JPH05345426A - Recording apparatus, and ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve quality of recorded images by providing an emulator that emulates drive control of another recording head. CONSTITUTION:The voltage necessary for obtaining a dot diameter optimum to a currently selected emulation is set by operation of a CPU21 in a driving voltage-setting register 51. A D-A converter 52 controls an internal switch in accordance with the voltage set in the driving voltage-setting register 51 and changes the voltage for driving a head 9. As the voltage for driving the head 9 becomes higher than a reference voltage VH for the head, electric energy indicated by the product of the head-driving voltage and the head-driving duration becomes bigger, and thereby the diameter of the recording dot becomes larger with the amount of ink ejection increased. In the case of contrary, the diameter becomes smaller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device and an inkjet recording device.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

Conventional Example 1 A recording device receives and interprets a control signal sent from a data transfer device, which is a host, and performs recording. At present, there are many recording devices, and there is a set of control signals corresponding to each. However, it is difficult for the host device on the data transfer side to prepare a set of control signals corresponding to all recording devices, and the recording device has an emulation function that interprets and operates control signals for other recording devices. Will be needed.

Conventional Example 2 A recording apparatus has been widely used in offices and the like. In recent years, there has been a demand for colorization of a recording device, which helps a computer monitor to output color. As a color recording apparatus, one capable of monocolor recording is also known.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example 1
There are some recording devices that employ the wire dot system, thermal transfer system, inkjet system, etc., and the control signals are signals that make use of their respective characteristics, so for example, when emulating the wire dot system with the inkjet system, There are problems such as low print density.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example 2, when mono-color recording is carried out by a color ink jet recording apparatus in which inks of a plurality of colors are overlapped, the ink jet type recording apparatus, in principle, causes ink to bleed onto the paper for printing. However, there is a difference in the total amount of ejected ink between mono-color recording and color recording in which a plurality of recording dots are superposed, and when mono-color recording is performed as it is, there is a problem that the dots are small and thin as a whole.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a recording apparatus capable of emulation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of improving the quality of recorded images by multicolor recording and monochromatic recording.

[0008]

A recording apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by including emulation means for emulating a drive control of a recording head other than the recording apparatus.

The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by including a changing means for changing the electric energy supplied to the recording head according to either multicolor recording or monochromatic recording.

[0010]

In the recording apparatus according to the present invention, the drive control of the recording heads other than the recording apparatus is emulated by the emulation means.

In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, the electric energy supplied to the recording head is changed by the changing means according to either multicolor recording or monochromatic recording.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of a color inkjet recording device having an electrothermal converter as a discharge energy generating means.

In FIG. 3, a recording medium 1 such as a paper or a plastic sheet is arranged above and below the storage area 1.
The sheet is conveyed in the direction of arrow A by the conveying roller 2 which is supported by a pair of conveying rollers 2 and 3 and which is driven by a sheet feeding motor 4. A guide shaft 5 is provided in front of the transport rollers 2 and 3 in parallel therewith. The carriage 6 is reciprocated in the direction of arrow B via the wire 8 by the output of the carriage motor 7 along the guide shaft 5.

An ink jet recording head (hereinafter referred to as a recording head) 90 is mounted on the carriage 6 as a head moving means. The recording head 90 is for a color image, is arranged in the operation direction of the carriage, and is provided corresponding to each color ink of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (Bk). It is composed of four recording heads 9, that is, a black head 9A, a cyan head 9B, a magenta head 9C, and a yellow head 9D. On the front surface of each recording head 9, that is, on the surface facing the recording surface of the recording medium 1 at a predetermined interval (for example, 0.8 mm), a plurality of (for example, 8 or 64)
The ink ejection portions are provided in one row in a direction intersecting the operation direction of the carriage, that is, in the vertical direction.

FIG. 2 shows a recording head 9 (recording heads 9A to 9A).
It is a figure which shows typically the longitudinal cross-sectional view of a part of the ink discharge part of D).

In FIG. 2, a plurality of ink ejection openings 10 are formed in a vertical direction at a predetermined pitch on the surface facing the recording medium 1, and are provided corresponding to each ink ejection opening 10 based on recording information. The electrothermal converter (heating resistance, etc.) 11 is driven (heating by energization) to cause a film boiling phenomenon in the ink to generate bubbles (bubbles) 11A, and the pressure at this time causes
Ink is ejected to form flying ink droplets 12, and the ink droplets are deposited on the recording medium 1 in a predetermined pattern to perform recording in a dot pattern.

Each recording head 9 is provided with a heat driver 13 for turning on / off the power supply to the electrothermal converter, and a drive circuit (driver) 29 for performing the above-mentioned drive.
The circuit board of FIG. 10A is a liquid passage and 10B is a common liquid chamber.

A control unit including an engine control circuit (CPU) of the recording apparatus and a ROM, a RAM and the like attached to the engine control circuit (CPU) receives a command signal and a data signal (recording information) from the controller of the host machine 14 and based on this. Drive circuit 29, heat driver 13 together with drive sources such as various motors
A drive power source (heat power source) for the electrothermal converter 11 is applied to each of the recording heads 9A to 9D via the switch to energize.

The operation panel 160 attached to the outer case of the recording apparatus (not shown) has a plurality of key setting parts such as an online / offline switching key 16A, a line feed key 16B, a form feed key 16C, and a recording mode switching key 16D. A display unit including warning lamps such as the alarm lamp 16E and the power lamp 16F is provided.

FIG. 1 shows a control system of the color ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 21 in the form of a microprocessor is connected to a host machine 14 via an interface 22, and a command signal and a recording information signal read from a controller of the host machine 14 into a data memory 23. , And the recording operation is controlled based on the program and print command data stored in the ROM-type program memory 24, the RAM-type working memory 25, and the like.

The CPU 21 controls the carriage motor 7 and the sheet feeding motor 4 via the output port 26 and the motor driver 27, and prints via the head drive circuit 29 based on the print information stored in the data memory 23. The head 9 is controlled to perform recording.

Outputs from the operation keys 16A to 16D on the operation panel 160 shown in FIG. 3 are transmitted to the CPU 21 through the input port 32, and to the warning lamps 16 such as the alarm lamp 16E and the power lamp 16F. Is supplied with a control signal via the output port 36.

Reference numeral 33 is a DIP switch 33 provided on the bottom surface or the like of the exterior of the device, the output of which is the input port 3
4 is transmitted to the CPU 21.

The cartridge sensor 42 detects attachment / detachment of the ink cartridge 15, and the ink sensor 41 detects the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge 15, which is transmitted to the CPU 21 via the input ports 20 and 43, respectively.

From the power supply circuit 28, the logic drive voltage VCC (for example, 5) for operating the control logic circuit is supplied.
V), various motor drive voltages VM (for example, 30 V), reset voltage RESET, and backup voltage VDDH for protecting the recording head 9. Backup voltage V
DDH is applied to the head drive circuit 29 and the recording head.

By the drive voltage setting register 51 and the DA converter 52, the electrothermal converter 11 is electrically expressed by a pulse signal V _H (head drive voltage) × T _H (heat and time) as shown in FIG. Energy is applied and converted into heat energy to generate bubbles 11A, eject ink droplets 12, and perform recording on the recording medium.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the DA converter 52 shown in FIG.

A voltage value V _H ′ for obtaining an optimum dot diameter for the currently selected emulation is set in the drive voltage setting register 51 by the CPU 21. DA
The (digital-analog) converter 52 performs internal switch control according to the value set in the drive voltage setting register 51, and changes the output voltage to the head drive voltage V _H ′. When the head drive voltage V _H ′ is higher than the reference head drive voltage V _H , the electric energy represented by the product of the head drive voltage and the head drive time increases, resulting in an increase in the amount of ejected ink and a recording dot diameter. growing. On the contrary, the head drive voltage V _H ′ is V
_When it is smaller than _H , the electric energy becomes small and the recording dot diameter becomes small.

The D-A converter used in this embodiment has the most basic structure, but D-A converters of other conversion systems are used.
Even if the -A converter is used, the same effect can be obtained.

Second Embodiment FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

6, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. 629 is a head drive circuit,
The heat pulse width supplied to the head 9 is changed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the head drive circuit 629 shown in FIG.

The CPU 21 sets an appropriate heat pulse width (see FIG. 8) in the heat pulse width setting register 53 by emulating the recording device. The heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 is normally stopped by the timer clear signal. When the recording operation is started, the CPU 21 releases the timer clear signal, sends a timer start signal at an appropriate heat timing, and the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 starts operation.

When the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 starts operating, the output of the comparator 55 turns on the heater 11 of the head, and the count of the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 becomes equal to or more than the set value of the heat pulse width setting register 53. Then, the head heater (electrothermal converter) 11 is turned off.
F By changing the value set in the heat pulse width setting register 53, the head drive time is changed to control the electric energy applied to the heater 11,
Change the recording dot diameter.

When the head drive time T _H ′ is shorter than the head reference drive time T, the electric energy becomes small and the dot diameter becomes small. When the head drive time T _H ′ is longer than T, the electric energy becomes large and the dot diameter becomes large.

Needless to say, the dot diameter can be changed by controlling the electric energy by combining the methods of the first and second embodiments.

Example 3 The constitution of the color ink jet recording apparatus of this example is shown in FIG.
It is similar to that of the device shown in. However, the control programs stored in the program memory 24 are different.

The control program stored in the program memory 24 determines whether the recording is multicolor recording or monochromatic recording, and changes the voltage value output from the CPU 21 according to the determination result. There is.

The voltage value V _H ′ for obtaining the optimum dot diameter for the currently selected recording mode (color recording / monocolor recording) is set by the CPU 21 to the drive voltage setting register 5
Set to 1. The D-A (digital-analog) converter 52 performs internal switch control according to the value set in the drive voltage setting register 51, and changes the output voltage to the head drive voltage V _H ′. When the head drive voltage V _H ′ is higher than the reference head drive voltage V _H , the electric energy represented by the product of the head drive voltage and the head drive time increases, resulting in an increase in the amount of ejected ink and a recording dot diameter. growing. On the contrary, when the head drive voltage V _H ′ is smaller than V _H , the electric energy becomes small and the recording dot example becomes small.

Example 4 The constitution of the color ink jet recording apparatus of this example is shown in FIG.
It is similar to that of the device shown in. However, the control program stored in the program memory 24 is the same as that of the third embodiment.

Compared to the third embodiment, this embodiment is different in the pulse input to the recording head. That is, in this embodiment, the pulse width is changed.

The CPU 21 sets an appropriate heat pulse width (see FIG. 8) in the heat pulse width setting register 53 according to the recording mode of the recording apparatus. The heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 is normally stopped by the timer clear signal. When the recording operation is started, the CPU 21 releases the timer clear signal, sends a timer start signal at an appropriate heat timing, and the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 starts operation.

When the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 starts its operation, the output of the comparator 55 turns on the heater 11 of the head, and the count of the heat pulse width monitoring timer 54 becomes equal to or more than the set value of the heat pulse width setting register 53. Then, the head heater (electrothermal converter) 11 is turned off.
F By changing the value set in the heat pulse width setting register 53, the head drive time is changed, the electric energy applied to the heater 11 is controlled,
Change the recording dot diameter.

When the head drive time T _H ′ is shorter than the head reference drive time T, the electric energy becomes small and the dot diameter becomes small. When the head drive time T _H ′ is longer than T, the electric energy becomes large and the dot diameter becomes large.

(Others) The present invention is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating heat energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the ink jet recording system. The present invention provides excellent effects in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the type in which the thermal energy causes a change in ink state. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal as a result
This is effective because bubbles can be formed inside. Due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles, liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333, U.S. Pat. No. 44, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The configuration using the specification of No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration corresponding to the ejection portion is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be surely and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads or a configuration as one recording head integrally formed.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body, or the electrical connection to the apparatus main body or the ink from the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, as the constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable to add ejection recovery means of the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means and the like because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, heating is performed by using a capping means, a cleaning means, a pressure or suction means for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a combination thereof. Examples thereof include a preliminary heating unit for performing the discharge and a preliminary discharge unit for performing discharge different from the recording.

Regarding the type and number of recording heads to be mounted, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, or a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. A plurality of pieces may be provided. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but may be either integrally formed of the recording heads or a combination of a plurality of them. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full-color recording modes by color mixing.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. Or, in the inkjet method, it is common to adjust the temperature of the ink itself within the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range. At times, a liquid ink may be used. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or in order to prevent the evaporation of the ink, it is solidified and heated in a standing state. You may use the ink liquefied by. In any case, by applying heat energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected, or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In this case, the ink is
JP 54-56847 A or JP 60-7.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 1260, it may be configured to face the electrothermal converter in a state of being held as a liquid or a solid in the concave portion or the through hole of the porous sheet. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, besides the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting / receiving function are provided. It may be in a form or the like.

[0056]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, since it is configured as described above, it is possible to emulate the recording head drive control other than the recording apparatus. Further, according to the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, since it is configured as described above, there is an effect that the image quality of an image by multi-color recording and single-color recording can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the recording head 9 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a color inkjet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a change in electric energy according to the head driving method of the first embodiment.

5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a DA converter 52 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a head drive circuit 629 shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a change in electric energy according to the head driving method of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 recording head 14 host machine 21 CPU 24 program memory 28 power supply circuit 29 head drive circuit 51 drive voltage setting register 52 DA converter

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical indication location 9012-2C B41J 3/04 103 B (72) Inventor Shinichi 3-30 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Canon Inc.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus comprising an emulation means for emulating a printhead drive control other than the printing apparatus. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a changing means for changing electric energy supplied to a recording head according to either multicolor recording or monochromatic recording. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording head ejects the ink by causing a state change in the ink by using thermal energy.