JPH06166176A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ink jet recording device which is capable of using a different ink jet recording head with a different number of discharge orifices and a different arrangement of the orifices in accordance with recording conditions. CONSTITUTION:The ink jet recording device uses selectively either of ink jet recording head 10A, 10B, each having a different number of ink discharge orifices and/or a different arrangement of the orifices. In addition, the device is equipped with a control means 1 which controls recording conditions appropriately, in compliance with the number of ink discharge orifices and/or the arrangement of the discharge orifices of the recording head to be used.

Description

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 specifically, it uses an ink jet recording head having a plurality of ink ejection ports to print on a recording material based on recording data input from an external host device. The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device capable of recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the spread of personal computers, computer graphics, and CAD (Computer Aid)
With the spread of ded design) and the like, it has become possible to easily handle image information, and there is an increasing demand for an image recording device that is easy to output. The image recording apparatus also has various recording systems, such as a laser beam electrophotographic system, an electrostatic photography system, a lithographic recording system, a thermal transfer recording system, a wire dot recording system, and an inkjet recording system. An inkjet recording system is one of the compact, inexpensive, and high-definition recording systems.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the construction of an ink jet recording apparatus of this kind. Here, 15 is an ink jet recording head having several tens to several hundreds of ink ejection ports,
The recording head 15 and an ink tank (not shown) are integrated into a cartridge type head 16 and mounted on a carriage 17. The carriage 17 is connected to a part of a drive belt 18 that transmits the driving force of the carriage drive motor 12 and is arranged in parallel with each other.
It is movably held along the guide shafts 19A and 19B of the book, and is driven by the driving force of the carriage driving motor 12. Then, during the movement, recording is performed over the entire width of the recording material (hereinafter referred to as a recording sheet) on the platen 20 arranged at the position facing the ejection surface of the recording head 15. It should be noted that the recording sheet is fed by a sheet feeding roller (not shown) to which a driving force is transmitted through the transmission mechanism 21 every time the carriage 17 is moved and scanned, by a recording width corresponding to the ink ejection port array, and the above operation is repeated. Thus, the image is recorded on the entire surface of the recording sheet. 22 is a sheet feeding motor. In the normal recording operation, the carriage 1
The sheet feeding is performed every 7 scannings in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction.

In such a printing apparatus, printing is performed by the width corresponding to the length of the ink ejection port array of the recording head 15 for each scanning, and the ink ejection port provided in the recording head 15 is used. The larger the number, the larger the amount of information that can be printed in one scan and the faster printing becomes possible. Therefore, in order to increase the printing speed, there is also a printing apparatus including a head having a printing width capable of printing several lines in one scan, and by increasing the number of ink ejection ports in this way, The recording speed can be increased accordingly.

[0005]

However, as in the prior art, if the number of ink ejection ports is simply increased on the extension of the arrangement direction, the width that can be recorded by one scanning is increased, but it is functionally increased. There is no difference from the conventional method, and recording is not always performed under optimum conditions according to the recording application.

An object of the present invention is to pay attention to such a conventional problem, and to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of switching and using ink jet recording heads having different numbers of ink ejection openings or arrangements thereof in the same apparatus according to recording conditions. Especially.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, according to the present invention, inkjet recording heads having different numbers and / or arrangements of ink ejection ports can be switchably used, and the inkjet recording used. It is characterized in that it is equipped with a control means capable of performing corresponding control according to the number and / or arrangement of the ink ejection ports of the head.

[0008]

According to the present invention, for the purpose of high-speed recording with a single color, a recording head in which a maximum number of ink ejection ports are arranged in series is used to maximize the recording width in one scan. Therefore, the recording speed can be improved.

On the other hand, when it is desired to record two colors at once, a recording head in which two rows of ink ejection ports are arranged in parallel is used, and ink of another color is ejected from the ink ejection ports of each column. By discharging, it is possible to record two colors with one scan.

It is also possible to perform recording by using only an arbitrary number of ink ejection openings out of the ink ejection openings, or to use an ink jet recording head having a different number of ink ejection openings. In response to the inkjet print heads thus installed, the print data can be developed and supplied in a form suitable for each print head, and each motor can be controlled to move the carriage and feed the paper as required. it can.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail and specifically with reference to the drawings. The present invention can be applied to the inkjet recording apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention. Here, 1 is a control circuit for the recording apparatus itself, and 2 is an MP that controls the entire processing.
U, 3 are interfaces for the host device of the recording device, 4
Is a control logic circuit which is involved in the entire data processing together with MPU2, and 5 is an RA which functions as a work area of MPU2, a reception buffer and a print buffer.
M and 6 are ROMs for storing control programs and, for example, CG data and the like, 7 is an operation panel, and 8 is a power unit for supplying power to these circuits described above.

Further, 9 is a motor drive circuit for driving the carriage drive motor 12 and the sheet feed motor 22 at a predetermined timing, and 10A and 10B, any one of which is mounted on the above-mentioned carriage 17, the inkjet according to the present invention. It is a recording head.

In this example, the recording heads 10A and 1A
Each of 0B has 128 ink ejection ports, 360 /
It is arranged with a density of inch. Here, what is shown by enclosing the inkjet recording heads 10A and 10B in a broken line indicates that either one can be mounted.
The respective recording heads 10A and 10B have different ink ejection port arrangements, and either one of them can be selected on the operation panel 7 to be replaced or switched for use.

Next, the ink jet recording head 10
The ink ejection port arrangement in A and 10B will be described with reference to FIG.

(A) shows the form of the ejection port array in the recording head 10A, and (B) shows the form of the ejection port array in the recording head 10B.

The ink jet recording head 10A has 128 ejection ports and the carriage 1 has a density of 1/360 dpi.
7 are arranged in a line at a right angle to the scanning direction.
In addition, the inkjet recording head 10B is also 1 /
64 ink ejection ports with a density of 360 dpi are arranged in two rows in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction. Then, ink of a different color is supplied from an ink tank (not shown) to each of the 64 ink ejection port arrays arranged in this way, and ejection is performed.

Furthermore, in FIG. 1, 11A and 1A
1B is the ink jet recording heads 10A and 10
It is a head ejection circuit provided in each of B.
Each of the head ejection circuits 11A and 11B has a shift register and a latch corresponding to the number of ink ejection ports for storing ejection data, and a heating element for generating ejection energy in a liquid path near each ejection port, and its heating element. It has a drive circuit. Then, the heating element generates heat in response to the electric pulse signal applied from the driving circuit, thereby causing the ink in the vicinity of the heating element to film-boil, and the ink is ejected from the ejection port with the growth of bubbles due to the film boiling. Discharge. In the case of this example, the respective recording heads 10A and 10B are
The discharge frequency of the signal supplied to, that is, the driving frequency of the heating element is 5.4 KHz.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
Signal is processed by the control circuit 1 based on the print data input via the / F3, and the ink jet print head 10A
Or, the procedure from 10B to ink ejection will be described.

In step S1, I / O is sent from an external host device.
The data input through F3 is sequentially stored in the reception buffer formed in a specific area on the RAM 5 in step S2.

The data stored in the reception buffer is read in the input order in step S3 and processed by the MPU 2 for each command and image data. At that time, necessary data is expanded into image data of the image based on the CG data stored in the ROM 6.

The image image data processed in this way is written in the print buffer of the RAM 5 in step S4. The print buffer has 64 bits for 64 ink ejection openings and 128 bits for 128 ink ejection openings.
One bit corresponds to each of the 0B ink ejection ports, and is stored as "1" when ejection is performed and as "0" when ejection is not performed according to actual image data.

Therefore, the print buffer capacity required for one scan by the carriage 17 is 1/3 of 1 dot.
Since it is 60 inches, the number of bits corresponds to the recording width inch × 360 ink ejection ports.

Two sets of print buffers each having a capacity for storing the image data for one scan of the carriage 17 are prepared.
This is to prepare the data for the next one scan during the seventh scan, that is, during the printing operation. Thus, in step S5, data is serially transferred to the print head, in step S6, data for the number of ink ejection ports is latched, and in step S7, ink is ejected by driving the heating element.

Then, the ink jet recording head 10
The control operation by the control circuit 1 when either A or 10B is replaced will be described. The control circuit 1
When processing the image recording data, the data is expanded according to the configuration of the recording head selected on the operation panel 7, and the expanded data is stored in the print buffer of the RAM 5.

The state will be described with reference to FIG. Note that FIG. 5A shows that when the recording head 10A is selected,
Further, FIG. 5B shows the storage states when the recording head 10B is selected. That is, when the ink jet recording head 10A is selected, the print buffer has 1 to 1 as shown in FIG.
Data corresponding to 128 ink ejection ports are sequentially stored at addresses up to 6.

On the other hand, for example, when the ink jet recording head 10B is selected to eject two color inks, normal recording data is stored at addresses 1 to 8 and 9 to 16 are stored. The data designated by the command as data of different colors is stored in the address area. However, each address in the buffer and the ejection port are kept in the relationship as shown in this figure. In this way, the print buffer is sequentially used, and the recording operation is continuously performed. If data for one scan is available in the print buffer, serial data transfer is performed from the print buffer in step S5 shown in FIG. Data is transferred to the inkjet recording head 10A. Serial data transfer is performed by a synchronous clock of 2.5 MHz. Thus, the inkjet recording head 10A
Alternatively, in the discharge circuit 11A or 11B of 10B, when data corresponding to the number of discharge ports is available in the shift register, the latch corresponding to the heating element is loaded in preparation for the heating operation in step S6.

In the control circuit 1, an encoder (not shown) provided on the shaft of the carriage driving motor 12 moves the carriage 17 with a precision of 1/360 inch pitch, that is, the ink jet recording head 10A or 1
The position of 0B can be detected. It is possible to detect such a position by providing an encoder on the guide shaft 19A. Thus, in the control circuit 1, when the print data corresponding to the number of ink ejection openings is sent to the print head 10A or 10B and the carriage 17 is guided to the print position, the heating element is heated based on the print data in step S7 to eject the ink. Is recorded.

The data transfer for the number of ink ejection ports is performed within the ejection cycle, and thus the contents of the print buffer are recorded one after another.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the recording head having the different arrangement of the ink discharge ports is
Since the same ink jet recording apparatus can be used, the optimum recording operation can be performed according to each recording purpose.

In the above-described first embodiment, serial data transfer to the ink jet recording head 10A or 10B is performed by one line, but when the number of ink ejection ports becomes large, it takes time to transfer the data and the heating element. It will be an obstacle to increase the drive frequency of. That is, since it is necessary to fetch the next data while ejecting ink from one row of ink ejection ports, if the data transfer for one row takes too long, the drive frequency for ejection becomes the data transfer time. It is necessary to lower it as well.

The second embodiment takes this point into consideration, and FIG. 6 shows a circuit configuration according to the second embodiment.

Here, 10C is an ink jet recording head, and 11C is a head discharge circuit thereof. Then, to the head ejection circuit 11C, data for the number of 128 ink ejection openings per line is divided into two and independently transferred for each 64 ejection openings. That is, the inkjet recording head 10C
The ejection circuit 11C has a shift register and a latch as in the first embodiment, and in the present embodiment, there are two sets of 1 / 2-bit ink ejection ports. Thus, serial transfer lines are independently connected to each shift register, and each of the shift registers 1 to 2.5 has a control circuit.
Receives data with a synchronous clock of MHz.

In the case of an ink jet recording head which ejects different color inks like the ink jet recording head 10B of the first embodiment, the data of each color is processed, developed and transferred independently by the above-mentioned constitution. Will be possible.

According to the second embodiment, the number of ink ejection ports can be increased without sacrificing the ejection frequency by performing serial data transfer independently for a plurality of registers and latches of the head ejection circuit. .

In the first embodiment described above, when performing multiple ink jet recording, recording is performed by using different color inks by the recording head 10B in which two rows of ink ejection ports are simply arranged in parallel. I went. In addition, the density of the recording dots in this case is 1/36 similarly to the pitch of the ejection ports.
It was 0 dpi. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, these two rows of ink ejection ports are arranged so as to be offset from each other by ½ dot in the direction orthogonal to the carriage scanning direction, thereby realizing a double recording density. .

FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of the ink ejection ports according to this embodiment. As shown in this figure, the first row of ink ejection ports 1
00A and the ink ejection openings 100B in the second row are 1
1/2 of the / 360 inch pitch, that is, 1/720 inch, is displaced in the direction orthogonal to the operation direction.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, although the density of the ink ejection ports is increased, it is necessary to make the ejected ink droplets small in order to perform fine recording. Ink ejection port 10 as compared with the first embodiment
The diameters of 0A and 100B are narrowed. The recording density in the carriage scanning direction can be increased by adjusting the ejection timing with respect to the scanning amount of the carriage. That is, in this case, while increasing the ejection frequency,
By adjusting the scanning speed of the carriage 17 to the ejection timing, a recording density of 1/720 inch can be realized.

According to the third embodiment, the recording density can be increased by considering the arrangement of the ink ejection ports.

In the first embodiment, the ink jet recording head to be used is selected in advance via the operation panel 7. On the other hand, in the fourth embodiment, this point is improved, and when the ink jet recording head is mounted, the ink ejection port arrangement form of the head is identified, and if the head is usable, the control is automatically switched. It was made possible.

The structure of the circuit according to the fourth embodiment is shown in FIG.

The ink jet recording head 10D of this example has the number of digits corresponding to the number of ink ejection ports that can be mounted in the shift register provided in the ejection circuit 11D. When the shift register becomes full with the data transferred from the control circuit 1, a carry signal is sent from the ejection circuit 11D to the control circuit 1 side. Therefore, the control circuit 1
Then, from this signal, it is possible to know the number of ink ejection ports in the mounted inkjet recording head 10D.

That is, in the control circuit 1, when the power of the recording apparatus is turned on, first, in the initial operation, dummy data corresponding to the maximum number of ink ejection ports that can be ejected is transferred to the mounted ink jet recording head, and by this operation. , Check the number of ink ejection ports of the installed recording head, and make the necessary settings.

In the case of the present embodiment, assuming that the maximum usable number of ink ejection ports is 128, the shift register provided in the ejection circuit 11D controls the carry signal every time a 64-bit signal is received. It is sent to the circuit 1 side. That is, when 128 pieces of dummy data are received, the carry signal is sent twice to the control circuit 1 side.

Further, the ink jet recording head 10D
In addition, when the 128 ink ejection ports are arranged in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, the carry signal is returned only once.

Furthermore, in addition to this, when there are many types of ink jet recording heads, it is also possible to complicate the returned signal.

In this way, the dummy data for the maximum number of ink ejection ports that can be ejected is transferred to the ink jet recording head 10D, and the number of ink ejection ports of the mounted ink jet recording head and its arrangement configuration can be known by the return of the carry signal. Therefore, it is possible to perform control corresponding to such a recording head.

(Others) In particular, the present invention is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink even in the ink jet recording system. The present invention brings about excellent effects in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the type in which the state of ink is changed by the heat energy. 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 recording 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 in a one-to-one correspondence
It is effective because bubbles can be formed inside. Due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles, the liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening 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 straight liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. US Pat. No. 4,558,333, US Pat. No. 4,558,333, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The structure 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 JP-A-59-138461. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be surely and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the main body of the apparatus or the ink from the main body of the apparatus is electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus by being attached to the 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 the ejection recovery means of the recording head, the 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 unit, a cleaning unit, a pressure or suction unit 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 it may be either the recording head is integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. The present invention is also extremely 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 system, it is common to control 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. Sometimes, a liquid ink may be used. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy of the state change 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 the standing state. You may use the ink liquefied by. In any case, by applying thermal energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying thermal 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-A-54-56847 or JP-A-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, the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention may be used as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, or a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting / receiving function. It may be a form or the like.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, inkjet recording heads having different numbers and / or arrangements of ink ejection ports can be switchably used. Since the control means capable of performing control corresponding to the number and / or arrangement of the ink ejection openings is provided, it is possible to freely select a recording head according to the purpose and application and carry out recording by using it. Since it is possible to perform appropriate control corresponding to the recording head to be used, it has become possible to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that can make the most effective use of the characteristics of the inkjet system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing two types of ink ejection port arrangement examples in the recording head according to the present invention by (A) and (B).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a control operation during recording according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between a print buffer according to the present invention and an ink ejection port group corresponding to each address thereof by two examples (A) and (B).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circuit according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an ink ejection port arrangement according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circuit according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Control Circuit 2 MPU 3 Interface 4 Control Logic Circuit 5 RAM 6 ROM 7 Operation Panel 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D Inkjet Recording Head 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D Head Discharge Circuit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Nakata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Takashi Kasahara 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Within the corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording head having a different number and / or arrangement of ink ejection ports can be switchably used, and a corresponding control is performed according to the number and / or arrangement of the ink ejection ports of the ink jet recording head used. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising a control means capable of performing the above. 2. The ink jet recording head has a row of ink ejection openings composed of a plurality of rows, and different kinds of ink can be ejected for each row of the ink ejection openings. Inkjet recording device. 3. The ink jet recording head, as an element for generating energy for ejecting ink, has an electrothermal converter for generating heat energy for causing film boiling of ink in the number of ink ejection ports. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is provided correspondingly.