JP4720486B2 - Data processing apparatus, data processing method, data processing program, and droplet discharge apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing device, a data processing method, a data processing program, and a droplet discharge device, and in particular, a data processing device that rearranges an array of ejection data in accordance with an array of nozzles that eject droplets, data The present invention relates to a processing method, a data processing program, and a droplet discharge device.

  In a droplet discharge device that discharges droplets using a piezoelectric element, since the size of the piezoelectric element is large, a two-dimensional arrangement is proposed in which adjacent nozzles are shifted and arranged to increase the resolution. ing.

  For example, in an inkjet printer, print heads are becoming longer (multi-nozzles) for the purpose of speeding up, and high resolution is achieved by two-dimensionally arranging nozzles as described above. Therefore, in such an ink jet printer, the output timing of data corresponding to each nozzle is shifted due to the two-dimensional arrangement. Therefore, it is necessary to rearrange the data at the same timing, and the data must be rearranged efficiently. For example, a large amount of memory and a very high-speed arithmetic circuit are required.

  In an ink jet printer classified into such a droplet discharge device, generally, image data subjected to image processing by a printer driver is often raster data or a simple data format similar to raster data. Therefore, the printer controller needs to rearrange the image data received in a simple data format such as raster data together with the two-dimensionally arranged nozzles of the print head.

  By the way, as a technique for rearranging image data, for example, techniques described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have been proposed.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, in a print head having a plurality of ejection nozzles, when the nozzle pitch in the horizontal direction is P (inch), the nozzle pitch in the vertical direction is 7p / 4 (inch). It has been proposed to convert the data into a dot arrangement shifted by 1/2 dot width every other row by multiplying the vertical resolution by 8/7.

In the technique described in Patent Document 2, it is proposed to adjust the output timing of data while delaying it using a FIFO (First In First Out) memory in order to adjust the output timing of different image processing units. .
JP 2003-1808 A JP 2005-59256 A

  However, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the data rearrangement according to the nozzle arrangement of the ink jet printer is not described in detail, and it is not certain whether efficient data rearrangement is possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to efficiently arrange discharge data according to two-dimensionally arranged nozzles.

In order to achieve the above object, the data processing apparatus according to claim 1 is a discharge apparatus for discharging droplets from the nozzles of a droplet discharge apparatus including a head in which nozzles for discharging droplets are two-dimensionally arranged. A data processing apparatus for arranging data for use, wherein a grouping means for grouping each of the ejection data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing, and the ejection data grouped by the grouping means A plurality of cache blocks provided for each of the plurality of cache blocks, each corresponding to a maximum value of the number of the discharge data, wherein the discharge data is stored in order, and the plurality of cache blocks Remove the discharge data, so that data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the head, and a merging unit for converting data array of the ejection data It is characterized in that.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the grouping unit performs grouping for each discharge data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet discharge timing.

A plurality of cache blocks, a plurality of cache blocks provided for each ejection data grouped by a set amount means corresponds to the maximum number of data of the ejection data, the ejection data is sequentially stored in Is done.

In the integration unit, the ejection data is extracted from the plurality of cache blocks, and the data array of the ejection data is converted so that the data corresponds to the nozzle arrangement of the head. As a result, the array of ejection data can be arranged in accordance with the two-dimensionally arranged nozzles.

Accordingly, it is possible to sequence corresponding to the nozzles arranged two-dimensionally array of data out ejection, it can be arranged efficiently discharging data according to the two-dimensionally arranged nozzle.

In addition, the recording head having a width equivalent to the recording medium width and two-dimensionally arranged so as to form one line of input image data as in the invention described in claim 2 may be applied. it can.

  Further, as in the invention according to claim 3, the assembling means divides the data for each of the ejection data corresponding to the same nozzle in the direction perpendicular to the relative movement direction of the recording medium and the head. It is possible to categorize for each discharge data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet discharge timing.

The integrated unit, as in the invention according to claim 4, DRAM, FIFO memories, shift registers, or field may include a programmable gate array, etc..

The data processing method according to claim 5 , wherein data processing for arranging ejection data for ejecting droplets from the nozzles of a droplet ejection apparatus having a head in which nozzles for ejecting droplets are two-dimensionally arranged is provided. A grouping step for grouping for each of the ejection data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing , and a plurality of caches provided for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step A storage step of sequentially storing the discharge data in a plurality of cache blocks corresponding to a maximum value of the number of the discharge data and sequentially storing the discharge data; The ejection data is taken out from the cache block and the data array of the ejection data is converted so that the data corresponds to the nozzle arrangement of the head. It is characterized by comprising cormorants and integrating step.

  According to the invention described in claim 6, in the grouping step, grouping is performed for each discharge data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet discharge timing.

In the storage step, a plurality of cache blocks are provided for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step, and the ejection data is stored in order corresponding to the maximum number of ejection data. Discharge data is stored in order in a plurality of cache blocks .

In the integration step, the ejection data is extracted from the plurality of cache blocks, and the data array of the ejection data is converted so that the data corresponds to the nozzle arrangement of the head. As a result, the array of ejection data can be arranged in accordance with the two-dimensionally arranged nozzles.

Accordingly, it is possible to sequence corresponding to the nozzles arranged two-dimensionally array of data out ejection, it can be arranged efficiently discharging data according to the two-dimensionally arranged nozzle.

The data processing program according to claim 6 is a process for arranging ejection data for ejecting droplets from the nozzles of a droplet ejection apparatus having a head in which nozzles for ejecting droplets are two-dimensionally arranged. A data processing program to be executed by a computer, comprising: a grouping step for grouping each of the ejection data corresponding to the nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing; and a unit for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step. The plurality of cache blocks are provided, and the discharge data is sequentially stored in the plurality of cache blocks corresponding to the maximum value of the number of discharge data and the discharge data being sequentially stored. The storage step and the ejection data are extracted from the plurality of cache blocks, and become data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the head. To, it is characterized by and a consolidation step that converts the data array of the ejection data.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a data processing program for causing a computer to execute the data processing method according to the fifth aspect is provided. That is, in the grouping step, grouping is performed for each ejection data corresponding to the nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing, and in the storage step, a plurality of ejection data provided for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step is provided. The discharge data is sequentially stored in a plurality of cache blocks corresponding to the maximum value of the number of discharge data and corresponding to the maximum number of discharge data .

In the integration step, the ejection data is extracted from the plurality of cache blocks, and the data array of the ejection data is converted so that the data corresponds to the nozzle arrangement of the head. As a result, the array of ejection data can be arranged in accordance with the two-dimensionally arranged nozzles.

Accordingly, it is possible to sequence corresponding to the nozzles arranged two-dimensionally array of data out ejection, it can be arranged efficiently discharging data according to the two-dimensionally arranged nozzle.

Note that the data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 may be provided in a droplet discharge device as in the invention according to claim 7 .

Above according to the present invention as described, it is possible to sequence corresponding to the nozzles arranged two-dimensionally array of data out ejection, efficiently discharging data according to the two-dimensionally arranged nozzle Can be arranged.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a nozzle array of a recording head of a droplet discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of a recording head of a droplet discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of a nozzle arrangement | sequence.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the nozzle array of the recording head of the droplet discharge apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is a two-dimensional array of 1024 nozzles. The numbers in FIG. 1 correspond to the nozzle numbers. The recording head of the droplet discharge apparatus according to the present embodiment has a width substantially equal to the recording medium width, and records an image on the entire surface of the recording medium by moving relative to the recording medium.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the nozzles are arranged with a shift of 1/600 μm in the X coordinate direction in FIGS. 1 and 2 and with a shift of 13/600 μm in the Y coordinate direction. The two-dimensional arrangement is made so that droplets are ejected at different timings to form one line of input image data.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the data processing apparatus of the droplet discharge apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The data processing apparatus 10 of the droplet discharge device includes a serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12, a plurality of DRAM block groups 14, and a parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12 includes a temporary register 18 and a plurality of cache blocks 20, and the temporary register 18 temporarily stores 1024-bit (BIT) serial data. Each bit of the register 18 and a plurality of cache blocks 20 are hard-wired.

  The serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12 divides the data corresponding to each nozzle for each Y coordinate of FIG. 1, that is, as shown in FIG. Divide serial data into a set of data. At this time, the bit length of each cache block is as shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the position in the direction orthogonal to the relative movement direction of the recording medium and the recording head is set for each data corresponding to the same nozzle. Divided.

  The cache block 20 has the number of blocks corresponding to the nozzle arrangement in the Y-coordinate direction in FIG. 1, and includes 52 cache blocks 20 in this embodiment. That is, each cache block 20 stores serial data for each Y coordinate of the recording head and has the same drive timing.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the temporary register 18 is hard-wired to the cache block 20 so that each bit of the input serial data 1024 matches the nozzle arrangement shown in FIG. Are serially stored in the temporary register 18 and distributed to each cache block 20. At this time, since the temporary register 18 and the cache block 20 are hard-wired, the data distribution operation from the temporary register 18 to the cache block 20 can be basically processed in one clock or less.

  The plurality of DRAM block groups 14 includes a plurality of DRAM (Dynamic RAM) blocks 22, and each DRAM block 22 is provided corresponding to each cache block 20. That is, the DRAM block 22 is composed of 52 blocks like the cache block 20, and serial data stored in the cache block 20 is input to the corresponding DRAM block 22.

  Each DRAM block 22 has a bit length corresponding to the cache block 20, and the number of addresses (word (WORD) length) is 13 × N stages (N corresponds to the cache block No, N = 1 to 52). Has been. Here, in this embodiment, the word length is set to 13 × N stages in order to match the driving timing of the nozzle pitch in the Y coordinate direction (13/600 μm). The word length is set according to the relationship between the nozzle pitches in the coordinate direction. The bit length, word length, and total of each DRAM block 22 are as shown in FIG.

  Each DRAM block 22 inputs the raster data distributed to the cache block 20 for each print clock to the address 1 of the corresponding DRAM block 22, and simultaneously inputs the raster data distributed to each cache block 20. The data input by the previous print clock is shifted one address at a time, and raster data is output to the parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16 at the end of the shift for the word length. That is, the cache block No. The distributed raster data input to N is output from the DRAM block 22 as the raster data having the maximum word length address after N printing clocks.

  No. The above operations are repeated in each of the cache blocks 20 and the DRAM blocks 22 of 1 to 52, and data is output to the parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16. Reading and writing to the DRAM block 22 requires about 6 clocks, and assuming that the clock frequency is 50 MHz, as shown in FIG. 7, the entire linkage operation between the cache block 20 and the DRAM block 22 is completed in 6.4 μs.

  The parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16 has a configuration opposite to that of the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12. That is, it is composed of a plurality of cache blocks and temporary registers, and will be described with reference to the block diagram of the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12 in FIG. 4. Each bit of each cache block 20 and temporary register 18 is hard-wired. The data input from the DRAM block 22 to the plurality of cache blocks 20 is input to the temporary register 18 to be integrated into one serial data. That is, the data extracted from the maximum address of the word length of the DRAM block 22 is converted into serial data again. The completed data is 1024 bits and has a data array corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the recording head.

  Next, the operation of the data processing apparatus of the droplet discharge apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

  When serial data in a 1024-bit raster data format is input, it is temporarily stored in the temporary register 18 of the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12.

  The serial data stored in the temporary register 18 is No. By being distributed to the cache blocks 20 of 1 to 52, the driving timing is grouped for each data corresponding to the same nozzle. That is, as shown in FIG. Data is distributed to the cache blocks 20 of 1 to 52.

  The data distributed to each cache block 20 is input to address 1 of the DRAM block 22 corresponding to each cache block 20 for each printing, and the data input by the previous printing clock is for each printing clock. Are shifted one address at a time in the DRAM block 22. Therefore, the data input to each DRAM block 22 is output from the DRAM block 22 to the parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 12 at a print clock for the word length of each DRAM block 22.

  For example, as shown in FIG. The raster data distributed to 2 is stored at address 1 of the DRAM block 22 every print clock, and the data stored every print clock is shifted by 1 address, and from the DRAM block 22 after 26 print clocks. Is output. That is, the cache block No. The data distributed to N is the DRAM block No. corresponding to each print clock. The data is stored at address 1 of N, and the stored data is shifted by one address every printing clock. After 13 × N clocks, the DRAM block No. N is output.

  Next, the data output from the DRAM block 22 is stored in the cache block of the parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16, and reverse conversion of the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12 is performed, so that 1024-bit serial data is obtained again. Is converted to

  That is, for each data grouped for each nozzle having the same drive timing, the drive timing can be adjusted by adjusting the data output timing according to the word length of the DRAM block 22.

  For example, nozzle No. 3, 2, 1 ((x, y) = (1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3) in FIG. 1) will be described. The data corresponding to 3 is the cache block number. 1 and the DRAM block No. 1 is stored at address 1. Nozzle No. 2 corresponds to the cache block No. 2 and the DRAM block No. 2 and the nozzle No. 1 corresponds to the cache block No. 3 is stored at address 1.

  Then, one address is shifted by one address in each DRAM block 22 for each print clock. 3 is output from the DRAM block 22 after 13 print clocks, and the nozzle No. 3 is output. The data corresponding to No. 2 is output from the DRAM block 22 after 26 printing clocks. Data corresponding to 1 is output from the DRAM block 22 after 39 printing clocks.

  In the present embodiment, since the nozzle pitch in the X coordinate direction is 1/600 μm and the nozzle pitch in the Y coordinate direction is 13/600 μm in the present embodiment, data is recorded every 13 print clocks. By outputting, it is possible to set the driving timing according to the nozzle arrangement of the recording head. That is, the nozzle No. No. 3 is output 13 nozzles after the output of data No. 3 2 is output, and after 13 printing clocks, nozzle No. 2 is output. 1 is output, and data is output according to the nozzle arrangement of the recording head. 1 to 3 can form one line.

  Therefore, by performing the data array conversion in this way, data corresponding to the nozzle array of the recording head can be arranged.

  In the above embodiment, the nozzle array of the recording head is the two-dimensional array shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other nozzle arrays may be applied as long as the two-dimensional array is used. Needless to say, you can.

  In the above embodiment, the DRAM block No. 1 word length is 13 × 1, and DRAM block No. The word length of N is 13 × N, but the DRAM block No. As a configuration in which the word length of 1 is set to 0, that is, the serial-parallel conversion & distribution unit 12 directly outputs to the parallel-serial conversion & integration unit 16, the DRAM block No. The word length of N may be 13 × (N−1).

  In the above embodiment, the DRAM block 22 is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of the DRAM block 22, a FIFO (First In First Out) memory, a shift register, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or the like may be applied. In addition, when applying FPGA, you may make it comprise the data processor 10 itself with FPGA.

  Furthermore, although the above embodiment has been described as a hardware configuration, it may be a software program.

It is a figure which shows an example of the nozzle arrangement of the recording head of the droplet discharge apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of the nozzle arrangement of the recording head of the droplet discharge apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the data processor of the droplet discharge apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a detailed structure of a serial-parallel conversion & distribution part. It is a figure for demonstrating the grouping to a cache block. It is a figure which shows the bit length of each DRAM block, the word length, and the sum total. It is a figure which shows the read-write sequence of each DRAM block. Cache block No. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a DRAM block corresponding to 2;

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Data processor 12 Serial-parallel conversion & distribution part 14 DRAM block group 16 Parallel-serial conversion & integration part 18 Temporary register 20 Cache block 22 DRAM block

Claims (7)

A data processing device for arranging discharge data for discharging droplets from the nozzles of a droplet discharge device having a head in which nozzles for discharging droplets are two-dimensionally arranged,
A grouping means for grouping each of the discharge data corresponding to the nozzles having the same droplet discharge timing;
A plurality of cache blocks provided for each of the ejection data grouped by the grouping unit, wherein the ejection data is stored in order corresponding to the maximum number of data of the ejection data. Multiple cache blocks;
Integration means for taking out the ejection data from the plurality of cache blocks and converting the data array of the ejection data so as to be data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the head ;
A data processing apparatus comprising: The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head has a width equivalent to a recording medium width and is two-dimensionally arranged so as to form one line of input image data.   3. The grouping unit performs grouping for each of the ejection data corresponding to the same nozzle in a direction orthogonal to a relative movement direction of the recording medium and the head. The data processing apparatus described. 4. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the integration unit includes a DRAM, a FIFO memory, a shift register, or a field programmable gate array . A data processing method for arranging discharge data for discharging droplets from the nozzles of a droplet discharge device having a head in which nozzles for discharging droplets are two-dimensionally arranged,
A grouping step for grouping for each of the ejection data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing;
A plurality of cache blocks provided for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step, the plurality of cache blocks corresponding to a maximum value of the number of data of the ejection data and sequentially storing the ejection data. A storage step of sequentially storing the ejection data in the cache block;
An integration step of taking out the ejection data from the plurality of cache blocks and converting the data array of the ejection data so as to become data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the head;
A data processing method comprising: A data processing program for causing a computer to execute a process of arranging ejection data for ejecting droplets from the nozzles of a droplet ejection apparatus having a head in which nozzles for ejecting droplets are two-dimensionally arranged.
A grouping step for grouping for each of the ejection data corresponding to nozzles having the same droplet ejection timing;
A plurality of cache blocks provided for each of the ejection data grouped in the grouping step, the plurality of cache blocks corresponding to a maximum value of the number of data of the ejection data and sequentially storing the ejection data. A storage step of sequentially storing the ejection data in the cache block;
An integration step of taking out the ejection data from the plurality of cache blocks and converting the data array of the ejection data so as to become data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement of the head ;
A data processing program comprising: Droplet discharge apparatus having a data processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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