JP5938884B2 - Liquid ejecting apparatus and method for controlling liquid ejecting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus, and a control method for the liquid ejecting apparatus, and more particularly to both a forward movement and a backward movement while moving a liquid ejecting head relative to a liquid landing target. The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a liquid landing target and a method for controlling the liquid ejecting apparatus.

  The liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting head and ejects (discharges) various liquids from the ejecting head. As this liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, there is an image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer or an ink jet plotter, but recently, various types of manufacturing have been made by taking advantage of the ability to accurately land a very small amount of liquid on a predetermined position. It is also applied to devices. For example, a display manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode forming apparatus for forming an electrode such as an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display or FED (surface emitting display), a chip for manufacturing a biochip (biochemical element) Applied to manufacturing equipment. The recording head for the image recording apparatus ejects liquid ink, and the color material ejecting head for the display manufacturing apparatus ejects solutions of R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue) color materials. The electrode material ejecting head for the electrode forming apparatus ejects a liquid electrode material, and the bioorganic matter ejecting head for the chip manufacturing apparatus ejects a bioorganic solution.

  Here, the printer is equipped with a recording head having a series of ink flow paths from the reservoir to the nozzles through the pressure chamber, pressure generating means (for example, a piezoelectric element) for changing the volume of the pressure chamber, and the like. Further, a drive signal generating means for generating a drive signal for driving the pressure generating means is provided. Some types of printers eject ink onto a recording medium while reciprocally moving a recording head and a recording medium such as recording paper (a liquid landing target). In the printer having such a configuration, the amount of ink ejected fluctuates when the meniscus, which is the surface of the ink exposed to the nozzles, is exposed to the atmosphere, the solvent evaporates and the ink thickens, In some cases, the ejection direction of the ejected ink is bent or, in the worst case, ejection failure such as ink not ejecting (so-called dot missing) occurs.

  In particular, some industrial printers perform printing on a wider recording medium, and accordingly, the relative movement distance in one main scan (pass) tends to be longer. For this reason, ink ejection in the first ejection operation after the non-ejection period has elapsed for nozzles for which the nozzle non-ejection period (the period during which ink is not ejected) is longer than a predetermined period prior to the main scan of the recording head Attempts have been made to suppress the above-described ejection failure by setting the amount to be larger than the amount specified by the print data (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-179949 A

  However, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, when an amount of ink larger than the initially planned amount of ink is ejected, the originally targeted ink amount may not be obtained. Further, with this configuration, it is difficult to suppress landing position deviation caused by a decrease in the flying speed of the ink due to thickening of the ink. In this case, in particular, in an application where a lot of lines are used as in a diagram or the like, there is a possibility that image quality deterioration becomes remarkable due to landing position deviation or dot size fluctuation.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of suppressing ejection failure due to liquid thickening and a control method thereof. .

The liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention has been proposed to achieve the above object, and has a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged, and ejects liquid from the nozzle by driving pressure generating means. A liquid jet head
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid ejecting head and the liquid landing target;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while relatively moving the liquid ejecting head with respect to the liquid landing target by the moving unit;
The control means includes
In a pass that is a one-way injection processing unit, it is determined whether or not a non-injection period in which a state in which no liquid is injected is continued is greater than or equal to a threshold value,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, recovery is performed by ejecting liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target without performing liquid injection until the end of the pass after the non-injection period. In the next pass after the process is executed, the injection process for the amount not executed in the current pass is executed.

  According to the present invention, for the nozzle for which the non-injection period is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold, the liquid is not ejected until the end of the pass after the non-injection period, and the next pass after the recovery process is executed. Since the ejection process that has not been performed in the current pass is performed, it is possible to suppress ejection failure due to thickening of the liquid. In other words, after the thickened liquid in the liquid ejecting head is discharged by the recovery process, the recording process based on the data that has been advanced is performed in the next pass, so that ejection failure due to the thickening of the liquid is suppressed. The As a result, for example, a decrease in image quality or the like of an image recorded on a recording medium that is a landing target is suppressed.

  In the above configuration, it is desirable to employ a configuration in which the threshold value is at least 1/2 of the maximum path processing time.

  According to this configuration, by setting the threshold value to at least 1/2 of the maximum pass processing time, it becomes impossible to record the center portion of the landing target in the relative movement direction during both forward movement and backward movement. Is prevented.

  Furthermore, in the above configuration, it is desirable to employ a configuration in which the threshold value can be changed according to the type of liquid and the environmental temperature.

  According to this configuration, the threshold value can be changed according to the type of liquid and the environmental temperature, so that a more optimal threshold value can be set.

Further, the control method of the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention includes a nozzle group having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a row, and a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid from the nozzle by driving a pressure generating unit;
Drive pulse generating means for generating a drive pulse for driving the pressure generating means;
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid ejecting head and the liquid landing target;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A control method of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid to a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while moving the liquid ejecting head relative to the liquid landing target by the moving means,
Determining whether or not the non-ejection period during which liquid is not continuously ejected is greater than or equal to a threshold in a path that is a unit of ejection processing for one way,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, recovery is performed by ejecting liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target without performing liquid injection until the end of the pass after the non-injection period. In the next pass after the process is executed, the injection process for the amount not executed in the current pass is executed.
Furthermore, the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention proposed for achieving the above object may have the following configuration.
That is, a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzles are provided and ejecting liquid from the nozzle by driving a pressure generating unit;
Drive pulse generating means for generating a drive pulse for driving the pressure generating means;
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid landing head and the liquid landing target on which the liquid ejected from the nozzle is landed;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while relatively moving the liquid ejecting head with respect to the liquid landing target by the moving unit;
The control means includes
In a pass that is a one-way injection processing unit, it is determined whether or not a non-injection period in which a state in which no liquid is injected is continued is greater than or equal to a threshold value,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be less than the threshold, liquid ejection is continued until the end of the pass, while for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, the non-injection period After that, the liquid is not executed until the end of the pass, and the recovery process for injecting the liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target is performed in the next pass after the recovery process is executed. An injection process is performed.
According to the present invention, for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be less than the threshold, liquid ejection is continued until the end of the pass, while for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, After the non-injection period, the liquid is not executed until the end of the pass, and the next pass after the recovery process is executed, the injection process that is not executed in the current pass is executed. It becomes possible to suppress the injection failure by. In other words, after the thickened liquid in the liquid ejecting head is discharged by the recovery process, the recording process based on the data that has been advanced is performed in the next pass, so that ejection failure due to the thickening of the liquid is suppressed. The As a result, for example, a decrease in image quality or the like of an image recorded on a recording medium that is a landing target is suppressed.
In the above configuration, it is desirable to employ a configuration in which the threshold value is at least 1/2 of the maximum path processing time.
According to this configuration, by setting the threshold value to at least 1/2 of the maximum pass processing time, it becomes impossible to record the center portion of the landing target in the relative movement direction during both forward movement and backward movement. Is prevented.
Furthermore, in the above configuration, it is desirable to employ a configuration in which the threshold value can be changed according to the type of liquid and the environmental temperature.
According to this configuration, the threshold value can be changed according to the type of liquid and the environmental temperature, so that a more optimal threshold value can be set.
Further, the control method of the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention includes a nozzle group having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a row, and a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid from the nozzle by driving a pressure generating unit;
Drive pulse generating means for generating a drive pulse for driving the pressure generating means;
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid landing head and the liquid landing target on which the liquid ejected from the nozzle is landed;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A control method of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid to a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while moving the liquid ejecting head relative to the liquid landing target by the moving means,
Determining whether or not the non-ejection period during which liquid is not continuously ejected is greater than or equal to a threshold in a path that is a unit of ejection processing for one way,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be less than the threshold, liquid ejection is continued until the end of the pass, while for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, the non-injection period After that, the liquid is not executed until the end of the pass, and the recovery process for injecting the liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target is performed in the next pass after the recovery process is executed. An injection process is performed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a printer. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a recording head. It is a top view explaining the structure of a nozzle plate. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a recording head. It is a flowchart explaining a recording process. 6 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a non-ejection period and an ink landing position deviation amount. It is a figure explaining the example of recording data.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments described below, various limitations are made as preferred specific examples of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description unless otherwise specified. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In the following, an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a printer) will be described as an example of the liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the printer 1. The illustrated printer 1 ejects ink, which is a kind of liquid, from a recording head 2, which is a kind of liquid ejecting head, onto a recording medium (a liquid landing target) such as the recording paper 6. The printer 1 includes a carriage 4 to which a recording head 2 is attached and an ink cartridge 3 which is a kind of liquid supply source is detachably attached, and a platen 5 disposed below the recording head 2 during a recording operation. A carriage moving mechanism 7 (corresponding to a moving means in the present invention) that reciprocates the carriage 4 in the paper width direction of the recording paper 6, that is, the main scanning direction, and the recording paper 6 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. And a paper feed mechanism 8 that performs the operation.

  The carriage 4 is attached while being supported by a guide rod 9 installed in the main scanning direction, and is configured to move in the main scanning direction along the guide rod 9 by the operation of the carriage moving mechanism 7. ing. The position of the carriage 4 in the main scanning direction is detected by the linear encoder 10, and a detection signal, that is, an encoder pulse (a kind of position information) is transmitted to the CPU 38 (see FIG. 4) of the printer controller 36. The linear encoder 10 is a kind of position information output means, and outputs an encoder pulse corresponding to the scanning position of the recording head 2 as position information in the main scanning direction. Therefore, the CPU 38 can recognize the scanning position of the recording head 2 mounted on the carriage 4 based on the received encoder pulse. That is, for example, the position of the carriage 4 can be recognized by counting the received encoder pulses. Thereby, the CPU 38 controls the recording operation by the recording head 2 while recognizing the scanning position of the carriage 4 (recording head 2) based on the encoder pulse from the linear encoder 10.

  A home position serving as a base point for scanning of the carriage is set in an end area outside the recording area within the movement range of the carriage 4. In the home position in the present embodiment, a capping member 11 for sealing the nozzle formation surface (nozzle plate 29: see FIG. 3) of the recording head 2 and a wiper member 12 for wiping the nozzle formation surface are arranged. Yes. The printer 1 is bi-directional between when the carriage 4 moves from the home position toward the opposite end and when the carriage 4 returns from the opposite end to the home position. Bidirectional recording for recording characters, images, and the like on the recording paper 6 is performed.

  A platen heater (heating means) (not shown) is provided inside the platen 5 of the printer 1 in the present embodiment. The recording paper recording medium on the platen 5 is heated by the platen heater, and fixing and drying of the ink landed on the recording medium is promoted.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining the configuration of the recording head 2. The recording head 2 in the present embodiment is composed of a pressure generating unit 15 and a flow path unit 16, and these are integrated by being overlapped. The pressure generating unit 15 includes a pressure chamber plate 18 that partitions the pressure chamber 17, a communication port plate 19 having a supply side communication port 22 and a first communication port 24a, and a diaphragm 21 on which the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is mounted. Are laminated and integrated by firing or the like. The flow path unit 16 includes a supply port plate 25 having a supply port 23 and a second communication port 24b, a reservoir plate 27 having a reservoir 26 and a third communication port 24c, and a nozzle plate having a nozzle 28 formed therein. It is comprised by adhere | attaching the plate member which consists of 29 in a laminated state.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the nozzle plate 29. The nozzle plate 29 in this embodiment forms a nozzle row 33 (a kind of nozzle group) in which 360 nozzles 28 that eject ink are arranged in parallel with the conveyance direction of the recording paper 2. The nozzle row 33 in the present embodiment is composed of the nozzles 28 opened at a formation pitch of 360 dpi, for example, and a total of four rows (33a to 33d) are formed on the nozzle plate 29. Note that the number of nozzles 28 constituting one nozzle row 33 and the number of nozzle rows 33 are not limited to those illustrated.

  On the outer surface of the vibration plate 21 opposite to the pressure chamber 17, the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is disposed corresponding to each pressure chamber 17. The illustrated piezoelectric vibrator 20 is a so-called flexural vibration mode piezoelectric vibrator, and is configured such that a piezoelectric body 20c is sandwiched between a drive electrode 20a and a common electrode 20b. When a drive signal (drive pulse) is applied to the drive electrode of the piezoelectric vibrator 20, an electric field corresponding to the potential difference is generated between the drive electrode 20a and the common electrode 20b. This electric field is applied to the piezoelectric body 20c, and deforms according to the strength of the electric field applied with the piezoelectric body 20c. That is, as the potential of the drive electrode 20a is increased, the central portion in the width direction (nozzle row direction) of the piezoelectric layer 20c is bent toward the inside of the pressure chamber 17 (side closer to the nozzle plate 29), and the volume of the pressure chamber 17 is increased. The diaphragm 21 is deformed so as to decrease. On the other hand, as the potential of the drive electrode 20a is lowered (closer to the ground potential), the central portion in the short direction of the piezoelectric layer 20c bends to the outside of the pressure chamber 17 (side away from the nozzle plate 29), and the pressure chamber 17 The diaphragm 21 is deformed so as to increase the volume.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printer 1 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the electrical configuration of the printer 1. The external device 35 is an electronic device that handles images, such as a computer or a digital camera. The external device 35 is communicably connected to the printer 1. The printer 1 prints (records) an image or text on a recording medium such as recording paper in the printer 1, and print data corresponding to the image or the like is sent to the printer 1. Send.

  The printer 1 in this embodiment includes a paper feed mechanism 8, a carriage moving mechanism 7, a linear encoder 10, a temperature sensor 41, a recording head 2, and a printer controller 36. The temperature sensor 41 includes a thermistor and an A / D converter. The temperature sensor 41 functions as temperature detection means, detects the environmental temperature inside the printer 1 (particularly around the print head), and outputs a signal having a magnitude proportional to the detected temperature to the printer controller 36.

  The printer controller 36 is a type of control means in the present invention, and is a control unit that controls each part of the printer. The printer controller 36 includes an interface (I / F) unit 37, a CPU 38, a storage unit 39, and a drive signal generation unit 40. The interface unit 37 transmits and receives printer status data such as sending print data and a print command from the external device 35 to the printer 1 and receiving the status information of the printer 1 from the external device 35. The CPU 38 is an arithmetic processing unit for controlling the entire printer. The storage unit 39 is an element that stores a program for the CPU 38 and data used for various controls, and includes a ROM, a RAM, and an NVRAM (nonvolatile storage element). The CPU 38 controls each unit according to a program stored in the storage unit 39.

  The drive signal generator 40 is a part that functions as drive waveform generation means, and generates an analog voltage signal based on waveform data relating to the waveform of the drive signal. The drive signal generator 40 amplifies the voltage signal to generate the drive signal COM. The printer 1 according to the present embodiment can perform multi-gradation recording in which dots having different sizes are formed on the recording paper 6 by ejecting ink droplets having different liquid amounts. The recording operation can be performed with four gradations of medium dots, small dots, and non-ejection (fine vibration).

  The CPU 38 of the printer controller 36 functions as a timing pulse generating unit that generates a timing pulse PTS from the encoder pulse EP output from the linear encoder 10. The CPU 38 controls the transfer of the recording data generated based on the print data, the generation of the drive signal by the drive signal generation unit 40, and the like in synchronization with the timing pulse PTS. Further, the CPU 38 generates a timing signal such as a latch signal LAT based on the timing pulse PTS and outputs the timing signal to the head controller 53 of the recording head 2. The head control unit 53 performs application control of the ejection drive pulse included in the drive signal COM to the piezoelectric vibrator 20 of the recording head 2 based on a head control signal (recording data and timing signal) from the printer controller 36. .

  Here, in the printer 1 according to the present invention, in order to prevent ejection failure due to ink thickening, nozzles in which a non-ejection period (intermittent period) in which ink is not ejected continues in a predetermined pass exceeds a threshold value. Is characterized in that in the current pass, the ink is not ejected after the non-ejection period (that is, the recording process of the image or the like), and is forwarded to the next pass after the flushing process. Hereinafter, this point will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 5, steps S6 and S7 are processes performed in the same path.

  When the execution of the printing process (recording process) is started, the printer controller 36 performs the following process. First, in step S1, a threshold Th for the non-injection period is set. The threshold value Th is set to at least 1/2 of the maximum pass processing time (time for scanning the longest distance during recording processing). That is, conversely, when the threshold value Th is set to be less than ½ of the maximum pass processing time, for example, when recording is performed on a recording sheet having the maximum width that can be printed, the forward movement and the backward movement are performed. This is because it becomes impossible to record the central portion of the recording paper in the width direction (main scanning direction) at both times. The optimum value of the threshold Th differs depending on, for example, the environmental temperature and the ink composition (ink type). In particular, since the degree of progress of thickening depends on the temperature, in this embodiment, the temperature in the printer 1 is acquired from the temperature sensor 41, and the threshold Th is determined according to the temperature.

  FIG. 6 is a graph for explaining the relationship between the non-ejection period (intermittent time (seconds)) and the amount of landing position deviation (μm) of the ink on the recording medium based on the change in the flying speed of the ink due to thickening. is there. For example, when the threshold setting condition is an intermittent time when the landing position deviation amount is 60 (μm), 20 seconds when the detected temperature is 20 ° C., 10 seconds when the detected temperature is 30 ° C., 4 seconds when the detected temperature is 40 ° C. Each is set as a threshold Th. When the threshold value based on the detected temperature is less than ½ of the maximum pass processing time, the threshold Th is set to ½ of the maximum pass processing time. As a result, it is possible to prevent a problem that recording in the central portion in the width direction (relative movement direction) with respect to the recording medium cannot be performed both during the forward movement and during the backward movement.

  If the threshold is set, the number of passes is initialized (n = 0) in step S2, and then 1 is added to the number of passes in step S3 (n = n + 1). Next, in step S4, print data for the nth pass is read. In step S5, whether or not the non-injection period is greater than or equal to the threshold Th for each nozzle 28 in the nth pass based on the print data. Is determined.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an example of the recording data of each nozzle. (A) is the original recording data, and (b) is the data after correcting the data corresponding to the nozzles 28 whose non-injection period is equal to or greater than the threshold value. Recording data (c) shows recording data postponed by correction (complementary pass data described later). In the drawing, the recording data of the last 14 pixels in the n-th pass for nozzles # 1 to # 5 (in the case of complementary pass data, the first 14 pixels of the complementary pass) are illustrated, and the explanation is given. For convenience, in the following description, pixels other than the portion exemplified in the n-th pass are not considered. In the figure, ○ indicates a pixel where ink is ejected, and x indicates a pixel where ink is not ejected.

  For example, if a non-injection period for five pixels corresponds to the threshold value Th, a portion surrounded by a thick line in FIG. 7A indicates a non-injection period (intermittent time) having a length corresponding to the threshold value. ). In this example, it is determined that the non-ejection period of the recording data corresponding to the nozzle # 1 and the nozzle # 3 is less than the threshold value Th (a maximum of three pixels), while the nozzle # 2, the nozzle # 4, and the nozzle # It is determined that the non-injection period in the recording data corresponding to 5 is equal to or greater than the threshold Th.

  For the nozzles 28 in which it is determined in step S5 that the non-injection period is less than the threshold Th, the n-th printing process is executed in step S6 without correcting the original printing data. On the other hand, for the nozzles 28 for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold Th, all the data after the non-injection period determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold Th in step S7 as shown in FIG. The n-th pass printing process is executed based on the print data corrected to ejection (x). Therefore, in the n-th pass, ink is not ejected after the non-ejection period for the nozzles 28 for which the non-ejection period is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold Th. When the n-th recording process is completed, a flushing process (corresponding to the recovery process in the present invention) is executed in step S8. In this flushing process, the carriage 4 (recording head 2) is moved to the flushing point (not shown) set on the capping member 11 or the end region of the platen 5, and in this state, the nozzle 28 is moved to the flushing point. The ink is ejected from the so-called (so-called throwing shot). As a result, the thickened ink, bubbles, and the like in the recording head 2 are discharged from the nozzles 28, so that the occurrence of ejection failure due to the thickened ink and bubbles is suppressed. Then, after the flushing process is executed, the moving direction of the carriage 4 (recording head 2) is reversed.

  In step S9, the complementary recording process is executed based on the data that has been postponed without being executed in the n-th pass. This complementary recording process is a recording process that is executed only for the data that has been forwarded only when there is data that has been forwarded in the n-th pass (data that has been changed from injection to non-injection by correction). A path newly added (inserted) for this complementary recording process is called a complementary path. In this complementary recording process, as shown in FIG. 7 (c), the complementary recording data in which only the data before the change of the portion changed from injection to non-injection by the above correction is described, as shown in FIG. 7C. Is created. In the complementary recording process, the recording process is executed based on the complementary recording data. Since the movement direction of the recording head 2 (carriage 4) is opposite in the n-th pass and the complementary pass, the recording processing order of the complementary recording data is opposite to the recording processing order of the n-th recording data. It becomes.

  When the nth pass recording process or the complementary recording process is completed, the flushing process is performed in step S10, and the recording paper 6 is fed by a predetermined amount by the paper feeding mechanism 8. The moving direction of the carriage 4 (recording head 2) is reversed. Subsequently, in step 11, it is determined whether n has reached the total number of recording passes of the recording process to be executed this time. If it is determined that n is less than the total number of recording passes, the process returns to step S3, and 1 is added to the number of passes n (n = n + 1), and then the processing after step S4 is executed again. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 11 that n has reached the total number of recording passes, the recording process is terminated.

  As described above, in the printer 1 according to the present invention, for the nozzle 28 whose non-ejection period (intermittent period) is equal to or greater than the threshold in a predetermined pass, ink ejection (recording process) after the non-ejection period is performed in this pass. Without performing this, it is advanced to the next pass after the flushing process (in this embodiment, the complementary pass), so that it is possible to suppress ejection failure due to the increased viscosity of the ink of the nozzle 38. That is, after the thickened ink in the recording head 2 is discharged by the flushing process, the ink is ejected in a state where the ink is not thickened or close to it by performing a complementary recording process based on the data that has been forwarded. Therefore, ejection failure due to ink thickening is suppressed. As a result, deterioration of the image quality and the like of the image recorded on the recording medium is suppressed. In particular, it is suitable for a configuration in which the thickening of ink is more likely to proceed, such as a printer that employs a configuration in which a recording medium is heated by a platen heater (heating means). For this reason, it is possible to set the temperature of the platen heater higher than in the prior art so that the ink can be fixed and dried more quickly.

  By the way, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the description of the scope of claims.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the complementary recording process is performed by providing a complementary path for the complementary recording process in addition to the original recording path has been described. If it is possible to insert data into the recording data of the (n + 1) th pass, it is not always necessary to provide a complementary pass.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the threshold Th is set according to the temperature acquired from the temperature sensor 41 is exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the degree of deterioration in the image quality of a recorded image based on ink thickening ( It can be arbitrarily set according to the degree of landing position deviation). For example, the threshold value Th may be set according to the type of ink. In this case, the relationship between the non-ejection period (intermittent time (second)) and the amount of landing position deviation of the ink can be obtained for each type of ink, and the threshold value can be set based on the relationship.

  Further, regarding the configuration of the recording head, in the above-described embodiment, the recording head 2 using the so-called flexural vibration type piezoelectric vibrator 20 as the pressure generating means has been exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this. Adopt pressure generating means such as vibrators, heat generating elements that generate pressure fluctuations by generating bubbles due to heat generation, and electrostatic actuators that generate pressure fluctuations by displacing the working surface of the pressure chamber by electrostatic force The present invention can also be applied to a recording head.

  The present invention is not limited to a printer as long as it is a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid while relatively moving a liquid ejecting head and a landing target, and various ink jet recording apparatuses such as a plotter, a facsimile machine, and a copier. It can also be applied to liquid ejecting apparatuses other than recording apparatuses, such as display manufacturing apparatuses, electrode manufacturing apparatuses, and chip manufacturing apparatuses. In the display manufacturing apparatus, a solution of each color material of R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue) is ejected from the color material ejecting head. Moreover, in an electrode manufacturing apparatus, a liquid electrode material is ejected from an electrode material ejection head. In the chip manufacturing apparatus, a bioorganic solution is ejected from a bioorganic ejecting head.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 2 ... Recording head, 6 ... Recording paper, 7 ... Carriage moving mechanism, 8 ... Paper feed mechanism, 17 ... Piezoelectric vibrator, 21 ... Nozzle plate, 25 ... Pressure chamber, 27 ... Nozzle, 36 ... Printer controller 38 ... CPU, 40 ... drive signal generator, 41 ... temperature sensor

Claims (4)

A liquid ejecting head having a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged, and ejecting liquid from the nozzle by driving a pressure generating unit;
Drive pulse generating means for generating a drive pulse for driving the pressure generating means;
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid landing head and the liquid landing target on which the liquid ejected from the nozzle is landed ;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while relatively moving the liquid ejecting head with respect to the liquid landing target by the moving unit;
The control means includes
In a pass that is a one-way injection processing unit, it is determined whether or not a non-injection period in which a state in which no liquid is injected is continued is greater than or equal to a threshold value,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be less than the threshold, liquid ejection is continued until the end of the pass, while for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, the non-injection period After that, the liquid is not executed until the end of the pass, and the recovery process for injecting the liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target is performed in the next pass after the recovery process is executed. A liquid ejecting apparatus that performs an ejecting process.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the threshold value is at least ½ or more of a maximum pass processing time.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the threshold value can be changed according to a type of liquid and an environmental temperature. A liquid ejecting head having a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged, and ejecting liquid from the nozzle by driving a pressure generating unit;
Drive pulse generating means for generating a drive pulse for driving the pressure generating means;
Moving means for relatively moving the liquid landing head and the liquid landing target on which the liquid ejected from the nozzle is landed ;
Control means for controlling ejection of liquid by the liquid ejection head;
A control method of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid to a liquid landing target both during forward movement and during backward movement while moving the liquid ejecting head relative to the liquid landing target by the moving means,
Determining whether or not the non-ejection period during which liquid is not continuously ejected is greater than or equal to a threshold in a path that is a unit of ejection processing for one way,
For nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be less than the threshold, liquid ejection is continued until the end of the pass, while for nozzles for which the non-injection period is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold, the non-injection period After that, the liquid is not executed until the end of the pass, and the recovery process for injecting the liquid from each nozzle at a position outside the landing target is performed in the next pass after the recovery process is executed. A control method for a liquid ejecting apparatus, comprising performing an ejecting process.

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