JPH01120352A - Ink use amount detection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately detect the use amount of ink in spite of the shaking of the liquid surface of ink, by calculating the value corresponding to the use amount of the ink from a preliminarily predetermined value, the value relating to printing detected at the time of printing and the preset value relating to emitting recovery treatment. CONSTITUTION:An ink jet printer 100 is equipped with an ink tank 110 and has a number-of-printing line detection part 120, an indication part 130 and a control part 140. The number-of-printing line detection part 120 detects the number of times of the feeding of printing paper performed at every one scanning of a recording head as the number of printing lines. The control part 140 performs the control relating to the operation of the ink jet printer 100. In printing paper whose reference size is determined, an image determined as a reference image is printed and it is preliminarily calculated how many printing papers can be printed by a predetermined amount of ink. Further, the use amount of the ink consumed in the emission recovery treatment of the recording head is preliminarily measured and the count number corresponding to the used amount of the ink after the emission recovery treatment is counted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ink usage amount detection device for detecting the ink usage amount of an ink supply source such as an ink storage container disposed in an inkjet printer.

[Prior Art] For example, a conventional ink usage amount detection device for an inkjet printer uses an ink storage container (as an ink supply source) fixed to the main body of the inkjet printer.
In some inkjet printers in which the recording head is mounted on a carriage, a spare ink tank is mounted on the carriage.

Such conventional ink usage amount detection devices utilize the conductivity of the ink to provide a pair of electrodes inside the tank, and detect the amount of usage by detecting energization/non-energization between the electrodes. was there.

However, with this type of ink usage detection device,
In order to energize the ink, the ink undergoes electrolysis,
The ink composition may change, or foreign matter generated by electrolysis may adhere to the electrodes, resulting in a decrease in conductivity. In addition, changes in composition and foreign matter also cause a decline in recording quality and ejection performance.

Therefore, there is a system in which a pair of electrode plates are disposed facing each other at appropriate locations on the outside of the tank, and a drop in the ink level is detected by measuring the capacitance between them.

In addition, optical means for emitting and receiving visible light are installed in appropriate parts of the tank, and a usage amount detection device that detects the amount of ink used based on the presence or absence of light reception, as well as a usage amount detection device that emits and receives infrared light. In addition to providing optical means to perform this, a usage amount detection device has also been proposed in which a float is provided in the tank to block infrared rays, and the amount of ink used is detected based on the presence or absence of reception of infrared light due to the shielding. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned device for detecting the spatial position of ink is susceptible to printer vibrations, especially when the ink tank is not mounted on the carriage. However, there is a problem in that the ink position is inaccurately measured due to the fluctuation of the ink liquid level due to the movement.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink usage amount detection device that can accurately detect ink usage amount regardless of fluctuations in the ink liquid level.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in the present invention, a recorded amount detection means detects a value corresponding to the recorded amount during recording, and a preset value corresponding to the size of the recorded medium and a recorded amount detected by the recorded amount detection means. The present invention is characterized by comprising an ink usage ffl calculation means for calculating a value related to the ink usage amount based on the value.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, a value corresponding to the amount of ink used is calculated from a predetermined value obtained in advance, a value related to printing detected during printing, and a preset value related to ejection recovery processing. becomes possible.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes an inkjet printer that records characters, images, etc. by dots. , an instruction section 130 and a control section 140.

The print line number detection unit 120 detects the number of print paper feeds performed for each scan of the print head as the print line number.

The control unit 140 stores a processing procedure etc. shown in FIG.
It has a RAM 160 used as a work area for such processing and the like, and controls the operation of the ink printer 100.

The above-described configuration performs processing related to ink usage amount detection, and the principle of ink usage amount detection in this embodiment will be explained below.

An image determined as a reference image is printed on print paper determined to be a reference size, and the number of prints that can be made with a predetermined amount of ink is determined in advance by measuring. For example, suppose that when the size of the standard print paper is expressed in dots as 512 dots horizontally by 816 dots vertically, it is possible to print 200 standard images with a predetermined amount of ink. Therefore, even if the reference value for the amount of ink used is 612 x 818 x 200 = 99878400, this value is difficult to count with the 8-bit CP 11 and is an impractical value.

By the way, the commonly used sizes of printing paper, expressed in terms of the number of dots as mentioned above, are size 1 (435 x 580) and size 2 (580 x 43).
5) and size 3 (840 x 1120), so if we take a value close to the greatest common divisor of these numbers as 145, we can use this as the reference value for the amount of ink used.

That is, it is sufficient to configure an ink usage amount detection device that determines that the predetermined amount of ink is almost used up when the count reaches 4750. This value is 13
This value can be counted with a bit counter and can also be calculated with an 8-bit CPII.

By the way, if the above-mentioned count number is calculated based on one line on the printing paper corresponding to one scan of the recording head of the inkjet printer 100, the structure of the ink usage amount detection device can be simplified.

Therefore, from the above, one standard size print paper corresponds to 24 counts, so size 1, size 2) and size 3 print paper each have 1 count.
2 force counts/piece, 12 force counts/piece, 45 force counts/piece, and thus 48 lines/count, 36 lines/count, and 25 lines/count.

In addition to ink usage related to print processing, the amount of ink consumed during the ejection recovery process of the recording head is measured and determined in advance, and after the ejection recovery process, a count number corresponding to the amount of ink used is calculated. to be counted. Incidentally, in this embodiment, the amount of ink used for ejection recovery is equivalent to 24 force counts.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart related to the calculation process of the amount of ink used in this embodiment.

For example, when the print process for one sheet is completed, this process is started, and in step s1 it is determined whether the size of the print paper is size 1, size 2) or size 3. These judgments can be made, for example, by installing a sensor in the conveyance path of the print paper to detect the size, or by selecting one size of print paper from among multiple sizes of print paper using a switch or the like. If the configuration allows this, the size may be determined based on the state of the switch.

Here, if it is determined that the size is 1, 2) or 3, the process proceeds to step S2) or S4, and the contents of the register UPLINE in the RAM 160 are set to 48.36 or 25, respectively. Next, in step S5, the number of printed lines detected by the print 1-line number detection unit 120 and the contents of the register PRNLINE of the RAM 160 is divided by the value of IIPLINE, and the quotient is calculated as the contents of the register + J P N O of the RAM 160. do.

°Next, the process advances to step S7, and the value of IIPNO is added to the register INK(:NT of RAMl60, and the value is updated. This value of INKCNT becomes the count number corresponding to the amount of ink used.Next, step INKCN in S8
It is determined whether the value of T is 4750 or more, and if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S9, a warning about the remaining amount of ink is displayed on the instruction unit 130, and the present process ends. Further, if a negative determination is made in step S8, the process is also terminated.

This arithmetic processing is started even after the discharge recovery processing is performed, and after setting the value of UPNO to 24 in step S6, step S7
Proceed to and perform the same processing as described above.

Note that if the value of CNT is displayed on the instruction section 130 in IN between steps s7 and 58 in the above processing procedure, the amount of ink used can be continuously detected.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, the amount of ink used can be calculated based on a predetermined value obtained in advance, a print-related value detected during printing, and a preset value related to ejection recovery processing. It becomes possible to calculate the value.

This makes it possible to relatively accurately detect the amount of ink used regardless of fluctuations in the ink level within the ink tank.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100... Inkjet printer, 110... Ink tank, 120... Print line number detection part, 130... Instruction part, 140... Control part, 150... ROM. 160...RAM. Figure 1: Block diagram of the device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) Recorded amount detection means that detects a value corresponding to the recorded amount during recording, and a value that is preset corresponding to the size of the recorded medium and is detected by the recorded amount detection means. An ink usage amount detection device comprising: ink usage amount calculation means for calculating a value related to the ink usage amount based on the determined value. 2) In the ink usage amount detection device according to claim 1, the ink usage amount calculation means is capable of adding a preset value related to ink ejection recovery processing to the calculated value. Ink usage detection device.