JPH09136410A - Ink-jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent data from being missed when ink is used up before completing printing. SOLUTION: The apparatus is loaded to a facsimile apparatus capable of receiving data from the other party. The apparatus is provided with an ink-jet recording apparatus main body 30 which blows ink from an ink-jet head 31 at least to a header part 6a of a paper 6 thereby to form a first marking 52a, an abnormality detection sensor 16 for reading the marking 52a formed by the main body 30, and a control part 40 for detecting when the ink is consumed or a nozzle clogs from the reading result of the abnormality detection sensor 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for printing by ejecting ink onto a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile apparatus has a recording device capable of printing data such as characters and figures transmitted from a partner on a paper so as to record the data as visual information. Various recording methods such as an impact method, a heat-sensitive method, and an ink-jet method are adopted for this recording apparatus. In recent years, an ink-jet method which is excellent in quietness and can print on paper of various materials is adopted. Attention has been paid to an ink jet recording apparatus that has been used.

In the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, an ink jet head having a large number of nozzles and a paper are arranged so as to face each other, and ink is ejected from the nozzles corresponding to output data and sprayed onto the paper while the ink jet head is main-scanned. According to this, characters and figures are printed on paper. Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus that prints by such an operation maintains the initial print density until just before the entire amount of ink is consumed, and good reading is possible. It becomes impossible to read without being able to do it. Therefore, when the present invention is applied to a facsimile machine that operates even when an operator is absent, it is extremely important to detect ink shortage so as to prevent loss of received data by switching from the print output mode to the alternate reception mode when ink runs out. It has become a thing. Detection of nozzle clogging is also important.

Therefore, the conventional ink jet recording apparatus is equipped with an ink empty detecting sensor consisting of an optical sensor capable of detecting the ink sprayed on the paper, and the header portion at the leading end position of the paper and the footer portion at the trailing end position. Ink is sprayed on the ink to form a marking, and the presence or absence of this marking is read through a sensor to detect ink shortage.

[0005]

However, in the case of the construction in which the marking is formed on the header portion of the paper to detect the ink depletion as in the above-mentioned conventional method, the ink depletion occurs during printing after the marking of the header portion is detected. In this case, there is a problem that the data from the time when the ink runs out until the time when the ink runs out is detected by the marking on the header of the next paper is lost.

On the other hand, in the case where the marking is formed on the footer portion of the paper to detect the ink shortage, the ink shortage cannot be detected until the marking is formed on the footer portion and read by the sensor. When the ink runs out, there is a problem that the data from the ink runout until the ink runout is detected by the marking of the footer is lost.

Therefore, the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of preventing data loss when ink runs out or nozzle clogging occurs during printing.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is an ink jet recording apparatus mounted on a facsimile apparatus capable of receiving data from a partner, and from the ink jet head to the header portion of the paper. Printing means for spraying ink onto the footer and the footer to form markings respectively, reading means for reading both markings formed by the printing means, and detection of ink shortage or nozzle clogging based on the reading result of the reading means It is characterized by including an abnormality detecting means.

According to this structure, marking is formed on the header portion and the footer portion of the paper, respectively, and ink depletion or nozzle clogging is detected by these markings. In this case, it is possible to prevent the loss of data.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the reading means according to claim 1 is movable together with the printing means. According to this configuration, the reading result of the reading unit can be obtained immediately after the marking is formed by moving the reading unit together with the ink jet head, so that it is possible to quickly perform the procedure in the case of ink shortage or the like. it can.

Further, the invention of claim 3 is characterized in that the marking of the header part of claim 1 includes at least one of destination information and reception time information of data reception. According to this configuration, the destination information and the reception time information printed on the header portion are used as the marking for detecting the ink shortage even during the normal use, and therefore the marking for the ink shortage detection is newly added. It becomes unnecessary to form.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet recording apparatus according to this embodiment is built in a facsimile apparatus. The facsimile apparatus has an apparatus main body 1 having a lower cover 2 and an upper cover 3 serving as a housing, and a receiver 4 arranged on a side of the apparatus main body 1.
As shown in FIG. 3, the main body 1 of the apparatus has a document feeding device 21 that takes in the document 20 from above the upper cover 3 and then discharges it from the opening 3a, and an image of the document 20 conveyed by the document feeding device 21. And an image reading device 22 for reading the sheet, and a sheet cassette 5 detachably provided from the front surface (the left side surface in the drawing) of the lower cover 2.

The above-mentioned paper cassette 5 has a large number of papers 6
Are stacked and accommodated. These sheets 6 are urged upward at the front end side of the sheet cassette 5 located on the right side in the figure, and the uppermost sheet 6 is placed in the sheet cassette 5.
The sheet feeding roller 7 is provided in the vicinity of the sheet feeding port 5a.

The paper feed roller 7 is adapted to feed the paper 6 in the paper cassette 5 to the paper feeding device 8 from the paper feed port 5a. The paper feeding device 8 that feeds the paper 6 includes a paper leading edge detection sensor 11 that detects the leading edge of the paper 6, a curved paper guide 9 that regulates the feeding direction of the paper 6, and a paper feeding that feeds the paper 6. The paper 6 is conveyed by the paper feed roller 10 to the discharge roller 55 through the printing unit 12 by the paper feed roller 10. And the printing unit 1
From the position 2 to the unloading side of the paper 6, the paper guide 14 that regulates the traveling direction of the printed paper 6 and the paper 6 that is transported along the platen 13 and discharged to the outside by the discharge roller 55 is supported. The paper discharge table 15 is arranged in this order. The paper discharge table 15 also serves as a lid for the paper cassette 5.

The printing unit 12 includes a platen 13 also serving as a chute mounted between the paper feed roller 10 and the discharge roller 55, and an ink jet recording apparatus main body 30 (printing means) for spraying ink onto the paper 6 for printing. ) And have. As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet recording apparatus main body 30 includes an inkjet head 31 that ejects ink.
A carriage 32 joined to the inkjet head 31, guide members 34a and 34b for supporting the carriage 32 movably in the main scanning direction X, and a carriage 32 in the main scanning direction X along the guide members 34a and 34b. And a traveling mechanism 33 for reciprocating (main scanning).

The above ink jet head 31 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the piezoelectric element has a plurality of nozzles 31b ... Which eject ink by driving the piezoelectric element. Note that the inkjet head 31 may eject ink by a bubble method. The nozzles 31b ... Are arranged at regular intervals in the sub-scanning direction Y orthogonal to the main scanning direction X, and the nozzle numbers P (0) to P (N) can be individually specified. Is set.
The ink jet head 31 has the nozzle surface 31a formed with these nozzles 31b ... Faced so as to be parallel to the paper 6, and the ink ejected from each nozzle 31b. It is designed to spray vertically. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, in the printing unit 12, the main scanning of the inkjet head 31 by the inkjet recording apparatus main body 30 and the sub-scanning of the paper 6 by the paper feed roller 10 are repeated, so that the paper 6 is scanned. Black dots are printed by spraying ink on the entire surface or a part of the surface.

As shown in FIG. 1, an ink emptyness detecting sensor 16 (reading means) capable of reading the average density of the detection light irradiation area is fixedly mounted on the carriage 32 which supports the ink jet head 31. . Then, the ink emptyness detection sensor 16 moves together with the inkjet head 31 that is main-scanned, and the inkjet head 31 includes the first and second markings 52a and 52b for detecting ink shortage or nozzle clogging in the header portion 6a and the footer portion 6b. Immediately after forming each,
The densities of the markings 52a and 52b are read and output to the sensor signal input unit 41.

Various sensors such as the above-described sensor 11 for detecting the leading edge of the sheet in FIG. 3 are connected to the sensor signal input section 41 to which the densities of the markings 52a and 52b are input.
Then, the sensor signal input unit 41 converts the signals from these sensors into a signal form suitable for information processing and controls the control unit 4.
It is adapted to output to 0 (abnormality detection means). A key input unit 42 arranged on the front surface side of the upper cover 3 in FIG. 2 is connected to the control unit 40, and various kinds of keypad data, function data, mode designation data and the like are input from the key input unit 42. Data will be input.

Further, the control unit 40 includes a head drive unit 4
3 and the display unit 44 are connected, and the head drive unit 4
When the black dot output data is input from the control unit 40, the nozzle 3 has the nozzle number 3 corresponding to the output data.
A drive voltage is applied to 1b. The display unit 44 is composed of a liquid crystal display device, and displays the control result and the control content on the screen based on the display data from the control unit 40.

The control unit 40 has a calculation unit and a storage unit (not shown). Various data areas such as an output data storage area, a proxy reception data storage area, and a page data storage area are formed in the storage section. The output data storage area is the nozzle number P (0) of the inkjet head 31.
To P (N) and a main scanning direction address corresponding to the main scanning direction of the inkjet head 31, the data table includes one band (row) for main scanning of the inkjet head 31. ) Minutes of output data is stored. The substitute reception data storage area stores the reception data when the recording device cannot print due to ink shortage or paper shortage. The page data storage area is adapted to store one page of output data from the header portion 6a to the footer portion 6b during print output. In addition, the storage unit stores a control program such as an ink shortage detection routine, which will be described later, so that the apparatus body 1, the inkjet recording apparatus body 30, and the like perform various processing operations.

In the above structure, when the facsimile device receives data, the ink shortage detection routine of FIG. 5 is executed. That is, the print output mode is selected so as to start printing on the paper 6.
First, output data for forming the first marking 52a for detection of ink shortage, output data showing reception time information such as reception time and date, and destination information such as sender name and telephone number are shown. The output data and the output data will be written to the output data storage area. After that, while the inkjet head 31 is main-scanned, the output data in the output data storage area is output to the head drive unit 43, whereby ink is ejected from the nozzles 31b ... Of the inkjet head 31 to receive the first marking 52a and the reception. The time and the destination information are printed on the header portion 6a of the paper 6 (S1).

When the ink jet head 31 is main-scanned, the carriage 3 supporting the ink jet head 31.
The abnormality detection sensor 16 provided on the second carriage 2 also moves in the main scanning direction X together with the inkjet head 31.
The detection light irradiation area of the abnormality detection sensor 16 and the first
At the timing when the formation position of the marking 52a coincides, the average density of the detection light irradiation region is the first marking 5
The density of 2a is read via the sensor signal input unit 41, and this density is compared with a predetermined value to determine whether or not the first marking 52a is detected (S2).

When it is determined that the first marking 52a is not detected because the density of the first marking 52a is less than the predetermined value (S2, NO), the subsequent reception data is stored in the substitute reception data storage area. As described above, the print output mode is switched to the interception reception mode (S
7). Then, to inform the operator of the ink shortage, the display unit 44 displays that the ink is low (S).
After 8), this routine is ended. On the other hand, if it is determined in S2 that the first marking 52a is detected (S2, YES), the print output mode is continued, and the received data is expanded in the output data storage area and printed on the paper 6. While the above is repeatedly performed, the data in the output data storage area is sequentially stored in the page data storage area (S3).

After this, printing of the received data for one page is completed, and the sub-scanning of the paper 6 causes the ink jet head 3 to move.
When 1 is positioned on the footer portion 6b of the paper 6, the output data for forming the second marking 52b for detecting ink shortage is written in the output data storage area. Then, while the inkjet head 31 is main-scanned, the output data in the output data storage area is output to the head drive unit 43, whereby the second marking 52 is output.
b is printed on the header portion 6a of the paper 6. After that, the density of the second marking 52b is read through the abnormality detecting sensor 16 by the same operation as that at the time of detecting the first marking 52a described above, and this density is compared with a predetermined value, thereby It is determined whether or not the two markings 52b have been detected (S4).

If it is determined that the second marking 52b is not detected because the density of the second marking 52b is less than the predetermined value (S4, NO), it is determined that the ink has run out during printing, and the page data is printed. After the data in the storage area is transferred to the intercepted reception data storage area (S5), after switching from the print output mode to the interception reception mode so as to store subsequent received data in the interception reception data storage area (S7), To notify the operator of ink shortage,
The fact that the ink is out is displayed on the display unit 44 (S8).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the second marking 52b is detected (S4, YES), it is determined that the received data is recorded on the paper 6, and the data in the page data storage area is erased. (S6). Then, if the received data of the next page exists, it is determined that the reception is not completed (S9, YES), and the process is re-executed from S1 so as to start printing on the next page. Become. On the other hand, if the received data of the next page does not exist, it is determined that the reception is completed (S9, NO), and this routine is ended.

In this embodiment, the first and second markings 5 are moved by moving the abnormality detecting sensor 16 together with the main scanning ink jet head 31.
2a and 52b are detected, but the invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. 6, the abnormality detection sensor 16 is fixed at a predetermined position, and the first scanning is performed by sub-scanning the paper 6. Alternatively, the first and second markings 52a and 52b may be detected by moving the second markings 52a and 52b toward the abnormality detecting sensor 16.

Further, in this embodiment, the header portion 6a
Although the first marking 52a for detecting the ink shortage is newly formed when the ink shortage is detected in (1), the invention is not limited to this. That is, paying attention to fixed character information (for example, "hour" or "minute") in the destination information or the reception time information, at least one of the destination information and the reception time information that received the data is used for ink shortage detection. It may be used as a marking of.

[0029]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus mounted in the facsimile apparatus capable of receiving the data from the other party, the ink is ejected from the ink jet head to the header portion and the footer portion of the paper. The printer is provided with a printing unit that sprays each to form a marking, a reading unit that reads both markings formed by the printing unit, and an abnormality detecting unit that detects ink shortage or nozzle clogging based on the reading result of the reading unit. It is a composition.

As a result, markings are formed on the header portion and the footer portion of the paper, respectively, and ink depletion and the like are detected by these markings. The effect that it is possible to prevent omission is obtained.

The invention of claim 2 is as described above.
The reading means of claim 1 is movable along with the printing means. As a result, since the reading unit moves together with the inkjet head, the reading result of the reading unit can be obtained immediately after the marking is formed. Therefore, it is possible to quickly perform the procedure when the ink runs out. Play.

The invention of claim 3 is as described above.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, the marking of the header portion is configured to include at least one of destination information of receiving data and reception time information. As a result, even during normal use, the destination information and the reception time information printed on the header are used as the marking for detecting the ink shortage, so that a new marking for detecting the ink shortage is formed. There is an effect that it becomes unnecessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing unit.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the facsimile machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vertical cross section of the facsimile apparatus as viewed from the side.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an inkjet head.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an ink shortage detection routine.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Device Main Body 4 Handset 5 Paper Cassette 6 Paper 6a Header 6b Footer 7 Paper Feed Roller 8 Paper Feeding Device 11 Paper Edge Detection Sensor 12 Printing Part 13 Platen 16 Abnormality Detection Sensor 18a Detection Light Irradiation Area 21 Original Feeder 22 Image reading device 31 Inkjet head 33 Travel mechanism 41 Sensor signal input unit 42 Key input unit 43 Head drive unit 44 Display unit 52a First marking 52b Second marking

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording apparatus mounted on a facsimile apparatus capable of receiving data from a partner, and a printing means for ejecting ink from an ink jet head to a header portion and a footer portion of a sheet to form markings, respectively. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a reading unit that reads both markings formed by the printing unit; and an abnormality detecting unit that detects ink shortage or nozzle clogging based on the reading result of the reading unit. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit is movable together with the printing unit. 3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the marking of the header portion includes at least one of destination information of data reception and reception time information.