JPH06344610A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To feed papers so that images are recorded clearly at all times with out lowering the throughput speed. CONSTITUTION:The apparatus is provided with a paper feeding mechanism for feeding recording papers, a recording head 12a which moves in a direction at right angles to the transfer direction of papers thereby to record onto the recording papers, a CPU 31 for controlling the recording operation, and a memory device 33 for storing the recording data. The feeding speed of papers by the feeding mechanism and tone necessity for removing a backlash are detected from true feeding controlling data at the previous recording time and the content of data to be recorded next, whereby the operation of the paper feeding mechanism is constituted. Tone recording apparatus 30 is constituted in this manner.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a paper feeding mechanism for conveying recording paper through a recording section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of computers such as personal computers, there has been a demand for a recording device which is an output device, which has high speed, high resolution and high reliability.

Among the recording apparatuses, a low-priced one which is widely used is a wire dot method, and an inkjet recording apparatus is rapidly in demand for quiet and high-quality images.

The ink jet type recording apparatus is provided with a paper feeding mechanism for feeding the recording paper, a recording head for moving and recording in the direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and a thermal energy converter, and ejects ink droplets to the surface of the recording paper. It is configured to record.

[0005]

However, the conventional paper feeding mechanism of the recording apparatus requires a plurality of gears, and a gap (hereinafter referred to as backlash) between the meshed teeth of the gears is avoided. No, there is some play in the drive.
The state and amount of backlash will be different because the motion resistance and inertia of the moving parts of the apparatus will be different due to the difference in the paper feed speed and the difference in the amount of paper feed at one time.

If the state and the amount of backlash of the paper feed mechanism are different, the accuracy of paper feed is impaired, and the delicateness and cleanliness of the recorded image are deteriorated.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned drawbacks, the control speed for long paper feed must be reduced in order to make the backlash amounts for the long paper feed control and the normal one-line feed control the same. As a result, the feeding (throughput) speed of the recording paper is reduced and the recording speed is reduced.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides a recording apparatus for feeding a paper that always produces a clear image recording without lowering the throughput speed. That is the purpose.

[0009]

For this reason, the recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a paper feed mechanism for feeding the recording paper, a recording head which moves in the direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction and performs recording on the recording paper. A recording apparatus having a control unit for controlling a recording operation, wherein the control unit has a storage unit for storing print data, and stores the paper feed control data of the print performed first and the data of the print performed next. By the configuration characterized in that the operation of the paper feed mechanism is controlled by selecting the paper feed speed of the paper feed mechanism from the contents and judging the necessity of removing the backlash.
It is intended to achieve the above purpose.

[0010]

The control means can appropriately select the paper feed speed from the paper feed control data of the previously performed recording and the content of the paper feed data of the next recording stored in the storage means, and at the same time, Whether the backlash is removed or not can be appropriately determined from the judgment of the backlash remaining in the paper feeding mechanism and the accuracy of the paper feeding required for the next recording. The backlash removal control is performed so as to keep the value within the allowable range, and it is possible to perform the paper feed that can always obtain a delicate and beautiful recorded image without lowering the throughput speed.

[0011]

EXAMPLES The recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a paper feeding mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Below the main roller 7, feed rollers 9 and 10 for pressing the recording paper 1 against the main roller 7 are provided along with a paper pan 8 for forming a paper path.

The main roller 7 is rotationally driven by the clockwise drive of the feed motor 2 via the pinion gear 3, the idler gear 4, and the feed gear 5 fixed on the shaft 6 of the main roller 7.

The recording paper 1 is fed along the outer circumference of the main roller 7 by the rotation of the main roller 7, and the paper presser 11
Is guided to the front side of the main roller via.

A head cartridge 1 provided with a recording head 12a for ejecting ink and an ink tank (not shown) as recording means near the front side of the main roller 7.
Two are provided.

The head cartridge 12 is mounted on a carriage (not shown) and is moved in parallel along the main roller 7 by driving the carriage. By driving these recording means, recording is performed on the recording paper 1.

On the other hand, above the main roller 7, the spur 1
4 is provided, and the recording paper 1 sent out from the recording unit
Is pressed against the paper discharge roller 13 and guided upward.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a paper feed gear train showing a backlash state of the gear train after one line has been fed by a normal motor drive.

When the paper is fed, the motor pinion 3 rotates clockwise. Since the paper feed for one line is a relatively slow feed, the backlash after the feed is almost on one side like the portions A and B shown in FIG. That is, in the illustrated case, the tooth flanks of the front gears are closer to the side that pushes the tooth flanks of the rear gear in the positive direction of paper feeding.

However, when a paper feed like a vertical tab extending over several lines is executed, the paper feed speed is high, so that the backlash state at the time of stop is, for example, as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, it is not constant as shown in FIG.

Since this backlash difference does not greatly affect the recording of ordinary text, ordinary character recording may be performed, but image recording and characters / symbols over two lines, that is, double-width characters and The above-mentioned problem occurs in recording ruled lines and the like.

Generally, in recording these images and the like, not only the accuracy in the paper feed direction (vertical direction) as described above, but also the accuracy in the scanning direction (horizontal direction) of the carriage (head) is important. Characters and the like are printed by moving the carriage in both directions, whereas they are printed by moving in one direction.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of this embodiment.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 30 is a recording apparatus of this embodiment. Reference numeral 31 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) that controls the entire recording device 30.

The CPU 31 has a ROM (Read Only Memory) 32 storing data such as control programs.
A RAM (random access memory) 33 used as a buffer for recording data is connected as a work area of the CPU 31.

The CPU 31 is connected to drive sources for various mechanisms of the recording apparatus, such as the feed motor 2 for rotating the main roller 7 and the head 12a, via the interface circuit 34 and a driver (not shown). Is controlled by the CPU 31.

With the above-mentioned configuration, the CPU 31 has the ROM 32.
By executing the control program stored in, the entire recording device 30 is controlled, and each unit is controlled according to the input from the keyboard 36 and the recording data to perform the recording operation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the control of the control program of the ROM 32 according to the present invention.

First, the flow chart is started in step S1. In step S1, the apparatus is initialized, which includes backlash removal control, which is initialization of the paper feed system. Further, the flags indicating the state of the device are also reset.

Here, the "backlash removal control" according to the present invention is a control for shifting the backlash to one side and executes 10 steps of reverse rotation and 10 steps of normal rotation. At this time, the control for removing the backlash is performed by a relatively slow operation, and in particular, the operation at the time of forward rotation is performed slowly. As shown in the parts A and B shown in FIG.

Next, in step S2, a print command is issued, and in step S3, it is determined whether or not one-way recording is required for accuracy. In any case, the flags are reset in S1. As a result, since the paper feed flag PFF is 0 in step S4, the backlash removal in S5 is not executed and the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, recording for one line is executed, and if recording of one page is completed in step S7,
The sheet is discharged in step S19, and the flow chart ends. If recording of one page is not completed in step S7, a paper feed command is issued in step S8.

In the next step S9, the contents of paper feeding are determined. That is, if the paper feed command is 60 steps or less, which is normal, it is determined in step S10 whether the number of paper feeds is 2 steps or less, which is the minimum paper feeding.

It is necessary to judge in two steps or less.
Before paper feeding, the backlash is almost on one side as shown in Fig. 2. However, when feeding paper with a minimum of about 2 steps,
Its accuracy is not good. Therefore, in the case of two steps or less, the flag PFAJ is set in step S11, low-speed paper feed is executed in step S12, and backlash removal is executed in steps S16 to S18 to satisfy the accuracy. .

When low-speed paper feeding is executed in step S12, the flag PFF is reset to 0 in step S13 as a mark.

If the paper feed movement exceeds 60 steps in step S9, high speed paper feed is executed in step S14, and the flag PFF is set to 1 in step S15.

Next, through steps S16 to S18 described above, the process returns to step S2 and waits for the next recording command. In step S3, the recording is a recording that requires accuracy, and the previous paper feed is high speed (PFF). = 1), backlash removal is executed in step S5.

Further, steps S6 to S18 are sequentially executed, and when the recording of one page is completed, the flow is ended in step S20 via step S19.

By executing the above flow chart, it is possible to determine whether the paper feed is high speed or low speed, and whether backlash is necessary or not, and to perform paper feed without lowering the throughput and obtaining a clear image recording.

The present invention is particularly effective in an ink jet recording head and a recording apparatus for recording by forming flying droplets by utilizing thermal energy among the ink jet recording systems.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, 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 can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which is stored, which corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling. , It is effective because it generates heat energy in the electrothermal converter and causes film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, resulting in the formation of bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis. Is. 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, 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, which is an 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 ejection port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, A configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 or US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which discloses a configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in the bending region, may be used.

In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-123670 discloses a structure in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and a pressure wave of thermal energy is absorbed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration based on Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which the opening corresponds to the ejection portion.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recording medium width that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification provides the length. Either of the structure satisfying the requirement or the structure as one recording head integrally formed may be used.

In addition, when mounted on the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can supply ink from the apparatus main body, which is a replacement type chip type recording head, or is integrated with the recording head itself. Alternatively, a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank may be used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means, preliminary auxiliary means, etc. to the recording head because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, pressurizing or suctioning means for the recording head, preheating means by an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a combination thereof, and an ejection different from recording. It is effective to perform the preliminary ejection mode for performing stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode only for the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. Alternatively, the device may be provided with at least one of full colors by color mixing.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and softens at room temperature, or is a liquid, or the above-mentioned. In the inkjet method, the temperature of the ink itself is generally adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. It may be in a liquid form.

In addition, the temperature rise due to the thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink is solidified in the standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. In some cases, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to a recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or one that has already started to solidify when it reaches a recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of being liquefied only by heat energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or JP-A-60-71260, a mode in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter in the state of being held as a liquid or solid in the recess or through hole of the porous sheet. May be In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, the recording apparatus according to the present invention is provided integrally or separately as the image output terminal of the information processing equipment such as the word processor and the computer, or in combination with the reader. It may be in the form of a copying machine or a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The control means can appropriately select the paper feeding speed from the paper feeding control data of the previously executed recording and the content of the paper feeding data of the next recording stored in the storage means, and at the same time, the paper feeding mechanism. The backlash status of the paper feed mechanism can be determined based on the judgment of the backlash status remaining in the paper and the accuracy of the paper feed required for the next recording. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus that performs backlash removal control so as to be within the range, and performs paper feeding that always obtains a delicate and beautiful recorded image without lowering the throughput speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a paper feeding mechanism according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a paper feed gear train in a normal backlash state.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a paper feed gear train in an abnormal backlash state.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a paper feed gear train in an abnormal backlash state.

FIG. 5 is a circuit block diagram of an example.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Paper 2 Feed Motor 7 Main Roller 12 Head Cartridge 12a Recording Head 30 Recording Device of Example 31 Central Processing Unit (CPU) 32 Storage Device (ROM) 33 Storage Device (RAM) 34 Interface 36 Keyboard

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus comprising a paper feed mechanism for feeding a recording paper, a recording head which moves in a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction for recording on the recording paper, and a control means for controlling the recording operation. The control means has a storage means for storing print data, and selects the paper feed speed of the paper feed mechanism and backlash based on the paper feed control data of the previously executed recording and the content of the data of the next executed recording. A recording apparatus which controls the operation of a paper feeding mechanism by determining whether or not to take the paper. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content of the data to be recorded next is data indicating that the paper is fed in a plurality of lines. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content of the recording data to be executed next is data indicating that the paper feed is bidirectional recording. 4. The recording head is a recording head that ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is an inkjet recording head that includes a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. The recording apparatus according to any one of 1 to 3.