JPH06348426A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a receiving side program module in a recorder to receive a message without distinguishing an emergency message from a normal message. CONSTITUTION:Respective program modules 1, 2 controlled by plural modulated programs and having communication functions based upon message transmission/ reception can execute asynchronous message communication by queuing. At the time of normal message transmission, the transmitting program module 2 queues a message to the final end of a message queue 3, but at the time of transmitting an emergency message 4, queues the message 4 to the head of the message queue 3. Thereby the receiving program module 1 can receive the message queue 3 from its head and execute control processing. Exceptional processing is processing for preventing the generation of defective discharge of ink.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus controlled by a program, which has communication means for transmitting and receiving messages and which can communicate asynchronously by queuing messages, and is particularly urgent. The present invention relates to a recording device that performs exception processing by using message transmission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a normal message is transmitted in a recording device which comprises a plurality of modules which can operate in parallel and which has a control program for exchanging information by transmitting and receiving queuing (queuing technique) messages. Are queued in the same order, and the receiving program module receives the message from the head of the message queue (message queue). Therefore, when it is necessary to send the exception processing message in advance of all the messages that have already been queued, it is possible to send an urgent message to the end of the message queue by using normal message sending. Therefore, it is impossible to make the receiving-side program module surely receive the urgent message at the next message reception. Therefore, in such a case, the message queue used for message communication is switched to the message queue dedicated to the emergency message in which no message is queued, thereby realizing the emergency message communication for exception processing.

[0003]

However, in the conventional example as described above, the process of notifying the program module on the receiving side that the program module on the transmitting side sends the urgent message is executed in addition to the process of transmitting the urgent message. Urgent messages, which occur very rarely, because the receiving program module has to check whether there is a notification to send an urgent message before processing to receive the message. There is a problem that the processing becomes complicated due to the processing, the execution speed decreases, and the design and development of the control program become difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable a program module on the receiving side to receive a normal message and an urgent message without distinguishing them, and An object is to provide a recording device that can be simplified.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a plurality of modules that have a communication function by message transmission / reception, and can perform asynchronous message communication by queuing messages. In a recording device controlled by a program, a sender that queues a message at the end of the message queue during normal message transmission, and queues the message at the beginning of the message queue during urgent message transmission. And a receiving-side program module that sequentially receives the first message of the message queue and controls the device, and performs exception processing of the device by using the emergency message transmission. And

Further, the present invention is preferably characterized in that the exceptional process is a process for preventing defective ejection of ink to an engine control program module of an ink jet recording apparatus.

[0007]

According to the present invention, at the end of the message queue in a recording device controlled by a program having a communication means for transmitting and receiving a message and being able to communicate asynchronously by queuing the message. In addition to the normal message sending function where messages are queued, there is an emergency message sending function where messages are queued at the beginning of the message queue, and since exception handling is performed using emergency message sending, Message transmission of an exception processing request, which cannot be realized by using two or more message queues only by normal message transmission, can be realized by one message queue. As a result, for example, in an inkjet recording apparatus, it is possible to easily realize a process for preventing defective ejection of ink, which is a completely exceptional process from a normal recording operation.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 shows a method of message transmission / reception between program modules and a state of a message queue in a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a case where a normal message is transmitted, and FIG. 1B shows a case where an emergency message is transmitted. Here, 1 is a program module on the reception side (reception program module) for receiving a message, and 2 is a program module on the transmission side (transmission program module) for transmitting a message to the program module 1. A message queue (message queue) 3 is used by the receiving program module 1 and the sending program module 2 for sending and receiving messages. 4 is an emergency message.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in normal message transmission, a message sent to a message queue node is queued at the end of the message queue 3 of that node.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the urgent message is transmitted to the message queue 3, the urgent message 4 sent is interrupted at the head of the message queue 3 and queued. To be done.

Therefore, the receiving program module 1 merely receives the message at the head of the message queue 3, and the messages sent by the normal message transmission are received by the program module 1 in the order in which they are sent and sent by the emergency message transmission. The emergency message 4 thus received will be received by the program module 1 at the next reception of the program module 1.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an ink jet recording apparatus, and particularly shows a situation when a process for preventing defective ejection of ink is requested. Here, 5 is an engine control program module for controlling the mechanical operation of the recording apparatus, and is used to send messages from a plurality of other program modules such as program module A 7 and program module B 8 through the engine control message queue 6. The operation of receiving a command in a form, controlling the mechanical operation of the recording apparatus based on the content of the command, and receiving the message again after the completion of the predetermined operation is repeated.

During normal printing operation, the other program modules 7 and 8 are the engine control program module 5
On the other hand, a message for requesting movement of the recording head, recording operation, recording sheet feed, etc. is transmitted to the node of the engine control message queue 6. These transmitted messages are queued in the engine control message queue 6 in the order in which they are transmitted, and the engine control program module 5 receives the first message in the engine control message queue 6 and makes a request in accordance with the message transmission order. Take action.

On the other hand, the cyclic start-up program module 9 sends a message 10 to the engine control program module 5 at a predetermined time interval, and this message causes the engine control program module 5 to prevent ink ejection failure. To request. If the process for preventing the ink ejection failure is delayed, the recording quality may be affected. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately perform the process for preventing the ink ejection failure. However, there is a possibility that another message has already been queued in the engine control message queue 6, and execution of the processing may be significantly delayed if processing is requested by normal message transmission. The periodic activation program module 9 sends a message to the node of the message queue 6 by using the emergency message transmission function, and queues the message 10 requesting a process for preventing defective ink ejection at the head of the engine control message queue 6. As a result, the engine control program module 5 controls the process for preventing defective ink ejection in the next operation.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the printer engine of the ink jet recording apparatus suitable for the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 20 shows the entire ink jet recording apparatus. Reference numeral 21 denotes an inkjet head (recording head) of an inkjet head cartridge 23 having a nozzle group for ejecting ink so as to face the recording surface of the recording paper fed onto the platen 22. A carriage 24 holds the recording head 21, and the drive motor 2
6 is connected to a part of the drive belt 27 that transmits the driving force,
By being slidable with the two guide shafts 28 and 29 arranged in parallel with each other, the reciprocating movement of the recording head 21 over the entire width of the recording paper becomes possible. During this reciprocating movement, the recording head 21 records an image according to the received data on the recording paper. Each time this main scanning is completed, the recording paper is conveyed by a predetermined amount and sub-scanning is performed.

A head recovery device 30 is arranged at one end of the movement path of the recording head 21, for example, at a position facing the home position. Motor 3 via transmission mechanism 31
The driving force of 2 causes the head recovery device 30 to operate, and the recording head 21 is capped. In association with the capping of the recording head 21 by the cap portion 33 of the head recovery device 30, ink is absorbed (suction recovery) by an appropriate suction means (for example, a suction pump) provided in the head recovery device 30. In this way, the ejection recovery process is performed such that the thickened ink in the ejection port is removed by forcibly ejecting the ink from the ejection port. Further, the recording head is protected by capping at the end of recording. Such an ejection recovery process is performed when the power is turned on, when the recording head is replaced, or when the recording operation is not performed for a certain period of time.

Reference numeral 34 is a blade as a wiping member which is disposed on the side surface of the head recovery device 30 and is made of silicon rubber. The blade 34 is a blade holding member 35.
Is held in a cantilever form, and is operated by a motor 32 and a transmission mechanism 31 as in the head recovery device 30.
It is possible to engage with the ejection surface of the recording head 21. As a result, the blade 34 is caused to protrude into the movement path of the recording head 21 at an appropriate timing in the recording operation of the recording head 21 or after the ejection recovery process using the head recovery device 30. Head 2
Wipe off condensation, wetting, dust, etc. on the ejection surface of 1.

The ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to the one having the above-mentioned structure, but may be one in which head recovery devices are provided on both left and right sides of the printer.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, control is performed by a program including a plurality of program modules having communication means for transmitting and receiving a message and capable of asynchronous communication by queuing a message. In the recording device to be used, the exceptional process, which is an important process, can be realized more simply. In particular, in an ink jet recording apparatus, since it is possible to realize a process that prevents defective ejection of ink, which is an exceptional process from a normal recording operation, in a reasonably simple manner, the program is simplified, the execution speed is improved, and Design and development of control programs becomes easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship among a program module, a message queue, and an emergency message in a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship among a program module, a message queue, and a processing request message for performing processing for preventing defective ejection of ink in a printing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a perspective view showing a structural example of a printer engine of an inkjet recording apparatus suitable for the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Receiving Program Module 2 Sending Program Module 3 Message Queue 4 Emergency Message 5 Engine Control Program Module 6 Engine Control Message Queue 7 Program Module A 8 Program Module B 9 Periodic Startup Program Module 10 Ink Discharge Defect Prevention Processing Request Message 21 Recording Head 30 Head recovery device 31 Transmission mechanism 32 Motor 33 Cap portion 34 Blade

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording device controlled by a plurality of modularized programs, which has a communication function for transmitting and receiving a message and is capable of performing asynchronous message communication by queuing messages, When the message is queued at the end of the message queue, and when the message is sent urgently, the program module on the sending side that queues the message at the head of the message queue and the message at the head of the message queue are sequentially received. And a program module on the receiving side that executes control of the apparatus, and performs exception processing of the apparatus by using the emergency message transmission. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exceptional process is a process for preventing defective ejection of ink to an engine control program module of the inkjet recording device.