JPH03244549A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently perform empty emitting operation by constituting the title apparatus so that a control means judges the content of the second memory means when the content of the first memory means shows the non-emission of ink from a plurality of ink emitting orifices and allows a recording head to perform empty emission when the empty emission of the recording head is not performed. CONSTITUTION:When printing is started, a CPU 43 inputs a clock from a timer 49 to control the empty emission of (n) nozzles of a BJ head (the longest time not generating the clogging of respective nozzles is set to T). That is, the timer (t) in the CPU 43 is reset to 0 to wait t=T/2 and, subsequently, it is judged whether all of the flags of (n) black detection means corresponding to (n) nozzles are erected and, when all of flags are '1', all of the black detection means are reset (flag='0'). When some flags among the flags of (n) black detection means are not erected after the elapse of t/2hr (nozzle 2 emits no ink), it is judged whether an empty emission flag is '1'. When the empty emission flag is '0', empty emitting operation is performed with respect to all of nozzles.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a recording device.

[Prior Art] In recent years, so-called bubble jet inkjet printers have been developed that use bubbles generated by thermal energy to eject ink from an ejection port toward a recording material to record characters, images, etc. There is. In this printer, the size of the heat generating element (heater) provided in each ejection port is much smaller than the piezoelectric element used in conventional inkjet printers, and it is possible to have multiple ejection ports with high density. High-quality recorded images can be obtained, and features include high speed and low noise.

On the other hand, facsimile machines are required not only to simply transmit images at high speed, but also to receive higher quality images at high speed. The above-mentioned bubble jet inkjet printer is considered to be one of the printers that can meet such demands due to the above characteristics, but a facsimile machine equipped with a bubble jet inkjet printer has not yet been provided. .

By the way, in this type of inkjet printer, the ink ejection openings of the print head can become clogged due to ink that has become more sticky due to non-use of the print head, low humidity environment, or difference in printing frequency, or even due to adhesion of dust. This could sometimes occur. Therefore, an ejection recovery mechanism removes the thickened ink by pressurizing and discharging the thickened ink from inside the print head ejection ports, or by suctioning the ink through a cap that covers and protects the print head ejection ports. has been implemented. Furthermore, since the frequency of ink ejection from each ejection port is not uniform even during recording operation, some ejection ports may not be used even once, and there is a high risk that the ejection ports that emit less ink may become clogged. be. This clogging causes image quality deterioration, so even during recording operation, ink ejection processing (so-called dry ejection processing) is performed at regular intervals by removing the head from the printing position and removing ink from all ejection ports. (This refers to the operation to discharge clogging of the discharge port).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when realizing a facsimile machine incorporating an inkjet printer, for example, if dry ejection is always performed at fixed time intervals (T) as described above, if T If there were no nozzles (ejection ports) that did not print during that period, the next empty ejection would be completely useless, wasting ink, and the recording operation would be interrupted during the empty ejection. Therefore, the time required for recording becomes longer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that can perform a blank ejection operation very efficiently, for example, in a facsimile machine equipped with an inkjet printer.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording head having a plurality of ink ejection ports, and a recording head having a plurality of ink ejection ports that ejects ink from the plurality of ink ejection ports based on received data. a first storage means for storing the fact that the dry ejection was performed by the recording head; a second storage means for storing the fact that the dry ejection was performed by the recording head according to the contents of the first storage means and the second storage means; and a control means for controlling the operation, the control means comprising:
If the content of the first storage means indicates that ink is not being ejected from the plurality of ink ejection ports, the content of the second storage means is determined to determine whether idle ejection of the recording head is being performed. [Function] According to the present invention, by providing the above structure, the idle ejection operation can be performed efficiently and without waste. be exposed.

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

1 and 2 show an example of the configuration of an inkjet printer suitable as a recording system for a facsimile machine to which the present invention is applied. In this figure, IJH is a bubble jet type inkjet head (recording head), IJC is an inkjet cartridge that is integrated with the inkjet head IJH and can be installed freely and is equipped with a tank IT that supplies ink to it, and IJRA is the main body of the inkjet recording apparatus. It is.

As can be seen from the perspective view of FIG. 1, the inkjet cartridge IJC in this example has a shape in which the tip of the inkjet head IJH ejects ink slightly beyond the front surface of the ink tank IT. This inkjet head cartridge IJC is an inkjet recording device main body I which will be described later.
It is a disposable type that is fixedly supported by a carriage placed on the JRA and can be attached to and detached from the carriage.

The first ink tank IT (10) that stores ink to be supplied to the inkjet head IJH includes an ink absorber, a container into which the ink absorber is inserted, and a lid member (both not shown) that seals the same. ). This ink tank IT (10) is filled with ink, and the ink is sequentially supplied to the inkjet head side as the ink is ejected.

Further, in this embodiment, the top plate 4 is made of a resin such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyphenylene oxide, or polypropylene, which has excellent ink resistance.

Ink shed cartridge IJ configured as above
C is removably mounted on the carriage HC of the inkjet recording device IJRA, which will be explained below, in a predetermined manner, and by inputting a predetermined recording signal, a desired recorded image is produced by relative movement of the carriage HC and the recording member. Formed on a recording member.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus IJRA equipped with a mechanism for the above processing.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes an inkjet head (recording head) of an inkjet head cartridge IJC, which is equipped with a nozzle group that ejects ink toward the recording surface of recording paper fed onto a platen 24. 16 is a carriage HC that holds the recording head 20, and is connected to a part of the drive belt 18 that transmits the driving force of the drive motor 17, and has two guide shafts 19A arranged parallel to each other.
By making the recording head 20 slidable with 19B and 19B, it is possible to reciprocate the recording head 20 over the entire width of the recording paper.

A head recovery device 26 is disposed at one end of the movement path of the recording head 20, for example, at a position opposite to the home position. The head recovery device 26 is operated by the driving force of the motor 22 via the transmission mechanism 23, and the recording head 20 is capped. In connection with the capping portion of the recording head 20 by the cap portion 26A of the head recovery device 26, ink is absorbed by an appropriate suction means (for example, a suction pump) provided in the head recovery device 26 or ink is transferred to the recording head 20. Ink is force-fed using an appropriate pressurizing means provided in the supply path, and ink is forcibly discharged from the ejection port (dry ejection) to perform ejection recovery processing such as removing thickened ink within the ejection port. . Furthermore, the recording head is protected by capping it at the end of recording.

A blade 31 is disposed on the side surface of the head recovery device 26 and is made of silicone rubber and serves as a wiping member. The blade 31 is held in the form of a cantilever by a blade holding member 31A, and similarly to the head recovery device 26, it is operated by a motor 22 and a transmission mechanism 23, and can be engaged with the ejection surface of the recording head 20. As a result, at an appropriate timing during the recording operation of the recording head 20, or after ejection recovery processing using the head recovery device 26,
A blade 31 is made to protrude into the moving path of the recording head 20 and wipes off dew condensation, wetness, dust, etc. on the ejection surface of the head 20 as the head 20 moves.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a blank ejection control circuit portion in a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure, 4
1 is an NCU (network control unit) into which received data is input;
42 is a modem for inputting data from the NCU 41. 43 is a CPU that inputs data from the modem 42, and decomposes the human power data into (image) data for each of the n ejection ports (nozzles) of the BJ head and outputs the data. 4
4 is a drive circuit for a BJ head having n ejection ports (nozzles), and inputs each data corresponding to each nozzle from the CPU 43. The CPU 43 operates according to a program as shown in FIG. 6 stored in the ROM 46, and exchanges work data with the RAM 47.

Reference numeral 45 denotes n black detection means, each of which inputs each data from the CPU 43 and detects black data (that is, data for ejecting black ink onto the recording paper). This detection means may be one that sets a flag when black data is detected. For example, a flip-flop as shown in FIG. 4 can be used, the data is input to the T terminal, the flag uses the Q output, and the D Input +5V voltage to the terminal. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the Q output of each detection means is set (a flag is set) by the input of black data.

When printing starts, the CPU 43 inputs the clock from the timer 49 and performs idle ejection control on n nozzles of the BJ head (T is the maximum time during which each nozzle does not become clogged) as follows.

In other words, when printing starts, the empty discharge flag is set to "0"), and the timer t in the CPU 43 is reset to O (L).
SL) Then wait until t=T/2 (S2)
Then, it is determined whether all the flags of the n black detection means corresponding to the n nozzles are set (S3), and if they are all "1", all black detection is performed in S4. Reset the means (flag="O") and return to Sl. In other words, as shown in Check A in Figure 7, all nozzles are ejecting black ink after T/2 hours have elapsed since the start, so do not perform idle ejection and wait until the next T/2 hours have elapsed. Make it. Then, if T/2 hours have passed and some flags among the n black detection means are not set in S3, (
That is, in FIG. 7, flag 2 corresponds, and nozzle 2 is not ejecting ink.) The process proceeds to S5, where it is determined whether the idle ejection flag is "1". The empty discharge flag is
0'' (that is, it is necessary to perform dry ejection because there has been no dry ejection once since the start of printing or at the time T/2 hours have elapsed for the past two times), the process advances to S6, where all nozzles are ejected dry. Perform the operation (see check B in Figure 7),
Then, in S7, the empty discharge flag is set to "1", and the process proceeds to S4, and returns to Sl.

Furthermore, when T/2 time has elapsed, if some flags among the n black detection means are not set in S3 (for example, corresponding to check C in FIG. 7), the empty discharge flag is set to 1 in S5.
Therefore, proceed to S8, set the empty discharge flag to 0", and proceed to S4.Sl without empty discharge.The reason there is no empty discharge here is because empty discharge was performed at the previous check, and since then T/2 This is because it is not necessary to perform dry ejection until a certain amount of time has elapsed (that is, until 7 hours have passed since the previous dry ejection).

[Effect of the Invention J As described above, according to the present invention, a recording apparatus that can perform a dry ejection operation extremely efficiently can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a bubble jet type inkjet cartridge to which the present invention can be applied, and FIG. 2 is a configuration of a recording system of a facsimile machine equipped with the inkjet cartridge shown in FIG. 1 to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the main part of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the black detection means, and FIG. 5 shows the operation timing of the same means. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the control operation regarding the dummy ejection timing in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the dummy ejection timing. 45...Black detection means, 46...ROM. 47...RAM. 48...AND gate 1st 4th figure 3 figure figure figure figure figure

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) a recording head having a plurality of ink ejection ports; a first storage means for storing information that ink has been ejected from the plurality of ink ejection ports based on received data; and the recording head. and a control means for controlling the idle ejection operation of the recording head according to the contents of the first storage means and the second storage means, If the contents of the first storage means indicate that ink is not being ejected from the plurality of ink ejection ports, the control means determines the contents of the second storage means, and determines whether idle ejection of the recording head has occurred. A printing apparatus characterized in that, if no ejection is being performed, the printing head is caused to perform idle ejection.