JPH06126982A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ink jet recording device of high throughput by controlling the lowering of throughput to the minimum and carrying the preliminary jetting. CONSTITUTION:Prejetting is carried out during the paper feeding when sum of the paper feeding time from receiving a printing command to starting actual printing and the time of moving a carriage 206 to the printing position is larger than the sum of the time before the prejetting and the time of carrying out the prejetting. The time of carrying out the prejetting is set longer when the carriage 206 is on the opposite side than when the same is on the home position side by the time that the carriage 206 is moved from the home position to the subposition side to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage 206 positioned on the subposition side without printing on the home position side and carrying out the prejetting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by scanning a recording head.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet recording apparatus, ink is stuck on the surface of an ink jet head depending on a storage state before printing, or bubbles are generated in a nozzle during printing, so that a state in which printing is impossible is performed. May be.
Therefore, it is necessary to make the inkjet head ready for printing by performing preliminary ejection before printing. Conventionally, preliminary ejection is performed before printing, or during printing, the timing of preliminary ejection is received from a timer.
It went on a regular cycle.

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems. (1) When it is time to perform preliminary discharge during the printing operation,
The paper feeding operation must be interrupted to perform preliminary ejection. (2) When the time for the preliminary ejection is reached when the carriage is on the side opposite to the position for performing the preliminary ejection, one scan is performed without printing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a high throughput by efficiently performing preliminary ejection while suppressing a decrease in throughput.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the recording head for recording by scanning, the control means for controlling the operation of the recording device, and the ROM storing the control procedure. In an inkjet recording apparatus having a preliminary ejection means for ejecting ink in addition to printing, a timing means for giving a timing for performing the preliminary ejection, and a time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection before printing. And a counting means for counting the time from the reception of the print command to the start of printing, and a judging means for judging whether or not the preliminary discharge is performed from these two types of time,
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned object by an ink jet recording apparatus characterized by comprising a preliminary ejection means for performing preliminary ejection while feeding a paper. According to a second aspect of the present invention, a recording head that performs recording by scanning, a control unit that controls the operation of the recording apparatus, and a ROM that stores a control procedure.
And an ink jet recording apparatus having preliminary ejection means for ejecting ink in addition to printing, second counting means for counting the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection, and a plurality of cycles for performing preliminary ejection. Storage means for storing,
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned object by an ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects a cycle for performing preliminary ejection according to the position of the carriage. Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the recording head is provided for each of a plurality of ejecting sections for ejecting ink and corresponding ejecting sections, and causes the ink to undergo a state change due to heat, and based on the state change. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a thermal energy generating unit that ejects ink from the ejection unit to form flying droplets. It's something you want to achieve.

In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the timing means gives the timing for performing the preliminary ejection, and the counting means receives the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection and the print command before printing. The time from the start of printing to the start of printing is counted, and the judgment means judges from the two types of time whether or not to carry out preliminary ejection,
Preliminary ejection is performed while the paper is being fed by the preliminary ejection means. Further, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention, the second counting means counts the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection, the storing means stores a plurality of cycles for performing the preliminary ejection, and the selecting means records the carriage. The cycle for performing the preliminary ejection is selected at the position. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention is the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or
In any one of the above, the 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 portion to form a flying droplet.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 is a CPU that controls operations described later, 102 is a ROM that stores control procedures that will be described later, and 103 is a RA that is a temporary storage location of data.
Reference numerals M and 104 denote timers that give timing for performing preliminary ejection, and 105 denotes preliminary ejection means for performing preliminary ejection. Figure 2
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus which is a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 205 denotes a cartridge in which the recording head H and an ink tank serving as an ink supply source are integrated. The head cartridge 205 is fixed on the carriage 206 by a pressing member 202, and these are mounted on the shaft 21.
It is possible to reciprocate in the longitudinal direction along the direction 1. The ink ejected from the recording head H reaches the recording medium 209, the recording surface of which is regulated by the platen 210, at a minute interval from the recording head H, and forms an image. Recording head H
A discharge signal corresponding to the image data is supplied from a suitable data supply source via the cable 207 and a terminal connected to the cable 207. The head cartridge 205 can be provided with one or more (two in the illustrated example) depending on the ink color used and the like. 208 is a pulse motor for scanning the carriage 206 along the shaft 211;
Reference numeral 3 is a wire for transmitting the driving force of the motor 208 to the carriage 206. Further, 201 is a feed motor that is coupled to the platen roller 210 to convey the recording medium 209, and 204 is an HP (position) sensor that detects the position of the carriage 206. Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control procedure of the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, when a print command is received (step 301), the elapsed time P from the previous preliminary ejection is P.
The H_timer is compared with the preset preliminary ejection interval set_time (step 302). PH_timer already here
If> = set_time, that is, if it is time to perform preliminary ejection before printing, after performing preliminary ejection (step 311), PH_timer is cleared (step 312), and the paper is fed to the print position ( Step 313, Step 3
10) One line is printed (step 314). If PH_timer> = set_time is not satisfied in step 302, that is, if it is not the time to perform the preliminary ejection, the time from that point until the preliminary ejection is completed and the time until the printing is started is calculated. The time PHT from the preliminary ejection to the end is obtained by subtracting PH_timer from set_time and adding the preliminary ejection execution time do_time (step 303). The time until printing is started is divided by the pulse rate, which is the value obtained by subtracting the number of pulses required for ramping up and down from the number of drive pulses of the LF motor required to feed the paper to the printing start position. It is obtained by adding the UDT required for ramping up and down obtained from the table (step 30).
4). Next, paper feeding to the print position is started (step 305). Here, PST and PHT are compared (step 306). If PST> = PHT, it can be determined that the preliminary ejection can be completed during the paper feeding operation to the print start position. Therefore, wait until PH_timer = set_time during the paper feeding operation (step 307), and perform the preliminary ejection. Perform (step 308) and clear PH_timer (step 3)
09). By performing such control, the time for performing preliminary ejection can be reduced. In step 306, P
If ST> = PHT, the time until the preliminary ejection is exceeded, so the paper feed is stopped and the preliminary ejection is performed after PH_timer = set_time, and the paper feeding is started again (steps 317 and 320). When the print start position is reached, the paper feed is stopped (step 310), 1
The line is printed (step 314). When the eject command is received (step 315), it is ejected (step 31).
6) Return to step 301. If the eject command is not received, the process returns to step 301 and the above operation is repeated. By performing the above operation, it is possible to complete the preliminary ejection at the start of printing and during the paper feeding operation within the same sheet, and it is possible to improve the through top of the recording apparatus by reducing the preliminary ejection time. it can.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the second embodiment of the present invention. In the above-described first embodiment, the paper feed time from the reception of the print command to the actual start of printing, or the sum of the paper feed time during printing and the time the carriage moves to the print position is the preliminary ejection. When the sum of the time until performing and the time for performing the preliminary discharge is larger than the time, the preliminary discharge is performed during the paper feeding operation. Therefore, if this condition is not satisfied, the printing operation must be interrupted to perform the preliminary ejection when the set preliminary ejection period has elapsed. In the second embodiment, in order to alleviate this problem, the timing for performing the preliminary ejection is set to the carriage when the carriage is on the opposite side (hereinafter simply referred to as the sub-position) than when the carriage is on the home position side. By setting the carriage to be longer from the home position to the sub-position side, it is possible to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position without printing and performing preliminary ejection.
FIG. 4 shows the control procedure of the second embodiment. In FIG.
If the power is turned on (step 401), the preliminary ejection interval HP when the carriage is on the home position side
Write _settime to the storage area HPST (step 40
2) Write the preliminary ejection interval SP_settime when the carriage is on the sub-position side to the storage area SPST (step 403). At this time, SP_settime is HP_s
Set longer than ettime by the time it takes the carriage to move from the home position side to the sub position side. As a result, for example, even when printing starts immediately before the preliminary ejection timing on the home position side and moves to the sub-position side, the timing immediately before the preliminary ejection on the sub-position side also returns to the home position side, that is, 1
After printing the lines, the preliminary ejection is performed. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position side without printing and performing preliminary ejection. When the print command is received (step 404), the current position is judged (step 405).
When it is on the home position side, P of the first embodiment
H_timer is compared with HPST (step 406), and when it is on the sub-position side, PH_timer is compared with SPST (step 408). When PH_timer> = HPST (step 406) or PH_timer> = SPST (step 408), preliminary ejection is performed (step 409),
PH_timer is cleared (step 410) and one line is printed (step 407). When the eject command is received (step 411), the paper discharge operation is performed, and then step 404
Return to step 404 if not received, and the above operation is repeated. By performing the above control, it is possible to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position side without printing and performing preliminary ejection, and it is possible to reduce the movement time for performing preliminary ejection. . The present invention, in particular, in an inkjet recording apparatus, includes a unit for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, and a recording head of a system that causes a change in the state of the ink by the thermal energy. In the device, it has an excellent effect. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording. Regarding its typical configuration and principle, see, for example, US Pat. No. 47231.
What is carried out using the basic principle disclosed in the specification No. 29 and the specification No. 47407796 is preferable. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it is arranged corresponding to the sheet or flow path holding the liquid (ink). By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal converter, which corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and a recording head is produced. This is effective because the film is boiled on the heat-acting surface, and as a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal in a pulse shape, because bubbles can be immediately grown and contracted appropriately, and liquid (ink) ejection with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, US Pat.
Those as described in the specifications of No. 59 and No. 4345262 are suitable. Further excellent recording can be performed by adopting the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,244 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface. As the structure of the recording head,
A discharge port, a liquid passage, as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600 which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region in addition to the combined configuration of the electrothermal converters (straight liquid flow passage or right-angled liquid flow passage). The configuration using the specification is also effective for 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 present invention is also effective as a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to the ejection portion. Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head and preliminary auxiliary means provided as a configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, a preheating means for the recording head, and a recording head. It is also effective to perform a stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which another discharge is performed. In addition, regarding the installed recording head, the type and number of ink,
For example, in addition to a single-color ink and one recording head provided, a plurality of heads may be provided corresponding to a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities, and in any combination. It is valid. The present invention is effective not only as a recording mode such as black as the recording mode of the recording apparatus, but also in each of full-color recording modes of different colors or mixed colors. 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 melts at room temperature, or the ink described above in the inkjet. In general, the temperature of the ink itself is adjusted in the range of 30 ° C to 70 ° C to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. I wish I had it. In addition, in order to prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy, the ink is positively used as phase change energy from a solid state to a liquid state, or
Whether or not ink that solidifies in a standing state is used for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink, and in any case, the ink liquefies by being applied according to the recording signal of thermal energy and is ejected as an ink liquid or reaches a recording medium. It is also applicable to the present invention to use an ink which has a property of being liquefied only by thermal energy, such as one which has already started to solidify at this point. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method. Further, the present invention is effective in an ink jet system such as a piezo jet system in which electricity is converted into force to eject ink, and a recording bed in which a recording bed is disposed in non-contact with a recording medium and ink is ejected to perform recording. is there. In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus of the present invention, as the output terminal of the information processing equipment such as the word processor and the computer as described above, which is integrally or separately provided, a copying apparatus combined with a scanner or the like, and further transmission It may take the form of a facsimile machine having a receiving function.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a high throughput by efficiently performing preliminary ejection while suppressing a decrease in throughput.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus which is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the operation of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 Timer 105 Preliminary Ejection Means 204 HP Sensor 205 Cartridge 206 Carriage H Recording Head

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] October 26, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Full text

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Document name] Statement

Inkjet recording apparatus

[Claims]

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by scanning a recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet recording apparatus, ink is stuck on the surface of an ink jet head depending on a storage state before printing, or bubbles are generated in a nozzle during printing, so that a state in which printing is impossible is performed. May be.
Therefore, it is necessary to make the inkjet head ready for printing by performing preliminary ejection before printing.

Conventionally, the preliminary ejection is performed before printing, or during printing, the timing of preliminary ejection is received from a timer and the preliminary ejection is performed at a constant cycle.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems.

(1) When it is time to perform the preliminary ejection during the printing operation, the paper feeding operation must be interrupted to perform the preliminary ejection.

(2) When the carriage is on the side opposite to the position where the preliminary ejection is performed, when the preliminary ejection time comes, one scan is performed without printing.

The present invention solves the above problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording device having a high throughput by efficiently performing preliminary ejection while suppressing a decrease in throughput.

[0008]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the recording head for recording by scanning, the control means for controlling the operation of the recording device, and the ROM storing the control procedure. In an inkjet recording apparatus having a preliminary ejection means for ejecting ink in addition to printing, a timing means for giving a timing for performing the preliminary ejection, and a time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection before printing. And a counting means for counting the time from the reception of the print command to the start of printing, and a judging means for judging whether or not the preliminary discharge is performed from these two types of time,
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned object by an ink jet recording apparatus characterized by comprising a preliminary ejection means for performing preliminary ejection while feeding a paper.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a recording head for recording by scanning, a control means for controlling the operation of the recording device, and an RO storing a control procedure.
In an inkjet recording apparatus having M and preliminary ejection means for preliminarily ejecting ink in addition to printing, a second counting means for counting the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection, and a plurality of cycles for performing preliminary ejection Storage means for individually storing,
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned object by an ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects a cycle for performing preliminary ejection according to the position of the carriage.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the recording head is provided for each of a plurality of ejecting sections for ejecting ink and the corresponding ejecting sections, and causes the ink to undergo a state change due to heat, thereby changing the state. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a thermal energy generation unit that ejects ink from the ejection unit to form flying droplets based on It is intended to achieve the above object.

[0011]

In the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the timing means gives the timing for performing the preliminary ejection, and the counting means receives the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection and the print command before printing. The time from the start of printing to the start of printing is counted, and the judgment means judges from the two types of time whether or not to carry out preliminary ejection,
Preliminary ejection is performed while the paper is being fed by the preliminary ejection means.

Further, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the second counting means counts the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection, and the storing means stores a plurality of cycles for performing the preliminary ejection and selects them. The means selects the cycle for performing the preliminary ejection at the position of the carriage.

An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention is the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.
The thermal energy generating means causes a state change in the ink due to heat, and the ink is ejected from the ejection section based on the state change to form flying droplets.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a CPU for controlling the operations to be described later, 102 is a ROM storing a control procedure to be described later, and 103 is an RA for temporarily storing data.
Reference numerals M and 104 denote timers that give timing for performing preliminary ejection, and 105 denotes preliminary ejection means for performing preliminary ejection.

FIG. 2 is a constitutional view showing the constitution of the ink jet recording apparatus which is the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 205 denotes a cartridge in which the recording head H and an ink tank serving as an ink supply source are integrated. The head cartridge 205 includes a holding member 20.
It is fixed on the carriage 206 by means of 2 and can reciprocate in the longitudinal direction along the shaft 211. The ink ejected from the recording head H reaches the recording medium 209, the recording surface of which is regulated by the platen 210, at a minute interval from the recording head H, and forms an image.

An ejection signal according to image data is supplied to the recording head H from an appropriate data supply source via a cable 207 and a terminal connected to the cable 207. The head cartridge 205 can be provided with one or more (two in the illustrated example) depending on the ink color used and the like. Reference numeral 208 is a pulse motor for scanning the carriage 206 along the shaft 211, and 203 is a wire for transmitting the driving force of the motor 208 to the carriage 206. Further, 201 is a feed motor that is coupled to the platen roller 210 to convey the recording medium 209, and 204 is an HP (position) sensor that detects the position of the carriage 206.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control procedure of the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, if a print command is received (step 301), the elapsed time P from the previous preliminary ejection is P.
The H_timer is compared with the preset preliminary ejection interval set_time (step 302). PH_timer already here
If> = set_time, that is, if it is time to perform preliminary ejection before printing, after performing preliminary ejection (step 311), PH_timer is cleared (step 312), and the paper is fed to the print position ( Step 313, Step 3
10) One line is printed (step 314). If PH_timer> = set_time is not satisfied in step 302, that is, if it is not the time to perform the preliminary ejection, the time from that point until the preliminary ejection is completed and the time until the printing is started is calculated. The time PHT from the preliminary ejection to the end is obtained by subtracting PH_timer from set_time and adding the preliminary ejection execution time do_time (step 303). The time until printing is started is divided by the pulse rate, which is the value obtained by subtracting the number of pulses required for ramping up and down from the number of drive pulses of the LF motor required to feed the paper to the printing start position. It is obtained by adding the UDT required for ramping up and down obtained from the table (step 30).
4).

Next, paper feeding to the print position is started (step 305). Here, PST and PHT are compared (step 306). If PST> = PHT, it can be determined that the preliminary ejection can be completed while the paper is being fed to the print start position. Therefore, PH_timer = set during the paper feeding operation.
_time is reached (step 307), preliminary ejection is performed (step 308), and PH_timer is cleared (step 309). By performing such control, the time for performing preliminary ejection can be reduced. Further, if PST> = PHT in step 306, the time until pre-ejection is exceeded, so wait until PH_timer = set_time, stop paper feeding, perform pre-ejection, and start paper feeding again (step 317, Step 320). When the print start position is reached, the paper feed is stopped (step 31
0) One line is printed (step 314). When the eject command is received (step 315), the eject command is ejected (step 316), and the process returns to step 301. If the eject command is not received, the process returns to step 301 and the above operation is repeated.

By performing the above operation, the preliminary ejection can be completed at the start of printing and during the paper feeding operation within the same sheet, and the through top of the recording apparatus is improved by reducing the preliminary ejection time. Can be made.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the second embodiment of the present invention.

In the above-described first embodiment, the paper feed time from the receipt of the print command to the actual start of printing, or the sum of the paper feed time during printing and the time for the carriage to move to the print position. When the time until the preliminary ejection is performed and the time before the preliminary ejection is performed are larger than the sum, the preliminary ejection is performed during the paper feeding operation. Therefore, if this condition is not satisfied, the printing operation must be interrupted to perform the preliminary ejection when the set preliminary ejection period has elapsed.

In the second embodiment, in order to alleviate this problem, the timing for performing the preliminary ejection is set to a case where the carriage is on the opposite side (hereinafter simply referred to as a sub-position) than when the carriage is on the home position side. By setting the carriage longer for the time it takes to move from the home position to the sub-position side, the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position without printing and performing preliminary ejection is eliminated. .

FIG. 4 shows the control procedure of the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, if the power is turned on (step 40
1), writing the preliminary ejection interval HP_settime when the carriage is on the home position side to the storage area HPST (step 402), and the preliminary ejection interval SP_settime when the carriage is on the sub-position side, the storage area SPS
Write to T (step 403). At this time, SP_set
The time is set to be longer than the HP_settime by the time required for the carriage to move from the home position side to the sub position side. As a result, for example, even if printing starts immediately before the preliminary ejection timing on the home position side and moves to the sub-position side, the timing immediately before preliminary ejection also on the sub-position side, and after returning to the home position side,
That is, printing for one line is performed and then preliminary ejection is performed. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position side without printing and performing preliminary ejection.

When the print command is received (step 40)
4) The current position is judged (step 405). When it is at the home position side, PH_tim of the first embodiment described above.
er and HPST are compared (step 406), and if on the sub-position side, PH_timer and SPST are compared (step 408). PH_timer> = HPST (step 406) or PH_timer> = SPST (step 40)
In the case of 8), preliminary discharge is performed (step 409), and PH
_timer is cleared (step 410) and one line is printed (step 407). If the eject command is received (step 411), the paper discharge operation is performed and then the process returns to step 404. If not, the process returns to step 404 and the above operation is repeated.

By performing the above control, it is possible to eliminate the operation of moving the carriage on the sub-position side to the home position side without printing and performing preliminary ejection, and the movement time for performing preliminary ejection can be eliminated. Can be reduced.

The present invention, in particular, in an ink jet recording apparatus, is provided with a means for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, and the recording of a system in which the state change of ink is caused by the thermal energy. In the head and the recording device, it has an excellent effect. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
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 flow 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. As a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. By the growth and contraction of the bubbles, liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening,
Form at least one drop. It is more preferable to make this drive signal in a pulse shape, because bubbles can be immediately grown and contracted appropriately, and liquid (ink) ejection with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345 are used.
Those as described in the '262 patent are suitable. Further excellent recording can be performed by adopting the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,244 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface.

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 respective specifications. The configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose the configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in the bending region, are also effective 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 present invention is also effective as a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to the ejection portion.

Further, it is preferable to add a recovery means for the recording head and a preliminary auxiliary means provided as a constitution of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, a preheating means for the recording head, and a recording head. It is also effective to perform a stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which another discharge is performed.

Regarding the recording head to be mounted and the kind or number of inks, for example, a single color ink and 1
In addition to one provided with a plurality of recording heads, a plurality of heads may be provided corresponding to a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities, and any combination is effective. The present invention is effective not only as a recording mode such as black as the recording mode of the recording apparatus, but also in each of full-color recording modes of different colors or mixed colors.

In the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and softens or melts at room temperature, or the above-mentioned ink. In the inkjet, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself in the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Anything can be used. In addition, in order to prevent temperature rise due to heat energy, ink that is positively used as energy for phase change from solid state to liquid state, or ink that solidifies when left standing for the purpose of preventing ink evaporation is used. In any case, the thermal energy such as the one that the ink is liquefied by the application of the thermal energy according to the recording signal and ejected as an ink liquid, or the one that has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The use of an ink having the property of liquefying for the first time is also applicable to the present invention. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, the present invention is an ink jet system such as a piezo jet system in which electricity is converted into a force to eject ink and a recording bed in which a recording bed is arranged in non-contact with a recording medium and ink is ejected for recording. Is effective in.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus of the present invention, a copying apparatus combined with a scanner or the like, in addition to the one provided integrally or separately as an output terminal of the information processing equipment such as the word processor and the computer as described above, Further, it may be in the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a high throughput by efficiently performing preliminary ejection while suppressing a decrease in throughput.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus which is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the operation of the second embodiment.

[Description of Reference Signs] 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 Timer 105 Preliminary Ejection Means 204 HP Sensor 205 Cartridge 206 Carriage H Recording Head

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Internal reference number FI technical display location B41J 29/20 9113-2C (72) Inventor Akira Yoshimoda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tomoaki Masaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head for recording by scanning and a preliminary ejection device for preliminarily ejecting ink in addition to recording, and a timing device for giving a timing for performing the preliminary ejection. Before recording, a counting unit that counts the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection and the time from the reception of a recording command to the start of recording, and whether or not preliminary ejection is performed from these two types of time And an auxiliary ejection control unit for performing preliminary ejection while feeding the paper. 2. A counting method for counting the time elapsed from the previous preliminary ejection in an inkjet recording apparatus having a recording head for recording by scanning and a preliminary ejection means for preliminarily ejecting ink in addition to recording. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a storage unit, a storage unit that stores a plurality of preliminary ejection cycles, and a selection unit that selects a preliminary ejection cycle depending on the position of the carriage. 3. The recording head is provided for each of a plurality of ejecting sections for ejecting ink, and the corresponding ejecting section, and causes the ink to undergo a state change due to heat, and the ink is ejected from the ejecting section based on the state change. 3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a thermal energy generating unit that discharges to form flying droplets.