JP2019059133A - Ink jet recording apparatus and method for cleaning cutting member - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent a cutter blade from being soiled.SOLUTION: An image recording apparatus includes: recording means for recording an image in a recording medium; a cutting member for cutting the recording medium in which the image is recorded by the recording means; and control means for carrying out control so as to perform a cutting member cleaning operation by providing a blank area for cleaning the cutting member between the images and making the cutting member cut the blank area, when the borderless image with no blank between the images is recorded.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and print processing method using an inkjet technology, and more particularly to a process of cleaning dirt on a cutter when cutting an output printed matter with a motor-driven cutter.

  As an example of a printing apparatus for recording characters, images, etc. on a sheet-like recording medium such as paper or film, an inkjet printing apparatus capable of color output is known, which discharges a color material onto the recording medium to form an image. There is. The ink jet recording apparatus includes a plurality of inks as color materials, and discharges ink droplets from a discharge nozzle of a recording head to adhere to a recording medium to form characters and images.

  An inkjet recording apparatus in which printing processing is performed on a printing surface while pulling out a roll-shaped continuous medium has a cutter unit which is driven by an actuator downstream of the recording head, and cut processing of completed printed matter in page units or job units. There are many things to do.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus, so-called borderless printing may be performed by cutting the leading end and the trailing end of the finished printed matter and forming no leading end and trailing end margin. In this case, since the cutter blade passes the boundary of the image area or the inside of the image immediately after the ink is discharged, the ink may be attached to one side or both sides of the cutter blade depending on the dried state of the printed image. Further, in such a case, by continuously cutting the subsequent printed matter, the ink attached to the cutter may be transferred to the subsequent printed matter, and the output image may be stained. Furthermore, by continuing to operate while ink stains adhere to the cutter blade, the cutter blade may eventually be dried and the sharpness of the cutter blade may be reduced, which may cause paper jam at the time of cutting. The prior art known as a method of solving such a problem is described below.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, as special all-in-one cleaning that can be performed in a state where the printing apparatus is not printing, head cleaning, wiper blade cleaning, transport roller cleaning, etc. are collectively performed. Then, it is disclosed that the cutter blade is cleaned by cutting the leading end of the roll paper. That is, the cutter blade is cleaned at the time of non-printing by the user's instruction or at the replacement timing when the roll paper is used up, and in the subsequent job printing, printing can be performed using a clean cutter. It is done.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-07205

  However, the dirt of the cutter blade assumed in the above-mentioned prior art is an ink mist in which fine particles of ink adhere to other portions in an air flow, paper dust generated by cutting with a cutter, and these dusts It is assumed that the contamination is caused by the mixed adhesion.

  On the other hand, when performing continuous printing, for example, when executing a borderless print job composed of a plurality of pages, the above-described cleaning can not be performed between pages, and in such a case, the second and subsequent pages are used. It is impossible to prevent the transfer of stains that occur on

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to clean stains due to ink adhesion to a cutter blade accompanying a continuous borderless printing process. .

  In order to achieve this object, the image recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with recording means for recording an image on a recording medium, a cutting member for cutting the recording medium on which the image is recorded by the recording means, and a margin between the images. When recording a non-margined image, a blank area for cleaning the cutting member is provided between the images, and the blank area is controlled to be cut by the cutting member to perform the cleaning operation of the cutting member. And control means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to properly remove the dirt of the cutting member for cutting the recording medium even when recording an image including a borderless image in which no margin is provided between the images.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance structure of the inkjet printing apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows typically the internal structure of the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a view showing the arrangement of recording heads of the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and the relationship between a recording medium to be conveyed and a cutter. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the software configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing blank data of the minimum outputable size being output between the borderless images in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a view showing a typical difference in how ink is attached to the cutter blade according to the positional relationship between an image formed on a sheet surface and a cut position in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the software configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention.

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

First Embodiment
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

(Mechanical configuration)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance structure of an inkjet printing apparatus 10 (image recording apparatus) of the present embodiment. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of the inkjet printing apparatus 10 shown in FIG.

  The inkjet printing apparatus 10 performs printing using a full-line type recording head equivalent to the paper width of the roll-shaped recording medium P shown in FIG.

  The recording medium P is stored in the roll unit 11. An upper cover 12 is attached to an upper portion of the main body of the ink jet printing apparatus 10 so as to be openable and closable. By opening the upper cover 12 upward, the recording head 21 provided on the main body and the transport portion of the recording medium P are exposed. A front cover 13 is attached to the front of the main body so as to be openable and closable, and by opening the front cover 13 to the front side, recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y (collectively, recording head 21 and recording means) The ink tank storing each color ink supplied is exposed.

  A cutter unit 14 for cutting the printed recording medium P is provided on the side of the main body, and a power switch 15 of the ink jet printing apparatus 10 is provided below the front cover 13. Furthermore, an operation panel 16 is provided above the front cover 13, and the user can confirm various settings and the processing status of the inkjet printing apparatus 10 via the operation panel 16.

  In the inkjet printing apparatus 10, the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y belonging to the recording head 21 corresponding to each color of black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) are recording media P. Are arranged side by side in the conveyance direction (the direction of arrow A).

  The inkjet printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes the recording heads corresponding to four colors, but it is also possible to provide, for example, recording heads corresponding to light cyan, light magenta, or other special color inks in addition to the four colors. it can.

  Ink droplets of black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y) are ejected from the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M and 21Y, respectively. The recording heads 21 K, 21 C, 21 M, and 21 Y are so-called line-type recording heads in which nozzle arrays are arranged in a direction intersecting the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The lengths of the recording heads 21 K, 21 C, 21 M, and 21 Y are configured to be slightly longer than the maximum width of the recording medium P which can be passed by the inkjet printing apparatus 10.

  During the printing operation, the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y are fixed, and the conveyance operation of the recording medium P and the ejection operation from the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y are repeated to form the recording medium P. Printing can be performed on the entire surface.

  The inkjet printing apparatus 10 includes a recovery unit 40 in order to stably maintain the functions of the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y. By using the recovery unit 40, the ink discharge function of the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y can be restored to a complete state. The recovery unit 40 includes a capping mechanism for removing the ink from the discharge nozzle formation surface of the print heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y during the recovery operation. The capping mechanism includes a blade, an ink removing member, a blade holding member, a cap, and the like. Further, the recovery unit 40 can suck the ink from the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y, and can remove the ink, air bubbles, and the like that have deviated from the appropriate viscosity from the ink flow path in each recording head due to aging.

  The recording medium P is supplied from the roll unit 11 and conveyed in the arrow A direction by the conveyance mechanism. The conveyance mechanism includes a conveyance belt 30a for conveying the recording medium P, a conveyance motor 30b for rotating the conveyance belt 30a, and a roller 30c for applying tension to the conveyance belt 30a.

  The positional information on the leading end of the sheet and the leading end of the label is monitored by a TOF (Time of Flight) sensor 31, and after the leading end of the sheet is managed, it is managed by a transport encoder not shown. Basically, an optical sensor is used as the TOF sensor 31, and the sensing method is performed by a reflection type, a transmission type, or a combination thereof. After the recording medium P is conveyed, the leading end position of the sheet passes the TOF sensor 31, and passes under the recording head 21K, black ink droplets are selectively discharged from the nozzles from the recording head 21K based on the print recording data The image is formed on the recording medium P. Similarly, ink droplets are discharged in the order of 21C, 21M and 21Y to form a color image on the recording medium P.

  The formed color image is cut at a predetermined position by a cutter 50 (cutting member) provided in the cutter unit 14 and is output as an image of an appropriate size. In the present embodiment, the cutter 50 has a plate-like blade sized to cover the printable maximum width of the inkjet printing apparatus 10. Then, the cutter 50 is lowered by an actuator such as a solenoid, and then the power of the actuator is turned off, and the cutter 50 is raised by a return mechanism such as a spring to cut a predetermined position of the sheet. Even if it is another structure, it is applicable similarly to this embodiment.

  The inkjet printing apparatus 10 further includes ink tanks 23K, 23C, 23M, and 23Y that store the ink supplied to the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y. Further, the inkjet printing apparatus 10 has a tube pump (not shown) or the like for performing the ink supply to the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y and the recovery operation.

  The inkjet printing apparatus 10 is connected to an external host PC 20 directly via a network or the like, and can communicate with each other. The host PC 20 is a general personal computer on which applications and printer drivers can operate. The host PC 20 acquires image data to be printed by the ink jet printing apparatus 10 from the outside or generates the image data using an application and a driver, shapes it into a print job appearance, and transmits it to the ink jet printing apparatus 10.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing the arrangement of the recording heads 21 K, 21 C, 21 M, 21 Y of the inkjet printing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 and the positional relationship between the recording medium P conveyed and the cutter 50. The same components as in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 3A is a view showing a case where normal printing is performed on label paper 301 arranged at a constant interval on continuous label mount 300 as recording medium P. FIG. In the figure, the filled portion of the label sheet 301 is an area where an image is formed. As shown in this figure, the image is not formed on the label mount 300 but formed only on the label sheet 301. In addition, the cut line 302 is controlled so as to cut only the label mount 300 without covering the label sheet 301 at all. For this reason, in the case of FIG. 3A, the ink constituting the image does not adhere to the blade of the cutter 50, and the factors that stain the blade are ink mist flying in the air and paper dust generated at the time of cutting. Become.

  On the other hand, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an image arrangement when recording a borderless image (upper and lower borderless image) in which no margin is provided between the images of the continuous paper 303 as the recording medium P. . In the figure, an area 303 a of the filled portion of the continuous paper 303 is an area where an image is formed. As shown in the figure, the ink is discharged almost entirely in the sheet passing direction A of the continuous sheet 303, and the cut line 304 is controlled to be on a continuous image. For this reason, in the case of FIG. 3B, the amount of ink attached to the cutter blade fluctuates depending on the density of the image, and the ink mist and the paper dust adhere to the amount of ink.

(Electrical configuration)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus 10. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in the figure, print data transmitted from the host PC 20 is transmitted to the CPU 400 via the interface controller 401.

  The CPU 400 is in charge of overall control of the inkjet printing apparatus 10. The CPU 400 sets the start of printing to the device control ASIC 405 based on print settings such as paper size, paper type, print quality information and the like extracted from header information of the received print data. The setting of printing start includes sheet conveyance speed, setting of upper and lower left and right margins for each label, preliminary discharge information on paper surface, and setting of buffer head address used for image development on the image memory 414.

  The device control ASIC 405 analyzes the image data portion in the print data, performs bit map development (rasterize) on the image memory 414 for each ink color, and drives each actuator to perform print pre-processing and print processing described below. I do.

  First, as a pre-printing process, the print heads 21 K, 21 C, 21 M, 21 Y are separated from the capping mechanism by driving the head up / down motor 409 and the capping motor 411 via the output port 407 and the actuator driver 408 to print position. Move to

  Next, a roll motor (not shown) for unwinding the roll of the recording medium P and the conveyance motor 410 for conveying the recording medium P at a low speed are driven via the output port 407 and the actuator drive unit 408 to print the recording medium P at the printing start position. Transport to. During this transport process, the front end position detection sensor (not shown) for determining the ink discharge start timing detects the front end position of the recording medium P which is roll paper. Thereafter, in synchronization with the conveyance operation of the recording medium P, the CPU 400 sequentially reads the print data corresponding to each color from the image memory 414 and outputs the print data to the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y via the recording head control circuit 406.

  The print head control circuit 406 controls the timing of applying drive pulses to the ejection heaters provided for the print heads 21 K, 21 C, 21 M, and 21 Y of each color, and outputs drive pulses of appropriate shapes at appropriate timings. Discharge from each nozzle.

  The CPU 400 executes the control program stored in the program ROM 403 using the work RAM 404 as a working memory. The program ROM 403 stores control programs and various tables for realizing the operation of the present embodiment. Further, the CPU 400 drives the pump motor 412 via the output port 407 and the actuator driving unit 408 at the time of recovery operation of the recording heads 21K, 21C, 21M, and 21Y, and performs control such as pressure and suction of ink. The recording head control circuit 406 causes the discharge heater inside the recording head 21 to generate heat and form bubbles, and thereby the ink droplets are discharged from the nozzles arranged on the recording head 21. When the printing process on the recording medium P is completed, the CPU 400 moves the printed matter to the cutting position, and turns the cutter solenoid 413 ON / OFF to cut the printed matter.

  In the present embodiment, a solenoid is used as an actuator for operating the cutter 50. However, the drive actuator of the cutter 50 is not limited to a solenoid, and for example, the rotation of the motor may be converted to the vertical movement of the cutter 50 by a cam.

(Software configuration)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus 10.

  As shown in the figure, the host PC 20 and the CPU 400 in the inkjet printing apparatus 10 are connected via a network 501.

  In software that operates on the CPU 400, an input / output data management unit 502 is connected to the network 501 to manage all data input / output.

  The print data analysis unit 503 analyzes the print data input from the input / output data management unit 502, extracts image page data from the job, and delivers the image page data to the print control unit 504.

  The print control unit 504 stores an expanded image of the page data delivered from the print data analysis unit 503 in the image expansion buffer 506. In addition, the print control unit 504 determines the cut position at the end of printing according to whether or not borderless printing as shown in FIG. 3, and is appropriate according to the transport encoder signal input from the sensor control unit 510 described later. Issue a paper cut command at any position.

  The cutter cleaning determination unit 505 determines whether to execute cutter cleaning from the printing control information delivered from the printing control unit 504. In the present embodiment, as the simplest judgment criterion, whether or not to execute the cutter cleaning is determined depending on whether or not the borderless image is printed immediately before.

  When the cutter cleaning determination unit 505 determines that the cutter cleaning is to be performed, the blank sheet data generation unit 507 does not have data of the print content, and the so-called blank sheet data in which the sheet size of the minimum size that the printer can output is set It generates and outputs the necessary number of pages to the print control unit 504. In this embodiment, the necessary number of pages is two.

  The print control unit 504 outputs and prints to the image expansion buffer 506 regardless of whether the print data transmitted from any module or the image is included.

  On the other hand, when page data is stored in the image expansion buffer 506, the ASIC I / F manager 512 delivers the page data to the device control ASIC 405.

  The device control ASIC 405 converts the delivered page data into a form that can be ejected from the recording head 21, and stores the converted page data in the image memory 414.

  When the above processing is completed, the head drive unit 508 performs drive setting to the recording head 21 through the device control ASIC 405, and starts print processing.

  Next, the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance drive unit 509, and the recording head 21 reads an image for each raster from the image memory 414 according to a conveyance pulse input from the conveyance encoder that rotates in conveyance to the sheet conveyance. Is executed.

  When the printing process is completed, conveyance is performed so that the sheet cutting position determined from the input from the sensor control unit 510 and the conveyance pulse input from the conveyance encoder becomes equal to the cutter position. Then, the cutter control unit 511 drives the cutter 50 to cut the printed matter, and the printing process for one page is completed.

  The CPU 400, the program ROM 403, the work RAM 404, and the device control ASIC 405 constitute control means.

(Cutter blade cleaning operation)
FIG. 6 is a view showing blank data of the minimum outputable size being output between the borderless images 604 and 607.

  Conventionally, when a borderless image is continuously output, the borderless image is output in a connected state as shown in FIG. 3B. In the present embodiment, when the borderless image is continuously output, as shown in FIG. 6, two sets of blank paper data 605 and 606 (margin area) of the minimum outputable size are provided between the borderless images 604 and 607. 2 pages are output. Thereby, the blade of the cutter 50 cuts three positions of the cutting positions 601, 602, and 603, but the application of the ink to the blade of the cutter 50 changes depending on the cutting position.

  FIG. 7 is a view showing the difference in how ink is attached to the blade of the cutter 50 depending on the positional relationship between the image formed on the sheet surface and the cut position. That is, in each of FIGS. 7A to 7D, the images 702a to 702c are printed within the printable range w on the sheet surfaces 701a to 701d transported in the sheet transport direction A. . In this case, a state is shown in which the blade of the cutter 50 cuts on the cut lines 703a to 703d with respect to each printed material.

  In FIG. 7A, the image 702a is formed to fill the printable range w, and when the blade of the cutter 50 cuts on the cut line 703a, both the front and back sides of the blade of the cutter 50 print density of the image 702a. Stained with ink according to the amount. Here, the front and back of the blade of the cutter 50 indicate the left and right sides in FIG. 7 as viewed in the drawing.

  In FIG. 7B, the image 702b is formed only on the left side of the cut line 703b and on the front side of the blade of the cutter 50, and the blade of the cutter 50 cuts the cut line 703b. Only the surface is stained by the amount of ink corresponding to the print density of the image 702b. On the other hand, the back surface of the blade of the cutter 50 passes a non-printed portion, and if this surface is stained with ink, it can be wiped off.

  In FIG. 7C, contrary to FIG. 7B, the image 702c is formed only on the right side of the cut line 703c and on the back side of the blade of the cutter 50, and the blade of the cutter 50 cuts on the cut line 703c. By doing this, only the back surface of the blade of the cutter 50 is stained by the amount of ink corresponding to the print density of the image 702c. On the other hand, the surface of the blade of the cutter 50 passes an unprinted portion, and if this surface is stained with ink, it can be wiped off.

  In FIG. 7D, the image is not configured on the sheet surface 701d, and when the blade of the cutter 50 cuts on the cut line 703d, nothing is printed on the front and back surfaces of the blade of the cutter 50. It is possible to pass through the missing parts and wipe (clean) these surfaces if they are soiled with ink.

  In FIG. 6, the cut surfaces when cut at the cutting positions 601, 602, and 603 correspond to FIGS. 7 (b), 7 (d), and 7 (c), respectively. In the state of FIG. 7 (b) and FIG. 7 (c), the blade of the cutter 50 can not be said to be completely cleaned, but in the present embodiment, it constitutes the state of FIG. 7 (d). , At least two pages of blank data 605 and 606 are inserted.

  That is, when the cleaning operation is performed, the rear end side of the leading edgeless image 604 (first image) is cut. Thereafter, two pages of blank paper data 605 and 606 (margin areas) are provided, and cutting is performed at the boundary of the two pages of blank paper data 605 and 606. Further, the tip side of the borderless image 607 (first image) following the borderless image 604 is cut. In this case, cutting may be performed the number of times based on an instruction from the user using two pages of blank paper data 605 and 606 (margin area). Also, after the trailing edge side of the leading edgeless image 604 is cut, cutting may be performed using two pages of blank paper data 605 and 606 even in the case where borderless recording is not performed for the subsequent image. After cutting the rear end side of the leading edgeless image 604, cutting may be performed using two pages of blank paper data 605 and 606 even when there is no subsequent image.

  By operating the inkjet printing apparatus 10 described above, it is possible to output the minimum necessary blank data every time borderless printing is performed, and to obtain the effect of cleaning the blade of the cutter 50. As a matter of course, the configuration of the present embodiment is not limited to the above, and the timing for cleaning the blade of the cutter 50 by inserting blank data is not necessarily every time borderless printing is performed but for every plural pages. It may be generated at random by other factors. In addition, the number of blank data output in the cleaning sequence may be simply one page, or three or more pages may be inserted in order to achieve a higher cleaning effect.

  As described above, in the ink jet printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the dirt on the blade of the cutter 50 generated because the printed portion is cut in the borderless printing process is output by cutting the blank paper portion and cutting the blank paper portion. to clean up. For this reason, it is possible to prevent contamination by transfer to a subsequently printed image, and to improve the efficiency of the printing process.

Second Embodiment
Next, an inkjet printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The ink jet printing apparatus of the present embodiment is basically the same as the ink jet printing apparatus of the first embodiment as a basic configuration, and only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus of this embodiment. The same parts as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

  A difference from the first embodiment is that, as shown in FIG. 8, a cutter blade-adhered ink calculation unit 813 and a density accumulation unit 814 are provided.

  The cutter blade adhesion ink calculation unit 813 calculates the amount of ink adhering to the blade of the cutter 50 in a single cutting operation from the print density around the cutting position and the type of paper used for printing by the method for calculating cutter contamination described later. Do.

  The concentration accumulation unit 814 accumulates the ink amount calculated by the cutter blade adhesion ink calculation unit 813 at each cutting operation, and executes the cutter cleaning operation to the cutter cleaning determination unit 805 when the accumulated value exceeds a predetermined threshold. Make a notification. The cutter cleaning determination unit 805 (determination unit) operates the blank sheet data generation unit 507 for the next cutting process only when the execution notification is received, and the cutter blade cleaning process described in the first embodiment is performed. Run it.

  FIG. 7 shows the case where factors such as paper, printing position, printing speed, and cutting position are respectively at ideal positions, and in fact belong to any of FIG. 7 due to accumulation of errors due to mechanical tolerances and actuator control. There is no condition. In such a case, the contamination degree of the cutter blade is estimated by calculation taking the positional relationship between the image and the cutter blade, the image density, the sheet type, etc. as a parameter, and this accumulation is used as a judgment standard for cleaning the cutter blade. be able to.

(How to calculate cutter dirt)
Among the methods for calculating the amount of dirt on the cutter, the simplest method is to execute cleaning of the blade of the cutter 50 depending on whether the number of dots discharged around the blade of the cutter 50 accompanying a single cutting process exceeds a threshold value. It is to judge the availability. In this case, the cutter blade-adhered ink calculation unit 813 simply counts the number of ejected dots around the blade of the cutter 50 and delivers it to the density accumulation unit 814.

  The concentration accumulation unit 814 receives this, determines whether or not a predetermined threshold value is exceeded, and if it exceeds, executes a cutter blade cleaning process. It is desirable that this threshold have a unique value in accordance with the characteristics of the sheet type used for printing.

  Next, as a somewhat complicated determination means, the number of dots discharged around the blade of the cutter 50 is accumulated in a plurality of cutting processes, and it is determined whether the accumulated number of dots exceeds a predetermined threshold or not. For example, the cutter blade cleaning process is performed. In this case, the cutter blade-adhered ink calculation unit 813 counts the number of ejected dots around the blade of the cutter 50 and delivers it to the density accumulation unit 814. The concentration accumulation unit 814 receives and accumulates the information, and determines whether the accumulated value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. If it exceeds, the cutter blade cleaning process is executed, and the accumulated value is reset.

  That is, as the image density at the cutting position of the recording medium P cut by the cutter 50 is higher, the number of cleaning operations of the cutter 50 is controlled to be increased. Further, as the image density at the cutting position of the recording medium P cut by the cutter 50 approaches the ink limit acceptance amount per unit area of the recording medium P, the number of cleaning operations of the cutter 50 is controlled to be increased. It is good. Thus, as the blade of the cutter 50 is contaminated with ink, the number of cleaning operations increases, and the blade of the cutter 50 can be cleaned more appropriately.

  Control may be performed to increase the number of cleaning operations of the cutter 50 as the image density of the specific color ink at the cutting position of the recording medium P cut by the cutter 50 is higher. In this way, when the specific color ink becomes noticeable as a stain during the next cutting, the specific color ink causing the stain can be appropriately removed.

  Furthermore, as another complicated determination means, there is a method of accumulating the number of dots using separate counters on the front and back surfaces of the blade of the cutter 50. As described above, basically, different print data is printed before and after the blade of the cutter 50, and there is a high possibility that the adhesion tendency of the ink on the front and back of the blade of the cutter 50 is completely different. For this reason, it is useful to use separate counters on the front and back of the blade of the cutter 50 and to determine the timing at which cutter blade cleaning occurs from the respective counters. That is, in this case, the image density at the cutting position of the recording medium P is measured for each face of the blade of the cutter 50.

  The threshold value of the number of ejected dots used in the above process largely varies depending on conditions such as the distance from the print head inherent to the ink jet printing apparatus to the cutter 50, the sheet conveyance speed, and the air flow on the conveyance path. For this reason, it is necessary to determine in advance by performing an advance measurement such as measuring the contamination condition of the cutter 50 at each density while performing sheet cutting while changing the density using the target inkjet printing apparatus.

  The number of times of the cleaning operation of the cutter 50 may be controlled to increase as the ink limit acceptance amount of the recording medium P decreases. Even if the same amount of ink is deposited on the recording medium P if the ink limit acceptance amount of the recording medium P is small, the ink does not penetrate the recording medium P, so the ink remains on the surface of the recording medium P. , Dirt on the cutter will be noticeable. Therefore, with such a configuration, the cutter 50 can be properly cleaned according to the ink limit acceptance amount of the recording medium P.

  Further, the inkjet printing apparatus 10 may be provided with a humidity sensor for measuring the humidity, and control may be performed to increase the number of cleaning operations of the cutter 50 as the environmental humidity detected by the humidity sensor becomes higher. Generally, as the humidity is higher, the ink is less likely to dry and the ink is likely to spread, so that the cutter 50 can be appropriately cleaned according to the environmental humidity.

  As described above, in the inkjet printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the dirt on the cutter blade portion generated due to the cutting of the printing portion in the borderless printing process is automatically cleaned by outputting the blank sheet data. For this reason, it is possible to prevent contamination by transfer to a subsequently printed image, and to improve the efficiency of the printing process. Further, together with this, it is possible to make the timing of outputting the blank portion more appropriate by considering the density of the output image, etc., and to prevent the waste of the printing paper.

  The above is an example of a representative embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and can be appropriately modified and implemented within the scope not changing the gist of the present invention. .

  For example, the number of blank pages to be output for cutter blade cleaning may be from one to any number. Also, the parameters for determining the start of cleaning may be determined based on various values such as paper type, printing density, printing speed, printing resolution, elapsed time from previous page printing, temperature and humidity of outside air, etc. it can. Further, the threshold value for starting the cleaning may be dynamically calculated from the sheet type and the print density as in the above-described embodiment, or may be fixedly determined by the parameters as described above. In addition, it is possible to have variations in execution timing, such as always performing the cleaning mode in the latter case, especially when transitioning from the normal printing mode to the borderless printing mode or vice versa.

10 inkjet printing apparatus 14 cutter unit P recording medium 21 recording head (recording means)
50 cutter (cutting means)
400 CPU (control means)
405 Device Control ASIC
505 Cutter Cleaning Judgment Unit (Judging Means)
506 image expansion buffer 507 white paper data generation unit 511 cutter control unit 805 cutter cleaning determination unit 506 image expansion buffer 507 white paper data generation unit 813 cut position density calculation unit 814 density accumulation unit

Claims (13)

Recording means for recording an image on a recording medium;
A cutting member for cutting the recording medium on which the image is recorded by the recording means;
When recording a borderless image in which a margin is not provided between images, a margin area for cleaning the cutting member is provided between the images, and the cutting member cleans the cutting member by cutting the margin area. Control means for controlling to
An image recording apparatus comprising: The apparatus further comprises determination means for determining the timing of cleaning the cutting member,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the timing determined by the determination unit is reached, the control unit performs control so as to perform the cleaning operation.   The control means is controlled to increase the number of cleaning operations of the cutting member as the image density of the cutting position of the recording medium to be cut by the cutting member is higher. The image recording device according to 2.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image density at the cutting position of the recording medium is measured for each side of the cutting member.   The control means increases the number of cleaning operations of the cutting member as the image density of the cutting position of the recording medium cut by the cutting member approaches the ink limit acceptance amount per unit area of the recording medium. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image recording apparatus is controlled.   The control means is controlled to increase the number of times of the cleaning operation of the cutting member as the image density of the specific color ink at the cutting position of the recording medium cut by the cutting member is higher. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the number of times of the cleaning operation of the cutting member to increase as the ink limit receiving amount of the recording medium decreases. It further comprises a humidity sensor for measuring the environmental humidity of the image recording device,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the number of cleaning operations of the cutting member to increase as the environmental humidity increases.   When performing the cleaning operation, the control means cuts the rear end side of the preceding first image, and then cuts in the margin area, and further cuts off the second image following the first image. The image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the front end side is cut.   When the cleaning operation is performed, the control unit cuts the rear end side of the preceding first image, and then cuts the number of times based on an instruction from the user in the margin area, and further performs the first processing. The image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a leading end side of a second image following the image is cut.   In the case where the control unit performs the cleaning operation, after cutting the rear end side of the preceding first image, the second image following the first image does not perform borderless recording, either. The image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein cutting is performed in the blank area.   The control means, after performing the cleaning operation, cuts the rear end side of the image and subsequently provides a blank area to the image even when there is no subsequent image, and performs cutting in this blank area An image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that. A cleaning method of a cutting member for cutting a recording medium on which an image is recorded, comprising:
Providing a margin area between the images for cleaning the cutting member, when it is intended to record a borderless image without providing a margin between the images;
And a step of cleaning the cutting member by the cutting member cutting the margin area.