JPH05318771A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high speed printing without damaging printing quality at the time of monochromatic printing by making the moving speed of a carrier due to a drive source changeable according to the number of head cartridges of the same printing color mounted on the carrier by a speed control means. CONSTITUTION:A carrier freely movable along a printing medium, the speed variable drive source 9 moving the carrier and a plurality of the head cartridges 11a-11d arranged on the carrier along the moving direction of the carrier in a freely detachable manner are provided. Further, a speed control means 22 making the moving speed of the carrier due to the drive source 9 changeable corresponding to the number of the head cartridges of the same printing color mounted on the carrier is provided. That is, when monochromatic printing only of one color is desired to be performed, a plurality of the head cartridges of a necessary printing color are mounted on the carrier to increase the moving speed of the carrier by twofold, threefold ...without damaging printing quality to enable high speed printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer capable of color recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of ink jet printer, there is a full color type as shown in FIG. First, the paper (print medium) held on the platen 1
The carrier 3 is provided so as to be opposed to 2. The carrier 3 is guided by the guide shaft 4 and is movable in the left-right direction on the front surface of the sheet 2. A part of the carrier 3 is locked with a part of the timing belt 7 which is provided between the feed pulley 5 and the guide pulley 6 provided at both ends in the left-right direction, and the carrier 3 is reciprocated as the timing belt 7 is driven. Is configured. A gear 8 is provided on the shaft of the feed pulley 5 and meshes with a drive gear 10 on the shaft of a carrier motor (drive source) 9.

On the carrier 3, for example, four head cartridges 11a to 11d are arranged in a horizontal row and the paper 2 is placed.
It is mounted in a state of facing. The head cartridges 11a to 11d are so-called disposable head cartridges having a built-in ink tank and do not have an ink supply pipe to the outside. Further, these four head cartridges 11a to 11d are, in order from the left when viewed from the rear side, the head cartridge 11a for black printing, the head cartridge 11b for cyan printing, the head cartridge 11c for magenta printing, and the head. The cartridge 11d is set for yellow color printing. That is, each head cartridge 11a-1
Reference numeral 1d includes an ink tank of a corresponding printing color and a heater portion for ejecting the ink toward the paper 2, and the ink is selectively ejected in accordance with an electric signal given to each head cartridge drive circuit through the flat cable 12. The action is taken.

In such a structure, the platen 1 is driven to rotate during printing so that the sheet 2 on the platen 1 is rotated.
In the direction indicated by arrow C (sub-scanning). After that, the carrier motor 9 is driven to rotate the feed pulley 5 via the drive gear 10 and the gear 8, thereby moving the carrier 3 in the arrow A direction or the B direction via the timing belt 7 (main scanning). In such movement of the carrier 3, a drive current is passed from the control unit to each head cartridge drive circuit through the flat cable 12 in a region facing the paper 2 and moving at a constant speed, so that ink of a desired printing color is generated. The ejection operation is performed and printing is performed on the paper 2. Full-color printing is possible by selecting and combining the inks of the required printing color.

Here, the printing speed in the main scanning direction (A and B directions) is regulated by the moving speed of the carrier 3 and the ink ejection cycle, and the same color continuous condition is the worst use condition in terms of the head structure. It is subject to restrictions depending on the conditions under which printing is assumed. That is, referring to FIG. 9 which schematically shows the ink droplets 13 actually printed, in the case of continuous printing of the same print color, as shown in the figure, the adjacent dot interval (minimum print interval) is Lmm, If the minimum ink ejection time is Ssec, the speed of the carrier 3 (hence, the printing speed) v is
v = L / S.

Under such conditions, as a method of increasing the printing speed as much as possible, there is a method of increasing the dot interval L. This is to meet the demand for speeding up even if print quality is poor for speeding up, and is called a draft mode or the like, and the carrier moving speed is switched by a switch or the like.

There is also a method of shortening the minimum ink ejection time S.

[0008]

However, the method of lengthening the dot interval L sacrifices the print quality, as the user himself accepts, and the image becomes rough as a whole. It is not suitable under the condition that high image quality is required.

Further, in the case of the method of increasing the minimum ink ejection time S, there is a limit even if it is increased (originally, the time is set so that the maximum capacity can be exerted), and in reality, that much It cannot be expected to speed up.

When a full-color printer as shown in FIG. 8 is considered, full-color printing is not always required as a form of use, and printing with only one black color, black / red two-color printing is possible. One specific color or two
In many cases, only color printing is required. Even if there is such a request, the printing speed cannot be increased in reality due to the regulation assuming continuous printing of the same color as described above. Therefore, even though a plurality of head cartridges are mounted, it is wasteful that the apparatus is effective only for full-color printing.

Furthermore, upon examination, the mounting positions of the head cartridges 11a to 11d on the carrier 3 are predetermined depending on the printing color, and if the set is wrong, the head cartridges 11a to 11d are printed in another printing color, and the desired printing color is obtained. This causes the inconvenience of not being able to obtain an image, so that the user must be very careful.

After all, in consideration of these points, the current full-color printer lacks flexibility.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a movable carrier along a print medium, a variable speed drive source for moving the carrier is provided, and the carrier moving direction is provided on the carrier. A speed at which a plurality of head cartridges that are arranged along with each other and are detachably mounted are provided, and the carrier moving speed by the drive source is changed according to the number of head cartridges of the same print color mounted on the carrier. Control means were provided.

In addition, in the invention described in claim 2, color type identification means for identifying the print color of each head cartridge mounted on the carrier is provided, and in the invention described in claim 3, it is mounted on the carrier. The same color number recognizing means for identifying the number of the head cartridges of the same print color is provided.

On the other hand, in the invention according to the fourth aspect, a carrier movable along the print medium is provided, a drive source for moving the carrier is provided, and the carrier is arranged on the carrier along the carrier moving direction to be attached and detached. A plurality of head cartridges that can be freely mounted, a head drive circuit provided for each head cartridge corresponding to the mounting position of the head cartridge on the carrier, and a print color of each head cartridge mounted on the carrier are displayed. A color type identification unit for identifying and an operation control unit for controlling the operation of each of the head drive circuits according to the identified printing color and mounting position information are provided.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when full-color printing is not required and single-color printing is desired, the head cartridge of the printing color required on the carrier is replaced with the head cartridge of the unnecessary printing color. By installing multiple head cartridges with the same print color by mounting them, the carrier moving speed can be doubled, tripled, or
It is possible to speed up the printing, and high speed printing is possible.

In this case, according to the second aspect of the invention, the print color of the mounted head cartridge is identified,
According to the third aspect of the invention, the number of head cartridges of the same print color is recognized, so that the carrier speed varying process according to the first aspect of the invention is reliably performed according to the head mounting state.

On the other hand, according to the invention described in claim 4, the mounting position of the head cartridge of each printing color on the carrier is not determined in advance, and the head cartridge is mounted at an arbitrary mounting position, and the head drive circuit is selected according to the situation. Is controlled for the printing color, the user can mount the head cartridge on the carrier without worrying about the positional relationship, and the flexibility is high.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals. First, although the present embodiment is premised on the full-color inkjet printer configuration as shown in FIG. 8, the carrier motor 9 has a variable speed, and four head cartridges 11a mounted on the carrier 3 are used.
-11d are set so that an arbitrary number of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow colors can be detachably mounted at arbitrary positions. That is, the head cartridge 11a is the first head cartridge,
~, The head cartridge 11d is only specified as the fourth head cartridge, and its printing color is not specified. Therefore, not only the typical combination arrangement for full color as described in FIG. 8 but also an appropriate combination arrangement is possible.

Therefore, for example, the head cartridge 11
Consider a case where the same color as a to 11d, for example, all four for black (Bk) printing as shown in FIG. 1A are mounted on the carrier 3 to perform continuous black printing. In this case, three head cartridges that can be used for printing are not placed every three, and all four head cartridges 11a to 11d can be sequentially used. Now, for convenience, the ink droplets 13 from the first head cartridge 11a are shown as "white circles", the ink droplets 13 from the second head cartridge 11b are shown as "double circles", and the ink droplets 13 from the third head cartridge 11c are shown as "hatched lines". Assuming that the “applied circle” and the ink droplet 13 from the fourth head cartridge 11d are shown as “+ circle”, the continuous printing state is as shown on the right side in FIG. 1A. That is, printing with the same head cartridge is sufficient for every 4 L, and the minimum ink discharge time S is constant, so the moving speed v of the carrier 3 is v.
= 4L / S, 1 black print head cartridge
The printing speed can be increased four times without impairing the image quality as compared with the case of the full-color configuration in which only one unit is mounted.

Next, let us consider a case where, for example, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), three of the four head cartridges 11a to 11c for black printing, which have the same printing color, are mounted. In this case, 3 head cartridges 1 for black printing
Since 1a to 11c can be used sequentially, the continuous printing state is as shown on the right side in FIG. 1 (b). That is, printing with the same head cartridge can be performed every 3 L,
In this case as well, the minimum ink ejection time S is constant, so the moving speed v of the carrier 3 is v = 3 L / S, and the image quality is better than in the case of the full-color configuration in which only one black print head cartridge is mounted. The printing speed can be tripled without any loss.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 (b), head cartridges 11a to 11c are assigned as head cartridges of the same print color. However, the same result can be obtained if three out of four head cartridges are used. Allocations such as 11c and 11d may be used.

When two-color printing is taken into consideration, it is preferable to mount two head cartridges for two colors out of four as shown in FIG. 1C, for example. The illustrated example shows an example in which head cartridges 11a and 11b for black printing and head cartridges 11c and 11d for magenta (M) printing are mounted. In this case, assuming that the ink droplets 13 from the third magenta color head cartridge 11c are shown as "triangles" and the ink droplets 13 from the fourth magenta color head cartridge 11d are shown as "double triangles", they are continuous. The print state is shown in Figure 1.
It becomes as shown on the right side in (c). Mixed color printing is performed at the same time as black printing, and single color printing of black and magenta is performed at different timings, and two-color printing is performed. In this case as well, printing with the same head cartridge may be performed every 2 L regardless of whether it is a single color or mixed colors. In this case as well, the minimum ink discharge time S is constant, so the moving speed v of the carrier 3 is v = 3 L / S. The printing speed can be doubled without deteriorating the image quality as compared with the case of the full-color configuration in which one black and one magenta printing head cartridge are mounted.

Even in the color ink jet printer structure as described above, by not restricting the contents of the head cartridges 11a to 11d mounted on the carrier 3,
In the case of continuous printing of the same color, by mounting a plurality of head cartridges of the same color, it is possible to increase the printing speed by a magnification corresponding to the number of head cartridges without impairing the printing quality.

Now, a configuration for enabling the above operation will be described. First, looking at the structure of the carrier 3, as shown in FIG. 2, since the head cartridge 11 of an arbitrary printing color is detachably mounted and the flat cable 12 can be electrically connected, as shown in FIG. A connector portion 14 connected to 12 is provided, and an electrical connection portion 15 on the side of the head cartridge 11 can be inserted. Here, an ink ejection signal portion pattern 15a and a cartridge identification signal portion pattern 15b are provided at the insertion tip of the electrical connection portion 15. The cartridge identification signal part pattern 15b is composed of 4 from 1 to 4.
There are two signal line patterns, and the first signal line pattern is + 5V for cartridge detection from the control unit (described later).
It is a high level signal line to which the potential of is given, and the 2nd to 4th signal line patterns are connected to the 1st signal line according to the type of the print color of the cartridge, and the identification of the print color and therefore the cartridge type Is used for identification.

Now, assuming that the second to fourth signal line patterns are indicated by pin numbers 2 to 4, H as shown in Table 1 is obtained.
The mounting state of the head cartridge 11 is identified by a combination of (5V) and L (0V) levels.

[0027]

[Table 1]

As a result, not only the color of the head cartridge 11 mounted on the carrier 3 is identified, but also the head cartridge 1 of the same print color is detected by the control unit.
It is also possible to certify how many 1's are installed. Also,
When the head cartridge 11 is not mounted at all, it is possible to issue a warning to that effect through a display panel or the like.

The identification of the type of the head cartridge is not limited to such a system, and an external sensor such as a micro switch may be used. Besides this,
As shown in FIG. 4, different detection convex portions 16 may be formed for each color at a predetermined position on the lower end of the head cartridge 11.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, three photocouplers 17a to 17c are provided at positions facing the convex portion 16 on the carrier 3 side, while black and cyan colors are provided on the head cartridge side.
Convex portion 16 _Bk having a different shape for each of magenta color and yellow color,
16 _C , 16 _M , and 16 _Y are provided, and the photo couplers 17a to 17a are provided in accordance with the convex portions 16 of the mounted head cartridge.
The light-shielding state of 17c is different, so that it is identified.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the printer configuration of this embodiment including such a detection system. First, the host 21
There is provided a control unit 22 which is connected to and functions as a speed control unit, a same color number identification unit, and an operation control unit.
A carrier motor drive circuit 23 for the carrier motor 9 and a line feed motor drive circuit 25 for a line feed motor 24 for rotationally driving the platen 1 are connected to the control unit 22, and a recovery system drive circuit 27 for a recovery system 26 is connected. Is also connected. Further, the first to fourth head drive circuits 28 a to 28 d for the first to fourth head cartridges 11 a to 11 d are also connected to the control unit 22.
Further, by using the detection method shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 or the detection method shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is possible to detect what kind of head cartridge is mounted at each head cartridge mounting position. The first to fourth head detectors 29 a to 29 d are connected to the control unit 22. In addition, the alarm means 30 is also connected to the control unit 22.

In such a structure, in this embodiment,
The operation is selectively controlled according to the flowchart as shown in FIG. First, when the control unit 22 receives a print signal from the host 21 side or the control unit 22 receives an internal print signal such as self-printing inside the printer, the first to fourth head detection mounted on the carrier 3 is detected. The detection information from the containers 29a to 29d is fetched and the mounting state of the head cartridge on the carrier 3 is checked.

First, if no head cartridge is mounted, a warning signal is sent to the warning means 30, and the warning means 30 gives a warning to the user by means of a buzzer, a display or the like. Even if the head cartridge is installed, the control unit 22 determines whether the combination of the installed head cartridges matches the print color requested by the host 21 or inside based on the detection information. If the check is not made, and if they do not match, the user is similarly alerted by the alerting means 30.

If the color combinations of the mounted head cartridges are as required, it is checked how many of the same color are mounted. For example, when it is determined that the number is four as in the case of FIG. 1 (a), the 4 × speed mode is set, and when the number is three as in the case of FIG. 1 (b). Is set to triple speed mode,
If it is certified as 2 as in case (c),
Double speed mode is set. If it is one, it is in the full color set state as shown in FIG. 8, and the 1 × speed mode is set.

Based on such a judgment, the control section 22 issues a drive signal suitable for the operation mode to the carrier motor drive circuit 23, and the drive circuit 23 controls the drive current and drive pulse for the carrier motor 9 to control the carrier 3 Variably control the moving speed of. In addition, the head detectors 29a-2
Since what is set as the first to fourth head cartridges 11a to 11d is recognized based on the detection information from 9d, the corresponding first to fourth head drive circuits 28a to 28d are detected in accordance with the recognition result. The operation content of 28d is assigned and the print operation of each of the head cartridges 11a to 11d is controlled. That is, it is arbitrary what kind of print color is set as the first to fourth head cartridges 11a to 11d, and the operation control on the head drive circuits 28a to 28d side corresponds to the color depending on the mounted state. Since the switching can be performed, the user does not have to worry about which print color at which position the head cartridge should be mounted, and the mounting workability is improved. In addition, it is possible to prevent an error such as different color printing due to a setting error.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a movable carrier is provided along the print medium, and a variable speed drive source for moving the carrier is provided, and the carrier is provided on the carrier in the moving direction of the carrier. In addition to providing multiple head cartridges that are mounted side by side and detachably mounted,
Since the speed control means for varying the carrier moving speed by the drive source is provided according to the number of head cartridges of the same print color mounted on the carrier, full-color printing is not required and only one color is printed. If you want to do so, replace the head cartridge of the required print color on the carrier in place of the head cartridge of the unnecessary print color, and use a plurality of head cartridges of the same print color to impair the print quality. The carrier moving speed can be doubled, tripled, and so on, and high-speed printing can be performed.

In this case, according to the second aspect of the invention, the print color of the mounted head cartridge is identified,
According to the invention described in claim 3, since the number of head cartridges of the same print color is recognized, it is possible to automatically and surely perform the carrier speed variable processing according to the invention of claim 1 according to the head mounting state. You can

On the other hand, according to the invention of claim 4, a carrier movable along the print medium is provided, a drive source for moving the carrier is provided, and the carrier is arranged on the carrier along the carrier moving direction. A plurality of head cartridges that are mounted detachably, a head drive circuit that is provided for each head cartridge corresponding to the mounting position of the head cartridge on the carrier, and a head cartridge that is mounted on the carrier. By providing a color type identification means for identifying a print color and an operation control means for controlling the operation of each head drive circuit according to the identified print color and mounting position information, the head of each print color on the carrier is provided. The mounting position of the cartridge is not specified in advance, but it can be mounted at any mounting position, and the operation of the head drive circuit can be changed according to the situation. Since the so as to control for printing color, the user can perform mounting onto a carrier of the head cartridge without worrying positional relationship can be made highly flexible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a head cartridge combination state and a printing state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of a carrier.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an electrical connection portion of the head cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a head cartridge showing a modified example.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a combination of a protrusion and a detector.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation selection process.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional full-color inkjet printer.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the same-color continuous printing state.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 print medium 3 carrier 9 drive source 11a to 11d head cartridge 22 speed control means & same color number identification means &
Operation control means 28a to 28d Head drive circuit 29a to 29d Color type identification means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Michio Umezawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takesada Hirose 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Shares In Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Hideki Otsuki 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A carrier movable along a print medium, a variable speed driving source for moving the carrier, and a plurality of detachably mounted on the carrier along the carrier moving direction. 2. An ink jet printer comprising: the head cartridge of claim 1 and speed control means for varying the carrier moving speed by the drive source according to the number of head cartridges of the same print color mounted on the carrier. 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, further comprising color type identification means for identifying a print color of each head cartridge mounted on the carrier. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, further comprising an identical color number identification means for identifying the number of head cartridges of the same print color mounted on the carrier. 4. A carrier movable along a print medium, a drive source for moving the carrier, and a plurality of head cartridges mounted on the carrier along the carrier moving direction and detachably mounted. A head drive circuit provided for each head cartridge in correspondence with the mounting position of the head cartridge on the carrier, and a color type identification means for identifying the print color of each head cartridge mounted on the carrier. And an operation control means for controlling the operation of each of the head drive circuits according to the print color and the mounting position information.