JP3203763B2 - INK JET PRINTING APPARATUS AND INK JET PRINTING CONTROL METHOD - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inkjet printing apparatus and an inkjet printing control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A print head having nozzle groups (hereinafter referred to as GB, GC, GM, and GY, respectively) for ejecting black, cyan, magenta, and yellow (hereinafter, referred to as B, C, M, and Y) inks, is provided. In a color ink jet recording apparatus having the same, a nozzle driving element is connected to each color nozzle group, and GB, GC, GM,
The print data for driving each of the GYs must be transferred. Many of the nozzle driving elements are for serial data input. Therefore, at the time of data transfer, a method is employed in which print data of each color is transferred independently, or data of each color is transferred collectively. This is not limited to color ink jet, but can be generally applied to color recording apparatuses.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-146373 discloses an example in which print data is transferred independently for each color in accordance with a data transfer trigger signal for each color.

[0004] However, when data transfer is performed independently for each color, data transfer for each color must be controlled independently, and the configuration of the data control unit becomes large. When the nozzle drive element is an on-carriage, the number of signal lines for controlling transfer data increases. On the other hand, when the nozzle drive elements of each color are serially connected to the data input and the data of each color are serially transferred,
In either case of color printing or black printing, data corresponding to all nozzle numbers is required, the number of clocks required for transfer increases, and the transfer time becomes longer. Further, when print data is transferred in real-time processing such as print interrupt processing, non-print dummy data for unused nozzles is required, so that the number of transfer data increases and the time of real-time processing increases. .

[0005]

When the transfer is performed independently for each color as described above, the configuration of the portion related to the data transfer becomes complicated. When serially transferring all colors, the number of clocks required for serial data transfer increases as the number of nozzles increases. In addition, the number of data transferred by the CPU in real-time processing due to the addition of dummy data also increases, and the processing time becomes longer, resulting in a decrease in throughput.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a simple control unit, an inkjet printing apparatus for improving throughput, and an inkjet printing control method. .

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an ink jet printing apparatus having a print head in which a plurality of nozzle rows composed of a plurality of nozzle groups are arranged and an output section of a driving element corresponding to the plurality of nozzle groups, dummy data is provided. A data control means for allocating print data to a corresponding nozzle row after receiving print data not containing
Automatically by delaying the print data of one nozzle row
A data delay unit capable of generating dummy data, and synchronizing the print data passing through the data delay unit with the print data for another nozzle row and outputting the print data to each nozzle row, An ink-jet printing apparatus characterized in that the print data set via the printer is set in an output section of a drive element corresponding to a predetermined nozzle group,
Further, in the ink jet printing method including a plurality of color inks, a print head having a plurality of nozzle rows including a plurality of nozzle groups arranged, and an output unit of a driving element corresponding to the plurality of nozzle groups, after receiving the print data that does not include data from the outside, a step of distributing print data to a corresponding nozzle array, the dummy data
One nozzle row allocated to automatically generate
Inputting the print data to the data delay unit;
By synchronizing the print data passing through the data delay unit with the print data for another nozzle row and outputting the print data to each nozzle row, the print data passing through the data delay unit is output to a predetermined nozzle group. It is characterized in that it is set at the output of the corresponding drive element.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the data transfer can be performed with the minimum necessary number of clocks by performing the transfer by inserting the delay data into either the color print serial data or the black print serial data and the simple data control unit. This makes it possible to suppress a decrease in throughput due to writing of dummy data and an increase in the number of transfer clocks.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiment shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the nozzle arrangement in the print head 18 of the color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. HB0 to HB47 are nozzles for discharging black ink, and are arranged at intervals of 1/360 inch. HB0 to HB15 correspond to the nozzle group GB0,
16 to HB31 correspond to the nozzle group GB1 and HB32 to HB4.
7 form the nozzle groups GB2, respectively. HY0-HY
Reference numeral 15 denotes a nozzle for discharging yellow ink, and a nozzle group G
Y is formed. HM0 to HM15 are nozzles that eject magenta ink, and form a nozzle group GM. H
C0 to HC15 are nozzles for discharging cyan ink, and form a nozzle group GC. In this embodiment, n = 1
6 is set.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a print data transfer method of a color ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

Data to be printed is written from an external data bus 7 to a data control unit 3 from a CPU or the like in synchronization with a data write signal 9. At this time, when the data to be printed is the B data, a low level signal indicating that the data selection signal 8 is the B data is input.

When the data selection signal 8 is at the low level, the data written from the external data bus 7 is regarded as black data, and the data control unit 3 outputs this data to the black data bus 10 and Dummy data (0 data which is non-printing data) is output to the color data bus 11.

When the data selection signal 8 is at the high level, the data written from the external data bus 7 is Y,
The data control unit 3 outputs the data to the color data bus 11 and the dummy data to the black data bus 10 because the data is regarded as one of the color data M and C.

Further, the data control unit 3 controls the control clock signal 15 only to match the number of bits of the black data bus 10 and the color data bus 11 (16 bits in this embodiment).
(16 clocks in this embodiment).

The above operation is repeated each time data is written to the data control unit 3 from the external data bus 7.

When data is output to the black data bus 10, the black data converter 4 takes in the data and outputs it as black serial data 12, one bit at a time, in synchronization with the control clock signal 15. The color data converter 15 takes in the data output to the color data bus 11 and outputs it as color print serial data 14 bit by bit in synchronization with the control clock signal 15.

The data delay section 6 outputs a delay amount selection signal 16-
The black serial data 12 is output by delaying the black serial data 12 by the number of clocks designated by 1, 16-2. Both the data delay operation and the data output operation are performed in synchronization with the control clock signal 15.

The black nozzle drive element 1 is a serial input / parallel output nozzle drive element having an internal buffer latch function. The outputs are respectively connected to HB0 to HB47 to drive the nozzle groups GB0 to GB2. The black print serial data 13 is stored in the internal buffer at the rising edge of the control clock signal 15, and is written to the output section corresponding to each nozzle by the print data latch signal 17. Store in the internal buffer is HB47 → HB
Performed in the order of 0. That is, the data stored at the first clock is sequentially shifted to H after 48 clocks.
The data becomes the output data of B0, and the data stored at the 48th clock becomes the output data of HB47.

The color nozzle driving element 2 is a serial input / parallel output nozzle driving element having an internal buffer latch function, and outputs HY0 to HY15 and HM0, respectively.
To HM15, HC0 to HC15, GY, G
The M and GC nozzle groups are driven. The color print serial data 14 is stored in the internal buffer at the rising edge of the control clock signal 15, and is written to the output section corresponding to each nozzle by the print data latch signal 17. Store to the internal buffer is performed in the order of HC15 → HY0. That is, the data stored at the first clock becomes the output data of HY0 after 48 clocks while sequentially shifting, and the data stored at the 48th clock is HC
15 output data.

The print data latch signal 17 contains only the data necessary for one printing operation.
Only one clock is output at the stage when the data is transferred to the color nozzle driving element 2, the data is latched at the output section of the black nozzle driving element 1 and the color nozzle driving element 2, and the internal data of IC 1 to IC 3 of the data delay section 6 is set to 0 clear.

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the data delay unit 6.

IC1 to IC3 are 16-bit shift registers which output data input from SI with a delay of 16 clocks from SO in synchronization with the rising edge of the control clock signal 15. That is, IC1, IC2, IC
The three outputs are delayed by 16, 32, and 48 clocks, respectively. The internal data is cleared to 0 when the print data latch signal 17 goes low.

The IC 4 receives the delay amount selection signals 16-1, 16-
2, the delay amount is switched by selecting the output data of IC1 to IC3, and is output as black print serial data 13.

First, the operation of this embodiment in color printing will be described with reference to FIG.

When performing color printing using Y, M, C and B inks, it is assumed that GY, GM, GC nozzle groups and GB0 nozzle groups are used.

First, the data selection signal 8 is set to Low level, and B data (16 bits) for driving the GB0 nozzle group is written from the external data bus 7 to the data control unit 3.
The data control unit 3 receives this, and the black data bus 10
And the dummy data to the color data bus 11, and outputs the control clock signal 15 for only 16 clocks.

The black data converter 4 receives this B data, converts it into black serial data 12, and outputs it in synchronization with the control clock signal 15.

The data delay section 6 outputs a delay amount selection signal 16-
The black serial data 12 is delayed based on 1, 16-2. In this case, the delay amount selection signals 16-1, 16
Since −2 indicates a High level and a Low level, respectively, the output of the IC 3 in FIG. 2, that is, data delayed by 16 clocks, is output as the black print serial data 13. However, since the control clock signal 15 for writing the B data is 16 clocks, the delayed black serial data 12 is buffered in the IC 3 and the black print output data 13 includes 0 data previously set in the IC 3. Is output.

On the other hand, the color data converter 5 outputs the dummy data as the color print serial data 14.

As a result, 16 bits of 0 data are stored in the internal buffer of the black nozzle driving element 1 and the internal buffer of the color nozzle driving element 2, respectively.

Next, the data selection signal 8 is set to High level, and the Y data (16 bits) for driving the GY nozzle group is written from the external data bus 7 to the data control unit 3.
The data control unit 3 receives this, and the black data bus 10
And the Y data to the color data bus 11 and the control clock signal 15 for 16 clocks.

The black data converter 4 receives the dummy data, converts it into black serial data 12, and outputs it in synchronization with the control clock signal 15.

The data delay unit 6 outputs the B data delayed by 16 clocks buffered in the IC 3 by writing the B data immediately before as black print output data 13 and outputs the dummy data by writing the Y data to the IC.
Buffer to 3.

The color data converter 5 receives the Y data output to the color data bus 11 and outputs it as color print serial data 14.

At this stage, in the internal buffer of the black nozzle driving element 1, 0 data, G
The B data is shifted to a position corresponding to B2. In the internal buffer of the color nozzle driving element 2, 0 data is shifted to a position corresponding to GM, and Y data is shifted to a position corresponding to GC.

Subsequently, the M data (16 bits) for driving the GM nozzle group and the C data (16 bits) for driving the GC nozzle group are sequentially written in the data control unit 3, so that the black print serial data 13 becomes 32 bits (1
The 6 bits × 2) 0 data and the color print serial data 14 sequentially output M data and C data (16 bits each).

In the internal buffer of the black nozzle driving element 1, 0 data is shifted to a position corresponding to GB1 and GB2, and B data is shifted to a position corresponding to GB0. The 16-bit 0 data transferred first is pushed out of the internal buffer by a total of 64 shifts.

On the other hand, in the internal buffer of the color nozzle drive element 2, 16-bit C data, M data and Y data are shifted to positions corresponding to GC, GM and GY, respectively. The 16-bit 0 data transferred first is pushed out of the internal buffer by a total of 64 shifts.

Finally, when the print data latch signal 17 is output for only one clock, data corresponding to the nozzle group to be driven is output from the internal buffer to the output portions of the black nozzle drive element 1 and the color nozzle drive element 2 respectively. . In the data delay section 6, the internal data of IC1 to IC3 are cleared to 0 to prepare for the next data transfer.

As described above, when the B ink is ejected from the GB0 nozzle group during color printing, the delay amount selection signal 16
By selecting 16 clock delays with -1 and 16-2 as High level and Low level, respectively, it is possible to realize a printing operation required by transferring only necessary data.

When the GB1 nozzle group is used for color printing, the delay amount selection signals 16-1 and 16-2 are set to Low level and High level, respectively, and 32 clock delays are selected. B corresponding to GB1
Data, Y data corresponding to GY, GM, GC, M
This can be realized by writing data to the data control unit 3 in the order of data and C data.

Next, the operation in the monochrome printing of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The delay selection signals 16-1 and 16-2 are L
The delay amount is set to 0 clock at the ow level. While the data selection signal 8 is kept at the Low level, GB0, GB
1, B data to be driven for each nozzle group of GB2 is sequentially written into the data control unit 3. In response, the data control unit 3 outputs 16 bits of B data to the black data bus 10 three times in the order in which they were written. On the other hand, the color data bus 11
Outputs dummy data three times.

The black data converter 4 receives this and sequentially outputs the black serial data 12.

In the data delay section 6, the delay amount selection signal 16
The number of delay clocks indicated by -1 and 16-2 is 0, and data without delay is output as black print serial data 13 through the IC 8 in FIG.

On the other hand, the color data converter 5 outputs 0 data as the color print serial data 14 using the three dummy data.

In the internal buffer of the black nozzle driving element 1, the B data corresponding to the positions of GB0, GB1, and GB2 are arranged in the order in which they are written by shifting a total of 48 times. In the internal buffer of the color nozzle driving element 2, all 0 data are arranged.

Finally, according to the print data latch signal 17,
The output part of the black nozzle driving element 1 has GB0 to GB2
Is output from the internal buffer.
Data indicating non-printing is output to all output units of the color nozzle drive element 2, and no ink is ejected from the nozzle groups GY, GM, and GC.

As described above, also during monochrome printing, the delay selection signals 16-1 and 16-2 are each at the Low level, and the B data corresponding to the nozzle groups GB0 to GB2 to be driven are sequentially written to the data control unit 3. By doing so, the printing operation required by transferring only necessary data can be realized.

From the above, it is possible to treat monochrome printing as a case where only black nozzles are used in color printing. The black nozzle group used in color printing and the delay amount selection signal 16-
1, 16-2, it is possible to realize a printing operation determined by the order of data writing.

The black nozzle group used in color printing and the delay amount selection signals 16-1 and 16-
2. The order of data writing is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, there is no need for dummy data to be written to the data control unit 3 for the black nozzle groups not used in color printing, and only the data corresponding to the black nozzle group to be used need be written. Thus, the time for the CPU to set the necessary print data in the data control unit 3 in the real-time processing can be minimized, and the occupation time of the CPU in the real-time processing can be reduced.

Further, the hardware configuration relating to the transfer control of the print data also has a simple operation with a good operation rate, and a reduction in size can be expected.

In this embodiment, the black serial data 12
Although the example of the delay with respect to is described above, it is relative whether to delay the black data or the color data.
The same effect can be obtained by inserting the data delay unit 6 between the color data conversion unit 5 and the color nozzle driving element 2 to delay the output of the color data conversion unit 5.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need for dummy data for black nozzles not used in color printing, and only data corresponding to the black nozzle group to be used is required. Since the number of data to be written into the data control unit 3 can be minimized,
Occupancy time can be shortened, and a decrease in throughput due to an increase in the number of transfer clocks can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a print data transfer method of a color inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a data delay unit 6 in an example of a print data transfer method of the color inkjet recording apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing a process and a procedure of a color printing operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing a process and a procedure of a monochrome printing operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating an example of a nozzle arrangement in the print head 18 of the color inkjet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a color printing operation and processes and procedures corresponding to the color printing operation in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Black nozzle drive element 2 Color nozzle drive element 3 Data control part 4 Black data conversion part 5 Color data conversion part 6 Data delay part 7 External data bus 8 Data selection signal 9 Data write signal 10 Black data bus 11 Color data bus 12 Black Serial data 13 Black print serial data 14 Color print serial data 15 Control clock signal 16 Delay selection signal 17 Print data latch signal 18 Print head IC1 to IC3 16 bit shift register IC4 74LS139 IC5 to IC8 74LS32 IC9 to IC11 74LS08 HB0 to HB48 Black Print nozzle HC0-HC15 Cyan print nozzle HM0-HM15 Magenta print nozzle HY0-HY15 Yellow print nozzle GB0 Black Group 0 (HB0 to HB15) GB1 black nozzle group 1 (HB16 to HB31) GB2 black nozzle group 2 (HB32 to HB48) GY yellow nozzle group (HY0 to HY15) GM magenta nozzle group (HM0 to HM15) GC cyan nozzle group (HC0-HC15)

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink jet printing apparatus comprising: a print head in which a plurality of nozzle rows each including a plurality of nozzle groups are arranged; and an output unit of a driving element corresponding to each of the plurality of nozzle groups. A data control unit for allocating print data to a corresponding nozzle array after receiving data from the outside, a data delay unit for automatically generating dummy data by delaying print data of one allocated nozzle array, By synchronizing the print data passing through the data delay unit with the print data for another nozzle row and outputting the print data to each nozzle row, the print data passing through the data delay unit is output to a predetermined nozzle group. An ink jet printing apparatus, which is set at an output section of a corresponding drive element. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said print data set in a nozzle group forming one nozzle row is monochrome, and said print data set in a nozzle group forming another nozzle row is color. Item 7. An inkjet printing apparatus according to Item 1. 3. An ink jet printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a delay amount selecting means for selecting a predetermined delay amount in said data delay means. 4. A nozzle array to which the color data is supplied includes a nozzle group for discharging C, a nozzle group for discharging M, and a nozzle group for discharging Y in the same number. 3. The ink jet printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein only some of the nozzle groups are used, and the color data and the monochrome data are relatively delayed based on the nozzle configuration. 5. An ink-jet printing method comprising: a print head having a plurality of nozzle rows each including a plurality of nozzle groups; and an output unit of a driving element corresponding to each of the plurality of nozzle groups. After receiving the data from the outside, allocating the print data to the corresponding nozzle row, and inputting the allocated print data of one of the nozzle rows to the data delay means to automatically generate dummy data; By synchronizing the print data passing through the data delay unit with the print data for another nozzle row and outputting the print data to each nozzle row, the print data passing through the data delay unit is output to a predetermined nozzle group. An ink jet printing method, wherein the ink jet printing method is set at an output section of a corresponding driving element.