JPH07119115B2 - Inkjet printer print control method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control method for an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a first example of a conventional ink jet printer. Referring to FIG. 4, this conventional inkjet printer includes a hopper 1 for feeding a sheet 16, a sheet feed roller 2 for feeding a sheet in a sub-scanning direction by receiving power from a sheet feed motor (not shown), and a sheet for a printing section. 16, a paper guide 3 that securely guides the paper 16, a paper detection lever 4 and a paper detection sensor 5 that detect the presence or absence of paper, a flat platen 6 that holds the paper 16 in the printing unit, and a print cartridge 7 that ejects ink to perform printing. A carrier 8 which carries a print cartridge 7 and is scanned by receiving power from a stepping motor (not shown) in the axial direction (main scanning direction) of the paper feed roller 2, a discharge roller 9 and a discharge auxiliary spur 10 for discharging the paper. The stacker 11 and the stacker guide 12 stack the discharged sheets 16. The paper feed motor and stepping motor (both not shown), the paper detection sensor 5, and the print cartridge 7 are electrically connected to a control unit (not shown) by cables.

Next, the operation of this conventional ink jet printer will be described. When a print command is sent from a control unit ( not shown), the paper 16 supplied from the hopper 1 is sent by the paper feed roller 2. The paper 16 whose front end is detected by the paper detection lever 4 and the paper detection sensor 5 is further fed by a predetermined amount and then printed by the print cartridge 7. Further printing is continued, but the relationship between printing and paper feeding at this time is that the carrier 8 scans in one direction and a line feed is made when the printing is completed, and when the line feed is completed, the carrier 8 is replaced by another.
A series of operation, that both of scanning in the direction for printing
Repeated direction printing . When the trailing edge of the sheet 16 is detected by the sheet detection lever 4 and the sheet detection sensor 5, the control unit (not shown) determines the remaining printable area and prints as much as possible in the above-described relationship between printing and sheet feeding. If it is determined that further printing is impossible, the paper is fed by the amount necessary for stacking the paper 16 in the stacker 11.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a second example of a conventional ink jet printer. Referring to FIG. 8, the conventional inkjet printer includes a heater 13 for drying the ink ejected on the paper 16 on the back surface of the flat platen 6. The heater 13 heats the flat platen 6 to evaporate the water content of the ink ejected onto the paper 16.

[0005]

In the first example of the conventional ink jet printer, a line feed is performed immediately after the printing is completed, and the printing is performed immediately after the line feed. Therefore, the ink is ejected onto the paper 16. The ink is sent to the discharge roller section without drying. That is, the undried ink causes the paper 16 to be sent to the discharge roller portion in a state where the rigidity of the paper 16 is reduced. The decrease in the rigidity of the paper 16 causes the following problems. First, as shown in FIG. 5, at the leading end of the sheet, there is nothing to support the sheet 16 between the discharge roller 9 and the stacker 11, and the posture of the sheet 16 itself must be maintained. However, since the rigidity of the paper is reduced by the undried ink,
The paper 16 cannot support its own weight and is curled at the leading edge of the paper 14.
Will occur. If the sheet 16 is further discharged in this state, the state shown in FIG. Also, at the trailing edge of the sheet, the rigidity of the sheet is reduced due to the undried ink, so that the weight of the sheet cannot be supported and the curl 15 at the trailing edge as shown in FIG. 7 occurs, making stacking impossible.

Further, in the second example of the conventional ink jet printer shown in FIG. 8, the paper 1 is placed on the flat platen 6.
When 6 passes, the heater 13 accelerates the drying of the ink and is effective in suppressing the decrease in the rigidity of the paper. However, the heat of the heater 13 causes the expansion and contraction of the paper 16 to deteriorate the printing quality. This adversely affects the paper running.

An object of the present invention is to dry the ink ejected onto the paper to a certain extent and normally eject and stack the paper while maintaining the rigidity of the paper.

[0008]

In a print control method for an ink jet printer according to the present invention, a moving direction of a carrier carrying a print head for ejecting ink is set as a main scanning direction, and a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction is set. For printing control method of inkjet serial printer that moves and prints paper
Oite to detect the presence or absence of the sheet, from the paper leading
By detecting the feed amount of the paper in the sub-scanning direction,
Recognizing the position of the paper in the sub-scanning direction, unidirectional printing is performed in the paper leading edge area for a predetermined number of lines (condition 1) , and unidirectional printing is performed for the predetermined number of rows immediately after the paper leading edge area (condition 2). After printing, the carrier is skipped a predetermined number of times, then the normal
Of performs bidirectional printing (condition 3), the sheet trailing end region of the predetermined number of lines have a said unidirectional printing after the carrier air feed the predetermined number of times the line, the printing operation to subsequently perform paper discharge
It is characterized by controlling .

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG . 1 is an inkjet print according to the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing an example of a print control method for a printer. this
The embodiment is based on the inkjet printer shown in FIG.
Applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the print area of this embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the carrier of this embodiment.
Referring to FIG. 1 in combination with FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG.
The operation of the embodiment will be described. In the print start step S40,
When a print command is sent from the control unit (step S1),
The paper 16 is supplied from the top 1 and is fed by the paper feed roller 2.
It is sent (step S2). For paper detection lever 4 and
The leading edge of the sheet 16 is detected by the sheet detection sensor 5 (step
(Step S3), and the print area value is initialized (step S3).
S4). In the print position recognition step S50, the paper 16
Presence / absence is detected, and the feed amount from the leading edge of the paper 16 in the sub-scanning direction
Is detected, the current position of paper 16 is
Edge area A (condition 1) or an area immediately after the leading edge area of the paper
B (condition 2) or the area immediately after the area of condition 2
Recognize whether it is C (condition 3). The print area is the leading edge of the paper
In the case of area A (condition 1) (step S50) one-way
Printing is performed for 10 lines (step S60), and the printing area
In the case of area B after the leading edge area A of the paper (condition 2),
Step S50) One-way printing on one line and three dummy operations
Five print lines are converted (step S70). Print
If the area is the area C (condition 3), (step S5
0), the process proceeds to the normal bidirectional printing step S80, and there is no paper
Normal bi-directional printing is performed until is detected (step S8)
(Step S9), the absence of paper is detected (step S9).
S8) and the printing step S90 for the trailing edge area of the sheet.
After initializing the remaining printable area (step S10), print area
If there is a region (step S11), since it is region D, one line
Unidirectional printing and five dummy operations are performed (step S1).
2). When the print area runs out (step S11)
The sheet is discharged (step S13) and the operation ends.

Next, FIG. 2 showing the print area P of this embodiment.
And FIG. 3 which is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the carrier,
The method for preventing the curl 14 of the leading edge of the sheet (see FIG. 5) is realized by waiting for the ink ejected on the sheet to dry to some extent and then performing sheet feeding. Therefore, in order to prevent the user from feeling uneasy, as shown in FIG.
After line printing, a dummy operation of moving the carrier 8 in the main scanning direction without ejecting ink, that is, carrier idling is performed, and then the next line is printed. Table 1 shows the mark on the leading edge
The results of experimentally determining the amount of dummy operation of the character region and the carrier 8 are shown. Referring to Table 1, "One-way printing error
The "A" column indicates a line range in which one-way printing is performed. "One way
The `` Printing and dummy operation area '' column is for unidirectional printing and
Indicates the row range in which the dummy operation is performed. "Number of dummy operations"
The columns are shown in the "One-way printing and dummy operation area" column.
Indicates the number of dummy operations performed in the row range. "Stacked
The “Result” column indicates the degree of stacking on the stacker 11,
Showing the state of the curl 14 of the leading edge of the paper (see FIG. 5),
X indicates a defect, Δ indicates a little defect, and ◯ indicates a good condition.
For example, in item No. 2, from the 1st line to the 10th line
Line range (when the line pitch is 6 lines / inch, the same applies below)
After performing one-way printing for each line, the dummy operation was performed 5 times.
The result is that the stack is a little bad. Also, item number 1
4 in the line range from the 1st line to the 10th line
Direction printing is performed, and then the 11th line is normal printing
Printing in the direction returning from the one-way printing that printed the 10th line
The following 12th to 14th lines are for each line
The result of performing the dummy operation three times after printing in one direction on the
The condition is bad. From this result, item 16 in Table 1
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, unidirectional printing is performed in the area A corresponding to 10 lines from the leading end of the printing area P, and the area 5 is further printed in five areas.
In the area B corresponding to the line, the curl 14 at the leading end of the sheet can be prevented by performing one-way printing and three dummy operations.

[0012]

[Table 1]

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the paper
The method for preventing the rear end curl 15 (see FIG. 7) is as described above.
The paper is ejected onto the paper in the same way as the paper curl 14 (see FIG. 5).
Wait for the ink to dry to some extent before feeding the paper.
It is realized by executing. To do that,
Print one line as shown in Fig. 3 to avoid anxiety
The carrier 8 is moved in the main scanning direction without ejecting the rear ink.
After running the dummy operations to such KazuSatoshi carriers empty feed to
And print the next line. Table 2 shows the print area at the rear edge of the paper.
And the result of experimentally determining the amount of dummy operation of the carrier 8
Indicates. Referring to Table 2, "One-way printing and dummy
The "Number of movements" column is from the bottom to the 3rd line to the 1st line.
Indicates the number of dummy operations after one-way printing in the range.
The "Stack result" column indicates the stacking status on the stacker 11.
Of the curl 15 (see FIG. 7) of the trailing edge of the paper.
Shows the state, × means bad, △ means slightly bad, ○ means good.
Show each. For example, in item number 2, the third line from the bottom
Then, after performing unidirectional printing, the dummy operation is performed 5 times and 2 lines from the bottom
For the eyes, the dummy operation is performed three times after one-way printing, and 1
In the 1st line, the result of performing the dummy operation 3 times after one-way printing is
The stack status is bad. From this result, as for the method for preventing the curl 15 of the trailing edge of the sheet (see FIG. 7), the item No. 7 in Table 2 is used.
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the trailing edge curl 15 of the sheet can be prevented by performing one-way printing and five dummy operations in the area D in the printing area P corresponding to three lines from the end of the printing area P. Note that a normal printing operation may be performed on the area C between the area B and the area D shown in FIG.

[0014]

[Table 2]

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The moving direction of the carrier for mounting the print head for ejecting ink to print by moving the paper in the perpendicular sub-scanning direction in the main scanning direction and the main scanning direction to detect the presence or absence of paper, paper
By detecting the paper feed amount in the sub-scanning direction from the leading edge,
Ri, recognizes the sub-scanning direction position of the sheet, subjected to unidirectional printing in the paper leading edge region of the predetermined number of lines, no predetermined number rows unidirectional printing after the carrier air feed at a predetermined number of lines immediately paper tip region, Next, normal printing is performed, and in the trailing edge area of the paper for a predetermined number of lines, the printing operation is controlled such that carrier feeding is performed a predetermined number of times after one-way printing, so that the ink ejected onto the paper is dried to some extent. Paper can be normally discharged and stacked while maintaining rigidity .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sheet area of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the carrier of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional inkjet printer.
It

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state where a leading edge of a sheet is curled in a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which stacking is not possible due to a paper curl of a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state of a curl of a trailing edge of a sheet in a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of another conventional inkjet printer.

[Explanation of symbols]S40 Printing start step S50 Print position recognition step S60 Print area at the leading edge of the paper (condition 1) S70 forThe printing scan in the area immediately after the paper leading edge area (condition 2)
Tep S80 Normal bidirectional printing step S90 Printing step of the trailing edge area of paper  1 Hopper 2 Paper Feed Roller 3 Paper Guide 4 Paper Detection Lever 5 Paper Detection Sensor 6 Flat Platen 7 Print Cartridge 8 Carrier 9 Ejection Roller 10 Ejection Assist Spurter 11 Stacker 12 Stacker Guide 13 Heater 14 Tip Curl 15 Rear Curl 16 Paper A Leading edge area B Immediately after leading edge area C Normal area D Rear edge area P Printing area

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing control method for an ink jet serial printer, wherein a moving direction of a carrier carrying a print head for ejecting ink is a main scanning direction, and a paper is moved in a sub scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction for printing. , The presence or absence of the paper is detected, and in the sub-scanning direction from the leading edge of the paper.
By detecting the feed amount of the paper, the position of the paper in the sub-scanning direction is recognized, unidirectional printing is performed in the paper leading edge area (condition 1) for a predetermined number of lines, and a predetermined distance immediately after the paper leading edge area is determined. In the number of lines (condition 2) , the carrier is fed a predetermined number of times after the one-way printing, and then the normal bidirectional printing is performed (condition 3) . It had a career sky send a predetermined number of times a row,
A print control method for an inkjet printer, characterized in that the print operation is controlled so that the paper is discharged thereafter . 2. The one-way printing is performed for 10 lines in the paper leading edge region (condition 1) , and the carrier idle feed is performed after the one-way printing for five lines immediately after the paper leading edge region (condition 2). Repeated three times, for three lines in the trailing edge area of the paper
2. The printing control method for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein, in (condition 3) , the carrier idling is performed 5 times after the one-way printing.