JPH09193529A - Ink jet recording method and apparatus, ink and ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform high-grade recording by performing recording over predetermined recording width at the boundary part of a recording region containing a predetermined hue and a recording region composed of a hue different from the predetermined hue by using ink high in permeability and performing recording at the remaining part by using ink low in permeability. SOLUTION: An ink jet recording apparatus roughly consists of a frame 41, a carrier 42, a stage shaft 43, a paper feed roller 44, a head part 45, a backup unit 46, a motor 47 and a belt 48. The carrier 42 is driven by the motor 47 through the belt 48 and guided by the stage shaft 43 to be moved in an X-direction. The head part 45 is attached to the carrier 42. A recording medium 50 such as paper is sent by the paper feed roller 44 and, for example, the head part 45 records an image on the recording medium 50 on the basis of the image data received from a host device.

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 method, an ink and an apparatus and an ink cartridge, and more particularly to an ink jet recording method and an apparatus suitable for suppressing bleed, an ink and an ink cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various methods have been proposed as an ink jet recording method. For example, in the bubble (thermal) system, the ink is heated to foam, and the pressure is used to eject the ink. In the piezoelectric method or the sound wave method, the piezoelectric element or the sound wave generating element is used to apply mechanical vibration or displacement to the ink to eject the ink. A method of ejecting ink from a nozzle using a magnetic field or an electric field has also been proposed. In such an ink jet recording method, since small droplets of ink are ejected and a part or all of them are adhered to a recording medium such as paper for recording, no noise is generated,
High-speed recording and multicolor recording are also possible.

In general, the ink used for ink jet recording has a coloring material such as a dye or a pigment as a recording material and a liquid medium as main components. As the recording agent, a water-soluble dye, preferably an acid dye or a direct dye, is used in terms of safety and recording characteristics. On the other hand, as the liquid medium, one mainly containing water is used in terms of safety, recording characteristics and the like. Also, in consideration of the nozzle clogging of the head and ejection stability,
Polyhydric alcohols are often added to the liquid medium.

As a recording medium used in the ink jet recording method, a normal paper such as a copy quality paper or a paper called an ink jet recording paper is used. The ink jet recording paper is a paper in which an ink absorbing and / or ink dissolving ink receiving layer is provided on a base material. However, with the improvement of the performance of the inkjet recording apparatus such as the increase in recording speed and the multicolor recording, the ink is stably and promptly fixed on the recording medium, and the ink bleeding is not noticeable. Has become especially demanded for ordinary paper.

If bleeding (hereinafter referred to as bleed) occurs when inks of different colors are mixed at the boundary between the two colors, the recording quality is degraded. Therefore, conventionally, various methods have been proposed as methods for suppressing bleeding, and for example, the following methods (1) to (7) have been proposed.

The method (1) is to increase the interfacial tension between the two color inks forming the color boundary, and is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-175253. The method (2) makes the penetrability of each ink into the recording medium different, and is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 4-355157 and 4-364961. The method (3) is a so-called white outline in which ink is not attached to the color boundary portion, and is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-146355.

The method (4) is one in which thinning-out recording is performed a plurality of times to complete the recording. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-146355.
Has been proposed. The method (5) is a method of coating a recording medium with an ink agent in advance to prevent the ink from penetrating and spreading into the recording medium so that the ink does not come into contact with each other at a color boundary. Kaihei 3-00
No. 2046 is proposed. Method (6) is to reduce the number and amount of ink particles to be recorded at the color boundary portion. The method (7) uses a fixing device for forcibly evaporating the ink attached to the recording medium.

[0008]

However, in the above method (1) or (2), since the permeability of the ink to the recording medium is different, when recording with an ink having a large permeability, the edge of the recording portion is recorded. There was a problem that the bleeding along the fibers of the paper became large, the sharpness was lost, and the image quality was significantly deteriorated.

In the above method (3), a white unrecorded portion is formed at the color boundary portion, so that there is a problem that the image of the entire image and the recording density are lowered. In particular, there is a problem that the image quality is significantly deteriorated at the color boundary portion with the dark color having a large contrast with white.

In the above method (4), the number of scans of the recording head with respect to the recording medium is increased, so that the recording speed is lowered. In the above method (5), since the size of the dots formed by the ink is small, there is a problem that the recording density is lowered or the dots are uneven and the image quality is deteriorated. Also, the user
There is also a problem that it is inconvenient because a dedicated recording medium must be used.

In the above method (6), there is a problem that the image quality is deteriorated because the resolution is lowered at the color boundary portion and the recording density is lowered. In the above method (7), it is necessary to provide a relatively large-sized fixing device, which causes a problem that the ink jet recording apparatus becomes large in size and power consumption also increases.

By the way, in order to record a line drawing or a general image on a recording medium with a desired resolution in an ink jet recording apparatus, the amount of ink ejected from the head is adjusted so that dots of a size suitable for the desired resolution can be obtained. There is a need to. Since the ink with low permeability has a smaller dot spread on the recording medium than the ink with high permeability, a larger amount of ink is recorded on the recording medium than the ink with high permeability. This tendency is conspicuous in plain paper such as copy paper, bond paper, and postcards that has been subjected to a treatment such as a size that suppresses ink penetration as a recording medium. On the other hand, in ink jet recording paper such as coated paper for exclusive use of ink jet recording, overhead projector (OHP) film and glossy paper, an ink receiving layer is provided on the base material of the paper / film, so that ink penetration is uniform. Or
Designed to be quick, the effect of ink permeability is relatively small. The ink receiving layer is made of hydrophilic / water-absorbing polymer or resin such as polyvinyl alcohol or cationic resin, pigment, binder, or the like.

As described above, since the inks having different penetrability have greatly different properties on the recording medium, it is difficult to design a recording medium satisfying the sufficient performance for each ink. . Further, since the diameter of the nozzle of the head is as small as 50 μm to 100 μm, for example, a non-volatile solvent having a large hygroscopic property (so that ink does not evaporate and dry at the tip of the nozzle (nozzle orifice) to cause clogging ( Solvent) has been added to the ink. But,
Although it is possible to prevent clogging due to the protrusion of dye in the nozzle orifice, thickening of the ink due to evaporation of the solvent cannot be avoided. As the viscosity of the ink increases, the ejection direction of the ink becomes uncertain, the position of the dots recorded on the recording medium shifts, and in extreme cases, the ejection of the ink cannot be performed, resulting in missing dots. Therefore, a method has been proposed in which ink is ejected from a nozzle to a backup unit so that the viscosity of the ink does not exceed a certain level. However, the degree of thickening of the ink varies depending on the type and concentration of the wetting agent, dye, etc. contained in the ink, and may vary among various types of ink used in the same ink jet recording apparatus. In the past, no consideration was given to the degree of thickening that differs between inks.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording method and apparatus, an ink and an ink cartridge capable of performing high quality recording. More specifically, the present invention suppresses bleeding at color boundary portions so that there is no difference in recording density, lightness, and saturation between recording portions of the same hue, and / or characters are printed. A first object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording method and apparatus, ink, and an ink cartridge that can prevent bleeding when the above occurs.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording method and apparatus capable of high-quality recording with uniform recording density even when inks having different penetrability are used. Further, it is a third object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording method and apparatus capable of stabilizing ejection of ink which is influenced by thickening of ink and realizing high quality recording with high reliability.

[0016]

A first object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording method for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium according to claim 1, and at least one predetermined hue. For the above, two kinds of inks having different penetrability to the recording medium are used, and among the inks, the ink having a low penetrability has a lower penetrability than the ink having a hue other than the predetermined hue. First ink containing the predetermined hue on the recording medium using ink of the hue
Of the two types of ink having a higher penetrability at the boundary portion between the second recording area adjacent to the first recording area and having a hue different from the predetermined hue. Recording is performed over at least a predetermined recording width up to the second recording area, and the remaining portion of the boundary portion is an ink having a lower penetrability with respect to an ink of a hue other than the predetermined hue of the two types. This can be achieved by an inkjet recording method for recording.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the lightness of the predetermined hue is lower than the lightness of the other hues. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ink according to the first aspect or the second aspect, the ink having a higher penetrability at the predetermined hue and the ink having another hue having a higher penetrability have a lower lightness of the hue. It has high permeability.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, the predetermined hue is black. According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the other hues are yellow, magenta and cyan, respectively.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the invention, the ink having a hue of low lightness is recorded first. According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the first
The recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion are recorded with the ink having a lower permeability with the predetermined hue, and then the second recording area is recorded with an ink having a hue other than the predetermined hue,
After that, the portion having the predetermined recording width is sequentially recorded with the ink having the predetermined hue and the higher permeability.

According to an eighth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the invention, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the predetermined recording width portion,
The recording with the ink having the predetermined hue and the high permeability is performed before the recording with the ink having the predetermined hue and the low permeability.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the invention, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the predetermined recording width portion,
The recording with the ink of the predetermined hue and the low permeability is performed before the recording with the ink of the predetermined hue and the high permeability.

According to the invention of claim 10, claims 1 to 5 are provided.
In any one of the inventions, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is smaller than the portion having the predetermined recording width, the recording with the ink having a lower permeability with the predetermined hue is permeated with the predetermined hue. The recording is performed before the recording with the ink having higher properties.

In the invention described in claim 11, claims 1 to 5 are provided.
In any one of the inventions, the remaining portion of the first recording area and the boundary portion is recorded with the ink having the predetermined hue and lower permeability, and after a predetermined time, the portion having the predetermined recording width is recorded. Recording is performed with the ink having the predetermined hue and high permeability, and the predetermined time is set to be longer than the familiarization time of the ink having the predetermined hue and low permeability to the recording medium.

In the invention described in claim 12, claims 1 to 5 are provided.
In any one of the inventions, the predetermined recording width is adjusted based on at least one of an amount of ink recording the boundary portion and permeability of these inks. According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, at least one of the first and second areas is overprinted with ink of two or more hues.

In the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the first to fifth aspects are provided.
In any one of the above aspects, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same brightness and / or saturation. According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the fourteenth aspect, the color difference between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 5 or less at the boundary portion.

According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the first to fifth aspects are provided.
In any one of the inventions, the ink having a higher permeability in the predetermined hue and the ink having a lower permeability in the predetermined hue each use the same dye. According to a seventeenth aspect of the invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the invention, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same recording density.

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the first to fifth aspects are provided.
In any one of the inventions, a difference in recording density between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 0.3 or less at the boundary portion. According to a nineteenth aspect of the invention, in the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the amount of dye contained in the ink having the predetermined hue and high permeability is greater than the amount of dye contained in the ink having the predetermined hue and low permeability. Many.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, in the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the ink amount of the ink having the predetermined hue and lower permeability per unit area in the remaining portion of the boundary portion is: The amount of the ink having the predetermined hue and high permeability is larger than the amount of ink deposited per unit area in the predetermined recording width portion of the boundary portion.

The above-mentioned first problem is as set forth in claim 21,
In an inkjet recording method of recording images by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, the Rf value that is the transfer rate of the coloring material is different from the Rf value of the inks of other hues in the inks of at least one hue. An ink of a different hue and a lower lightness can be achieved by an inkjet recording method in which the Rf value is set lower than that of an ink of a high lightness.

According to the twenty-second aspect of the invention, in the twenty-first aspect of the invention, a black ink is used as the ink of the hue having the low lightness. According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, in the twenty-first or twenty-second aspect of the present invention, inks having different Rf values are used as the inks of the plurality of hues according to the respective lightness.

According to the twenty-fourth aspect of the invention, the twenty-first to twenty-first aspects are provided.
In any one of the twenty-third and twenty-third aspects of the present invention, the acclimatization time of the inks of the plurality of hues with respect to the recording medium is set shorter for the ink of the hue of low lightness and for the ink of the hue of high lightness. According to a twenty-fifth aspect of the invention, in any one of the twenty-first to twenty-fourth aspects of the invention, the ink of the plurality of hues uses a dye having a different Rf value depending on the lightness of each hue.

In the invention described in Item 26, Items 21 to 21
In any one of the twenty-fifth inventions, the recording with the ink having the low lightness hue is performed before the recording with the ink having the high lightness hue. The first problem is an ink jet recording method according to claim 27, wherein inks of a plurality of hues are attached to a recording medium to record an image,
For at least one hue, two kinds of ink having a contact angle difference of 15 ° or more with respect to the recording medium,
Alternatively, or by an inkjet recording method using a combination of the recording media.

According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the invention, in the twenty-seventh aspect of the invention, one of the two types of ink has a contact angle of 85 ° or more, and the other ink has a contact angle of 70 °. It is the following. In the invention of claim 29,
The invention according to claim 27 or 28, wherein of the two types of ink, the ink having the larger contact angle is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and the ink having the smaller contact angle is used for recording a general image including a plane image. Used for.

[0034] In the invention of claim 30, from claim 27 to.
In the invention of any one of 29, the hues of the two types of ink are black. The first problem is the ink jet recording method according to claim 31, wherein inks of a plurality of hues are adhered to a recording medium to record an image, and at least one hue has a difference in surface tension of 4 from each other.
It can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method using two types of ink having a dyne / cm or higher.

According to a thirty-second aspect of the invention, in the thirty-first aspect of the invention, one of the two types of ink has a surface tension of 49 dyne / cm or more, and the other ink has a surface tension of 45 dyne / cm. It is the following. According to a thirty-third aspect of the invention, in the thirty-first or thirty-second aspect of the invention, of the two types of ink, the ink having the higher surface tension is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and the ink having the lower surface tension is used. Used for recording general images including face drawings.

In the invention described in Item 34, Items 31 to 31
In the invention of any one of 33, the hues of the two types of ink are black. The first problem described above is the ink jet recording method according to claim 35, wherein the ink of at least one hue is attached to the recording medium to record an image, and the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm
^It can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method using one or a plurality of inks of one hue whose ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15. According to a thirty-sixth aspect of the invention, in the thirty-fifth aspect of the invention, the one hue is black.

The above-mentioned first problem is as defined in claim 37,
In an inkjet recording method for recording an image by depositing inks of a plurality of hues on a recording medium, a plurality of absorption coefficients Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) for the recording medium are set to 40 or more. It can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method using an ink of the hue.

The thirty-eighth aspect of the invention is the thirty-seventh aspect of the invention, wherein the plurality of hues are black, yellow, magenta and cyan. The first problem described above is provided in Claim 39.
In the ink jet recording method described above, in which inks having a plurality of hues are adhered to a recording medium to record an image, an absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) for the recording medium is obtained.
The first pixel is recorded by using the ink belonging to the first group in which is set to less than 15 and the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) for the recording medium is 40 or more. This can also be achieved by an ink jet recording method in which the ink belonging to the set second group is used so that the second pixel is recorded so as not to be in contact with the first pixel.

In the invention of claim 40, in the invention of claim 39, the hue of the ink belonging to the first group is black, and the hue of the ink belonging to the second group is black, yellow, magenta and It is cyan. In the invention of claim 41, in the invention of claim 39 or 40, when a pixel of a certain hue recorded on the recording medium is not adjacent to a pixel of another hue, it is selected from the first group. Use ink preferentially.

According to the 42nd aspect of the invention, in the 41st aspect of the invention, when the pixel of the certain hue recorded on the recording medium is adjacent to the pixel of the other hue, at least the pixels forming a boundary are formed. At least one pixel of one hue is recorded with the ink selected from the second group, and the other pixels are recorded with the ink of the same hue as the one hue selected from the first group.

In the invention described in Item 43, Items 35 to 35
42. In any one of the inventions of 42, a plain paper whose recording surface has exposed fibers of paper is used as the recording medium. The first problem is an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 44, wherein ink of a plurality of hues is adhered to a recording medium to record an image, and at least one predetermined hue is penetrable into the recording medium. A head unit having two types of inks of different colors and having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and a first hue containing the predetermined hue on the recording medium.
Of the two types of ink having a higher penetrability at the boundary portion between the second recording area adjacent to the first recording area and having a hue different from the predetermined hue. Control means for controlling the head portion so that the recording is performed over at least a predetermined recording width up to the second recording area, and the remaining portion of the boundary portion is recorded with the ink having lower permeability of the two types. It can also be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus provided with.

According to a forty-fifth aspect of the invention, in the ink according to the forty-fourth aspect, the head portion uses ink in which the lightness of the predetermined hue is lower than the lightness of other hues. Claim 46
According to the invention described in claim 44 or 45,
The ink having higher permeability with the predetermined hue and the ink having another hue having the same high permeability used by the head portion have higher permeability as the hue lightness is lower.

According to the forty-seventh aspect of the present invention, the forty-fourth aspect of the present invention is as follows.
In any one of the forty-six inventions, the predetermined hue of the ink used by the head unit is black. Claim 4
In the invention of claim 8, in the invention of claim 47, the other hues of the ink used by the head portion are yellow,
Magenta and cyan.

According to the 49th aspect of the invention, the 44th to
In any one of 48 inventions, the control unit controls the head unit so that ink of a hue having a low lightness is recorded first. The invention according to claim 50 is the invention according to any one of claims 44 to 48, wherein the control means has low penetrability in the first recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion at the predetermined hue. One of the inks, then the second recording area is recorded with an ink of a hue other than the predetermined hue, and then the portion of the predetermined recording width is sequentially covered with the ink of the predetermined hue and having a high permeability. The head unit is controlled so as to record.

In the invention described in Item 51, Items 44 to
48. In any one aspect of the invention 48, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion of the predetermined recording width, the control means records with the ink having a predetermined hue and a high permeability. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording with the ink having the predetermined hue and the low permeability.

According to the invention of claim 52, claims 44 to
48. In any one aspect of the invention 48, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is smaller than the portion of the predetermined recording width, the control means records with the ink of the predetermined hue and the low permeability. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording with the ink having the predetermined hue and the higher permeability.

According to the invention of claim 53, claims 44 to
48. In any one aspect of the invention 48, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion of the predetermined recording width, the control means records with the ink of the predetermined hue and low penetrability. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording with the ink having the predetermined hue and the higher permeability.

In the invention described in Item 54, Items 44 to
48. In any one invention of the 48, the control means records the first recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion with the ink having the predetermined hue and the low permeability, and after a predetermined time, the control means The head unit is controlled so as to record a portion having a predetermined recording width with the ink having a predetermined hue and a high permeability, and the recording medium of the ink having a low permeability and the predetermined hue for the predetermined time. It is set longer than the familiar time.

In the invention described in Item 55, Items 44 to
In any one of 48 inventions, the predetermined recording width is adjusted based on at least one of an amount of ink for recording the boundary portion and permeability of these inks. According to a 56th aspect of the present invention, in any one of the 44th to 48th aspects, at least one of the first and second regions of the control means is overprinted with ink of two or more hues. The head unit is controlled so as to be performed.

In the invention described in Item 57, Items 44 to
In any one aspect of the invention 48, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same lightness or saturation. According to a fifty-eighth aspect of the invention, in the fifty-seventh aspect of the invention, the color difference between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 5 or less at the boundary portion.

In the invention described in Item 59, Items 44 to
In any one of the inventions of 48, the same dye is used in the ink having a predetermined hue and a high permeability and the ink having a low permeability in the predetermined hue, which are used in the head portion. In the invention of claim 60, claim 44
In any one of the inventions to 48, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same recording density.

In the invention described in Item 61, Items 44
In any one of 48 inventions, a difference in recording density between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 0.3 or less at the boundary portion. According to a sixty-second aspect of the invention, in the invention of the sixty-first aspect, the amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue and having a high permeability is the ink of a low permeability of the predetermined hue. More than the amount of dye contained in.

According to a 63rd aspect of the present invention, in the 61th aspect of the present invention, the control means causes the ink having a predetermined hue and a low permeability to adhere per unit area within the remaining portion of the boundary portion. The head unit is controlled so that the amount of ink to be applied is larger than the amount of the ink having a predetermined hue and having a high permeability that adheres per unit area within the predetermined recording width portion of the boundary portion.

The above-mentioned first problem is defined in claim 64,
In an inkjet recording apparatus that records an image by attaching inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, the Rf value, which is the transfer rate of the coloring material, is the same as the Rf value of the inks of other hues in the ink of at least one hue. An ink of a hue having a low lightness is provided with a head having a head having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink and a control unit for controlling the head to eject the ink onto the recording medium. It can also be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus in which the Rf value is set lower than that of the ink of high hue.

According to the sixty-fifth aspect of the invention, in the sixty-fourth aspect of the invention, the head portion uses black ink as the ink of the hue having the low lightness. In a sixty-sixth aspect of the present invention according to the sixty-fourth aspect or the sixty-fifth aspect of the present invention, the head section applies R to the inks of the plurality of hues in accordance with respective lightnesses.
Ink having different f values are used.

In the invention described in Item 67, Items 64 to
In any one of the sixty-sixth inventions, the control means sets the acclimatization time of the inks of the plurality of hues with respect to the recording medium to be shorter for the ink of the low lightness hue than for the ink of the high lightness hue. The head unit is controlled as described above.

In the invention described in Item 68, Items 64-
67. In any one of the inventions 67, the inks of the plurality of hues used in the head portion use dyes having different Rf values according to the lightness of each hue. According to a 69th aspect of the invention, in the invention of any one of the 64th to 68th aspects, the control means performs the recording with the ink of the hue of low lightness before the recording with the ink of the hue of high lightness. The head unit is controlled so as to perform.

The above-mentioned first problem is as defined in claim 70,
In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues onto a recording medium, two kinds of inks having a contact angle difference of 15 ° or more with respect to the recording medium are used for at least one hue. It can also be achieved by an inkjet recording apparatus including a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and a control unit that controls the head unit to eject ink onto a recording medium.

According to a 71st aspect of the invention, in the 70th aspect of the invention, one of the two types of ink used by the head portion has a contact angle of 85 ° or more,
The contact angle of the other ink is 70 ° or less. Claim 72
According to the invention described in claim 70 or 71,
Of the two types of ink used by the head unit, the ink with the larger contact angle is used for recording a line drawing including characters,
The ink having the smaller contact angle is used for recording a general image including a plane image.

In the invention described in Item 73, Items 70 to
72. In any one of the inventions 72, the hue of the two types of ink used by the head unit is black. The first problem is that in the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 74, in which inks of a plurality of hues are adhered to a recording medium to record an image, a difference in surface tension between at least one hue is 4 dyne. Inkjet recording using two types of ink of 1 / cm or more and a head unit having a number of heads according to the type of ink, and a control unit that controls the head unit to eject the ink onto a recording medium. It can also be achieved by a device.

According to a 75th aspect of the invention, in the 74th aspect of the invention, one of the two types of ink used by the head portion has a surface tension of 49 dyne / c.
m or more, and the surface tension of the other ink is 45 dyne
/ Cm or less. According to a 76th aspect of the present invention, in the 74th or 75th aspect of the invention, of the two types of ink used by the head portion, the ink having the higher surface tension is used for recording a line drawing including characters, The lower ink is used for recording a general image including a plane image.

In the invention described in Item 77, Items 74 to
In the invention of any one of 76, the hues of the two types of ink used by the head unit are black. The first problem is an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering ink of at least one hue to a recording medium according to claim 78, wherein the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15 using one or a plurality of inks of one hue, and a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and controlling the head unit to record ink It can also be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a control means for ejecting onto the medium.

According to the 79th aspect of the invention, in the 78th aspect of the invention, the one hue used by the head portion is black. The first problem described above is, in an inkjet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering ink of a plurality of hues to a recording medium according to claim 80, an absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is used with inks of a plurality of hues set to 40 or more, and a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and controlling the head unit to eject the ink onto the recording medium. This can also be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a control means for controlling the above.

According to an 81st aspect of the invention, in the 80th aspect of the invention, the plurality of hues used by the head portion are black, yellow, magenta and cyan. The first of the above
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium according to claim 82. A control unit for controlling the ejection of the ink onto the recording medium, the control unit controlling the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² ·
s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15 and the head unit is controlled to record the first pixel using the ink belonging to the first group, and the absorption coefficient Ka for the recording medium is
(Nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is recorded so that the second pixel is not in contact with the first pixel by using the ink belonging to the second group, which is set to 40 or more. This can also be achieved by an inkjet recording device that controls the head section. In the invention of Claim 83, in the invention of Claim 82, the hue of the ink belonging to the first group used by the head portion is black, and the hue of the ink belonging to the second group is black, yellow, Magenta and cyan.

According to an 84th aspect of the invention, in the invention of the 82nd or 83rd aspect, the control means, when a pixel of a certain hue recorded on the recording medium is not adjacent to a pixel of another hue, The head unit is controlled so that the ink selected from the first group is preferentially used.

According to the 85th aspect of the present invention, in the 84th aspect of the present invention, the control means, when a pixel of the certain hue recorded on the recording medium is adjacent to a pixel of another hue, a boundary is generated. At least one pixel of at least one of the hues forming the pixel is recorded with the ink selected from the second group, and the other pixels have the same hue as the one hue selected from the first group. The head unit is controlled so as to record at.

In the invention described in Item 86, Items 70 to
In any one of the inventions 85, a plain paper whose recording surface has exposed fibers of paper is used as the recording medium. The first object is an ink cartridge for storing ink of a predetermined hue which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium according to claim 87. And an ink of a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body, the ink of the predetermined hue has a lower permeability to the recording medium than the inks of the plurality of hues, and It can also be achieved by an ink cartridge having a lightness lower than that of inks having a plurality of hues.

According to an 88th aspect of the invention, in the 87th aspect of the invention, the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. In an invention according to claim 89, in the ink according to any one of claims 87 to 89, the same dye as the ink of the plurality of hues is used as the ink of the predetermined hue.

According to a 90th aspect of the invention, in the 87th or 88th aspect of the invention, the amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the inks of the plurality of hues. The first problem described above is an ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with black ink when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium according to claim 91, comprising: a cartridge body; Consisting of ink of a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body,
The ink of the predetermined hue can be achieved by an ink cartridge that has a higher permeability to the recording medium than the black ink and has a lightness higher than that of the black ink.

In the invention of claim 92, in the invention of claim 91, the ink of the predetermined hue is an ink of one hue selected from black, yellow, magenta and cyan. In the invention of claim 93, in the ink of claim 92, the ink of the predetermined hue has higher permeability as the lightness is lower.

According to the 94th aspect of the invention, in the 91th aspect of the invention, the ink of the predetermined hue is a black ink that uses the same dye as the black ink. Claim 95
In the invention described in any one of claims 91 to 94, the amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the black ink.

The above-mentioned first subject is the object of claim 96,
An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, comprising a cartridge body and a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body. The ink of the predetermined hue has a lower Rf value than the ink of the hue having a higher lightness than the Rf value of the ink having the plurality of hues, and the Rf value that is the transfer rate of the coloring material is lower than that of the ink having the lightness. It can also be achieved by the set ink cartridge.

According to a 97th aspect of the invention, in the 96th aspect of the invention, the ink having the predetermined hue uses a dye having a different Rf value depending on its lightness. The first problem is an ink cartridge for storing ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium according to claim 98. And an ink of a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body, and the contact angle of the ink of the predetermined hue with the recording medium is 85 ° or more or 70 ° or less.

According to a 99th aspect of the invention, in the 98th aspect of the invention, the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. The first problem is an ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium according to claim 100. When,
The ink has a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body, and the surface tension of the predetermined hue of ink with respect to the recording medium is 49 dyne / cm or more or 45 dyn.
It can also be achieved by an ink cartridge having an e / cm or less.

According to the invention of claim 101, claim 10
In the invention of No. 0, the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. The above-mentioned first problem is according to claim 102,
An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, comprising a cartridge body and a predetermined hue stored in the cartridge body. And an absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium is 1
It can also be achieved with an ink cartridge set to less than 5.

According to the invention of claim 103, claim 10
In the invention of 2, the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. The above-mentioned first problem is according to claim 104,
What is claimed is: 1. An ink cartridge that stores an ink of a predetermined hue used together with black ink when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and the ink of the predetermined hue stored in the cartridge main body. It is also possible to use an ink cartridge in which the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium is set to 40 or more.

According to the invention of claim 105, claim 10
In the invention of 4, the ink of the predetermined hue is an ink of one hue among black, yellow, magenta and cyan. The first problem is an ink of a predetermined hue used with black ink when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium according to claim 106, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is It can also be achieved by an ink having a higher permeability to the recording medium than the black ink and having a lightness higher than that of the black ink.

According to the invention of claim 107, claim 10
In the invention of 6, the predetermined hue is black, yellow,
It is one hue selected from magenta and cyan.
In the invention according to claim 108, in the invention according to claim 107, the ink of the predetermined hue has higher permeability as the lightness is lower.

According to the invention of claim 109, claim 10
In the sixth aspect, the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink that uses the same dye as the black ink. In the invention of claim 110, in the invention of any one of claims 106 to 109, the amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the black ink.

The first problem is an ink of a predetermined hue used with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium according to claim 111. The ink of No. 1 has an Rf value, which is a transfer rate of the coloring material, different from the Rf values of the inks of the plurality of hues.
This can also be achieved by using an ink whose Rf value is set to be lower than that of an ink having a hue having a higher lightness.

According to the invention of claim 112, claim 11
In the first aspect of the invention, as the ink of the predetermined hue, a dye having a different Rf value depending on its lightness is used. The first problem is that the ink of a predetermined hue is used together with the inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on the recording medium according to claim 113. The contact angle to the recording medium is 85 ° or more or 7
It can also be achieved with an ink that is 0 ° or less.

The invention described in claim 114 is the same as claim 113.
In the invention, the predetermined hue is black. The first problem is an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium according to claim 115. The surface tension of the recording medium is 49 dyne.
It can also be achieved by an ink having a density of at least 45 cm / cm or at most 45 dyne / cm.

According to the invention of claim 116, claim 11
In the invention of No. 5, the predetermined hue is black. The first problem is an ink of a predetermined hue used with ink of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium according to claim 117. Absorption coefficient Ka (nl /
(Mm ² · s ^1/2 )) can also be achieved with an ink set to less than 15.

According to the invention of claim 118, claim 11
In the seventh aspect of the invention, the predetermined hue is black. The first problem is an ink of a predetermined hue used with an ink of black color when performing inkjet recording on a recording medium according to claim 119, wherein the recording of the ink of the predetermined hue is performed. Absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ²
・ S ^1/2 )) can be achieved even with an ink set to 40 or more.

According to the invention of claim 120, claim 11
In the invention of claim 9, the predetermined hue is black, yellow,
The hue is one of magenta and cyan. The first problem described above is to record a color image on a recording medium by using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability from each other and inks having other hues according to claim 121. In the ink jet recording method, when inks of different hues are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, recording is performed by using the first ink having lower permeability, and the inks of different hues are recorded on the recording medium. In the case of recording adjacently on the upper side, recording is performed using the second ink having higher permeability, and the color material density of the second ink is the same as that of the first ink.
This can also be achieved by an ink jet recording method in which the colorant concentration of the ink is higher than that of the ink.

According to the invention of claim 122, claim 12
In the invention of claim 1, the color material densities of the first and second inks are such that when recording is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%, the difference between the recording densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less. Is set to. In the invention of claim 123, in the invention of claim 121, the density of the coloring materials of the first and second inks is the same when the recording rate is 100% when the recording medium is plain paper. Recording density on paper is 0.9
The settings are made as described above.

According to the invention of claim 124, claim 12
In the first aspect of the present invention, the coloring material concentration of each of the first and second inks is a printing rate when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed.

According to the invention of claim 125, claim 12
In any one of the inventions 1 to 124, when recording is performed using one of the first and second inks having a lower recording density on the recording medium, recording is performed a plurality of times. . In the invention described in claim 126, claims 121 to 121
124. In any one invention of 124, the said 1st and 2nd ink is black ink.

The first problem is that a color image is formed on a recording medium by using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability from each other according to claim 127 and inks having other hues. In the inkjet recording method for recording, when the inks of different hues are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, recording is performed by using the first ink having lower permeability, and the inks of different hues are recorded. When adjacently recording on the recording medium, recording is performed by using the second ink having higher permeability, and the recording density of the recording ink on the recording medium of the first and second inks is changed. When recording is performed using the lower ink, it can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method in which recording is performed a plurality of times.

According to the invention of claim 128, claim 12
In the invention of claim 7, the color material densities of the first and second inks are such that, when recording is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%, the difference between the recording densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less. Is set to. According to the invention of claim 129, in the invention of claim 127, when the recording medium is plain paper, the density of the coloring material of the first and second inks is Recording density on paper is 0.9
The settings are made as described above.

According to the invention of claim 130, claim 12
In the invention of claim 7, the coloring material concentrations of the first and second inks are print rates when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed.

According to the invention described in Item 131, Item 12
In any one of the inventions 7 to 130, the first and second inks are black inks. The above-mentioned second problem is the ink jet recording method according to claim 132, wherein an image is recorded on a recording medium using at least the first ink having lower permeability and the second ink having higher permeability. When recording with the first ink on the recording medium whose recording characteristics have been adjusted with respect to the second ink, the amount of ink to be recorded per unit area by one scan of the head part is In the case of solid recording, when the second ink is used, the amount of ink is less than or equal to the amount of ink to be recorded in one scan, and the head is scanned a plurality of times using the first ink to perform sequential recording. In the case of recording a plurality of matching thinning patterns and recording image data, it can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method of recording a logical product of a plurality of complementary thinning patterns and image data.

In the invention described in Item 133, Item 13
In the invention of 2, the thinning pattern is a line pattern or a checkered pattern. In the invention described in Item 134, according to the invention of Item 132, when the plurality of pairs of symmetrical thinning patterns are sequentially used for recording, a pattern in which dots on the recording medium are not adjacent to each other is overprinted in a priority order.

In the invention described in Item 135, Item 13
In any one of the inventions 2 to 134, when the maximum recording width in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in which the head unit having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting the first ink can perform recording in one scan is D dots , N is an integer of 2 or more, the image data of the D dot width by the head portion is decomposed into N pieces of data having a dot width of less than D dots, and the decomposed image data is sequentially recorded on the recording medium by N times of scanning. Record.

In the invention described in Item 136, Item 13
In any one of the inventions 2 to 135, the first ink is black ink, and the second ink includes yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink. In the invention described in claim 137, in the invention according to any one of claims 132 to 136, the recording medium has an ink receiving layer whose recording characteristics are adjusted in advance on at least one surface of the second ink. It is an OHP film formed during recording.

The third object is to increase the ink viscosity due to solvent evaporation of each ink in the ink jet recording method for recording a color image on a recording medium using at least two or more hue inks according to claim 138. Can also be achieved by an inkjet recording method in which each ink is set within 1000 cp when left open at room temperature and normal humidity of 25 ° C. and 60% RH.

According to the invention of claim 139, the invention of claim 13
In the invention of claim 8, a color image is recorded on the recording medium by using the inks of the two or more hues by a head unit including heads having different numbers of nozzles, and the degree of thickening of each ink is adjusted according to the number of nozzles. To do.

According to the invention described in Item 140, Item 13
In the invention of claim 9, when the number of nozzles of the first head of the head section is m and the number of nozzles of the second head is n, the degree of thickening of the ink supplied to the first head is the second degree. It is set to about n / m times the degree of thickening of the ink supplied to the head.

The first problem is that a color image is formed on a recording medium by using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability from each other according to claim 141 and inks having other hues. In the ink jet recording apparatus for recording, when inks having different hues are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, a means for performing recording using the first ink having a lower permeability and a means for performing recording with a different hue When the inks are recorded adjacent to each other on the recording medium, recording is performed using the second ink having higher permeability, and the color material concentration of the second ink is It can also be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus in which the colorant density of the ink of No. 1 is set higher.

In the invention of claim 142, the invention of claim 14
In the invention of claim 1, the color material densities of the first and second inks are such that when recording is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%, the difference between the recording densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less. Is set to. In the invention of claim 143, in the invention of claim 141, the color material densities of the first and second inks are the same when the recording rate is 100% when the recording medium is plain paper. Recording density on paper is 0.9
The settings are made as described above.

According to the invention of claim 144, claim 14
In the first aspect of the present invention, the coloring material concentration of each of the first and second inks is a printing rate when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed.

According to the invention of claim 145,
In any one of the inventions 1 to 144, when recording is performed using one of the first and second inks having a lower recording density on the recording medium, recording is performed a plurality of times. Means were further provided. According to the invention of claim 146, in the invention of any one of claims 141 to 145,
The first and second inks are black inks.

The first problem is that a color image is formed on a recording medium by using at least the first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability from each other according to claim 147. In the ink jet recording apparatus for recording, when inks having different hues are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, a means for performing recording using the first ink having a lower permeability and a means for performing recording with a different hue When the ink is recorded adjacently on the recording medium, a means for recording using the second ink having higher permeability,
When recording is performed using one of the first and second inks, which has a lower recording density on the recording medium, an ink jet recording apparatus including a unit that performs recording multiple times may also be used. Can be achieved.

According to the invention described in Item 148, Item 14
In the invention of claim 7, the color material densities of the first and second inks are such that, when recording is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%, the difference between the recording densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less. Is set to. According to the 149th aspect of the invention, in the 147th aspect of the invention, the color material densities of the first and second inks are the same when the recording rate is 100% when the recording medium is plain paper. Recording density on paper is 0.9
The settings are made as described above.

According to the invention of claim 150, claim 14
In the invention of claim 7, the coloring material concentrations of the first and second inks are print rates when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed.

According to the invention of claim 151, claim 14
In any of the inventions 7 to 150, the first and second inks are black inks. The above-mentioned second object is an ink jet recording an image on a recording medium by a head unit using at least the first ink having a low permeability and the second ink having a high permeability according to claim 152. In a recording device, when recording is performed using the first ink on a recording medium whose recording characteristics have been adjusted with respect to the second ink, recording is performed per unit area by one scan of the head section. A means for controlling the amount of ink to be equal to or less than the amount of ink to be printed by one scan using the second ink, and when performing sequential recording by scanning the head section a plurality of times using the first ink Ink jet recording having means for recording a plurality of complementary thinning patterns in the case of solid recording, and means for recording a logical product of a plurality of complementary thinning patterns and image data in the case of recording image data On the device It can also be accomplished me.

According to the invention of claim 153,
In the invention of 2, the thinning pattern is a line pattern or a checkered pattern. According to the 154th aspect of the invention, in the invention of the 152nd aspect, when the plurality of pairs of symmetrical thinning patterns are sequentially used for recording, the patterns in which the dots on the recording medium are not adjacent to each other are overprinted in a priority order.

According to the invention of claim 155,
In any one of claims 2 to 154, the maximum recording width in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in which the head unit having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting the first ink can perform recording in one scan is D dots. In this case, assuming that N is an integer of 2 or more, the image data of the D dot width by the head unit is decomposed into N pieces of data having a dot width of less than D dots, and the decomposed image data is sequentially recorded N times in the recording medium. The recording means is further provided.

According to the invention of claim 156,
In any one of the inventions 2 to 155, the first ink is black ink, and the second ink includes yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink. In the invention described in claim 157, in the invention according to any one of claims 152 to 156, the recording medium has an ink receiving layer whose recording characteristics are adjusted in advance on at least one surface of the second ink. It is an OHP film formed during recording.

The third problem is that in an ink jet recording apparatus for recording a color image on a recording medium by using ink of at least two hues according to claim 158, the ink viscosity increases due to solvent evaporation of each ink. Can be achieved by an ink jet recording apparatus in which each ink is set within 1000 cp when left open at room temperature and normal humidity of 25 ° C. and 60% RH.

According to the invention of claim 159,
In the invention of claim 8, there is provided a means for recording a color image on the recording medium by using the inks of the two or more hues by a head portion composed of heads having different numbers of nozzles, and increasing the viscosity of each ink according to the number of nozzles. Adjust the degree.

In the invention described in Item 160, Item 15
In the invention of claim 9, when the number of nozzles of the first head of the head section is m and the number of nozzles of the second head is n, the degree of thickening of the ink supplied to the first head is the second degree. It is set to about n / m times the degree of thickening of the ink supplied to the head.

According to the invention described in claims 1 to 20, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the inventions of claims 21 to 26, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion of different hues and record a clear color image.

According to the twenty-seventh to thirty-fourth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to record a line drawing and a general image with high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper. Claims 35 to 4
According to the invention described in 3, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding, and to record the line image and the general image. It is possible to suppress the difference in hue and hue.

According to the inventions described in claims 44 to 63, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the inventions of claims 64 to 69, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion of different hues and record a clear color image.

According to the seventy-seventh to seventy-seventh aspects, it is possible to record a line drawing and a general image with high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper. Claims 78-8
According to the invention described in 6, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding, and to record the line image and the general image. It is possible to suppress the difference in hue and hue.

According to the 87th to 95th aspects of the present invention, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the inventions of claims 96 and 97, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion between different hues and record a clear color image.

According to the invention described in claims 98 to 101,
Line drawings and general images can be recorded with high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper. Claim 102
According to the inventions described in (1) to (105), it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding, and record the line image and the general image. It is possible to suppress the difference in density and hue.

According to the inventions of claims 106 to 110, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the inventions of claims 111 and 112, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary between different hues and record a clear color image.

According to the invention described in claims 113 to 116, line drawings and general images can be recorded in high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper. Claim 1
According to the inventions described in 17 to 120, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding and record a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue.

According to the invention described in Item 121, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 122, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line drawing and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 123, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on plain paper. Claim 124
According to the described invention, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the inkjet recording paper.

According to the invention described in Item 125, it is possible to further reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image, and the clogging resistance of the nozzles of the head due to the decrease in the color material density. It is possible to realize the improvement of the recording property and the improvement of the recording speed by reducing the number of scanning of the head.

According to the invention described in Item 126, it is possible to record a line image and a general image on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference and a high quality. Claim 12
According to the invention described in 7, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 128, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 129, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 130, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention of claim 131, in particular, a line drawing and a general image are recorded on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference, and
It can be recorded with high quality.

According to the inventions of claims 132 and 133, it is possible to perform high-quality recording without unevenness in recording density by using the ink having lower permeability, and to reduce the drying time required for fixing the ink. It can also be secured. According to the thirty-fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent local agglomeration of the ink, so that it is possible to further reduce unevenness in recording density.

According to the invention described in Item 135, the unevenness of the recording density can be further reduced by increasing the value of N, and the drying time necessary for fixing the ink can be secured. According to the invention described in Item 136, high-quality color image recording can be realized.

According to the invention described in Item 137, it is possible to record an image with high quality even on an OHP film in which ink agglomeration easily occurs. According to the invention of claim 138, the recording speed is improved and the ink consumption amount is improved by suppressing the spray condition of the head for preventing the ink thickening that causes dot omission or dot shift. Can be reduced.

According to the 139th and 140th aspects of the invention, since the thickening of the ink is adjusted according to the frequency of use of the heads, the spraying conditions of the heads can be suppressed to a minimum regardless of the number of heads. it can. According to the invention described in Item 141, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 142, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 143, it is possible to obtain a sufficient recording density on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 144, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention described in Item 145, it is possible to further reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image, and to improve the clogging resistance of the nozzle of the head due to the decrease in the color material density. It is possible to improve the recording speed by reducing the number of times the head is scanned.

According to the invention described in Item 146, it is possible to record a line drawing and a general image on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference and a high quality. Claim 14
According to the invention described in 7, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 148, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in the recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 149, it is possible to obtain a sufficient recording density on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 150, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention of claim 151, in particular, a line drawing and a general image are recorded on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference, and
It can be recorded with high quality.

According to the inventions as claimed in claims 152 and 153, it is possible to perform high-quality recording without unevenness in the recording density by using the ink having the lower permeability, and the drying time required for fixing the ink is reduced. It can also be secured. According to the invention described in Item 154, the local aggregation of the ink can be prevented, so that the unevenness of the recording density can be further reduced.

According to the invention described in Item 155, the unevenness of the recording density can be further reduced by increasing the value of N, and the drying time necessary for fixing the ink can be secured. According to the invention described in Item 156, high-quality color image recording can be realized.

According to the invention described in Item 157, an image can be recorded with high quality even on an OHP film in which ink agglomeration easily occurs. According to the invention as set forth in claim 158, the recording speed is improved and the ink consumption amount is improved by suppressing the spray condition of the head for preventing thickening of the ink which causes dot missing or dot shift. Can be reduced.

According to the inventions as set forth in claims 159 and 160, since the thickening of the ink is adjusted according to the frequency of use of the heads, the spraying conditions of the heads can be suppressed to a minimum regardless of the number of heads. it can.

[0140]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0141]

First, a first embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a head part. The first embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the first embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the first embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the ink jet recording apparatus 4
Reference numeral 0 generally includes a frame 41, a carrier 42, a stage shaft 43, a paper feed roller 44, a head unit 45, a backup unit 46, a motor 47, a belt 48 and the like. The carrier 42 is driven by a motor 47 via a belt 48, guided by the stage shaft 43, and movable in the X direction in the figure. The head portion 45 is attached to the carrier 42. Recording medium 50 such as paper
Is sent by the paper feed roller 44, and the head unit 45 records (prints) an image on the recording medium 50 based on image data received from a higher-level device (not shown), for example.

The backup unit 46 includes the head unit 4
5 is provided as a protection mechanism. The backup unit 46 has a head unit 45 when the head unit 45 is on standby.
Cap the nozzle surface of to prevent clogging,
Further, when a user performs a predetermined operation, it has a function of sucking and discharging ink and bubbles from the nozzles of the head unit 45 in order to recover the missing dots due to clogging or the like.

Since the ink jet recording apparatus 40 including the frame 41, the carrier 42, the stage shaft 43, the paper feed roller 44, the backup unit 46, the motor 47, the belt 48 and the like can have known structures, respectively. A detailed description of these structures and operations will be omitted.

Next, the structure of the head portion 45 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows the head portion 45 with the cover removed. In FIG. 2, the head portion 45 is the housing 5
1 and the housing 51 has a plurality of attachment / detachment levers 5-1.
~ 5-5 are provided. Slots 52 are provided in the housing 51 at positions corresponding to the attachment / detachment levers 5-1 to 5-5. Ink cartridge 11-1
11-5 are inserted into the corresponding slots 52 and can be attached / detached to / from the corresponding print heads (not shown) by operating the detachable levers 5-1-5-5. The print head has a structure having nozzles for ejecting ink, and a known structure can be used for the print head itself, and therefore its illustration and detailed description are omitted in this specification. In FIG. 2, only the ink cartridge 5-1 is fully inserted into the slot 52 or before the slot 5 is inserted.
It is shown as being pulled from 2. In this embodiment, five print heads are provided in the lower part of the housing 51 so as to correspond to the five ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-5, but they are not visible in FIG. The ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-5 and the print heads are
Basically, the print head may have a known configuration, and each print head has one or a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink.

For example, the ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-1
Reference numerals 1-4 are cartridge bodies that store black, yellow, magenta, and cyan inks that are respectively used during color recording. Also, the ink cartridge 5-5
Is composed of a cartridge main body which is slightly larger than the other ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-4, and stores black ink used during monochrome recording. Therefore, in this embodiment, black ink is supplied from different ink cartridges during color recording and during monochrome recording. With such a configuration, for example, the ink cartridge 1
It is also possible to use print heads having different structures for the print heads corresponding to 1-1 to 11-4 and the print head corresponding to the ink cartridge 5-5.

In this embodiment, the ink cartridge 11-
The composition of the black, yellow, magenta, and cyan inks stored in 1 to 11-4 is, for example, 2% by weight of an acid dye, 10% by weight of glycerin, 0.1% by weight of an anionic surfactant.
5% by weight and residual water. Ink cartridge 1
The composition of the black ink stored in 1-5 is, for example, 2% by weight of direct dye, 10% by weight of glycerin, 4% by weight of isopropanol and residual water. The inks of these compositions are weighed in a sealed plastic container for each type of ink and stored at 50 ° C.
It was obtained by dissolving with stirring for 3 hours while boiling in water, cooling to room temperature, and filtering with a filter having a pore size of 0.2 μm. The black ink stored in the ink cartridge 11-5 is stored in the ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-.
4 has a composition such that its permeability into the recording medium 50 is lower than that of the black, yellow, magenta, and cyan inks stored in the recording medium 4. For example, the permeation time into the high-quality paper for copying was about 25 seconds for the black black ink for monochrome stored in the ink cartridge 11-5 and about 3 seconds for the other inks.

FIG. 3 shows 360d using these inks.
It is a figure which expands and shows typically the photograph of the recording result at the time of recording the character "ABC" on the quality paper for copy at the resolution of pi. In the figure, (a) shows the ink cartridge 11-
5 shows a recording result when recording is performed with black and white black ink stored in FIG. 5, and (b) shows a case where recording is performed with color black ink stored in the ink cartridge 11-1. The results of recording are shown below. As can be seen from the figure, the penetrability stored in the ink cartridge 11-1 is better when recording is performed with the black ink for black and white that has a lower penetrability stored in the ink cartridge 11-5. High-quality recording without ink bleeding can be performed as compared with the case of recording with high-color black ink.
In particular, in FIG. 2B, since the ink permeability is high,
It can be seen that the ink bleeding is large, the fine portion of the character is crushed, the edge is not sharp, and the recording quality is significantly lower than in the case of FIG. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the recorded image is monochrome, or
When the image to be recorded is black and does not have a portion in contact with another hue, recording is performed using black black ink having low penetrability.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, for example, when recording an image having a portion in which yellow and black are in contact with each other, only a part of the boundary portion between the yellow region and the black region is colored with the highly penetrating black ink for color. The black area is recorded, and the other part of the black area is recorded with black black ink having low permeability.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view showing a bleeding state in a photograph of a recording result when an image composed of yellow and black is recorded. In the figure, (a) shows that only the 6-dot width of the boundary portion x of the black area B with the yellow area Y in the present embodiment is recorded with the black ink for color having high penetrability. The portion (a) schematically shows an enlarged photograph of the recording result when recording is made with black ink having low penetrability for monochrome, and (b) shows the entire black region B including the boundary portion x with low penetrability. The photograph of the recording result when recording with the black ink for printing is enlarged and schematically shown, and (c) shows the case where the entire black region B including the boundary portion x is printed with the black ink for color having high permeability. The photograph of the recording result of No. 2 is enlarged and schematically shown, and (d) schematically shows the photograph of the recording result when the non-recording portion (white portion) is provided at the boundary portion x. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7A, it is possible to realize the same recording with less bleed as in the case of FIG. However, the bleeding is remarkably large in FIG. 7B and the white area is remarkably recognized in the boundary portion x in FIG. It was confirmed that they were different.

In FIG. 4C, the recording density of the black area B is lower than that of the character shown in FIG. 3A, and the difference in color between the black character and the black area B can be recognized. Sisters,
The quality of the entire recorded image deteriorates. On the contrary,
In this embodiment, the recording density of the black area B is high as shown in FIG. 4A, and the color difference between the character shown in FIG. 3A and the black area B could hardly be recognized.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, according to this embodiment, high-quality character recording without bleeding and high-quality color boundary recording without bleeding are performed. Can be realized at the same time. Further, since the recording density, lightness and saturation of characters and figures can be made equal, the quality of the entire image to be recorded can be significantly improved.

In the black region B, the larger the width of the boundary portion x where the black ink for color having high penetrability is recorded, the greater the effect of reducing bleeding becomes. However, the larger the dot width of the boundary portion x, the larger the recognizable difference in brightness, saturation, and recording density. Therefore, the color difference can be reduced by using the same type of dye for the two types of black ink for monochrome having low permeability and black ink for color having high permeability. Also, the fourth
As will be described later with reference to the examples, the difference in recording density can be reduced by making the dye density of the black ink for color ink having high permeability higher than that of the black ink for monochrome ink having low permeability.

In FIG. 5, the dye of the black ink for color having high permeability is the same direct dye as that used for the black ink for monochrome having low permeability of acid dye, and the composition ratio of the dye is 2 It is a figure which expands and shows typically the photograph of the recording result at the time of recording using the black ink with high permeability which was adjusted and was obtained by increasing from 4% by weight. As is clear from the comparison between FIG. 4 and FIG. 4A, the bleed in FIG. 5 is as small as that in FIG. 4A, and the black boundary is difficult to recognize. It was confirmed that the uniformity of the above was improved.

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the fourth and fifth embodiments which will be described later. The present inventors conducted subjective evaluations on samples of various hues. It has been confirmed that it is desirable that the difference in the degree is within the allowable range, and that the color difference in the area recorded with the ink having different penetrability is 5 or less. In addition, a subjective evaluation was made on the recording density of the recording areas of the same hue. When the recording density (OD) measured by a Macbeth densitometer was about 1.0 or more, the recording between the recording areas of the same hue was performed. It was confirmed that if the difference in concentration was 0.3 or less, the difference in concentration was within the allowable range. Therefore, the difference in recording density between the recording area recorded with the ink having high permeability and the recording area recorded with the ink having low permeability is O.
It was found that D is preferably 0.3 or less.

Further, the ink having low permeability tends to have a small spread on the recording medium. For this reason, when recording is performed using both low-permeability ink and high-permeability ink, it is possible that more low-permeability ink adheres per unit area than high-permeability ink. desirable.
By doing so, it is possible to record dots suitable for a predetermined resolution of the inkjet recording apparatus.

At the boundary portion, the width of recording with black ink having high permeability is adjusted by the ink amount of each color area forming the boundary portion or the ink permeability of the recording medium itself, whereby the image to be recorded is The quality can be improved. In other words, bleeding tends to increase as the amount of ink increases or as the ink permeability of the recording medium itself decreases. It is effective.

FIG. 6 shows a recording result when a black ink having a high permeability is used for recording on a recording medium having the ink permeability of the first value at the boundary portion x between the yellow region Y and the black region B. It is a figure which expands and shows typically the state of the bleed in the photograph. In the figure, (a), (b), (c), and (d) are for the case where the recording width of the boundary portion x made of highly penetrable black ink is 1 dot, 2 dots, 4 dots, and 6 dots, respectively. Indicates the bleed state.

Further, FIG. 7 shows a case where a black ink having high permeability is used for recording at the boundary portion x between the red region R and the black region B on the recording medium having the ink permeability of the first value. It is a figure which expands and shows typically the state of the bleed in the photograph of a recording result. The red area R is obtained by overlapping recording of yellow and magenta inks, and about twice the amount of ink is used as compared with the case of recording the yellow area Y with yellow ink. In the figure, (a), (b), (c), and (d) are for the case where the recording width of the boundary portion x made of highly penetrable black ink is 1 dot, 2 dots, 4 dots, and 6 dots, respectively. Indicates the bleed state.

As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7, the larger the recording width of the boundary portion x formed by the black ink having low penetrability, the smaller the bleed. Further, the bleeding at the boundary between the black area B and the red area R tends to be larger than that at the boundary between the black area B and the yellow area Y. In order to reduce the bleed and obtain the same recording quality, the recording width of the boundary portion x made of black ink having high penetrability is about 4 dots at the boundary between the black area B and the yellow area Y where the ink amount is small. About 6 dots are required at the boundary between the black area B and the red area R, which have a large amount. As described above, at the boundary with a large amount of ink, widening the recording width of the boundary portion x with black ink having high permeability (in this example, increasing the number of dots) reduces bleeding and achieves the same recording quality. It is effective in obtaining.

In FIG. 8, black ink having a high permeability is used at the boundary portion x between the yellow region Y and the black region B on a recording medium having a second value of the ink permeability lower than the first value. It is a figure which expands and shows typically the state of the bleed in the photograph of the recording result at the time of recording. In the figure, (a), (b),
In (c) and (d), the recording width of the boundary portion x made of black ink having high permeability is 2 dots, 4 dots, 6 dots, and 8 dots, respectively.
The bleeding state for dots is shown.

Further, FIG. 9 shows a case where a black ink having a high permeability is used for recording on a recording medium having the ink permeability of the second value at the boundary portion x between the red region R and the black region B. It is a figure which expands and shows typically the state of the bleed in the photograph of a recording result. The red area R is obtained by overlapping recording of yellow and magenta inks, and about twice the amount of ink is used as compared with the case of recording the yellow area Y with yellow ink. In the figure, (a), (b), (c), and (d) show the case where the recording width of the boundary portion x made of highly penetrating black ink is 2 dots, 4 dots, 6 dots, and 8 dots, respectively. Indicates the bleed state.

As can be seen from the comparison between FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 and FIG. 6 and FIG. In order to reduce the bleeding and obtain the same recording quality, the recording width of the boundary portion x made of black ink having high permeability is about 6 dots at the boundary between the black area B and the yellow area Y where the ink amount is small, About 8 dots were required at the boundary between the black region B and the red region R, which had a large amount. As described above, adjusting the recording width (the number of dots) of the highly penetrative black ink at the boundary portion x according to the penetrability of the recording medium reduces bleeding and achieves the same recording quality. It is effective.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the state of bleeding according to the brightness (contrast) difference between adjacent areas. In the figure, (a) is an enlarged schematic view of a photograph showing a state of bleeding at a boundary portion between a black region B and a red region R having a large lightness difference between black and black region B. The photograph which shows the state of bleeding in the boundary part with the purple region P where the difference in lightness between black and black is small is enlarged and shown typically. In FIG. 10, the recording width at the boundary with black ink having high permeability is 2 dots.
Bleeds at the boundary can be recognized in FIG. 10A, but bleeds at the boundary can hardly be recognized in FIG. 10B. As described above, the bleed is particularly noticeable at the color boundary where the difference in lightness (contrast) is large, and therefore the present embodiment is particularly effective when applied to the case where there is a large lightness difference in the colors of the inks that record the adjacent areas. Is.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining the bleeding state when recording is performed by changing the penetrability of the highly penetrative ink to be used in the boundary portion between adjacent areas. In the figure, (a) shows a bleed state at the boundary when the permeability of the black ink used in the black region B is increased and the permeability of the yellow ink used in the yellow region Y is decreased. A magnified schematic view of a photograph showing the above is shown. (B) is a yellow area Y in which the penetrability of the black ink used in the black area B is lowered.
The photograph showing the state of bleeding at the boundary when the penetrability of the yellow ink used in FIG. Regarding the composition of the ink having high permeability, the ink having lower permeability has an amount of surfactant of 0.3.
%, And the ink with the higher permeability has a surfactant amount of 0.5%, and the ink permeability was changed by adjusting each color of two types of ink, and recording was performed with each ink combination. .

When the penetrability of the black ink was made higher than that of the yellow ink, no bleeding was visible as shown in FIG. 11 (a). On the other hand, when the permeability of the yellow ink is made higher than that of the black ink, the black ink flows out into the yellow area Y as shown in FIG. 11B, and the bleeding is relatively remarkable. Looked like.

In this way, when recording two adjacent areas with two kinds of highly penetrating inks having different penetrating properties,
For example, when an ink of a low lightness such as black flows into an ink of a high lightness such as yellow, the bleeding at the boundary becomes noticeable. Therefore, the two adjacent regions have high permeability and different permeability.
When recording with different types of ink, the permeability of the ink with the lower lightness is changed to the ink with the higher lightness so that the ink with the higher lightness such as yellow flows into the ink with the lower lightness color such as black. Can be set higher than the permeability of
It is effective in eliminating bleeding at the boundary and improving recording quality.

Further, when recording is performed using the ink having high permeability, the ink having low lightness is recorded first so that the ink having high lightness can easily flow into the ink having low lightness. After fixing the ink,
Next, recording with an ink having a high lightness is more effective in eliminating the bleeding at the boundary and improving the recording quality.

FIG. 12 shows the dependency of the recording order of the bleeding state at the boundary portion when recording is performed with two kinds of high and low black inks having different penetrability and inks of other hues having high penetrability. It is a figure explaining. In the figure, (a) is a magnified schematic view of a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed in order of black ink with low permeability, yellow ink with high permeability, and black ink with high permeability. Show. In the figure,
(B) schematically shows an enlarged photograph of the recording results when recording is performed in the order of yellow ink with high permeability, black ink with low permeability, and black ink with high permeability. In the same figure, (c) is a magnified schematic view of a recording result of recording in the order of black ink with low permeability, black ink with high permeability, and yellow ink with high permeability. Show.
In FIG. 12, the recording width of the boundary portion made of black ink having high penetrability is 2 dots.

In this embodiment, black ink having low permeability,
Recording is performed in the order of ink of other hue such as yellow having high permeability and black ink having high permeability. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in (a), there is almost no bleeding at the boundary. However, in the case of the recording order other than the above, as shown in FIGS. 12B and 12C, the bleeding at the boundary is noticeable.

Therefore, in the case of recording with two kinds of high and low black inks having different penetrability and inks of other hues of high penetrability, the recording of the other hues is performed during the recording with the two kinds of black inks. It is desirable to adopt a recording order such that ink recording is performed. By adopting such a recording order, it is possible to take a relatively long time for the black ink to be fixed, and it is possible to take a relatively long time until the black inks come into contact with each other. It is possible to suppress uneven density in the region.

Further, when the recording area of the black ink having low permeability is larger than the recording area of the black ink having high permeability around the recording area, recording with the black ink having high permeability is performed. It is desirable to do it before recording with low black ink. As described above, by performing the recording with the black ink having high permeability first, it is possible to reduce bleeding and uneven density at the boundary portion, and it is possible to perform high-quality recording. That is, by recording in this way,
The ink with low permeability flows into the recording area of the ink with high permeability, the amount of recording ink increases, and the density of the black recording area is made uniform.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the state of bleeding at the boundary when the recording order with black ink of different permeability is changed. FIG. 6A shows the recording results when recording with black ink having low permeability is first performed with a recording width of 48 dots, and then recording with black ink having high permeability is performed with 8 dot width. The photograph is enlarged and shown schematically. In addition, FIG. 6B shows a case where recording with black ink having high permeability is first performed with a recording width of 8 dots, and recording with black ink having low permeability next is performed with 48 dots width. The resulting photograph is enlarged and shown schematically. In the case of FIG. 13, the recording with the yellow ink having high permeability was performed between the recording with the two types of black ink.

As can be seen from FIG. 13, in the case of FIG. 13A, no bleeding is seen at the boundary and no density unevenness is seen in the black recording area. On the other hand, in the case of FIG.
The density unevenness was remarkably observed in the black recording area. Further, if the recording area of the black ink having low permeability is larger than the recording area of the black ink having high permeability around the recording area, it is possible to prevent the ink from penetrating the recording medium. It is desirable to perform recording with a black ink having low property before recording with a black ink having high permeability. Strike through of the ink to the recording medium is a phenomenon in which the ink seeps out to the back surface of the recording medium, which is not preferable in consideration of recording on both sides of the recording medium. However, by performing the recording with the black ink having low permeability first, it is possible to reduce the strike-through of such an ink on the recording medium. That is, by recording the black ink with low permeability first, it is difficult for the black ink with low permeability to flow into the recording area of black ink with high permeability, and the amount of ink in the recording area of black ink with high permeability increases. To prevent strike-through.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the state of the back surface of the recording medium when the recording order with black ink of different permeability is changed. In the same figure (a), recording with black ink having low penetrability on the surface of the recording medium is performed.
A photograph of the back surface of the recording medium in the case where the recording width of dots is first recorded and then the recording with the black ink having high permeability is performed with the width of 8 dots is enlarged and schematically shown. Also, FIG.
A recording medium in which recording with black ink having high permeability is first performed on the surface of the recording medium with a recording width of 8 dots, and then recording with black ink having low permeability is performed with a width of 48 dots. The enlarged photograph of the back side of is shown schematically. FIG.
In the case of, recording with a highly penetrating yellow ink is
Done between recordings with two black inks. In addition, in FIG. 14, satin indicates the color density on the back surface of the recording medium.

As can be seen from FIG. 14, in the case of FIG. 14A, there is almost no see-through on the recording medium. On the other hand,
In the case of FIG. 6B, the strike-through to the recording medium was noticeable. By the way, when the recording area of black ink with low permeability is smaller than the recording area of black ink with high permeability around it, recording with black ink of low permeability is performed with black ink with high permeability. It is desirable to perform the recording before the ink recording. As described above, by performing the recording with the black ink having low permeability first, it is possible to reduce the bleeding and the density unevenness at the boundary portion, and it is possible to perform the high quality recording. That is, such recording prevents the ink having low permeability from flowing into the recording region of the ink having high permeability, and prevents the decrease in the density of the recording region of the ink having low permeability.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining the bleeding state at the boundary when the recording order with black ink of different permeability is changed. FIG. 6A shows the recording results when recording with black ink having low permeability is first performed with a recording width of 4 dots, and then recording with black ink having high permeability is performed with a 6-dot width. The photograph is enlarged and shown schematically. In addition, FIG. 9B shows a case where recording with black ink having high permeability is first performed with a recording width of 6 dots, and then recording with black ink having low permeability is performed with 4 dot width. The resulting photograph is enlarged and shown schematically. In the case of FIG.
Recording with the highly penetrating yellow ink was performed between recordings with the two black inks.

As can be seen from FIG. 15, in the case of FIG. 15A, the bleeding at the boundary is not visible and the density unevenness is not seen. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 6B, the density unevenness in the black recording area was noticeable. Fine-quality paper and medium-quality paper used for copy paper and the like have been subjected to ink bleeding prevention processing called normal size. For this reason, when the ink is adhered to such a recording medium, the ink becomes more familiar with the surface of the recording medium in a predetermined time called the familiarizing time, and then the ink starts to penetrate into the inside of the recording medium. In general, an ink with low penetrability has a longer familiarizing time than an ink with high penetrability, and the penetrating speed after the familiarizing time is slow.
Therefore, when recording the adjacent area with the ink with high permeability and the ink with low permeability, the ink with low permeability stays on the surface of the recording medium for a long time, and the ink with high permeability is recorded on the surface of the recording medium. Time to exist is short. Therefore, if the adjacent areas are recorded with these two inks, the ink flows from the area recorded with the low penetrability ink to the area recorded with the high penetrability ink, and the density of the recording is changed, There may be strikethrough. Therefore, when two inks having different penetrating properties are used, by adjusting the ink penetrating timing as described above, these problems can be avoided and high quality printing can be realized.

That is, by adhering the ink having low permeability to the recording medium earlier than the ink having high permeability, the ink having high permeability is already permeated when the ink having high permeability is adhered to the recording medium. It is desirable that the low ink is starting to penetrate into the recording medium. By performing such recording, it is possible to reduce the flow of ink from the area recorded with the ink having low permeability to the area recorded with the ink having high permeability.

FIG. 16 shows Bristow.
Test (J. TAPPI Paper Pulp Test Method No. 51)
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the results of the above with respect to an ink having high permeability and an ink having low permeability. In the figure, a represents the amount of penetration of ink having low permeability with respect to the contact time, and b represents the amount of penetration of ink with high permeability with respect to the contact time.

The ink having low penetrability hardly penetrates into high-quality paper which has been subjected to bleeding prevention treatment such as size, and high-quality recording without bleeding can be performed. However, for recording paper with a relatively high ink permeability, even if the ink has a low permeability, feather-like bleeding (feather) along the longitudinal direction of the fibers of the paper is likely to occur, and the recording quality is high. Will be significantly reduced.

On the other hand, when recording is performed with the ink having high permeability on the recording medium having relatively high ink permeability, feathering can be reduced and deterioration of recording quality can be suppressed. . Therefore, when performing recording on a recording medium having relatively high ink permeability, it is possible to reduce feathering by recording all the recording areas on the recording medium including the character portion with ink having high permeability. It is desirable to do this.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a printing result when printing is performed on a printing medium having relatively high ink permeability. In the figure, (a) schematically shows an enlarged photograph of a recording result when characters are recorded on recycled paper such as copy paper with black ink having high permeability, and (b) shows low permeability. The photograph of the recording result when characters are recorded on recycled paper such as copy paper with black ink is enlarged and schematically shown. As can be seen from FIG. 17, although feathering occurs in the same figure (b), feathering is rarely seen in the same figure (a).

In the above embodiment, two kinds of ink having different penetrability are used for black as an example of the hue, but a plurality of inks having different penetrability for each of other hues such as cyan, magenta and yellow are used. Needless to say, the ink may be used for recording. In this case, the recording quality is further improved. The hues are not limited to the above four colors, and inks having different penetrability can be used for hues such as red, blue and green.

Next, the construction and operation of the main parts in the ink jet recording apparatus in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described in more detail together with. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the image data processing system in the first embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus. In the figure, the image data processing system includes a boundary color discriminating unit 20 for substantially black data, a separating unit 21 for black data,
It is composed of a dot controller 22 and a driver 23. The black data boundary color determination unit 20 receives the image data regarding the image to be recorded, and determines the hue with which the black portion in the image contacts. The black data separating unit 21 separates from the image data, black data relating to a black portion to be recorded with black ink having high permeability and a black portion to be recorded with black ink having low permeability. The dot control unit 22 performs dot control including setting of a recording width with black ink having low permeability in a boundary portion between a black portion and a portion of another hue. In addition, the drive unit 23,
Each head of the head unit 45 shown in FIG. 1 is driven based on the image data, the black data, and the recording width of the black ink having low permeability in the boundary portion. The operations of the black data boundary color determining unit 20 and the black data separating unit 21 are performed by a single central control unit (CPU) 25, as indicated by a broken line in FIG.
Can be realized by software stored in the memory 26. The operations of the dot control unit 22 and the drive unit 23 may also be realized by the software of the CPU 25. Further, the image data relating to the image to be recorded may be temporarily stored in the memory 26 or the buffer memory (not shown), read out, and input to the boundary color discrimination unit 20 of the black data.

Since a control system for controlling the feed mechanism of the recording medium such as the paper feed roller 44 and a control system for controlling the movement of the carrier 42 are known, their illustration and description are omitted in this specification. To do. First, the operations of the black data boundary color discrimination unit 20, the black data separation unit 21, and the dot control unit 22 will be described. In the following description, as shown in FIG.
The dot recording position of the image data is represented by DXm, n, etc.,
X represents a hue of Y, M, C, K or K ',
m and n represent integers. Here, the hue X is Y
Is recorded with yellow and highly penetrating yellow ink, M is recorded with magenta and highly penetrating magenta ink, C is recorded with cyan and highly penetrating cyan ink, and K is black and penetrating. Recorded with high black ink,
It is assumed that K'is black and is recorded with black ink having low permeability. An intermediate color can be realized by combining the basic colors of the Y, M, C, K, and K'inks. For example, R
Is red and R = Y + M, G is green and G = Y + C, and B is blue and B = M + C.

FIG. 20 shows the operations of the boundary color discriminating unit 20 for the black data, the separating unit 21 for the black data, and the dot control unit 22 in the case where the recording width of the black ink having high permeability at the boundary is 1 dot. It is a flowchart. In the figure and the figure described later, dXm, n is the dot recording position D
The image data of the hue X regarding Xm, n is represented. In the input color image data dXm, n, X =
K's are not included.

In FIG. 20, a step S1 initializes m and n to 0, respectively. Step S2 is the dot recording position D
It is determined whether the image data dKm, n regarding Km, n is 1. If the decision result in the step S2 is NO, the process advances to a step S5 which will be described later. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S2 is YES, a step S3 decides whether or not each hue image data other than black adjacent to each dot recording position DKm, n is 0. That is, the image data dYm-1, n, dYm + 1, n, dYm, n-
1, dYm, n + 1, dMm-1, n, dMm + 1,
n, dMm, n-1, dMm, n + 1, dCm-1,
n, dCm + 1, n, dCm, n-1, dCm, n +
When 1 and all are 0, the determination result of step S3 is YES.
Becomes If the decision result in the step S3 is YES, the image data dKm, n is set to 0 and the image data dK'm, n is set to 1 in a step S4. In step S4, the image data dKm, n is not recorded with the black ink having high permeability, and the image data dKm, n is not recorded.
Km, n is replaced with the image data dK'm, n, and recording is performed with black ink having low permeability.

The step S5 decides whether or not m = a. If the decision result in the step S5 is NO, the m is set in the step S6.
It is set to +1 and the process is returned to step S2. Where a
Indicates the final value of m. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S5 is YES, a step S7 decides whether or not n = b. Here, b represents the final value of n. Step S
If the determination result of 7 is NO, m is set to 0 and n is set to n + 1 in step S8, and the process is performed in step S8.
Return to 2. If the decision result in the step S7 is YES,
The process ends.

As a result, in the boundary portion between the black area and the hue area other than black, one dot is recorded in the portion recorded in the black ink having low permeability and in the portion recorded in the black ink having high permeability. Will be replaced. That is, the recording width of black ink having high permeability is set to 1 dot at the boundary portion.

When the recording width of black ink having high penetrability is set to p dots at the boundary, basically, image data within the range of dXm ± p, n ± p in FIG. Just search. FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operations of the black data boundary color determination unit 20, the black data separation unit 21, and the dot control unit 22 when the recording width of the black ink having high permeability in the boundary portion is p dots. .

In FIG. 21, a step S11 decides whether or not the image data dXm, n with respect to the dot recording position Dm, n exists, that is, whether or not recording with black or another hue should be performed. If the dot recording position Dm, n is white and the result of the determination in step S11 is NO, step S
In order to search the next dot recording position with 12, m is m + 1
Or n is set to n + 1. In the initial state,
Since m = 1 and n = 1, dot recording positions are sequentially searched from this state. Therefore, at first, m is set to m + 1 in step S12 and the search is performed up to m = a. Then, n is set to n + 1 in step S12, and the search is sequentially repeated until n = b. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S11 is YES, a step S13 decides whether or not the image data dXm, n corresponding to the dot recording positions Dm, n is black, that is, dKm, n = 1. If the decision result in the step S13 is NO, the process returns to the step S12, but if YES, the process advances to a step S14 which will be described later.

By the above steps S11 to S13, it is judged whether or not recording in black or another hue should be performed and the hue is judged. In step S14, any dot recording position D adjacent to the dot recording positions Dm, n
It is determined whether or not the image data dXx, y for x and y exists, that is, whether or not recording with black or another hue should be performed. Here, (x, y) is (m, n +
1), (m + 1, n), and (m + 1, n + 1). All dot recording positions Dx, y are white, and step S14
If the determination result in No is NO, the process proceeds to step S26. A step S26 sets the image data dKm, n to 0 and the image data dK'm, n to 1,
After that, the process returns to step S12. On the other hand, step S
If the determination result of 14 is YES, the image data d for any of the dot recording positions Dx, y is determined in step S15.
It is determined whether Xx, y is black, that is, dKx, y = 1. If the decision result in the step S15 is NO, a step S16 sets the image data dK′m, n to 0, and the process returns to the step S12. If the decision result in the step S15 is YES, the image data dKx, y for the two dot recording positions Dx, y are d in a step S17.
It is determined whether or not to replace with K'x, y. That is, a step S17 decides whether or not to set the recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion to 2 dots. If the decision result in the step S17 is NO, the process returns to the step S12, and if YES, the process advances to a step S18 described later.

By the steps S14 to S17, the hue of the adjacent dot of the first dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with the black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion is set to 1 dot. Step S18 is the dot recording position D
Whether or not the image data dXx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y adjacent to m, n exists, that is,
Determine if recording in black or another hue should be done. Here, (x, y) is (m, n + 2), (m +
1, n + 2), (m + 2, n), (m + 2, n + 1),
(M + 2, n + 2). All dot recording positions D
When x and y are white and the determination result of step S18 is NO, the process proceeds to step S26. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S18 is YES, the image data d for one of the dot recording positions Dx, y is determined in a step 19.
It is determined whether Xx, y is black, that is, dKx, y = 1. If the decision result in the step S19 is NO, a step S20 sets the image data dK'm, n to 0, and the process returns to the step S12. If the decision result in the step S19 is YES, the image data dKx, y for the three dot recording positions Dx, y are d in a step S21.
It is determined whether or not to replace with K'x, y. That is, a step S21 decides whether or not to set the recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion to 3 dots. If the decision result in the step S21 is NO, the process returns to the step S12, and if YES, the process advances to a step S22 which will be described later.

By the above steps S18 to S21, the hue of the adjacent dot of the second dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with black ink having high penetrability at the boundary portion is set to 2 dots. Step S22 is the dot recording position D
Whether or not the image data dXx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y adjacent to m, n exists, that is,
Determine if recording in black or another hue should be done. Here, (x, y) is (m, n + 3), (m +
1, n + 3), (m + 2, n + 3), (m + 3, n),
(M + 3, n + 1), (m + 3, n + 2), (m + 3,
n + 3). If all the dot recording positions Dx, y are white and the determination result in step S22 is NO, the process proceeds to step S26. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S22 is YES, a step 23 decides whether or not the image data dXx, y for any of the dot recording positions Dx, y is black, that is, dKx, y = 1. If the decision result in the step S23 is NO, a step S24
Sets the image data dK'm, n to 0, and the process returns to step S12. In addition, the determination result of step S23 is YE
In the case of S, four dot recording positions D in step S25
It is determined whether or not the image data dKx, y for x, y should be replaced with dK′x, y. That is, step S25
Determines whether or not the recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion is set to 4 dots. If the decision result in the step S25 is NO, the process is a step S.
Return to 12, and if YES, next step (not shown)
Proceed to.

By the above steps S22 to S25, the hue of the adjacent dot of the third dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with black ink having high penetrability at the boundary portion is set to 3 dots. In the same manner, the above operation is repeated until the recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion is set to p dots.

Next, the boundary color discriminating unit 2 for the black data in the case of adjusting the recording width for recording with the black ink having high penetrability in the color boundary portion according to the difference in lightness between the hues of the adjacent areas.
The operations of the 0 and black data separation unit 21 and the dot control unit 22 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 22 shows the boundary color discriminating unit 20 for black data and the separating unit 21 for black data in this case.
7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the dot control unit 22.

In FIG. 22, the hue is represented by numerical values. For the sake of convenience of explanation, white areas (no data) = 0, Y
= 2, M = 3, C = 4, R (Y + M) = 5, G (Y +
C) = 6, B (M + C) = 7, and K = K ′ = 9. The difference in brightness from black (K, K ') is large, and in the order in which bleeding is noticeable at the boundary, the recording width for recording with black ink with high permeability at the boundary, that is, the number of dots replacing K'with K , Y 3 dots, M, C, R, G 2 dots, B
Now, the operation when one dot is used will be described below.

In FIG. 22, a step S31 decides whether or not the image data dm, n with respect to the dot recording position Dm, n exists, that is, whether recording with black or another hue should be performed when dm, n ≠ 0. Determine whether or not. Dot recording position D
When m and n are white and the determination result of step S31 is NO, m is set to m + 1 or n is set to n + 1 to search for the next dot recording position in step S32.
In the initial state, m = 1 and n = 1, and dot recording positions are sequentially searched from this state. Therefore, at first, m is set to m + 1 in step S32 and the search is performed up to m = a. Then, n is set to n + 1 in step S32 and the search is sequentially repeated until n = b. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S31 is YES, a step S33 decides whether or not the image data dm, n = 9 for the dot recording positions Dm, n, that is, dKm, n = 1. The determination result of step S33 is NO.
If so, the process returns to step S32, but if YES, the process proceeds to step S34 described later.

Through the steps S31 to S33, it is judged whether or not recording with black or another hue should be performed and the hue is judged. In step S34, any dot recording position D adjacent to the dot recording positions Dm, n
whether image data dx, y for x, y exists,
That is, it is determined whether or not printing with black or another hue should be performed when dx, y = ≠ 0. Here, (x, y) is (m, n + 1), (m + 1, n), (m + 1, n + 1)
It is. If all dot recording positions Dx, y are white and the determination result in step S34 is NO, the process proceeds to step S34.
Proceed to 45. In step S45, the image data dKm, n
Is set to 0 and the image data dK'm, n is set to 1, and then the process returns to step S32. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S34 is YES, a step S
At 35, it is determined whether the image data dx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y is black, that is, dx, y = 9. If the decision result in the step S35 is NO,
In step S36, the image data dK'm, n is set to 0, and the process returns to step S32. If the decision result in the step S35 is YES, the process advances to a step S37 which will be described later.

By the steps S34 to S36, the hue of the adjacent dot of the first dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with the black ink having high penetrability at the boundary portion is set to 1 dot. Step S37 is a dot recording position D
Whether or not image data dx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y adjacent to m, n exists, that is, d
When x, y ≠ 0, it is determined whether or not recording with black or another hue should be performed. Here, (x, y) is (m, n +
2), (m + 1, n + 2), (m + 2, n), (m +
2, n + 1) and (m + 2, n + 2). If all the dot recording positions Dx, y are white and the determination result in step S37 is NO, the process proceeds to step S45. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S37 is YES, a step 38 decides whether or not the image data dx, y for any of the dot recording positions Dx, y is black, that is, dx, y = 9. If the decision result in the step S38 is NO, a step S39 decides whether or not dx, y is 0 to 7, thereby determining whether or not the hue of dx, y is other than black. If the decision result in the step S39 is YES, the process advances to a step S45. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S39 is NO, the step S40 sets the image data dK′m, n to 0, and the process is the step S40.
Return to 32. If the decision result in the step S38 is YES, the process advances to a step S41 which will be described later.

By the steps S37 to S40, the hue of the adjacent dot of the second dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with black ink having high penetrability at the boundary portion is set to 2 dots. In step S41, the dot recording position D
Whether or not image data dx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y adjacent to m, n exists, that is, d
When x, y ≠ 0, it is determined whether or not recording with black or another hue should be performed. Here, (x, y) is (m, n +
3), (m + 1, n + 3), (m + 2, n + 3), (m
+3, n), (m + 3, n + 1), (m + 3, n +)
2) and (m + 3, n + 3). All dot recording positions Dx, y are white, and the determination result in step S41 is NO.
In the case of, the process proceeds to step S45. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S41 is YES, a step 42
Then, it is determined whether or not the image data dx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y is black, that is, dx, y = 9. If the decision result in the step S42 is NO, a step S43 decides whether or not dx, y is other than 2, thereby determining whether or not the hue of dx, y is other than yellow. If the decision result in the step S42 or S43 is YES, the process advances to a step S45. On the other hand,
If the decision result in the step S43 is NO, the step S
At 44, the image data dK'm, n is set to 0, and the process returns to step S32.

By the above steps S41 to S44, the hue of the adjacent dot of the third dot is determined, and the recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability at the boundary portion is set to 3 dots. Next, the boundary color discriminating unit 20 for the black data and the separation of the black data in the case of adjusting the recording width for recording with the highly penetrative black ink in the color boundary portion according to the amount of the ink recording the adjacent areas. Unit 21 and dot control unit 2
The operation of No. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing the operations of the black data boundary color discrimination unit 20, the black data separation unit 21, and the dot control unit 22 in this case. 23, those steps which are the same as those corresponding steps in FIG. 22 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 23, the hue is represented by a numerical value. For the sake of convenience of explanation, white areas (no data) = 0, Y
= 2, M = 3, C = 4, R (Y + M) = 5, G (Y +
C) = 6, B (M + C) = 7, and K = K ′ = 9. When the secondary colors R, G, and B are recorded by superimposing the primary colors Y, M, and C, the amount of the secondary color ink is about twice that of the primary color. At this time, the recording width for recording with the highly penetrative black ink is set to 1 dot at the boundary on the primary color side, and is recorded with the highly penetrative black ink on the boundary at the secondary color side. The operation when the recording width to be set is set to 2 dots will be described below.

In FIG. 23, if the decision result in the step S38 is YES, the process advances to a step S45. On the other hand,
If the decision result in the step S38 is NO, the step S
49 determines whether or not dx, y is 4 or more to determine whether or not the hue of dx, y is cyan or a hue having a lightness lower than that of cyan. If the decision result in the step S49 is YES, the process advances to a step S45. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S49 is NO, the image data dK′m, n is set to 0 in the step S44, and the process returns to the step S32.

Next, a method for calculating a recording area for recording with black ink having high permeability and a recording area for recording with black ink having low permeability in the black region will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 24 shows a boundary color discriminating unit 20 for black data and a separating unit 21 for black data when calculating a recording area for recording with black ink with high permeability and a recording area for recording with black ink with low permeability. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the dot control unit 22.

In FIG. 24, the hue is represented by a numerical value. For the sake of convenience of explanation, white areas (no data) = 0, Y
= 2, M = 3, C = 4, R (Y + M) = 5, G (Y +
C) = 6, B (M + C) = 7, and K = K ′ = 9.
Further, the ink jet recording apparatus adopts a serial recording system, for example, m = 1 to 2950, n = 1 to 48.
With respect to the data for one scan, the recording area for recording with black ink having high permeability and the recording area for recording with black ink having low permeability are calculated. Further, by the above-described processing, the black data is decomposed into black data dKm, n recorded with black ink having high permeability and black data dK'm, n recorded with black ink having low permeability. Be present.

In FIG. 24, step S51 is performed, for example, in FIG.
For the image data in the memory 26 or the buffer memory shown in FIG. 8, it is determined whether m <2950 or n <48. If the decision result in the step S51 is NO, the process advances to a step S59 which will be described later. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S51 is YES, a step S5
2, the image data dm for the dot recording position Dm, n,
Whether n is dm and n = 9, that is, image data d
It is determined whether m and n represent black. If the decision result in the step S52 is NO, in a step S53, m is set to m + 1 to search for the next dot recording position, or n is set.
Is set to n + 1. In the initial state, m = 1 and n = 1
The dot recording positions are sequentially searched from this state.
Therefore, initially, m is set to m + 1 in step S53, and when searching is performed up to m = 2950, n is set to n + 1 in step S53, and n =
The search is sequentially repeated until the number reaches 48. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S52 is YES, the process advances to a step S54 which will be described later.

[0209] In step S54, the dot recording position Dm,
It is determined whether the image data dx, y for any dot recording position Dx, y adjacent to n is dx, y = 9, that is, whether dx, y represents black. here,
(X, y) is (m-1, n-1), (m, n-1),
(M + 1, n-1), (m-1, n), (m + 1,
n), (m-1, n + 1), (m, n-1), (m +
1, n + 1), 1 ≦ x ≦ 2950, and 1 ≦ y ≦ 48. If the decision result in the step S54 is NO, the dot isolated alone is ignored and the process returns to the step S53. On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S54 is YES, the image data dpq is set to dpq = 9 in a step S55.

In step S56, p = m-1, and q
= N or q = n-1. If the decision result in the step S56 is NO, a step S57 stores (m, n) in the memory 26 or the new memory area Mr in the buffer memory, and the process returns to the step S53.
On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S56 is YES, a memory 26 storing (m, n) (p, q) in the step S58 or an existing memory region Mo in the buffer memory is stored.
To be stored. Here, o <r. After step S58, the process returns to step S53.

If the decision result in the step S51 is NO, a step S59 decides the image data dKv, w, dK 'corresponding to each coordinate (v, w) in the same existing memory area Mo.
The numbers of v and w are calculated respectively. As a result, the recording area is calculated. In step S60, the numbers calculated in step S59, that is, the calculated recording areas are compared with each other, and based on the comparison result, the recording area for recording with the black ink with high permeability and the black with low permeability are recorded. The printing order with the printing area to be printed with the ink is determined. The drive unit 23 shown in FIG. 18 drives each head of the head unit 45 based on the recording order thus determined.

Next, a second embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The second embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the second embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the second embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention. The ink jet recording apparatus and the ink cartridge may have the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore their illustration and description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, when a color image is recorded using a plurality of different color inks including black ink,
The Rf value of each color ink is set so as to satisfy a predetermined condition. That is, the Rf value of at least one ink is made different from the Rf values of the other inks, and the ink of a color with low lightness has a lower Rf value than the ink of a color with high lightness.

Here, the Rf value refers to the value of the migration rate of the coloring material obtained by the paper chromatography method specified below. That is, the higher the Rf value, the lower the affinity with the cellulose fiber on the plain paper, and the easier it is to spread on the recording medium. The Rf value is calculated as follows.

A desired coloring material is dissolved in a water / diethylene glycol mixed solvent having a weight ratio of 55/45 in an amount of 5% by weight to obtain a test solution for the test. The test solution thus obtained was used as Toyo Filter Paper No. No. manufactured by Toyo Roshi Kaisha, Ltd. After charging 2 μl of the lower end portion of the filter No. 50, the mixed solvent is developed as a developing solvent for a predetermined time according to a conventional method. As a result of this development, the development distance A of the development solvent from the charge point and the migration distance B of the dye from the charge point are measured, and the ratio of both, B / A = Rf value, is determined.

In this example, water and a mixture of water and a water-soluble organic solvent are used as the ink jet recording liquid, that is, the liquid medium constituting the ink. Examples of the organic solvent include monohydric alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, (normal) propyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, dihydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, hexylene glycol, diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol, and glycerin. Trihydric alcohol, polyethylene glycol,
Polyalkylene glycol such as polybutylene glycol, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, 1,3-dimethyl-
Nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds such as 2-imidazolidinone, lower alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, triethylene glycol monomethyl ether, etc. can be used, and one or more of them can be mixed. You may use it. In particular, it is preferable to use a polyhydric alcohol having a valence of 2 or more that is hard to evaporate and has hygroscopicity.

The content of the above organic solvent in the ink is 5 to 80% by weight, preferably 5 to 50% by weight.
Is within the range. This is because the content of organic solvent is 5% by weight.
If the amount is less than the above value, the drying of the ink may be accelerated, the solubility of the dye may be decreased, and the dye in the ink may be easily deposited to cause clogging. This is because it becomes high and it becomes difficult to eject ink from the nozzles of the head.

The basic composition of the ink used in this example is as described above, but if necessary, other dispersants, cationic, anionic, nonionic surfactants, polyvinyl alcohol, celluloses, It goes without saying that a viscosity adjusting agent such as a water-soluble resin and a pH adjusting agent such as diethanolamine or triethanolamine may be added.

The present inventors firstly prepared the following composition 1,
In addition, color images were recorded using yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks having almost the same Rf value. (Composition 1) Dye 2% by weight Yellow: C.I. I. Acid Yellow 23, Rf value = 0.90 Magenta: C.I. I. Acid Red 265, Rf value = 0.91 Cyan: C.I. I. Acid Blue 120, Rf value = 0.91 Black: C.I. I. Acid black 139, Rf value = 0.90 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Distilled water 88% by weight When the above composition 1 was used, as shown in FIG. At the boundary portion 33 where the solid recording area 31 and the solid recording area 32 of another color are adjacent to each other, unintended color mixture, that is, bleeding 34 occurs. Due to the bleeding 34, the recorded image became unclear and only an image lacking sharpness was obtained. In particular, bleeding that occurred at the boundary between different colors was noticeable at the boundary between yellow and other colors. This is due to the visual impact of the human eye,
It is considered that this is because, in the boundary portion with a color having a large difference in brightness, it looks to human eyes as if it bleeds from a lower brightness to a higher brightness.

FIG. 26 is a diagram schematically showing the bleed of FIG. 26, those parts which are the same as those corresponding parts in FIG. 25 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 26, a yellow area 31
A blackish bleed region 34 in which yellow, magenta, and cyan are mixed is formed at a boundary portion 33 between the blue region 32 and the blue region 32. The dark color and blue area 3 of this bleed area 34
Since the difference in brightness from the blue color of 2 is relatively small, the bleeding portion is less noticeable. However, since the difference in brightness between the yellow color of the yellow area 31 and the dark color of the bleed area 34 is large, the bleed portion is conspicuous. Therefore, it is considered that the human eye looks as if bleeding occurred from the low-brightness blue region 32 to the high-brightness yellow region 31.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the R of the dye of the ink of the color having low lightness is changed without changing the solvent composition ratio of the ink of each color.
The dye is selected so that the f value is lower than the Rf value of the dye of the ink of high lightness. That is, as shown below,
Rf value Y of yellow, magenta, cyan and black dyes
r, Mr, Cr and Kr are each Yr> Mr ≧ Cr> Kr
Each Rf value is selected so as to satisfy the following relationship. Further, the lower the color of the ink, the greater the affinity with the cellulose fiber, which is the main component of the paper used as the recording medium, is set. As a result, the bleeding can be made inconspicuous.

The present inventors recorded a color image using the following yellow, magenta, cyan and black inks having composition 2 which satisfy these conditions. (Composition 2) Dye 2% by weight Yellow: C.I. I. Acid Yellow 23, Rf value = 0.90 Magenta: C.I. I. Acid Red 161, Rf value = 0.86 Cyan: C.I. I. Direct Blue 86, Rf value = 0.86 Black: C.I. I. Direct Black 154, Rf value = 0.72 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Distilled water 88% by weight When the above composition 2 was used, the yellow and other colors which were particularly noticeable in the past were used. It was confirmed that the bleeding at the boundary part of was almost unnoticeable. This is because the yellow ink has a stronger force to flow into another color ink than the cyan, magenta and black ink has to flow into the other color ink. This is probably because it became difficult to enter the yellow area beyond the boundary. For the same reason as above, it was also confirmed that the black ink can be prevented from flowing into the other color inks, and a clear color image can be recorded.

Furthermore, the present inventors have conducted experiments to determine the influence of the difference in the Rf values of the yellow and black inks used on bleed, especially when recording a yellow area and a black area where bleed is conspicuous. Examined. As a result, the relationship between the difference in Rf value and the degree of bleeding is as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 27, the horizontal axis represents the difference in Rf value, and the vertical axis represents the degree of bleeding by subjective evaluation. Regarding the subjective evaluation value, a value of 5 is very satisfied, a value of 4 is satisfied, a value of 3 is endurable, a value of 2 is dissatisfied, and a value of 1 is highly dissatisfied. The larger the value, the less noticeable the bleeding is. As can be seen from FIG. 27, in order for the subjective evaluation value to be 3 or more, the difference in Rf value is 0.04.
Above, desirably (to make the subjective evaluation value 4 or above)
It was confirmed that it should be 0.1 or more.

In the ink jet recording apparatus, when a color image is recorded by using each color ink of the above composition 2, as described in the first embodiment, inks of low brightness are sequentially arranged. It is desirable to use and record. This is because the ink that adheres to the recording medium later tends to be attracted to the ink that has adhered earlier to cause bleeding. According to the experiments conducted by the present inventors, the effect of preventing bleeding was particularly improved when recording was performed first with a black ink having a strong affinity with cellulose fibers and finally with a yellow ink having a weak affinity. .

Further, the present inventors recorded a color image using the following yellow, magenta, cyan and black inks having the following composition 3, which satisfies the same conditions as the composition 2. (Composition 3) Yellow ink Dye 2% by weight Yellow: C.I. I. Acid Yellow 23, Rf = 0.90 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Anionic surfactant 0.5% by weight Distilled water 87.5% by weight Magenta ink Dye 2% by weight % Magenta: C.I. I. Acid Red 161, Rf value = 0.86 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Anionic surfactant 0.3% by weight Distilled water 87.7% by weight Cyan ink Dye 2% by weight % Cyan: C.I. I. Direct Blue 86, Rf value = 0.86 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Anionic surfactant 0.2% by weight Distilled water 87.8% by weight Black ink Dye 2% by weight % Black: C.I. I. Direct Black 154, Rf value = 0.72 Diethylene glycol 10% by weight Ethyl alcohol 5% by weight Ethylene glycol dibenzyl ether 1% by weight Distilled water 88% by weight When the above composition 3 is used, a surfactant having a penetrating effect is used for each color. Since the ink is added by changing it for each ink, the penetrability of ink of low lightness can be made lower than that of ink of high lightness. As a result, it was confirmed that the effect of preventing bleeding at the boundary was further improved.

The inventors of the present invention compared the penetrability of each ink by the Bristow method. The familiarity time was the same, and the familiarization time for the yellow ink, which has high brightness, was the longest.
In FIG. 28, the horizontal axis represents the contact time of the ink on the recording medium, and the vertical axis represents the ink penetration amount. Further, Y, M, C and K correspond to yellow, magenta, cyan and black inks, respectively. When the results of recording with these inks were examined, it was confirmed that bleeding was further reduced and a very clear color image could be recorded.

By the way, in the conventional ink jet recording system, it is very difficult to obtain a satisfactory recording quality when using a commonly used paper such as a notebook, a report paper, a copy paper, and a notepaper as a recording medium. This is because the ink adhering to the paper spreads along the fibers of the paper and causes bleeding. Therefore, thin ruled lines, fine characters, J
In many cases, complicated Kanji characters defined as the IS second level were unclear and difficult to see.

There is also a size-treated paper so that bleeding does not easily occur when writing with an aqueous ink. When recording is performed by an ink jet recording apparatus on a paper that has been subjected to such size processing, the ink does not easily penetrate into the paper, and the fixability of a recorded image or characters is poor. For this reason, when the user touches the recorded images or characters on the paper by hand, or when the recorded papers are sequentially stacked as in the case of continuous recording, the recorded images or characters may be faint. Further, if the ink fixability is poor, bleeding easily occurs at the boundary between inks of different hues.

As a method for eliminating these inconveniences, in addition to the above methods (1) to (7), JP-A-6-14379 is used.
One method is also proposed in Japanese Patent No. 5 publication. In this proposed method, the ink used is defined by the contact angle on the surface of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The contact angle of ink with PTFE is greatly influenced by the surface roughness of PTFE. Further, the present inventors have examined the relationship between the contact angle with respect to PTFE and the actual contact angle with respect to the recording medium, and there is no correlation, and if the ink is defined only by the contact angle with respect to PTFE, the above inconvenience is solved. Proved to be insufficient.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively suppress bleeding and bleeding by ink jet recording even for a recording medium that is sized and has the fibers of the paper exposed on the recording surface, so-called plain paper. A possible embodiment will be described below. Third of inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention
An embodiment will be described. The third embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the third embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the third embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention. The ink jet recording apparatus and the ink cartridge may have the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore their illustration and description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, when recording is performed using two or more kinds of inks having different hues, at least one kind has a surface tension difference of 4 dyne / cm or more with respect to the other kinds of ink. The ink having the higher surface tension is used for recording a line image such as characters, and the ink having a lower surface tension is used for recording a general image (or a plane image) such as a figure. As will be described later, the surface tension of the ink having the higher surface tension is preferably 49 dyne / cm or more,
The surface tension of the ink having the lower surface tension is preferably 45.
It is less than or equal to dyne / cm.

The inventors of the present invention have conducted experiments to record a line drawing such as characters, even if an ink with large bleeding is used, if the color difference with the recording medium is small, the bleeding is not noticeable and can be sufficiently used in actual use. Confirmed by. Further, in a normal case, the ink used for recording characters is almost black ink. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to use two kinds of ink for a line image such as characters and a general image. Only the hue having a large color difference from the recording medium that is white or only black is limited. As a result, the number of ink types and the number of heads can be reduced, and the configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Further, as a result of examinations with various subjective evaluations, the present inventors confirmed by experiments that if the line blur amount is 15 μm or less and the bleed amount is 200 μm or less, the recording quality is satisfactory. did. The amount of bleeding is
It is the jaggedness of the edges of a line. As shown in FIG. 29, the edges of the line are subdivided, the distances from the virtual line to the respective edges are measured, and linear approximation is performed by the least squares method so that the average of the distances (unevenness amount) becomes 0. The standard deviation σ of the unevenness amount was taken as the bleeding amount.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 30, the bleed amount is calculated by calculating the area where the ink protrudes from the boundary line between adjacent different hues, dividing this area by the length of the boundary line, and calculating the unit length. The length at which the ink flowed out against the hit was evaluated. The reason for making such an evaluation is that the bleed amount depends on the length of the boundary portion in the area.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface tension of ink and the amount of bleeding. FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface tension of ink and the amount of bleed. From FIG. 31,
To reduce the bleeding amount to 15 μm or less, the surface tension should be 49d.
It has been found that it is necessary to make it more than yne / cm. Further, it was found from FIG. 32 that the surface tension needs to be 45 dyne / cm or less in order to reduce the bleeding amount to 200 μm or less.

Black and yellow inks Ak and Ay having the same surface tension within the above range of surface tension, and black and yellow ink Bk having a surface tension different from that of the inks Ak and Ay within the above range of surface tension. FIG. 33 shows the evaluation results obtained by recording with By and evaluating blurring and bleeding.
Shown in For evaluation, a 3-dot width line drawing and a solid image were recorded. In addition, the bleeding of the line drawing was black and the solid bleed was the boundary portion between black and yellow, and the hue having the largest color difference was recorded. In FIG. 33, the mark ◯ indicates that the bleeding amount is 15 μm or less or the bleeding amount is 200 μm or less, and the X mark indicates that the bleeding amount or the bleeding amount is other than these.

As can be seen from FIG. 33, the inks Ak and A
In the case of y, the surface tension is 53 dyne / cm, and the bleeding amount is sufficiently small but the bleeding amount is large. On the other hand, in the case of the inks Bk and By, the surface tension is 33.6 dyne / c.
The bleeding amount is sufficiently small, but the bleeding amount is large. From this, it was confirmed that the inks Ak and Ay were suitable for recording line drawings such as characters, and the inks Bk and By were suitable for recording general images.

This embodiment is more effective as the color difference between the hue of the ink and the hue of the recording medium is larger. Since the hue of the recording medium is usually white, the effect of this embodiment is greatest when the hue of the ink is black. Next, a fourth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The fourth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the fourth embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the fourth embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention. The configuration of the inkjet recording device and the ink cartridge is shown in FIG.
And a similar one to that shown in FIG. 2 can be used,
The illustration and description thereof are omitted.

As described above, it is effective to use highly penetrative ink having a short fixing time in order to reduce bleeding. However, highly penetrative ink easily bleeds and is suitable for recording characters and tables. Absent. On the other hand, in order to suppress bleeding and perform high-quality recording, it is effective to use an ink having low permeability, but in this case, fixing time becomes long and bleeding increases.

Therefore, it is effective to reduce the bleeding and bleeding by using inks having different penetrability depending on the kind of the image to be recorded. Different for each ink used. For example, if you print an image with mixed characters and graphics, the print density will differ for each ink used, so you may not be able to perform high-quality printing depending on the type of image you print and the hue of the ink There is also. The recording density (OD) indicates the density when recording is performed at a printing rate of 100%, and when recording is performed using black ink, it indicates the optical reflection density, and ink of a hue other than black is used. When recorded using, it refers to the status A density.

In this embodiment, two kinds of inks having the same hue but different penetrability are used for at least one hue, and the inks having different hues have different penetrability when recording an image which is not adjacent on the recording medium. Recording is performed using the lower ink, and when recording images in which inks of different hues are adjacent to each other on the recording medium, the ink having the higher permeability is used for recording. Further, the densities of the color materials of the two types of ink (hereinafter referred to as color material densities) are set to different values so that the recording densities of the two types of ink on the recording medium are substantially the same. The coloring material includes dyes and pigments.

The present inventors conducted an experiment using a black dye as the ink dye and a plain paper Xerox 4024DP manufactured by Xerox Co., which is commonly used as a recording medium, and obtained the following experimental results. It was First, the first experiment Ex1
Then, an image having a printing rate of 100% was recorded on the recording medium using the ink I1 having low penetrability and the ink I2 having high penetrability, each of which uses a black dye having the same dye concentration. FIG. 34 is a diagram showing the dye densities of the inks I1 and I2 and the measured recording densities on the recording medium. As can be seen from the figure, using the inks I1 and I2 having the same dye density causes a large difference in recording density. In addition, in FIG. 34 and FIGS. 35 to 37, which will be described later, the dye concentration is represented by weight percent (wt%).

On the other hand, in the second experiment Ex2, the ink I3 having low penetrability and the ink I4 having high penetrability which use the black dyes having different dye concentrations are used, and the same experiment as the experiment Ex1 is performed. 100% printing rate for recording media
Image was recorded. FIG. 35 is a diagram showing the color material densities of the inks I3 and I4 and the measured recording densities on the recording medium. As can be seen from the figure, it was confirmed that when the inks I3 and I4 having different dye densities are used, the recording densities become substantially the same. More specifically, by setting the color material concentration of the ink I3 having low permeability to be lower than the color material concentration of the ink I4 having high permeability, the print densities on the recording medium for the two types of inks I3 and I4 are set. It can be almost the same.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, bleeding and bleeding can be effectively and surely suppressed. Generally, a color ink jet recording apparatus is provided with four color inks of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. However, since the hue of the recording medium is usually white, the yellow ink is used to print characters and tables. Recording is very rare. Even if characters, a table, etc. are recorded on the recording medium using the yellow ink, the bleeding of the yellow ink is hardly noticeable. Therefore, the effect of the present embodiment is greater as the color difference or lightness difference between two types of ink having the same hue and different penetrating properties and the hue of the recording medium is larger, and the hue of the ink is black and the hue of the recording medium is white. In the case of, the effect is the largest.

The inventors of the present invention investigated the recording density for obtaining sufficiently high recording quality by subjecting it to subjective evaluation and the like.
When the recording medium is plain paper, if the recording density is 0.9 or more, the recording quality is within the acceptable range, and if the recording medium is inkjet recording paper exclusively for inkjet recording, the required value is because it is special paper. It was found that when the recording density was higher than that of plain paper and the recording density was 1.3 or more, it was within the allowable range. Furthermore, in the case of image recording using two types of ink having the same hue but different penetrability, regardless of the type of recording medium,
It was also found that if the difference in the recording density between the inks is about 0.3 or less, the recording quality within the allowable range can be obtained.

Normally, if there is a difference in recording density of 0.3, it is detected as a considerably large difference to the human eye, but in this embodiment, two kinds of ink having different penetrability are detected according to the kind of image. Since they are used properly, the present inventors have found that the recorded image as a whole does not appear as a big difference. For example, when characters are recorded as a line drawing and a pattern having a printing rate of 100% is recorded as a general image such as a figure and the recording densities on these recording media are compared,
It was confirmed that when the difference in the recording density is 0.3 or less, the recording quality within the allowable range can be obtained. The recording density of the ink used for recording the line drawing on the recording medium in this case is the recording density when a pattern having a printing rate of 100% is recorded using the ink.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The fifth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the fifth embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the fifth embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention. The ink jet recording apparatus and the ink cartridge may have the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore their illustration and description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, two kinds of inks having the same hue but different penetrability are used for at least one hue, and the inks having different hues have different penetrability when recording an image which is not adjacent on the recording medium. Recording is performed by using the lower ink, and when recording images in which inks of different hues are adjacent to each other on the recording medium, the ink having higher permeability is used for recording. Furthermore, when recording is performed using the ink with the lower recording density on the recording medium (in this case, the ink with the higher permeability), recording is performed multiple times.

The inventors of the present invention used a black dye as the dye of the ink and used a plain paper X which is commonly used as a recording medium.
An experiment was conducted using erox 4024DP, and the following experimental results were obtained. First, in the third experiment Ex3, the ink I3 having low permeability and the ink I4 having high permeability using black dyes having different dye densities from each other are used, and the ink is applied to the recording medium similarly to the experiment Ex2. An image having a printing rate of 100% was recorded, and recording using the ink I4 having high permeability was performed a plurality of times by performing so-called overlapping recording. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the degree of overlap, which is the number of times of recording using ink I4, and the measured recording density on the recording medium. As can be seen from the figure, the recording density obtained by performing the recording using the ink I4 having a high dye concentration a plurality of times may be substantially the same as the recording density obtained by the recording using the ink I3 having a low permeability. confirmed. More specifically, the recording using the ink I4 having high permeability is performed a plurality of times, and the recording using the ink I3 having low permeability is performed once, so that the recording density on the recording medium is two types. I3, I4
Can be about the same.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, bleeding and bleeding can be effectively and surely suppressed. Generally, a color ink jet recording apparatus is provided with four color inks of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. However, since the hue of the recording medium is usually white, the yellow ink is used to print characters and tables. Recording is very rare. Even if characters, a table, etc. are recorded on the recording medium using the yellow ink, the bleeding of the yellow ink is hardly noticeable. Therefore, the effect of the present embodiment is greater as the color difference or lightness difference between two types of ink having the same hue and different penetrating properties and the hue of the recording medium is larger, and the hue of the ink is black and the hue of the recording medium is white. In the case of, the effect is the largest.

Also in this embodiment, when the recording medium is plain paper, if the recording density is 0.9 or more, the recording quality is within the allowable range, and the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording. In this case, if the recording density is 1.3 or more, it is within the allowable range. Further, in the case of image recording using two kinds of inks having the same hue and different penetrability, the allowable range is about 0.3 or less regardless of the kind of the recording medium, if the difference in the recording density between the respective inks is about 0.3 or less. The recording quality inside is obtained.

Next, a modification of the fifth embodiment will be described. In this modification, as in the fifth embodiment, two kinds of inks having the same hue but different penetrability are used for at least one hue, and the inks of different hues record images that are not adjacent to each other on the recording medium. In this case, the ink with the lower permeability is used for recording, and when recording an image in which inks of different hues are adjacent to each other on the recording medium, the ink with the higher permeability is used for recording. . When recording is performed using the ink with the lower recording density on the recording medium (in this case, the ink with higher permeability), the recording is performed multiple times. Further, as in the fourth embodiment, the color material densities of the two types of ink are set to different values so that the recording densities of the two types of ink on the recording medium are substantially the same.

The inventors of the present invention used a black dye as the ink dye and used plain paper X which is commonly used as a recording medium.
An experiment was conducted using erox 4024DP, and the following experimental results were obtained. First, in the fourth experiment Ex4, the low penetrability ink I5 and the high penetrability ink I6 using black dyes having different dye densities are used for the recording medium similarly to the experiment Ex2. An image having a printing rate of 100% was recorded, and the recording using the ink I6 having high permeability was performed so-called multiple recording. FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the degree of overlap, which is the number of times of recording using the ink I6, and the measured recording density on the recording medium. As can be seen from the figure, the recording density obtained by performing the recording using the ink I6 having a high dye concentration a plurality of times may be substantially the same as the recording density obtained by the recording using the ink I5 having a low permeability. confirmed. More specifically, the recording using the ink I6 having high permeability is performed a plurality of times, and the recording using the ink I5 having low permeability is performed once, so that the recording density on the recording medium is two types. I5 and I6 can be substantially the same.

Therefore, according to this modification, bleeding and bleeding can be effectively and reliably suppressed. Generally, a color ink jet recording apparatus is provided with four color inks of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. However, since the hue of the recording medium is usually white, the yellow ink is used to print characters and tables. Recording is very rare. Even if characters, a table, etc. are recorded on the recording medium using the yellow ink, the bleeding of the yellow ink is hardly noticeable. Therefore, the effect of the present embodiment is greater as the color difference or lightness difference between two types of ink having the same hue and different penetrating properties and the hue of the recording medium is larger, and the hue of the ink is black and the hue of the recording medium is white. In the case of, the effect is the largest.

Also in this modified example, when the recording medium is plain paper, if the recording density is 0.9 or more, the recording quality is within the allowable range, and the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording. In this case, if the recording density is 1.3 or more, it is within the allowable range. Further, in the case of image recording using two kinds of inks having the same hue and different penetrability, the allowable range is about 0.3 or less regardless of the kind of the recording medium, if the difference in the recording density between the respective inks is about 0.3 or less. The recording quality inside is obtained.

Next, a sixth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The sixth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus uses the sixth embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention and the sixth embodiment of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention. The ink jet recording apparatus and the ink cartridge may have the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore their illustration and description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, when recording is performed using two or more kinds of inks having different hues, at least one kind of ink has a contact angle difference of 15 ° or more with respect to the other kind of ink and a difference in contact angle with respect to the recording medium. Have. The ink having a higher contact angle with the recording medium is used for recording a line image such as a character, and the ink having a lower contact angle is used for recording a general image such as a figure. As will be described later, the contact angle of the ink having the higher contact angle is preferably 85 ° or more, and the contact angle of the ink having the lower contact angle is preferably 70 ° or less.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing the relationship between the contact angle of ink and the amount of bleeding. FIG. 39 is a diagram showing the relationship between the contact angle of ink and the bleed amount. From FIG. 38, it was found that the contact angle needs to be 85 ° or more in order to reduce the bleeding amount to 15 μm or less. Furthermore, from FIG. 39, in order to set the bleed amount to 200 μm or less, the contact angle is 70 °.
I found it necessary to:

Black and yellow inks Ck and Cy having the same contact angle within the contact angle range of 85 ° or more, and black and yellow inks having the same contact angle range within the contact angle range of 70 °. Recording is performed using Dk and Dy,
FIG. 40 shows the evaluation result of the evaluation of bleeding and bleeding. For evaluation, a 3-dot width line drawing and a solid image were recorded. In addition, the bleeding of the line drawing was black and the solid bleed was the boundary portion between black and yellow, and the hue having the largest color difference was recorded. Further, the contact angle of the ink is shown for plain paper Xerox 4024DP manufactured by Xerox Co., Ltd. as an example of plain paper as a recording medium. On the paper, the ink penetrates, so the ink is plain paper Xe.
The contact angle of the ink immediately after adhering to the rox4024DP (after about 0.1 seconds) was measured. In the measurement itself, the moment when the ink was attached was photographed with a camera, and the contact angle was measured from the obtained still image. In FIG. 40, a circle indicates that the amount of bleeding is 15 μm or less or the amount of bleeding is 200 μm or less, ×
The mark indicates that the amount of bleeding or the amount of bleeding is other than these.

As can be seen from FIG. 40, the inks Ck and C
In the case of y, the contact angle is 102 °, and the amount of bleeding is sufficiently small but the amount of bleeding is large. On the other hand, the inks Dk and Dy
In this case, the contact angle is 51 °, and the bleeding amount is sufficiently small but the bleeding amount is large. As a result, the inks Ck, C
y is suitable for recording line drawings such as characters, and ink D
It was confirmed that k and Dy are suitable for recording general images.

This embodiment is more effective when the color difference between the hue of the ink and the hue of the recording medium is larger. Normally, the hue of the recording medium is white. Therefore, when the hue of the ink is black, the present embodiment is more effective. Is most effective. For comparison, the present inventors measured the contact angle with PTFE using the same inks Ck, Cy, Dk, and Dy as described above. The measurement result is shown in FIG. It can be seen from FIG. 41 that the contact angles of the inks Dk and Dy are out of the range of the contact angle specified in the above-mentioned JP-A-6-143795. In addition, compared with FIG. 40, the contact angles of the inks Ck and Cy shown in FIG. 41 hardly change from those of FIG. 40, but the contact angles of the inks Dk and Dy shown in FIG. 41 are compared with those of FIG. Has changed significantly. In other words, it can be seen that the contact angle of the ink has a much stronger correlation with the recording quality than the special material of PTFE.

Therefore, as in the method proposed in the above-mentioned JP-A-6-143795, the ink permeability is sufficiently defined by the surface tension of the ink and the contact angle with PTFE which is not related to the recording medium. I found that I couldn't. Further, in the method proposed in the above-mentioned JP-A-6-143795, since the ink has different penetrability, mainly the character portion recorded with the ink with low penetrability and the ink with high penetrability are recorded. Even if the hue is mainly the same as that of the image portion, there is a problem that a difference in recording density, saturation, lightness, etc. occurs between the two, resulting in deterioration of recording quality. Therefore, an embodiment that can solve this problem will be described below.

A seventh embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described. The seventh embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus is the seventh embodiment of the inkjet recording method according to the present invention.
Example 7 and Example 7 of the ink and ink cartridge according to the present invention are used. The ink jet recording apparatus and the ink cartridge may have the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and therefore their illustration and description will be omitted.

The permeability between the ink and the recording medium is determined by Lucas-Washburn.
Various studies based on the formula of Takuya Kadoya, “New Paper Science”, published by Chugai Industrial Research Society, pp. 345-37
0, It is about to be clarified by June 12, 1989. A test method for measuring the permeability based on this theory is the Bristow test method. The absorption coefficient Ka (ml / (m ² · ms ^1/2 )) obtained by the Bristow test method can uniquely represent the absorbability between the ink and the recording medium.
Therefore, when recording is performed with a combination of the recording medium and the ink having a small absorption coefficient Ka, permeation of the ink into the recording medium is suppressed, and high-quality recording without bleeding becomes possible.

On the other hand, when recording is performed with a combination of the recording medium and the ink having a large absorption coefficient Ka, the penetration of the ink into the recording medium is promoted and the time of existence of the ink on the recording medium is shortened. It enables high-quality recording without quality. Further, two ink groups having different absorption coefficients Ka to the recording medium are used, inks of the ink group having a large absorption coefficient Ka are used to record a general image mainly having a plurality of hues adjacent to each other, and inks of the ink group having a small absorption coefficient Ka are recorded. The line drawing such as characters is mainly recorded in which multiple hues are not adjacent to each other. This makes it possible to achieve both high-quality general image recording without bleeding at the color boundary portion and line drawing recording of sharp and high-quality characters without bleeding.

Further, at least one that forms a color boundary portion
Pixels (dots) are recorded with ink of an ink group having a large absorption coefficient Ka, and other pixels are recorded with ink of the same hue of an ink group having a small absorption coefficient Ka. This makes it possible to achieve both high-quality general image recording without bleeding at the color boundary portion and line drawing recording of sharp, high-quality characters without bleeding, and uneven recording density or It is possible to perform high-quality recording with no difference in brightness and brightness.

The inventors of the present invention used the black ink K'for monochrome.
1 to K'5, absorption coefficient K for various recording media
When the degree of a and the degree of bleeding were examined by an experiment, FIG.
The following results were obtained. The composition of inks K'1 to K'5 is 2% by weight of acid dye and 5% by weight of diethylene glycol.
Based on the above, ethanol was added in an amount of 0 to 20.0% by weight, and the balance was water. Ink K'1, K'2, K'3
The content of ethanol in each of K'4 and K'5 is 0.5.
0% by weight, 10.0% by weight, 15.0% by weight, 20.0
% By weight. The unit of the absorption coefficient Ka is usually (ml / (m
² · ms ^1/2 )), but FIG. 42 and FIG.
In FIG. 44, the unit of the absorption coefficient Ka is (nl /
(Mm ² · s ^1/2 )).

Further, color black, yellow, magenta and cyan inks K6, Y6, M6, C6 to K9, Y9,
Absorption coefficient K for various recording media for M9 and C9
When the degree of “a” and the degree of bleeding were examined by an experiment, FIG.
A result like 3 was obtained. Ink K6, Y6, M6
The composition of C6 to K9, Y9, M9 and C9 is based on 4% by weight of direct dye and 5% by weight of glycerin, 0 to 2.0% by weight of a nonionic surfactant is added, and the balance is water.
Inks K6, Y6, M6, C6, Inks K7, Y7, M
7, C7, ink K8, Y8, M8, C8 and ink K
The contents of the respective first nonionic surfactants of 9, Y9, M9 and C9 are 0, 0.5% by weight, 1.0% by weight and 2.0% by weight.

The inks K'1 to K'5 and the inks K6, Y6, M6, C6 to K9, Y9, M9 and C9 are
Weigh each material into a sealed plastic container for each type of ink,
It was obtained by stirring and dissolving for 3 hours while boiling in water at 50 ° C., cooling to room temperature, and filtering with a filter having a pore size of 0.2 μm. In addition, in FIGS. 42 and 43, the absorption coefficient Ka of each ink was obtained by conducting a Bristow test using three types of copy quality paper as recording media. Furthermore,
The extent of bleeding and bleeding was determined by recording on the above-mentioned three types of copy quality paper at a resolution of 360 dpi.

In FIG. 42, the degree of bleeding is evaluated in three levels. In the figure, ○ indicates a state where almost no bleeding is visible and a sharp edge is realized, Δ indicates a slight bleeding and the edge is slightly jagged, and X indicates a large bleeding and uneven edges. It represents a remarkable condition. The result of FIG. 42 was set to about 120 to 40 pl, which gives an ejected particle amount of ink on each copy quality paper of about 100 μm as a true circle equivalent diameter.

From FIG. 42, the degree of bleeding is evaluated as “Δ” in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of less than 15 and the recording medium, and the bleeding is evaluated in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of less than 10 and the recording medium. It was confirmed that the degree of evaluation was "○". On the other hand, in FIG. 43, the degree of bleeding is also evaluated in three levels. In the figure, ○ indicates that the bleed is hardly visible and the color boundary is relatively clear. △
The mark indicates a state in which bleed is slightly visible and the color boundary part is somewhat mixed, and the mark x indicates a state in which large bleed is visible and the color boundary part cannot be recognized. In addition, the result of FIG. 43 shows that the ejected particle amount of ink on each copy quality paper is about 120 to 50 p.
l.

From FIG. 43, the evaluation of the degree of bleeding is "Δ" in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of 50 or more and the recording medium, and the evaluation of the bleeding is made in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of 89 or more and the recording medium. It was confirmed that the degree of evaluation was "○". FIG. 44 shows inks K10, Y10, M10, C10 to K15, similar to the case of FIG.
The experimental results obtained for Y15, M15 and C15 are shown. Inks K10, Y10, M10, C10-K12,
Y12, M12, and C12 contain 2% by weight of second to fourth nonionic surfactants instead of the first nonionic surfactant. Ink K13, Y1
3, M13, C13, 1% by weight of the fifth nonionic surfactant instead of the first nonionic surfactant
Has been added. Furthermore, inks K14, Y14, M1
In each of C4 and C14, 15% by weight of ethanol was added instead of the first nonionic surfactant, and the inks K15, Y15, M15, and C15 were used instead of the first nonionic surfactant. 20% by weight of ethanol is added. The amount of ink jetted on each copy quality paper was set to about 80 to 45 pl, and the bleed evaluation method was the same as in the case of FIG.

From FIG. 44, the evaluation of the degree of bleeding is "Δ" in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of 40 or more and the recording medium, and the evaluation of the bleeding is made in the combination of the ink having the absorption coefficient Ka of 83 or more and the recording medium. It was confirmed that the degree of evaluation was "○". According to this embodiment, the ink K′2 shown in FIG. 42 and the inks K9, Y9, M9, shown in FIG.
Recording was performed using five kinds of inks of C9. Ink K′2 was used to record a black area that does not come into contact with different hues such as yellow, magenta, and cyan, and the other areas were recorded using inks K9, Y9, M9, and C9. As a result, the line drawing of characters and the like recorded with the ink K′2 has no bleeding, and high-quality recording can be performed with high recording density. At the same time, high-quality color recording without bleed could be performed in the color boundary portion of the general image recorded with the inks K9, Y9, M9, and C9.

However, since the inks having different characteristics are used, the recording density of the black area recorded with the ink K′2 and the recording density of the black area recorded with the ink K9 appear different, and the recording quality is slightly deteriorated. A new problem arose. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is desirable to record the black area at the boundary portion with the ink K9 for the predetermined recording width (for example, 2 dot width) and to record the other black areas with the ink K′2. In this case, there is almost no difference in recording density between the black areas,
It was possible to prevent the deterioration of recording quality.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the black ink, which is often used to record a line drawing such as characters without strong bleeding and high demand for quality, and the basic colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan which are the basic colors of color recording. It is desirable to apply it to ink. Further, it is desirable that the recording medium is so-called plain paper, which is the most commonly used recording paper and has the fibers of the paper exposed on the recording surface.

By the way, in order to record a line drawing or a general image on a recording medium with a desired resolution in an ink jet recording apparatus, the amount of ink ejected from the head is adjusted so that dots having a size suitable for the desired resolution can be obtained. There is a need to. Since the ink with low permeability has a smaller dot spread on the recording medium than the ink with high permeability, a larger amount of ink is recorded on the recording medium than the ink with high permeability. This tendency is conspicuous in plain paper such as copy paper, bond paper, and postcards that has been subjected to a treatment such as a size that suppresses ink penetration as a recording medium. On the other hand, in ink jet recording paper such as coated paper for exclusive use of ink jet recording, overhead projector (OHP) film and glossy paper, an ink receiving layer is provided on the base material of the paper / film, so that ink penetration is uniform. Or
Designed to be quick, the effect of ink permeability is relatively small. The ink receiving layer is made of hydrophilic / water-absorbing polymer or resin such as polyvinyl alcohol or cationic resin, pigment, binder, or the like.

As described above, since the inks having different penetrability have greatly different properties on the recording medium, it is difficult to design the recording medium satisfying the sufficient performance for each ink. Therefore, a method has been proposed in which the amount of ink ejected from the head is adjusted according to the type and properties of the recording medium used.

The method of adjusting the amount of ink particles ejected from the head depending on the type of the recording medium is effective, but on the other hand, it is necessary to control the driving conditions of the head in accordance with the ejection amount of the ink particles. The control of the system becomes complicated, and the configuration of the drive system of the head becomes complicated and expensive. In addition, the ejection amount of the ink particles may not be accurately adjusted depending on the driving conditions of the head.

As a method of adjusting the discharge amount of ink particles, it has been proposed to adjust the diameter of dots by recording ink particles a plurality of times at the same position on a recording medium. Japanese Patent No. 344652 proposes an example applied when inks having different penetrability are simultaneously used. Specifically, when recording is performed using a high-permeability color image recording ink using a dedicated recording medium adjusted for a low-permeability monochrome image recording ink, The ink particles of high ink are recorded multiple times, and the diameter of the dot is 1
Adjust the diameter to the same size as one ink particle.

However, the low penetrability ink enables high-quality recording even if the recording medium is plain paper, and does not require a recording medium specially adjusted for it.
On the other hand, in the case of highly penetrating ink, bleeding does not occur even if the recording medium is plain paper, but when a line drawing such as characters is recorded, the peripheral portion of the line segment bleeds and an image with a sharp outline is recorded. I can't. Therefore, in order to realize color image recording in which color developability, color reproducibility and sharpness are particularly required, a dedicated recording medium optimized for ink having high permeability is desired.

As described above, the necessity and the demand for the dedicated recording medium adjusted for the ink having low permeability are low. On the other hand, when recording with a highly penetrative ink, even if the ink particles are recorded multiple times to adjust the dot diameter, the resulting recording quality such as saturation, hue and color reproducibility In general, it is lower than the recording quality when normally recorded by using a dedicated recording medium adjusted for high-ink. Furthermore, when recording is performed using a low-permeability ink using a dedicated recording medium adjusted for a high-permeability ink, it is necessary to reduce the ink ejection amount, and thus overlapping recording I can't do it.

Therefore, normally, the characteristics of the recording medium including the spread of the ink on the recording medium and the like are adjusted for the ink having high penetrability in order to realize clear and beautiful color image recording. For this reason, when recording is performed on a dedicated recording medium adjusted for such a highly penetrative ink using a low penetrative ink in the same manner as for plain paper, a large amount of ink is discharged at one time. It adheres to the recording medium. As a result, the amount of ink on the recording medium exceeds the ink absorption capacity of the ink receiving layer of the recording medium, the characters to be recorded are crushed, and the ink is condensed on the ink receiving layer, resulting in uneven recording density. There is a high possibility that Furthermore, since the amount of ink adhering to the recording medium is large, it takes a long time to dry and fix the ink, and it is difficult to secure the required ink drying and fixing time in consideration of the practical recording speed of the inkjet recording apparatus. Inconvenience that becomes In particular, the problem of uneven recording density and long fixing time at the time of solid recording with high recording density is caused by a dense and uniform ink based on a transparent plastic film or the like which does not absorb ink at all because it requires high light transmittance. It becomes remarkable in an OHP film or the like provided with a receiving layer.

Therefore, an eighth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention which can surely prevent these problems even if the recording medium used is an OHP film or the like will be described below. The ink jet cartridge shown in FIG. 2 can be used in the eighth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus, and the eighth embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention is used. The configuration of the inkjet recording apparatus is shown in FIG.
Since the same ones as those shown in can be used, their illustration and description are omitted.

In this embodiment, when recording is performed on a recording medium dedicated to ink jet recording such as an OHP film using an ink having low permeability, the amount of ink adhered to the recording medium during one head scan. By reducing the amount, it is possible to prevent a large amount of ink from adhering to the recording medium substantially at the same time. Specifically, when the average recording ink amount per unit area by one head scan is recorded on the recording medium using the ink having high permeability, it is attached to the recording medium by one head scan. It is set to be approximately the same as the predetermined ink amount. That is, when recording is performed on the recording medium using the ink having low permeability, the amount of ink attached to the recording medium during one head scan is set to be equal to or less than the ink absorbing capacity of the recording medium. In addition, by repeating the scanning of the head at the time of recording using such a low penetrability ink a plurality of times, the ink amount per unit area of the low penetrability ink adhering to the recording medium is set to the above-mentioned predetermined ink amount. Can be about the same.
In the present embodiment, the evaporation of the solvent of the ink is also used to prevent the amount of ink adhering to the recording medium during one head scan from exceeding the ink absorption capacity of the recording medium, thus reducing unevenness in recording density. At the same time, the time required for drying and fixing the ink can be reliably ensured.

In the case of this embodiment, the ink cart shown in FIG.
Composition of black ink stored in ridge 11-5
Is, for example, 2% by weight of acidic black dye, diethylene glycol
5% by weight, 5% by weight of ethanol and residual water. other
Stored in the ink cartridges 11-1 to 11-4
Of black, yellow, magenta and cyan ink
The composition is, for example, 3% by weight of direct dye of each color and diethylene group.
10% by weight recall, 1.5% nonionic surfactant
% And remaining water. Inks of these compositions are
Weigh each type into a sealed plastic container and boil at 50 ℃
Stir for 3 hours to dissolve, then cool to room temperature and pore size
It was obtained by filtering with a 0.2 μm filter. Each a
The penetrability of ink to copy paper Xerox 4024DP
Bristow test (J.TAPPI paper pulp test method)
Method No. The absorption coefficient Ka of 51) indicates that the ink cart
About 9 nl of black ink with low permeability in the ridge 11-5
/ (Mm^Two・ S^1/2), The ink cartridge 11-1
~ 11-4 high permeability black, yellow, magenta and
And cyan ink are about 110 to 150 nl / (mm
^Two・ S^1/2) Became.

FIG. 45 shows the relationship between the amount of ink adhering to the recording medium and the dot diameter when recording is performed on the recording medium using the black ink with low permeability in the ink cartridge 11-5. It is a figure. In the figure, the vertical axis represents the dot diameter, and the horizontal axis represents the ink amount. Also, the characteristics Ia, II
Reference characters a, IIIa, and IVa indicate the cases where the first, second, and third copy sheets and the OHP film are used as recording media, respectively. The dot diameter was 50 recorded on the recording medium.
The area of each dot is measured, and the average value of the diameter of a perfect circle when each dot is regarded as a perfect circle is shown.

FIG. 46 shows an ink cartridge 11-
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of ink adhering to the recording medium and the dot diameter when recording is performed on the recording medium using the black ink having high permeability in 1). In the figure, the vertical axis represents the dot diameter, and the horizontal axis represents the ink amount. Also, the characteristics Ib, I
Ib, IIIb, and IVb indicate the cases where the first, second, and third copy sheets and the OHP film are used as recording media, respectively. The dot diameter is the same as in the case of FIG.
Measure the area of 50 dots recorded on the recording medium,
The average value of the diameter of a perfect circle when each dot is regarded as a perfect circle is shown. Note that when recording is performed on a recording medium using yellow, magenta, and cyan inks having high penetrability in the ink cartridges 11-2 to 11-4, the amount of ink attached to the recording medium and the dot diameter Since the relationships are similar to those in FIG. 46, their illustration is omitted.

A predetermined dot diameter suitable for printing with a resolution of 360 dpi using these inks is a diagonal line where diagonally adjacent dots are connected 100 μm = √2
Approx. 110 ± 10, slightly larger than × 25.4mm / 360
.mu.m, the ink amount for obtaining a predetermined dot diameter on plain paper such as the first to third copy papers is about 100 pl for low penetrative ink and about 50 pl for high penetrative ink. It was When dots were recorded on an ink jet recording paper such as an OHP film with such an amount of ink and the diameter was measured, the dot diameter was slightly larger than a predetermined dot diameter in the case of ink having low permeability, In the case of ink having high permeability, a predetermined dot diameter, that is, an optimum value was obtained.

The present inventors performed recording on plain paper using these inks under this condition, and as a result, high-quality monochrome (black) recording without bleeding was performed and high-quality recording without bleeding was performed. It was confirmed that color recording was possible.
Also, when recording was performed on OHP film using these inks under the same conditions, it was confirmed that high-quality color recording was possible, but especially in the case of monochrome (black) recording It was confirmed that the unevenness of the recording density due to the aggregation of the ink becomes remarkable in the solid recording portion having a high density.

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention applied the present embodiment to perform solid recording of 360 dpi twice using a black ink having low penetrability on the head part having 48 nozzles on the OHP film. This was performed by scanning and recording various patterns, and a comparison was made with Comparative Example Ce1 in which 48 dots in one row were solidly recorded in one scan of the head portion. The scanning time of the head unit was set to about 1 second. As a result, in Comparative Example Ce1, the recording density was uneven due to the aggregation of the ink, and the recording quality was low. On the other hand, in the case of the experiment ex1 in which the 1-dot placement line pattern in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 47 and the inverted pattern shown in FIG. It was confirmed that the unevenness of the recording density due to the agglomeration of was significantly reduced and the recording quality was remarkably improved. Similarly, in the case of the experiment ex2 in which the checkered pattern as shown in FIG. 49 and its inverted pattern shown in FIG. 50 were recorded by being overlapped by two times of scanning of the head portion, the recording density unevenness due to the aggregation of the ink was larger than that of the comparative example Ce1. It was confirmed that the recording quality can be significantly reduced and the recording quality is remarkably improved. Furthermore, in another comparative example Ce2, the waiting time after the first scanning of the head unit until the next scanning is started is set to about 1 second, and the total recording time of the head unit is two times. Solid printing of 48 dots per line was carried out so as to be the same as in the case of experiments ex1 and ex2 in which overlapping recording by scanning was performed.
In the same manner as in the above case, the recording density was uneven due to the aggregation of the ink, and the recording quality was low.

Furthermore, the inventors of the present invention conducted the above experiments ex1 and e.
The recording result was confirmed also when x2 was combined. In the experiment ex3, the 1-dot placement line pattern in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 47 and the checkered pattern as shown in FIG. 49 are recorded by superimposing them by two consecutive scans of the head unit, and in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. The reversal pattern of the 1-dot placement line pattern and the reversal pattern of the checkered pattern as shown in FIG. 50 were overlapped and recorded by the next two consecutive scans of the head section. In the case of this experiment ex3, it was confirmed that the unevenness of the recording density due to the aggregation of the ink can be significantly reduced and the recording quality is remarkably improved, as compared with the comparative example Ce1. In the experiment ex4, the checkered pattern as shown in FIG. 49 and its inverted pattern as shown in FIG.
The horizontal line pattern of 1 dot as shown in FIG. 4 and its inverted pattern shown in FIG. 48 were recorded by superimposing them by the next two consecutive scans of the head section. In the case of this experiment ex4, since the pattern in which the dots are not adjacent to each other is preferentially overprinted, the unevenness of the recording density due to the aggregation of the ink can be further reduced as compared with the experiment ex3, and the recording quality is further improved. I was able to confirm that.

Further, by using a head unit having 48 nozzles and scanning 4 nozzles in total 12 times, a solid recording of a 48-dot width corresponding to one normal scanning is performed.
When it was applied to the P film, it was confirmed that the unevenness of the recording density could be significantly reduced and the recording quality was improved. As described above, it was also confirmed that the recording density can be more effectively reduced and a sufficient drying / fixing time can be secured by reducing the number of dots to be printed in one scan and increasing the number of scans. .

For example, in the case of recording an image by the same method as in Experiment ex4, the AND data of the image data input to the ink jet recording apparatus from the host apparatus or the like at the first scanning of the head unit and the checkered pattern shown in FIG. The head section is controlled based on the logical product), and the head section is controlled based on the AND of the image data and the check pattern inversion pattern shown in FIG. 50 during the second scanning. Further, during the third scanning of the head portion, the head portion is controlled based on the AND of the image data and the line pattern shown in FIG. 47, and during the fourth scanning, the image data and the reverse pattern of the line pattern shown in FIG. The head unit is controlled based on AND.

Further, when an image is recorded by the same method as in the experiment ex4, the input image data corresponding to the AND of the image data and the checkered pattern shown in FIG. From the image data to the ink jet recording apparatus and the image data and the image data shown in FIG.
The input image data corresponding to the AND of the checkered pattern shown in (1) may be input to the inkjet recording apparatus. In this case, the input image data corresponding to the AND of the image data and the line pattern shown in FIG. 47 is directly input to the ink jet recording apparatus from the host device or the like at the time of the third scanning of the head section, and the image data is inputted at the time of the fourth scanning. Input image data corresponding to the AND of the inversion pattern of the line pattern shown in FIG. 48 is input to the inkjet recording apparatus.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when recording is performed using the ink having low penetrability on the recording medium whose recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to the ink having high penetrability, the head portion is scanned once. The amount of ink to be printed per unit area is made less than or equal to the amount of ink to be printed in one scan using highly penetrable ink, and the head part is scanned multiple times using ink having low penetrability to sequentially print. When performing, the plurality of complementary thinning patterns are recorded in the case of solid recording, and the AND of the plurality of complementary thinning patterns and image data is recorded in the case of recording image data. In this case, the thinning pattern is not limited to the line pattern and the checkered pattern, and for example, a pair of symmetrical thinning patterns may be used. Further, it is also possible to carry out sequential recording by using a plurality of pairs of symmetrical thinning patterns, and in that case, it is desirable that the patterns in which dots are not adjacent are overprinted in a priority order. Further, when the maximum recording width in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in which the head portion having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink having low penetrability can perform recording in one scan is D dots, the D dot width by this head portion The image data may be decomposed into N pieces of data having a dot width less than D dots, and the decomposed image data may be sequentially recorded on the recording medium by scanning N times.

In this embodiment, the recording medium is OH
Although it is preferable to use a P film, it is also possible to use an OHP film having a double structure as the OHP film. The double structure OHP film has different characteristics on the front and back sides. In other words, since the first OHP film designed for high penetrability ink and the second OHP film designed for low penetrability ink are stuck together, the table shows high-quality color. It is suitable for recording images, and the back side is suitable for recording monochrome images without uneven recording density. The inventors of the present invention performed the above recording on an OHP film having such a double structure. For example, the thickness of the ink receiving layer of the second OHP film was set to about 1 of that of the first OHP film. It was confirmed that a high-quality color image can be recorded on the first OHP film in the table and a monochrome image without uneven recording density can be recorded on the second OHP film on the back side when set to 0.5 times. did it.

For the OHP film used in this example, various water-soluble or water-absorbing or various polymers having these characteristics can be used. In addition, various insoluble polymers and clay, talc,
It is also possible to add an appropriate amount of an inorganic pigment such as alumina or silica. However, in the case of an OHP film, it is necessary not to disturb the transparency. As the polymer, polyvinyl alcohol, gelatin, albumin, casein, cationic starch, gum arabic, polyamide, polyvirnipyrrolidone, water-soluble cellulose and the like can be used.

The ink receiving layer provided on the recording medium such as OHP may be previously formed on the recording medium or may be formed at the time of recording. A method itself for performing recording while forming an ink receiving layer on a recording medium is known, and for example, JP-A-63-299939 and JP-A-5-9672.
No. 0, JP-A-6-23973, and JP-A-6-9.
The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010 can be adopted.

By the way, the nozzle diameter of the head is, for example, 3
Since it is as small as 0 μm to 100 μm, a non-volatile and highly hygroscopic solvent (solvent) is added to the ink so that the ink does not evaporate and dry at the nozzle tip (nozzle orifice) to cause clogging. . However, although the clogging due to the deposition of the dye in the nozzle orifice can be prevented, the thickening of the ink due to the evaporation of the solvent cannot be avoided. As the viscosity of the ink increases, the ejection direction of the ink becomes uncertain, the position of the dots recorded on the recording medium shifts, and in extreme cases, the ejection of the ink cannot be performed, resulting in missing dots. Therefore, a backup unit 46 as shown in FIG. 1 is used to suppress variations in ink ejection from nozzles due to thickening of ink. Specifically, the ink whose viscosity is about to be increased is ejected (sprayed) from all the nozzles to the backup unit 46 so that the viscosity of the ink does not exceed a certain level. However, the degree of thickening of the ink varies depending on the type and concentration of the components such as the wetting agent and the dye contained in the ink, and may vary among various types of ink used in the same inkjet recording apparatus. Nevertheless, conventionally, the degree of thickening, which differs between inks, has not been considered at all.

Therefore, when the degree of thickening is different among various kinds of inks used in the same ink jet recording apparatus, it is possible to spray the nozzles corresponding to each ink. However, in this case, it is necessary to frequently spray the nozzles, the amount of ink consumption increases, and the recording speed slows down. It is also possible to spray the nozzle according to the ink having the highest degree of thickening,
Even in this case, the ink consumption becomes relatively large,
There is an inconvenience that the recording speed cannot be improved to some extent.

Next, a ninth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention which can solve these problems will be described below. The ink cartridge shown in FIG. 2 can be used in the ninth embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus, and the ninth embodiment of the ink jet recording method according to the present invention is used. The ink jet recording apparatus may have the same structure as that shown in FIG. 1, and therefore its illustration and description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, two or more kinds of ink used in the same ink jet recording apparatus are set to have the same degree of thickening of the ink due to solvent evaporation. As a result, the spraying conditions of the nozzle can be suppressed to a minimum because the thickening of two or more kinds of ink is about the same, and the recording speed can be improved and the consumption of ink can also be suppressed. Is possible.

Water and a mixture of water and a water-soluble organic solvent are used as the solvent of the ink. Examples of the organic solvent include monohydric alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, (normal) propyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, dihydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, hexylene glycol, diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol, and glycerin. Trihydric alcohol, polyethylene glycol,
Polyalkylene glycol such as polybutylene glycol, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, 1,3-dimethyl-
Nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds such as 2-imidazolidinone, lower alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether and triethylene glycol monomethyl ether can be used.

The content of the organic solvent in the ink is 5 to 80% by weight, preferably 5 to 50% by weight.
Is within the range. This is because the content of organic solvent is 5% by weight.
If the amount is less than the above value, the drying of the ink may be accelerated, the solubility of the dye may be decreased, and the dye in the ink may be easily deposited to cause clogging. This is because it becomes high and it becomes difficult to eject ink from the nozzles of the head.

The basic composition of the ink used in this example is as described above, but if necessary, other dispersants, cationic, anionic, nonionic surfactants, polyvinyl alcohol, celluloses, It goes without saying that a viscosity adjusting agent such as a water-soluble resin and a pH adjusting agent such as diethanolamine or triethanolamine may be added.

The inventors measured the degree of thickening of an ink having the following composition by experiment. Ink IK1: Black dye 8% + Diethylene glycol 5%
+ Additive 2% + Residual water Ink IK2: Black dye 8% + Diethylene glycol 15
% + Additive 2% + residual water ink IK3: black dye 4% + diethylene glycol 5%
+ Ethanol 6% + Residual water Ink IK4: Color dye (Acid Blue 9) 3% + Diethylene glycol 10% + Ethanol 3% + Additive 2%
+ Residual water When the above inks IK1 to IK4 have an open ink volume of Vmm ³ and an open surface area of Smm ² , V / S≈
Radius r = 36.6 m so that 10 mm is filled
42 g separately in 4 petri dishes with depth m = 20 mm
(≅42000 mm ³ , specific gravity of about 1.04) was put in and left at room temperature and normal humidity (25 ° C. 60% RH) to evaporate the solvent. The residual ink was well stirred at regular intervals (24 hours), and the viscosity of each ink was measured from the first day to the twelfth day with an E-type viscometer.

As a result, it was confirmed that the viscosity of each ink increased as time passed, as shown in FIG. In the figure, the vertical axis represents viscosity and the horizontal axis represents time.
The ink IK1 is indicated by a circle, the ink IK2 is indicated by a square, the ink IK3 is indicated by a cross, and the ink IK4 is indicated by a plus sign. As can be seen from FIG. 51, no thickening occurred in any of the inks by the 4th day, but the thickening was noticeable after the 5th day. Furthermore, the inks IK2 to IK4 are 10
It was confirmed that the ink IK1 had an extremely increased viscosity, while the same viscosity change of less than or equal to 00 cp was exhibited.

The present inventors expanded the vertical axis of FIG. 51 and investigated the thickened state of each ink in more detail. The results shown in FIG. 52 were obtained. In FIG. 52, each ink IK1
The same symbols as in FIG. 51 are used for IK4.
Further, by using these results, each of the inks IK1 to IK is actually
4 was used for recording, and the effect of thickening the ink was examined.

With the ink jet recording apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, (i) the difference in viscosity after the fifth day is 2
Continuous recording is performed while spraying the nozzles once every 20 seconds with the combination of ink IK1 and ink IK4 of 00 cp or more, and (ii) ink IK2 of which the difference in viscosity after the tenth day is 200 cp or more. Ink IK4
The continuous recording is performed while spraying the nozzles once every 20 seconds in combination with (iii) 20 seconds by combining the ink IK3 and the ink IK4 having a viscosity difference of 200 cp or more after the 7th day. Continuous recording was performed while the nozzle was sprayed once every 2 times, and the presence or absence of recording defects was inspected in each case. as a result,
It was confirmed that in the case of the ink combination of (i), recording defects such as missing dots occurred, and in the case of the ink combinations of (ii) and (iii), no recording defect occurred.

Further, the compositions of the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks Y0, M0, C0, and K0 were adjusted so that the increase in the ink viscosity was about the same as shown in FIG. Similarly, when continuous recording was performed while spraying the nozzles once every 20 seconds, it was confirmed that good recording can be performed without causing recording defects such as missing dots and dot shifts. Incidentally, in FIG. 53, the vertical axis represents the viscosity measured under the same conditions as above, and the horizontal axis represents time. Further, the yellow ink Y0 is indicated by a circle, the magenta ink M0 is indicated by a cross, the cyan ink C0 is indicated by a +, and the black ink K0 is indicated by a Δ. Yellow ink Y0: 2% yellow dye + 10% diethylene glycol + 3% ethanol + 2% additive + regulator 2
% + Residual water Magenta ink M0: Red dye 4% + Diethylene glycol 10% + Ethanol 3% + Additive 2% + Conditioner 1
% + Residual water Cyan ink C0: Blue dye 3% + Diethylene glycol 10% + Ethanol 3% + Additive 2% + Residual water Black ink K0: Black dye 6% + Diethylene glycol 10% + Additive 2% + Residual water Therefore, when performing ink jet recording using at least two colors of ink, by increasing the ink viscosity due to solvent evaporation of each ink, that is, by setting the degree of viscosity increase to the same level, it is possible to minimize the spray of nozzles. It was confirmed that the normal recording can be continued even under the spraying condition of the number of times. The increase in the ink viscosity due to the solvent evaporation of each ink is, for example, radius r = 36.6 mm and depth h.
= 42 mm of each ink is put in a petri dish of 20 mm separately, and the difference in viscosity on the 5th day when the solvent is evaporated by leaving it at room temperature and normal humidity (25 ° C, 60% RH) is about 1000 cp or less, which is desirable. It was also confirmed that was within about 200 cp. Furthermore, it was confirmed that each ink may be a water-based ink containing a dye and an organic solvent, an ink in which a pigment is dispersed, or the like.

In this embodiment, the ink composition is adjusted so that the thickening of each ink is about the same. However, as a modified example of this embodiment, the nozzle of the head for ejecting each ink is used. Depending on the frequency, the composition of each ink may be adjusted so that the difference in viscosity between the inks is always within a certain range.

That is, in order to perform printing with high quality and high speed in the ink jet printing apparatus, one method is to set the number of nozzles of the head to be used according to the type of image to be printed. In this case, a large number of nozzles are used to record a line drawing such as characters, and recording is performed as quickly as possible, and a small number of nozzles are used to record a general color image such as a figure. Since quality recording is performed, the nozzles of each head are not used uniformly, and the non-use time (standby time) of the nozzle differs depending on each head.
For example, if the number of nozzles of a small number of heads when recording a general image is m = 16 and the number of nozzles of a large number of heads when recording a line image is n = 128, the recording time of a general image is The recording time is about n / m = 8 times. Therefore, in the present modification, each thickening ratio of the ink supplied to the head having a small number of nozzles is set to about 8 times the thickening ratio of the ink supplied to the head having a large number of nozzles. By adjusting the composition of the ink, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

In order to set the ink thickening ratio to the same level, (a) dye concentration adjustment, (b) solvent concentration adjustment, and (c) additive concentration adjustment are performed. It is possible. In the case of the above method (a), the recording density may be lowered, and in the case of the above methods (a) and (c), the initial ink viscosity may be increased and the fixing time may be prolonged. . However, according to the experimental results of the present inventors, it has been confirmed that the degree of thickening of the ink can be adjusted within a range where there is no problem even when any of the above methods (a) to (c) is adopted.

In each of the above examples, the number of types of ink used, the composition of the ink, the characteristics of the recording medium, etc. are not limited to the above, and various inks and recording media can be combined. Needless to say. Further, a plurality of embodiments and / or modified examples may be appropriately combined depending on the application.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments.
The present invention is not limited to these examples, and various modifications and improvements can be made within the scope of the present invention.

[0316]

According to the invention described in claims 1 to 20, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the line drawing and the general image.

According to the inventions of claims 21 to 26, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion of different hues and record a clear color image. Claims 27 to 3
According to the invention described in 4, the line drawing and the general image can be recorded in high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper.

According to the inventions of claims 35 to 43, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the inventions of claims 44 to 63, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding, and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in the recording density and the hue from the above.

According to the inventions of claims 64-69, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion of different hues and record a clear color image. Claims 70 to 7
According to the invention described in No. 7, line drawings and general images can be recorded with high quality on various types of recording media including plain paper.

According to the 78th to 86th aspects of the invention, it is possible to record a line drawing of high-quality characters without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the invention described in claims 87 to 95, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in the recording density and the hue from the above.

According to the inventions of claims 96 and 97,
It is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary between different hues and record a clear color image. Claim 98-
According to the invention described in 101, the line drawing and the general image can be recorded in high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper.

According to the inventions of claims 102 to 105, it is possible to record a line image such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the invention described in claims 106 to 110, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding, and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in the recording density and the hue from the above.

According to the inventions of claims 111 and 112, it is possible to prevent bleeding at the boundary portion of different hues and record a clear color image. According to the invention described in claims 113 to 116, the line drawing and the general image can be recorded with high quality on various kinds of recording media including plain paper.

According to the 117th to 120th aspects of the present invention, it is possible to record a line drawing such as a high-quality character without bleeding and a general image such as a high-quality figure without bleeding. It is possible to suppress the difference in recording density and hue between the image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 121, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 122, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 123, it is possible to obtain a sufficient recording density on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 124, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention of claim 125, it is possible to further reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image, and to improve the clogging resistance of the nozzles of the head due to the decrease in the color material density. It is possible to improve the recording speed by reducing the number of times the head is scanned.

According to the invention described in Item 126, it is possible to record a line image and a general image on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference and a high quality. Claim 12
According to the invention described in 7, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 128, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 129, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 130, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention of claim 131, in particular, a line drawing and a general image are recorded on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference, and
It can be recorded with high quality.

According to the inventions of claims 132 and 133, it is possible to perform high-quality recording without unevenness in the recording density by using the ink having the lower permeability, and the drying time required for fixing the ink is reduced. It can also be secured. According to the thirty-fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent local agglomeration of the ink, so that it is possible to further reduce unevenness in recording density.

According to the 135th aspect of the invention, by increasing the value of N, it is possible to further reduce the unevenness of the recording density, and it is also possible to secure the drying time necessary for fixing the ink. According to the invention described in Item 136, high-quality color image recording can be realized.

According to the invention described in Item 137, an image can be recorded with high quality even on an OHP film in which ink agglomeration easily occurs. According to the invention of claim 138, the recording speed is improved and the ink consumption amount is improved by suppressing the spray condition of the head for preventing the ink thickening that causes dot omission or dot shift. Can be reduced.

According to the 139th and 140th aspects of the invention, since the thickening of the ink is adjusted according to the frequency of use of the heads, the spraying conditions of the heads can be suppressed to a minimum regardless of the number of heads. it can. According to the invention described in Item 141, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 142, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 143, it is possible to obtain a sufficient recording density on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 144, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention described in Item 145, it is possible to further reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image, and to improve the clogging resistance of the nozzle of the head due to the decrease in the color material density. It is possible to improve the recording speed by reducing the number of times the head is scanned.

According to the invention described in Item 146, it is possible to record a line image and a general image on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference and a high quality. Claim 14
According to the invention described in 7, it is possible to reduce the difference in the recording density between the line image recorded on the recording medium and the general image.

According to the invention described in Item 148, it is possible to reduce the visual difference in recording density between the line image and the general image. According to the invention described in Item 149, it is possible to obtain a sufficient recording density on plain paper.

According to the invention described in Item 150, a sufficient recording density can be obtained on the ink jet recording paper. According to the invention of claim 151, in particular, a line drawing and a general image are recorded on a white recording medium with a small recording density difference, and
It can be recorded with high quality.

According to the inventions as claimed in claims 152 and 153, it is possible to carry out high-quality recording without unevenness in recording density by using the ink having the lower permeability, and the drying time required for fixing the ink is reduced. It can also be secured. According to the invention described in Item 154, the local aggregation of the ink can be prevented, so that the unevenness of the recording density can be further reduced.

According to the invention described in Item 155, by increasing the value of N, the unevenness of the recording density can be further reduced, and the drying time necessary for fixing the ink can be secured. According to the invention described in Item 156, high-quality color image recording can be realized.

According to the invention described in Item 157, an image can be recorded with high quality even on an OHP film in which ink agglomeration easily occurs. According to the invention as set forth in claim 158, the recording speed is improved and the ink consumption amount is improved by suppressing the spray condition of the head for preventing thickening of the ink which causes dot missing or dot shift. Can be reduced.

According to the inventions as set forth in claims 159 and 160, since the thickening of the ink is adjusted according to the frequency of use of the heads, the spraying conditions of the heads can be suppressed to a minimum regardless of the number of heads. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of a first embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a head portion.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view showing a photograph of a recording result when a character is recorded on a copy quality paper with a resolution of 360 dpi using two kinds of ink.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view showing a bleed state in a photograph of a recording result when an image including yellow and black is recorded.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic diagram showing a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed using a black ink in which a dye is adjusted.

FIG. 6 shows a recording medium having a first value of ink permeability,
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing an enlarged bleed state in a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed using a black ink having high permeability at a boundary portion x between a yellow region Y and a black region B.

FIG. 7 shows a recording medium whose ink permeability has a first value,
FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing an enlarged bleed state in a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed using a black ink having high permeability at a boundary portion x between a red region R and a black region B.

FIG. 8 shows a recording medium having a second value of ink permeability,
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing an enlarged bleed state in a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed using a black ink having high permeability at a boundary portion x between a yellow region Y and a black region B.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a recording medium having a second ink permeability.
FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing an enlarged bleed state in a photograph of a recording result when recording is performed using black ink having high permeability at a boundary portion x between a red region R and a black region B.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of bleeding according to a difference in brightness (contrast) between adjacent areas.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a state of bleeding when recording is performed by changing the penetrability of a highly penetrative ink to be used in a boundary portion between adjacent areas.

FIG. 12 is a black ink having different penetrability of high and low,
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the dependency of the recording order of the bleeding state at the boundary portion when recording is performed with ink of another hue having high permeability.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state of bleeding at a boundary portion when a recording order with black ink having different penetrability is changed.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the state of the back surface of the recording medium when the recording order with black ink of different permeability is changed.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a bleeding state at a boundary portion when a recording order with black ink having different penetrability is changed.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the results of a Bristow test for inks with high permeability and inks with low permeability.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a printing result when printing is performed on a printing medium having relatively high ink permeability.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an image data processing system in the first embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing dot recording positions of image data.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operations of the black data boundary color determination unit, the black data separation unit, and the dot control unit when the recording width of black ink with high permeability in the boundary portion is 1 dot.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operations of a black data boundary color determination unit, a black data separation unit, and a dot control unit when the recording width of black ink having high penetrability at the boundary portion is p dots.

FIG. 22 is a boundary color determination unit for black data and a separation unit for black data in the case of adjusting a recording width for recording with black ink having high penetrability in a color boundary portion according to a difference in hue between adjacent areas. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the dot control unit.

FIG. 23 is a boundary color discrimination unit for black data in the case of adjusting a recording width for recording with black ink having high permeability in a color boundary portion in accordance with an amount of ink recording an adjacent area;
6 is a flowchart showing operations of a black data separation unit and a dot control unit.

FIG. 24 is a black data boundary color determination unit, a black data separation unit, and dots when calculating a recording area to be printed with black ink having high permeability and a recording area to be printed with black ink having low permeability. It is a flow chart which shows operation of a control part.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing bleeding that occurs at a boundary portion where a solid recording area of a certain color and a solid recording area of another color are adjacent to each other.

FIG. 26 is a diagram schematically showing the bleed of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the relationship between the difference in Rf value and the degree of bleeding.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a relationship between ink contact time and permeation amount.

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a blur amount.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a bleed amount.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface tension of ink and the amount of bleeding.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface tension of ink and the amount of bleed.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing evaluation results of bleeding and bleeding.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing an experimental result when an image having a printing rate of 100% was recorded using an ink having low penetrability and an ink having high penetrability using black dyes each having the same dye concentration.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an experimental result when an image having a printing rate of 100% was recorded using an ink having low permeability and an ink having high permeability using black dyes having different dye concentrations.

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing an experimental result when recording is performed a plurality of times using an ink having high permeability.

FIG. 37 is a graph showing a case where a high penetrability ink is used when an image having a printing rate of 100% is recorded using a low penetrability ink using a black dye having a different dye concentration and a high penetrability ink. It is a figure which shows the experimental result when recording is performed multiple times.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing the relationship between the contact angle of ink and the amount of bleeding.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing the relationship between the contact angle of ink and the amount of bleed.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing evaluation results of bleeding and bleeding.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing measurement results of contact angles of inks Ck, Cy, Dk, and Dy with respect to PTFE.

FIG. 42 is a diagram showing the absorption coefficient Ka and the degree of bleeding on various recording media.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing the absorption coefficient Ka and the degree of bleeding for various recording media.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing the absorption coefficient Ka and the degree of bleeding for various recording media.

FIG. 45 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of ink adhering to the recording medium and the dot diameter when recording is performed on the recording medium using black ink having low permeability.

FIG. 46 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of ink adhering to a recording medium and the dot diameter when recording is performed on the recording medium using a black ink having high permeability.

FIG. 47 is a diagram showing a line pattern.

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing an inversion pattern of a line pattern.

FIG. 49 is a diagram showing a checkered pattern.

FIG. 50 is a diagram showing an inverted pattern of a checkered pattern.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing thickening of various inks with time.

52 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 51. FIG.

FIG. 53 is a diagram showing thickening of four color inks with time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5-1-5-5 Attachment / detachment lever 11-1-11-5 Ink cartridge 20 Boundary color determination unit for black data 21 Separation unit for black data 22 Dot control unit 23 Drive unit 25 CPU 26 Memory 40 Inkjet recording device 41 Frame 42 Carrier 43 Stage shaft 44 Paper feed roller 45 Head portion 46 Backup unit 47 Motor 48 Belt 51 Housing 51 52 Slot

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeharu Suzuki 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor, Saino Shino 1015, Kamedotachu, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited ( 72) Inventor Kyota Akeno 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Hiroo Ueda 1015, Kamedotachu, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor, Yushi Inagaki Kanagawa 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Fukuoka Prefecture Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Masahiro Mori 1015, Kamikodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fujitsu Limited

Claims (160)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet recording method for recording an image by depositing inks of a plurality of hues on a recording medium, and using at least one predetermined hue two kinds of inks having different penetrability into the recording medium. Among the inks, an ink having a low permeability is used with an ink having a plurality of hues having a lower permeability than an ink having a hue other than the predetermined hue, and the predetermined hue on the recording medium is At the boundary portion between the first recording area that includes the second recording area and the second recording area that is formed of a hue different from the predetermined hue and is adjacent to the first recording area, one of the two types of ink having higher permeability is used. An inkjet recording method, wherein recording is performed with ink over at least a predetermined recording width up to the second recording area, and the remaining portion of the boundary portion is recorded with ink having a lower permeability of the two types. 2. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the lightness of the predetermined hue is lower than the lightness of other hues. 3. The ink having a higher permeability with the predetermined hue and the ink having another hue having a higher permeability are equivalent to each other.
The inkjet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the lower the lightness of the hue, the higher the penetrability. 4. The predetermined hue is black, and the predetermined hue is black.
4. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 3 above. 5. The ink jet recording method according to claim 4, wherein the other hues are yellow, magenta, and cyan, respectively. 6. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink having a hue of low lightness is recorded first. 7. The first recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion are recorded with an ink having a predetermined hue and a low permeability, and then the second recording area is colored with a hue other than the predetermined hue. 6. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink having the predetermined recording width is used for recording, and then the portion having the predetermined recording width is sequentially recorded with the ink having higher permeability and the predetermined hue. 8. When the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion having the predetermined recording width, the recording with the ink having the higher permeability with the predetermined hue is performed with the ink having the lower permeability with the predetermined hue. 2. The recording is performed before the recording with the ink of FIG.
6. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 5 to 5. 9. When the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion having the predetermined recording width, recording with an ink having a lower permeability with the predetermined hue is performed with a higher permeability with the predetermined hue. 2. The recording is performed before the recording with the ink of FIG.
6. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 5 to 5. 10. If the remaining portion of the boundary portion is smaller than the portion of the predetermined recording width, recording with an ink having a lower permeability with the predetermined hue is performed with a higher permeability with the predetermined hue. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording method is performed prior to recording with the ink. 11. The first recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion are recorded with the ink having the predetermined hue and lower permeability, and after a predetermined time, the portion having the predetermined recording width is changed to the predetermined hue. 2. The recording is performed with the ink having a higher penetrability, and the predetermined time is set to be longer than the familiarization time of the ink having a predetermined hue and a low penetrability with respect to the recording medium.
6. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 5 to 5. 12. The predetermined recording width is adjusted based on at least one of the amount of ink recording the boundary portion and the permeability of these inks. Inkjet recording method. 13. At least one of the first and second areas is overprinted with inks of two or more hues.
The inkjet recording method according to claim 1. 14. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same brightness and / or saturation. . 15. The ink jet recording method according to claim 14, wherein a color difference between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 5 or less at the boundary portion. 16. The ink according to claim 1, wherein the ink having a predetermined hue and a high permeability and the ink having a low hue and a low permeability use the same dye, respectively. Inkjet recording method described. 17. The ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein, in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same recording density. 18. The ink jet recording according to claim 1, wherein a difference in recording density between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 0.3 or less at the boundary portion. Method. 19. The ink jet recording method according to claim 18, wherein the amount of dye contained in the ink having a predetermined hue and high permeability is greater than the amount of dye contained in the ink having a predetermined hue and low permeability. . 20. The ink amount of the ink having a predetermined hue and low permeability per unit area in the remaining portion of the boundary portion is the ink having a high permeability of the predetermined hue. 19. The inkjet recording method according to claim 18, wherein the amount of ink is larger than the amount of ink adhered per unit area within the predetermined recording width of the boundary portion. 21. An ink jet recording method for recording an image by adhering a plurality of hues of ink to a recording medium, wherein at least one hue of ink has an ink of another hue having an Rf value which is a transfer rate of a coloring material. An ink jet recording method in which an ink having a hue of low lightness is set to have a lower Rf value than an ink having a hue of high lightness. 22. The ink jet recording method according to claim 21, wherein a black ink is used as the ink having a hue of low lightness. 23. The ink jet recording method according to claim 21, wherein inks having different Rf values are used as the inks of the plurality of hues according to the respective lightness. 24. The acclimatization time of the inks of the plurality of hues with respect to the recording medium is set so that the ink of a hue having a low lightness is shorter than the ink of a hue having a high lightness. 2. The inkjet recording method according to item 1. 25. The ink jet recording method according to claim 21, wherein the inks of the plurality of hues use dyes having different Rf values according to the lightness of each hue. 26. The ink jet recording method according to claim 21, wherein the recording with the ink having the low lightness hue is performed before the recording with the ink having the high lightness hue. 27. In an ink jet recording method for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, at least one hue has a contact angle difference of 15 ° or more with respect to the recording medium. Kind of ink,
And or an inkjet recording method using a combination with the recording medium. 28. The ink jet recording method according to claim 27, wherein one of the two types of ink has a contact angle of 85 ° or more, and the other ink has a contact angle of 70 ° or less. 29. Of the two types of ink, the ink having the larger contact angle is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and the ink having a smaller contact angle is used for recording a general image including a plane image. Item 29. The inkjet recording method according to Item 27. 30. The ink jet recording method according to claim 27, wherein the hues of the two types of ink are black. 31. In an inkjet recording method for recording an image by depositing inks of a plurality of hues on a recording medium, two types of inks having a difference in surface tension of at least 4 dyne / cm for at least one hue. An inkjet recording method using. 32. Of the two types of ink, one ink has a surface tension of 49 dyne / cm or more, and the other ink has a surface tension of 45 dyne / cm or less.
The inkjet recording method according to claim 31. 33. Of the two types of ink, one having a higher surface tension is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and one having a lower surface tension is used for recording a general image including a surface image. Item 31. The inkjet recording method according to Item 32. 34. The ink jet recording method according to claim 31, wherein the hues of the two types of ink are black. 35. An ink jet recording method for recording an image by adhering ink of at least one hue to a recording medium, the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s) for the recording medium.
^An inkjet recording method using one or a plurality of inks of one hue whose ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15. 36. The one hue is black.
5. The inkjet recording method according to item 5. 37. An ink jet recording method for recording an image by depositing inks of a plurality of hues on a recording medium, the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s
Ink jet recording method using inks of a plurality of hues, in which ^1/2 )) is set to 40 or more. 38. The ink jet recording method according to claim 37, wherein the plurality of hues are black, yellow, magenta and cyan. 39. An ink jet recording method for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s) for the recording medium.
^1/2 )) is set to less than 15 to record the first pixel using the ink belonging to the first group, and the absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s
^1/2 )) is set to 40 or more, and an ink jet recording method is used in which recording is performed so that the second pixel is not in contact with the first pixel using ink belonging to the second group. 40. The ink jet recording method according to claim 39, wherein the hues of the inks belonging to the first group are black, and the hues of the inks belonging to the second group are black, yellow, magenta and cyan. 41. When the pixel of one hue recorded on the recording medium is not adjacent to the pixel of another hue, the first
4. The ink selected from the group of 1. is preferentially used.
The inkjet recording method according to 9 or 40. 42. When a pixel of a certain hue recorded on the recording medium is adjacent to a pixel of another hue, at least one pixel of at least one of the pixels forming a boundary is used as the second group. 42. The ink jet recording method according to claim 41, wherein recording is performed with an ink selected from, and the other pixels are recorded with an ink having the same hue as the one hue selected from the first group. 43. The ink jet recording method according to claim 35, wherein the recording medium is plain paper whose recording surface has exposed fibers of paper. 44. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, two kinds of inks having different penetrability into the recording medium are used for at least one predetermined hue, A head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, a first recording area on the recording medium including the predetermined hue, and a first recording area having a hue different from the predetermined hue. At the boundary portion between the adjacent second recording areas, the ink having the higher permeability of the two types of ink is used for recording over at least a predetermined recording width up to the second recording area, and the remaining portion of the boundary portion is formed. The ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a control unit that controls the head unit so that the recording is performed with the ink having the lower permeability of the two types. 45. The head portion uses ink in which the lightness of the predetermined hue is lower than the lightness of the other hue.
4. The inkjet recording device according to 4. 46. The ink having a higher permeability in the predetermined hue and the ink having another hue having a similarly higher permeability used by the head portion have a higher permeability as the lightness of the hue is lower. Item 44. The inkjet recording device according to item 45. 47. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the predetermined hue of the ink used by the head portion is black. 48. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the other hues of the ink used by the head portion are yellow, magenta, and cyan, respectively. 49. The control unit controls the head unit so that ink of a hue having a low lightness is recorded first.
An ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 44 to 48. 50. The control means records the first recording area and the remaining portion of the boundary portion with ink having a predetermined hue and a low permeability, and thereafter recording the second recording area in the predetermined recording area. 49. The head unit is controlled so as to record with an ink of a hue other than the hue of, and then to sequentially record the portion of the predetermined recording width with the ink of the predetermined hue and the higher permeability. Inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of the above. 51. When the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion having the predetermined recording width, the control means causes the predetermined hue to be used for recording with the ink having a higher hue and a higher permeability. 5. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording using the ink having the lower permeability.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of 4 to 48. 52. When the remaining portion of the boundary portion is smaller than the portion having the predetermined recording width, the control means causes the predetermined hue to be used for recording with the ink having a lower hue and a lower permeability. 5. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording with the ink having higher permeability.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of 4 to 48. 53. The control means, when the remaining portion of the boundary portion is larger than the portion having the predetermined recording width, records with the predetermined hue and ink having a lower permeability to the predetermined hue. 5. The head unit is controlled so that the recording is performed before the recording with the ink having higher permeability.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of 4 to 48. 54. The control means records the remaining portion of the first recording area and the boundary portion with the ink having the predetermined hue and lower permeability, and after a predetermined time, the portion having the predetermined recording width. Is controlled so that the ink having the predetermined hue and the higher permeability is recorded, and the predetermined time is longer than the familiarizing time of the ink having the predetermined hue and the low permeability to the recording medium. Set, claims 44-4
8. The inkjet recording device according to any one of 8. 55. The predetermined recording width is adjusted based on at least one of an amount of ink for recording the boundary portion and permeability of these inks.
The ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the above. 56. The control unit controls the head unit so that at least one of the first and second regions is overprinted with ink of two or more hues. Inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of the above. 57. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 44, wherein in the boundary portion, the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same lightness or saturation. 58. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 57, wherein a color difference between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 5 or less at the boundary portion. 59. The same dye having a predetermined hue and a high penetrability used by the head portion and the ink having a predetermined hue and a low penetrability use the same dye, respectively.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of 4 to 48. 60. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 44, wherein a portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion have substantially the same recording density at the boundary portion. 61. The ink jet recording according to any one of claims 44 to 48, wherein a difference in recording density between the portion having the predetermined recording width and the remaining portion is 0.3 or less at the boundary portion. apparatus. 62. The amount of dye contained in the ink having a higher hue and a higher permeability used by the head portion is larger than the amount of dye contained in the ink having a lower hue and a higher permeability to the predetermined hue. The inkjet recording device described. 63. The control unit is configured such that an ink amount of the ink having a lower permeability with the predetermined hue and adhering per unit area in the remaining portion of the boundary portion has a permeability with the predetermined hue. 62. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 61, wherein the head portion is controlled so that the amount of the higher ink is greater than the amount of ink adhered per unit area within the predetermined recording width portion of the boundary portion. 64. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording images by adhering inks of a plurality of hues onto a recording medium, at least one of the hues of the ink has an Rf value which is a transfer rate of a coloring material and an ink of another hue. A low-lightness hue having a lightness different from the Rf value of No. 1 and having a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink and a control unit for controlling the head unit to eject the ink onto the recording medium. The ink of (3) is set to have a lower Rf value than the ink of a hue having a high lightness. 65. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 64, wherein the head portion uses black ink as the ink of the hue with low lightness. 66. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 64 or 65, wherein the head section uses inks having different Rf values depending on the respective lightnesses as the inks of the plurality of hues. 67. The head unit sets the acclimatization time of the inks of the plurality of hues to the recording medium so that the ink of the hue of low lightness is set shorter than the ink of the hue of high lightness. 64 to control the.
66. The inkjet recording device according to any one of 66. 68. The ink jet recording according to any one of claims 64 to 67, wherein the inks of the plurality of hues used by the head section use dyes having different Rf values depending on the lightness of each hue. apparatus. 69. The control unit controls the head unit so that the recording with the ink of the hue of low lightness is performed before the recording with the ink of the hue of high lightness.
The inkjet recording device according to any one of claims 64 to 68. 70. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues to a recording medium, the difference in contact angle between the recording mediums is 15 ° or more for at least one hue. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and a control unit for controlling the head unit to eject the ink onto a recording medium. 71. The inkjet according to claim 70, wherein one of the two types of ink used by the head portion has a contact angle of 85 ° or more and the other ink has a contact angle of 70 ° or less. Recording device. 72. Of the two types of ink used by the head portion, the ink with the larger contact angle is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and the ink with the smaller contact angle is used for a general image including a surface image. The inkjet recording device according to claim 70 or 71, which is used for recording. 73. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 70, wherein the two types of ink used by the head unit have a hue of black. 74. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues onto a recording medium, two kinds of inks having a surface tension difference of 4 dyne / cm or more for at least one hue. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and a control unit that controls the head unit to eject ink onto a recording medium. 75. The surface tension of one of the two types of ink used by the head unit is 49 dyne /
cm or more, the surface tension of the other ink is 45 dyn
75. The inkjet recording device according to claim 74, which has an e / cm or less. 76. Of the two types of ink used by the head portion, the ink with the higher surface tension is used for recording a line drawing including characters, and the ink with the lower surface tension is used for a general image including a surface image. The inkjet recording device according to claim 74 or 75, which is used for recording. 77. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 74, wherein the hue of the two types of ink used by the head unit is black. 78. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering ink of at least one hue to a recording medium, an absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s) for the recording medium is provided.
^1/2 )) is set to less than 15 using one or a plurality of inks of one hue, and a head unit having a number of heads according to the type of ink, and controlling the head unit to record the ink on the recording medium. An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: a control unit configured to eject the ink onto the recording medium. 79. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 78, wherein the one hue used by the head unit is black. 80. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by adhering inks of a plurality of hues onto a recording medium, said absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s) for said recording medium.
^1/2 )) is used with inks of a plurality of hues set to 40 or more, and a head unit having a number of heads corresponding to the type of ink, and controlling the head unit to eject ink onto a recording medium An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: 81. The hues used by the head unit are black, yellow, magenta, and cyan.
0. The inkjet recording device according to item 0. 82. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image by depositing inks of a plurality of hues on a recording medium, the head section having a number of heads according to the type of ink, and controlling the head section to print ink. And a control unit for ejecting the recording medium onto the recording medium, the control unit having an absorption coefficient Ka (nl) for the recording medium.
/ (Mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15 to control the head unit so as to record the first pixel using the ink belonging to the first group, and to the recording medium. A second ink is used that has an absorption coefficient Ka (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) of 40 or more.
The ink jet recording apparatus, which controls the head unit so as to record each pixel so as not to be in contact with the first pixel. 83. The hue of the ink belonging to the first group used by the head unit is black, and the hue of the ink belonging to the second group is black, yellow, magenta and cyan. Inkjet recording device. 84. When the pixel of a certain hue recorded on the recording medium is not adjacent to the pixel of another hue, the control unit preferentially uses the ink selected from the first group. 84. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 82 or 83, wherein the head unit is controlled as described above. 85. When the pixel of the certain hue recorded on the recording medium is adjacent to the pixel of the other hue, the control means is at least one pixel of at least one of the hues forming the boundary. Is recorded with an ink selected from the second group, and the head unit is controlled so that the other pixels are recorded with an ink having the same hue as the one hue selected from the first group. Inkjet recording apparatus according to Item 84. 86. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 70, wherein as the recording medium, plain paper whose recording surface has exposed fibers of paper is used. 87. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and the cartridge main body being stored in the cartridge main body. And an ink of a predetermined hue, the ink of the predetermined hue has a lower permeability to the recording medium than the inks of the plurality of hues, and has a lower brightness than the inks of the plurality of hues. ,ink cartridge. 88. The ink cartridge according to claim 87, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. 89. The ink of the predetermined hue uses the same dye as the inks of the plurality of hues.
8. The ink cartridge according to item 8. 90. The ink cartridge according to claim 87, wherein the amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the ink of the plurality of hues. 91. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue used together with black ink when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and a predetermined cartridge stored in the cartridge main body. And an ink of a predetermined hue, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue has a higher permeability to the recording medium than the black ink and has a lightness higher than that of the black ink. 92. The ink cartridge according to claim 91, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is an ink of one hue selected from black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. 93. The ink cartridge according to claim 92, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue has higher permeability as the lightness is lower. 94. The ink of the predetermined hue is a black ink that uses the same dye as the black ink.
1. The ink cartridge according to 1. 95. The amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the black ink.
99. The ink cartridge according to any one of items 94 to 94. 96. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and the cartridge main body being stored in the cartridge main body. The ink of a predetermined hue has an Rf value that is a transfer rate of a coloring material different from the Rf values of the inks of the plurality of hues, and the ink of a hue that is higher than the lightness of the ink. An ink cartridge with a lower Rf value set. 97. The ink of the predetermined hue uses a dye having a different Rf value according to its lightness.
The ink cartridge as described in the above. 98. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and a cartridge main body stored in the cartridge main body. And a contact angle of the ink of the predetermined hue with the recording medium is 8
An ink cartridge having an angle of 5 ° or more or 70 ° or less. 99. The ink cartridge according to claim 98, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. 100. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which ink is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body, and an ink cartridge stored in the cartridge main body. And an ink of a predetermined hue, wherein the surface tension of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium is 49 dyne / cm or more or 45 dyne / cm or less. 101. The ink cartridge according to claim 98, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. 102. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue, which ink is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body, and an ink cartridge stored in the cartridge main body. And an absorption coefficient K of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium.
An ink cartridge in which a (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15. 103. The ink cartridge according to claim 102, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is black ink. 104. An ink cartridge for storing an ink of a predetermined hue used together with black ink when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, the cartridge main body and a predetermined cartridge stored in the cartridge main body. And an absorption coefficient K of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium.
An ink cartridge in which a (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to 40 or more. 105. The ink cartridge according to claim 104, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is an ink of one hue among black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. 106. An ink having a predetermined hue, which is used together with a black ink when ink jet recording is performed on the recording medium, wherein the ink having the predetermined hue is the black ink with respect to the recording medium. An ink having a higher penetrability and a lightness higher than that of the black ink. 107. The predetermined hue is black, yellow,
It is one hue selected from magenta and cyan,
The ink according to claim 106. 108. The ink according to claim 107, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue has higher permeability as the lightness is lower. 109. The ink according to claim 106, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is a black ink that uses the same dye as the black ink. 110. The amount of dye contained in the ink of the predetermined hue is larger than the amount of dye contained in the black ink.
The ink according to any one of 06 to 109. 111. An ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when performing ink jet recording on a recording medium, wherein the ink of the predetermined hue is Rf which is a transfer rate of a coloring material. An ink whose value is different from the Rf values of the inks of the plurality of hues, and is set to be lower than the Rf value of the hue of lightness higher than the lightness. 112. The ink of the predetermined hue uses a dye having a different Rf value according to its lightness.
11. The ink according to item 11. 113. An ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when ink-jet recording is performed on the recording medium, and a contact angle of the ink of the predetermined hue to the recording medium is 8.
Ink of 5 ° or more or 70 ° or less. 114. The ink according to claim 113, wherein the predetermined hue is black. 115. An ink of a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks of a plurality of hues when ink jet recording is performed on the recording medium, and the surface tension of the ink of the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium is 49 dyne / Ink of not less than cm or not more than 45 dyne / cm. 116. The ink according to claim 115, wherein the predetermined hue is black. 117. An ink having a predetermined hue, which is used together with inks having a plurality of hues when ink-jet recording is performed on the recording medium, the absorption coefficient K of the ink having the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium.
Ink in which a (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to less than 15. 118. The ink of claim 117, wherein the predetermined hue is black. 119. An ink having a predetermined hue, which is used together with black ink when ink jet recording is performed on the recording medium, wherein an absorption coefficient K of the ink having the predetermined hue with respect to the recording medium.
Ink in which a (nl / (mm ² · s ^1/2 )) is set to 40 or more. 120. The predetermined hue is black, yellow,
2. The hue of one of magenta and cyan.
Ink according to 19. 121. An ink jet recording method for recording a color image on a recording medium using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability and inks having other hues, the inks having different hues. When the inks are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, the recording is performed using the first ink having the lower permeability, and the inks of different hues are recorded adjacent to each other on the recording medium. In the ink jet recording method, the second ink having higher permeability is used for recording, and the color material concentration of the second ink is higher than the color material concentration of the first ink. 122. As for the color material densities of the first and second inks, the difference between the recording densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less when recording is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%. The inkjet recording method according to claim 121, wherein the inkjet recording method is set to. 123. The color material densities of the first and second inks are 100% when the recording medium is plain paper, respectively.
122. The ink jet recording method according to claim 121, wherein the recording density on the plain paper is set to be 0.9 or more when the recording of 100% is performed. 124. The colorant density of each of the first and second inks is a print ratio when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The inkjet recording method according to claim 121, wherein the recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when recording at 100%. 125. Of the first and second inks,
13. The recording is performed a plurality of times when recording is performed using the ink having a lower recording density on the recording medium.
125. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 1-124. 126. The ink jet recording method according to claim 121, wherein the first and second inks are black inks. 127. An ink jet recording method for recording a color image on a recording medium using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability and inks having other hues, the inks having different hues. When the inks are recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, the recording is performed using the first ink having the lower permeability, and the inks of different hues are recorded adjacent to each other on the recording medium. Is recorded using the second ink having a higher permeability, and when recording is performed using one of the first and second inks, which has a lower recording density on the recording medium, Is an inkjet recording method in which recording is performed multiple times. 128. The color material densities of the first and second inks are such that the difference between the print densities on the recording medium becomes 0.3 or less when printing is performed on the recording medium at a printing rate of 100%. The inkjet recording method according to claim 127, wherein the inkjet recording method is set to. 129. The color material densities of the first and second inks are 100 when the recording medium is plain paper, respectively.
128. The ink jet recording method according to claim 127, wherein the recording density on the plain paper is set to 0.9 or more when recording of 100%. 130. The colorant density of each of the first and second inks is a printing rate when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. The inkjet recording method according to claim 127, wherein the recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed. 131. The ink jet recording method according to any one of claims 127 to 130, wherein the first and second inks are black inks. 132. An inkjet recording method for recording an image on a recording medium using at least a first ink having a low permeability and a second ink having a high permeability, wherein When performing recording with the first ink on the recording medium whose recording characteristics are adjusted, the ink amount to be recorded per unit area by one scan of the head unit is set to the second amount.
If the amount of ink is less than or equal to the amount of ink that can be printed in one scan using the above ink, and the head is scanned multiple times using the first ink to perform sequential printing, in the case of solid printing, a plurality of complementary inks are used. An ink jet recording method in which a thinning pattern is recorded and, when image data is recorded, a logical product of a plurality of complementary thinning patterns and image data is recorded. 133. The inkjet recording method according to claim 132, wherein the thinning pattern is a line pattern or a checkered pattern. 134. The ink jet recording method according to claim 132, wherein when the plurality of pairs of symmetrical thinning patterns are sequentially used for recording, the patterns in which the dots on the recording medium are not adjacent to each other are overprinted in a priority order. 135. When the maximum recording width in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in which a head portion having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting the first ink can perform recording in one scanning is D dots, N is 2 or more. The image data of the D dot width by the head unit is decomposed into N pieces of data having a dot width of less than D dots, and the decomposed image data is sequentially recorded on the recording medium by scanning N times. 132. The inkjet recording method according to any one of 132 to 134. 136. The inkjet recording according to any one of claims 132 to 135, wherein the first ink is black ink, and the second ink includes yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks. Method. 137. The recording medium is an OHP film having an ink receiving layer, the recording characteristics of which are adjusted with respect to the second ink, formed on at least one surface in advance or at the time of recording. Inkjet recording method according to any one of the above. 138. In an inkjet recording method for recording a color image on a recording medium using inks having at least two hues, the difference in increase in ink viscosity due to solvent evaporation of each ink is 25 ° C. 60% RH. The inkjet recording method is set so as to be within 1000 cp when left open at room temperature and normal humidity. 139. A color image is recorded on the recording medium by using the inks of the two or more hues by a head unit including heads having different numbers of nozzles, and the degree of thickening of each ink is adjusted according to the number of nozzles. To do
The inkjet recording method according to claim 138. 140. When the number of nozzles of the first head of the head section is m and the number of nozzles of the second head is n, the degree of thickening of the ink supplied to the first head is the second degree. 140. The ink jet recording method according to claim 139, wherein the ink is supplied to the head in a thickness of about n / m times the degree of thickening. 141. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording a color image on a recording medium using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability and inks having other hues, the inks having different hues are used. Is recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, a means for performing recording using the first ink having a lower permeability and inks of different hues are recorded adjacent to each other on the recording medium. In the case where the colorant density of the second ink is higher than that of the first ink, the colorant density of the second ink is set higher than the colorant density of the first ink. Inkjet recording device. 142. With respect to the color material densities of the first and second inks, the difference between the print densities on the print medium becomes 0.3 or less when print is performed on the print medium at a printing rate of 100%. 144. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 141, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is set to. 143. The color material densities of the first and second inks are 100% when the recording medium is plain paper, respectively.
144. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 141, wherein the recording density on the plain paper is set to be 0.9 or more when recording of 100%. 144. The colorant concentrations of the first and second inks are print rates when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. 146. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 141, wherein the recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed. 145. Of the first and second inks,
146. The inkjet recording according to any one of claims 141 to 144, further comprising a unit for performing recording a plurality of times when recording is performed using the ink having a lower recording density on the recording medium. apparatus. 146. The inkjet recording device according to claim 141, wherein the first and second inks are black inks. 147. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording a color image on a recording medium using at least first and second inks having the same hue and different penetrability and inks having other hues, the inks having different hues are used. Is recorded on the recording medium without being adjacent to each other, a means for performing recording using the first ink having a lower permeability and inks of different hues are recorded adjacent to each other on the recording medium. And a recording means using the second ink having a higher penetrability, and recording using the ink having a lower recording density on the recording medium of the first and second inks. When performing the above, an ink jet recording apparatus, which is provided with a unit for performing recording plural times. 148. With respect to the color material densities of the first and second inks, the difference between the print densities on the print medium becomes 0.3 or less when the print is performed on the print medium at a printing rate of 100%. 148. The inkjet recording device according to claim 147, wherein 149. The color material densities of the first and second inks are 100% when the recording medium is plain paper, respectively.
148. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 147, wherein the recording density on the plain paper is set to 0.9 or more when recording of 100%. 150. The colorant density of each of the first and second inks is a printing rate when the recording medium is an inkjet recording sheet dedicated to inkjet recording in which recording characteristics are adjusted with respect to ink having high permeability. 148. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 147, wherein the recording density on the inkjet recording paper is set to 1.3 or more when 100% recording is performed. 151. The ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 147 to 150, wherein the first and second inks are black inks. 152. An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by a head portion using at least a first ink having a low permeability and a second ink having a high permeability, the second ink On the other hand, when recording is performed using the first ink on the recording medium whose recording characteristics are adjusted, the amount of ink to be recorded per unit area by one scan of the head unit is changed to the second ink. A means for controlling the amount of ink to be recorded in one scan or less by using the first ink, and a method for supplementing the solid recording in the case of performing sequential recording by scanning the head portion a plurality of times. An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: a plurality of thinning patterns that match each other; and a unit that records a logical product of a plurality of complementary thinning patterns and image data when recording image data. 153. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 152, wherein the thinning pattern is a line pattern or a checkered pattern. 154. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 152, wherein when sequential recording is performed using a plurality of pairs of symmetrical thinning patterns, patterns in which dots on the recording medium are not adjacent to each other are overprinted in a priority order. 155. When the maximum recording width in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction in which the head portion having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting the first ink can perform recording in one scan is D dots, N is 2 If the above integer is used, the means for decomposing the image data of the D dot width by the head portion into N pieces of data of the dot width less than D dots, and recording the decomposed image data on the recording medium by scanning N times in sequence. Claim 1 further comprising:
52. The inkjet recording device according to any one of 52 to 154. 156. The inkjet recording according to any one of claims 152 to 155, wherein the first ink is black ink, and the second ink includes yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks. apparatus. 157. The recording medium is an OHP film having an ink receiving layer, the recording characteristics of which have been adjusted with respect to the second ink, formed on at least one surface in advance or at the time of recording. The ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the above. 158. In an ink jet recording apparatus for recording a color image on a recording medium using inks having at least two hues, the difference in increase in ink viscosity due to solvent evaporation of each ink is 25 ° C. 60% RH. The ink jet recording apparatus is set so as to be within 1000 cp when left open at room temperature and normal humidity. 159. A head unit including heads having different numbers of nozzles is provided with means for recording a color image on the recording medium using the inks of the two or more hues, and the viscosity of each ink is increased according to the number of nozzles. Adjust the degree,
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 158. 160. When the number of nozzles of the first head of the head section is m and the number of nozzles of the second head is n, the degree of thickening of ink supplied to the first head is the second degree. 160. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 159, wherein the ink is supplied to the head at a viscosity of about n / m.