JPH09104121A - Ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly calculate and control the residual amt. of the waste ink housed in a waste ink tank. SOLUTION: A CPU 100 calculates the evaporation amt. of the waste ink housed in a waste ink tank from the difference between the evaporation calculation time calculating the quantity of the evaporation of waste ink of the previous time stored in an EEPROM 103 and the present time by an RTC 104 and stores a value obtained by subtracting the quantity of evaporation from the residual quantity of the waste ink stored in the EEPROM 103 ant the time at a time of the calculation of the quantity of the waste ink in the EEPROM 103. When the RTC 104 is stopped, the quantity of the evaporation of the waste ink is not calculated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technical field of an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by ejecting recording ink from a recording head toward a recording medium, and particularly, ink ejected from the recording head for other than recording. The present invention also belongs to the technical field of managing the remaining amount of waste ink remaining in the containing means for containing the waste ink discharged from the recovery means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In various devices such as computers, word processors, facsimile machines, copying machines and printers,
As a means for recording on a recording medium such as paper, an inkjet recording apparatus is being widely used because it can perform high-speed recording without generating noise and can easily record a color image.

A recording head provided in an ink jet recording apparatus has a structure in which a character or an image image is recorded on the recording medium by ejecting ink from a position facing the recording medium by inputting a signal current from the ink jet recording apparatus. ing.

In an ink jet recording type recording apparatus for recording by ejecting ink from a recording head onto a recording medium, in order to avoid clogging of the recording head,
In addition to the recording operation, a preliminary ejection operation for ejecting ink and a recovery operation for sucking ink from the recording head are performed.
The ink discharged at this time is called waste ink, and has a waste ink tank that stores this waste ink. Also, the total amount of remaining ink stored in the waste ink tank is managed, and when the total amount of remaining ink exceeds a specified amount, a warning message is displayed to the user, or the recovery operation is performed. Are controlled to ban.

By the way, since a part of the waste ink in the waste ink tank evaporates with the lapse of time, the evaporation calculation of the waste ink is performed as a function of the elapsed time, and the total amount of the waste ink remaining in the waste ink tank is calculated. Has adopted a more accurate method.

[0006]

However, in the above method, when the power of the timer as the time management means is down or the battery for the timer power backup runs out, the time used as the basis for the evaporation calculation is set. In the case of a recording device in which information is lost or the time can be set, incorrect time information may be written due to a user's operation error. In this case, the evaporation calculation may not be performed correctly, and the remaining amount of the waste ink stored in the waste ink tank may not be correctly determined.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an ink jet recording apparatus capable of appropriately calculating and managing the remaining amount of waste ink stored in a waste ink tank provided in the ink jet recording apparatus. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention achieves the above object by the following means.

(1) A recording head that ejects recording ink toward a recording medium to perform recording, a recovery unit that performs recovery processing of the ejection function of the recording head, and ejection from the recording head for purposes other than recording. Storing means for storing the discharged ink and the waste ink discharged for other than recording such as the ink discharged from the recovery means, and a remaining amount storing means for storing the remaining amount of the waste ink remaining in the storing means. A time measuring means for measuring the time, a time storing means for storing the time, an evaporation amount calculating means for calculating the evaporation amount of the waste ink stored in the storing means, and a control means for controlling the respective means. In the inkjet recording device provided, the control means controls the evaporation amount calculation means from a difference between an evaporation calculation time at which the previous evaporation amount of waste ink stored in the time storage means is calculated and a current time. Then, the evaporation amount of the waste ink stored in the storage means is calculated, and a value obtained by subtracting the evaporation amount from the remaining amount of waste ink stored in the remaining amount storage means is stored in the remaining amount storage means. Further, the waste ink residual amount management control for storing the time at the time of calculating the amount of evaporation of the waste ink in the time storage means is performed, and the amount of waste ink evaporation is calculated while the time measuring means is stopped. Inkjet recording apparatus characterized by not having.

(2) The waste ink residual amount management control by the control means calculates the waste ink evaporation amount when it is detected that the time measuring means has stopped after the previous calculation of the waste ink evaporation amount. Above (1) characterized by no lines
The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims.

(3) The time measuring means has a time setting means for setting the time, and the waste ink residual amount management control by the control means is performed by the time setting means after the previous calculation of the waste ink evaporation amount. The inkjet recording apparatus described in (1) is characterized in that when the time is set, the waste ink evaporation amount is not calculated.

(4) In the waste ink remaining amount management control by the control means, the difference between the time set by the time setting means and the previous calculation time of the waste ink evaporation amount stored in the time storage means is specified. When the value is within the range, the inkjet recording apparatus described in (1) is characterized in that the waste ink evaporation amount is calculated.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art. According to the present invention, the time information is stopped or changed in the waste ink residual amount management control system of the recording apparatus. It is possible to know an appropriate remaining amount of the waste ink by changing the calculation method such as controlling to detect that the waste ink has been evaporated, and not calculating the evaporation of the waste ink if it is detected.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the CPU 100 executes various control procedures. The ROM 101 stores the control procedure of the CPU 100, data, and the like. The RAM 102 is the CPU 10
It is used as a work area in the control execution of 0. E
The EPROM 103 is an electrically erasable ROM, and the data stored therein is retained even when the power of the apparatus itself is turned off. In the present embodiment, the waste ink stored in the waste ink storage means is stored. The remaining amount, the time when the evaporation of the waste ink is calculated, and the like are stored. RTC
104 is a clock that manages time (REAL TIME CONTROLL
ER), which is connected to the CPU 100 and transmits the current time to the CPU 100.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a recording head for ejecting ink onto the recording medium to perform recording, 106 denotes a paper feed motor for driving the recording medium, a carrier motor for moving the recording head 105, and recovery of the recording head 105. Is a motor driver for controlling a pump motor and the like for driving a recovery system for

Reference numeral 107 denotes a sensor for detecting the position of the recording medium, a sensor for detecting the position of the carrier on which the recording head 105 is mounted, a sensor for detecting the temperature in the recording apparatus, and the like.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a key for switching various modes of recording, for example, paper size, recording quality, recording font, etc., and 109 denotes a display for displaying the contents input by the key 108, error messages and the like. Is.

Reference numeral 110 is an interface for connecting the CPU 100 to an external host device.

[First Embodiment] The contents of control of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

When a recording start command is received from the host outside the printing apparatus in step S101, it is determined in step S102 whether the print head 105 of the printing apparatus needs a recovery operation. Generally, when a certain time or more has elapsed from the previous recovery operation, the recording nozzle portion of the recording head 105 may be stuck, so the recovery operation needs to be performed. If it is determined in step S102 that the print head needs a recovery operation, the recovery operation is performed in step S103.

Next, in step S104, it is judged whether or not the RTC 104, which is the time management means of the recording apparatus, is operating. If it is confirmed that the RTC 104 is operating, the process proceeds to step S105, and the evaporation amount of the waste ink. Calculate. The amount of evaporation is calculated from the difference between the previous time of waste ink evaporation calculation stored in the EEPROM 103 and the current time indicated by the RTC 104, using a calculation formula using a preset time as a function, and step S10
At 6, the current time is written in the EEPROM 103.

Next, in step S107, EEPRO
The evaporation amount of the waste ink calculated in step S105 is subtracted from the residual amount of the waste ink stored in M103, and the value is written in the EEPROM 103 as the residual amount of the waste ink.

After that, in step S108, the amount of waste ink discharged by the recovery operation performed in step S103 is added to the value of the residual amount of waste ink written in the EEPROM 103.

With the above, a series of recovery operations and calculation of the amount of evaporation of waste ink are completed, and the recording operation is started in step S109.

If it is determined that the recovery operation is unnecessary in step S102, the process immediately proceeds to step S109 to start the recording operation.

Further, in step S104, the RTC 104
If it is determined that is not operating, step S1
05, S106 and S107 are omitted, the process immediately proceeds to step S108, and the remaining amount of waste ink is rewritten.

As is apparent from the above description, in this embodiment, the evaporation amount of the waste ink is calculated while judging the operating state of the RTC 104 which is the time management means.
When C104 is stopped, the control is such that the amount of evaporation of the waste ink is not calculated, so inaccurate calculation is not performed.

[Second Embodiment] The control contents of the second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Since the control configuration is the block configuration shown in FIG. 1, it will be described with reference to FIG.

When a recording start command is received from the host outside the printing apparatus in step S201, it is determined in step S202 whether the print head 105 of the printing apparatus needs a recovery operation. Generally, when a certain time or more has elapsed from the previous recovery operation, the recording nozzle portion of the recording head 105 may be stuck, so the recovery operation needs to be performed. If it is determined in step S202 that the print head needs a recovery operation, the recovery operation is performed in step S203.

Next, in step S204, it is determined whether the RTC 104, which is the time management means of the recording apparatus, has been stopped. If the RTC stops, RT
The C stop flag is turned on. If it can be confirmed that the RTC stop flag is off, step S205.
At, the amount of evaporation of the waste ink is calculated. The calculation of the evaporation amount is performed by a calculation formula from the difference between the time of the previous waste ink evaporation calculation stored in the EEPROM 103 and the current time indicated by the RTC 104.

Next, in step S206, EEPRO
From the remaining amount of waste ink stored in M103, step S2
The evaporation amount of the waste ink calculated in 05 is subtracted, and the value is written in the EEPROM 103 as the residual amount of the waste ink.

Next, in step S207, step S
The amount of waste ink ejected by the recovery operation performed in 203 is added to the value of the residual amount of waste ink written in the EEPROM 103.

Next, in step S208, the present time is written in the EEPROM 103 as the waste ink evaporation calculation time.

As described above, the series of recovery operations and the calculation of the amount of waste ink evaporation are completed, and the recording operation is started in step S209.

If it is determined that the recovery operation is unnecessary in step S202, the process immediately proceeds to step S209 to start the recording operation.

If the RTC stop flag is ON in step S204, the R flag is set in step S210.
After turning off the TC stop flag, step S205,
Immediately after step S206 is omitted, the process proceeds to step S207, and the remaining amount of waste ink is rewritten.

As is clear from the above description, in this embodiment, when the RTC 104, which is the time management means, has been stopped between the previous calculation of the waste ink evaporation amount and the present time, the waste ink Since the control is such that the evaporation amount is not calculated, inaccurate calculation is not performed.

[Third Embodiment] The contents of the control of the third embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Since this embodiment is similar to the above-mentioned embodiment, only different points will be described.

In step S301 (the same steps as S103 and S203), the recovery operation is performed on the recording head.

Next, in step S302, the RTC 104, which is the time management means of the recording device, sets the key 10 of the recording device.
It is determined whether or not the setting has been changed or set by the host. Note that the time setting flag is turned ON when the time is set. If it is confirmed that the time setting flag is off, the process proceeds to step S303 to calculate the evaporation amount of the waste ink. The calculation of the evaporation amount is performed by a calculation formula from the difference between the time of the previous waste ink evaporation calculation stored in the EEPROM 103 and the current time indicated by the RTC 104.

Next, in step S304, EEPRO
From the remaining amount of waste ink stored in M103, step S3
The evaporation amount of the waste ink calculated in 03 is subtracted, and the value is written in the EEPROM 103 as the residual amount of the waste ink.

Next, in step S305, step S
The amount of waste ink discharged by the recovery operation performed in step 301 is added to the value of the remaining amount of waste ink written in the EEPROM 103.

If the time setting flag is turned on in step S302, the time setting flag is turned off in step S306, and then steps S303 and S3 are performed.
04 is omitted and the process immediately proceeds to step S305.
Rewrite the amount of waste ink.

As is apparent from the above description, in the present embodiment, when the contents of the RTC 104, which is the time management means, has been changed between the last waste ink evaporation amount calculation and the present time, Since the control is such that the amount of evaporation of waste ink is not calculated, inaccurate calculation is not performed.

[Fourth Embodiment] The control contents of the fourth embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Since this embodiment is similar to the above-mentioned embodiment, only different points will be described.

In step S401 (the same step as S301), the recovery operation is performed on the recording head.

Next, in step S402, the RTC 104, which is the time management means of the recording device, sets the key 10 of the recording device.
8 or the host determines whether or not the time setting flag has been changed (when the time is set, the time setting flag is turned on), and if it is confirmed that the time setting flag is off, the process proceeds to step S403. Calculate the evaporation amount of. The calculation of the evaporation amount is performed by a calculation formula from the difference between the time of the previous waste ink evaporation calculation stored in the EEPROM 103 and the current time indicated by the RTC 104. Next, in step S404, the evaporation amount of the waste ink calculated in step S403 is subtracted from the residual amount of the waste ink stored in the EEPROM 103, and the value is written in the EEPROM 103 as the residual amount of the waste ink.

Next, in step S405, step S
The amount of waste ink discharged by the recovery operation performed in step 401 is added to the value of the remaining amount of waste ink written in the EEPROM 103.

If the time setting flag is ON in step S402, the process proceeds to step S406.
It is determined whether the value of the time difference between the present time and the previous waste ink evaporation calculation time is within a preset range. If this value is within the set range, the process proceeds to step S403 to perform the evaporation calculation, and then the same control as described above is performed. On the other hand, if the value of the time difference is not within the set range, the time setting flag is turned off in step S407, then the process proceeds to step S405, and the same control as described above is performed.

The set value x is set to a positive value in a range where the amount of evaporation of waste ink is small.

As is apparent from the above description, in this embodiment, even if the contents of the RTC 104, which is the time management means, has been changed, the value obtained by subtracting the previous calculation time from the current time is a positive value. If it is small, the amount of evaporation is small even if the evaporation calculation is performed, so that there is no problem in using the recording apparatus.

[0054]

As is apparent from the description of the embodiments of the present invention, according to the present invention, when the time information managed by the time measuring means is unstable or inappropriate time information is set. In addition, by not calculating the evaporation amount of the waste ink, it is possible to appropriately manage the remaining amount of the waste ink.

In the description of the embodiment, the evaporation calculation of the waste ink is performed when the recovery operation is performed. However, the evaporation calculation is performed when the recording apparatus is powered on or when the recording head does not perform recording. It may be performed when ink is ejected for the above purpose or when the host device enters a specific state for recording.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording control portion of a recording apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 CPU 102 RAM 103 EEPROM 104 RTC 105 Recording Head 106 Motor Driver 107 Sensor 108 Key 109 Display 110 Interface

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording head that ejects recording ink toward a recording medium to perform recording, a recovery unit that performs recovery processing of the ejection function of the recording head, and ejection from the recording head for purposes other than recording. Storage means for storing the waste ink discharged for recording other than recording of the ink and the ink discharged from the recovery means, and a remaining amount storage means for storing the remaining amount of the waste ink remaining in the storing means, A time measuring means for measuring the time, a time storing means for storing the time, an evaporation amount calculating means for calculating the evaporation amount of the waste ink accommodated in the accommodating means, and a control means for controlling the respective means. In the ink jet recording apparatus, the control means may calculate the evaporation amount calculation means from a difference between an evaporation calculation time at which the previous evaporation amount of the waste ink stored in the time storage means is calculated and a current time. Calculates the evaporation amount of the waste ink stored in the storage means, and stores a value obtained by subtracting the evaporation amount from the remaining amount of the waste ink stored in the remaining amount storage means in the remaining amount storage means, In addition, the waste ink residual amount management control for storing the time at the time of calculating the amount of evaporation of the waste ink in the time storage means is performed. While the time measuring means is stopped, the calculation of the waste ink evaporation amount is not performed. An inkjet recording device characterized by not having. 2. The waste ink remaining amount management control by the control unit calculates the waste ink evaporation amount when it is detected that the time measuring unit has stopped after the previous calculation of the waste ink evaporation amount. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is not provided. 3. The time measuring means has a time setting means for setting the time, and the waste ink remaining amount management control by the control means is performed by the time setting means after the last waste ink evaporation amount is calculated. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste ink evaporation amount is not calculated when is set. 4. In the waste ink residual amount management control by the control means, a difference between a time set by the time setting means and a previous calculation time of the waste ink evaporation amount stored in the time storage means is specified. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the value is within a range, the waste ink evaporation amount is calculated.