JPH0930073A - Record medium and printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically discriminate a record medium without damaging a printed result so as to obtain optimal print quality and image quality according to the property of the record medium by setting a printing condition in a printing device based on a detected result and forming medium information marks which express the property of the medium on a part of the medium. SOLUTION: On a coat paper 100, medium information marks 11 and 12 which show paper information are printed with a transparent ink. The marks 11 and 12 are respectively formed at diagonal four corners out of the four corners of the coat paper 100. In printing, before the coat paper 100 arrives at a printing section, the marks 11 and 12 positioned at the head end of the coat paper 100 come to be detected by a detecting section. Although the marks 11 and 12 can not be seen by human eye, an ultraviolet ink having a property to be fluorescent when it is irradiated with ultraviolet rays is used. As the marks 11 and 12 are printed at margins not to be printed, printing can be done at optimal resolution, ink quantity or printing width, so that printed result is not damaged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium and a printing apparatus applied to a printing apparatus, and is particularly effective when applied to an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a color ink jet printer, so-called coated paper having an ink receiving layer on the surface of a base material is used as a recording medium in order to improve color developability, resolution, ink bleeding and the like. The coated paper is usually optimized for each printing device. In these printing apparatuses, it is general to control the density and the like so that optimum printing can be performed according to the properties of the recording medium.

In recent printing apparatuses, so-called multi-dot printers and gradation control inkjet printers have been developed which control ink dot size to change resolution and control gradation. In such a printing apparatus, different coated papers are provided as special papers depending on the resolution and the output image. On the other hand, for OHP films, which are not special papers, a method has been devised for distinguishing them from plain papers and coated papers by utilizing the characteristic that the film base material itself is transparent. When viewing print results, the OHP film depends on the transmitted light, but the plain paper and the coated paper reflect the reflected light. Therefore, for the OHP film, the fixing control and the color density characteristics can be controlled at the time of printing on the plain paper or the coated paper. Needs to be changed drastically,
A method has been devised for automatically changing the control when it is determined that the film is for HP.

In the case of printing on an OHP film, the ink jet recording apparatus automatically discriminates the recording medium and automatically controls the ejection amount of ink droplets according to the type (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 4). Inkjet recording apparatus) and the type of recording medium, the distance between the recording medium and the recording unit is changed according to the type of recording medium, and the amount of heat applied to the recording medium is changed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-104).
70 recording devices) are known.

As a method of identifying the type of recording medium,
As in the above two examples, a technique for distinguishing by the difference in the amount of light transmission between the OHP film and the plain paper, and a technique for distinguishing by the characteristic of the diffuse reflection of the light between the OHP film and the plain paper (for example, JP-A-2-56375). A medium detection device) is known.

[0006]

In the conventional recording medium and printing apparatus, the printing result, that is, the printing quality and the image quality are different depending on the type and physical properties of the recording medium. In order to obtain a desired printing result, the printing is performed every time printing is performed. There is a problem that the medium is selected and the printing condition of the printing apparatus is set again. In general, copy paper and recycled paper, which are cheaper than coated paper, are often used as recording media, and thus plain paper is loaded in the paper feeding unit of the printing apparatus. Normally, in a printing apparatus, the paper is fed from the top of the stacked sheets for printing, and therefore, an ordinary user sets the necessary coated paper on the loaded plain paper in an overlapping manner. Then, after that, it was not possible to know how many sheets of coated paper of which resolution were set and where the boundary with the plain paper was, and there was a problem that expensive coated paper was wasted.

In view of the above points, the present invention automatically determines the recording medium without impairing the printing result, and obtains the optimum print quality and image quality according to the characteristics of the recording medium, and the recording apparatus and the printing apparatus. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

The above problems can be solved by a recording medium and a printing apparatus configured as described below. The recording medium of the present invention has a mark indicating the properties of various media such as the type and physical properties of the recording medium, for example, a transparent mark for discrimination provided on coated paper or the like on the printing surface or non-printing surface. This mark can also be applied to coated paper with coating on both the front and back sides.

The mark does not have to be transparent as long as it does not interfere with the printing result. It is a mark written in ink that emits visible or invisible reflected light with respect to incident light of a certain wavelength such as ultraviolet light even when it is invisible to human eyes.
The discrimination mark may include more types of coated paper, or may include information such as paper size in addition to the types.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a switch which can be set by the user, and sets the operation mode in advance before printing, and if the user does not recognize the recording medium as desired, then a warning is given to the user, or a paper Can be discharged. By setting another operation mode to this switch, it is possible to automatically print on the medium under optimum conditions according to the type of the recording medium. In this operation mode, the printing apparatus automatically selects the control according to the identified medium information.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a recording medium and a printing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an outline of an inkjet printer to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 8, the print unit 1 is composed of print heads 26a and 26b and ink tanks 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d, and is mounted on a carriage 3 and is removable.

The carriage 3 is fitted to the guide shaft 4 and is connected to the pulleys P1 and P2 on the left and right sides of the apparatus by the timing belts 14 and 9, respectively. Pulley P
1 is connected to 28 motors M1. The carriage 3 is arranged above the platen 5 and is moved in parallel with the platen 5 in the directions of arrows A and B by the timing belt 14 by the forward and reverse rotations of the motor M1 of 28.

The print heads 26a and 26b are opposed to the platen 5 with a predetermined gap therebetween, and each of the ink tanks 2
Although not shown, a plurality of nozzles arranged at each nozzle block corresponding to a, 2b, 2c, and 2d are provided at the tip. The ink tank 2a is connected to the print head 26a,
Ink tanks 2b, 2c and 2d are connected to the print head 26b. Each ink tank is filled with, for example, black ink in the ink tank 2a, inks of different colors in 2b, 2c, and 2d, yellow, magenta, and cyan.

Each of the print heads 26a and 26b is provided with the same number of ink ejection mechanisms as the number of nozzles, which is composed of a pressure chamber having one nozzle and a piezoelectric element in contact with one surface of the pressure chamber. A voltage is selectively applied to the piezoelectric element, and the electrostriction causes the vibrating plate to vibrate to cause the ink tanks 2a, 2b, 2c,
Black ink or ink supplied to the pressure chamber from 2d is ejected from the nozzle as particles to print on the paper 7.

The sheet 7 is a cut sheet of a desired size, is accommodated in a hopper section 15 of a cut sheet feeder (automatic sheet feeder), and is fed by a feeding roller rotated by a drive source (not shown) in response to a print command. 28 motors M
1 is the home position of the carriage 3, and the print heads 26a, 26 mounted on the carriage 3
A head restoration unit 16 is provided on the lower right side of b. The head recovery unit 16 sucks ink from the nozzles of the print heads 26a and 26b and cleans the head nozzles when the apparatus is powered on or when the operator instructs it with an operation button (not shown) as necessary. .

A feed roller 6 and a discharge roller 8 are arranged in front of the printing unit 1, that is, in front of the platen 5, and these are connected to a motor M2 of 29 through a rotation transmission mechanism (not shown). Paper 7 has 29 motors M2
By the rotation of the feed roller 6, the feed roller 6 rotates to feed in the direction of arrow C. When printing is completed, the sheet is discharged by the rotation of the discharge roller 8. The feed roller 6 and the discharge roller 8 rotate at the same peripheral speed.

With the above-mentioned structure, the print head 26 is moved based on the print data while the carriage 3 moves.
By ejecting ink from the nozzles a and 26b, a dot matrix is formed on the paper 7 and color printing is performed. The printing apparatus of the present invention uses coated paper as a recording medium. The plan view is shown in FIG. On the coated paper 100, medium information marks 11 and 12 indicating paper information are printed with transparent ink. The marks 11 and 12 are respectively formed at diagonal four corners of the four corners of the coated paper 100 as shown in the figure, and at the time of printing, before the coated paper 100 reaches the printing portion, the tip of the coated paper 100 is formed. Mark 1 on the side
1 and 12 are detected by the detection unit. The marks 11 and 12 are ultraviolet inks that are invisible to the human eye but have the property of becoming fluorescent when irradiated with ultraviolet light.

The marks 11 and 12 are read by a mark sensor attached to the printing apparatus, as described later. Although the transparent ink is used for the mark in this embodiment, the mark does not have to be transparent as long as it does not interfere with the printing result. In this case, it is necessary to change the sensor. The mark of this embodiment is printed on a blank portion of the coated paper that is not actually printed, and since a transparent or inconspicuous mark is used, printing can be performed with the optimum resolution, ink amount, or print width for the medium. It can be done without damaging the print result.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line xx of FIG.
The base material 100a of the coated paper 100 is mainly composed of pulp or the like. A print layer 100b is formed on the base material 100a, and a print image of ink droplets formed by a printing device is printed on this layer. This print layer 10
A marking layer 100c indicating paper information is formed on a part of 0b.

In this embodiment, only the front surface is coated, the front surface is marked on the printing layer 100b, and the back surface is the substrate 1.
It is marked as 00a. Of course, it is also possible to mark on paper that is coated on both sides. The mark in this embodiment is composed of two thick lines. Mark 1
1 and 12 give the following information to the printing device by the combination of the presence and absence.

[0021]

[Table 1] To give more medium information, the number of marks should be increased. It is possible to give information on more medium types, such as OHP film and paper size. Use the barcode to get more detailed information. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The print information is input to the control unit 23 from the host computer 21 via the interface 22. The control unit drives each device based on the print information via the I / O ports 24 and 25. The print head 26 is driven through the I / O port 24, and the motors M1 and M2 of 28 and 29 are driven from the I / O port 25 through the motor driver 27.

A sensor unit 31 for identifying a recording medium,
The identification information from 32 is input to the control unit 23 via the I / O port 25. Similarly, the transmission sensor 33 also identifies the recording medium and is input to the control unit 23 via the I / O port 25. The transmission sensor 33 determines whether it is a transparent medium such as an OHP film or an opaque medium such as plain paper or coated paper.

Reference numeral 34 denotes a lamp for displaying a warning to the user, which is displayed when the medium designated by the user by the host computer 21 and the medium information identified by the sensor units 31, 32 do not match. The switch 35 is a mode in which ejection is repeated until a recording medium most suitable for the preset printing conditions is supplied or a warning is issued, or a mode in which the most suitable printing condition is automatically selected for the supplied paper. The two operation modes are decided.

The operation mode in which the printing apparatus automatically selects the optimum control according to the medium information identified by the printing apparatus, like the latter, is referred to as a printer mode in the following description. A mode in which printing is performed under preset printing conditions before printing will be referred to as an operator mode. As will be described later in the embodiment of the present invention, one of three types of control, high resolution printing, low resolution printing, plain paper printing, can be automatically selected. In the operator mode, desired printing can be performed when the control selection matches the recording medium. For the sake of convenience of description, the control types are set to three types of resolution, but in an actual printing apparatus, the control types can be further increased in terms of resolution and other factors depending on the characteristics of the recording medium.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the dot diameter is changed by adjusting the ink ejection amount according to the resolution, and control is performed so as to obtain the optimum printing result on the recording medium.
Therefore, the control unit 23 has 36 CPUs, 37 RAMs, 3
It is composed of 8 ROMs, etc., and the device drive conditions suitable for plain paper, low resolution coated paper and high resolution coated paper are ROM.
Pre-programmed in 38.

In the ROM 38, the control conditions for the transparent film for OHP are also programmed.
U36 automatically determines the state of the transmission sensor 33,
If it is a P film, it is possible to select a control that changes the ink amount or the printing speed. When printing on the high resolution coated paper in the embodiment of the present invention, the dot diameter is made smaller than the dot diameter printed on the plain paper, and the space driving motor M1 for 28 and the paper feeding motor M2 for 29 are decelerated. Give.

Similarly, when printing on low-resolution coated paper, control is performed so that the dot diameter and motor rotation speed are suitable for the resolution. When printing on plain paper, the amount of ink bleeding is larger than on the above-mentioned coated paper, so the dot diameter is made smaller than when printing on coated paper of the same resolution.
The ink ejection amount is controlled by the waveform and timing of the voltage pulse applied to the piezoelectric element of the print head 26.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining that printing control is changed according to the type of recording medium in the printing apparatus of the present invention. Here, three types of recording media, high-resolution coated paper, low-resolution coated paper, and plain paper are taken as an example. The ink ejection amount and motor speed are taken as examples of control items. The motor has two types for moving the print head and for feeding the paper.

The jetting amount per dot of the ink jet is made smaller as the resolution becomes higher, and the dot diameter is made smaller to increase the density. When the resolutions are the same, the ink bleeding is larger in coated paper and plain paper than in plain paper, so the ejection amount per dot is smaller in plain paper. The rotation speeds of the two motors used for moving the print head and feeding the paper are reduced as the resolution becomes higher to increase the dot density. The print result is as shown in FIG. Here, D and d represent dot diameters, and D> d.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the structure of the ink jet. 61 is a piezoelectric element, 62 is a pressure plate, 63
Is a cushion plate whose thickness changes, 64 is a partition wall, 65 is a nozzle plate, 66 is a nozzle, 67 is ink, and 68 is an ink droplet. By applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element 61,
The pressure plate 62 is pushed and the thickness of the cushion plate 63 changes. As a result, the ink 67 in the partition wall 64 becomes a droplet 68 and is ejected from the nozzle 66.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of the above ink jet printer as viewed from above. 31a and 32 of FIG.
a is an ultraviolet light emitting unit for irradiating the marks 11, 12 made of the ultraviolet ink of the coated paper 100 of the present invention.
1b and 32b are sensors for reading the reflected light from the mark. The light emitting unit and the sensor are combined to form a sensor unit. The positions of the mark 11 and the sensor unit 31 when the coated paper 100 is passed, and the positions of the mark 12 and the sensor unit 32 correspond to each other.

As described above, the sensor units 31, 32
When the identification information of the recording medium is read by the control unit 23, the control is selected from high-resolution coated paper, low-resolution coated paper, and plain paper, and printing is performed. Although three types of control are performed in the embodiment of the present invention, it is naturally conceivable that the number of types of control is further increased to perform optimum printing on various types of media.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing flow of the embodiment of the present invention. When the print command is issued in step 100, according to the result of detecting the state of the transmission sensor 33,
The processing corresponding to the paper mode or the OHP mode is started.
Here, the paper mode means a mode for handling paper such as plain paper and coated paper, and the OHP mode means a mode for handling a transparent film for OHP.

If it is the paper mode and the preset operation mode is the operator mode, step 10
At 1, the sensor unit 31 is discriminated. If this is ON, the sensor unit 32 is discriminated in step 102. When this is ON, the marks 11 and 12 are both present, which means that the coated paper is the back surface. Since printing cannot be performed as it is, in step 103, it is displayed that the coated paper is the back surface, and in step 104, the coated paper is discharged.

At step 102, the sensor unit 32 is turned on.
FF indicates that the coated paper is for low resolution. In this case, it is checked in step 105 whether the paper selected by the user is for low resolution, and if they match, the process proceeds to step 106 to print for low resolution. If they do not match, a warning is displayed in step 107. If the sensor unit 31 is OFF in step 101, the sensor unit 32 is determined in step 108. If this is ON, it is checked in step 109 whether the paper selected by the user is for high resolution. If they match, the process proceeds to step 110 to perform high resolution printing. If they do not match, the process proceeds to step 107.

At step 108, the sensor unit 32 is turned off.
Since FF indicates plain paper, step 1
In 11, a check is made to see if the user has selected plain paper, and if they match, printing for plain paper is performed. If they do not match, the process proceeds to step 107. If the paper mode and the operation mode are set to the printer mode when the print command is issued, the sensor unit 31 is set in step 201.
Is determined. If this is ON, the sensor unit 32 is discriminated in step 202. When this is ON, the marks 11 and 12 are both present, which means that the coated paper is the back surface.

When the back side is identified in the printer mode, the control is not newly selected in this embodiment, and the control state at that time is maintained and the printing process is performed. Therefore, no operation is performed in step 203, and print processing is performed in step 204.
If the sensor unit 32 is OFF in step 202, it means that the coated paper is for low resolution as described above. In this case, the control for low resolution is selected in step 205, and the process proceeds to step 206 to print for low resolution.

At step 201, the sensor unit 31 is turned off.
If it is FF, the sensor unit 32 is determined in step 207. If this is ON, the control for high resolution is selected in step 208, and the process proceeds to step 206 to perform printing for high resolution. In step 207, the sensor unit 3
If 2 is OFF, it means that the recording medium is plain paper. Therefore, in step 210, the control for plain paper is selected, and the process proceeds to step 211 to perform printing for plain paper.

When the print command is issued, the transmission sensor 3
When the recording medium is identified as a transparent film for OHP as a result of detecting the state of 3, the OH is determined in step 300.
Select P medium control and go to step 301
Print the media for use. As described above, in the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, when a sheet not specified by the user is identified in the operator mode, a warning display and a sheet discharge process can be performed. In the mode, control can be automatically performed to determine the supplied paper information and obtain an optimum print result for the paper, without performing a warning display or paper discharge processing.

In this embodiment, an ink jet printer in which special paper is often used is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various recording media can be fed by one automatic paper feeding mechanism. Needless to say, it can be applied to the printing device of Further, in this embodiment, an ultraviolet ink is used as an example of the transparent ink, but it is needless to say that another transparent invisible ink can be used by changing the sensor.

[0041]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the user can be informed of the type of recording medium to be used for printing, and printing is automatically performed under optimum conditions according to the recording medium. It has the remarkable effect of being able to. Further, since the transparent ink is used for the mark for discriminating the recording medium information, there is an effect that the quality of the print result is not deteriorated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coated paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a coated paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining that control is changed according to a recording medium in the printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a structure of an inkjet of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a top view showing a configuration of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an outline of an inkjet printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printing Section 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d Ink Tank 3 Carriage 4 Guide Shaft 5 Platen 6 Feed Roller 7 Printing Paper 8 Ejection Roller 9, 10 Pulley P1, Pulley P2 11, 12 Mark 14 Timing Belt 15 Hopper 16 Head Recovery Unit 21 Host computer 22 Interface 23 Control unit 24, 25 I / O port 26, 26a, 26b Print head 27 Motor driver 28, 29 Motor M1, Motor M2 31, 32 Sensor unit 31a, 32a Ultraviolet light emitting unit 31b, 32b Sensor 33 Transmission sensor 34 Lamp 35 Switch 36 CPU 37 RAM 38 ROM 61 Piezoelectric element 62 Pressure plate 63 Cushion plate 64 Partition wall 65 Nozzle plate 66 Nozzle 67 Ink 68 Ink droplet 100 Coated paper 100a, 100b, 100c Base material, printing layer, marking layer

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A medium information mark, which is detected by a detection unit of the printing apparatus and is used to set printing conditions of the printing apparatus based on the detection result, is formed on a part of the medium. A recording medium for a printing device, which is characterized in that 2. A recording medium for a printing device, wherein the medium information mark according to claim 1 is a bar code. 3. A recording medium for a printing apparatus, wherein the medium information mark according to claim 1 is an invisible mark such as ultraviolet ink. 4. A property of a medium specified by the detected medium information mark, having a function of detecting a medium information mark indicating the property of the medium for setting printing conditions such as print density and resolution of a printing device. A printing apparatus in which printing conditions are set according to the above. 5. The printing device according to claim 4, wherein when the printing condition set in the printing device in advance and the printing condition based on the detected medium information mark match, the printing process is performed, and when they do not match, A printing device characterized by not performing a printing process. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the medium information mark includes a backside mark formed on the backside of the medium, and when the detection unit detects the backside mark, a paper discharge process is performed. A printing apparatus characterized by performing. 7. The printing device according to claim 4, wherein the printing process is performed under a printing condition set in advance in the printing device or a printing condition according to a property of the medium designated by the detected medium information mark. A printing apparatus comprising a selection unit for selecting whether to perform a printing process. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the selection unit selects a printing process under a printing condition according to a property of a medium designated by the detected medium information mark. However, the medium information mark includes a backside mark formed on the backside of the medium, and when the detection unit detects the backside mark, printing is performed based on printing conditions set in advance in the printing apparatus. A printing device characterized by performing.