JP2018149728A - Image recording apparatus and determination method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a state of carrier means from being erroneously determined when a recording medium remains in the carrier means.CONSTITUTION: An image recording apparatus of the present invention includes: carrier means for carrying a recording medium in which an image is recorded; detection means for detecting the presence or absence of the recording medium for being carried by the carrier means; and determination means for determining that an area detected by the detection means is not in a predetermined state, when the detection means detects the presence of the recording medium even after the carrier means carries the recording medium to a position where the detection means does not detect the presence of the recording medium.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium to be transported and a method for determining contamination on a transport unit.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an ink jet type image recording apparatus that records an image by ejecting liquid (hereinafter also referred to as ink) from a discharge port of a print head onto a recording medium conveyed on a conveyance belt. In such an image recording apparatus, the conveyor belt may be soiled by ink or scraped scraps (hereinafter also referred to as paper dust) scraped from the recording medium during conveyance.

  In order to record an image at an appropriate position on the recording medium, it is necessary to accurately detect the position of the recording medium on the conveyance belt. Therefore, a sensor for detecting the boundary between the conveyance belt and the recording medium is provided. Is common. When a reflective sensor is provided, the boundary between the conveyance belt and the recording medium can be detected based on the difference in the detection value of the sensor. However, if the conveyance belt becomes dirty with paper dust, the end of the recording medium is erroneously detected. There was a problem.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses that the recording medium is determined to be dirty when the recording medium is detected in the absence of the recording medium.

JP-A-2005-14426

  In the method of Patent Document 1, the contamination is determined on the assumption that there is no recording medium. However, when a jam occurs and the apparatus is restarted, the hidden recording medium is detected by the sensor during initialization. Sometimes. In such a case, the method of Patent Document 1 determines that the recording medium is dirty, and gives an erroneous notification to the operator.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus capable of preventing erroneous determination of the state of a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium.

  Therefore, an image recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium that records an image, a detecting unit that detects the presence / absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying unit, and the detecting unit includes the recording medium If the detecting means detects the presence of the recording medium even after the conveying means has conveyed the recording medium to a position where the presence is not detected, the area detected by the detecting means is not in a predetermined state. An image recording apparatus comprising: determination means for determining.

  Another image recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium on which an image is recorded, a detecting unit that detects the presence / absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying unit, and a detection by the detecting unit. When the result is a third detection result different from the first detection result determined that the recording medium exists and the second detection result determined that the recording medium does not exist, the detection unit detects An image recording apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines that the area being operated is not in a predetermined state.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination of the state of the conveying unit that conveys the recording medium.

1 is an external perspective view of an image recording apparatus. It is sectional drawing of an image recording device. It is a block diagram of the control part of an image recording device. It is a flowchart of the dirt determination process in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart of the dirt determination process in 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the image recording apparatus in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, an example of an image recording apparatus will be described using a printer 100 that records image information on a sheet-like recording medium (paper or card) by an inkjet method.

  The printer 100 includes a printer main body 101 and a feeding unit 105 that feeds a recording medium to the printer main body 101. The feeding unit 105 is provided with a loading tray 50 on which a bundle of recording media is placed, and the loading tray 50 is moved in the arrow Z direction in order to move the recording medium on the uppermost surface of the bundle to the feeding position. Can do. The recording medium moved to the feeding position is fed in the direction of arrow A at a predetermined timing, and an image is recorded on the recording medium by ejecting liquid (ink) from the recording head 10 provided in the printer main body 101. can do. The recording medium on which the image is recorded is stacked on the discharge tray 104. The printer main body 101 includes an operation panel 103 for performing various settings and notifying the operator of the status of the printer 100.

  The recording head 10 of the present embodiment is a full-line type recording head 10 that performs recording by discharging liquid (ink) in a fixed state.

Recording data to be recorded on the recording medium is transmitted from the host computer (hereinafter also referred to as host PC) 700 to the printer main body 101 via the print cable 701.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the main part of the printer 100. The printer main body 101 includes a four-color recording head 10 in which a plurality of ejection openings are arranged over the entire width of the recording medium, and can record an image in full color on the recording medium. Below the recording head 10, a cap unit 11 that protects the ejection ports of the recording head 10 in order from the top, a transport unit 20 that transports the recording medium, a four-color ink tank 30 that supplies ink to the recording head 10, and a cap A recovery tank 40 for storing the recovered ink is provided in the unit 11.

  A bundle of recording media P placed on the loading tray 50 of the feeding unit 105 is moved in the direction of arrow Z by the driving force of a lifting motor (not shown), and fed to the printer main body 101 one by one by a feeding roller 51. Sent. When continuously recording images, the feeding roller 51 is driven at a predetermined interval to feed the recording medium to the printer main body 101.

  The recording medium P fed to the printer main body 101 is detected by an inlet sensor 21 and is transported to the position of the recording head 10 by a transport belt 21 that is rotationally driven by a driving force of a transport motor (not shown).

The recording medium P on which recording has been performed by the recording head 10 is detected by the exit sensor 23 and is discharged from the conveyance belt 21 to the discharge tray 104. When the last recording medium P is discharged, the driving belt is stopped.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the control unit 600 of the printer 100. A CPU 601 that controls the entire printer includes a ROM 602 and a RAM 603. The ROM 602 is a read-only storage element in which various programs and data for performing image recording are written. A RAM 603 is a writable and erasable storage element, holds a program read from the ROM 602, and writes and erases processing data and calculation results generated during the image recording process as needed. The EEPROM 604 is a storage area for storing setting values of the apparatus and the operator.

  The CPU 601 converts the recording data input from the host PC 700 into ink ejection information ejected from the recording head 10 by the image processing circuit 605. Then, the recording head 10 is driven via the head driving circuit 606 to eject ink onto the recording medium.

  The CPU 601 feeds the recording medium from the feeding unit in parallel with image processing and head driving. The CPU 601 drives the elevating motor 610 and the feeding motor 609 via the motor driver 607 to feed the recording medium to the printer main body 101 one by one. When the recording medium fed to the printer main body 101 is detected by the inlet sensor 22, the CPU 601 drives the conveyance motor 608 via the motor driver 607 to convey the recording medium to the position of the recording head 10.

  The CPU 601 performs recording by ejecting ink from the recording head 10 at the timing when the recording medium reaches the recording head 10.

  When the recording medium on which the image is finally recorded passes through the exit sensor 23, the CPU 601 stops driving the transport motor 608.

The CPU 601 accepts an operator's instruction via the operation panel 103 or notifies the operator of the operating state of the printer 100. In the present invention, when the state of contamination of the transport belt 21 (FIG. 2) is detected, a notification that prompts the operator to clean is sent to the operation panel 103.

(First embodiment)
The following control is performed by the CPU 601 executing a processing program stored in the ROM 602.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the dirt determination process executed by the CPU 601. The dirt determination process is executed when the apparatus is performing a preparatory operation, for example, when the power is turned on. In the present invention, it is determined whether there is any remaining recording medium in the apparatus before determining the contamination state of the transport belt 21 (FIG. 2). If there is a remaining recording medium, the discharge tray 104 (FIG. 2). Discharge to 2). Then, after the remaining recording medium is not present, the contamination state of the conveyor belt 21 is determined. As a result, the recording medium can be prevented from being erroneously determined as dirty.

  In step S <b> 101 of FIG. 4, the CPU 601 acquires detection values of the inlet sensor 22 and the outlet sensor 23 while driving the conveyance belt 21. The inlet sensor 22 and the outlet sensor 23 are constituted by, for example, reflective sensors, and are sensors that have a detection value equal to or less than a preset threshold when a recording medium is detected. Even when paper dust is accumulated on the conveyor belt 21, the detection value is equal to or less than the threshold value, and thus can be used for detection of paper dust.

  In step S102, the CPU 601 determines whether the detection value of each sensor is equal to or less than a threshold value. If the detection value of each sensor does not fall below the threshold value, it is determined that there is no recording medium in the apparatus and the conveyor belt 21 is not soiled, and the process ends.

  If the detection value of each sensor is equal to or less than the threshold value in step S102, it is determined that the recording medium remains in the apparatus, and the process proceeds to step S103, where the conveyance belt 21 is driven as it is to eject the recording medium to the discharge tray 104 (see FIG. Discharge to 2).

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S104, where the CPU 301 drives the conveyor belt 21 for one round and acquires the detection value of each sensor. At this time, since the recording medium remaining in the apparatus has been discharged and there is no recording medium on the conveyor belt 21, the recording medium is not detected when the output value of each sensor is equal to or less than the threshold value. Therefore, it can be determined that the contamination of the transport belt 21 has been detected. At this time, the distance for driving the transport belt 21 may not be one round. If it is driven for one turn, the dirt state of the entire conveyor belt 21 can be determined. However, dirt due to paper dust does not occur only in a part of the conveyor belt 21, and gradually conveys as it is used repeatedly. Since the entire belt is considered to be evenly soiled, it may be determined that the entire belt is similarly soiled if a part of the transport belt 21 is soiled.

  Proceeding to step S105, the CPU 601 determines again whether the output value of each sensor is equal to or less than the threshold value. If the output value is not equal to or less than the threshold value, the CPU 601 determines that the conveyor belt 21 is not dirty and ends the process. If it is less than or equal to the threshold value, it is determined that the conveyor belt 21 is dirty, and the process advances to step S106 to notify the operation panel 103 of prompting the operator to clean.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S107, where the CPU 601 determines whether the operator has performed cleaning. This is determined by detecting whether a predetermined button is pressed on the operation panel 601 or whether a cover (not shown) for cleaning the conveyor belt is opened or closed. While cleaning is not performed, the process returns to step S106 to continue the notification for prompting cleaning. If it is detected in step S107 that cleaning has been performed, the process ends.

However, step S107 may not be performed, and the process may be terminated when a notification for urging cleaning is performed in step S106. Further, steps S101 and S102 may be omitted, and the process may be started from the discharging operation in step S103 regardless of the determination result of whether or not the recording medium remains.

(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.

  In the first embodiment, the threshold value for detecting the recording medium in step S102 and step S105 is the same value as the threshold value for detecting dirt. However, if the cause of contamination is paper dust, the value when each sensor detects paper dust does not suddenly detect the same level as the recording medium. As the powder gradually accumulates, a value at the same level as the recording medium is detected. Therefore, when the paper dust is still small, the detection value of each sensor is larger than when the recording medium is detected. If the operator can be encouraged to clean the paper with a small amount of paper dust, the conveying belt can be kept clean, which is preferable.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, the threshold for determining the state where the recording medium is present is set as the first threshold, and the threshold for determining the dirty state is distinguished as the second threshold larger than the first threshold, The operator should be urged to clean while paper dust is still low.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the dirt determination process executed by the CPU 601 in the second embodiment.

  After obtaining the detection value of each sensor in step S101, the CPU 601 compares the detection value with a first threshold value in step S202. The first threshold is a threshold for detecting the recording medium. If it is determined in step S202 that the detected value is greater than the first threshold value, it is determined that no recording medium remains in the apparatus. If the detected value is equal to or smaller than the first threshold value in step S202, it is determined that the recording medium remains in the apparatus, and the process proceeds to step S103, where the remaining recording medium is discharged.

  Thereafter, in step S104, the CPU 601 obtains the detection value of each sensor again, and in step S205, compares the detection value with a second threshold value for determining dirt (paper dust). If the detected value is larger than the second threshold value, it is determined that there is no dirt (paper dust), and the process is terminated. If the detected value is less than or equal to the second threshold value, it is determined that the conveyor belt is soiled with paper dust, and therefore the operation panel 103 is notified of cleaning in step S106.

Since the operator can perform cleaning at a stage where paper dust is still low, the conveyor belt 21 can be kept in a clean state.

(Other embodiments)
In each of the embodiments described above, the image recording apparatus that performs color recording using a plurality of full-line recording heads has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also applicable to an image recording apparatus that performs monochrome recording using only one recording head, for example. Is applicable. In the embodiment described above, the image recording apparatus using the full line recording head has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to a serial type image recording apparatus which performs recording by intermittently transporting a recording medium in accordance with reciprocating scanning (reciprocating movement) of the recording head.

  It should be noted that the detection value of each sensor can be realized by a sensor that is equal to or greater than a preset threshold when a recording medium or dirt is detected, and that is less than the threshold when no recording medium or dirt is detected.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Printer 101 Printer main body 103 Operation panel 104 Discharge tray 105 Feed unit 10 Recording head 11 Cap unit 20 Conveyor unit 21 Conveyor belt 22 Inlet sensor 23 Outlet sensor 30 Ink tank 40 Collection tank 50 Loading tray 51 Feed roller

Therefore the image recording apparatus of the present invention includes a conveyor belt for conveying a recording medium onto which the image has Ru is recorded, the installed in the conveyor belt and a position opposed to the change in the detection value at the time of the conveyance belt on the recording medium passes Detecting means for detecting the recording medium, when the detection value of the detection means is less than a predetermined value, it is determined that there is a recording medium on the conveyor belt, and the detection value of the detection means is greater than or equal to the predetermined value Detecting means for determining that there is no recording medium on the conveyor belt, and discharging the recording medium outside the apparatus when the detection value of the detecting means is less than the predetermined value during the preparatory operation of the apparatus. And a driving means for driving the conveying belt, and when the detected value of the detecting means is less than the predetermined value after the conveying belt finishes conveying the recording medium by the driving means, And notifies prompting scavenging is an image recording apparatus, comprising a notifying means for detecting values of said detecting means does not notify prompting cleaning of the conveyor belt when the a predetermined value or more.

Further, another image recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with a conveying belt for conveying a recording medium on which an image is recorded, and a detection value when the recording medium passes over the conveying belt, which is installed at a position facing the conveying belt. Detecting means for detecting a change in the recording medium, when the detection value of the detection means is less than a first threshold value, it is determined that a recording medium is present on the conveyor belt, and the detection value of the detection means is the first value. Detecting means for determining that there is no recording medium on the conveying belt when the second threshold value is greater than or equal to a second threshold value greater than the threshold value, and the detection value of the detecting means during the preparatory operation of the apparatus is the first threshold value. A driving means for driving the conveying belt to discharge the recording medium to the outside of the apparatus when the recording medium is less than the threshold, and a detection value of the detecting means after the conveying belt finishes conveying the recording medium by the driving means. Is the second And notifies prompting cleaning of the conveyor belt when it is less than the threshold value, and a notification means does not notify prompting cleaning of the conveyor belt when the detected value is equal to or larger than the second threshold value of the detection means It is an image recording apparatus characterized by having.

Claims (10)

Conveying means for conveying a recording medium on which an image is recorded;
Detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying means;
If the detection means detects the presence of the recording medium even after the conveyance means has conveyed the recording medium to a position where the detection means does not detect the presence of the recording medium, the detection means detects Determining means for determining that the area is not in a predetermined state;
An image recording apparatus comprising:   2. The detection unit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects the presence of the recording medium when the detection value is less than a predetermined value, and does not detect the presence of the recording medium when the detection value is the predetermined value or more. Image recording device. Conveying means for conveying a recording medium on which an image is recorded;
Detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying means;
When the detection result of the detection means is a third detection result different from the first detection result determined that the recording medium exists and the second detection result determined that the recording medium does not exist, Determination means for determining that the area detected by the detection means is not in a predetermined state;
An image recording apparatus comprising: The detection means becomes the first detection result for detecting the presence of the recording medium when the detection value is less than the first threshold, and when the detection value is equal to or larger than the second threshold larger than the first threshold. The second detection result is detected when the recording medium is not present, and the region detected by the detection unit is in the predetermined state when the detection value is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold. The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein it is determined that there is no image. If the detection result of the detection means is the third detection result even after the transport means transports the recording medium to a position where the detection means does not detect the presence of the recording medium, The image recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image recording apparatus determines that the area detected by the camera is not in a predetermined state.   6. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying unit is a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium on a belt.   7. The predetermined state is a state in which when the recording unit is not present on the transport unit, the detection unit can detect that no recording medium is present. The image recording apparatus described in the item.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the operator to clean the transport unit when the determination unit determines that the area detected by the detection unit is not in a predetermined state. The image recording apparatus according to any one of 1 to 7. Conveying means for conveying a recording medium on which an image is recorded;
Detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying means, and a determination method executed in an image recording apparatus comprising:
If the detection means detects the presence of the recording medium even after the conveyance means has conveyed the recording medium to a position where the detection means does not detect the presence of the recording medium, the detection means detects A determination method characterized by determining that an area is not in a predetermined state. Conveying means for conveying a recording medium on which an image is recorded;
Detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a recording medium conveyed to the conveying means, and a determination method executed in an image recording apparatus comprising:
When the detection result of the conveying means is a third detection result different from the first detection result determined that the recording medium exists and the second detection result determined that the recording medium does not exist, A determination method comprising determining that an area detected by the detection means is not in a predetermined state.

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