JP4713924B2 - Inkjet recording apparatus, inkjet recording system, and recording data processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that performs a recording operation using a recording head in which a plurality of nozzles that eject ink are arranged, and more specifically, a recovery process for maintaining the ejection performance of the nozzles in the recording head in a good state. The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that can be appropriately performed.

  At present, an ink jet recording apparatus can form an image of excellent quality by increasing the density of nozzles formed on a recording head and improving image processing technology. Further, the ink jet recording apparatus has various advantages such as colorization of an image to be recorded can be realized relatively inexpensively and easily, and excellent in quietness during recording. In particular, a so-called full-line type ink jet recording apparatus that performs recording using a long line head in which a large number of nozzles are arranged over the range of the maximum width of the recording medium to be used is capable of high-speed recording. It is attracting attention as being suitable for recording a large number of sheets.

  However, since the ink jet recording apparatus is in a state where the nozzles of the recording head are exposed to the atmosphere at least during the recording operation, the sound recording operation can be maintained by drying the ink near the nozzles or adhering dust. It may disappear. Therefore, in the ink jet recording apparatus, it is necessary to perform a recovery process for keeping the nozzle discharge state appropriate by discharging ink that does not directly contribute to image recording. Generally, this recovery process is executed when the number of ink ejected from the recording head is equal to or less than a certain number, or when the time that the recording head is exposed to the atmosphere without ejecting ink has exceeded a certain time. ing.

  Therefore, in a conventional full-line type ink jet recording apparatus using a plurality of line heads, the maximum exposure time (maximum exposure time) that a nozzle exposed to the atmosphere without discharging ink can maintain a normal ink discharge state. ) Is set for all line heads, and the recovery process is performed periodically for each maximum exposure time. In this recovery process, in-plane preliminary discharge (refer to Patent Document 1) in which ink discharge that does not contribute to image recording is performed on the recording medium, and recovery process in which the recording operation is stopped and ink is discharged to locations other than the recording medium. There is.

  As the latter recovery process, for example, preliminary ejection is known in which the recording operation is temporarily stopped at the start of the recording operation or in the middle of the recording operation, and ink is ejected into a cap that covers the nozzle formation surface of the recording head. Note that the preliminary discharge performed in a portion other than the paper surface is referred to as out-of-paper preliminary discharge, and the out-of-paper preliminary discharge and the in-paper preliminary discharge are simply referred to as preliminary discharge. Other examples of the recovery process performed by stopping the recording operation include a recovery process called a pressure recovery process and a recovery process called a suction recovery process. The pressure recovery process is a process in which a pressure is applied to the ink supply path in the recording head with a pump to forcibly discharge a relatively large amount of ink from the nozzles. The suction recovery process is also performed by the pump outside the recording head. This is a recovery process in which a negative pressure is generated on the side and a relatively large amount of ink is forcibly sucked from the nozzle (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2004-25627 A JP 2000-198211 A

  However, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, when a predetermined maximum exposure time has elapsed, the recovery process is uniformly performed for all the nozzles of the recording head. Therefore, useless recovery processing may be executed depending on the nozzle. In other words, the number of ink ejected from individual nozzles varies depending on recording data and the like, and there are nozzles with low usage frequency and nozzles with high usage frequency. Therefore, when ink is uniformly ejected from all nozzles in the recording head, ink is ejected from nozzles that do not require recovery processing. Such unnecessary ink discharge causes a problem that the amount of ink consumption increases and the running cost increases. In addition, when performing preliminary ejection on the paper surface, more ink than necessary is ejected onto the recording medium, which causes a problem that image quality is degraded. Further, when the preliminary ejection to the cap is performed, the recording operation is temporarily stopped, so that the required recording time is increased and the recording speed is lowered.

  The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above-described problems of the prior art. By performing a recovery process only on the necessary nozzles among the nozzles of the recording head, recording is performed while suppressing ink consumption. The ejection performance of all the nozzles in the head can be maintained in an appropriate state, and it can be determined in a short time whether each nozzle requires a recovery process, thereby reducing the time required for the recovery process. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus and the like capable of performing the above.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the transmitted compressed recording data is decompressed, ink is ejected from a plurality of nozzles arranged in the recording head based on the decompressed data, and the recording head and the recording head an inkjet recording apparatus which forms an image on the recording medium by moving the recording medium arranged and direction relative to the cross direction of the nozzle, each nozzle of the recording head on the basis of the compressed recording data and data processing means for detecting the frequency of use, based on the frequency of use of each nozzle, and a recovery control means for controlling a recovery operation of the recording head, the compressed recording data, the arrangement direction of the nozzle In the intersecting direction, the recording data of each line recorded by each nozzle is compressed data, and the ink of each nozzle is not ejected. The compressed data representing the number of dots in a predetermined bit unit, and the data processing means indicates that the number of dots that do not eject ink of each nozzle in the compressed recording data of each line is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. Counting means that counts the number of dots that do not eject ink from each nozzle, and the count value corresponding to each nozzle counted by the counting means has reached a predetermined threshold, using compressed data in predetermined bits as count target data Determination means for determining whether or not, the recovery control means, to perform the recovery operation for the nozzle determined by the determination means that the count value has reached the predetermined threshold, The recovery operation is executed for the nozzle determined by the determining means that the count value has not reached the predetermined threshold value. Characterized in that it does not.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the transmitted compressed recording data is decompressed, ink is ejected from a plurality of nozzles arranged in the recording head based on the decompressed data, and intersects with the nozzle arrangement direction. comprising an inkjet recording apparatus which forms an image on the recording medium by conveying the relatively recording medium over the previous type recording head in the direction of, and data supplying means for supplying recording data to the ink jet recording apparatus a recording system, the data supply means comprises a data compressor for compressing the print data, and transmission means for transmitting the compressed recording data compressed by said data compression means into said inkjet recording device , the compressed recording data, in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the nozzles, serial of each line to be recorded by each nozzle A data the data is compressed, the number of dots which do not eject ink of each nozzle is a compressed data expressed in a predetermined bit unit, the ink jet recording apparatus, each of said recording head on the basis of the compressed recording data Data processing means for detecting the frequency of use of the nozzles, and recovery control means for controlling the recovery operation of the recording head based on the frequency of use of the nozzles. Of the compressed recording data, the number of dots that do not eject ink from each nozzle is counted using the compressed data in units of the predetermined bits indicating that the number of dots that do not eject ink from each nozzle is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. And a count value corresponding to each nozzle counted by the count means is a predetermined threshold value. Determining means for determining whether or not the recovery value has been reached, and the recovery control means executes the recovery operation for the nozzle determined by the determination means that the count value has reached the predetermined threshold value. And the recovery operation is not performed on the nozzles determined by the determination means that the count value has not reached the predetermined threshold value .

  The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention determines the frequency of use of each nozzle in the recording head at the stage of the compressed recording data of each line, and therefore, compared with the case where the recording data is detected in units of one dot and the frequency of use is determined. The frequency of nozzle use can be determined at high speed. Further, since the recovery process is executed only for the necessary nozzles based on the determined usage frequency of the nozzles, unnecessary ink is required compared with the case where the recovery operation is uniformly executed for all the nozzles at regular intervals. Discharge can be greatly reduced. For this reason, the running cost can be reduced, and in addition, when performing preliminary ejection on the paper surface, the preliminary ejection ink ejected onto the recording medium is reduced, so that a good image can be formed.

  As a derivative effect of obtaining the nozzle usage frequency based on the compressed recording data, there is an advantage that the scale of hardware such as a counter required for each nozzle is reduced, and recording using a recording head having multiple nozzles like a line printer The device is particularly effective.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 are diagrams showing a schematic configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a standby state when the recording operation is not executed, and FIG. 2 is a recording operation. FIG. 3 is a side view showing the state at the start, and FIG. 3 shows a plan view during the recording operation.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an ink jet recording apparatus according to this embodiment. The ink jet recording apparatus 100 includes a transport unit (not shown) that transports the recording medium P and a recording head module as a recording unit that records an image on the recording medium P transported by the transport unit. In this embodiment, continuous paper is used as the recording medium. The recording head module 101 is provided with a head unit 102 in which four line heads (recording heads) 103 to 106 having a recording width of 4 inches are arranged in parallel. These four line heads 103 to 106 eject inks of K (black), C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow), respectively. Each of the line heads 103 to 106 includes a large number of ejection openings for ejecting ink, a liquid path communicating with each ejection opening, a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to the liquid path, and the liquids. A discharge energy generating element disposed in the path; Further, each discharge port has a configuration arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction Y of the recording medium (a direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 1). In the recording head, a portion formed by the ejection port and the corresponding liquid path is referred to as a nozzle in this specification. Further, the line heads 110 to 106 may be described as the line heads 110 when it is not necessary to distinguish the line heads 103 to 106 in particular.

  Reference numeral 107 denotes a recovery unit. The recovery unit 107 has a cap portion 207a that covers the ejection ports formed in the line heads 103 to 106, and is movable in the recording medium conveyance direction (Y direction). The line heads 103 to 106 are movable in a direction (Z direction) orthogonal to the recording medium. In the standby state shown in FIG. 1, the line heads 103 to 106 are held at positions that are in close contact with the cap portion 107 a of the recovery unit 107. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the adhesion of dust to the discharge port forming surfaces of the line heads 103 to 106, and the thickening and solidification of ink on the discharge port forming surfaces. Each of the line heads 103 to 106 is held at a position in close contact with the cap portion 107a even when a suction recovery process or a pressure recovery process described later is performed.

  When performing the recording operation, the recovery unit 107 and the head unit 102 move from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. That is, first, the recovery unit 107 moves from the position shown in FIG. 1 in the Y direction (left direction in the figure). Next, the head unit 102 passes through the insertion hole 107b formed in each recovery unit 107 and moves to a position where the discharge port forming surface is close to the recording medium P (see FIG. 2). In this state, the recording operation is started.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first embodiment, horizontal lines having a maximum width of about 4 inches can be simultaneously formed for each color, so that an image can be recorded at a high speed. In the figure, Im indicates an image recorded on the recording medium P.

  After the recording operation is completed, the recovery unit 107 and the head unit 102 are moved in a procedure reverse to the above procedure, and return to the state shown in FIG. That is, the line heads 103 to 106 are brought into close contact with the recovery unit 107 and enter a standby state or a recovery operation enabled state.

  Also in the present embodiment, in order to maintain ink ejection performance at each nozzle of the line heads 103 to 106 in the present embodiment, a recovery that discharges ink that is not suitable for ejection with increased viscosity or dust or bubbles is also performed. It is necessary to perform processing. The recovery process includes a pressure recovery process that applies pressure to the liquid path inside the recording head to forcibly eject ink from the nozzles, and a preliminary discharge recovery that performs ink discharge that does not contribute to image recording before the start of the recording operation. And a wiping recovery process in which ink adhering to the discharge port forming surface of the line head is wiped with a blade. Among these recovery processes, the pressure recovery process is performed in a state where the cap part 107 covers the discharge port forming surface of each line head as shown in FIG. The wiping recovery process is performed by reciprocating along the Y direction while bringing the blade of the recovery unit 107 into contact with the head unit 102. These three types of recovery processing are periodically executed at a predetermined timing.

  On the other hand, when the cap 107a does not cover the discharge port forming surface of the line head as in the case where the recording operation is stopped, the nozzle is exposed to the atmosphere. In this case, the ink solvent in the nozzles evaporates and thickens, and dust adheres, resulting in a decrease in ink droplet landing accuracy or a decrease in ejection performance such as non-ejection. In order to prevent such a drop in ejection performance, an ink ejection (preliminary ejection) recovery process that does not directly contribute to image recording is required. As this preliminary discharge recovery processing, as shown in FIG. 1, with the recovery unit 107 in close contact with the discharge port forming surface of the line head, out-of-paper preliminary discharge that performs ink discharge collectively for all nozzles is performed. There is an in-paper preliminary discharge that discharges onto a recording medium so that dots are not noticeable during the recording operation, regardless of the image to be recorded. Since the former preliminary ejection uses the recovery unit 107, it is necessary to temporarily stop the recording operation. However, the paper preliminary ejection recovery process can be performed while image recording is performed, resulting in a decrease in recording speed. Absent.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the paper surface preliminary discharge recovery process.
Here, a correspondence relationship between dots formed on the recording medium P by one line head 110 and each nozzle of the line head 110 is shown. In the line head 110, the number of effective nozzles 110A used for ejection onto the recording medium is 2400 dots. In the line head 110, each line head is fixed at a fixed position in the ink jet recording apparatus. However, in consideration of the possibility of an error in the fixed position of the line head 110, the line head 110 is provided with an adjustment nozzle region 110B for adjusting the dot formation position in the nozzle arrangement direction (Y direction). Yes. In FIG. 4, the adjustment nozzle area for two dots on the left and right is provided, but it is desirable to set a suitable number of effective nozzles in consideration of the adjustment area, for example, by providing 16 dots on the left and right.

  In FIG. 4, the black dot portions of the recorded images 405 and 406 schematically show dots formed by ink droplets ejected from the nozzles of the line head 110. The dots formed here indicate the positions of dots formed based on the recording data of the image to be recorded. In addition, the white spot portion in the figure indicates a blank portion (portion where no ink droplet is ejected from the nozzle) in the recorded image. In a normal recording operation, an image is formed by a white spot portion where ink does not land and a black dot portion where ink land.

  On the other hand, reference numerals 407 to 410 denote black spot portions formed by the paper surface preliminary discharge recovery process, and the paper surface preliminary discharge pattern is formed by these black spot portions 407 to 410.

  In recent years, the resolution of ink jet recording apparatuses has rapidly increased, and the amount of ink discharged to form one dot is extremely small. Therefore, one independent dot is hardly found with the naked eye.

  Therefore, as shown in the drawing, in the paper preliminary ejection recovery process, for each line (referred to as a horizontal line) along the nozzle arrangement direction (X direction) in the line head 110, one dot at a time regardless of the recorded images 405 and 406, Moreover, preliminary ejection on the paper surface is realized by ejecting the ink so as not to stand out. Note that the dots formed by this preliminary ejection may overlap the recorded image (405 and 406 in this example). Therefore, the preliminary ejection pattern can be formed while not overlapping the recorded images 405 and 406.

  If this paper surface preliminary ejection pattern is repeated regularly, the pattern may be recognized by the human eye and image quality may be degraded. Accordingly, in the preliminary discharge within the paper, dots may be discharged at random positions with respect to each line for each page. In addition, even when the preliminary paper ejection is performed at random, a part of the preliminary ejection pattern may overlap the recorded image (405 and 406 in this example). In that case, a random preliminary discharge pattern may be formed so as to stop the preliminary discharge in the portion overlapping the recorded images 405 and 406.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show examples of the paper preliminary ejection pattern.
In FIG. 5A, 501 shows an example of a paper preliminary ejection pattern in which preliminary ejection is performed for only one dot in one horizontal line, as in the example of FIG. As described above, in the case where 1 dot paper surface preliminary ejection is performed on one horizontal line, 2400 horizontal lines are used to perform paper surface preliminary ejection on all 2400 effective nozzles arranged in the line head 103. It is necessary to perform the recording operation.

  In FIG. 5B, reference numeral 502 denotes an example of a paper surface preliminary ejection pattern for performing preliminary ejection of 2 dots within one horizontal line. When this pattern is used, 1200 horizontal lines may be recorded in order to perform preliminary paper ejection for all the effective nozzles (2400 nozzles) of the line head 103. That is, by performing preliminary ejection of a plurality of dots on one horizontal line as in this pattern 502, it is possible to reduce the recording range required for preliminary paper ejection. However, in this case, since a plurality of dots are formed in one horizontal line, there is a possibility that dots formed by preliminary ejection on the paper surface are continuous or close to each other in the horizontal or vertical direction (Y direction). There is a risk that the pre-discharged portion of the paper surface will be easily noticeable. Therefore, it is desirable to set the number of dots formed on each horizontal line by preliminary ejection on the paper so that the dots are not noticeable.

  FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of the ink jet recording system according to the embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the ink jet recording system according to the present embodiment includes a personal computer (PC) 200 and an ink jet recording apparatus 100. The PC 200 generates recording data of an image to be recorded by the inkjet recording apparatus 100 by using software (printer driver) stored therein. Then, the recording data is compressed by a compression method described later, and the compressed recording data is transmitted to the recording head module 101 of the inkjet recording apparatus 100 via the USB cable 300.

  FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a control device 701 that controls the recording head module 101. The CPU 702 operates by a program stored in the flash memory 703, and after expanding the compressed recording data received from the PC 200 via the USB control unit 705 to the memory 704, the compressed recording data is converted into an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). ) 706. The ASIC 706 uses the recording data storage memory (VRAM) 707 connected thereto to decompress and store the compressed recording data. The ASIC 706 transmits the recording data to the head driver 708 to execute the recording operation while decompressing the compressed recording data and counting the number of preliminary ejections and storing the count value, which is one of the features of the present invention. . In this recording operation, the ASIC 706 controls the motor driver 709 while confirming the states of the motor, the encoder of the transport system (not shown), and the paper detection sensor (not shown), and the head unit 102 and the recovery unit. 707 etc. are controlled comprehensively.

  By the way, in the current inkjet recording system, in order to increase the data communication speed from the PC 200 to the recording head module 101 and to increase the recording processing, the recording data is often compressed. One of the compression methods is the Pack Bits compression method.

  In this Pack Bits compression method, data is compressed by expressing continuous data and non-continuous data as follows.

Continuous data is represented by 2-byte data. That is,
Command indicating the number of consecutive bytes (1 byte) + content of continuous data (1 byte)
It is represented by
Here, the command representing the continuous byte number represents a state in which FF (hexadecimal number) is continuous for 2 bytes, and 81 (hexadecimal number) represents a state in which 128 bytes are continuous. Therefore, the continuous number of data is expressed by FF to 81.

For example,
When data 00 (hexadecimal) is 3 bytes continuous (= 00 00 00), it is expressed as FE00,
When 01 (hexadecimal number) is 5 bytes continuous (= 01 01 01 01 01), it is expressed by FC01.

If the data (1 byte) is discontinuous,
It is represented by a command (1 byte) representing the number of non-consecutive bytes and non-contiguous data.
Here, in the command indicating the number of non-consecutive bytes, 00 (hexadecimal number) represents 1-byte discontinuity, and 7F (hexadecimal number) represents 128-byte discontinuity. Therefore, the number of discontinuous data is expressed by 00-7F.

  For example, when non-consecutive data is input continuously for 3 bytes, such as 01 02 03 (hexadecimal number), it is expressed as 02 01 02 03.

  Data transmitted to the recording head module 101 is compressed by a printer driver provided in the PC 200 using the above method.

Here, processing executed by the printer driver will be described with reference to FIG.
Data (image data) relating to an image created by the user with the application software 802 is transmitted to the printer driver 801 when the user instructs execution of a recording process.

  The image data created by the application software 802 is processed by the recording parameter processing unit 803, and data representing parameters related to the recording operation such as the paper size and the recording image size is extracted and processed by the recording head module 101. Converted to command.

  Next, the color processing unit 804 converts the recording data represented by RGB (red, green, blue) into the recording data of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), and then performs binarization conversion. Perform color processing. The data subjected to the color processing is compressed by the data compression processing unit 805 by the compression method described above. The compressed data is transmitted to a port communication processing unit 806 that controls port communication with a USB port driver 807 called a language monitor or a port monitor. The compressed data transmitted from the port communication processing unit 806 is transmitted to the recording head module 101 via the USB cable 300.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the recording data generated by the PC 200 is compressed and transmitted to the recording head module 101, the data communication speed can be increased, and further, as described later. It is also possible to speed up the recording process.

FIGS. 9A and 9B show an example of a data representation method after decompressing the data compressed by the printer driver 801 as described above.
The recording data is binarized by the color processing unit 804 of the printer driver 801. Binarization means that the print data is converted into two values (for example, “1” and “0”) that express whether ink is ejected or not ejected by the nozzles of the line head. Assume that the data portion after decompression is 01 (hexadecimal number). When this is expressed in binary, it becomes “00000001”, and a recording pattern such as 901 shown in FIG. Similarly, when the portion of the recording data is 55, it is expressed as “01010101” in binary number, and a recording pattern like 902 shown in FIG. 9B is obtained.
Note that data compressed by the Pack Bits compression method described above is processed in units of 8 bits (= 1 Byte).

Here, the recording data compression method and compressed recording data format in the first embodiment will be described.
First, in order to clarify the characteristics of the recording data compression method in the first embodiment, a recording data compression method and a compressed recording data format in the prior art will be described.
FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing a conventional recording data compression method.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the conventional recording data compression method, the horizontal lines 1002, 1003, 1004 in the direction (lateral direction (X direction)) orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P are compressed from left to right. In many cases, this method is used. A data format compressed by this method is shown in FIG.
In the compressed recording data 1101 shown in FIG. 11A, (1) is a command for identifying each horizontal line break (hereinafter referred to as a line break command), and (2) is shown in (3). This is a Byte number command representing the number of bytes of compressed data. (3) is compressed data obtained by compressing the recording data of one horizontal line 1002. As described above, the compressed recording data including the commands (1) and (2) and the compressed data (3) is continuously output from the second line 1003 onward.

  The compressed recording data 1102 shown in FIG. 11B is data in which the recording data shown in (3) is not data for one horizontal line, but recording data for a plurality of horizontal lines (for example, three lines) are compressed together. It has become. Also, (1) is a multi-line delimiter command for identifying a delimiter between multiple lines, and (2) is a Byte number command indicating the number of bytes of compressed data in (3).

  The recording data processing performed on the PC 200 is generally performed from the top of the page in the horizontal direction. In particular, a serial type inkjet recording system that performs a recording operation while scanning a relatively short recording head in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, rather than a long recording head such as a line head, performs one scan. As soon as the recording data is prepared, the recording processing time is shortened when the recording operation is started from the top of the page. Therefore, the recording data is generally compressed in the horizontal direction.

  However, in the ink jet recording system using the line head 103 as shown in FIG. 4, both the PC 200 and the ink jet recording apparatus 100 include a large-capacity receiving memory capable of storing recording data for one page or more. In many cases, the recording is started after the preparation of the data for the page is completed. In this case, the direction in which the data is compressed is not limited to the horizontal direction. In the embodiment of the present invention, the print data is not compressed in the horizontal direction, but is compressed in the vertical direction, that is, the direction (Y direction) orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the ejection ports of the line head 103. It is like that.

FIG. 12 shows a compression method in the first embodiment of the present invention.
Here, the recording data of the image 1201 is compressed in the vertical direction (Y direction) from the upper left to the lower of the page. That is, the vertical lines 1202, 1203, and 1204 are sequentially compressed.

FIG. 13 shows the compressed recording data in the first embodiment.
In this compressed recording data 1301, (1) is a command (line delimiter command) for identifying each vertical line delimiter, and (2) is a byte number command representing the number of bytes of the compressed data shown in (3). It is. (3) is compressed data obtained by compressing the recording data of one vertical line 1002. This compressed recording data is continuously output from the second vertical line 1203 onward.

  As described above, by compressing in the vertical direction (Y direction) for each vertical line, the compressed recording data becomes data for each nozzle of the line head 103 shown in FIG.

  The recording data compression process based on the above compression method will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 8, 14, and 15. FIG.

  Data subjected to color processing such as color conversion and binarization conversion by the color processing unit 804 shown in FIG. 8 is stored in the memory 1401 in the PC 200. In the color processing unit 804, color processing is performed on all the recording data for one page of each color, and the processed recording data for each color is stored in area 1 of the memory 1401. In FIG. 14, 1402 is an area for storing black (K) recording data, 1403 is an area for storing cyan (C) recording data, and 1404 is an area for storing magenta (M) recording data. And 1405 respectively indicate areas for storing yellow (Y) recording data.

  When the print data subjected to color processing for one page is stored in each of the areas 1402 to 1405, the data compression processing unit 805 sequentially starts from the print data stored at the position indicated by 1406 in the area 1402 described above. 12. Perform the compression process of FIG. While performing the compression processing, the compressed recording data 1301 is sequentially stored in the area 2 of the memory 1401 as indicated by reference numeral 1506 in FIG.

  When all the recording data stored in the areas 1402 to 1405 is compressed and stored in the areas 1502 to 1505, the recording parameter data generated by the recording parameter processing unit 803 is added to the areas 1507 and 1508. To do. Thereby, one page of compressed data is generated. The compressed data for one page is sent to the port communication processing unit 806, and is sent from here to the print head module 101 of the inkjet printing apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 15, the recording parameter data may be once written in the memory 1401 and then transmitted. However, the recording parameter data stored in an area different from the memory 1401 is transmitted from the port communication processing unit 806. It may be transmitted while being added to the compressed recording data.

  FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the ASIC 706 mounted on the control device 701 in the present embodiment.

  The ASIC 706 shown here is controlled by the CPU 702 shown in FIG. 7, receives the compressed data stored in the memory 704, and performs processing described later. The CPU 702 also performs various settings of the ASIC 706, and the CPU communication processing unit 1602 transfers various setting data to each module in the ASIC 1001 such as the preliminary discharge setting unit 1608. Although FIG. 16 mainly shows the flow of data and is not particularly shown, setting data from various setting units is set in the corresponding modules 1603 to 1610 via the CPU communication processing unit 1602. .

Here, a counting operation in the setting data counting unit 1609, which is one of the features of the present invention, will be described.
The compressed recording data in the present embodiment is data obtained by compressing the recording data for one page in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. That is, the recording data (vertical line recording data) is compressed for each nozzle of the line head 110. Therefore, the recording data recorded by each nozzle is compared with the count target data set in advance in the preliminary ejection setting unit 1608 by the CPU 702 for each 1-byte compressed recording data. When the count target data and the compressed recording data value match, the setting data count unit adds the count value and stores the count value in a register prepared for each nozzle.

Note that the count target data set in the preliminary discharge setting unit 1608 is set as follows.
That is, when the compressed recording data before decompression is 00 (hexadecimal), this is expressed as “00000000” in binary. This means that eight vertical dots are not ejected. When “00” (hexadecimal number) continues in the vertical direction, a non-ejection state corresponding to 8 dots × (“00” continuous number) is generated. Dispensing is required.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the above-described count target data (for example, “00”) and the preliminary discharge necessary value indicating the continuous number of the count target data are set in the preliminary discharge setting unit 1608. For example, when only “00” (hexadecimal number) is set as the count target data in the preliminary ejection setting unit 1608, the number of “00” is counted, and when the count value reaches the preliminary ejection required value, Pre-discharge on the paper surface is executed. The preliminary discharge required value set in the preliminary discharge setting unit 1608 is determined by the nozzle exposure time of the line head,
Conveying speed of recording medium × allowable exposure time × vertical resolution = vertical dot count vertical dot count / 8 = vertical byte count (number of “00”)
The calculated value (number of vertical bytes) is set in the preliminary discharge setting unit 1608.

  Further, compressed data 01 expressed in hexadecimal (“00000001” (binary)), compressed data 80 expressed in hexadecimal (“10000000” (binary)), etc., are ejected in one line. Most are nozzles that do not discharge. Therefore, in addition to 00, a value having 1 or 8 such as 01, 80, 10, 08, 11, 88 or the like can be added to the count target data. According to this, not only the state where ink is not completely ejected as in the case where only “00” is counted, but also the state of the nozzle is judged including the case where ink is slightly ejected. Therefore, a more appropriate preliminary discharge recovery process can be executed.

  Furthermore, a value such as compressed data 05 (“00000101” (binary number)) expressed in hexadecimal can also be added as the data to be counted, and the accuracy due to the preliminary ejection recovery can be further increased. However, if too many values are set as the count target data, in addition to the reduction in the processing speed of the set data count unit 1609, the time until the actual preliminary discharge process also becomes long. It is not preferable to increase it.

  The set data count unit 1609 is configured to count when the preset count target data matches the actual compressed recording data. However, for example, when F exists such as FF (11111111). It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a counting operation is performed under a negative condition such as counting values other than.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by modules 1603, 1604, and 1609 provided in the ASIC 706.
First, the preliminary ejection required value calculated as described above and the count target data are set by the CPU 702 in the preliminary ejection setting unit 1608 via the CPU communication processing unit 1602. At the same time, the type of the paper preliminary ejection pattern shown in FIG. 5 is also set. The preliminary ejection required value and the count target data set here are set in the setting data count unit 1609, and the type of the paper preliminary ejection pattern is set in the preliminary ejection control unit 1610 (step S1701).

  The compressed data transmitted from the PC 200 is temporarily stored in the memory 704 via the CPU 702. The compressed data stored in the memory 704 is transmitted to the command analysis unit 1603 via the CPU communication processing unit 1602 under the control of the CPU 702. The command analysis unit 1603 analyzes commands such as the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image and the data color included in the input compressed data.

  Since the compressed data 1502 to 1505 (see FIG. 15) are sequentially transmitted from the PC 200 for each color, the command analysis unit 1603 analyzes the color code and performs the following processing for each of the line heads 103 to 106. Do.

  The compressed recording data analyzed by the command analysis unit 1603 and from which unnecessary commands are deleted is transmitted to the compressed data decompression unit 1604. Here, the data compressed by the PackBits compression method is analyzed as described above, but the analysis module once reads the compressed data for continuous / non-continuous command analysis of the compressed data. In that case, the analysis module grasps the value of the record data to be decompressed along with the continuous and non-continuous commands. Then, the recording data value is transmitted to the setting data counting unit 1609, and it is determined whether or not the compressed recording data value is the count target data set in step S1701, and matches the count target data. Only when it is counted, the count is performed (step S1702).

  In the setting data count unit 1609, when the recording data that matches the count target data set in step S1701 is continuous, the count is continuously performed and the count value is held. However, if recording data other than the count target data appears before the count value matches the preliminary discharge required value, the nozzles discharge with a value other than the count target data, so that it is not necessary to perform preliminary discharge. . Therefore, when recording data other than the count target data appears, the value counted in step S1702 is once reset (steps S1703 and S1704).

  If the count target data is continuous, it is determined whether or not the count value of the count target data has reached the preliminary discharge required value set in step S1701 (step S1705). Then, the preliminary ejection flag is turned ON (step S1706), the preliminary ejection control unit 1610 is notified of the preliminary ejection execution, and the count value is reset (step S1707). As a method for determining whether or not the count target data has reached the preliminary discharge required value, the set data count unit 1609 counts up the count target data, and the counted up value is the preliminary discharge required value. The preliminary discharge required value is set as an initial value, and the initial value is counted down according to the data to be counted, and the value becomes zero. There are methods that are performed by determining whether or not, and any of them can be applied.

  Thereafter, the command analysis unit 1603 determines whether or not the decompression process and the count operation for the compressed recording data for one vertical line have been completed (step S1708). Thus, after the value counted so far is temporarily held in the memory (step S1709), the count value of the setting data count unit 1609 is reset (step S1710).

  Further, the command analysis unit 1603 determines whether or not the processing of the compressed recording data for one page is cotton (step S1711). If the processing for one page has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S1702, and the next vertical line processing (decompression and counting) is started again. When the processing of the compressed recording data for one page is completed, the count value held in step S1709 is stored in the memory 707 connected to the ASIC 706 via the memory control unit 1605 (step S1712). ), The process is terminated. If the next page of compressed recording data still exists, the data value stored in the memory 707 is added to the count value of each vertical line.

The above processing is performed on all the compressed recording data of each color stored in areas 1502 to 1505 shown in FIG.
It should be noted that there is a time until the start of the recording operation for the next page, and the process waits in the state shown in FIG. 1, and if the out-of-paper preliminary discharge recovery process or other discharge recovery process is performed during the standby, the previous page is reached. The count value performed in the above is reset, and the count starts from 0 when the next recording is resumed.

  Thus, the data decompressed and analyzed by the command analysis unit 1603 and the compressed data decompression unit 1604 is stored for one page in the memory 707 connected to the ASIC via the memory control unit 1605. Since this recording data was compressed in the vertical direction (Y direction) as shown in FIG. 12 before decompression, it is stored in the vertical direction when stored in the memory 707 after decompression, but is read from the memory 707. In this case, the data is read in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 10 in accordance with the nozzle arrangement direction of the line head 110.

  Then, the recording data stored in the memory 707 is transmitted to the head communication control unit 1607 in accordance with the line head driving cycle by the processing of the recording data control unit 1606. At this time, the preliminary discharge flag ON is transmitted from the setting data counting unit 1609, and when preliminary ejection is necessary, the preliminary ejection control unit 1610 transmits the preliminary ejection pattern set in step S1701. The preliminary ejection pattern and the decompressed image data are combined by the recording data control unit 1606. The synthesized data is transmitted to the head communication control unit 1607 and transmitted to the line heads 103 to 106 via the head driver 408 and recorded.

  As described above, by performing the recording operation according to the recording data obtained by combining the preliminary ejection patterns, the ejection performance of all the nozzles is maintained in an appropriate state. In other words, when the recording operation is performed only in accordance with the recording data, the in-paper preliminary discharge is performed in accordance with the preliminary discharge pattern even for nozzles that are less frequently used (the number of discharges is small) and may cause a discharge failure. As a result, all the nozzles in the line head are ejected at a frequency (number of ejections) equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, and the ejection performance of all the nozzles is maintained in an appropriate state.

  In addition, when combining the preliminary ejection pattern and the recording data transmitted from the memory control unit, if there is ejection data instructing dot formation at the same dot formation position, only one of the data is stored. It is desirable to perform data processing as employed.

  As described above, in the ink jet recording system according to the first embodiment, recording data compressed in units of nozzles is sent from the PC 200 to the ink jet recording apparatus 100. For each nozzle, only the recording data (count target data) of a preset number of ejections is counted to detect the usage frequency (number of ejections) of each nozzle. As a result, it becomes possible to detect the ejection frequency of each nozzle at a higher speed than when the number of ejections is counted based on the decompressed bitmap data.

  In addition, since counting is performed sequentially for each nozzle, such as counting for one nozzle and then counting for the next nozzle, a plurality of counters are set to nozzles. It is not necessary to prepare for the number of nozzles, and it is possible to count all nozzles with one counter. For this reason, the circuit scale of the ASIC 706 can be reduced.

  Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the usage frequency of each nozzle is actually detected, and the preliminary paper ejection is performed for each nozzle according to the detection result. Therefore, unnecessary preliminary ejection and preliminary paper surface ejection can be reduced as compared with the conventional preliminary ejection recovery in which preliminary ejection is regularly performed from all nozzles at regular intervals. For this reason, waste of ink can be reduced, and deterioration of image quality due to unnecessary preliminary paper ejection can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the number of preliminary ejections other than the paper surface preliminary ejection, that is, the number of preliminary ejections performed by stopping the recording operation can be reduced, the time required for recording can be shortened, and the recording speed as viewed from the entire recording operation Can be improved.

  In addition, since it is possible to arbitrarily set a threshold value of the count value of the count target data for determining whether or not to perform preliminary ejection, the image to be recorded is considered in consideration of the type and characteristics of the image to be recorded. Combined preliminary discharge recovery processing can be realized.

In the present embodiment, as an example of the preliminary discharge recovery process, the case of performing preliminary discharge on the paper has been described. However, as a preliminary discharge recovery method, a preliminary discharge on the recovery processing mechanism, which is generally performed, is described. It is also possible to use discharge recovery processing, and the recovery processing in the present invention is not limited to in-paper preliminary discharge.
In this embodiment, it is also possible to divide the recording data in units of several bytes by using the PackBits compression method, dividing the recording data in units of 1 Byte, and using other compression methods.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus of the present embodiment, the case where four types of line heads for discharging different color inks are arranged has been described as an example. However, the number of inks used is increased, and recording is performed with five or more line heads. When performing the operation, or when performing recording by ejecting the same color ink from all of the plurality of line heads, or performing the recording operation by arranging two line heads that eject the same color ink for a plurality of colors. The present invention is also applicable to cases. In other words, when the line heads are arranged in any combination, the count may be performed for each nozzle of each line head. In this case, a counter may be provided for each head, but a counter may be used in common for each line head.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the same configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 16 is provided. For this reason, the following description will mainly describe differences from the first embodiment.
In the first embodiment, the recording data is compressed for each vertical line. In the second embodiment, the PC 200 compresses a plurality of vertical lines together.

  FIG. 18A shows compressed data 1801 obtained by compressing recording data of a plurality of vertical lines (lines perpendicular to the nozzle arrangement direction of the line head). In this compressed data 1801, 1802 is the compressed data for the first to third lines, and 1803 is the compressed data for the fourth to sixth lines. In this compressed data 1802, (1) indicates a command (line delimiter command) for identifying each vertical line delimiter, and (2) indicates a byte number command indicating the number of bytes of the compressed recording data shown in (3). Yes. (3) is compressed recording data obtained by compressing the recording data from the first to the third vertical lines. The compressed data 1803 for the 4th to 6th lines is also continuously output in the same format.

  Reference numeral 1804 denotes recording data obtained by compressing the recording data for three lines in the same manner as 1801. 1805 indicates compressed data for the first to third lines, and 1806 indicates compressed recorded data for the fourth to sixth lines. Each is shown. The compressed data 1805 and 1806 include a line number command (4) representing the number of lines of the compressed recording data in addition to the line delimiter command (1) and the byte number command (2). Is different from the compressed data 1802 and 1803.

Next, processing executed by the inkjet recording apparatus 100 based on the compressed recording data 1801 and 1804 obtained by compressing a plurality of lines as described above will be described in detail based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 19 and 20.
First, processing for the compressed data 1801 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. Also in this case, as in the first embodiment, the count target data, the preliminary ejection required value (threshold value), the paper preliminary ejection pattern type, and the like are stored in the preliminary ejection setting unit by the CPU 702 via the CPU communication processing unit 1602. It is set to 1608 (step S1901).

The compressed data 1801 transmitted from the PC 200 is temporarily stored in the memory 704 via the CPU 702. The stored compressed data 1801 is transmitted to the command analysis unit 1603 via the CPU communication processing unit 1602 under the control of the CPU 702.
In the command analysis unit 1603, commands such as the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image, the data color, and the like are analyzed, and the value of the vertical size of the image is set in the setting data counting unit 1609 (step S1902).

  Further, the compressed recording data from which unnecessary commands are deleted after being analyzed by the command analyzing unit 1603 is transmitted to the compressed data decompressing unit 1604. Here, as in the first embodiment, it is determined whether or not the data transmitted to the compressed data decompression unit 1604 is the count target data set in step S1901, and it is determined that the data is the count target data. In step S1903, the setting data count unit 1609 adds the count value.

  If the target count value set in step S1901 is continuous, this count value holds a value for continuing the count, but before the count value matches the preliminary ejection required value, When a value other than the target data appears, ejection is performed from the nozzle, so that it is not necessary to perform preliminary ejection. For this reason, the value counted in step S1903 is reset. (Steps S1904, S1905).

On the other hand, if it is determined that the count target data is continuous and the count value of the setting data count unit 1609 has reached the preliminary discharge necessary value set in step S1901, (step S1906), the preliminary discharge flag is turned ON. (Step S1907), the preliminary ejection control unit 1610 is notified of the execution of preliminary ejection, and the count value is reset (step S1908).
Next, it is determined whether or not data processing (decompression and counting of count target data) corresponding to the data for the vertical size of the image (data for one vertical line) set in step S1902 has been performed (step S1909). If the counting operation for the recording data for one vertical line has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S1903 to continue counting. If the count operation for one vertical line is completed, the count value is held, and then the count value of the setting data count unit 1609 is reset (step S1912).

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the counting operation for one page has been completed (step S1911). If the counting operation for one page has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S1903 and the next vertical line is displayed. The above operation is repeated until the counting operation for one page is completed. Further, when the processing of the compressed recording data for one page is completed, the count value is stored in the memory 707 connected to the ASIC 706 via the memory control unit 1605 (step S1913), and the processing is terminated. . If the next page of compressed recording data still exists, the data value stored in the memory 707 is added to the count value of each vertical line.

The above processing is performed on all the compressed recording data of each color stored in areas 1502 to 1505 shown in FIG.
On the other hand, in the case of the compressed data 1804 shown in FIG. 18B, processing as shown in FIG. 20 is performed. As described above, in FIG. 18A, processing is performed based on the vertical image size command. However, in the compressed data processing shown in FIG. ) To perform the counting process. That is, by detecting a break in the vertical line using the vertical line number command, the count target data is counted for each line even in the data in which a plurality of lines are continuously compressed. For this reason, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 20, the process shown in step S1902 in the process shown in FIG. 19, that is, the process for setting the image vertical size is deleted. Other processes are the same as those shown in FIG.

As described above, in the second embodiment, by using the image vertical size command or the vertical line number command, a count value is set for each line even in data in which a plurality of lines are continuously compressed. Can be detected.
(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the same configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 16 is provided. For this reason, in the following description, differences from the first and second embodiments will be mainly described.

  In the first and second embodiments, preliminary ejection is performed when the count target data continues to a preset preliminary ejection required value. In this embodiment, however, the preliminary ejection setting value is Regardless of whether or not they are continuous, the number of count target data existing in one vertical line is counted, and whether or not preliminary ejection is performed is determined by the number of count values.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 21, in step S2101, count target data and the like are set, and in step S2102, the set data count unit 1609 adds a count value every time count target data in each vertical line is detected. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the count value has reached the preliminary discharge required value (step S2103). If the preliminary discharge required value has been reached, the preliminary discharge flag is turned ON and output to the preliminary discharge control unit 1610. (Step S2104), the count value is reset (Step S2105).

  If the count value does not reach the required call ejection value, it is determined whether or not the processing (decompression processing and count operation) for the compressed recording data for one vertical line analyzed by the command analysis unit 1603 is completed. (Step S2106) When the processing for the compressed recording data for one vertical line is completed, the value counted so far is temporarily stored in the memory, and then the count value of the setting data count unit 1609 is reset (Step S2107). , S2108). The following processing is the same as in the above embodiment.

  As described above, in the third embodiment, since the preliminary ejection required value can be detected regardless of whether the preliminary ejection setting value is continuous or non-continuous, the nozzle is simply not affected by the data contents. The recovery process is executed according to the number of non-ejections, and the nozzle can be reliably recovered.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the same configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 16 is provided.
FIG. 22 is a diagram schematically showing dots and blank portions formed on the recording medium P by the line head 110. The line head 110 shown here is also provided with an adjustment region 110B for adjusting the lateral registration by setting the number of effective nozzles 2203 to 2400 dots, as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 22 does not show a discharge pattern for preliminary discharge in the paper.

Black dots in the recorded images 2205 and 2206 indicate dots formed by ink droplets ejected from the nozzles of the line head 2201, and white dots indicate blank areas in the recorded image.
In 2207 to 2209, one vertical line is all blank. In order to transfer the blank portion of one vertical line while reducing the amount of data, it may be transferred using a line skip command. This line skip command is generated in the same manner as the horizontal and vertical size commands of the recording medium, and can be expressed in 7 bytes or less even if it is continuous for any number of lines of blank line data.

On the other hand, when blank line data is compressed using the PackBits compression method, the amount of data may increase as compared with the case where compression is performed using a line skip command.
For example, when the length of one vertical line is 2400 dots and 00 (hexadecimal number) of the vertical line is compressed using the PackBits compression method of the first embodiment, 2400 dots = 300 bytes. Here, since the maximum continuous number of the PackBits compression method is 128 bytes, when one vertical line is a blank line, the compressed data is 6 bytes. That is, when 300 bytes of “00” are compressed,
81 00 81 00 D500
It becomes 6 bytes.
Therefore, when the data to be counted is continuous for two or more vertical lines, 12 bytes are required, and therefore the amount of data can be reduced by using the above 7-byte line skip command.

  For this reason, in the inkjet recording system according to the fourth embodiment, the PC 200 transmits the compressed recording data using the line skip command to the compressed recording data to the inkjet recording apparatus 100, and the compressed recording including the line skip command is performed. Recording processing and recovery processing are performed based on the recording data.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the ASIC 706 mounted on the control board of the recording head module 402 in the fourth embodiment, and FIG. 24 is executed by modules 1603, 1604, and 1609 provided in the ASIC 706. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a process.
In this fourth embodiment, 2302 to 2310 are substantially the same as 1602 to 1610 shown in FIG. However, the command analysis unit 2303 in the present embodiment also analyzes the line skip command in addition to analyzing commands such as the preliminary ejection required value, the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image, and the data color. For commands other than the line skip command, the decompression operation and the count operation of the count target data are performed as in the first embodiment. When the line skip command is received, the following operation is performed. Count control is performed.

  That is, the command analysis unit 2303 determines whether or not the vertical size of the image is equal to or larger than the preliminary ejection required value (step S2403). When the command is sent, the preliminary ejection flag is turned ON, the preliminary ejection control unit 2310 is notified of the preliminary ejection execution (step S2409), and the count value is reset (step S2410).

  If it is determined in step S2403 that the vertical size of the image is equal to or less than the preliminary ejection required value, the count value corresponding to the number of lines is added (or subtracted when the countdown is performed) (step S2404). Thereafter, when a value other than the count target data appears, the count value is reset (steps S2406 and S2407), and when the count value becomes the preliminary ejection required value, the first embodiment described above. Similarly to the above, the preliminary ejection flag is turned on, the count value is reset (steps S2409, S2410), and the like.

  As described above, the data to be counted may include a value other than 00 (hexadecimal number), but this count operation is a count operation performed to determine the necessity of preliminary ejection. For some reason, it is impossible to exclude 00 (hexadecimal) as the data to be counted. Therefore, the number of blanks by the line skip command can be directly added as the count value of the count target data to the count value counted so far.

  As described above, in the fourth embodiment, by detecting and analyzing the line skip command, the number of dots required for preliminary ejection can be detected efficiently, and preliminary ejection is required at a higher speed. The number of dots can be detected.

(Fifth embodiment)
FIG. 25 is a plan view schematically showing the configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus 300 in the present embodiment.
In the ink jet recording apparatus 300 shown here, recording head modules 2502 to 2507 corresponding to the recording head module 101 shown in FIG. 3 are arranged along the nozzle arrangement direction (X direction) in the line head. Here, adjacent recording head modules are arranged at positions offset in a direction orthogonal to the X direction (recording medium transport direction (Y direction)), and are arranged in a zigzag manner along the X direction as a whole. .

  Thus, by providing a plurality of recording head modules, it is possible to record a wide recording medium P by one scan. Here, since each of the recording head modules 2502 to 2507 is equipped with four 4-inch line heads, recording can be performed with a maximum width of about 24 inches. Im1 to Im3 indicate graphics recorded on the wide paper 2508.

  As described above, even in an ink jet recording apparatus in which a plurality of recording head modules are arranged, the recording data processing method shown in the first to fourth embodiments can be applied to each recording head module. In this way, it is possible to perform an optimal in-paper preliminary discharge.

  That is, in the fifth embodiment, even in an ink jet recording apparatus configured by using a plurality of recording head modules, ink for determining whether or not to perform preliminary ejection of the line head for each recording head module. The number of discharges can be counted faster based on the compressed data. In addition, since it is possible to reduce unnecessary paper preliminary ejection, it is possible to improve the quality of the entire recorded image and reduce waste of ink.

(Other embodiments)
In the first to fourth embodiments, the ink jet recording apparatus using a line head has been described. However, if the recording apparatus can hold recording data for one line or more in the recording apparatus, the number of nozzles is not limited. The present invention can be applied to a recording apparatus using a recording head with a small amount of recording head, for example, a serial type ink jet recording apparatus.

  Further, the present invention has been described by taking as an example the case where the number of recording data ejections is detected based on the compressed recording data in order to optimize the preliminary ejection on the paper surface in the ink jet recording apparatus, but the recording data processing apparatus and The recording data processing method is not limited to the processing related to the preliminary ejection on the paper surface, but can be applied to other recovery processing such as wiping recovery processing. In general, the wiping recovery process is a recovery process that removes ink or the like adhering to the ejection port forming surface of the recording head using a wiping member such as a blade when ink is ejected from a nozzle. This wiping recovery process is necessary when the discharge amount is large, contrary to the preliminary discharge recovery process. For this reason, it is possible to perform an appropriate recovery process according to the ejection amount by applying the ink ejection frequency detection process in the print data according to the present invention.

  Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to processing other than recovery processing, but can be applied to other processing, for example, life detection of each nozzle in a recording head.

FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing the configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a standby state when a recording operation is not executed. 1 is a side view schematically showing a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state at the start of a recording operation. FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing a state during a recording operation by the recording head module in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the specific example of the paper surface preliminary discharge recovery process in embodiment of this invention. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example of preliminary ejection on a paper surface according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 5A illustrates an example in which preliminary ejection is performed for only one dot in one horizontal line, and FIG. Each example shows the preliminary ejection of dots. 1 is a configuration diagram of an inkjet recording system in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device that controls a recording head module. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver. It is a figure which shows an example of the data representation method after the decompression | compression of the compressed data, (a) is the case where the data after decompression is 01 (hexadecimal number), (b) is the data after decompression is 55 ( (Hexadecimal number). It is a figure which shows typically the compression system of the conventional recording data. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing conventional compressed recording data, where (a) shows data obtained by compressing the recording data for each horizontal line, and (b) shows data obtained by compressing the first through third lines. It is a figure which shows the compression system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the compression recording data in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a compression process of recording data executed by a PC in the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which recording data of each color is stored in area 1 of the memory. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a compression process of print data executed by a PC according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state in which print data for each color is stored in area 2 of the memory. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of ASIC mounted in the control apparatus in this embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing executed by an ASIC 706. It is a figure which shows the form of the compressed data which compressed the recording data of the several vertical line collectively, (a) is a case where the line number command is not included, (b) is a dormitory for the line number command. Each case is shown. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process performed with the inkjet recording device in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the other example of the process performed with the inkjet recording device in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the process performed with the inkjet recording device in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the dot and blank part which are formed in a recording medium with the line head in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an ASIC mounted on a control board of a recording head module according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process performed in the module provided in ASIC. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus in the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101 Recording head module 102 Head unit 103 Line head K (black)
104 Line head C (cyan)
105 Line Head M (Magenta)
106 Line head Y (Yellow)
107 Recovery Unit 501 Pre-discharge Pattern Example 502 Pre-discharge Pattern Example 200 PC (Personal Computer)
100 recording head module 701 control device 702 CPU
703 Flash memory 704 Memory 705 USB control unit 706 ASIC
707 Memory 708 Head driver 709 Motor driver 801 Printer driver 802 Application 805 Data compression processing unit 1101 Compression recording data 1102 Compression recording data 1301 Compression recording data 1401 Memory 1602 CPU communication processing unit 1603 Command analysis unit 1604 Compression data decompression unit 1605 Memory control unit 1606 Recording data control unit 1607 Head communication control unit 1608 Preliminary ejection setting unit 1609 Setting data counting unit 1610 Preliminary ejection control unit 1801 Compressed recording data 1804 Compressed recording data 2302 CPU communication processing unit 2303 Command analysis unit 2304 Compressed data decompression unit 2305 Memory control Unit 2306 print data control unit 2307 head communication control unit 2308 preliminary ejection setting unit 2309 setting data Counting unit 2310 preliminary ejection control unit 1801 compressed recording data 1804 compressed recording data 300 inkjet recording apparatus 2502-2507 printhead module P recording medium

Claims (12)

The transmitted compressed recording data is decompressed, ink is ejected from a plurality of nozzles arranged in the recording head based on the decompressed data, and the recording head and the recording medium intersect with the nozzle arrangement direction. an inkjet recording apparatus which forms an image on the recording medium by moving relative to a direction,
Data processing means for detecting the frequency of use of each nozzle of the recording head based on the compressed recording data;
Based on the frequency of use of each nozzle, and a recovery control means for controlling a recovery operation of the recording head,
The compressed recording data is data in which the recording data of each line recorded by each nozzle is compressed in a direction intersecting the nozzle arrangement direction, and the number of dots that do not eject ink from each nozzle is a predetermined bit. Compressed data expressed in units,
The data processing means includes
Of the compressed recording data of each line, the predetermined number of bits of compressed data indicating that the number of dots that do not eject ink of each nozzle is equal to or greater than a predetermined number is used as the count target data, and ink of each nozzle is not ejected. A counting means for counting the number of dots;
Discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the count value corresponding to each nozzle counted by the counting means has reached a predetermined threshold,
The recovery control unit causes the recovery operation to be performed on the nozzle that has been determined by the determination unit that the count value has reached the predetermined threshold value, and the determination unit has reached the predetermined threshold value. An inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the recovery operation is not performed on a nozzle that is determined not to be. The recovery control means discharges ink at a discharge recovery operation for discharging ink onto the recording medium or at a place other than the recording medium at a preliminary discharge timing determined by the nozzle use frequency determined based on the compressed recording data. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ejection recovery operation is performed . The compressed recording data is recorded data continuously compressed recording data of a plurality of lines to be recorded by a plurality of nozzles plurality duty together in said recording head,
The data processing means , based on the vertical size data representing the vertical size that is the size of the image in the direction orthogonal to the nozzle arrangement direction, analyze the break of each line of continuous compressed recording data,
3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the counting unit resets a count value of the data to be counted based on a break of each line analyzed by the data processing unit . The compressed recording data is recorded continuous data compressed recording data of a plurality of lines to be recorded by a plurality of nozzles in said recording head,
The data processing means , based on a line number command indicating how many lines of compressed recording data that is continuously supplied is the analysis of the separation of each line of the continuous compressed recording data,
The counting means, based on said separator of each line analyzed by the data processing means, the ink-jet recording according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that resets the count value of the counted data apparatus. The compressed recording data includes a line skip command for skipping and transferring a blank line that does not discharge ink,
The data processing means detects a line skip command included in the transmitted compressed recording data, determines the length of the blank line,
The counting means is an ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that to change the count value according to the length of the blank lines. The counting means, when the value of the number of blank dots constituting the blank line is smaller than the threshold value, adds a predetermined count value to the count value of the count target data, the value of the number of blank dots, 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein when the threshold value is larger than the threshold value, the count value of the count target data is reset. Wherein the threshold value in the determining means, an ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it is changeable. The recording head is a plurality arranged along a direction orthogonal to the array direction of the nozzles, according to any one of claims 1 to 7 each recording head, characterized in that discharge ink of a different color Inkjet recording apparatus. The recording head is a plurality arranged along a direction orthogonal to the array direction of the nozzles, the recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that for discharging the same color of ink Inkjet recording device. Ink jet recording system according to claim 1 to be multiple array ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of 9 to form an image on a recording medium by said plurality of recording devices. The compressed recording data sent to the decompression process, the ink is ejected from a plurality of nozzles arranged in the recording head on the basis of the decompressed data, over the previous type recording head in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the nozzle A recording system comprising: an inkjet recording apparatus that forms an image on the recording medium by relatively conveying the recording medium; and a data supply unit that supplies recording data to the inkjet recording apparatus,
The data supply means includes
Data compression means for compressing the recording data;
And a transmitting means for transmitting the compressed recording data compressed by said data compression means into said inkjet recording device,
The compressed recording data is data in which the recording data of each line recorded by each nozzle is compressed in a direction intersecting the nozzle arrangement direction, and the number of dots that do not eject ink from each nozzle is a predetermined bit. Compressed data expressed in units,
The ink jet recording apparatus comprises:
Data processing means for detecting the frequency of use of each nozzle of the recording head based on the compressed recording data;
Recovery control means for controlling the recovery operation of the recording head based on the use frequency of each nozzle.
The data processing means includes
Of the compressed recording data of each line, the predetermined number of bits of compressed data indicating that the number of dots that do not eject ink of each nozzle is equal to or greater than a predetermined number is used as the count target data, and ink of each nozzle is not ejected. A counting means for counting the number of dots;
Discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the count value corresponding to each nozzle counted by the counting means has reached a predetermined threshold,
The recovery control unit causes the recovery operation to be performed on the nozzle that has been determined by the determination unit that the count value has reached the predetermined threshold value, and the determination unit has reached the predetermined threshold value. An ink jet recording system , wherein the recovery operation is not executed for a nozzle that has been determined not to be. The data compression means divides the recording data of each line recorded by each nozzle for each predetermined data amount, compresses the recording data of each line by each divided data and data representing the continuous number thereof,
The data processing means includes
A data analysis unit that searches the division information representing the number of ink ejections equal to or less than a certain number at the same time as decompression processing of the compressed data among the compressed recording data,
Counting means for counting the number of consecutive count target data retrieved by the data analysis means for each line;
Discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the count value for each nozzle counted by the counting means has reached a predetermined threshold value,
12. The ink jet recording system according to claim 11 , wherein the recovery control unit causes the recovery operation to be performed on a nozzle that has been determined by the determination unit that the count value has reached a predetermined threshold value.

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