JPH09240015A - Ink jet-type printing/recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an ink from being wastefully disposed of without the unnecessary operation of a recovery means by storing a recovery time when the recovery means is finally driven, then calculating time which elapses upto a second set time clocked by a computer clocking mechanism, and actuating the recovery means if this calculated time is longer than a specified time. SOLUTION: When a power supply is turned ON to an ink jet printer 1, CPU 21 judges whether a print instruction is posted to the printer 1 by a host computer 30, and if it is YES, the host computer 30 posts present time data (a second set time) to a second set time storage area 24C on the ink jet printer 1. Next, the CPU 21 judges whether the time which elapses obtained by subtracting the recovery time from the second set time is negative or not. If it is NO, and the time which elapses is longer than a specified time, the CPU 21 causes the ink jet printer 1 to execute a recovery operation, and also to store the second set time as the recovery time in the first storage area 24B of RAM 24B, after the completion of the recovery operation, and finally the ink jet printer 1 executes a printing operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation for maintaining and recovering a good ejection port state of a print head, and an ink jet printing record having a purging operation and a flushing operation for periodically cleaning the print head. The present invention relates to an inkjet print recording apparatus capable of preventing the flushing operation and the purging operation from overlapping each other and ensuring regular execution by performing a timing process even when the power is cut off. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing recording apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile or a printer for a personal computer, which records a dot pattern image on a printing medium such as paper or a plastic sheet based on the transferred printing information. in use. As one type of print heads mounted in the printing portion of these print recording devices, there is an ink jet print head that prints by ejecting a small droplet of ink from an ejection port and adhering it to a printing paper or the like that is a printing medium. is there.

In such an ink jet print head, air bubbles may be generated in the ink inside the print head during printing, resulting in defective ink ejection. Further, ink droplets, dry ink, foreign matter such as paper powder, etc. may adhere to the ejection port to cause clogging, resulting in defective ink ejection. Therefore, cleaning is performed to remove the causes of these defects and maintain / recover a good ejection port state. Such cleaning includes a purging operation of sucking defective ink from all nozzles of the print head, a flushing operation of ejecting ink from all nozzles of the print head, and the like.

Further, the print head after printing is covered with a cap of a purging device for performing a purging operation to prevent ink from drying in the print head and prevent clogging. However, if the ink is not used for a long time, the ink may be dried even if the print head is covered with the cap. Therefore, in order to print with the print head in a good ejection state, if a predetermined time has elapsed from the end of the previous purging operation or flushing operation (hereinafter referred to as “purge operation etc.”), the purging operation is executed before printing. Is controlled to. The purging operation is performed by causing the pump connected to the cap of the purging device to generate a negative pressure and sucking the dry ink inside the print head. Therefore, in the purging operation, a relatively large amount of ink is sucked by the pump.

As a prior art relating to a control means for controlling the execution of such a purging operation, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-59831 discloses a detection signal indicating that an ink ejection port is in a non-driving state for a predetermined time, and a next print instruction signal. From the above, prior to the printing operation based on the next print instruction signal, the position holding means holds the ejection port in the ink receiving means so as to surely oppose it, and the ejection operation of the ink toward the ink receiving portion is performed. There is disclosed an ink jet printer having a control means for performing the preliminary ejection of ink just before the actual printing is started and capable of performing good print recording.

According to the control means for performing such an ink ejection operation, the time length of the non-operation in the print standby state is measured by the timer, and when the threshold time length set in advance in the timer is reached, the timer outputs from the timer. The signal sets the flip-flop. When the number in the calculation process is started with this flip-flop set and one of the number keys is pressed, the cylindrical piezoelectric element surrounding the ink nozzle is driven to eject ink from the nozzle. Therefore, such an ink jet printer, in response to a print command generated during the calculation process, causes the suction portion of the recovery system to hold the period of time set by the delay means before the carriage starts running for printing, that is, The above-described preliminary ink ejection is controlled at the frequency of the oscillator until the output of the numeral key detection means is delayed by the delay means for a predetermined time and the flip-flop is reset.

[0007]

However, since the power supply of the power supply is necessary for the measurement by the timer, when the power supply is turned off after the use of the ink jet printer, the printer is in the print standby state. It was not possible to accurately measure the length of inactivity. Therefore, if the power is turned off during printing standby, preliminary ejection of ink is always performed toward the ink receiving section immediately before the start of printing even if the time during printing standby exceeds the preset threshold time. I couldn't.

Therefore, as a countermeasure against such a case, in the ink jet type printing recording apparatus, it is determined that a predetermined time has elapsed when the power is turned on, regardless of the length of time that has elapsed since the end of the previous purging operation or the like. In all, the purging operation was performed. However, according to this method, the purge operation is executed every time the power is turned on regardless of the preset predetermined time, and the unnecessary purge operation is often performed. This is because the predetermined time is usually set to about 10 days in consideration of the drying of ink in the print head covered with the cap, while the power-on / off time interval is usually around half a day. That's why. Therefore, the purging operation is routinely performed unnecessarily, and there is a problem that a large amount of ink is wastefully discarded and the printing start time is unnecessarily delayed.

In order to address such a problem, a power storage device is incorporated in an ink jet type print recording device,
Even when the power was turned off, a measure was taken to accurately measure the time elapsed from the time when the last purging operation was completed by a timer. However, according to this method, a power storage device and a timekeeping mechanism attached to the power storage device are required, which goes against the consumer's needs for weight reduction and downsizing, and causes a cost increase.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and calculates the time elapsed from the last recovery operation based on the clock built in the host computer to obtain the power supply. The recovery operation can be executed after a predetermined time has elapsed even if the on / off of the printer is repeatedly turned on and off, which prevents unnecessary waste of ink and unnecessary delay of the print start time due to unnecessary execution, and unnecessary execution. The present invention relates to an inkjet print recording apparatus capable of suppressing an increase in cost associated with the prevention device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, according to claim 1 of the present application, ink is printed from an ejection port while being connected to a host computer having a clocking mechanism driven by an uninterruptible power supply. In an ink jet print recording apparatus having an ink jet print head for ejecting and printing on a body, and a recovering means for recovering an ejection port of the print head, a storage means for finally storing a recovery time when the recovery means is driven. Receiving means for receiving the second time clocked by the clock mechanism of the host computer; calculating means for calculating an elapsed time from the recovery time to the second time; and the elapsed time being a predetermined time or more. In some cases, there is control means for executing the recovery means.

According to the ink jet print recording apparatus of the first aspect, the recovery time when the recovery means is last driven is stored by the storage means, and the second time when the clock mechanism of the host computer clocks is stored. Receiving by the receiving means, the calculating means calculates the elapsed time from the recovery time to the second time, and the controlling means executes the recovering means when the elapsed time is a predetermined time or more. In this way, the print head is properly restored.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the control means determines whether or not the elapsed time calculated by the calculating means is a negative value, and when the elapsed time is negative, the recovery means is executed. Characterize.

According to another aspect of the ink jet print recording apparatus of the present invention, the control means determines whether or not the elapsed time is a negative value, and when the elapsed time is negative, the recovery means is executed to thereby recover the recovery time. Even at the wrong time
The print head is reliably recovered.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet print recording apparatus, wherein the receiving means is configured to perform the second printing when printing is started.
When the time is received, the control means executes the recovery means before the printing starts when the elapsed time is equal to or longer than a predetermined time.

According to another aspect of the ink jet print recording apparatus of the present invention, the control means is provided when the second time is received when the printing is started by the receiving means and the elapsed time is a predetermined time or more. Thus, the recovery means is executed before the start of printing, so that the print head is reliably recovered during printing.

In the ink jet print recording apparatus according to the present invention, the predetermined time period has a first predetermined time period and a second predetermined time period longer than the first predetermined time period, and is equal to or longer than the first predetermined time period. The control means makes the recovery operation of the recovery means different depending on whether the time is less than the second predetermined time period or longer than the second predetermined time period.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet print recording apparatus, wherein the control means controls the time when the first predetermined time is longer than the second predetermined time and when the second predetermined time is longer than the predetermined time. Due to the different recovery operation of the recovery means, the optimum print head recovery operation is performed.

[0019]

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

The ink jet print recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described by embodying the present invention as an ink jet printer which is used by connecting to a personal computer. First,
The configuration of the inkjet printer will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet printer. In FIG. 1, a manual paper feed unit 3 is provided in a front portion of a main body frame 2 of an inkjet printer 1, and a print head 10 and a recovery mechanism which will be described later are provided behind the manual paper feed unit 3 and above the main body frame 2. A sub-frame 4 incorporating the RM and paper feed mechanism LM is mounted. A paper feed cassette 5 for storing a plurality of printing papers is detachably attached to the upper rear part of the sub-frame 4.

An ink absorber 17 for flushing operation is provided on the right side of the main body frame 2. The flushing operation is performed in order to maintain the print head 10 in a good ejection state, and the print head 10 causes the print head 10 to perform the flushing operation during the printing or before the start of printing.
7 is an operation in which the ink is ejected from all the nozzles of the print head 10 by moving to the upper position.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the sub-frame 4 of the ink jet printer 1, the print head 10 incorporated in the sub-frame 4, the recovery mechanism RM, the paper feed mechanism LM and the like.
In FIG. 2, a cylindrical platen roller 6 is arranged behind the sub-frame 4. The platen roller 6 conveys the print paper supplied from the paper feed cassette 5 or the manual paper feed unit 3 while facing the print head 10, and forms a part of the paper feed mechanism LM. The platen roller 6 is driven via a platen gear 7 by an LF motor not shown in FIG. A pressure roller 8 is provided above the platen roller 6 to bring the printing paper into close contact with the platen roller 6.

A carriage 9 is provided in front of the platen roller 6. The carriage 9 has an ink jet type print head 10 mounted thereon, and the platen roller 6
It is movable along a carriage shaft 11 provided in parallel with. This is for moving the print head 10 along the platen roller 6. A CR motor 12 that drives the carriage 9 is arranged on the right rear surface of the subframe 4. The CR motor 12 drives the carriage 9 via the belt 13 and uses a step motor or a DC motor. A tape-shaped position gauge 14 with a scale is provided along the belt 13.

A recovery mechanism RM for the print head 10 is provided on the left side of the platen roller 6, and a purging operation is performed here. The purging operation is performed by generating a negative pressure by a known pump when the print head 10 is covered by the cap 15 of the purging device 18 and sucking the defective ink inside the print head 10. The pump of the purging device 18 is driven by the LF motor via the pump cam gear 19. Inkjet type print head 1
The value 0 is an operation for recovering a good ejection state because ejection failure occurs due to, for example, bubbles generated inside during use or ink droplets adhering to the ejection surface. .

Next, the control system of the ink jet printer 1 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The control system mainly includes a CPU 21 which is a known arithmetic processing unit. The CPU 21 is connected to the host computer 30 via the interfaces 22 and 32. That is, the inkjet printer 1 receives a print command from the host computer 30 and executes various prints in accordance with the command. The CPU 21 of the inkjet printer 1 on the right side of FIG.
4 etc. are connected. The ROM 23 stores a recovery operation processing program, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 4, and various programs necessary for controlling the printing operation of the inkjet printer 1. The control means of the present invention is the CPU 21.
And a program stored in the ROM 23. R
The AM 24 temporarily stores various numerical values necessary for controlling the inkjet printer 1, and includes a first time storage area 24B for storing a previous purge operation or flushing operation time (hereinafter referred to as recovery time), a host. There is a second time storage area 24C for storing the current time (second time) sent from the clock 35 of the computer 30.

On the other hand, the CPU 33 of the host computer 30 on the left side of FIG.
4, clock 35, etc. are connected. ROM33 is
A print processing program and a host computer 30 described later
It stores various programs necessary for control in. The RAM 34 temporarily stores various numerical values necessary for controlling the host computer 30. The clock 35 is for generating a periodic signal necessary for the control of the host computer 30, and when it is connected to an uninterruptible power supply, it can be clocked regardless of whether the main power supply is on or off.

The basic operation of the ink jet printer 1 having the above-described structure is such that the material to be printed supplied from the paper feed cassette 5 or the manual paper feed section 3 is conveyed by the platen roller 6 and according to a command signal from the host computer 30. By controlling the drive of the carriage 9 and the print head 10, characters, symbols, figures, etc. are printed on the printing medium. When performing printing, the platen roller 6
Thus, the line to be printed on the printing medium is sent to the position facing the print head 10 and stopped there. Then, the carriage 9 is driven at a predetermined print speed by the CR motor 12, and the print head 10 ejects ink in accordance with the command signal during that time to perform printing.

A first embodiment of the recovery operation processing program is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Inkjet printer 1
When the power is turned on, the recovery operation processing program is executed. First, in S11, the host computer 3
From 0, it is determined whether or not a print command is notified to the inkjet printer 1. If not notified yet, S
When the process of 11 is repeated and the print command is notified, S
Proceed to 12. In S12, the host computer 30
From the second time storage area 2 of the inkjet printer 1
The current time data (second time) is notified to 4C. This time data is the current time issued from the clock 35 of the host computer 30. For example, the current time is January 11.

Next, in S13, the elapsed time obtained by subtracting the recovery time (for example, January 1st) from the second time is calculated. For example, from January 11th to January 1st
If you subtract the day, it will be 10 days. In the next S14, it is determined whether the elapsed time is negative. If negative (S14: YES), S1
If not negative (S14: NO), the process proceeds to S15.

In S15, the elapsed time is compared with the predetermined time. Here, the predetermined time is a time previously stored in the RAM 24, and is previously obtained by an experiment. If the elapsed time is equal to or longer than the predetermined time (S1
5: Yes), proceeding to S16, a recovery operation is performed.

When the recovery operation is completed, in S17,
The second time is stored as the recovery time in the first time storage area 24B of the RAM 24B, the printing operation is executed in S18, and then the process returns to S11.

In S14, the elapsed time is usually a positive value (the recovery time is before the second time). However, it is expected that the elapsed time has a negative value (the second time is before the recovery time). That is, the recovery time is stored in the first time storage area 24B, the power to the printer 1 is turned off, and then the user operates the clock 3 of the host computer 30.
If the time of 5 is corrected and then the printer 1 is turned on, the elapsed time may have a negative value in the subsequent processing of S14. In such a case, the comparison process of S15 is not performed.

As described in detail above, in the ink jet printer 1 according to the present embodiment, in the recovery operation processing program of FIG. 4, the elapsed time elapsed from the recovery time is based on the clock 35 built in the host computer 30. Therefore, even if the power is turned on and off repeatedly, the recovery operation can be executed after the elapse of a predetermined time, and unnecessary waste of ink and unnecessary print start time due to unnecessary execution are unnecessary. It is possible to prevent unnecessary delay and suppress an increase in cost associated with the unnecessary execution preventing device.

Further, since the recovery operation is always performed when the elapsed time becomes a negative value, the print head 10 can be reliably recovered even when the recovery time is erroneously stored.

Further, since the elapsed time is obtained when the print command is notified, the print head 10 is surely in the jettable state at the start of printing, and good printing can be performed.

In this embodiment, the recovery operation is performed when the elapsed time is equal to or longer than the predetermined time. However, a plurality of predetermined times are provided, for example, the first predetermined time and the second predetermined time longer than the first predetermined time. And the flushing operation is performed when the elapsed time is the first predetermined time or more and less than the second predetermined time, and the purging operation is performed when the elapsed time is the second predetermined time or more. Good. Alternatively, the number of times of flushing and the number of purges may be changed by providing three or more predetermined times. In this way, if the recovery operation is made different according to the elapsed time, the optimum recovery operation can be performed, so that the ink is not wasted.

Further, in this embodiment, the elapsed time is required when the print command is notified, but when the power switch is turned on in the state where the plug of the printer 1 is plugged into the outlet. The time may be obtained and the recovery operation may be performed according to the elapsed time.

[0039]

As described above, according to the ink jet print recording apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the recovery time at which the recovery means is last driven is stored in the storage means, and the clock of the host computer is stored. When the second time clocked by the mechanism is received by the receiving means, the calculating means calculates the elapsed time from the recovery time to the second time, and the control means calculates the elapsed time by a predetermined time or more. Since the recovery means is executed, the elapsed time can be accurately obtained, and the recovery operation can be executed after the lapse of a predetermined time even if the power supply is repeatedly turned on and off. It is possible to prevent wasteful disposal of ink and unnecessary delay in printing start time due to the above, and to suppress an increase in cost associated with an unnecessary execution preventing device.

According to another aspect of the ink jet print recording apparatus of the present invention, the control means determines whether or not the elapsed time is a negative value, and when the elapsed time is negative, the recovery means is executed to thereby recover the recovery time. Even at the wrong time
The print head can be reliably recovered.

According to the ink jet type print recording apparatus of the third aspect, when the printing is started, the receiving means is the second device.
Since the recovery means is executed by the control means before the start of printing by receiving the time, the print head can be reliably ejected during printing, and good printing can be performed.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet print recording apparatus according to the control means, depending on whether the first predetermined time is longer than the second predetermined time or the second predetermined time or longer. Since the recovery operation of the recovery means is different, the optimum print head recovery operation can be performed according to the elapsed time, and ink is not wasted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a recovery mechanism, a paper feeding mechanism and the like of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of an inkjet printer and a host computer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control routine of a recovery operation of the inkjet printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inkjet Printer 10 Print Head 17 Ink Absorber for Flushing Operation 18 Purge Device 24B First Time Storage Area 24C Second Time Storage Area 30 Host Computer 35 Clock

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet type print head which is connected to a host computer having a clocking mechanism driven by an uninterruptible power supply and ejects ink from a discharge port onto a printing medium to print, and a discharge of the print head. In an ink jet type printing recording apparatus having a recovery means for recovering an outlet, a storage means for finally storing a recovery time when the recovery means is driven, and a second time clocked by the clocking mechanism of the host computer.
The system includes: a receiving unit that receives the time, a calculating unit that calculates the elapsed time from the recovery time to the second time, and a control unit that executes the recovering unit when the elapsed time is a predetermined time or more. An ink jet type print recording device characterized by the above. 2. The control means determines whether the elapsed time calculated by the calculating means is a negative value, and when the elapsed time is negative, executes the recovering means. Inkjet printing and recording device. 3. The receiving unit receives the second time when printing is started, and the control unit executes a recovery unit before printing starts when the elapsed time is a predetermined time or more. The inkjet print recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. The predetermined time is a first predetermined time and the first predetermined time.
A second predetermined time longer than a predetermined time, and the control means recovers depending on whether it is the first predetermined time or more and less than the second predetermined time, and the second predetermined time or more. The ink jet type print recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the recovery operation of the means is different.