JPH06183068A - Perfecting printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly set widths of margins in binding side automatically at recording on a top face and at recording on a rear face respectively in perfecting recording mode. CONSTITUTION:In a perfecting printer capable of printing on both faces by reversing a cut sheet material to be recorded during conveyance of it, a margin changing means (a controller 2, a ROM 3,. a RAM 4) is provided. The margin changing means can change a margin width to be set on the same side at recording on a rear face based on a margin width to be set at recording on a top face in perfecting recording.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a double-sided printer,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a double-sided printer that can be installed as an output device in a peripheral or terminal device such as a computer or a word processor and that can continuously print on both front and back surfaces of a recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Two examples of a conventional double-sided printer of this type are shown in FIG.
And shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 is a stacker for feeding the recording materials (recording sheets) 1 held in an accumulated state one by one, 22 is a pickup roller for feeding, and 23 is the fed recording sheet 1. Platen roller 2
A guide member 25 for guiding the sheet 4 is moved along the recording sheet 1 held by the platen roller 24 in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface by a driving unit (not shown), and the recording sheet 1 is moved during the movement.
It is a recording head for recording on. A switching guide member 26 is provided downstream of the recording head 25 in the rotation direction of the platen roller 24, and the posture change is selectively controlled depending on whether the input mode to the printer is single-sided recording or double-sided recording. , 27 are discharge rollers, and 28 is a discharge stacker. Furthermore, 29 is a reversing stacker that guides the recording sheet 1 for reversing the front and back by displacement of the switching guide member 26 to the position shown by the broken line during double-sided recording, and 30 is a casing that holds the above-mentioned members of the printer. Is.

In the double-sided printer thus constructed, the switching guide member 2 is used when the single-sided recording mode is designated.
The posture of 6 is switched to the solid line position. Then, the recording sheet 1 sent from the feeding stacker 21 by the pickup roller 22 in the direction of arrow A is guided to the recording position by the guide member 23 along the periphery of the platen roller 24, and is recorded by the scanning of the recording head 25. Is done. Thus, every time one scan of recording is performed, the sheet is fed by the platen roller 24 by the driving means (not shown), and the recording sheet 1 on which one side has been recorded is discharged onto the discharge stacker 28 by the discharge roller 27 as shown by arrow B. To be done.

When the double-sided recording mode is designated, the switching guide member 26 is switched to the position shown by the broken line, and the recording sheet 1 on which one-sided recording has been performed is guided to the reversing stacker 29 as shown by arrow C. . Thus, the inverted stacker 2
Since the recording surface of the recording sheet 1 once discharged onto the sheet 9 is kept outward, the recording sheet 1 is guided between the platen roller 24 and the guide member 23 by its own weight, and the platen roller 24 is guided from there. By the rotation of 24, the back side of the recording sheet 1 is guided to the position facing the recording head 25. Then, the recording sheet 1 recorded on the back side here is discharged onto the discharge stacker 28 by the discharge roller 27 by switching the position of the switching guide member 26 again.

Next, the conventional double-sided printer shown in FIG. 4 will be described. This example is slightly large, and has a form in which a sheet reversing mechanism is provided on the inner surface of the housing 30. In the following description, members having the same function will be denoted by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Here, 31 is a guide roller rotating in the arrow E direction, 32 is a guide roller for guiding the recording sheet 1 sent from the feeding stacker 21 in the arrow A direction, and is guided through the guide roller 31 as described later. A guide member for guiding the single-sided recorded sheet 1 again to the flat platen 33, a reversing roller 34, a reversing portion 35, and a guide plate 36 for guiding the recording sheet 1 from the reversing roller 34 to the guide roller 31. Is.

In the single-sided recording mode in the double-sided printer having the above-described structure, the recording sheet 1 fed from the feeding stacker 21 is printed by the recording head 25 and then switched. By keeping the guide member 26 at the position shown by the solid line, the recording sheet 1 with one-sided recording can be discharged onto the discharge stacker 28 as shown by the arrow B. Further, in the double-sided recording mode, the switching guide member 26 is switched to the position shown by the broken line, so that the single-sided recorded sheet 1 is guided to the reversing unit 35 as shown by arrows F and G. Then, from here, it is sent to the reversing roller 34 in the opposite direction as shown by the arrow H, and then is guided to the recording position again through the reversing roller 34, the guide plate 36, and the guide roller 31 and is turned over. By the second displacement of the upper switching guide member 26 on the back side of which the recording has been performed, the sheet is ejected onto the ejection stacker 28.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional double-sided printer, the margin amount on the left side of the recording sheet which becomes a continuous page when being bound is normally set to a fixed amount. I have a problem. That is,
When recording on the front and back sides of a recording sheet with such a double-sided printer, first, as shown in FIG. 5A, recording ABC ... E is printed on the front side 1A of the recording sheet 1, but in the case of normal single-sided recording. Since the left margin is set in consideration of an appropriate writing position from the left, the left margin amount α thus set is generally used. However, if the binding side when a plurality of such recording sheets 1 are bound by a clip or a multi-hole punch is on the left, it is necessary to prevent the binding part from becoming difficult to see when the booklet is opened and opened. .

Now, for example, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), when recording / recording abc ... e on the back surface 1B side of a recording sheet 1 having ABC / E on the front surface 1A, the front surface is printed. If the same left margin α ′ as that secured in 1A is taken, as shown in FIG. 5B, there is a disadvantage that the print “e” is hidden in the binding. Normally, in the past, once the left margin has been set like this, it does not change whether it is single-sided printing or double-sided printing. Therefore, when recording documents created by a personal computer or word processor, etc. Since it is the same regardless of whether it is an odd number or an even number, the above-mentioned problems such as inconvenience and difficulty in seeing are likely to occur.

Further, in order to prevent the above-mentioned inconvenience from occurring, in the case of double-sided printing, consideration has been given to the user to give a sufficient margin on both the left and right sides. The recordable content on each recording surface is extremely reduced, or the margin is unnecessarily large. From this point of view, when it is limited to double-sided printing, a troublesome operation of shifting the print start position by changing the value of the left margin for each page, that is, for the front surface and the back surface, has been performed.

An object of the present invention is to pay attention to the above-mentioned conventional problems, and in order to solve the problems, according to whether the print mode is double-sided or single-sided, in the double-sided recording mode, the front side is set. (EN) It is possible to provide a double-sided printer that can be changed so that the margin widths on the back side and the binding side are automatically changed and set to appropriate values.

[0011]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a double-sided printer capable of double-sided recording by reversing the front and back of a single-leaf recording material during its conveyance.
Margin changing means capable of changing the width of the margin set on the same side as the margin at the time of back surface recording based on the width of the margin on either the left side or the right side set at the time of surface recording at the time of recording on both sides. It is characterized by having.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when the width of the margin on the side of the recording material is set in double-sided recording depending on which side is to be bound, recording is performed on the front side according to the margin. When the data is printed on the back side with the front and back reversed together, the width of the margin is changed by the margin changing means on the same side as the above-mentioned margin so that the recording is not chipped or difficult to see even in the bound state. Can be recorded.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration for carrying out recording according to the present invention. Here, 2 is a control unit that functions as a CPU and is capable of performing control according to the present invention, 3 is a built-in control unit 2 in this example, and ROM 4 for storing various control programs and data is the same. A RAM built in the control unit 2 for temporarily storing print information sent from the host device 5, 6 a carriage motor for scanning the print head 25, and 7 a driver for controlling the drive operation of the carriage motor 6. , 8 are sheet feed motors related to the conveyance of the recording sheet 1, and 9 is a driver for controlling the driving operation of the sheet feed motor 8. Further, 10 is a path switching unit that switches the transport path depending on whether the single-sided recording mode is the double-sided recording mode, 11 is a driver for driving the path switching unit, and 12 is a head driver that causes the recording head 25 to perform a recording operation. .

Furthermore, 13 is an operation / display unit,
The operation / display unit 13 has, for example, switch means capable of designating a double-sided recording mode or a single-sided recording mode,
There are provided an input unit capable of designating various recording modes, a power-on unit, a display unit for displaying various states relating to the printer, and the like. The input for various mode instructions may be directly from the host device 5 to the control unit 2 instead of from the operation / display unit 13.

In the double-sided printer thus configured, a double-sided or single-sided command is input as information regarding the size of the recording sheet 1 and the recording mode from the host device 5 or via the operation / display unit 13 of the printer. Then, the corresponding control program is stored in the ROM.
3 is read out, and the route switching means 10 is driven via the driver 11 in response to such control.

Now, when various commands relating to recording are input and further double-sided recording is instructed as described above, the control unit 2 reads the value of, for example, the left margin in the case of surface recording from the ROM 3 and further. The size of the recording sheet 1 to be recorded is identified as direct input or input information from the feeding stacker, etc., and the maximum recording area on the recording sheet 1 is calculated from the input print size and other information. To do. At this time, since the right margin is also calculated, the left margin value and the right margin value thus obtained are compared, and when the back side recording is performed, the left margin is reduced by an amount corresponding to the difference, By moving the entire recording area to the left, even if a binding margin is required to the left, it is possible to prevent a part of the recording portion from being bound or difficult to see.

The above is carried out by allowing the double-sided printer to have such a control program as software. In the above-mentioned control procedure, the left margin set on the recording sheet 1B on the back side is calculated. For example, when recording on the back side, the entire recording area is always kept constant on both the front and back sides. For example, the margin width may be left-justified by the number, and the recording start may be similarly shifted. Alternatively, it is possible to control so that the right margin at the time of back side recording becomes the same value as the left margin at the time of front side recording. Since all the control operations described above can be performed without mechanical operations on the recording sheet 1, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of inconveniences that may affect the sheet itself or the recording thereof.

In addition to the above-described embodiment, although not shown, position detection sensors are provided at both the (first) recording start position on the front side and the (second) recording start position on the back side, and both sides are arranged. In the recording mode, the first recording start position is detected during the front side recording and recording is performed to the right of this, and the second recording start position is detected during the back side recording and recording is performed to the right of this. It may be performed. That is, such an operation can be performed by a program that makes the recording start positions different between the front surface recording and the back surface recording, and furthermore, one recording start position detecting means is moved between the front surface recording and the back surface recording in a mechatronic manner. It is also possible to use means.

Next, the left and right margin changing means of the recording sheet having a mechanical structure will be described with reference to FIG. The left and right margin changing means is suitable for being provided at a position corresponding to the guide plate 36 in the double-sided printer of the form shown in FIG. 4, for example.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 36 is a guide plate for conveying the recording sheet 1 which has been turned over after the front side recording in the double-sided recording mode, and 16A, 16B and 16C are on both sides of the guide plate 36. Guide side plates provided to regulate the side edges. The recording sheet 1 which has been turned upside down via the reversing unit 35 (see FIG. 4) of the printer and has been fed onto the guide plate 16 has its both side edges regulated by the guide side plates 16A and 16B as indicated by the broken lines. It is in the state of being Reference numeral 17 denotes a roller (hereinafter referred to as a turning roller) provided to change the direction of conveyance of the recording sheet 1 in the conveyance path thus configured, and its rotation shaft 17A has side walls 16A and 16C. In the case of the main line, the angle θ with respect to the vertical line is kept counterclockwise.

The deflecting roller 17 is rotationally driven by a driving means (not shown). In this example, one deflecting roller 17 is provided inclined with respect to the conveying direction as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the direction of the recording sheet 1 may be gradually changed by a plurality of such deflecting rollers, or a cone-shaped roller may be supported on the roller shaft to incline the roller shaft with respect to the conveying direction. May be eliminated.

In this way, the recording sheet 1 reversed and conveyed by the mechanical diverting means for changing the direction of the recording sheet 1 provided in association with the conveyance path after the recording sheet is turned upside down.
The orientation can be changed as shown by the one-dot chain line (shown by the broken line). Then, by guiding the lower side edge of the recording sheet 1 sent out from the diverting means (diverting roller) 17 shown in this figure by the guide side plate 16C, the recording sheet 1 is first broken as indicated by the solid line. It can be shifted downward by β from the position indicated by. Therefore, in the state where the back surface 1B side of the recording sheet 1 is guided to the position of the recording head 25, the left margin (corresponding to the upper side in FIG. 2) of the recording sheet back surface 1B is shifted by β, and
Both the front and back records can be made easy to see.

In the above-described embodiments, the case where the recording sheets are left-binding is explained, but the application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the case where the recording sheets are right-binding can be easily implemented. It goes without saying that the margin can be changed.

(Others) The present invention is particularly 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 its typical structure and principle, 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.

The recording head is disclosed in US Pat. No. 45583, which discloses a combination of a discharge port, a liquid passage, and an electrothermal converter, in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The present invention includes a configuration using the specification No. 33 and the specification of US Pat. No. 4,459,600. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-123 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 59-1384, which discloses a structure in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of heat energy is made to correspond to a discharge portion.
The effect of the present invention is effective even with the configuration based on Japanese Patent No. 61. 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 main body of the apparatus or the electrical connection to the main body of the apparatus and the ink from the main body of the apparatus by being attached to the main body of the apparatus. 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 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 provided. 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 double-sided printer of the present invention may be used as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying machine combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function. May be used.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, when recording on both sides, the same width as the margin is set at the time of back side recording based on the width of the margin on either the left side or the right side set at the time of front side recording. Since the margin changing means capable of changing the width of the margin set on the side is provided, even when the sheets are printed by double-sided recording and bound by the binding means and used as a booklet, the double-sided recording mode is instructed. Both pages are not unsightly just in the spread state,
In addition, it is possible to provide a double-sided printer in which no record exists in the bound portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a mechanical configuration example for carrying out recording according to the present invention together with its operation.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of another conventional example.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of inconvenience related to a left margin during double-sided recording by a front surface side (A) and a back surface side (B).

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 recording sheet (recording material) 1A front surface 1B rear surface 2 control unit 3 ROM 4 RAM 5 host device 8 sheet feeding motor 10 path switching unit 13 operation / display unit 16A, 16B, 16C guide side plate 17 deflection roller 25 recording head 26 Switching guide member 35 Inversion portion 36 Guide plate

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In a double-sided printer capable of reversing the front and back sides of a single recording material during conveyance and recording on both sides, when recording on both sides, a margin on either the left or right side set at the time of surface recording. The double-sided printer is provided with a margin changing unit capable of changing the width of the margin set on the same side as the margin at the time of back side recording based on the width of the margin. 2. The margin changing means changes the margin width at the time of the back surface recording so as to subtract a predetermined amount of margin width from the left or right margin width set at the time of the front surface recording. The double-sided printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The margin changing means changes the margin width during the back surface recording so as to add a predetermined amount of margin width to the left or right margin width set during the front surface recording. The double-sided printer according to claim 1, characterized in that: 4. The double-sided printer according to claim 1, wherein the front side recording area and the back side recording area are substantially equal to each other.