JPH04151257A - Ink jet recording method and device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an ink remaining quantity in an ink end state while reduction of through-put is suppressed by a method wherein when a resistance value of ink attains a specified value, a printing duty is detected, and a printing operation mode is decided by means of the magnitude thereof. CONSTITUTION:When ink resistance R is inputted to an ink resistance detecting means 8, a near ink end is indicated and compared one by one with a resistance value Rnie and a resistance value Rie indicating an ink end. In the case of Rnie< R, a near ink end signal 9 is outputted, and in the case of Rie<R, an ink end signal 10 is outputted. When a CPU 11 receives the near ink end signal 9, a duty detection starting signal is outputted 12. A detecting means 13 counts a duty D of printing data 15, and when the duty is higher than a letter duty D1, a high duty signal 14 is outputted to a CPU 11. In this case, the CPU 11 outputs a division printing signal 16 by means of which it is reported that a device is in a division printing mode and actual printing data 18 equivalent to one full pass of division printing to a printing control means 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording method and apparatus for recording by ejecting ink droplets.

In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for determining a printing operation mode when ink in an ink tank is about to run out.

[Conventional technology]

Bubbles in an ink ejection section in inkjet recording have a negative effect on the particle size and flight speed of ejected ink droplets, and in the worst case, ink droplets cannot be ejected, causing disturbances in recording quality. Therefore, in an inkjet recording apparatus, it is necessary to avoid as much as possible the inflow of air bubbles into the ink ejection section due to a state where the ink runs out, that is, the ink has run out, and it is necessary to detect the ink end. To detect the end of the water-soluble ink impregnated into a foam in an ink tank, an electrode is provided inside the foam to electrically detect the resistance value of the ink, which changes depending on the remaining amount of ink. At this time, the change in resistance value per ink consumption is not constant, but changes rapidly near the ink end. Therefore, conventionally, in order to guarantee printing of one line, one
Highest density printing of the line (maximum printing duty)
With this in mind, the ink was set to end at a level much lower than the level at which printing would become impossible. Therefore, in low-density printing (in a state where the printing duty is small) such as normal character printing, a large amount of ink is thrown away even though printing is possible.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In order to reduce the amount of ink remaining in the ink end state of the water-bathable ink impregnated into the foam, the difference between the resistance value at which printing becomes impossible and the resistance value at which the ink ends must be made as small as possible. For this purpose, it is desirable to set the ink end at a resistance value that corresponds to the printing duty in one line. In addition, to avoid sudden changes in resistance near the ink end, limit the printing duty per printing operation by reducing the printing movement speed of the carriage or printing one line using multiple buses. impedance changes must be made gradual. However, detecting the printing duty for each line or limiting the printing duty reduces the throughput.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and provides an inkjet recording method and apparatus that can minimize the amount of ink remaining in the ink-end state while suppressing a decrease in throughput and efficiently use ink.

[Means to solve the problem]

The inkjet recording method of the present invention is an inkjet recording method in which an ink tank containing a foam impregnated with the ink to be ejected is mounted on a carriage, and ink droplets are ejected from an ink ejection part according to print data. ,
A resistance value of the ink in the ink tank is detected, and when this resistance value reaches a certain value, a printing duty of the printing data is detected, and a printing operation mode is determined based on the magnitude of this printing duty. shall be.

The inkjet recording device of the present invention also includes an electrode for detecting the resistance value of ink in an ink tank, and an ink resistance detection signal when the resistance value between the electrodes is detected and the resistance value reaches a certain value. an ink resistance detection means for outputting a print duty of the print data, a print duty detection means for detecting a print duty of the print data, and an ink resistance detection signal from the ink resistance detection means being manually operated to activate the print duty detection means to detect the print duty. The present invention is characterized by comprising a mode determining means for determining a printing operation mode according to the result.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, when the resistance value of the ink reaches a certain value t, the print duty is detected and the print operation mode is determined depending on the magnitude of the print duty. Print duty is limited, and normal printing can be performed when printing characters with a small print duty, thereby making it possible to bring the resistance value in the ink-out state close to the level when printing is disabled. In addition, the printing duty is detected when the ink resistance value reaches a certain value, and the printing duty is limited in high-density printing based on the result. By setting the value to a low value, it is possible to shorten the time for printing duty limitation, etc., and thereby to minimize the decrease in throughput.

〔Example〕

The illustrated embodiment will be described below.

In FIG. 2, ▪ is an ink tank, which supplies ink to the ink discharge section 3 through an ink passage 7. In FIG.

The ink tank 1, the ink passage 7, and the ink discharge section 3 are arranged on the carriage 2, and are moved in the horizontal direction in response to a print command to perform printing in accordance with print data.

In FIG. 3, 4 is a foam impregnated with water-soluble ink, which is filled in the ink tank 1 without any gaps.

Reference numeral 58.5b denotes an electrode for detecting the resistance value inside the form 4, and is arranged in close contact between the form 4 and the inner wall of the ink tank 1.

Reference numeral 7 denotes the ink passage described above, which supplies ink supplied from the ink supply port 6 that is in close contact with the form 4 to the ink discharge section 3.

The fourth panel is a diagram showing the relationship between ink consumption and the resistance value R between the electrodes 5° and 55. Electric 8i5 when printing becomes impossible
．． ．． The resistance value between 5b and 5b is assumed to be R65pLy. R1° is the resistance value before the ink consumption of one line at character duty from unprintable, and Rn is the resistance value before the ink consumption of one line at full duty from unprintable.
It is closed at 1°.

In this embodiment, this resistance value Rn. is adopted as a "constant value".

FIG. 1 is a block diagram in this embodiment.

The ink resistance detection means 8 includes electrodes 58.5. are connected to each other, and the ink resistance R is input. The ink resistance R is successively compared with a resistance value R010 indicating a near ink end and a resistance value R, indicating an ink end, Ro. <When R, a near ink end signal 9 is output as an ink resistance detection signal. Also, when R is R, the ink end signal is 10.
is output.

The CPU 11 constitutes a mode determining means, and upon receiving the near ink end signal 9, the CPU 11 activates the print tutee detecting means 13.
A duty detection start signal 12 is output to the terminal. The print duty detection means 13 counts the duty D of the print data 15, and outputs a high duty signal 14 to the CPU II if the duty D is larger than the character duty Dl. When the high duty signal 14 is output, the CPU
I outputs to the print control means 17 a split print signal 16 informing that it is in the split print mode, and actual print data 18 for one bus in split printing in which the print piggy bank 15 is divided into character duty levels. . Print control means 17
After printing the actual print data 18, it outputs a print end signal 19. At this time, since the divided printing signal 16 is valid, the changeover operation after printing is completed is not executed. C.P.U.I.
1 outputs the actual print data 18 for the next one bus upon receiving the print end signal 19, and repeats this operation by the number of divisions.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

When printing is started, the CPU 1 checks the ink end signal 10 in step ST1, and if it is at a low level indicating an ink end state, the ink is out and printing is stopped. On the other hand, if the level is high, the near ink end signal 9 is checked in step ST2. If the near ink end signal 9 is at a high level, that is, it is not in the near ink end state, it is determined that there is enough ink, and the process proceeds to step ST.
At step 3, the print data 15 is directly output as actual print data 18 to the print control means 17, and printing is executed in the normal print operation mode. Then, in step ST4, print end signal 19 is output! After the recognition, a change action is performed in step ST5, and the process returns to step STI. In step ST2,
If the near ink end signal 9 is at a low level indicating a near ink end state, the duty detection start signal 12 is set to a low level in order to start the print duty detection means 13 in step ST6. Print duty detection means 13
detects the duty of the print data 15 when the duty detection start signal 13 becomes low level. Then, in step ST7, if the duty detection result is smaller than the character duty (D>DI), the high duty signal 14 is set to low level, and if it is lower (D<D), it is set to high level.

If the high duty signal 14 is at a high level, the CPU II determines that normal printing is possible, and executes printing in the normal printing operation mode in step ST3.

On the other hand, if the high duty signal 14 is at a low level, the divided print signal 16 is set at a low level in step ST8.
The print control means 17 is informed that it is in the divided print mode. Further, in step ST9, the print data 15 is divided as actual print data 18, and data for one pass of divided printing with a duty of D+ or less is output. The print control means 17 prints the actual print data 18 and sets the print end signal 19 to low level. The CPU II checks the ink end signal 10 after confirming the print end signal 19 in step 5T11 at step 5TIO.

If the ink end signal is high level, step 5T
In step ST12, it is determined whether the division printing season has ended or not, and if it has not ended, the process returns to step ST9 to continue outputting data for one pass of the next division printing.

After repeating this operation by the number of times the print data 15 is divided, the divided print mode is cleared in step 5T13, and a new line operation is executed in step ST5.

During this repetition, if the ink end signal 9 is determined to be low level in step 5TII, the printing operation is stopped as the ink end is reached.

As described above, the resistance value R, which indicates the ink end state, is relative to the resistance value of the ink. In addition, by setting the resistance value Rn ia indicating the near ink end state and changing the print operation mode according to the ink end signal 9, the amount of ink remaining in the ink end state can be reduced.

In addition, normal printing is performed when there is sufficient ink, and duty detection of print data is started only when a near-ink-end state is detected, and split printing is performed only when the duty is high, so the reduction in device throughput is kept to a minimum. Limited. Furthermore, if the division into actual print data at high duty is appropriate, it is possible to print at several times the speed of normal printing, and each means other than CPU II (8, 13, 1
If 7) is combined with hardware implementation, the decrease in throughput will be further reduced. Each means other than CPUII (8
, 13, 17) can be realized by either hardware or software, so low-cost machines can be realized by software.
For high-speed machines, it is possible to choose to implement it with hardware.

In addition, in the embodiment described above, in addition to the normal printing operation mode, a divided printing mode was adopted as the printing operation mode, but a mode in which the printing movement speed of the carriage is reduced may also be adopted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By detecting the printing duty according to the ink output amount based on the resistance value of the ink and determining the printing operation mode based on this, the remaining amount of ink in the ink end state can be reduced and the ink can be used efficiently. Furthermore, by selecting the print operation mode when the ink is nearing the end of ink, it is possible to suppress the reduction in the throughput of the apparatus to the necessary minimum.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus. FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of an ink tank of the recording apparatus. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the ink resistance value and the remaining amount of ink. FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the embodiment. Figure 2 口　I￥)２〉-7Boxes 1i75 Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An inkjet recording method in which an ink tank containing foam impregnated with the ink to be ejected is mounted on a carriage, and ink droplets are ejected from an ink ejection part according to print data, the method comprising: When the resistance value of the ink is detected and this resistance value reaches a certain value,
An inkjet recording method characterized in that a print duty of the print data is detected, and a print operation mode is determined based on the magnitude of the print duty. (2) In an inkjet recording device in which an ink tank containing foam impregnated with the ink to be ejected is mounted on a carriage and ink droplets are ejected from an ink ejection unit according to print data, the ink in the ink tank is An electrode for detecting a resistance value, an ink resistance detection means for detecting a resistance value between the electrodes and outputting an ink resistance detection signal when the resistance value reaches a certain value, and a printing duty for the printing data. A printing duty detecting means for detecting a printing duty, and a mode determining means for activating the printing duty detecting means when an ink resistance detection signal from the ink resistance detecting means is input and determining a printing operation mode according to the detection result. An inkjet recording device characterized by: