge order, which will be described later, which discharges uniformly from all the discharge ports. When the process proceeds from step S1103 to step S1105, the head drive circuit 305 is instructed to perform time-division driving in the order corresponding to the priority set by the control command (priority acquired by the priority acquisition unit). . This interrupt process is repeatedly executed for every recording of one line.

  FIGS. 16 to 19 are diagrams showing a time-division driving method for each set priority for each group. Even when the recording medium conveyance speed increases and ejection cannot be performed in all blocks, the group of the group set with high priority is set so that the block of the group set with high priority is not excluded from the drive target. The blocks are discharged in an early order in the time division drive.

  FIG. 16A shows the time-division drive order when there is no difference in priority among all groups, and is the default time-division drive method in step S1104 in FIG. 16 described above. FIG. 16B shows a time-division driving method when the groups 1 to 3 are set with high priority and the group 4 is set with low priority. FIG. 16C shows a time-division driving method in which the groups 1, 2, and 4 are set with high priority and the group 3 is set with low priority. FIG. 16D shows a time-division driving method when the groups 1 and 2 are set with high priority and the groups 3 and 4 are set with low priority. FIG. 17A shows a time-division driving method when the groups 1, 3, and 4 are set with high priority and the group 2 is set with low priority. FIG. 17B shows a time-division driving method when the groups 1 and 3 are set with high priority and the groups 2 and 4 are set with low priority. FIG. 17 (c) shows a time-division driving method in which the groups 1 and 4 are set with high priority and the groups 2 and 3 are set with low priority. FIG. 17D shows a time-division driving method when the group 1 is set with a high priority and the groups 2, 3, and 4 are set with a low priority. FIG. 18A shows a time-division driving method when the groups 2, 3, and 4 are set with high priority and the group 1 is set with low priority. FIG. 18B shows a time-division driving method when the groups 2 and 3 are set with high priority and the groups 1 and 4 are set with low priority. FIG. 18C shows a time-division driving method when the groups 2 and 4 are set with high priority and the groups 1 and 3 are set with low priority. FIG. 18D shows a time-division driving method when group 2 is set with a high priority and groups 1, 3, and 4 are set with a low priority. FIG. 19A shows a time-division driving method in which the groups 3 and 4 are set with high priority and the groups 1 and 2 are set with low priority. FIG. 19B shows a time-division driving method when group 3 is set with a high priority and groups 1, 2, and 4 are set with a low priority. FIG. 19C shows a time-division driving method when the group 4 is set with a high priority and the groups 1, 2, and 3 are set with a low priority. FIG. 19D shows a time-division driving method in the case where there is no difference in priority among all groups.

  In this way, the priority is set for each area of the recording medium, and the block that records the area set with a high priority is driven in the initial stage of time-division driving for recording one line. As a result, it was possible to realize a recording apparatus and a recording control method capable of suppressing a decrease in recording quality in recording information with high priority.

  In the present embodiment, the description has been made with respect to one type of conveyance speed. However, the conveyance speed of the recording apparatus can be selected from a plurality of speeds, and fast conveyance in which white spots may occur due to fluctuations in the conveyance speed. When the speed is selected, the control of the present embodiment is performed. When the slow conveyance speed with no possibility of occurrence of white spot is selected, the control of the present embodiment is not performed with priority on the recording quality. You may make it perform the default time division drive method shown in FIG.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Since the basic configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, only the characteristic configuration will be described below.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a recorded image recorded by applying this embodiment. When there are a plurality of important recorded images, for example, two-dimensional barcode 2001 and one-dimensional barcode 2002 are in different groups, the image area is divided into area A and area B in the transport direction, and each divided area is divided. Set the priority of each group.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing encoder interrupt processing in the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the encoder interrupt processing of this embodiment will be described using this flowchart.

  Steps S2102 to S2103 and step S2104 and the subsequent steps are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted. When the process proceeds from step S2103 to step S2106, it is checked in step S2106 whether or not area A is being recorded. If area A is being recorded, the process proceeds to step S2107 and based on the priority level in area A. To discharge. If it is determined in step S2106 that area A is not being recorded, the process proceeds to step S2108, and ejection is performed based on the priority level in area B.

  In addition, although the priority of the image mentioned above selects either “high” or “low”, an embodiment in which the operator sets the priority of 1 to 4 for each group in more detail may be used. In that case, the ejection control is performed so that the group having a higher priority is ejected at an earlier stage.

  In this way, the area is set in the transport direction, and the priority is set in the area for each set area. Then, the block corresponding to the area set with high priority is driven in the initial stage of time-division driving for recording one line. As a result, it was possible to realize a recording apparatus and a recording control method capable of suppressing a decrease in recording quality in recording information with high priority.

(Third embodiment)
Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Since the basic configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, only the characteristic configuration will be described below.

  In the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment, the driving order of time-division driving is determined according to the priority set by the operator, but the recording is used for a special purpose such as recording a predetermined fixed image. In the apparatus, the priority is uniquely determined. Therefore, in this embodiment, the recording apparatus performs recording in a predetermined priority order without the operator setting the priority order. Note that the plurality of predetermined recording image data and their priorities are stored in the ROM 302, and the recording apparatus records the recording image data designated by the control command described later by the application software.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a control command transmitted from the host computer in the present embodiment. As control commands, there are a paper setting command 1801 for notifying the size and number of recording media such as a card, an image designation command 1802 for notifying image data of a recording image to be recorded, and a job start command 1804 for indicating the end of the recording data. Exists.

  FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of the division driving method in the present embodiment. In the image # 1, the priority of the group 4 in which the two-dimensional barcode 1903 exists is high, and the priority of the groups 3, 1, and 2 to which other character strings belong is low. Accordingly, when recording of image # 1 is instructed by the image designation command 1802 and it is determined that the recording operation by all the ejection openings is not completed during the recording operation of image # 1, the group 4 having the two-dimensional barcode is preferentially driven. Continue driving the remaining groups. In image # 2, the priority of the one-dimensional barcode 1904 belonging to group 1 is high, and the priority of groups 2, 3, and 4 to which other character strings belong is low. Therefore, when recording of image # 2 is instructed by the image designation command 1802 and it is determined that the recording operation by all the ejection openings is not completed during the recording operation of image # 2, group 1 having a one-dimensional barcode is driven with the highest priority. Continue driving the remaining groups.

  Note that the recording device may recognize the priority of the recording information from the recording data and perform recording based on the priority.

  As described above, based on the priority order set in advance, the block corresponding to the area set with high priority is driven in the initial stage in the time-division driving for recording one line. As a result, it was possible to realize a recording apparatus and a recording control method capable of suppressing a decrease in recording quality in recording information with high priority.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the ink jet type recording apparatus has been described as an example. is there.

  In the embodiment described above, the recording apparatus that mounts one recording head and forms an image with single color ink has been described as an example. However, a full-color image is formed by mounting a plurality of recording heads and ink tanks. This is also effective in the recording apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Recording apparatus 102 Paper feed tray 108 Recording part 109 Paper supply part 201 Recording medium 202 Paper feed roller 203 Conveyor belt 205 Recording head 305 Head drive circuit 310 Rotary encoder

Claims (8)

Conveying means for conveying the recording medium;
A recording unit that includes a plurality of recording elements, and that records on a recording medium conveyed by the conveying unit;
Driving means for performing time-division driving by dividing the plurality of recording elements into a plurality of groups;
In a recording apparatus comprising:
Priority acquisition means for acquiring the recording priority set for each area of the recording medium divided in the direction intersecting with the conveyance direction of the recording medium;
Control means for changing the driving order of the plurality of groups in the time-division driving according to the priority acquired by the priority acquisition means;
A recording apparatus, further comprising: The recording means performs recording for each line in a direction intersecting the conveyance direction of the recording medium,
The control means sets the driving order of the plurality of groups in the time-division driving for each recording of one line, and the recording elements of the group that perform recording in the area having a higher priority in the recording medium 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is set to be driven in an early order when recording one line.   3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording priority set for each area of the recording medium is set by a user according to the importance of the recording information.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus has, as information, a recording priority set for each area of the recording medium.   5. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the area is divided for each area divided in the conveyance direction of the recording medium, and a recording priority is set for each area. The recording device described.   6. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit excludes at least one of the plurality of groups from an object to be driven according to a conveyance speed of the recording medium.   The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit sets a driving order so that the group that performs recording in the area having a high priority on the recording medium is not excluded from a driving target. A transporting process for transporting the recording medium;
A recording step of recording on the recording medium conveyed by the conveying step by the action of a plurality of recording elements;
A driving step of performing time-division driving by dividing the plurality of recording elements into a plurality of groups;
In a recording control method having
A priority acquisition step for acquiring the recording priority set for each area of the recording medium divided in the direction intersecting the conveyance direction of the recording medium;
A control step of changing the driving order of the plurality of groups in the time-division driving according to the priority acquired in the priority acquisition step;
And a recording control method.