JP3334824B2 - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer for printing while ejecting ink in an ink tank from a dot nozzle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In FIG. 4, an ink jet printer includes a control unit 30, a print head 20, and a mechanical unit (not shown).
Is formed from. The print head 20 has many dot nozzles connected to the ink tank 20T, and can eject ink for each dot nozzle by various driving methods. The ink tank 20T is integrated with the print head 20 and is detachable.
In some cases, only T is detachable.

In such an ink jet printer, the control unit 30 drives the print head 20 by heating, for example, and prints the dot image while ejecting ink from each dot nozzle corresponding to the dot image data stored in the image data storage unit. I do. Therefore, the ink tank 20
When the amount of ink in T is small, ink ejection is reduced and printing becomes unclear. Further, if the ink is not supplied to the dot nozzles quantitatively, in the case of the heating drive system, the print head 20 is rapidly deteriorated, and there is a strong possibility of burning. Therefore, an empty ink sensor 45 provided in the ink tank 20T detects empty ink and outputs a message of ink replenishment or head replacement.

[0004]

However, even if an ink replenishment message is output, ink replenishment cannot be immediately performed in many cases. Therefore, print blur occurs in the remaining dot images, and furthermore, it may become impossible to recognize characters as dot images.

In the case of devices of type of amnesia for dot image data after printing (e.g. factories Shi millimeters) is it becomes information impossible transmission. Also, while the printing of the remaining dot image data is continued, the print head 20
Rapidly deteriorates, and in the case of the heating drive method, there are many cases of burning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printer which can prevent a print head from rapidly deteriorating while guaranteeing that a printed dot image can be recognized even when the amount of remaining ink is small. .

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer in which ink supplied from an ink tank is ejected from each dot nozzle corresponding to dot image data by driving a print head. An ink remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank; and an ink jet printer for printing on condition that the detected remaining amount of ink is equal to or less than a preset minimum amount. de adjacent perform the thinning-out process of the dot image data to
A thinning processing control means Tsu bets to create a thinned after dot image data without the ink is ejected from each dot nozzles the corresponding by driving the print head to the inter <br/> draw after dot image data And print control means for printing a dot image after thinning. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that when the detected remaining amount of ink becomes equal to or less than a preset amount of remaining ink, a supplementary message is displayed and output.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the remaining ink amount detecting means detects the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank. When the detected remaining amount of ink is equal to or smaller than the set minimum amount, the thinning processing control unit performs thinning processing of dot image data to be printed, and there is no adjacent dot.
You have to create a dot image data after thinning, to reduce the dot image data amount. Then, the print control unit after thinning drives the print head to print while ejecting ink from each dot nozzle corresponding to the dot image data after thinning.

Therefore, the printable time can be extended while guaranteeing the recognizability of the dot image printed without blurring, so that all of the remaining dot image data can be printed, and the rapid deterioration of the print head and the heating driving method In the case of (1), burning can be prevented. Further, according to the above configuration,
In the case of the invention of claim 2, the detected ink remaining amount is set in advance.
When the ink level is below the set ink level,
Page is displayed and displayed, so set the minimum amount to the appropriate amount
By changing, the operation mode can be expanded.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG.
Ink remaining amount detection means 40 and thinning processing control means (3
1, 32) and print control means after thinning-out (31, 32) are provided, and the remaining ink amount Qi in the ink tank 20T is set to the set minimum amount Qmin. In the case of the following, the print head 2 performs thinning processing of dot image data to be printed from now on, and is configured to be able to print after thinning, to extend printable time while guaranteeing the recognizability of the print dot image.
It is formed so as to prevent rapid deterioration and burning of 0. Note that this is the case of the heating drive system.

In FIG. 1, a control unit 30 includes a CPU 3
1, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, an image RAM 34, an operation panel (PNL) 35, a display 36, an input / output port (I / O) 37, and an interface (I / F) with a higher-level device (not shown) for transmitting print data. ) 38 so that the entire printer can be driven and controlled. In FIG. 1, for convenience, a head driver 20D and motor drivers 21D and 22D are illustrated.

The print head 20 has the same structure as that of the above-described conventional example (FIG. 4), and includes a carrier motor 21.
Is mounted on the carrier 11 which is reciprocated. The cartridge type ink tank 20T is detachable. Reference numeral 22 denotes a paper feed motor.

Here, the ink remaining amount detecting means 40 is a means for detecting the ink remaining amount Qi in the ink tank 20T.
It is of an electric resistance detection sensor type capable of outputting a signal proportional to the ink remaining amount Qi. However, it may be formed by a sensor such as a photoelectric detection type or an electrostatic detection type, or a count detection method of the number of print dots. Further, the ink remaining amount detecting means 40
Indicates that the remaining ink amount Qi is equal to the set minimum amount Qmin. (Qi = Qmin.), The detection signal can be output.

In the case of this embodiment, the set minimum amount Qmin.
Is set and stored in a partial storage area 33M of the RAM 33, and the value is stored in the setting key 35 of the operation panel 35.
The setting can be changed with K. Further, the CPU 31
Based on the comparison determination program stored in the ROM 32, the two quantities Qi, Qmin. And Qi ≦ Qmin. Is determined (ST12 in FIG. 3).

The thinning-out processing control means determines that the detected remaining ink amount Qi is equal to the set minimum amount Qmin. Under the condition (YES in ST12 of FIG. 3) that the following conditions are satisfied, the dot image data to be printed is thinned out to create dot image data after thinning. It is formed by the CPU 31 and is executed in ST17 of FIG.

As the thinning processing method, an arbitrary method such as uniform thinning according to a predetermined pattern (for example, a grid pattern) can be selected and executed. As shown in FIG. 2, the dot image data to be printed is thinned out so that adjacent dots do not exist. In the state shown in FIG. 2, white circles and black circles are all dots to be printed, and white dots have been thinned out.

Therefore, the dot image data can be greatly reduced, and the recognizability of the printed dot image can be assured since no print blur occurs. The thinned dot image data is stored in the image data storage unit (image RAM 34) by the CPU 31.

The post-thinning print control means prints the thinned-out dot image by heating and driving the print head 20 so as to eject ink from each dot nozzle corresponding to the thinned-out dot image data. The post-thinning-out print control means is formed by the CPU 31 and the ROM 32 and is executed in ST18 of FIG. The black circle shown in FIG. 2 is printed.

In this embodiment, the detected ink remaining amount Qi is equal to the set ink remaining amount Qmin. When the following conditions are satisfied (ST in FIG. 3)
12), the supplementary message output control means (CP
U31, ROM32) are operated to display an ink replenishment message on the display 36 (ST13).

The CPU 31 sets a draft mode in the work area of the RAM 33 (ST14), and edits data in the image data storage section (34) (ST10, ST1).
1) Expanded dot image data for one page (ST)
15). The draft mode is the thinning print mode.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. While there is sufficient ink in the ink tank 20T (ST in FIG. 3)
(No. 12) means that the one-page dot image data edited (ST10, ST11) is developed (ST15) in the image data storage section (34) and printed by the print control means (31, 32). (ST19).

The ink remaining amount Qi detected by the ink remaining amount detecting means 40 is equal to the set minimum amount Qmin. If the following (S
T12: YES), the supplementary message output control means (3
1, 32) operate to display and output an ink replenishment message on the display 36 (ST13). Also, the CPU 31
The draft mode is set in the work area of the AM 33, and the dot image data to be printed is developed in the image data storage section (34) as usual (ST).
15).

Here, the thinning processing control means (31, 3)
2) performs thinning processing of the expanded dot image data. When the dot image data is a white circle and a black circle shown in FIG. 2, the white circles are thinned out and the data is reduced so that there are no adjacent dots.

Then, after-thinning-out printing control means (31, 3)
2) The print head 20 is heated and driven to print a dot image (black circle) after thinning while ejecting ink from each dot nozzle corresponding to the dot image data after thinning (ST18).

Therefore, the dot image data can be printed without blurring, so that its recognizability can be assured. In addition, the data operable time can be extended by reducing the data, all the dot images can be printed, and the print head 20 can be printed quickly. Deterioration and burning can be prevented.

According to this embodiment, the ink remaining amount detecting means 40 and the thinning processing control means (31, 32)
And print control means (31, 32) after thinning are provided, and the remaining ink amount Qi in the ink tank 20T is set to a set minimum amount Qm.
in. In the following cases, the dot image data to be printed is thinned out and printing is possible after thinning, so the printed dot image can be printed without blurring and its recognizability can be assured. By extending the operable time of the printing operation, all dot images can be printed, and rapid deterioration and burning of the print head 20 can be prevented.

The ink remaining amount detecting means 40 can quantitatively detect the ink remaining amount Qi in the ink tank 20T, and the CPU 31 determines the detected ink remaining amount Qi and the set minimum amount Qi.
min. And Qi ≦ Qmin. Is set to determine whether or not the set minimum amount Qm
in. By changing the setting to an appropriate amount, the operation mode can be expanded.

Further, since the thinning-out processing method is a thinning-out method in which adjacent dots do not exist, even if the dot image data to be printed is a figure or a character, the discrimination thereof can be more reliably ensured and the dot image data can be obtained. Since the data can be halved, the printable time can be doubled.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink remaining amount detecting means, a thinning processing control means, and a printing control means after thinning, so that the ink remaining amount in the ink tank becomes equal to or less than a set minimum amount. In this case, the dot image data to be printed is thinned out and the dot image data can be printed after thinning out when there are no adjacent dots. The recognizability can be assured, the printable time can be extended by reducing the data, all dot images can be printed, and rapid deterioration of the print head can be prevented. In addition, burnout in the case of the heating drive method can be prevented. According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the detected ink remaining amount is equal to or less than the preset ink remaining amount, a replenishment message is displayed and output, so that the set minimum amount is appropriately changed. Thereby, the operation mode can be expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is also a diagram for explaining a thinning process.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Carrier 20 Print head 20T Ink tank 21 Carrier motor 30 Control part 31 CPU (thinning-out processing control means, thinning-out printing control means) 32 ROM (thinning-out processing control means, thinning-out printing control means) 33 RAM 33M Partial storage area 34 Image RAM 35 Operation panel 35K Setting key 36 Display section 40 Ink remaining amount detecting means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2/175

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink jet printer that prints a dot image while ejecting ink supplied from an ink tank from each dot nozzle corresponding to dot image data by driving a print head, the ink remaining amount in the ink tank. Means for detecting the remaining amount of ink, and performing a thinning process of the dot image data to be printed on condition that the detected amount of remaining ink is equal to or less than a preset minimum amount, to thereby determine adjacent dots. Nothing
A thinning processing control means for generating dot image data after thinning have, thinning the ink is ejected from each dot nozzle by driving the print head corresponding to the dot image data after the thinning printing the dot image after the thinning An ink jet printer, comprising: post printing control means; 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein a replenishment message is displayed and output when the detected ink remaining amount becomes equal to or less than a preset ink remaining amount.