JP6618237B2 - Printing apparatus and printing control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing control method, and more particularly to a printing apparatus and a printing control method provided with a battery.

Battery-driven printing devices are used.
As a peripheral device of a computer (PC), it acquires data from a PC and functions as well as being equipped with a rechargeable battery. Things are known.
In the technique shown in Patent Document 1, it is detected whether or not data is received, and the rechargeable battery is charged while data is not received. In other words, charging is possible while preventing excessive power consumption during charging.

US Pat. No. 6,357,011

By the way, not only a rechargeable battery but the battery to mount is normally set as the capacity | capacitance which fully satisfies the electric power which a printing mechanism requires. However, there may be a case where a battery having such a sufficient capacity cannot be arranged by design due to constraints such as cost and size.
In the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, than the power consumed per unit in the printing mechanism time, no countermeasures when towards power available is small battery per unit time, such as rechargeable battery It was.

The present invention enables printing even when the power that the battery can supply per unit time is smaller than the power consumed by the printing mechanism per unit time .

The present invention is a printing apparatus including a printing mechanism that is driven by electric power to perform printing, and a battery that supplies electric power to the printing mechanism, and the electric power per unit time during operation of the printing mechanism and standby time a power consumption acquiring unit configured to acquire consumption for each specific segmentation operation in the printing mechanism, the average value of power consumption per unit of the printing mechanism time in the period from the previous delimiter to the current delimiter battery It is determined whether or not the suppliable power amount based on the rated current of the printer is exceeded, and if so, the operation of the printing mechanism is interrupted and a waiting time is provided, so that the current separation from the previous separation of the printing mechanism average value per the power consumption unit of time in the period between the time which is the sum of said waiting time until a structure comprising a waiting time control means to be equal to or less than the supply power amount A.

In this configuration, the printing apparatus includes a battery, and the printing mechanism is driven by the power supplied by the battery to perform printing. Here, the power consumption acquisition means acquires the power consumption per unit time during the operation of the printing mechanism and the standby time, and the standby time control means, for each predetermined break during the operation of the printing mechanism, When the average value of the power consumption per unit time of the printing mechanism in the period from the previous break to the current break exceeds the suppliable electric energy based on the rated current of the battery, , By interrupting the operation of the printing mechanism and providing a standby time, the power consumption per unit time in the total time of the period from the previous separation to the current separation of the printing mechanism and the standby time The average value is set to be equal to or less than the suppliable power amount.

Suppliable electric power amount per unit time from the battery, even smaller than the power consumption amount per unit time in the printing mechanism, by providing the wait time, the power consumption per unit time by the printing mechanism is lowered Therefore, the power consumption can be maintained to an extent that the suppliable power amount is acceptable.

As another aspect of the present invention, the printing mechanism reciprocates a carriage on which a print head is mounted in a direction intersecting the printing medium, and feeds the printing medium. The waiting time control means includes the carriage However, it may be configured to wait when it is stopped at a separation after the end of printing of one pass or at a separation after the end of printing every several passes .
In the above configuration, the printing mechanism reciprocates the carriage on which the print head is mounted in a direction crossing the printing medium and feeds the printing medium, and the waiting time control unit finishes printing one pass of the carriage. The printer is put on standby when it is stopped at the separation after printing or after the completion of printing every several passes .

As another aspect of the present invention, the printing mechanism causes a plurality of ink droplets to be ejected from the print head, and the power consumption acquisition means consumes power according to the number of ejected ink droplets. It is good also as a structure which acquires.
In the above configuration, the printing mechanism causes a plurality of ink droplets to be ejected from the print head, and the power consumption acquisition unit acquires a power consumption that is consumed according to the number of ink droplets to be ejected.
As another aspect of the present invention, the printing mechanism ejects ink droplets of a plurality of sizes from the print head, and the power consumption acquisition means is separately provided for each size of ejected ink droplets. It is good also as composition which acquires power consumption to consume.
In the above configuration, the printing mechanism ejects ink droplets of a plurality of sizes from the print head. The power consumption acquisition means acquires the power consumption consumed separately for each size of ink droplets to be ejected.

As another aspect of the present invention, in addition to the battery, an external power supply unit that receives external power supply is provided, and the standby time control unit requires the external power supply capability in the printing mechanism. If the power consumption is larger than the above, the standby time may not be provided.
In the above configuration, since the external power supply means receives external power supply in addition to the battery, when the power supply capacity from the outside is larger than the power consumption required by the printing mechanism, the standby time Is not provided.

As another aspect of the present invention, the power consumption acquisition means obtains a current value and usage time per unit time in the printing mechanism, and the standby time control means determines the unit time during operation in the printing mechanism. The standby time is calculated based on the current value per unit time, the current value per unit time during standby in the printing mechanism, the time during operation and standby, the target current value, and the battery voltage value. It is good also as a structure.
If the voltage value is constant, the power can be calculated by replacing it with the current value. In the configuration, the power consumption acquisition unit obtains a current value per unit time and a usage time in the printing mechanism, and the standby time control unit determines a current value per unit time during operation in the printing mechanism. The standby time is calculated based on the current value per unit time during standby in the printing mechanism, the time during operation and standby, the target current value, and the battery voltage value. As described above, the acquisition of electric power in the claims includes acquisition corresponding to the fact that the amount of electric power is substantially acquired by acquiring the electric power related to the current value or the like.
The technical idea according to the present invention is not realized only in the form of a printing apparatus. For example, the invention of the printing control method executed by the printing apparatus described above and the processing realized by the printing apparatus described above are implemented by hardware ( It is also possible to grasp the invention of a program to be executed by a computer.

According to the present invention, the battery also becomes possible to print smaller than the power per unit time power that can be supplied per unit time consumption in the printing mechanism.

1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a drive waveform. It is a simple flowchart which shows a printing process. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process of the printing apparatus. It is a graph which shows the relationship between use electric current and a battery restriction | limiting.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the printing apparatus 10 includes a USB connector 11 as a connector having a power supply path and a data line. The USB connector 11 includes a power supply line (+ −) (P, G) as a power supply path and a data line (D +, D−) for transmitting and receiving data. Note that the power supply capacity of the power supply line is determined according to the connection destination. In this embodiment, the power supply line is wired, but it may be a wireless power supply line. In the present embodiment, the USB connector 11 is used, but the present invention can also be applied to a connector of a communication standard in which other power supply and data transmission / reception are performed in parallel. In the case of a USB connector, power management is possible, for example, negotiation of power supply capability is performed first, and charging time can be shortened effectively.

  The power supply path of the USB connector 11 is connected to the charging control IC 12. The charging control IC 12 manages the power supply path for the printing mechanism 14 as well as controlling the charging of the rechargeable battery 13. In the present embodiment, the printing mechanism 14 includes a carriage driving mechanism 17 that reciprocates a carriage 16 on which the print head 15 is mounted, and a paper feed that appropriately rotates and drives a platen 18 that feeds printing paper that is a printing medium. A control circuit 20 is provided that electrically controls and drives the mechanism 19, the print head 15, the carriage drive mechanism 17, and the paper feed mechanism 19.

  The control circuit 20 includes a circuit corresponding to a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM inside, a buffer memory that temporarily stores image data to be printed by the print head 15, and when the print head 15 is driven. A drive signal for outputting a necessary drive waveform is also generated. The print head 15 performs printing by ejecting ink droplets by driving the piezoelectric element according to a predetermined drive waveform.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the drive waveform, and FIG. 3 shows the printing process by a simple flowchart.
The drive waveform shown in FIG. 2 is used to attach two types of dots having different sizes to one pixel, and is hereinafter simply referred to as a small dot and a large dot. If ink droplets are ejected using only the first drive waveform, small dot ink droplets will result. If ink droplets are ejected using both the first drive waveform and second drive waveform, large dot ink droplets will result.

  In general, in the printing process shown in FIG. 3, the following process is executed by an external personal computer. In general, image data is often expressed as RGB data, and in step S100, multi-tone RGB image data is converted into multi-tone CMYK ink data corresponding to ink colors. Next, in step S110, the ink is converted into small dot and large dot ink data for each ink with reference to the dot allocation table so that printing can be performed with small dots and large dots. Thereafter, in step S120, a halftone process for binarizing is performed to indicate whether or not each dot is attached to each pixel, and in step S130, data is transferred to the print head 15 in accordance with the nozzle row. Rasterize processing is performed. The rasterized data group is transferred to the printing apparatus 10, and ink droplets are ejected from the print head 15 to a predetermined position on the print medium under the control of the control circuit 20 to complete printing.

When the print head 15 is driven and small dots and large dots are ejected, the power consumption is also different for each. The amount of power consumed by the print head 15 can be calculated based on the number of ejected ink droplets (also called the number of shots) and the size of the ejected dots. Accordingly, the calculation can be performed by the control circuit 20 that drives the print head 15.
For execution of printing, the voltage, current and time applied to the carriage drive mechanism 17 for driving the carriage on which the print head 15 is mounted, and the voltage and current supplied to the paper feed mechanism 19 for rotating the platen 18 are used. Depending on the time, the amount of power consumed can be calculated.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the printing process of the printing apparatus.
In step S200, the control circuit 20 performs one-pass printing and measures the required power during that time. In this embodiment, carriage drive power measurement, carriage drive time measurement, and head driving amount calculation are performed.
In the carriage drive power measurement, the drive power of the carriage motor is measured, and the voltage, current, and time for energizing the carriage drive mechanism 17 are measured. When the carriage drive mechanism 17 is driven, the control circuit 20 controls the power by PWM control so that the carriage motor has a target drive speed. If the duty of PWM control (the ratio of supplying power by turning on per unit time) is determined, the power consumption can be calculated by measuring the carriage driving time that is the output time.

  The head shot amount can be calculated based on the number of ink droplets ejected from the print head 15 in one pass (the number of shots). The power consumption per ink droplet is measured in advance. For example, the calculation can be performed by discharging a certain number of ink droplets and measuring the current value or voltage value at that time. In the case of this embodiment, the ink droplets are small dots and large dots, the drive waveforms are different as shown in FIG. 2, and the current consumption is different. Therefore, each current consumption is measured individually in advance, and when ejecting ink droplets to the print head 15 during one-pass printing, the number of small and large dot ink droplets (number of shots, shot-in) Count).

  As described above, the printing mechanism ejects a plurality of ink droplets from the print head 15, and acquires the power consumption consumed according to the number of ejected ink droplets. In addition, the ink droplets of a plurality of sizes are ejected from the print head 15, and the power consumption consumed separately is calculated for each size of the ejected ink droplets. In addition, when calling it power consumption below, it will point out the time average of power consumption except the case where it demonstrates especially. Paper feed is performed after printing one pass. Therefore, in step S210, the control circuit 20 performs paper feed power measurement and paper feed drive time measurement during paper feeding.

  In the paper feed power measurement, the drive power of the paper feed motor is measured, and the voltage, current, and time for energizing the paper feed mechanism 19 are measured. When the paper feed mechanism 19 is driven, the control circuit controls the power by PWM control so that the paper feed motor has a target drive speed. Once the duty of the PWM control is determined, the power consumption can be calculated by measuring the paper feed driving time that is the output time.

  One step is defined by one-pass carriage movement and subsequent paper feed, and in step S220, the control circuit 20 calculates the power consumption, which is the power consumed during this period. Various methods can be considered for setting the separation. For example, power consumption up to that time may be calculated with a fixed time interval. Since the power that can be supplied by the rechargeable battery 13 is constant if the interval is constant, the standby time may be set so that only the power consumption is monitored and the average value becomes a constant value. On the other hand, it is a suitable timing to provide a standby time when a separation is made after printing of one pass is finished or a separation is made after printing of several passes. This period is a period in which the carriage is stopped, and can be said to be the timing with the least influence on printing. In step S200 to step S220, the power consumption based on the usage state of the printing mechanism 14 is acquired, which corresponds to a power consumption acquisition unit.

As described above, the printing mechanism reciprocates the carriage on which the print head 15 is mounted in a direction crossing the printing medium, and feeds the printing medium, and waits when the carriage is stopped.
Regarding the power consumption, in this embodiment, mechanical power calculation, head power calculation, and logic power calculation are mainly performed. The mechanical power indicates the sum of the carriage driving power and the paper feed driving power, the head power calculation indicates the driving amount calculation, and the logic power calculation indicates the power calculation of the control circuit 20 itself. After each pass is printed, the respective power consumptions are calculated and integrated, and then the control circuit 20 calculates the standby time in step S230.

Here, an example of standby time calculation will be described.
Pdrv: Power during operation PCR: Calculated based on the carriage motor drive power Duty TCR: Drive time of the carriage motor PPF: Calculated based on the drive power of the paper feed motor TPF: Drive time of the paper feed motor PH: Print head Driving power is calculated from the dot count. TH: Print head driving time VBAT: Battery voltage IDRV: Battery current PLG: Logic power.

  As described above, the driving power (PCR) of the carriage motor and the driving power (PPF) of the paper feed motor can be calculated based on the duty. The drive power (PH) of the print head can also be calculated from the dot count. The carriage motor drive time (TCR), the paper feed motor drive time (TPF), and the print head drive time (TH) are measured in advance. Logic power (PLG) is power consumption of the control circuit 20 itself.

  In the case of this embodiment, the current value per unit time and the usage time in the printing mechanism are obtained, the current value per unit time during operation in the printing mechanism, and the current per unit time during standby in the printing mechanism. The standby time is calculated based on the value, the time during operation and standby, the target current value, and the battery voltage value.

1. Power consumption calculation: The power (Pdrv) during operation per unit time is expressed by the following equation.
Pdrv = (PCR × TCR + PPF × TPF + PH × TH) / (TCR + TPF)
2. Battery current calculation: It is expressed as the following equation by dividing into operation and standby.
During operation,
IDRV = (Pdrv + PLG) / VBAT
While waiting,
Iwait = PLG / VBAT
By providing the standby time, the target is to make the average value of the battery current equal to or lower than the rated current. However, it is only necessary that the average value of the battery current is approximately equal to or less than the rated current, and it is not necessarily strictly less than the rated current. In other words, this power consumption can be supplied from the viewpoint of power consumption. What is necessary is just to maintain the electric energy in the allowable range.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the current used and the battery limit.
Since the voltage is constant, the current used corresponds to the power consumption, and the battery-limited current corresponds to the suppliable power amount.
Now, the target current value (Itarget) is 5 amperes. Assume that the current consumption during printing is 10 amperes. As a simple calculation, if a waiting time is provided, such as waiting for 1 minute after printing for 1 minute, the average current for 2 minutes is 5 amperes. If the battery voltage value (VBAT) is constant, the electric energy may be monitored only by the current value. FIG. 5 shows that even if the battery limit is 5 amperes and the usage current is 10 amperes, if printing for 1 second and waiting for 1 second, the average usage current in 2 seconds will be 5 amperes.

Next, the calculation of the waiting time can be specifically calculated as shown in the following equation.
As described above, the battery current (IDRV) during operation is compared with the target current value (Itarget).
IDRV ≤ Itarget
Then there is no waiting time. That is,
Twait = 0
And But,
IDRV> Itarget
Then, the waiting time (Twait) is
Twait = (TCR + TPF) × (Itarget−IDRV) / (Iwait−Itarget)
It becomes.

  Here, the current value (IDRV, Iwait) and usage time (TCR + TPF) per unit time in the printing mechanism are obtained and the battery voltage (VBAT) is assumed to be constant. Current value per unit time during operation (IDRV), current value per unit time during standby in the printing mechanism (Iwait), time during operation and standby (TCR + TPF), and target current value (Itarget ) And a waiting time (Twait) is calculated.

In step S240, the control circuit 20 determines whether standby is required (IDRV> Itarget). If necessary, in step S250, the system waits for a waiting time (Twait).
In step S260, the above processing is repeated for each pass until it is determined that printing is finished, and a standby is performed if necessary. Note that the processing of Step S230 to Step S250 is processing for obtaining standby time and waiting, and corresponds to standby time control means.

  In step S240, it is determined whether standby is necessary. For example, in addition to the rechargeable battery, external power supply may be received. When such means (external power supply means) is provided, it is assumed that the power supply capability of the battery can be sufficiently supplemented. Therefore, when receiving external power supply in addition to the rechargeable battery, it is considered that the power supply capacity from the outside is larger than the power consumption required by the printing mechanism. Also good. Specifically, if the external power supply is received without determining whether the external power supply capacity is greater than the power consumption required by the printing mechanism, the external power supply capacity May be considered larger than the power consumption required by the printing mechanism.

In the embodiment described above, a target current value that is an average current value per unit time is assumed for the amount of power that can be supplied by the rechargeable battery 13, and the battery voltage is also calculated as a constant value. However, the amount of power that the battery can supply per unit time may be calculated in more detail.
In the above-described embodiment, whether or not standby is necessary is uniformly determined by the determination formula (IDRV> Itarget). However, there may be some errors. For example, if it is known that printing is completed with only one print, it is also possible to multiply the target current value by a coefficient such that (IDRV)> (1.2 × Itarget). In this example, 1.2 is given as a coefficient, which indicates that even if the target value is exceeded by 20%, it is allowed. In this case, the condition may be limited to a short period. For example, this may be done in the case where it is known that only one letter is printed.

  On the other hand, the coefficient may be changed depending on the image. In the previous example, it was a document, but in the case of a product with a high ink duty such as a photo (similar to solid printing), even if only one sheet is printed, an excess of 20% is recognized. There is a possibility that it is significantly lower than the target current value.

As described above, in this embodiment, the first power consumption based on the use state is calculated for each predetermined division (for example, for each pass) from the reference time by the printing mechanism 14, and the battery from the reference time to the current time is calculated. For example, the first suppliable electric energy that can be supplied by the rechargeable battery 13 is calculated (for example, the target current value), and the first electric power consumption becomes the first suppliable electric energy for each predetermined interval. When it exceeds, the printing mechanism 14 is made to stand by until the first suppliable power amount exceeds the first power consumption amount.
In this embodiment, the battery is a rechargeable rechargeable battery, but can be similarly applied to a battery having a target current value.
Various methods can be adopted as a method of acquiring the power consumption. The power consumption may be acquired by actually measuring all of them, or the power consumption may be acquired by estimating at least a part by using numerical values determined for each operation. Further, the power amount may be substantially acquired by acquiring the current, time, or the like corresponding to the power amount without acquiring the power amount in a strict sense.
In the embodiment described above, the power consumption in the printing apparatus 10 is described. However, even in a printing apparatus having a function other than the printing function or an apparatus having no printing function, an appropriate standby time should be secured so that the time average of the power consumption is within the range of the power consumption allowed by the battery. This is applicable. The standby time is a time for reducing the power consumption, and is not limited to a time during which no operation is performed.

Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. It goes without saying for those skilled in the art,
-Applying the combination of the mutually replaceable members and configurations disclosed in the above-described embodiments as appropriate-The above-described embodiments are not disclosed in the above-described embodiments, but are publicly known techniques. The members and structures that can be mutually replaced with the members and structures disclosed in the above are appropriately replaced, and the combination is changed and applied. It is an embodiment of the present invention that a person skilled in the art appropriately replaces the members and configurations that can be assumed as substitutes for the members and configurations disclosed in the above-described embodiments, and changes the combination to apply. It is disclosed as.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing apparatus, 11 ... USB connector, 12 ... Charge control IC, 13 ... Rechargeable battery, 14 ... Printing mechanism, 15 ... Print head, 16 ... Carriage, 17 ... Carriage drive mechanism, 18 ... Platen, 19 ... Paper feed mechanism 20, control circuit.

Claims (6)

A printing apparatus comprising: a printing mechanism that is driven by electric power to perform printing; and a battery that supplies electric power to the printing mechanism,
Power consumption acquisition means for acquiring power consumption per unit time during operation of the printing mechanism and standby time;
For each predetermined interval during the operation of the printing mechanism, the average power consumption per unit time of the printing mechanism in the period from the previous interval to the current interval is the suppliable power amount based on the rated current of the battery When it is determined that it exceeds, the operation of the printing mechanism is interrupted and the waiting time is provided, so that the period from the previous separation of the printing mechanism to the current separation and the waiting time And a standby time control unit that makes an average value of the power consumption per unit time in a time obtained by summing the above values equal to or less than the suppliable power amount . The printing mechanism reciprocates a carriage on which a print head is mounted in a direction intersecting the print medium, and feeds the print medium.
2. The waiting time control unit is configured to wait when the carriage stops at a separation after the completion of printing of one pass or at a separation after the completion of printing every several passes. The printing apparatus as described in. The printing mechanism ejects a plurality of ink droplets from the print head,
The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the power consumption acquisition unit acquires a power consumption consumed according to the number of ejected ink droplets. The printing mechanism ejects ink droplets of a plurality of sizes from the print head,
The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the power consumption acquisition unit acquires a power consumption consumed separately for each size of the ink droplets to be ejected. In addition to the battery, provided with external power supply means for receiving external power supply,
The standby time control means is provided with the standby time when power is supplied from the external power supply means and the power supply capacity from the outside is larger than the power consumption required by the printing mechanism. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is not provided. A printing control method for a printing apparatus comprising: a printing mechanism that is driven by electric power to perform printing; and a battery that supplies electric power to the printing mechanism,
Obtaining power consumption per unit time of operation and standby time of the printing mechanism;
For each predetermined interval during the operation of the printing mechanism, the average power consumption per unit time of the printing mechanism in the period from the previous interval to the current interval is the suppliable power amount based on the rated current of the battery When it is determined that it exceeds, the operation of the printing mechanism is interrupted and the waiting time is provided, so that the period from the previous separation of the printing mechanism to the current separation and the waiting time printing control method for a printing apparatus, characterized by comprising the step of the power consumption so as to be less than the available electric power amount at the time which is the sum of and.

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