JPH07132650A - Method and apparatus for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method and an apparatus for forming an image in which the image can be formed at a high speed even when a battery is used as a power source. CONSTITUTION:When whether a power source is a battery 5012 or not is decided and the power source is decided to be the battery in a printer in which a color image is formed on a medium to be recorded by using a record head 2, a residual capacity detector 5015 detects a residual capacity of the battery. When the detected capacity is a predetermined value or less, a data transfer processor converts color print data into monochromatic data, and a monochromatic image is formed based on the converted data by using a head of one certain color of the head 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming a color image on a recording medium by using a recording head, and more particularly to an image forming method and apparatus for using a secondary battery of the apparatus as a power source. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computer equipment and the like incorporating a printer device driven by a secondary battery and a commercial power source are known. Since a secondary battery generally has a limited power supply and a limited capacity, when using a secondary battery to drive equipment, its printing frequency, carriage drive frequency, and even paper ejection The drive frequency of the motor has been reduced to about half, which allows more sheets to be printed before the secondary battery is completely depleted.

As an example, when a commercial power source is used as a power source, the printing frequency is 5.4 KHz, the carriage driving frequency is 9011 PPS (pulse / second), and the discharge motor driving frequency is 700 PPS. In contrast,
The drive frequency when the secondary battery is used as a power source is, for example, a print frequency of 3 KHz, a carriage drive frequency of 500 PPS, and a paper discharge motor drive frequency of 389 PPS. As described above, the printing speed when the secondary battery is used is naturally less than about half that when the commercial power source is used.

Here, the secondary battery will be briefly described.
When the nickel-cadmium battery is used as the secondary battery, the output voltage gradually decreases as the discharge capacity decreases. Then, after the discharge capacity reaches the limit of maintaining the open circuit voltage, the output voltage is rapidly reduced. In addition, when the nickel-hydrogen battery is used as the secondary battery, the battery capacity is about twice as large as that of the nickel-cadmium battery having the same volume. In order to show the above situation, FIG. 15 shows an example of the discharge characteristics of the nickel-cadmium battery and the nickel-hydrogen battery. In FIG. 15, the characteristics of the nickel-cadmium battery are shown by broken lines, and the characteristics of the nickel-hydrogen battery are shown by solid lines.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and provides an image forming method and an apparatus for forming an image at high speed even when a battery is used as a power source. The purpose is to

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention has the following constitution. That is, an image forming apparatus that forms a color image on a recording medium using a recording head, and a determining unit that determines whether the power source is a battery, and the determining unit determines that the power source is a battery. A detecting means for detecting the remaining battery level, a converting means for converting the color print data into monochrome data when the remaining battery level detected by the detecting means is below a predetermined value, and the converting means. And an image forming unit that forms an image in a single color based on monochrome data.

[0007]

With the above configuration, it is determined whether or not the power source is a battery, and if it is determined that the power source is a battery, the remaining battery level is detected. When the detected remaining battery power is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the color print data is converted into monochrome data, and an image is formed in a single color based on the converted monochrome data.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the configuration of the printer apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the external shape of the printer of this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a carriage 1 has a guide shaft 5
The upper part is translated by the lead screw 4 which is interlocked with the carriage motor 506 (FIG. 10). A recording head 2 is fixed on the carriage 1, and a color cartridge 10 containing removable color ink and a black cartridge 11 containing black ink are mounted along a cartridge guide 3. Ink is supplied to the nozzles of the recording head 2.

The ink ejected from the recording head 2 adheres to a recording medium facing the recording head 2, for example, a recording paper 6 to form an image. The recording paper 6 is the paper discharge motor 5
08 (FIG. 10), and the paper feed roller 7, paper ejection roller 8 and paper pressing plate 9 which are interlocked with the paper 08 eject the paper in conjunction with the printing operation.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the details of the carriage 1.

The color cartridge 10 and the black cartridge 11 are attached from the rear portion of the recording head 2, and the pipes 204, 205, 20 shown in FIGS.
Ink is supplied from 6,207. The color cartridge 10 includes cyan, magenta, and yellow inks in one housing, and the respective inks are separated by a partition wall.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the details of the recording head 2, and FIG.
01 is a silicon substrate for forming a heater and the like according to the inkjet ejection principle. A printed circuit board 202 includes a drive circuit for the recording head 2. This printed circuit board 202 and FIG.
The board provided with the image processor 512 is connected by a transmission path such as a flexible cable. Since this transmission line is required to have flexibility and durability, it is necessary to reduce the conductor portion as much as possible. Therefore, the image data is transmitted as serial data to the head driver 520 that drives the recording head 2. 203 is a silicon substrate 20
1. An aluminum plate equipped with a printed circuit board 202. 20
4, 205, 206, 207 are color cartridges 1
0, a pipe for supplying ink from the black cartridge 11 to the ejection portion of the recording head 2 through the distributor 208. 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2Bk
Are nozzle groups for ejecting yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks, respectively. In the recording head 2 of this embodiment, the nozzles of each color are arranged in a line. The direction in which the carriage 1 moves along the lead screw 4 and the guide shaft 5 is called the main scanning direction. Further, head nozzles of respective colors are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and the arrangement direction is referred to as a sub scanning direction.

FIG. 4 shows the nozzles 2Y, 2M of the recording head 2.
It is a figure which shows the internal detail of 2C and 2Bk. Electrothermal energy conversion element (heater) on substrate 201 such as silicon
The wires 223 are formed at equal intervals along with the wiring through the same process as the semiconductor. Further, a resin layer is laminated between the heaters 223 to form partition walls 228, a liquid path forming member 227 on the plate is bonded onto each partition wall 228, and a top plate 2 made of glass or the like is formed thereon.
Nozzle 222 and liquid path 226 by joining 25
And a common liquid chamber 224 is formed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the principle of ink ejection from one nozzle of the recording head 2.

(A) shows a discharge standby state, 223a shows ink, and 223b shows a liquid path.

(B) shows a state in which the ink discharge heater 223 is heated by an electric signal to generate bubbles 223c.

In (c), the electric signal is continuously supplied to the heater 223.
The state that the bubble 223c is being applied to the cell 223c is growing.

(D) shows a state in which the droplet 223d of the ink 223a is ejected.

(E) shows a state in which the electric signal to the heater 223 is turned off and the ink 223a is refilled up to the ejection port of the nozzle.

In the above process, it is desired that the temperature rise of the heater 223 rises sharply and at the same time the temperature rise of the ink 223a near the heater 223 follows so that air bubbles are generated favorably. It is difficult to realize an ideal ejection state only by applying a single-phase electric pulse due to the characteristics of 1). Therefore,
Before heating the heater 223, a method of preliminarily maintaining the temperature around the nozzle 223b or a method of applying a pulse called a preheat pulse immediately before the main heat pulse for bubble generation is adopted.

Further, in such a printer device,
When the ink is not ejected for a long time, the ink in the ejection port of the nozzle or the liquid path communicating with the ejection port may thicken due to water evaporation. When such a thickened ink is filled in the liquid passage, the inside of the liquid passage is not suitable for ejection. That is, even if the heater 223 arranged in the liquid path is driven under a predetermined condition, the amount of ejected ink may not be constant and the quality of an image to be recorded may deteriorate. Further, such thickening of ink may cause ejection failure, and further, solidification of ink may cause ejection of ink. Therefore, in order to eliminate these inconveniences caused by using the liquid ink as the recording material, the printer device of this embodiment refreshes the inside of the liquid passage, which is unique to other printer devices. A means for bringing the ejection port forming surface into a good state, that is, an ejection recovery processing section of the recording head 2 is provided.

There are various configurations of these discharge recovery processing units. First, for refreshing the inside of the liquid passage,
The heater 223 is driven at a time other than the recording time so that a predetermined ink is supplied.
Some are ejected toward an ink receiving medium. Also,
There is also a system in which a predetermined pressure is applied to the liquid path to forcibly eject the ink from the ejection port by pressurizing the ink supply system or suctioning the ink from the ejection port. Further, as a means for refreshing the ejection port forming surface to prevent the deflection of the ejection direction, a wiping member that comes into contact with the ejection port forming surface is provided, and ink droplets and dust adhered to the vicinity of the ejection port by moving the both members relatively. There are things to wipe etc.

The recovery system as described above is constructed so as to operate after a predetermined standing time depending on the characteristics of the ink and the characteristics of the recording head 2.

FIG. 6 shows the printer device of this embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a scan process of the recording head 2 when performing color printing.

The number of yellow, magenta, and cyan nozzles 2Y, 2M, and 2C of the recording head 2 of this embodiment is 24, and the number of black nozzles 2Bk is 64.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of the printer apparatus of this embodiment.

In FIG. 10, the host computer 51
The image information sent from 0 is the image processor 5
12 and CPU 501 develops the image data, and stores the image data for each color in each of the image data storage buffer areas 5171 to 5174 of the RAM 517. This image data is processed by the CPU 501 and the image processor 512, and the carriage 1
The data corresponding to the nozzle arrangement direction, that is, the sub-scanning direction is taken out in accordance with the scanning of 1 and is sent to the head driver 520. Then, printing for 24 dots is performed in the sub-scanning direction. At this time, the black nozzle Bk is also 1
Only the 24th nozzle is used. When printing of 24 dots is completed, the recording medium is moved by 24 dots in the sub-scanning direction, and printing is performed by the recording head 2 again.

In the case of color printing, there are 24 head nozzles for each of cyan, magenta and yellow, so
Main scanning is performed every 24 nozzles. FIG. 7A shows an image data buffer 5171, 5172, 5173, 5
It represents the image data of one of the colors 174. FIG. 7B shows a state in which the image data has been printed up to 8 main scans.

By the way, in the recording head 2 of this embodiment, the nozzles of each color are arranged in a line. The number of nozzles is 24 for 2Y, 24 for 2M, and 2 for 2C.
It is 66 with 4 and 2 Bk. And the nozzles 2Y and 2M,
Nozzles 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2 are provided between the nozzles 2M and 2C.
Eight nozzles are provided at the same pitch as Bk.
Similarly, 16 nozzles are provided between the nozzles 2C and 2Bk. The scanning process shown in FIG. 6 is required in order to perform printing for every 24 nozzles by the recording head 2.

In FIG. 6, in one main scan, printing is performed using the first to 24th nozzles of the black nozzles 2Bk in the first row. Then, in the second main scanning, from the 17th nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C to the second row,
Print using up to the 4th nozzle. At this time, the first to 24th nozzles of the black nozzle 2Bk are 2
I am printing the line.

Next, in the third main scan, printing is performed using the first to 16th nozzles of the cyan nozzle 2C for the first row. At this time, the 17th nozzle to the 24th nozzle of the cyan head prints the third line.

Next, in the four main scans, printing is performed for the first line by using the 24 nozzles of the magenta nozzle 2M. At this time, 1 from the first nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C
The second line is printed up to the sixth nozzle. Further, the third line is printed from the 17th nozzle to the 24th nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C. Further, the first to 24th nozzles of the black nozzles 2Bk print on the fourth line.

In the next fifth main scan, printing is performed using the 9th to 24th nozzles of the yellow nozzle 2Y in the first row. At this time, printing is performed for the second line by using the 24 nozzles of the magenta nozzle 2M. 16 from the first nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C
The third line is printed up to the nozzle. 4 from the 17th nozzle to the 24th nozzle of cyan nozzle 2C
I am printing the line. Furthermore, the first to 24th nozzles of the black nozzles 2Bk print on the fifth line.

In the sixth main scan, printing is performed using the first to eighth nozzles of the yellow nozzles 2Y for the first row. At this time, for the second line, printing is performed using the 9th to 24th nozzles of the yellow nozzle 2Y. For the third line, printing is performed using 24 nozzles of the magenta nozzle 2M. Further, printing is performed on the fourth line from the first nozzle to the 16th nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C, and from the 17th nozzle to the 2nd nozzle of the cyan nozzle 2C.
The fifth line is printed up to the fourth nozzle. Further, the 6th line is printed from the first nozzle to the 25th nozzle of the black nozzle 2Bk.

By the above six scanning processes,
Color printing can be performed with a width of 24 nozzles.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the scanning process of the recording head 2 when printing a monochrome image.

The number of black nozzles 2Bk of the recording head 2 of this embodiment is 64. Host computer 51
The image information sent from 0 is the image processor 5
12 and CPU 501 develops the image data into image data and stores it in the image data storage buffer area 5174 of the RAM 517. By the processing of the CPU 501, 48 bits of this image data are taken out in accordance with the scanning of the carriage 1 in the nozzle arrangement direction of the black head, that is, in the sub-scanning direction, and are sent to the head driver 520.

FIG. 9A shows the data in the black image data buffer 5174. FIG. 9B shows a state in which the image data is being printed, that is, a scanning process. When printing of 48 dots is completed, the recording medium is moved in the sub-scanning direction by the recording width of 48 dots, and printing is performed again by the recording head 2.

As is clear from FIG. 8, the black nozzles 2Bk from the first nozzle to the 48th nozzle for each main scan are 48.
Printing is performed using the nozzle eyes, and the recording paper is moved in the paper discharge direction by the same pitch as the 48 nozzles.

By the above scanning process, a monochrome image can be printed with a width of 48 nozzles.

When the color print and the monochrome print are compared with each other, the monochrome print is printed with a double width in the sub-scanning direction as compared with the color print. That is, it can be seen that the print speed is doubled. Further, in the case of solid color printing, the number of nozzles on which printing is performed is 24 nozzles for cyan, 24 nozzles for magenta, 24 nozzles for yellow, and 24 nozzles for black, totaling 96 nozzles.
In contrast to the nozzles, the number of nozzles used in solid monochrome printing is 48, that is, half. Therefore, if the printing speed is the same for color printing and monochrome printing, the power consumption will be about half or less when monochrome printing is performed with this printer device (print speed and power consumption are
Since it is not always linear depending on the control method of the drive unit, "power consumption is less than half" for the time being).

Further, in FIG. 10, reference numeral 5011 denotes a commercial power source unit used as a power source of the printer apparatus of the present embodiment, 5
012 is also a battery unit using a secondary battery. 5
Reference numeral 013 is a voltage detection unit that detects whether the power source applied to the printer device is the commercial power source 5011 or the battery unit 5012. Commercial power supply 5 used in the printer device of this embodiment
011 is an open circuit voltage of about 14V, similarly the battery unit 501
The open circuit voltage of 2 is 7.2V. Voltage detector 5013
Notifies the CPU 501 of the difference in the power supply voltage, and the CPU 501 detects whether the power supply is the commercial power supply unit 5011 or the battery unit 5012, and determines the driving speed determined in advance for each of them. To print. The current detection unit 5014 detects the current flowing out from the battery unit 5012, and the remaining amount detection unit 5015
Calculates the discharge capacity of the battery consumed by the printer device by the product of the current consumption information of the current detection unit 5014 and time, and the calculated result is output to the CPU 501. An ID detection unit 5016 reads the ID attached to the secondary battery and outputs the ID to the CPU 501.

A CPU 501 controls the entire printer of this embodiment, and includes a circuit for independently performing macro processing such as data transfer. The operation unit 502 is operated by an operator to specify fonts, online / offline, Rheinford, and the like. The CPU 501 sends a response corresponding to the operation of the operation unit 502 to the LED display unit 5
03 and the display unit 515. The display unit 515 is L
It has a display element such as a CD and displays the font data, the presence or absence of ink, and other information. A ROM 504 stores a control program for the entire apparatus, a program for expanding character code into image data, image data for the character code, and the like.

The motor driver 505 is controlled by the CPU 501 and drives the carriage motor 506 which drives the carriage 1. 514 is a timer, CPU5
01 generates the timing required for control and the entire system clock of the logic circuit portion. It also has a timer or the like for measuring the clock necessary for the recovery process. Reference numeral 512 denotes an image processor.
Is the CPU 501 and the ROM 50 via the bus line 509.
4 transmits and receives image data and information relating to control of the entire printer. Bus line 509 is 8 bits or 1
It is a 6-bit parallel address data bus. The image processor 512 is connected to the CPU 5 via the bus line 509.
01 information transmission / reception of the timer 514, transmission of display information to the display unit 515, control of the motor driver 507 for driving the paper discharge motor 508, head control unit 519, and data transfer control unit. 51
6 control is performed.

Reference numeral 513 is a chip selector, which is a CPU 501.
It is determined which of the timer 514, the display unit 515, the motor driver 507, and the head control unit 519 data transfer control unit 516 is to selectively output the information transmitted from the bus line 509. A host computer 510 transfers image information to the printer device, and the image information is received via the external interface 511. The external interface 511 includes parallel data I / F typified by Centronics, serial data I / F typified by RS-232C, and the like. A RAM 517 temporarily stores data relating to control of the entire printer device, data obtained by expanding image information sent from the host computer 510 into image data, and the like. When the image data is color, the cyan data, magenta data, yellow data, and black data of the image data are RAM.
Cyan image buffer area 5171, magenta image buffer area 5172, yellow image buffer area 5173, and black image buffer area 5
It is stored in 174. A data transfer control unit 516 receives data from the external interface 511, the RAM 517, and the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518, respectively.
Direct transfer without going through. The head driver 520 receives the image data of each color as serial data through the transmission path. A data parallel conversion unit 518 rearranges the image data in series. Reference numeral 519 denotes a head controller that generates a pulse that gives an optimum ejection condition to the recording head 2. The head controller 519 includes a temperature sensor for controlling the temperature of the recording head 2.

FIG. 11 is an electrical block diagram showing the inside of the data transfer control unit 516.

In FIG. 11, 701 is an address bus inside the data transfer control unit 516, and 702 is the same data bus, each having an 8-bit width. When the data transfer control unit 516 is selected by the chip selector 513 of FIG.
According to the address data from U501 and the command accompanying it, the data parallel-serial conversion unit 518, RAM
Data is transferred between 517 and the external interface 511. 703 is an address register. Transfer source address data and transfer destination address data are received from the CPU 501. Then, the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518 and the RAM 51
7. Give a necessary address to the external interface 511. An address counter 704 adds or subtracts an address each time data is transferred. A byte counter register 705 counts the number of transferred bytes. A command decoder 706 interprets a transfer command included in the address from the CPU 501. 707 indicates the data transfer control unit 5 based on this command.
16 is a control unit for controlling the whole. A head access address generation unit 708 controls the image data stored in the RAM 517 into a data format suitable for the recording head 2.

Each of 710, 711, 712, and 713 is a buffer 5171, 5172, 5 of the RAM 517.
This is a latch for temporarily storing the image data of each color read from 173 and 5174 by the data transfer control unit 516 every 3 bytes according to each color. Here, 710 is for cyan, 711 is for magenta, 712 is for yellow, 713 is for black, and 714 is for latch 7.
This is a logical sum processing unit that calculates the logical sum of the 3-byte image data of 10,711,712,713.

FIG. 12 shows the head driver 520 of this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the detail of.

In FIG. 12, 223 indicates a heater,
They are arranged as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 6061 denotes a drive circuit for driving the black print head nozzle group, 6062 denotes a drive circuit for driving the cyan print head nozzle group, and 6063 denotes a drive circuit for driving the magenta print head nozzle group although not shown. A drive circuit 6064 drives the yellow print head nozzle group. A power transistor 602 drives the heater 223. 60
Reference numeral 3 is a gate circuit for generating the preheat pulse and the main heat pulse for printing described in the ejection recovery processing section by a gate (GATE: negative logic) signal. The preheat pulse and the main heat pulse are controlled by the head controller 519 shown in FIG. SI is a terminal for receiving the serial image data output from the data parallel-serial conversion unit 518, and this image data is synchronized with the timing signal input to the SCKI terminal.
It is stored in 05. Image data corresponding to that color is transferred to each circuit as serial data in the order of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. Then, the image data is transferred from the output terminal of the shift register 605 to the latch circuit 604. Further, this image data is latched by a latch circuit 60 by a LATI (latch: negative logic) signal.
Latched to 4. VH indicates a power supply terminal for supplying electric power to the heater. GND indicates a ground terminal for the heater driver.

FIG. 13 shows the arrangement of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black nozzle groups, that is, the arrangement of 2C, 2M, 2Y, and 2Bk, and the cyan image buffer area 5171, magenta image buffer area 5172, yellow image buffer area 5173, and black of the RAM 517. It is a figure which shows the concept of the arrangement | sequence of the data in the image buffer area 5174.

The image buffer area for each color is 8 dots ×
A band composed of 2880 dots is one unit. There are 3 bands for the 2C, 2M, and 2Y nozzle groups, and 8 bands for the 2Bk nozzle group. The 2880 dots correspond to the number of print dots in the lateral direction of the A4 size recording paper 6, that is, in the main scanning direction.

FIG. 14 shows the arrangement of dots in each band, focusing on the nozzle group 2C.

The image information sent from the host computer 510 is the CPU 501 and the image processor 51.
It is known in the above description that image data is expanded by the processing of No. 2. At this time, the image data is A4
The recording paper 6 of the plate is arranged so that one byte of 8 bits is arranged in the longitudinal direction, that is, the sub-scanning direction, and 2880 bytes are arranged in the lateral direction of the recording paper 6 of the A4 plate. Take this 1
Band data is formed. By the way, since each nozzle group is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the recording paper 6 of A4 size as shown in FIG. 3B, the image data of each image buffer area is, for example, the case of applying color image data.
It is sent to the head driver 520 in the following order. Yellow image buffer area 1st band 1st byte image data 2nd band 1st byte image data 3rd band 1st byte image data Magenta image buffer area 1st band 1st byte image data 2nd band 1st byte image data 3rd band 1st byte image data Cyan image buffer area 1st band 1st byte image data 2nd band 1st byte image data 3rd band 1st byte image data Black The image data of the 1st byte of the 1st band of the image buffer area of the 1st image of the 2nd byte of the 2nd band The image data of the 1st byte of the 3rd band of 2nd byte image data 2 van 2nd byte image data 3rd band 2nd byte image data Magenta image buffer area 1st band 2nd byte image data 2nd band 2nd byte image data 3rd band 2nd byte image data Cyan 2nd byte image data of 1 band 2nd byte image data of 2nd band 3rd byte image data of 3rd band 2nd byte image data of 1st band of black image buffer area 2nd byte image data The 3rd band 2nd byte image data is read in this order. This control is performed by the head access address generation unit 708. Up to the data transfer control unit 516, the image data is 8-bit parallel data. Since the head driver 520 receives the image data as serial data through the transmission line, the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518 converts the image data into serial data.

Next, the flow of image information associated with printing will be described.

The image information input from the host computer 510 via the external interface 511 may be a character code or image data. Moreover, these may be mixed.

The image information is transferred to the data transfer control unit 5
Address bus 701 and data bus 7 provided in 16
02, and further via the bus line 509 to the CPU
Sent to 501. The CPU 501 receives the control program data from the ROM 504 via the bus line 509, and if this image information is a character code, it reads the image data for the character code of the ROM 504 and stores it in the image buffer area of the RAM 517. Alternatively, image data corresponding to the character code is generated by a logic circuit (not shown). This image data is the bus line 50
9. The data is temporarily stored in the RAM 517 via the data transfer control unit 516. If this image information is originally image data, it is temporarily stored in the RAM 517 as it is.

At this time, if the image data is color image data. The cyan data, magenta data, yellow data, and black data of this image data are stored in the cyan image buffer area 5171, magenta image buffer area 5172, yellow image buffer area 5173, and black image buffer area 5174 of the RAM 517, respectively.

Data corresponding to the nozzles and directions of the recording head 2 is selected from the image data by the data transfer control unit 516 included in the image processor 512 and sent to the data serial / parallel conversion unit 518. Further, the serial data is sent to the head driver 520 and printed by the recording head 2. Based on the above configuration,
First, a means for detecting the remaining battery capacity of the battery unit 5012 will be described.

Generally, the discharge capacity can be expressed by the following equation.

Discharge capacity (Ah) = current (A) × time (h) The initial open circuit voltage of the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is the open circuit voltage when the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is fully charged. And This open circuit voltage is obtained by the characteristics of each secondary battery of the battery unit 5012.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the relationship between the open circuit voltage and the discharge capacity of the secondary battery.

The point that the discharge capacity sharply decreases as shown in FIG. 16 is also obtained by the characteristics of the secondary batteries of the battery unit 5012. With these things taken into consideration in advance, C1 in FIG. 16 is determined in that the printing operation of the printer apparatus of this embodiment is switched from color printing to monochrome.
That is, the discharge capacity of the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is C1.
When it falls below the range, the printer device selects monochrome printing and selects a state in which the printing speed is increased and efficient printing is possible.

In the present embodiment, for simplification, the printing frequency is 5.4 KHz, the driving frequency of the carriage is 901 PPS, the discharge motor is the same whether the secondary battery has a remaining capacity of C1 or more and C1 or less. The drive frequency of is set to 700PPS. When the print speed may be reduced, the print frequency, the drive frequency of the carriage, and the drive frequency of the paper discharge motor may be reduced according to the characteristics of the secondary battery. Also, C in FIG.
The point indicated by 2 indicates the remaining capacity when the open circuit voltage of the secondary battery reaches the limit voltage at which the printer device can normally operate. The secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is fully charged and used to prevent a memory effect, and is completely discharged and then charged and used.

By the way, the secondary battery may be removed from the printer device before it is completely discharged. Therefore, an ID (identification code) is attached to this secondary battery, and this battery is identified by the ID detection unit 5016,
If the ID is changed, the CPU 501 is notified as a signal that the secondary battery has been replaced. With this signal, the CPU 501 displays on the display unit 515 that the battery has been replaced by the user and notifies the user, and prompts the user to completely charge the original secondary battery. Alternatively, the printer device may be prohibited from operating using the battery unit 5012 as it is. Alternatively, the power source of the printer device may be automatically switched from the secondary battery to the commercial power source unit 5011.

Next, based on the above configuration, the battery unit 5
The processing when the remaining capacity of the secondary battery in 012 is below the remaining capacity required for the color printing operation of this printer will be described.

When the printer unit is continuously driven by the battery unit 5012, the consumed discharge capacity of the battery unit 5012 in FIG.
013 is monitored by the CPU 501 through the remaining amount detection unit 5015. The CPU 501 is the ROM 50
The data representing the discharge capacity C1 stored in No. 4 and the remaining capacity data of the battery section 5012 obtained by the remaining amount detection section 5015 are successively compared. Then, when the remaining capacity required for the color printing operation of the printer device is less than the remaining capacity, that is, when the discharge capacity exceeds C1 as shown in FIG. 16, the printer device notifies the user of the battery unit 5.
The display unit 515 displays a message prompting to replace the secondary battery 012 or charge the secondary battery.
Note that, in FIG. 16, V1 and V2 corresponding to the discharge capacities C1 and C2 represent open circuit voltages of the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012.

Further, when the user continues printing in this state, the CPU 501 outputs the monochrome print command signal S1 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 to the data transfer control section 521. As a result, the data transfer control unit 521 causes the RAM
517 buffers 5171, 5172, 5173, 51
The image data stored in 74 is not directly sent to the data parallel-serial conversion unit 518, but once latched 710, 7
Transfer to 11,712,713. Image data is sent to each of these latches in units of 3 bytes (24 dots) corresponding to each color. Latches 710, 711, 7
The image data stored in each of 12 and 713 is logically ORed by the logical OR processing unit 714 as it is,
The image data of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black is collected into the image data of one color. When the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518 needs the image data, the image data of the logical sum processing unit 714 is controlled by the data transfer processing unit 521.
8 is transferred.

The above timing is processed in time for the print frequency of the recording head 2. In the present embodiment, each of the latches 710, 711, 712, 713 is a 3-byte latch, but a data storage means having a larger capacity, that is, a D-RAM, an S-RAM, etc., can be ORed in a larger range. You can take it.

The image data of the logical sum processing unit 714 thus combined into one color may be sent to any head nozzle group, that is, any of 2C, 2M, 2Y, and 2Bk, and is printed in monochrome. . At this time,
As the nozzles of the recording head 2, 24 nozzles of one nozzle group are driven. When color printing is performed, as shown in the color print scanning process of FIG. 6, when solid printing is performed, 24 × 4 = 96 nozzles are driven.
Therefore, if only 24 nozzles are driven as in the present embodiment, the discharge capacity of the battery unit 5012 can be suppressed to 1/4.

Eventually, the image information including the color image sent from the host computer 510 is stored in the battery section 50.
When the discharge capacity of 12 is less than C1, color printing is performed, and when printing is continued even when the discharge capacity of the battery unit 5012 exceeds C1, the printer apparatus of this embodiment shifts to monochrome printing and prints. I do.

The above-mentioned discharge capacity C1 is set so that even if the printing shifts to monochrome, it will be completed when one recording sheet 6 is printed.

FIG. 17 shows the CPU 50 of the first embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a flowchart showing the operation executed by the control unit 1 and the control program for executing this processing is stored in the ROM 504.

In FIG. 17, the CPU 501 inputs the remaining amount data (discharge capacity) from the remaining amount detecting unit 5017 (step S1), and the remaining amount of the secondary battery mounted in the battery unit 5012 changes to the discharging capacity C1. It is checked whether the value is less than or equal to (step S2). If so, the process returns to step S1, but if the amount exceeding the discharge capacity C1 is discharged, the process proceeds to step S3, and a message to the effect that the battery is to be replaced is displayed on the display unit 515. Then, in step S4, the IDs of the secondary batteries are compared to check whether or not the secondary battery has been replaced. When the secondary battery has been replaced, the process proceeds to step S5, and a message is displayed to charge the battery that has been installed until then. To do.

When the battery is not replaced in step S4 and the printing is continued as it is, the process proceeds from step S6 to step S7, and the command signal S1 for instructing the monochrome printing is output to the data transfer control section 521. As a result, as described above, the logical sum of the data of the respective colors is obtained in the data transfer control unit 521, and the result is sent to the head driver through the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518.
Printing is performed using the heads of one color.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
Even if a secondary battery is used as the power source of the printer device,
There is no decrease even when compared with 011. Further, even if the discharge capacity is reduced, it is possible to perform printing so that the image can be confirmed in monochrome without a loss of the image during printing on one sheet of recording paper.

[Modification 1 of the first embodiment] Battery unit 50
In order to detect the remaining capacity of 12, there may be some means other than the means shown in FIG. Another means will be described with reference to FIG. For simplification, the description of the parts common to the first embodiment described above will be omitted.

The remaining amount detecting unit 5017 is the battery unit 501.
The open circuit voltage of the secondary battery of No. 2 is detected, and the battery unit 5
The remaining capacity of the secondary battery of 012 is obtained according to the initial open circuit voltage of the secondary battery. Here, the remaining capacity data for the open circuit voltage is stored in the ROM 504. Further, the current consumption amount according to the driving state of each part of the printer device can be calculated in advance, and the current consumption data for this driving condition is also stored in the ROM 504. As described above, the amount of decrease in the remaining capacity of the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is proportional to the product of the current consumption of the printer device and the time, and thus can be obtained based on the consumed current data.

Next, the operation will be described.

The remaining amount detecting unit 5017 is the battery unit 501.
The initial open circuit voltage of the secondary battery of No. 2 is detected and output to the CPU 501. From the open circuit voltage, the CPU 501 obtains the remaining capacity data based on the (open circuit voltage) pair (remaining capacity data of the secondary battery) stored in advance in the ROM 504 according to the characteristics of the secondary battery, and stores it in the RAM 517. CPU
Based on the remaining capacity data, 501 calculates a product of a consumption current that is obtained in advance according to a driving time of the printer device and a driving state of the printer device, and a RAM 517.
This product is subtracted from the remaining capacity of the secondary battery stored in.

From the above, the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is calculated. From the remaining capacity obtained here, the point C1 in FIG. 16 can be detected and the color printing can be switched to the monochrome printing in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing the processing for detecting the remaining battery level in this embodiment. The processing program for executing this processing is also stored in the ROM 504.

The open circuit voltage is input from the remaining amount detecting section 5015, the data of the ROM 504 is referred to based on the voltage value, and the remaining capacity of the secondary battery corresponding to the voltage is obtained. Next, in step S12, the product of the current consumption peculiar to this printer device and its drive time (measured by the timer 514) is calculated, and the electric power actually consumed by this printer device is calculated. Next, in step S13, the difference between the remaining capacity calculated in step S11 and the product calculated in step S12 is calculated to calculate the actual power consumption of the secondary battery.

[Modification 2 of the first embodiment] Battery unit 50
In order to detect the remaining capacity of 12, several means other than the above-mentioned means can be considered. Another means will be described with reference to FIG. For the sake of simplicity, the description of the parts common to the above-mentioned embodiment will be omitted.

A voltage detection unit 5018 detects whether the power source of the printer device is the commercial power source 5011 or the battery unit 5012 according to its output voltage. Furthermore, when a current flows from the battery unit 5012, a signal is transmitted to the remaining amount timer unit 5019. As a result, the remaining amount timer unit 50
19 can time the time when the secondary battery is used.

The remaining capacity of the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is obtained according to the initial open circuit voltage of the secondary battery. The data of the remaining capacity with respect to this open circuit voltage is stored in the ROM 50.
Store in 4. The current consumption amount according to the driving state of each part of the printer device can be calculated in advance. The consumption current data for the driving conditions is also stored in the ROM 504.
Stored in. Therefore, the decrease in the remaining capacity of the secondary battery in the battery unit 5012 is proportional to the product of the current consumption of the printer and the time.

Next, the operation will be described.

The printer device confirms that the fully-charged secondary battery is set in the battery unit 5012 by the ID detection unit 5
016 and the voltage detection unit 5018 detect that the CPU
501 reads predetermined time data obtained from the remaining capacity of the secondary battery with respect to the open circuit voltage from the ROM 504 and sets it in the remaining amount timer 5019. Voltage detector 50
When detecting that the current has flowed out from the battery unit 5012, 18 transmits a current detection signal to the remaining amount timer 5019. As a result, the remaining amount timer 5019 subtracts the time data set by the CPU 501 by the amount corresponding to the current consumption amount while the current detection signal is being transmitted.

By the above operation, the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is calculated. From the remaining capacity obtained here, C1 of FIG. 16 is detected in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, and color printing is switched to monochrome printing.

This embodiment is effective for a nickel-hydrogen battery in which the discharge capacity is large and the open-circuit voltage of the secondary battery with respect to the discharge capacity of the secondary battery is constant for a long time.

[Second Embodiment] Next, the configuration of the data transfer control unit 516 of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. here,
In the first embodiment described above, the latches 710, 711, 71
Each of 2 and 713 latches 3-bit data, but in this embodiment, each latch temporarily stores image data of each color in units of 6 bytes in accordance with each color. In response to this, buffer areas 5171, 5172, 5173, 51 for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black image data are stored in the RAM 517.
Each 74 has twice the capacity. Here, how the 6-byte data corresponds to the nozzle group of the recording head 2 will be described.

As described above, the number of nozzles of the yellow head, magenta head and cyan head is 24. Here, since 6-byte data corresponds to 48 dots,
The 6-byte data is data for two main scans for the yellow head, magenta head, and cyan head.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 21, the RAM 51
7 is a data area 517 capable of storing yellow, magenta, and cyan image data for two main scans.
1,5172, 5173, 5174 are secured. The black image data still requires 48 dots, but since the data area of the black image data is originally secured for 64 dots, it is not necessary to secure the data area. This will be clear when compared with FIG.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the arrangement of dots in each band focusing on the 2C nozzle group.

In the first embodiment described above, the battery section 501
When the remaining capacity of 2 is less than the value corresponding to C1, the image data is ORed with the data width of 24 nozzles, but in the second embodiment, the remaining capacity of the battery unit 5012 is C1.
When the value is smaller than the value corresponding to, the image data is ORed with the data width of 48 nozzles.

The processing when the remaining capacity of the battery unit 5012 is below the discharge capacity required for the color printing operation of this printer will be described.

When the printer unit is continuously driven by the battery unit 5012, the discharge capacity consumed by the battery unit 5012 in FIG.
013, monitored by the remaining amount detection unit 5015, and
The CPU 501 is the remaining capacity C stored in the ROM 504.
The data representing 1 and the remaining capacity data of the battery section 5012 obtained by the remaining amount detecting section 5015 are successively compared. When the remaining capacity required for the color printing operation of the printer device falls below C1, ie, below the above-mentioned C1, the printer device displays a message prompting the user to replace or charge the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012. To display.

Further, when the user continues printing,
The CPU 501 sends the monochrome print command signal S1 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 to the data transfer control unit 522. Then, the data transfer control unit 522 causes the buffer 51 of the RAM 523 to operate.
The image data stored in 71, 5172, 5173, 5174 is temporarily sent to the latches 710, 711, 712, 713 without being directly sent to the data parallel-serial conversion unit 518.
Transfer to. As a result, 6-byte image data corresponding to each color is sent. These latches 710, 7
The image data stored in 11,712,713 is
The logical sum processing unit 714 takes the logical sum as it is, and the image data of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black is collected into the image data of one color. Then, when the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518 needs the image data, the image data of the logical sum processing unit 724 is transferred by the data transfer unit 522. The above timing is processed in time for the print frequency of the recording head 2.

The image data of the logical sum processing unit 724, which has been grouped into one color, is sent to the head nozzle group of 2Bk, and the
Try to print in monochrome with 8 nozzles. As shown in the color print scanning process of FIG. 6 when color printing is performed, 24 × 4 when solid printing is performed
= 96 nozzles will be driven. Therefore, if only 48 nozzles are driven as in the present embodiment, the consumed discharge capacity of the battery unit 5012 can be reduced to half. However, the dot width for one main scan after shifting to monochrome printing is doubled. Therefore, the throughput is double that of the first embodiment described above. After all, the image information including the color image sent from the host computer 510 is color printed when the remaining capacity of the battery unit 5012 exceeds the value corresponding to C1. If printing is to be continued even when the remaining capacity of the battery unit 5012 falls below the value corresponding to C1, the printer apparatus of this embodiment performs monochrome printing.

The remaining capacity C1 is set so that the printing of one recording sheet 6 can be completed even if the printing shifts to monochrome.

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
Even if the power source of the printer device is the secondary battery all the time, the throughput does not decrease even when compared with the commercial power source unit 5011. Further, even if the discharge capacity is reduced, it is possible to record in such a manner that the image on one sheet of recording paper is not lost in the middle and can be confirmed in monochrome.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the data structure of a data transfer control unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The other structure is similar to that of the above-described embodiment. When the image information sent from the host computer 510 is text data, the background of the text is generally plain. However, the host computer 5
When the image information sent from 10 is image data,
The background is not always plain. Therefore, if the image information sent from the host computer 510 is a logical sum of image data, which is image data, printed in monochrome, there is a high possibility that it will become a monochrome solid image.
When such a situation occurs, all the nozzles of the recording head 2 during the printing period are driven, and furthermore, they are driven at a very high duty. In this case, a very large current is required, and the secondary battery of the battery unit 5012 is consumed in a very large amount.

Therefore, in the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 23, a null (NUll) data generator 730 is provided, and C
The image data is replaced with Null data (0) by the image data detection signal S2 from the PU 501.

The processing when the remaining capacity of the secondary battery in the battery section 5012 is lower than the remaining capacity necessary for the color printing operation of this printer will be described. Consider the case where the remaining amount of the secondary battery is detected as in the above-described embodiment, and when the remaining amount falls below a predetermined amount (a value corresponding to C1), the user further continues printing. In this case, CP
U501 sends a monochrome print command signal S1 to the data transfer control unit 516. As a result, the data transfer control unit 5
16 is a buffer 5171, 5172, of the RAM 517
The image data stored in 5173, 5174 is temporarily transferred to the latches 710, 711, 712, 713 without being sent directly to the data parallel-serial conversion unit 518. Image data of 6 bytes corresponding to each color is sent here. The image data stored in each of the latches 710, 711, 712, and 713 is logically ORed by the logical OR processing unit 724, and the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black image data are combined into one-color image data. Then, the data parallel / serial conversion unit 518
However, when image data is required, the logical sum processing unit 7
The 24 image data is transferred by the data transfer processing unit 516.

At this time, the image information sent from the host computer 510 is known in advance as an image data portion and a text data portion. So, based on this information,
The CPU 510 includes a data transfer control unit 516, that is, a control unit 707, latches 710, 711, 712, 713 and N.
control signals S1 and S2 required for the full data generator 730
, And when the image information sent from the host computer 510 is image data, Nu
Replace with ll data.

The above timing is processed in time for the print frequency of the recording head 2. In the present embodiment, each of the latches 710, 711, 712, 713 is a 6-byte latch, but a data storage means having a larger capacity, that is, a D-RAM, an S-RAM, or the like, can be ORed in a larger range. You can take

The image data of the logical sum processing section 724 thus combined into one color is sent to the head nozzle group of 2Bk and printed in monochrome with 48 nozzles. As shown in the color print scanning process of FIG. 6 when color printing is performed, 24 × 4 when solid printing is performed
= 96 nozzles will be driven. Therefore, if only 48 nozzles are driven as in this embodiment, the battery unit 5
The discharge capacity of 012 can be suppressed to about half.
However, the dot width for one main scan after shifting to monochrome printing is doubled. Therefore, the printing speed is about double that of the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the third embodiment,
Even if the power source of the printer device is the secondary battery all the time, the throughput does not decrease even when compared with the commercial power source unit 5011. Moreover, since the discharge capacity is not required as compared with the second embodiment, high throughput can be maintained for a long time. Further, even if the discharge capacity is reduced, it is possible to record in such a manner that the image on one sheet of recording paper is not lost in the middle and can be confirmed in monochrome. It should be noted that each of the above-described embodiments may be implemented alone or in combination.

The present invention is particularly provided with means for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) in the ink jet recording system, and by the thermal energy, The printing apparatus of the type that causes a change in the state of ink has been described. According to such a method, the recording density is increased,
High definition can be achieved.

Regarding its typical structure and principle, 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 the liquid crystal is held, which corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise exceeding film boiling. Since the electrothermal converter is caused to generate heat energy to cause film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, as a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the drive signal in a one-to-one relationship can be formed. It is valid. 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 grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a 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 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, The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the heat-acting surface is arranged in a bending region. In addition, for multiple electrothermal converters,
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670, which discloses a structure in which a common slot is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-63, which discloses a structure in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is associated with the discharge portion. A configuration based on Japanese Patent No. 138461 may be used.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium which 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, by being attached to the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by a replaceable chip type recording head or 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 for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention, because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. . Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suctioning means for the recording head, preheating means using an electrothermal converter or another heating element or a combination thereof, and recording. It is also effective to perform a stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which another discharge is performed.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only 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-color mixed colors.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower, or one that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used, or In the inkjet method, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself within a range of 30 ° C to 70 ° C to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. It is sufficient that the ink is liquid.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to the thermal energy from being used as the energy for the state change of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state,
Alternatively, in order to prevent the ink from evaporating, an ink that solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, by applying heat energy, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat 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 such a case, the ink is retained as a liquid or solid in the recesses or through holes of the porous sheet as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260. It may be configured to face the electrothermal converter. 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, in addition to the one provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and further transmission / reception It may take the form of a facsimile machine having a function.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the power source of the printer device is a secondary battery, when the remaining capacity of the secondary battery is high, the drive frequency is the same as when the power source of the device is a commercial power source. You can print by increasing the printing speed by operating the device.

Further, even if the discharge capacity of the secondary battery is reduced, the image to be recorded on the recording paper can be confirmed by continuing the monochrome printing.

[0125]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that an image can be formed at high speed even when a battery is used as a power source. Further, even if the battery capacity is reduced, there is an effect that at least the content of the formed image can be confirmed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an external shape of the entire printer device of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a carriage mounted in the printer device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a print head mounted in the printer device of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view showing the internal structure of the print head mounted in the printer device of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the ejection principle of the print head in the printer device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a scanning process when performing color printing in the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a scanning process when performing color printing in the printer device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a scan process when performing monochrome printing in the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a scan process when performing monochrome printing in the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing in detail the configuration of a data transfer control unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a driver circuit of the print head of the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the concept of a print head nozzle and a buffer for storing image data for the nozzle in the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the concept of the nozzles of the print head of this embodiment and the corresponding bits in the image data buffer.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing discharge characteristics of a general secondary battery.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a change in discharge capacity characteristic of a secondary battery.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of the CPU of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer device according to a modified example 1 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a process in a modified example 1 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a nozzle of the recording head according to the second embodiment,
It is a figure which shows the concept of the buffer which stores the image data with respect to it.

FIG. 22 is a nozzle of the recording head in the second embodiment,
It is a figure which shows the correspondence with the bit of image data with respect to it.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 carriage 2 recording head 501 CPU 510 host computer 518 data parallel / serial conversion unit 516 data transfer control unit 707 control unit 710, 711, 712, 713 latch 714 logical sum processing unit 5011 commercial power supply unit 5012 battery unit 5013 voltage detection unit 5014 current Detection unit 5015 Remaining amount detection unit 5016 ID detection unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for forming a color image on a recording medium using a recording head, comprising: determining means for determining whether or not a power source is a battery; and the determining means for determining that the power source is a battery. Once judged,
A detection unit that detects the remaining battery level, a conversion unit that converts the color print data into monochrome data when the remaining battery level detected by the detection unit is less than a predetermined value, and the monochrome data converted by the conversion unit. And an image forming unit that forms an image in a single color based on the image forming apparatus. 2. The detecting means obtains the remaining amount of the battery based on the open output voltage of the battery, calculates the power actually consumed by the power consumption of the device and the drive time, and calculates from the remaining amount. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the remaining battery level is obtained by subtraction. 3. A data discriminating means for discriminating whether the color print data is text data or image data, and when the color print data is discriminated as image data, the background data is erased. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink. 5. The recording head is a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is provided with a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 4. The image forming apparatus according to item 4. 6. An image forming method in an image forming apparatus for forming a color image on a recording medium using a recording head, comprising: determining whether a power source is a battery and determining that the power source is a battery. And an image forming method, wherein the remaining battery level is detected, and when the detected remaining battery level is less than or equal to a predetermined value, color print data is converted into monochrome data to form an image in a single color.