JP3441868B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using a recording head having a plurality of recording elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a recording apparatus such as a serial printer, which has a recording head having a plurality of recording elements such as an ink discharge nozzle and a heating element and can record a plurality of dots at the same time, recording is performed at the time of recording. A control method is widely known in which the current capacity supplied to the head is controlled or the number of dots to be recorded in advance is detected in order to detect the remaining amount of a recording material such as ink (eg, JP-A-2-29).
In the case of a serial printer, the arrangement direction of the recording elements (nozzles, etc.) of the recording head is usually in the direction (sub scanning direction) perpendicular to the moving direction (main scanning direction) of the carriage on which the recording head is mounted. Has become.

On the other hand, since the print data sent from the host computer is usually data arranged in the main scanning direction, it depends on the number of print elements (for example, the number of ink ejection nozzles) built in the print head. Therefore, it is necessary to convert the data arranged in the sub-scanning direction (hereinafter referred to as HV conversion). Therefore, in consideration of the arrangement of the recording elements of the recording head and the recording operation thereof, the number of recording dots must be counted after the HV conversion.

When printing is performed according to a multi-pass printing method in which the printing head completes printing on the same area by scanning the same area a plurality of times, the HV converted data is recorded by the scanning head. The number of recording dots must be counted after masking with a mask pattern that considers whether recording is performed using recording elements.

Here, the conventional count control of the number of recording dots will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, it is assumed that the printing is controlled according to the multi-pass printing method.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the structure of a conventional circuit for counting the number of recording dots, and FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the control processing executed by the circuit.

First, in step S10, the print data sent from the host computer (not shown) is received through the interface, and in the following step S15, the receive data is stored in the receive buffer in the printing apparatus. The reception buffer has a storage capacity of several k bytes to several tens k bytes. next,
In step S20, command analysis is performed on the recording data stored in the reception buffer, and the resulting image data is stored in the area 1 of the image buffer 501 in step S25.

Since the image data stored in the area of the image buffer 501 is data arranged in the main scanning direction, it is converted into data arranged in the sub scanning direction by the HV conversion circuit 502 in step S30, and the subsequent step In S35, the HV converted data is stored in the area 2 of the image buffer 501.

When the HV converted data corresponding to one scan of the print head is stored in this way, the process determines in step S40 whether or not the number of print dots is counted from the data. If the count is not finished yet, the process goes to step S45.
Then, in step S50, the data mask circuit 503 applies a mask pattern in consideration of the print path and the like.
Count by 4. Then, the counted number of recording dots is stored in the dot count register 505. After that, the process returns to step S40 to check again whether or not the count has ended. If it is determined that the dot count has ended, the process proceeds to step 55, the data is read again from the area 2 of the image buffer 501, and the data mask circuit 503 performs the read. The same mask pattern as when recording dots is counted is applied, and finally, in step S60, the masked recording data is transferred to the recording head.

[0010]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in order to count the number of recording dots, the data stored in the image buffer arranged in the main scanning direction is sequentially HV converted and arranged in the sub-scanning direction. However, after re-storing the data in the image buffer, it is necessary to read the HV-converted data again from the image buffer, apply the mask pattern, and count, so that there is a problem that it takes time to process the data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus in which the number of recording dots for actual recording is measured at high speed and, as a result, the total recording speed is improved. Has an aim.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus of the present invention has the following constitution.

That is, there is provided a recording apparatus for performing recording on the recording medium by scanning a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in the conveying direction of the recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, An input unit for inputting image data in which pixels are arranged in the scanning direction of the recording head, a conversion unit for converting the image data input by the input unit into image data in which pixels are arranged in the transport direction, and the conversion unit. Buffer means for temporarily storing the converted image data, mask means for applying a predetermined mask to the image data,
Counting means for counting the number of pixels that will cause a printing operation by the printing head from the image data masked by the masking means; the buffer means;
The mask means is converted to the same by the conversion means.
The output means for simultaneously outputting the same image data,
Storage processing of the converted image data in the buffer means
In parallel with the image masked by the masking means
Count the data .

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With the above-described structure, the present invention scans a recording head provided with a plurality of recording elements arranged in the conveyance direction of a recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction to record on a recording medium. When performing, the input image data in which pixels are arranged in the scanning direction of the print head is converted into image data in which pixels are arranged in the transport direction of the print medium, and the print operation is caused by the print head from the converted image data. It is controlled to simultaneously perform the counting of the number of pixels and the output to the buffer unit that temporarily stores the converted image data.

The image data stored in the buffer means is transferred to the recording head.

The above conversion operation is performed for each pixel matrix of a size of, for example, 16 × 16 pixels, which has a two-dimensional matrix structure of a predetermined size.

In counting the number of pixels, the storage means for storing the cumulative result of the counted results and the number of pixels counted for each conversion operation are stored in the recording means. And an addition unit that takes the sum of the accumulated results. Then, the cumulative result stored in the storage means is replaced by the sum obtained by the addition means.

Further, the recording operation of the recording head may be controlled according to a multi-pass recording method so that the recording head completes recording on the same area by scanning the same area on the recording medium a plurality of times. . For this control, masking means for applying a predetermined mask to the converted image data is used. The mask means includes a mask register for storing a plurality of mask patterns, an operation circuit for obtaining a logical product of the converted image data and each of the plurality of mask patterns, and an operation circuit according to the number of scans of multi-pass printing. 1 of the calculation results obtained by
And selecting means for selecting one.

The recording head may be an ink jet recording head for recording by ejecting ink,
Alternatively, it may be a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and which has a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink.

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

<Schematic Description of Apparatus Main Body> FIG. 1 shows an ink jet printer IJ which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.
It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the outline of a structure of RA. In FIG. 1, the carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5009 to 5011 in conjunction with the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013 has a pin (not shown). Guide rail 50
It is supported by 03 and reciprocates in the directions of arrows a and b. The carriage HC has a recording head IJH and an ink tank IT.
Integrated inkjet cartridge IJC with and
Is installed. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate which holds the recording paper P on the platen 50 in the moving direction of the carriage HC.
Press against 00. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detectors for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this region and for switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. 5016 is a cap member 50 for capping the front surface of the recording head IJH.
Reference numeral 5015 is a member for supporting the inside of the cap, and 5015 is a suction device for sucking the inside of the cap. Reference numeral 5017 is a cleaning blade, and 5019 is a member that allows this blade to move in the front-rear direction, and these are supported by a main body support plate 5018. Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this example instead of this form. Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves with the movement of a cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by a known transmission mechanism such as clutch switching. To be done.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that the desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. As long as the desired operation is performed at the timing, any of the above can be applied.

<Description of Control Configuration> Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit of the ink jet printer IJRA. In the figure showing the control circuit, 401 is an MPU, 402 is a gate array (GA) for controlling the supply of print data to the print head IJH, and for counting the print dots to be described later, 40.
Reference numeral 3 is a ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 401, and 404 is various data (recording signals received from a host computer (not shown), recording data supplied to the recording head IJH, counted recording dots, etc.)
Is stored in the DRAM, and 405 is an interface (I / F) for inputting a recording signal. Further, the gate array 402 includes an interface 405, MPU 401, RA.
It also controls data transfer between M404. A carriage motor 410 conveys the recording head IJH and a conveyance motor 411 conveys the recording paper. Reference numeral 406 denotes a head driver that drives the recording head IJH, and 407 and 408.
Are carriage motor 410 and conveyance motor 411, respectively.
Is a motor driver for driving the.

A CP 409 is composed of an address bus, a control bus, and a data bus used for mutual data transmission / reception among the MPU 401, gate array 402, ROM 403, RAM 404, and interface 405.
It is a U-bus.

The operation of the above control structure will be described. When a recording signal is input to the interface 405, the gate array 402
And the MPU 401 convert the print signal into print data for printing. Then, the motor drivers 407, 4
When 08 is driven, the recording head is driven according to the recording data sent to the head driver 406, and recording is performed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a circuit for counting the number of recording dots included in the gate array 402. Compared with the configuration of the circuit shown in FIG. 6 described in the conventional example, this circuit has common components, and therefore, the same reference numerals are given, but the following points are different. That is, in the HV conversion circuit 502, the HV converted data arranged in the sub-scanning direction is converted into the image buffer 501.
And the data mask circuit 503 can be simultaneously output. An image buffer 501 is secured in a part of the RAM 404.

With this configuration, the recording dot number counting process in this embodiment is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that, in FIG. 4, the same processing steps as those shown in FIG. 7 are designated by the same step reference numbers, and description thereof is omitted here. Further, the reception buffer shown in step S15 of FIG.
It is secured in a part of AM 404 and has a capacity of several k to several tens of kbytes.

Now, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, after the processes of steps S10 to S25 are executed, in step S30, the image data stored in the area 1 of the image buffer 501 and arranged in the main scanning direction is converted into the HV conversion circuit. The data is converted into data arranged in the sub-scanning direction by 102. After the conversion, the process stores the converted data in the area 2 of the image buffer 501 in step S35, and at the same time, the process outputs the same data to the data mask circuit 503 in step S31 for masking in consideration of the multi-pass printing control. A pattern is applied, and in step S32, the masked data is applied to the dot count circuit 10
4, the number of print dots in which the print operation by the print head IJH actually occurs is stored, and the count result is stored in the dot count register 105.

Here, the counting of the number of recording dots will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Here, the number of ink ejection nozzles of the print head IJH is set to "64", and the multi-pass print method is adopted in which the print head IJH scans the same area on the print paper four times to complete printing for that area. Suppose The relationship between the image data and the recording dots is 1 bit = 1 pixel (dot).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed structure of the HV conversion circuit 502, the data mask circuit 503, and the dot count circuit 504.

The HV conversion circuit 502 outputs 1 in one conversion operation.
Image data of 6 bits (main scanning direction) × 16 bits (sub scanning direction) is processed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the HV conversion circuit 502 includes 16 registers WR1 to WR16 and 16 registers WR1 to WR16 for storing image data of 16 bits per line in the main scanning direction.
It has read terminals RD1 to RD16 for rotating the reading direction of 90.times. Image data for 16.times.16 bits stored in the memory by 90.degree. And reading each 16 bits.

Further, the data mask circuit 503 includes a mask register 202 storing a mask pattern of a 16 × 16 bit matrix corresponding to each of four scans, an output of the mask register 202 and an output from the HV conversion circuit 502. The AND circuit 203 for calculating the logical product, and the output of the four sets of calculation results output from the AND circuit 203 are MPU4.
The selector 204 is configured to select according to the selector signal (SEL) from 01. The mask register 202 is
As shown in FIG. 5, four storage units 202a, 202b, and 2 that store different patterns corresponding to four scans, respectively.
02c and 202d, and the AND circuit 203 includes circuits 203a, 203b, 203c, and 203d having the same configuration, and each circuit has 16 AND operation elements. Then, the four storage units 202a, 202b, 202
The mask patterns stored in c and 202d are supplied to the circuits 203a, 203b, 203c, and 203d, respectively.

Further, the dot count circuit 504 extracts, from the input data, the number of dots that cause ink ejection from the recording head IJH (that is, the number of data in which the value of each pixel of the image data is "1"). Extraction circuit 206
And the sum of the value extracted by the dot extraction circuit 206 and the value stored in the dot count register 505,
The adder circuit 207 replaces the value stored in the dot count register 505 with the sum value.

The data read from the area 1 of the image buffer 501 and arranged in the main scanning direction is sequentially written into the registers WR1 to WR16 of the HV conversion circuit 502 for 16 bits × 16 lines, and then to the read terminal. R
Data from D1 to RD16 sequentially rotated by 90 ° (that is, data arranged in the sub-scanning direction) is read in 16-bit units and stored in the area 2 of the image buffer. At this time, in this embodiment, the read data is simultaneously output to the data mask circuit 503, masked in consideration of multi-pass printing, and the number of print dots is counted.

That is, the HV converted data is masked by the AND circuit 203 using the mask pattern stored in the mask register 202. Then, the masked data is output to the selector 204. Selector 20
4 sets one set of masked data from the input operation result of four sets of logical products according to the select signal (SEL) indicating for what number of scanning the dot count is executed. For example, if this is the first scan in multi-pass printing, the output from the circuit 203a is selected. The 16-bit data output from the selector 204 is the same as the data actually recorded. Next, this output is sent to the dot count circuit 205, the dot extraction circuit 206 extracts the number of dots that cause ink ejection, and the adder circuit 207 counts up to the previous time stored in the dot count register 208. The extracted number is added to the number of dots, and the sum is stored in the dot count register 208.

The above operation is sequentially performed on the 16-bit HV-converted data read from the HV conversion circuit 201.

Hereinafter, steps S55 to S similar to those of the conventional example.
The processing of 60 is executed.

By such processing, the data arranged in the sub-scanning direction is obtained by the HV conversion, and at the same time, the number of dots (recording dots) that cause ink ejection in the actual recording operation is counted, so that the HV conversion is completed. When the converted data is stored in the image buffer, the counting process is completed.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, the number of print dots is also counted at the time when the data for starting the print operation involving ink ejection is prepared. The recording operation can be controlled almost in real time without spending extra time to save the time from receiving the image data from the host computer to printing it. Contributes to the improvement of the total recording speed.

In the above embodiment, the printer for recording according to the ink jet method is used, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a printer that performs recording according to a thermal transfer method.

In the above embodiment, particularly in the ink jet recording system, a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating heat energy as energy used for ejecting ink is provided, and High density and high definition recording can be achieved by using a method of causing a change in ink state by energy.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740 are applicable.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which the liquid crystal is held, which corresponds to the recorded information and gives a rapid temperature rise exceeding the film boiling. Since the electrothermal converter is caused to generate heat energy to cause film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, as a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the drive signal in a one-to-one relationship can be formed. It is valid. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal in a pulse shape, because bubbles can be grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the heat-acting surface is arranged in a bending region. In addition, for multiple electrothermal converters,
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670, which discloses a structure in which a common slot is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-63, which discloses a structure in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is associated with the discharge portion A configuration based on Japanese Patent No. 138461 may be used.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recording medium width that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification provides the length. Either of the structure satisfying the requirement or the structure as one recording head integrally formed may be used.

In addition, not only the recording head of the cartridge type in which the ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself described in the above embodiment, but also the recording head is mounted on the main body of the apparatus to electrically connect with the main body of the apparatus. A replaceable chip-type recording head that enables various connections and supply of ink from the apparatus main body may be used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary means, etc. to the structure of the recording apparatus described above because the recording operation can be made more stable. Specific examples thereof include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurizing or sucking means, electrothermal converters or heating elements other than these, or preheating means by a combination thereof. Further, provision of a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection different from recording is also effective for stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode only for the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. Alternatively, the device may be provided with at least one of full-color mixed colors.

In the above-described embodiments, the description has been made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid. However, even if the ink solidifies at room temperature or lower, it should be softened or liquefied at room temperature. Or, in the inkjet method, it is general that the temperature of the ink itself is adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range.
It suffices that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy from being used as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state,
Alternatively, in order to prevent the ink from evaporating, an ink that solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, by applying heat energy, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected, or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink is retained as a liquid or solid in the recesses or through holes of the porous sheet as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260. It may be configured to face the electrothermal converter. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the one provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and further transmission / reception It may take the form of a facsimile machine having a function.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in the recording medium conveying direction is scanned on the recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. When recording, converting input image data in which pixels are arranged in the scanning direction of the recording head into image data in which pixels are arranged in the conveyance direction of the recording medium, and the recording operation is caused by the recording head from the converted image data. Is controlled so that the counting of the number of pixels and the output to the buffer means for temporarily storing the converted image data are performed at the same time, the processing time of the image data for recording is significantly shortened, This has the effect of improving the total recording speed.

[0054]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the outline of the configuration of an inkjet printer IJRA that is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit of the inkjet printer IJRA.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circuit for counting the number of recording dots included in a gate array 402.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process executed by the circuit shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an HV conversion circuit 502 and a data mask circuit 50.
3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a dot count circuit 504. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional circuit for counting the number of recording dots.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control process executed by the circuit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

202 mask register 203 AND circuit 204 selector 206 dot extraction circuit 207 Adder circuit 401 MPU 402 gate array 403 ROM 404 RAM 405 interface 406 head driver 407 motor driver 408 motor driver 409 CPU bus 410 Carriage motor 411 Conveyor motor 501 image buffer 502 HV conversion circuit 503 data mask circuit 504 dot counter circuit 505 dot count register IJH recording head

(72) Inventor Sohei Tanaka 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Kanaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Tsukada 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A 1-210356 (JP, A) JP-A 2-141248 (JP, A) ) JP-A-6-270472 (JP, A) JP-A-9-156123 (JP, A) JP-A-63-317355 (JP, A) JP-A-63-294595 (JP, A) JP-A-63- 191651 (JP, A) JP 62-193843 (JP, A) JP 57-11067 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2 / 51 G06F 3/12

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium by scanning a recording head comprising a plurality of recording elements arranged in a conveyance direction of a recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, An input unit for inputting image data in which pixels are arranged in the scanning direction of the recording head, a conversion unit for converting the image data input by the input unit into image data in which pixels are arranged in the transport direction, and the conversion unit. Buffer means for temporarily storing the converted image data, mask means for applying a predetermined mask to the image data, and pixels for causing the recording head to cause a recording operation from the image data masked by the mask means. For the counting means for counting the number, the buffer means and the mask means,
Output the same image data converted by the stage simultaneously
And output means, storage in said buffer means of said transformed image data
Masked by the masking means in parallel with the treatment
A recording device characterized by counting image data . 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer unit that transfers the image data stored in the buffer unit to the recording head. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion unit performs a conversion operation for each pixel matrix having a two-dimensional matrix structure of a predetermined size. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the pixel matrix has a size of 16 × 16 pixels. 5. The storage means stores the cumulative result of the counting results counted by the counting means,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an addition unit that sums the counted number of pixels and a cumulative result stored in the recording unit for each conversion operation performed by the conversion unit. . 6. The cumulative result stored in the storage means is
The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the recording medium is replaced by the sum obtained by the adding means. 7. A recording control means for controlling a recording operation of the recording head according to a multi-pass recording method so that recording on the area is completed by scanning the same area on the recording medium a plurality of times by the recording head. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 8. The mask means includes a mask register for storing a plurality of mask patterns, an arithmetic circuit for obtaining a logical product of the image data converted by the converting means, and each of the plurality of mask patterns, and a multipath. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a selection unit that selects one of the calculation results obtained by the calculation circuit according to the number of scans for recording. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink. 10. The recording head is a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is provided with a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 2. The recording device according to item 1.