JPH09226198A - Reciprocating printing correcting device for printing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply, accurately and automatically correct the difference between printing positions in a reciprocating printing. SOLUTION: When a photosensor provided on a carriage crosses the perpendicularly intersecting edge part of a douser, an original point signal is generated. A movement coordinating signal Da, which is generated when the photosensor crosses the slanting edge part of the douser at the predetermined timing of the forward movement of the carriage by the predetermined pulse from the generation of the original point signal, and a movement coordinating signal Db, which is generated when the photosensor crosses the slanting edge part of the douser at the same timing and mentioned above of the backward movement of the carriage, are respectively analog-digital converted so as to calculate the difference between both the signals in order to calculate the correction amount of the difference between the positions in the reciprocating printing of the carriage. On the basis of the correction amount, the ink jet timing at forward movement and at backward movement are respectively corrected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reciprocal printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus capable of reciprocal printing through the reciprocating movement of a recording head, and in particular, it automatically corrects printing position deviations during forward and backward movements. About what you did.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printing apparatus, for example, in an ink jet printer, a carriage equipped with a recording head is reciprocated in a scanning direction while ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of ejection nozzles provided in the recording head. The image is printed on the printing paper in a dot pattern so as to increase the recording speed. In this type of inkjet printer, as a carriage drive motor, a stepping motor (pulse motor) driven by a drive pulse so as to simplify drive control of the carriage, or a DC motor (direct current motor) is used. The one that is designed to be used is put to practical use.

By the way, since the carriage is generally configured to be reciprocally driven by a carriage driving motor through a carriage driving mechanism including a timing belt connected to the carriage, the carriage is moved in a predetermined forward direction. Direction printing start position and backward direction printing start position, when reciprocating the print area alternately and reciprocally printing with the recording head, the timing belt stretches, drive system backlash, and especially stepping It is well known that there is a positional deviation between the printing position during forward movement and the printing position during backward movement due to the response delay of the drive circuit for the carriage drive motor composed of a motor, and a technique for correcting this positional deviation is known. Various proposals have been made.

For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-40599, an operator obtains a positional deviation between a printing position in the forward direction and a printing position in the backward direction by performing test printing including vertical ruled lines. A serial printer has been proposed in which a correction amount for correcting the positional deviation is input and set from an operation panel. Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-125314, a print image such as a character string and ruled lines reciprocally printed on a printing paper is read by an image reader, and a computer performs reciprocal printing based on the image data read by the image reader. There has been proposed a method of setting a correction value for a print position, in which a correction value corresponding to the print position is calculated and the correction value is output to a printer to correct the print position.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-223338, an operator operates a switch on an operation panel to correct the NLQ character (near letter quality character) by reciprocally printing the print position deviation. There has been proposed a printing position adjusting method for a printer device which corrects a positional deviation in bidirectional printing by setting a value.

[0006]

As described above, the serial printer described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-40599,
In the printing position adjusting method for a printer device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-223338, an operator confirms the positional deviation of characters and vertical ruled lines printed on a printing paper by reciprocal printing, and determines the amount of deviation depending on the amount. Since the operator inputs and sets the correction amount, in order to eliminate the deviation amount, the correction amount input operation and reciprocal printing are performed multiple times. There is a problem that the deviation amount correction operation in step 1 becomes complicated.

On the other hand, in the method for setting the correction value of the print position described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-125314, an image reader for reading a reciprocally printed print image and a computer for obtaining a correction value corresponding to the positional deviation of the print position Therefore, there is a problem that a device for correcting the positional deviation becomes large and expensive. An object of the present invention is to provide a reciprocal printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus that can automatically and easily correct a positional deviation of printing in reciprocal printing.

[0008]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocal printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus, which reciprocally prints on a recording medium while reciprocally moving a recording head in a scanning direction via a carriage that is driven by a stepping motor. In the printing apparatus, a signal generating unit that generates a movement corresponding signal whose size linearly changes according to the movement of the carriage over a predetermined length range in the scanning direction on the forward movement start side of the carriage, and a signal generation unit. In response to the generated signal, the magnitude of the first movement-corresponding signal generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage is moving forward, and after the movement-corresponding signal is generated, the carriage is moved to the forward movement end end side by the set number of drive pulses Based on the magnitude of the second movement-corresponding signal generated when returning by the set number of drive pulses, at least the print start timing at the time of forward or backward movement It is obtained by a correction amount setting means for calculating a correction amount for correcting the grayed.

To explain the operation, the signal generating means generates a movement-corresponding signal whose magnitude linearly changes according to the movement of the carriage over the predetermined length range in the scanning direction on the forward movement start side of the carriage. Therefore, the correction amount setting means receives the signal generated by the signal generating means and sets the magnitude of the first movement corresponding signal generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage moves forward, and the carriage sets and drives after the movement corresponding signal is generated. Based on the magnitude of the second movement-corresponding signal generated when the number of pulses is the same as that of the set drive pulse after the forward movement to the end side, the print start timing at least during the forward movement or the backward movement is set. Obtain the correction amount to be corrected.

That is, when the carriage is moved forward and backward by a set number of drive pulses from a predetermined timing, the carriage is moved to the stop position due to the response delay of the drive system of the carriage and the drive circuit for the stepping motor. Misalignment occurs. That is, the difference between the magnitudes of the two movement correspondence signals, that is, the first movement correspondence signal generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage moves forward and the second movement correspondence signal generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage moves backward, Since it corresponds to the correction amount for correcting the positional deviation of the carriage position, at least the print start timing at the time of the forward movement or the backward movement is corrected by the correction amount based on the magnitude of these two movement corresponding signals. The positional deviation of the print start timing in printing can be easily and accurately corrected automatically.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating printing correction device for a printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the signal generating means is
It is configured to generate an origin signal indicating the origin position of the carriage. The operation is the same as that of claim 1, but the signal generating means generates the origin signal indicating the origin position of the carriage. Therefore, the origin position of the carriage is detected without separately providing an origin signal generating mechanism. can do.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the predetermined timing is a rise or fall of a drive pulse specified in relation to a generation timing of an origin signal. It is set. The operation is the same as that of claim 2, but the predetermined timing is set because the predetermined timing is set by the rising or falling of the drive pulse specified in relation to the generation timing of the origin signal. It is possible to easily set the predetermined timing based on the origin signal without separately providing a timing setting mechanism for performing the setting.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating printing correction device for a printing apparatus, wherein the signal generating means is
It comprises a stationary member of the printing apparatus and a photosensor fixed to one of the carriage, and a light shielding plate fixed to the other of the stationary member and the carriage. The operation is the same as in claim 1, but the signal generating means includes a photo sensor fixed to one of the stationary member and the carriage of the printing apparatus, and a light shielding plate fixed to the other of the stationary member and the carriage. With this configuration, it is possible to easily generate a movement corresponding signal that linearly changes according to the movement of the carriage.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the light shielding plate has an edge portion for generating an origin signal orthogonal to the scanning direction and an inclination for generating a movement corresponding signal. And a slanted edge portion. Explaining the operation, the same operation as in claim 4 is achieved, but the origin signal can be generated by the photosensor via the edge portion formed on the light shielding plate, and the photosensor linearly changes via the inclined edge portion. A movement-corresponding signal can be easily generated.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating print correction apparatus for a printing apparatus, wherein the first and second movement-corresponding signals from the photosensor are A / D converted.
A conversion means is further provided, and the correction amount setting means is
The correction amount is obtained from the difference between the D-converted first and second movement corresponding signals.

The operation is the same as that of claim 5, but the A / D conversion means performs A / D conversion of the first and second movement corresponding signals from the photosensor, and further sets the correction amount. The means is the A / D converted first and second
The correction amount is obtained from the difference between the movement corresponding signals of.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reciprocating printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects of the invention, wherein the correction amount setting means sets the first and second movement correspondence signals. The table includes the correction amounts corresponding to the differences. Explaining the operation, the same operation as that of any one of claims 1 to 6 is achieved, but the correction amount setting means displays a correction amount corresponding to the difference between the first and second movement corresponding signals. Therefore, the correction amount for correcting the print start timing can be easily obtained only by obtaining the difference between the first and second movement corresponding signals.

According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided a reciprocating print correction device for a printing apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the recording head is an ink jet recording head. The operation will be described. Claims 1 to 7
Although the same operation as any one of the above items is achieved, it is possible to correct the print position deviation when performing reciprocal printing with an inkjet printer equipped with an inkjet recording head.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment is a case where the present invention is applied to an inkjet recording apparatus in which ink contained in an ink cartridge that is detachably mounted is ejected from a recording head to print an image. As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 basically includes a platen 10 on a main body frame 3 provided in a main body cover 2.
And a carriage drive mechanism 20 for driving the carriage 21.
And an ink ejecting mechanism 40 for ejecting the recording ink contained in the ink cartridge 44 onto the printing paper P.

The rubber platen 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, the platen shaft 11 is rotatably supported by the side wall plates 3a and 3c of the main body frame 3 at both left and right ends, and the platen gear 11 is provided at the left end of the platen shaft 11. 12 is attached. A composite gear 13 having a first driven gear 14 that meshes with the platen gear 12 and a second driven gear 15 is rotatably supported by the side wall plate 3c, and a drive gear that meshes with the second driven gear 15. 16 is attached to a feed motor 17. That is, when the feed motor 17 is driven in the predetermined rotation direction and the drive gear 16 rotates, the platen 10 is driven to rotate in the predetermined paper feed direction via the composite gear 13 and the platen gear 12.

Next, regarding the carriage driving mechanism 20,
A description will be given based on FIGS. A carriage 21 is horizontally arranged on the front side of the platen 10, and the carriage 21 is arranged at its rear end portion in parallel with the platen 10 and supported by the body frame 3.
Is supported by the guide rail portion 3d at the front end of the main body frame 3 so as to be movable in the left and right directions.

On the other hand, a driven pulley 23 is rotatably supported by the side wall plate 3b at the left end of the moving range of the carriage 21, and a carriage drive motor 25 comprising a stepping motor is provided at the right end thereof. A drive pulley 24 attached to the drive shaft is provided, and an endless timing belt 26 is stretched over both pulleys 23 and 24, and is connected to the timing belt 26 at the lower end of the carriage 21. When the carriage drive motor 25 is driven to rotate, both pulleys 2
The carriage 21 is supported by the guide rods 22 and the guide rail portions 3d via the timing belts 26 and 3, 24, and in the scanning direction parallel to the platen 10,
That is, reciprocating movement is performed in the forward direction ND (right direction) and the backward direction RD (left direction).

Here, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the carriage 21 is placed at a predetermined position on the forward movement start side of the carriage 21.
A plate-shaped light-shielding plate 30 is arranged in parallel with the scanning direction immediately below the movement path of the light-shielding plate, and the light-shielding plate 30 is mounted on the main body frame 3 in a standing manner (corresponding to a stationary member) 31. Is fixed to the upper end of the. Here, the light shielding plate 30 is formed with an orthogonal edge portion 30a for generating an origin signal which is orthogonal to the scanning direction at the forward movement start side end portion (left end portion), and the forward movement start is started from the right end portion thereof. The height becomes higher toward the side end side, and an inclined edge portion 30b for generating a movement corresponding signal is formed.

A photo sensor 32, which is an optical sensor having a light emitter and a light receiver, is fixed to the lower side of the carriage 21 so as to face the light shield plate 30. That is,
When the photo sensor 32 does not correspond to the light shield plate 30, the "H" level signal is output because the emitted light emitted from the light emitter and directed to the light receiver is not blocked, but the carriage 21 of the carriage 21 The degree to which the amount of emitted light is shielded by the light shielding plate 30 varies depending on the movement, and an origin signal that is a rapid change in the amount of light is output corresponding to the orthogonal edge portion 30a, and corresponding to the inclined edge portion 30b. An analog movement-corresponding signal whose magnitude changes linearly is output. Here, the light shielding plate 30 and the photo sensor 32 constitute the signal generating means of the present invention.

Next, the ink jetting mechanism 40 for jetting ink onto the printing paper P to print will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. A box-shaped head holder 41 having an open top and front is mounted on the carriage 21. An ink jet recording head 4 having a plurality of jet nozzles formed on a rear wall portion 41a of the head holder 41.
2 is provided, and a connecting cylinder portion 43 integrally formed by inserting the rear wall portion 41a into the recording head 42 is provided.

The ink cartridge 44 containing the ink absorber 44a containing the recording ink is removably attached to the head holder 41, and the front end of the connecting cylinder 43 is formed in the ink cartridge 44. It is adapted to come into contact with the ink absorber 44a through a supply port (not shown). As a result, the ink in the ink cartridge 44 is transferred to the recording head 42 via the connecting cylinder 43.
The ink is ejected from the ejection nozzles of the recording head 42 to be printed on the printing paper P.

Next, the control system of the ink jet recording apparatus 1 is constructed as shown in the block diagram of FIG. The input / output interface 53 of the control device CD converts an analog movement target signal output from the operation panel 55 provided with a power key, various switches and display lamps, and the photo sensor 32 into a digital movement target signal. A
A / D converter 58, a head drive circuit 59 for driving ink ejection from nozzles provided in the recording head 42, a drive circuit 60 for the feed motor 17, and a drive circuit 61 for the carriage drive motor 25. , Are respectively connected.

The control device CD includes a CPU 50 and this CP.
Input / output interface 53 connected to U50 via a bus 54 such as a data bus, ROM 51 and RAM
And 52. Furthermore, a communication interface 62 is connected to the bus 54, and image data transmitted from an external electronic device 63 such as a host computer can be received via the communication interface 62. The ROM 51 includes a reception control program for receiving image data from an external electronic device 63 and the motors 17 and 25 and the head drive circuit 5 based on the created recording data.
A drive control program for driving and controlling 9, a control program for carriage initialization control, which will be described later, peculiar to the present invention, a control program for print control, and the like are stored.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the ROM 51 is provided with a predetermined timing (driving pulse in FIG. 7) at the time of forward movement of the carriage 21 based on a movement target signal input through the A / D converter 58. The difference D between the magnitude Da of the movement corresponding signal at the time of forward movement generated at the timing (indicated by the signal P3) and the magnitude Db of the movement corresponding signal at the time of backward movement generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage 21 returns. A correction amount table TB, which is half the shift time T corresponding to the difference D and is associated with the correction amount t (time) of the print start timing of reciprocal printing, is stored.

Received data memory 52a of the RAM 52
Stores the image data received from the external electronic device 63. The movement correspondence signal memory 52b stores the movement correspondence signal value at the time of forward movement and the movement correspondence signal value at the time of backward movement read at a predetermined timing. Correction amount memory 52c
In, the correction amount of the print start timing read from the correction amount table TB is stored. Dot data memory 52
In d, print data which is dot data expanded is stored. Further, the RAM 52 is provided with various memories and buffers necessary for image print control. here,
The movement corresponding signal memory 52b, the correction amount memory 52c, the correction amount table TB and the CPU 50 constitute the correction amount setting means of the present invention.

Next, a routine for carriage initial setting control performed by the controller CD of the ink jet recording apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 7 based on the flowchart of FIG. It should be noted that reference numeral Si (i = 8, 9,
10 ...) is each step. When the inkjet recording apparatus 1 is powered on, various initialization processing such as the RAM 52 is executed, and at the same time, the carriage initialization control is executed.

When this control is started, processing for detecting the origin position is executed. That is, first, the carriage drive motor 25 is driven in the normal direction to move the carriage 21 in the forward direction N.
It is moved to D (S8). When the photo sensor 32 crosses the orthogonal edge portion 30a, the excitation phase of the motor 25 at that time is set as the origin position, and the position counter is set to 0 (S).
9). The carriage 21 has the edge portion 30 orthogonal to the left limit position.
When the origin signal is not detected even if the origin signal is detected by moving a predetermined distance corresponding to the distance from a (S9: No, S10: No),
Since the carriage 21 is not located between the left limit position and the orthogonal edge portion 30a, the carriage drive motor 25 is reversely driven, the carriage 21 moves in the backward direction RD, and the photosensor 32 moves to the orthogonal edge. It moves across the section 30a until the origin signal is detected (S1
1, S12).

The carriage drive motor 25 is normally driven by a predetermined number of drive pulses (for example, "2" in FIG. 7), and when the second drive pulse is started, the predetermined timing P3 is reached. The movement corresponding signal value at this time is read and stored in the movement corresponding signal memory 52b as the movement corresponding signal value Da at the time of forward movement (S14). Then, the carriage drive motor 25 has a set number of drive pulses,
For example, the normal drive is performed by the number of 6 drive pulses (S15). At this time, the carriage 21 is sufficiently moved in the forward movement direction ND.

Next, the carriage drive motor 25 is reversely driven while subtracting the number of drive pulses (S16). At this time, since the carriage 21 has moved in the backward movement direction RD,
Extension of the timing belt 26 and the carriage drive mechanism 20
Due to the backlash of the drive system in the above, and the response delay of the drive circuit 61 for the carriage drive motor 25, the carriage position at the time of the backward movement and the carriage position at the time of the forward movement at the timing of the same number of drive pulses. There is a gap. Then, the movement corresponding signal value when it coincides with the predetermined timing P3 is read and stored in the movement corresponding signal memory 52b as the movement corresponding signal value Db at the time of returning (S17).

Next, the carriage 21 is moved to the vicinity of the print start position by the normal rotation drive of the carriage drive motor 25 (S18), the correction amount calculation process is executed (S19), and this control is ended to complete the main control. Return to routine. This correction amount calculation processing will be described. A difference D between the magnitude (Da) of the movement corresponding signal at the time of forward movement and the magnitude (Db) of the movement corresponding signal at the time of backward movement is obtained and corresponds to this difference D. The correction amount t (time) of the print start timing is obtained. That is, since the moving speed of the carriage 21 during the printing process is substantially constant during the reciprocating movement, the shift time T corresponding to the difference D is calculated by the carriage moving speed.
The half correction amount ta (see FIG. 7) is equal to the correction amount table T.
It is read from B and stored in the correction amount memory 52c.

That is, since the deviation time T is corrected equally between the forward movement and the backward movement, a correction amount ta which is half the deviation time T is obtained. Further, in the case of the ink jet type recording head, the ink Considering the delay tb (see FIG. 10) from when the ink is ejected from the head to when it reaches the printing paper,
By correcting the print start timing at the time of forward movement and the print start timing at the time of backward movement, the print position deviation of the reciprocal printing is eliminated. For example, in FIG. 5, the difference D in magnitude of the movement target signal between the forward movement and the backward movement.
Is "D5", a correction amount "t5" which is half the shift time T corresponding to the difference "D5" is obtained. Further, the actual correction amount t is obtained from the difference tb-t5 from the above-described ink arrival delay tb (this value is constant in the printing apparatus).

Next, on the basis of the received print command, dot data development processing is executed for the image data stored in the reception data memory 52a, and the created dot image data is stored in the dot data memory 52d for printing. A print control routine executed when the processing is started will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When this control is started, first, the dot data for one line is read from the dot data memory 52d (S30), and the difference tb-ta = t between the ink arrival delay tb and the correction amount ta is obtained. Then, it is judged whether or not the difference t is larger than 0 (S31). That is, the ink arrival delay tb occurs as a positive value in the carriage movement direction from the reference timing, and the correction amount ta is
Since the carriage or the like starts to operate with a delay with respect to the reference timing, it is positioned before the reference timing in the carriage movement direction. Therefore, the actual correction amount is t
It is calculated by b-ta = t. When this t is greater than 0 (S31: Yes), the print is delayed in the carriage movement direction with respect to the reference timing. Therefore, the timing ks advanced from the reference timing by t
Then, the printing process is executed based on each dot data (S32). When t is smaller than 0 (S31:
No), when the delay in starting the operation of the carriage or the like with respect to the reference timing is larger than the ink arrival delay, and the mark is printed before the target position in the moving direction of the carriage 21, and therefore t from the reference timing. The printing process is executed based on each dot data at the timing ks which is delayed by only (S33).

When there is data for printing the next line (S34: Yes), the current position of the carriage 21 is compared with both end positions of the next line as is well known, and the same operation is performed from the near end. To start printing. Then, when the print processing for all the image data is completed (S34: N
o), end this control and return to the main routine.

That is, the operation of the positional deviation correction in this print control will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the drive pulse P for driving the carriage drive motor 25 is generated so as to move the carriage 21 at a predetermined moving speed, and the reference timing signal s for creating the drive signal for the ink ejection operation is Based on the drive pulse P, a plurality of dots, for example, “4” dots are printed between the drive pulses P at predetermined time intervals tp. For example, when the drive pulse P12 is generated at the print start timing of the print area, the reference timing signal s12-0 is generated at the timing of the drive pulse P12, and thereafter, the reference timing signals s12-1 and s12- are generated every predetermined time tp. 2,
s12-3 occurs respectively.

When the correction amount t is larger than 0, the print start timing ks during the forward movement is one reference timing signal s13 before the reference timing signal s12-0 corresponding to the timing of the drive pulse P12. When (tp-t) time has elapsed from -3, that is, the drive signal k12-0 is generated at a timing that is earlier than the reference timing signal s12-0 by the correction amount t, and ink is ejected by this drive signal k12-0. Is executed.

Then, after that, each reference timing signal s
Each drive signal k (drive signal k12
-1, k12-2, k12-3, ...) is ejected every time,
One line is printed during the forward movement. As a result, the actual printing in the forward movement is started from the position corresponding to the generation timing of the drive pulse P12 at the start of the print area, and the position corresponding to the generation timing of the drive pulse P200 at the end of the print area. Then the printing ends.

On the other hand, after the timing of finishing the printing of the printing area, the carriage 21 is slightly moved in the forward direction ND, and the backward printing is started. That is, it is 1 more than the reference timing signal s200-0 corresponding to the timing of the drive pulse P200.
When (tp-t) time has elapsed from the immediately preceding reference timing signal s200-1, that is, the reference timing signal s200-0
Drive signal k200-0 at a timing earlier than the correction amount t
Is generated, and ink is ejected by the drive signal k200-0.

Then, thereafter, each reference timing signal s
Each drive signal k (drive signal k190
-3, k199-2, k199-1, ...) is ejected every
One line is printed when returning. As a result, the actual printing at the time of the backward movement is the drive pulse P200 at the end of the printing area
The printing is started at a position corresponding to the generation timing of the driving area P and the printing is ended at the position corresponding to the generation timing of the drive pulse P12 at the start of the printing area. As a result, there is no print position deviation in reciprocal printing.

When the correction amount t is smaller than 0, the print start timing ks is t when the time t has elapsed from the reference timing signal s12-0 corresponding to the timing of the drive pulse P12, that is, the reference timing signal s12-0. A drive signal with a timing delayed by a correction amount t is generated, and ink ejection is executed based on this drive signal. The same is done when returning. Incidentally, in the case of an ink jet type head or an impact type head for recording by moving a wire back and forth, the above-mentioned delay tb is taken into consideration, but in the case of recording by contacting a printing paper like a thermal type head, the above-mentioned tb is considered. Need not be considered.

In this way, the light-shielding plate 30 having the orthogonal edge portion 30a and the inclined edge portion 30b is attached to the mounting member 3
1, the photo sensor 32 facing the light shield plate 30 is configured to generate a movement corresponding signal whose size linearly changes via the light shield plate 30 according to the movement of the carriage 21. 21. The magnitude Da of the movement corresponding signal generated at the predetermined timing of the forward movement of 21 and the magnitude Db of the movement corresponding signal generated at the predetermined timing of the backward movement.
Is a half of the difference time T corresponding to the difference D and the difference D, and is the correction amount ta of the print start timing of the reciprocal printing.
The correction amount table TB associated with (time) is stored in the ROM 5
1 in advance, and when the carriage 21 is moved forward, after the origin signal is detected, the carriage drive motor 25 is driven forward by a predetermined drive pulse at a predetermined timing to generate a forward movement correspondence signal Da, and when the carriage is moved backward. Since the difference D in magnitude between the movement-corresponding signal Db at the time of the backward movement that occurs at the predetermined timing of 1 corresponds to the correction amount for correcting the positional deviation of the carriage position, the correction amount ta corresponding to the difference D is set as the correction amount ta. Table T
Since the print start timings in the forward movement and the backward movement are equally corrected by the correction amount ta obtained from B, the positional deviation of the print start timing in the reciprocal printing is easily and accurately corrected automatically. be able to.

Further, since the photo sensor 32 generates an origin signal indicating the origin position of the carriage 21 via the orthogonal edge portion 30a, the origin position of the carriage 21 is detected without separately providing an origin signal generating mechanism. can do. Further, the predetermined timing set in the carriage initial setting control is within the range in which the movement corresponding signal that linearly changes from the photo sensor 32 according to the movement of the carriage 21 can be generated. It may be the trailing edge of the pulse or the leading edge of the fifth drive pulse.

The photo sensor 32 is attached to a stationary member attached to the body frame 3, and the light shielding plate 30 is attached to the carriage 2.
It is configured to be attached to the first side, or is configured to correct the print start timing at the time of forward movement or the print start timing at the time of backward movement by a correction amount T that is twice the correction amount ta. With regard to the above-described embodiment, various modifications may be made based on existing technology or technology obvious to those skilled in the art. Further, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a reciprocal print correction device of various printing devices such as various inkjet recording devices capable of color printing.

[0048]

According to the reciprocating print compensating device of the printing apparatus of the first aspect, the reciprocating printing is performed on the recording medium while reciprocally moving the recording head in the scanning direction via the carriage which is driven by the stepping motor. In (1), a signal generating means and a correction amount setting means are provided, and a first movement corresponding signal generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage moves forward and a second movement corresponding signal generated at a predetermined timing when returning the carriage. Since the difference between the magnitudes of the two movement corresponding signals corresponds to the correction amount for correcting the positional deviation of the carriage position, the correction amount based on the magnitudes of these two movement corresponding signals is used at least during forward movement or Since the print start timing at the time of the backward movement is corrected, it is possible to automatically and easily correct the positional deviation of the print start timing in the bidirectional printing.

According to the reciprocating printing correction apparatus of the printing apparatus of the second aspect, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained, but since the signal generating means generates the origin signal indicating the origin position of the carriage, the origin signal. The origin position of the carriage can be detected without separately providing a generating mechanism. Claim 3
According to the reciprocating printing correction device of the printing apparatus according to claim 2,
Although the same effect as the above is obtained, the predetermined timing is set by the rising or falling of the drive pulse specified in relation to the generation timing of the origin signal, so a timing setting mechanism for setting the predetermined timing is separately provided. Instead, the predetermined timing can be easily set based on the origin signal.

According to the reciprocating print compensating device of the printing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained, but the signal generating means is the photosensor fixed to one of the stationary member of the printing apparatus and the carriage. And a light blocking plate fixed to the other side of the carriage, it is possible to easily generate a movement corresponding signal that linearly changes according to the movement of the carriage.

According to the reciprocating printing correction apparatus of the printing apparatus of the fifth aspect, the same effect as that of the fourth aspect can be obtained, but the origin signal can be generated by the photosensor through the edge portion formed on the light shielding plate, Moreover, it is possible to easily generate a movement-corresponding signal that linearly changes by the photosensor via the inclined edge portion.
According to the reciprocating printing correction device of the printing device of claim 6,
Although the same effect as in claim 5 is obtained, since the A / D conversion means is provided, the correction amount is calculated by the correction amount setting means from the difference between the first and second movement corresponding signals A / D converted. Can be easily obtained.

According to the reciprocating printing correction apparatus of the printing apparatus of the seventh aspect, the same effect as that of any one of the first to sixth aspects is obtained, but the correction amount setting means is the first and the second. Two
Since the correction amount corresponding to the difference between the movement corresponding signals of 1 is provided as a table, the correction amount for correcting the print start timing can be easily obtained only by obtaining the difference between the first and second movement corresponding signals. . According to the reciprocal printing correction device of the printing device of the eighth aspect, the same effect as that of any one of the first to seventh aspects is obtained, but the reciprocal printing is performed by the inkjet printer having the inkjet recording head. At this time, it is possible to correct the print position deviation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a vertical section taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control system of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a data structure stored in a correction amount table.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a routine for carriage initialization control.

FIG. 7 is a time chart of drive pulses and movement corresponding signals at the time of initial setting of the carriage.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a print control routine.

FIG. 9 is a time chart of each signal for positional deviation correction in bidirectional printing.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a positional deviation amount and a correction value.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet recording device 20 Carriage drive mechanism 21 Carriage 25 Carriage drive motor 30 Light-shielding plate 30a Orthogonal edge part 30b Inclined edge part 32 Photosensor 42 Recording head 50 CPU 51 ROM 52 RAM 58 A / D converter TB Correction amount table CD controller

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for reciprocally printing on a recording medium while reciprocally moving a recording head in a scanning direction through a carriage driven by a stepping motor, wherein a predetermined length in the scanning direction is provided on a forward movement start side of the carriage. A signal generating means for generating a movement corresponding signal whose size changes linearly according to the movement of the carriage over the range, and a signal generated by the signal generating means, which is generated at a predetermined timing when the carriage moves forward. The magnitude of the first movement-corresponding signal and the second movement correspondence that occurs when the carriage moves backward by the set driving pulse number by the set driving pulse number after the movement corresponding signal is generated A correction amount setting means for obtaining a correction amount for correcting the print start timing at least during the forward movement or the backward movement based on the magnitude of the signal. A reciprocating printing correction apparatus for a printing apparatus, which is characterized by the above. 2. The reciprocating print correction apparatus for a printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal generating means is configured to generate an origin signal indicating an origin position of the carriage. 3. The reciprocal printing of the printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined timing is set by a rising edge or a falling edge of a drive pulse specified in relation to a generation timing of an origin signal. Correction device. 4. The signal generating means comprises a stationary member of the printing apparatus and a photo sensor fixed to one of the carriage, and a light shielding plate fixed to the other of the stationary member and the carriage. 2. A reciprocating printing correction device of the printing device according to 1. 5. The printing according to claim 4, wherein the light shielding plate has an edge portion for generating an origin signal orthogonal to the scanning direction and an inclined edge portion for generating a movement corresponding signal. Reciprocating printing correction device. 6. The apparatus further comprises A / D conversion means for A / D converting the first and second movement corresponding signals from the photosensor, wherein the correction amount setting means is the A / D converted first 6. The reciprocating print correction device for a printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the correction amount is obtained from the difference between the second movement-corresponding signal. 7. The correction amount setting means is provided with a correction amount corresponding to the difference between the first and second movement corresponding signals as a table. A reciprocating print correction device of the printing device according to the item. 8. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an ink jet recording head.
2. A reciprocating print correction device of the printing device according to any one of 1.