JPH0474675A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect a battery capacity with high accuracy by providing a detection means for detecting the capacity of a battery and a detection control means for making the detection means detect the capacity in synchronism with a specific action of a drive load within a recording action period. CONSTITUTION:A low battery alarm is issued when the level of a battery capacity is too lowered to ensure a recording action during the recording action. If the recording action is continued in this state, the function of a device is stopped during the recording. Received recording information may be erased, an ink delivery port of a recording head may be left unsealed when the level of the battery capacity is too lowered to drive a carriage and a capping member, and other failures may occur. Then, during the recording action, a residual battery capacity is detected for every line recording. In a step S1, a discharge current of the battery is momentarily controlled to an appropriate magnitude by loading pulses. Meanwhile, the excitation of a carriage motor phase is started for detecting the voltage of the battery. Namely, the drive of a carriage motor 8 is started. In a step S2, a fixed time t1 is counted until the drop of the battery voltage is substantially saturated. In a step S3, the battery voltage is detected. In this manner, the limited battery capacity can be effectively used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording device that can be driven by a battery.

[Conventional technology]

Printing and recording devices such as printers and facsimiles record images consisting of dot patterns on recording sheets made of paper or thin plastic plates by driving the energy generator of the recording head based on the transferred image information. It is configured to go.

The above-mentioned recording apparatuses can be classified into inkjet type, wire dot type, thermal type, etc. depending on the recording method. Among these, the inkjet type (inkjet recording apparatus) performs recording by ejecting and flying recording liquid (ink) droplets from the discharge ports of a recording head and adhering them to a recording material such as paper.

In a so-called bubble jet inkjet recording device that uses heat as the energy for ejecting ink droplets, an ejection port is provided on the front surface of the print head, that is, the surface facing the recording material, and a liquid is provided internally from a common liquid chamber leading to the ejection port. form a road. Then, by applying electricity to an electrothermal converter such as a resistor placed in this liquid path and heating the ink,
Ink droplets are ejected from ejection ports by causing a state change in the ink accompanied by a rapid volume increase, such as the generation of bubbles due to film boiling, to cause ink droplets to fly. This recording device has an electrical transducer that is much smaller in size than the piezoelectric elements used in conventional inkjet recording devices (and allows for high-density multi-use of ejection ports, producing high-quality recorded images. It has features such as high speed and low noise.

In an inkjet recording device, if the ink ejection ports of the print head are left open to the outside air for a long period of time without printing, the ink that has accumulated in the ink ejection ports and the vicinity will be removed because the ink is water-based. For example, solvent components such as water and volatile organic solvents evaporate into the outside air through the ink discharge ports. As a result, the viscosity of the ink staying in this portion increases, exceeding the range suitable for ink ejection. Therefore, immediately after resuming recording, an ejection failure in which ink droplets are not ejected even if an ejection signal is applied is likely to occur.

Also, if vibration is applied to the device while recording is not being performed,
Ink leaks into the device from the ink ejection port even though no ejection signal is applied. This causes problems such as corrosion of members within the device. In particular, small inkjet recording devices are often used as portable devices, and if the device is moved or carried without sealing the ink ejection ports, ink that leaks from the ink ejection ports may scatter outside the device. A situation may also occur.

Therefore, inkjet recording apparatuses are provided with a cap member for the purpose of shielding the ink discharge ports from the outside air when recording is not performed. When recording is not being performed, the cap member is driven by a motor or the like so as to come into contact with the ink ejection orifice surface of the recording head. In inkjet recording apparatuses, especially small inkjet recording apparatuses that are considered to be portable, it is necessary to seal the ink ejection openings with a cap member whenever recording is not performed for the reasons described above.

By the way, recording devices generally use a commercial power source as the main power source, but in the case of a small portable device, a dual power source system including an AC adapter and a battery may be used.

When the remaining capacity of the battery becomes low, the output voltage of the battery decreases, making it difficult to drive each part of the device. for example,
If the function suddenly stops during a printing operation, the received printing information may be lost, or in the case of an inkjet printing apparatus, a situation may occur in which the ink ejection openings of the printing head cannot be sealed by the cap member.

Therefore, when a recording apparatus, especially an inkjet recording apparatus, is driven by a battery, means for monitoring the battery capacity f1 and means for protecting the apparatus when the battery capacity decreases below a specified amount are required.

BACKGROUND ART In electronic devices that can be driven by batteries, a method is widely used in which the battery capacity is estimated by detecting the battery voltage, making use of the discharge characteristic in which the battery voltage decreases as the battery capacity decreases. Conventionally, in inkjet recording devices,
The system detects the battery voltage at any time, and when the voltage drops to a certain level, it is determined that the battery capacity is insufficient and the operation of the device is interrupted, and a buzzer, lamp, or other display element notifies the operator of the battery capacity shortage.

Incidentally, the recording head is generally mounted on a carriage that is driven back and forth in the horizontal direction by a carriage motor. The recording material is transported in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocating direction of the carriage by a transport roller driven by a paper feed motor.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional example described above has the following drawbacks because the battery capacity is detected using an arbitrary timing log.

Since the discharge current during the recording operation has a pulsed waveform, the battery voltage also changes in a pulsed manner accordingly. Furthermore, this pulse waveform varies depending on the image to be recorded, such as the energy required for ejecting ink droplets and the drive conditions (%) of the carriage motor, paper feed motor, etc., so it can take on an arbitrary pattern during the recording operation.

Therefore, in the conventional example described above, the battery discharging conditions at the time of battery voltage detection change each time the battery voltage is detected, which poses a technical problem of low battery capacity determination accuracy. There is a possibility that the printing operation will continue without being completed, and the device may stop functioning while recording an image and the received printing information may be lost, or in the case of an inkjet printing device, the ink ejection opening of the printing head may remain unsealed. There may also be situations where it is left unattended.

To avoid this situation, it is necessary to choose a relatively high value for the end-of-discharge voltage, but the limited battery capacity cannot be used effectively.
It is inevitable that the battery drive time will be shortened.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device that can detect battery capacity with high accuracy.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the recording device of the present invention includes a detection means for detecting the capacity of a battery, and a detection control means for causing the capacity detection by the detection means to be executed in synchronization with a specific operation of a driving load within a recording operation period. It is characterized by having the following.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration, since battery capacity detection is executed in synchronization with a specific operation of the driving load within the recording operation period, highly accurate capacity detection can be performed without reducing the throughput of the recording device. This makes it possible to effectively utilize the limited battery capacity.

〔Example〕

Embodiments in which the recording apparatus of the present invention is applied to an inkjet recording apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 7 are flowcharts illustrating control operations of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control system of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the embodiment. The block diagram in FIG. 8 will be explained.

In the figure, 1 is a programmable peripheral interface (hereinafter referred to as PPI), which receives command signals (commands) and recording information signals sent from the host computer in parallel and transfers them to the MPU 2, as well as controlling and controlling the console 6. Carriage home position sensor 7
Performs input processing.

The MPU (microprocessing unit) 2 controls each section within the recording apparatus. 3 is a RAM for storing received signals, 4 is a font generation ROM for outputting images such as characters and symbols, and 5 is a control ROM in which the processing procedures (Figs. 1 to 7) executed by the MPU 2 are stored. It is a ROM. Each of these units is controlled via an address bus 17 and a data bus 18, respectively.

8 is a carriage motor for moving the carriage;
Reference numeral 10 denotes a paper feed motor for conveying the recording material in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, and 13 drives a cap member to come into contact with an ink discharge port (not shown) of a recording head 12, which will be described later. , respectively show a capping motor for shielding the ink discharge port from the outside air.

15 is a driver for driving the carriage motor 8;
16 is a driver for driving the paper feed motor IO;
4 is a driver for driving the capping motor 13.

The six consoles are equipped with keyboard switches, indicator lamps, and the like.

The home position sensor 7 is provided near the home position of the carriage and detects when the carriage carrying the recording head 12 has reached the home position. 9
indicates a sheet sensor that detects the presence or absence of a recording material such as recording paper, that is, whether or not it is supplied to the recording section.

Reference numeral 12 denotes the above-mentioned so-called bubble jet type inkjet recording head, and this recording head 12 is provided with an ejection port (not shown), an ejection heater (not shown), and the like. Reference numeral 11 indicates a recording head 12 according to the recording information signal.
A driver for driving the discharge heater is shown.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a power supply section that supplies power to each of the above sections, and includes an AC adapter and a battery as a driving power supply device.

In the above configuration, the MPU 2 is connected to a host device such as a computer via the PPII, and receives commands and recording information signals sent from the host device, processing procedures of programs stored in the control ROM 5, and RAM. The recording operation is controlled based on the recording information stored in the memory.

Next, details of the power supply section 24 will be explained with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 9. In the figure, reference numerals 19 and 20 are drive power supplies for the inkjet recording apparatus, which are an AC adapter and a battery, respectively. Reference numeral 21 denotes a source switch for selecting one of the above two types of driving power supply devices, and for example, a power jack is used. 23 is a power supply voltage detection circuit that detects the output voltage of the drive power supply device and sends an output signal to the input port of the MPU 2. In this example, a detection circuit with a simple configuration that divides the voltage using resistors and inputs it to the MPU is adopted, but other methods using an A/D converter or a comparator are also possible. .

Reference numeral 22 denotes a power supply circuit for converting the DC output from the drive power supply device into a voltage suitable for driving each part of the inkjet recording apparatus. Here, the logic voltage 1 is supplied to the MPU 2, and the voltage is applied even in the power-off mode. Logic voltage 2 is applied to logic parts other than MPU 2 such as RAM 3, and motor voltage is applied to motor 8.1O113.
At this time, the head voltage is supplied to each of the recording heads 12, and the power-on mode (recording standby state and recording operation state)
Apply voltage only to

In the inkjet recording apparatus configured as described above,
A software control procedure for detecting the battery capacity with high accuracy and taking protective measures for the received recording information and the recording head according to the detection results will be described. First, the outline will be explained below.

The above control procedure is divided into two parts: low battery error detection and processing and low battery alarm detection and processing, as will be described in detail later.

First, a low battery error is a state in which the battery capacity has decreased to a level where driving of the carriage and the cap member cannot be guaranteed. If you drive the recording device in this state, the device will stop functioning immediately after recording starts, and the received recording information will be lost, or the carriage or cap member will not be able to be driven, resulting in problems such as the ink ejection port being left unsealed. can occur.

Therefore, the remaining battery capacity is always detected immediately before the cap member is opened or removed from the ink ejection port (cap opening procedure) at the start of recording or the like. If there is a low battery error, the low battery error state is displayed and the cap opening process is canceled, thereby avoiding the above-mentioned problem. However, since battery capacity detection improves detection accuracy,
This is done by detecting the battery voltage with a steady pulse load applied to the battery.

Next, a low battery alarm is a state in which the battery capacity has decreased to a level where recording operation cannot be guaranteed during recording operation. If the recording operation continues in this state, the device will stop functioning mid-way through recording, the received recording information will be lost, and the battery capacity will drop to a level where the carriage and cap member cannot be driven, resulting in the ink ejection openings of the recording head not being sealed. Problems such as being left unattended may occur.

Therefore, during the recording operation, the remaining battery capacity is detected every time one line is recorded. If there is a low battery alarm, a low battery alarm state is displayed and the recording operation is interrupted, and the ink discharge port is sealed with a cap member (cap closing process) to avoid the above-mentioned problem. The battery capacity is detected while the carriage motor 8 is being decelerated.

The reasons for this are that the process is always performed every time one line is recorded, and unlike during ink ejection, the discharge current is the same each time, so the battery capacity can be detected with high accuracy.

In this embodiment, after the low battery error process is processed, the operation of the device cannot be resumed unless the AC adapter is connected by the operator.

On the other hand, after processing the low battery alarm, the interrupted recording operation can be resumed if the operator connects the AC adapter or performs online operation. This is to use the battery capacity as effectively as possible and perform control so that as many lines as possible can be recorded. For example, this is to relieve a case where a low battery alarm condition occurs when the recording of J pages is only a few lines away.

However, low battery alarm control operates with slightly more remaining battery capacity than low battery error control (
Design as follows. Therefore, in this embodiment, the load current applied to the battery when detecting battery capacity is set to be slightly higher when low battery alarm is detected than when low battery error is detected. The determination level may be set higher than the low battery error determination level.

FIG. 1(a) is a flowchart showing the low battery error detection procedure of the inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment. Low battery error detection is performed at the start of recording, etc., just before the cap member is released from the ink ejection orifice surface of the recording head (cap opening process) in order to start driving the carriage.

Furthermore, the battery capacity is estimated based on the battery voltage.

In FIG. 1(a), in step SL, the discharge current of the battery is momentarily controlled to an appropriate level by a pulse load, and during this time excitation of the carriage motor phase is started in order to detect the battery voltage. Start driving the motor 8. However, in order to prevent the carriage from moving, the excitation phase is not switched. Hereinafter, this excitation will be referred to as pseudo excitation.

When pseudo-excitation starts, the battery voltage drops exponentially. In step S2, the battery voltage decreases for a certain period of time 1+ (for example, t = 100 msec) until it is almost saturated.
After waiting, the battery voltage is detected in step S3.

The battery voltage is detected by the power supply voltage detection circuit 23 (FIG. 9) and converted into a digital quantity by the A/D converter of the MPU 2 (FIG. 8). Next, proceed to step S4, and
The low battery is determined by comparing the /D converted digital value with a predetermined low battery threshold. For example, if the converted digital value corresponds to a battery voltage of less than 5.7 cm, the determination is Yes: the battery is low. Here, if the determination result is No, the process proceeds to step S8, and the pseudo excitation of the carriage motor phase is ended.

On the other hand, if the determination result in step S4 is Yes, in order to prevent erroneous determination, the voltage detection and determination step S3 described above are performed.
, S4 at fixed time interval t2 (for example, t2=5msec
) repeatedly n times (for example, n=3) (step S5
, S6). If the n-times determination result is Yes, step S7
Proceed to step SS to set the low battery error flag and end the pseudo excitation of the carriage motor phase (step SS).
.

Although the carriage motor 8 is pseudo-excited in FIG. 1(a), the paper feed motor 10 or the capping motor 13 may be pseudo-excited instead. Alternatively, the same effect can be obtained by controlling the discharge current of the battery by energizing the ejection heater in the recording head 12 (for example, repeating pulse energization of about 3 μsec) within a range where ink droplets are not ejected. It will be done.

FIG. 1(b) is a flowchart showing the low putty tree alarm detection procedure of this embodiment. Low battery alarm detection is performed while the carriage motor is driving. Also,
Battery capacity is estimated based on battery voltage.

In FIG. 1(b), in step S9, deceleration of the carriage motor 8 is started in order to end driving of the carriage motor. The excitation phase switching (step 510) in the deceleration drive of the carriage motor 8 is performed by the control ROM.
(Fig. 8) while referring to the acceleration/deceleration table stored in the table. In step Sll, it is determined whether the number of times the carriage motor excitation phase has been switched after the start of deceleration has reached the preset number m of times at which battery voltage detection starts. The judgment result in step Sll is Yes
If s, the battery voltage is detected in step S12. The battery voltage is detected by the power supply voltage detection circuit 23 (FIG. 9) and converted into a digital quantity by the A/D converter of the MPU 2 (FIG. 8).

Next, the process proceeds to step S13, where the A/D converted digital value is compared with a predetermined low battery threshold to determine whether the battery is low. For example, if the converted digital value corresponds to a battery voltage of less than 5.7V,
Judgment is Yes: It is assumed that the battery is low. Here, if the determination result is Yes, the same as step SIO (switching the carriage motor excitation phase) is performed in step S14.Furthermore, in order to prevent erroneous determination,
The determination and excitation phase switching steps S12 to S14 are repeated n times (for example, n-3) (step 515).

Here, if the determination result in step S13 is Yes for the nth time, the process proceeds to step S16, a low battery alarm flag is set, and the process proceeds to step S17.

On the other hand, if the determination result in step Sll is NO, battery voltage detection and low battery determination are not performed, and whether or not the excitation phase of the carriage motor has been switched the number of times specified in the carriage motor acceleration/deceleration table described above is determined. Check in step S17. If the predetermined number of times has not been completed, the process returns to step SIO, and if the predetermined number of times has been completed, the deceleration drive of the carriage motor 8 is ended in step 818. In addition, even if the determination result in step S13 is NO, there is no battery, the carriage motor 8 is decelerated until the excitation switching of the carriage motor phase is completed the specified number of times while referring to the carriage motor acceleration/deceleration table. Drive.

In Fig. 1(b), the low battery alarm is detected while the carriage motor is being decelerated, but instead it is detected when the carriage motor is being accelerated or the carriage motor 8 is being
Low battery alarm detection may be performed both during acceleration driving and deceleration driving.

In Figures 1 (a) and (b), it was assumed that the battery was low if the judgment of low battery was Yes all of the n times, but instead If the determination is Yes, it may be determined that the battery is low.

As described above, since low battery alarm detection is performed while the carriage motor 8 is moving, the load current applied to the battery is greater than when low battery error detection is performed while the carriage motor 8 is stopped, and the remaining battery capacity is reduced. It works with a little bit more.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are flowcharts showing the low battery error processing procedure of this embodiment. Low battery error processing involves low battery error detection (see Figure 1).
This is performed when the low battery error flag is set in a)).

Figure 2 (a) shows the low battery error processing type A, and as described later, when the power is turned on (Figure 4) and when the power is turned off (Figure 5), if the low battery error flag is not set. When the low battery error flag is set when the carriage should be driven, the process skips over the carriage drive process and proceeds to the power-off mode in step S20. In the power-off mode, the power-on mode can be entered by operating a power switch, which will be described later.

FIG. 2(b) is a flowchart showing the procedure of low battery error processing B type. Low battery error processing B type is used during power-on operation (5th
), at the start of recording (Figure 6) and during online operation (
Figure 7).

In FIG. 2(b), in step S21, the recording device is placed in an offline state. Next, in step S22,
Interrupt processing from sources other than the power switch of the console 6 (FIG. 8) is prohibited, and a low battery error is displayed using an LED lamp, a buzzer, or the like.

The low battery error can be canceled by operating the power switch to turn off the power, or by connecting the AC adapter and performing an online operation.

When the low battery error state is set, in step S23, the power supply voltage is detected by the power supply voltage detection circuit 23 (FIG. 9) at any time and converted into a digital value by the A/D converter of the MPU (FIG. 8). In step S24, the converted value is compared with a predetermined power supply voltage threshold, and it is determined whether the operator/noter has connected the AC adapter to the recording device and whether or not power has been supplied from the AC adapter. However, the output voltage of the AC adapter is set to be higher than the output voltage range of the battery.
It is set so that it is determined that the AC adapter is connected when the voltage is equal to or higher than 5V.

If the determination in step S24 is Yes: the AC adapter is connected, the process advances to step S27, where the low battery error display is stopped and the low battery error flag is reset. In the next step 328, the process waits until an online operation is performed, and if the online operation is performed, the process advances to step S29, and the online processing procedure shown in FIG. 7 is performed. The recording information received before the low battery error occurs is retained until this time, so the recording operation is restarted after online processing.

On the other hand, if the AC adapter is not connected within a certain period of time t3 (for example, t3-5 minutes) after entering the low battery error state, step S26
Go to power off mode.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the low battery alarm processing procedure of this embodiment. As will be described later, low battery alarm processing is performed when a low battery alarm flag is set by low battery alarm detection (FIG. 1(b)) during recording operation.

In FIG. 3, in step S30, the recording device is placed in an offline state. Next, in step S31, interrupt processing from sources other than the power switch and online switch of the console 6 (FIG. 8) is prohibited, and a low battery alarm is displayed using an LED lamp, a buzzer, or the like. To cancel the low battery alarm condition, turn off the power by turning off the power switch.
Connect the adapter to provide regular power for recording operations,
Alternatively, there are three methods: performing an online operation and restarting the recording operation until the low battery alarm or low battery error flag is set again.

After setting the low battery alarm state in step S31, if the carriage is not at the home position and the ink discharge port is not sealed by the cap member in step S32, the process advances to step S35.

On the other hand, if the determination in step S32 is negative, the carriage is returned to the home position in S33, and then the ink ejection orifice surface of the recording head is sealed with a cap member in step S34. Next, in 535, it is determined whether an online operation has been performed by the operator. If the determination is affirmative, the process advances to step S43, where the low battery alarm state set at step S31 is canceled, and after resetting the low battery alarm flag, the online process shown in FIG. 6 is performed at step S42. If the determination is negative, the process advances to step S36, where the operator connects the AC adapter to the recording device and monitors at any time whether or not power is supplied from the AC adapter.

Here, if power is supplied from the AC adapter,
Proceeding from step S37 to step S40, step S3
Cancels the low battery alarm condition set at 0. At the same time, the low battery alarm flag is reset, and the system enters the normal offline standby state. Recorded information received from the host device before the low battery alarm condition was set has so far been stored and held in RA, M3 (FIG. 8). Therefore, step S4
If the online operation is performed in step 1 and the online processing (see FIG. 7) is performed in step S42, the recording operation is restarted based on the stored recording information, and online control with the host device becomes possible. .

On the other hand, if the AC adapter is not connected within t4 hours (for example, t4 = 30 minutes) after the low battery alarm state is set in step S39, the power off mode is set in step S39.

Next, low battery detection and processing after low battery detection in this embodiment will be explained along with the actual recording operation procedure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the inkjet recording apparatus according to this embodiment when the power is turned on. In the inkjet recording apparatus according to this embodiment, capping is performed by driving the carriage and the cap member by a power-off sequence every time the power is turned on. A power-off sequence is a power-off sequence that occurs when the printing device stops driving with the print head uncapped due to a power outage, etc., and when the power is restored after a while, capping is automatically performed to close the ink ejection ports of the print head. This is a protection operation for the recording head to avoid leaving it open to the atmosphere.

In FIG. 4, when power is supplied to the recording device from the AC adapter or the battery in step S45, the power supply voltage is detected (step 846), and it is determined whether the driving power supply device for the recording device is the battery or the AC adapter (step 846). 547).

In the case of an AC adapter, after the normal capping operation (steps 350 to 552), the power off mode is entered (step 553). In the case of battery drive, low battery error detection shown in FIG. 1(a) is performed before performing the capping operation (step 548). If the low battery error flag is not set in the low battery error detection, that is, if it is determined in step S49 that there is enough remaining battery capacity to perform the capping operation, the process advances to the next step, performs the capping operation, and enters the power off mode ( Steps 850-553).

On the other hand, as a result of low battery error detection, if it is determined that the low battery error flag is set, that is, there is not enough capacity remaining in the battery to perform the capping operation, low battery error processing A ( Proceed to Figure 2(a)). By skipping the capping process and entering the war-off mode, the ink discharge port is prevented from being left unsealed.

Note that the power-on operation in step S45 is performed by inserting a power jack in the case of an AC adapter, and by turning on a switch (not shown) in the case of a battery.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the power-on and power-off operation procedures of the inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment. In the figure, when an interrupt request due to the power switch operation is input to the MPU 2 in step S56, the MPU 2 performs a war-off operation if the recording device is in the power-on mode at the time of the power switch operation; ) is controlled to perform a war-on operation.

Below, the power-off operation procedure will be explained first, and then the power-on operation procedure will be explained.

In FIG. 5, when the determination in step S57 is negative, the process proceeds to step 358 and a power-off operation is started. In step 358, it is determined whether the ink ejection ports of the recording head 12 are sealed by the cap member. For example, if the power is turned off while the recording head 12 is capped, such as during standby, an affirmative determination is made and the process proceeds to step S59. Here, the input power supply voltage to the recording device is detected, and in the next step S60, it is determined whether the driving power supply device of the recording device is an AC adapter (Yes) or a battery (N
o) Determine whether Here, steps S62 and S63 are respectively steps S2 in FIG. 2(b) explained earlier.
2. This is the same processing method as S23. If the determination in step S60 is negative, the process advances to step S61, and if the determination is affirmative, the cap closing process of steps 364 to S66 is performed, and the power off mode (step 567) is entered.

In step S61, it is determined whether the low battery error flag is set. If the flag is set (Yes), the process advances to step 368, and the power-off mode is directly entered without driving the cap member according to the low battery error processing type A shown in FIG. 2(a). On the other hand, if the flag is not set in step S61 (No), low battery error detection as shown in FIG. 1(a) is performed (step 562), and if the low battery error flag is set in step S63, step 368 to directly switch to power off mode. If the same flag is not set, steps 364 to S
After the capping operation is performed at 67, the power off mode is entered.

Note that in step S58, if the power-off operation is performed while the recording head 12 is not at the home position and the cap is open, for example during recording operation, step 3 is performed.
Proceed to steps 65 to S67. As a result, after returning the carriage to the home position and sealing the recording head 12 with the cap,
Set to power off mode.

Next, the power-on operation procedure will be explained. In FIG. 5, if the determination in step S57 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S74, where the power-on mode is entered and a power-on operation is started.

In step S75, as initial processing at power-on, the hardware initializes the input/output ports of the PPII, checks and initializes the operation of the memory RAM3, and controls the control RO.
Check the operation of M5. The software initializes parameters and flags used in each process.

In steps S77 and S78, the above-mentioned second
The power supply voltage is detected using the same method as steps S22 and S23 in FIG. If it is powered by the AC adapter (Yes), a series of low battery error procedures (878-58
0) and proceeds to step S81. If the battery is driven (No), the process proceeds to low battery error detection shown in FIG. 1(a) (step 578), and as described above, the carriage motor 8 is placed in the pseudo-excited state and the battery capacity is determined.

Here, if the low battery error flag is set, an affirmative determination is made in step S79, and FIG.
) is performed (step 580). In step S80, as mentioned above, if you connect the AC adapter and perform an online operation while the low battery error is displayed, the error status will be canceled and the process will proceed to the next step. mode.

On the other hand, if the determination in step S79 is negative, the process skips the low battery error processing B in step S80 and proceeds to step S81.

As described above, if the drive power supply device is an AC adapter, or if it is determined that the battery capacity is sufficient to guarantee the operation of the recording device, the carriage motor 8 is driven after the cap opening process (step 581). Then, the carriage is initialized to the home position (step 582), and the cap is closed (step 583). Next, in step S84, the sheet sensor 9 determines whether or not paper is set in the recording apparatus. If the determination is affirmative, the state is set such that it is possible to receive recorded information from the host device (online) (step 585). On the other hand, if the determination is negative, a paper out error occurs (step 586). Online operations are disabled in the paper out error condition. The error state is canceled when paper is set, and it becomes possible to shift to the online state by an online operation described later.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the recording operation procedure of this embodiment. In a recording operation when driven by a battery, a low battery error is detected (FIG. 1(a)) immediately before cap opening processing is performed when starting a recording operation based on recording information from the host device. Furthermore, every time the carriage scans and records one line, a low battery alarm is detected (FIG. 1(b)) at the deceleration drive timing of the carriage.

Furthermore, if it is determined that the battery capacity is insufficient by each detection procedure, in the former case, low battery error processing B (Fig. 2 (b)) is performed, and in the latter case, low battery alarm processing (Fig. 2 (b)) is performed. The received recording information and the recording head are protected by the procedure shown in FIG. 3).

In step 5100 in FIG. 6, it is determined whether recording start information has been sent from the host device. If the determination is negative, the process branches to step 5120 and subsequent steps, and the process waits until recording information is received with the ink ejection port sealed with the cap member (steps 8120 to 5122).

On the other hand, if the determination is affirmative, the recording operation is started according to the procedure from step 5101 onwards.

In step 5lO1, it is determined whether the ink discharge port is sealed by the cap member.

If the determination is negative, the process directly advances to step 5109, where the carriage motor is driven to begin moving the carriage from the home position. On the other hand, if the determination is affirmative, steps 5102~
5103 to check whether it is battery powered or AC adapter powered.
If it is adapter driven, the process branches to step 8108. On the other hand, if the battery is powered, the process proceeds to step 5104, and after confirming that the paper feed motor 10 has finished driving, the process proceeds to step 5105, where a low battery error is detected (see Figure 1).
Do a)). This is to prevent the discharge current at the time of low battery error detection from deviating from the design value and deterioration of detection accuracy when the pseudo excitation process of the motor and the drive of the paper feed motor overlap.

In step 5106, it is determined whether the low battery error flag was set in step 5105. If the determination is negative, the process branches to step 5108, and after cap opening processing is performed, carriage drive is started. On the other hand, if the determination is affirmative, low battery error processing B (FIG. 2(b)) is performed in step 5107 to protect the recording apparatus.

If it is determined that the power supply capacity is sufficient in the process of detecting the state of the driving power supply device before starting the recording operation, ink droplets are ejected onto the recording paper to start recording an image. Carry it out in step 5109! When driving is started and image recording for one line is completed in step Sl 10, it is detected in steps 5ill to 5112 whether battery driving or AC adapter driving is performed. If the drive is performed by the AC adapter, the carriage motor is decelerated in step 5113, and driving of the carriage motor is ended (step 5114).

On the other hand, in the case of battery drive, the process branches to step 5119, and deceleration drive of the carriage motor is started according to the low battery alarm detection procedure shown in FIG. 1(b), and the battery capacity is detected.

When the procedure of step 3.119 is completed and the driving of the carriage motor is finished (step 5114), step 51
In step 15, it is determined whether the low battery alarm flag is set. If the determination is negative, proceed to step Sl 17; if the determination is affirmative, proceed to step Sl 16.
The recording device is protected by the low battery alarm procedure shown in FIG.

After completing the above image recording procedure for one line, step Sl 17
, it is determined whether or not recording paper is set, and if the determination is negative, a paper out error (step Sl
18), and if the determination is affirmative, the process returns to step 5100 and repeats the operation procedure described above based on the recorded information.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure by online processing of this embodiment. In normal online processing, the recording device is switched from an offline (non-line) state to an online (line) state, and further, cap opening processing and carriage position initialization are performed in preparation for the start of a recording operation. On the other hand, in the inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment, for the purpose of protecting the recording apparatus, the above-mentioned online processing is controlled based on the detection result of the battery capacity when the inkjet recording apparatus is driven by a battery.

In FIG. 7, in step S88, it is determined whether recording paper is set in the apparatus. If the determination is negative, a paper out error occurs (step 598), and the online operation is invalidated. On the other hand, if the determination is affirmative, step S8
Perform online processing from 9 onwards. Steps 389-S9
If it is 0, it is determined whether it is battery powered or AC adapter driven. A.C.
If the adapter is driven, low battery error control is not necessary, so normal online processing is performed. If the battery is powered, low battery error detection (Fig. 1 (a)) is performed in step S91, and if the low battery error flag is set in step S92, the process advances to step S93 and low battery error processing B (Fig. 2 (b)) is performed. )).

On the other hand, if the low battery error flag is not set, the process advances to online processing starting from step S95.

In step S94, it is determined whether the power-on operation has ended, and if the determination is negative, the interrupted power-on operation is resumed. If the determination is affirmative, the cap opening process (step 595) and carriage position initialization (step 89) are performed.
After performing step 6), the process that was interrupted at the time of going offline is resumed (step 597).

Here, the case where the power-on operation is not completed in step S94 refers to a case where the power-on operation is interrupted in a low battery error state due to the low battery error control during the power-on operation explained in FIG. This means that step S83 has not yet been completed. Therefore, in the process of step S80, the operator
If an online operation is performed to connect the adapter and resume operation, a negative determination is made in step S94.

As explained above, in this embodiment, the battery capacity is detected during the deceleration drive of the carriage motor 8 where the load is constant within the recording operation period, so that the throughput of the recording apparatus is not reduced. In addition, it becomes possible to detect battery capacity with high accuracy.This makes it possible to fully utilize the limited battery capacity, making it possible to drive the recording device on batteries for a longer period of time. .

Further, according to this embodiment, the protective measures (capping) of the inkjet recording apparatus can be reliably performed with a small battery capacity after the battery voltage has decreased to the final voltage. Therefore, even if the battery capacity is completely exhausted and the apparatus stops functioning thereafter, problems such as ejection failure of the recording head and corrosion of the apparatus due to ink leakage can be avoided.

Note that the battery may be a secondary battery that can be used repeatedly by charging. Further, the recording device of the present invention can also be applied to image output terminals of information processing equipment such as computers, copying machines, and facsimile machines.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform highly accurate capacity detection without reducing the throughput of the recording device, and the limited battery capacity can be effectively utilized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the battery detection operation of one embodiment of the recording device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the operation when the battery is abnormal in the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is the power supply of the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation when operating the power switch of the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment when recording. FIG. 7 is the online processing of the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the embodiment, FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing details of the power supply section of FIG. 8. 2... MPU 5... Control ROM 8... Carriage motor 10... Paper feed motor 12... Recording head 13... Capping motor 19... AC adapter 20... Power supply 23. ...Power supply voltage detection circuit 24...Power supply section (α) Figure 1 (shi)

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In a recording device that performs recording by driving a drive load using power supplied from a battery, a detection means for detecting the capacity of the battery; and a detection means for detecting the capacity of the drive load during a recording operation period. 1. A recording device comprising: a detection control means for executing the operation in synchronization with a specific operation of the recording device. (2) The driving load includes a recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink from an ejection port onto a recording medium, and a motor that relatively moves this recording head and the recording medium. The recording device according to claim (1). (3) The recording device according to claim 2, wherein the detection means detects the capacity based on the voltage of the battery. (4) The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the detection control means causes the detection means to perform capacity detection in synchronization with a specific operation of the motor within a recording operation period. (5) a protective means that covers the ejection port of the recording head;
3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising protection control means for controlling a protection operation of said protection means based on a capacitance detection result of said detection means. (6) The recording head is provided at the ejection port, and thermal energy generating means causes a state change in the ink due to heat, and based on the state change, the ink is ejected from the ejection port to form flying droplets. 3. The recording device according to claim 2, further comprising: