JPH1013676A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute multivalued recording in a dot unit to attain high quality of a recording image while the same processing as conventional binary recording is executed by converting binary recording data into multilvalued recording data and executing multivalued recording based on it. SOLUTION: Image information is color-processed, binarized and encoded in the control part 30 of an external device 29. Recording image data is sent to a recording device through I/F 31. The recording device records quinary with the resolution of 360DPI×360DPI. Namely, the recording device separately keys dots in four dot sized and the quinary recording of respective pixels is executed also in the case when the recording dots are not formed. On the other hand, in the processing of a host device, quinary recording is not considered in the recording device and the usual processing for obtaining binary recording data with the resolution of 720DPI×720DPI is executed. The recording device to which recording data are transferred is driven to quinary data conversion in a control part 20 through I/F.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus that performs recording using binary recording information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, OA devices such as personal computers and word processors have become widespread, and various recording methods have been developed as a method of printing out information processed by these devices. Further, as information to be printed out, output of color information is also required with the spread of handling of colorized information in OA equipment, and therefore, an inexpensive popular color printing apparatus is being provided. .

[0003] Print data such as color information used in a printing apparatus is supplied to the printing apparatus after being subjected to processing corresponding to the printing apparatus in an external device such as a personal computer. It is generally known that there are roughly three stages of such processing. The first process is a color process. Normally, in an apparatus that performs color printing, three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), or complementary colors of Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) are used. ) Represent four colors or a combination of four colors obtained by adding K (black) to these colors. However, for example, the ink used in the recording apparatus does not necessarily strictly represent R, G, B, Y, M, and C chromatically, and therefore, color processing is required to correct this. In addition, the operating user recognizes the color by looking at the color image related to the processing on the illuminant, for example, the CRT, but since the image recorded by the recording device is the color recognized through the reflected light, There may be differences in perceived colors.
Therefore, in order to output an image closer to the color of the image on the CRT, color processing according to the recording device is required.

The second process is known as a binarization process. Images handled by OA equipment and the like are usually multi-valued images of 256 gradations, while printing devices are mostly of the binary recording type, which determines whether or not to print normal dots. For this reason, in the binary recording system, a binarization process such as a so-called dither method or an error diffusion method for expressing a gradation in a pseudo manner is performed.

In a third process, the binary data obtained by the color process and the binarization process is subjected to a process of coding according to the command system of the printing apparatus.

[0006] The encoded data obtained in this way is transferred to a recording device, which decodes the received data and forms dots on a recording medium by a recording head based on the received data, thereby performing recording. Will be

[0007] By the way, in recent years, even in the popular printing apparatus, although the gradation property of about 256 gradations cannot be given,
Recording apparatuses capable of forming dots of two or three levels have also been developed. In such an apparatus, for example, the dot size to be selected is changed according to the recording resolution, that is, the recording dots are reduced as the recording becomes higher in resolution, thereby realizing high-quality and high-definition recording.

[0008]

However, the various conventional recording apparatuses described above have the following disadvantages.
For example, a recorded image treated as multi-valued information on a personal computer is recorded in a recording device in binary, so that even if the above-described pseudo-gradation expression method is used, a CR is used.
It is often difficult to obtain a high-quality recording result as displayed by T. Particularly in the highlight portion of the recorded image, it is difficult to express a smooth gradation change in a low density area,
As a result, the high density of the dots is relatively conspicuous, giving a so-called granular feeling. To improve this,
Similarly, it is also known to form three- or four-level gradation by forming dots of the above-described two or three levels or using inks having different densities. It has been found that even in the ternary or quaternary recording, the image is significantly improved as compared with the binary recording.

However, even if such a multi-value system is adopted, the gradation value of the original image, for example, 256 gradations, cannot be realized for each dot to be formed. A gradation expression is required. In this case, the above 3
When performing multi-value processing such as binarization, more complex processing must be performed as compared to the case of simple binarization processing, in which pseudo gradation is performed in consideration of gradation expression in dot units. Disappears.

The multi-value processing is generally performed by a printer driver together with the above-described color processing and encoding processing. However, a printer driver for each maker and each model is set in a personal computer serving as a host device. The printer driver to be activated is changed and used according to the recording device to be used. In this case, a dedicated printer driver for performing the above-described relatively complicated multi-value processing is further required. On the other hand, it is desirable that the printer driver be shared at least for recording devices of the same manufacturer, and developing a completely different printer driver for each product is a heavy burden.
Further, for the user, setting a printer driver for each new recording device is not desirable from the viewpoint of labor consumption and memory consumption.
Providing a dedicated printer driver for multi-value processing in this way often has a large adverse effect.

Further, the printer driver is composed of a plurality of modules. In this case, if there are many common terms, there are many common modules, and even if many printer drivers are set, the memory consumed by the user is a large burden. Does not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform processing of a recorded image while performing processing which is no different from the conventional binary recording. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which performs multi-value recording in dot units and enables high quality of a recorded image.

[0013]

For this purpose, in the present invention, in a printing apparatus that performs printing based on binary print data by using a print head, binary print data is converted to multi-valued print data of three or more values. And a recording control unit for driving a recording head based on the multi-valued recording data converted by the data conversion unit to perform multi-value recording.

Further, in the printing system apparatus, data processing means for performing at least color processing and binarization processing on print data comprising a plurality of types of color signals to generate binary data, and the data processing means generates the binary data. Data conversion means for converting binary data into multi-valued print data of three or more values, and print control means for driving a print head based on the multi-valued print data converted by the data conversion means to perform multi-value printing And characterized in that:

According to the above arrangement, binary recording data is converted into multi-value recording data, and multi-value recording is performed based on this. Therefore, binary recording data obtained as a result of normal color processing or the like is converted. Multi-value recording can be performed by using it as it is.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a recording sheet made of paper or a plastic sheet. A plurality of sheets 1 stacked on a cassette or the like are supplied one by one by a paper feed roller (not shown), Are transported in the direction of arrow A by a first transport roller pair 3 and a second transport roller pair 4 driven by a stepping motor (not shown). The first pair of conveying rollers 3 and the second pair of conveying rollers 4 are arranged at a predetermined interval across a recording area by a recording head described later.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an ink jet type recording head for recording on the recording sheet 1, which uses thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink to discharge the ink. The recording head 5 is supplied with ink from an ink cartridge 10 which is provided for each of four types of inks of Y, M, C, and K, and is also provided for each color. Is discharged. The recording head 5 and the ink cartridge 10 are mounted on a carriage 6, while the driving force of a carriage motor 23 is transmitted to the carriage 6 via a driving force transmission mechanism such as a belt 7 and pulleys 8a and 8b. Thus, the carriage 6 can reciprocally scan along the guide shaft 9 by driving the carriage motor 23.

In the above-described apparatus configuration, the recording head 5 ejects ink onto the recording sheet 1 in accordance with an image signal while moving in the direction of arrow B in the figure to record characters, images, and the like. Further, the recording head 5 moves to the home position at a predetermined timing or in response to a user's instruction input, and performs a recovery process by the ejection recovery device 2. This process is a process for preventing clogging of the discharge port beforehand. Each time printing of one line by scanning of the print head 5 is completed, the conveying roller pairs 3 and 4 are driven, whereby the recording sheet 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A by the width of one line. By repeating the above operations, characters, images, and the like are recorded on the recording sheet 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the control system includes, for example, a microprocessor-type CPU 20a,
A control system 20 having a ROM 20b storing a control program and various data of the CPU 20a, and a RAM 20c used as a work area of the CPU 20a and temporarily storing various data such as recording image data. , Interface 21, operation panel 2
2, each motor, that is, a motor 2 for driving the carriage
3, a motor 24 for driving the sheet feeding motor, a motor 25 for driving the first pair of conveying rollers, a driver 27 for driving the motor 26 for driving the second pair of conveying rollers, and a driver 28 for driving the recording head. ing.

The control unit 20 includes an interface 21
The input / output of various information (for example, character pitch, character type, etc.) from the operation panel 22 and information such as image signals to / from the external device 29 is performed via the operation panel 22. Further, the control unit 20 outputs an on / off signal or an image signal for driving each of the motors 23 to 26 via the interface 21 and controls the operation and processing of each unit of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example in which the present invention is embodied in the recording apparatus shown in FIGS.

In FIG. 3, the image information includes a host device,
For example, a control unit 30 of an external device 29 such as a personal computer performs color processing, binarization processing, encoding processing of the binary image data, and the like, and prints image data to a printing apparatus via an I / F (interface) 31. Will be forwarded as As described above, each process performed by the host device is a combined optimal process for a printing apparatus that performs printing, and a processing method is performed according to a preset instruction of a printer driver.

In the present embodiment, the recording apparatus records quinary data at a resolution of 360 DPI × 360 DPI. In other words, the printing apparatus separates dots in four dot sizes by a method described later, and performs five-value printing for each pixel including the case where no printing dots are formed. On the other hand, in the processing in the host device, 5
The value record is taken into account without any consideration.
Normal processing for obtaining binary recording data at a resolution of 0 DPI × 720 DPI is performed. The binarization method may be a dither method, an error diffusion method, or any other binarization method. However, in order to realize the present invention more effectively, dots are dispersed in a halftone expression. An appropriate binarization method is preferable. From this viewpoint, a binary method generally called a Bayer type is preferable in the case of the error diffusion method or the dither method.

The resolution of 720 DPI × 720 DPI is 2
The printing apparatus to which the value print data has been transferred is transferred to the control unit 20 via the I / F, converted into quinary data at 360 DPI × 360 DPI, and used for driving the print head.
This conversion method will be specifically described below.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between 720 DPI × 720 DPI.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a process of converting value data into quinary data of 360 DPI × 360 DPI.

In FIG. 4, 20c-1 is 720 DPI.
A print buffer for storing data of × 720 DPI, in which the binary data transferred from the host device 29 is stored as it is. In this conversion processing, 720 DPI
× 720 DPI data, two pixels vertically and horizontally (2 pixels ×
A process of converting data of four pixels (two pixels) into data of one pixel is performed. For example, since the data of four pixels of 2 × 2 pixels at the upper left corner of the buffer 20c-1 are all 0, 36
Even if converted to quinary data of 0 DPI × 360 DPI, it is set to 0. In addition, 4 pixels of 2 × 2 on the right side have data 1 of 2 pixels.
Since it is included in the pixel, the data is set to 2 even after the conversion. Thereafter, the conversion processing is sequentially shifted to the right side, and 2,1,2,2,
.., 360DPI × 360 DPI, and these are stored in the print buffer 20c-2.

By performing the above processing, it is possible to convert binary data on the host into multivalued data on the recording device very easily.

Next, a method of modulating the recording dot size according to the multi-value data obtained as described above will be described below.

In the present embodiment, the volume (ejection amount) of each ink droplet ejected from the recording head is changed by using a pulse width modulation (hereinafter, also referred to as PWM) method proposed by the present applicant. This is to change the size of dots to be recorded.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining divided pulses for driving the recording head. In the figure, V _OP is the drive voltage, P ₁ is the pulse width of the first pulse of the plurality of divided heat pulses (hereinafter, referred to as preheat pulse), P ₂
Is the interval time, P ₃ is the second pulse (hereinafter,
Main heat pulse). T ₁ ,
T ₂ and T ₃ indicate time for determining P ₁ , P ₂ and P ₃ . The drive voltage V _OP is an electric power required for the electrothermal transducer to which the voltage is applied to generate thermal energy for ink in an ink liquid passage formed by a heater board and a top plate constituting a recording head. It is one of the indicators of energy. The value is the area of the electrothermal converter, the resistance value,
It is determined by the film structure and the liquid path structure of the recording head. In the divided pulse width modulation driving method, a pulse is sequentially applied with a width of P ₁ , P ₂ , and P _3. The preheat pulse is a pulse for mainly controlling the ink temperature in the liquid path. It plays an important role in controlling the discharge amount of the form. The preheat pulse width is set to a value that does not cause a bubbling phenomenon in the ink due to the thermal energy generated by the electrothermal converter when applied.

The interval time is provided for providing a predetermined time interval so that the preheat pulse and the main heat pulse do not interfere with each other, and for uniformizing the temperature distribution of the ink in the ink liquid path. The main heat pulse is used to generate bubbling in the ink in the liquid path and cause the ink to be ejected from the ejection port. The width P ₃ of the main heat pulse is determined by the area of the electrothermal transducer, the resistance value, the film structure and the ink of the recording head. Depends on the structure of the fluid path.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are views showing the detailed structure of the recording head used in the present embodiment, and the operation of the preheat pulse will be described with reference to FIG. FIGS. 7A and 7B are a schematic vertical sectional view and a schematic front view, respectively, of the recording head 5 of the present embodiment along the ink liquid path. In the figure, an electrothermal transducer (discharge heater) 51 generates heat by applying the divided pulse. The electrothermal transducer is arranged on the heater board 55 together with electrode wiring for applying a divided pulse thereto. The heater board 55 is formed of silicon, and is supported by an aluminum plate 56 serving as a substrate of the recording head. Top plate 57
The top plate 57 and the heater board 55 are joined to form an ink liquid path 52 and a common liquid chamber 58 for supplying ink to the groove. Is done. The orifice plate 53 formed integrally with the top plate 57 is provided with a discharge port 50, and each discharge port 50 communicates with an ink liquid passage 52.

In the recording head shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, drive voltage V _OP = 18.0 (V), main heat pulse width P ₃ = 4.114 [μsec], and preheat pulse width P _{When 1} is changed in the range of 0 to 3.000 [μsec], the ejection amount V as shown in FIG.
_d [ng / dot] and preheat pulse width P ₁ [μse
c] is obtained.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the dependency of the ejection amount on the preheat pulse. In FIG. 7, V ₀ is P ₁ = 0 [μs
c], and this value is determined by the head structure shown in FIG. Incidentally, V ₀ in the present embodiment is V ₀ = 18.0 [ng / d when the ambient temperature T _R = 25 ° C.
ot]. As shown by the curve a in FIG. 7, the ejection amount V _d is increased in accordance with the increase in the pulse width P ₁ of the preheat pulse.
The pulse width P ₁ is increased with a linearity from 0 to P _1LMT, the change in the pulse width P ₁ is P _1LMT greater range loses linearity, the maximum saturation at the pulse width P _1MAX.

[0037] Thus, the range of variation of the ejection amount V _d relative to the change in the pulse width P ₁ until the pulse width P _1LMT showing the linearity is easily control the discharge amount by changing the pulse width P ₁ It is effective as a range that can be performed. _Incidentally , in the present embodiment shown by the curve a, P _1LMT = 1.87 (μs), and the discharge amount at this time is V _LMT = 24.0 [ng / do].
t]. The pulse width P _1MAX when the discharge amount V _d is saturated is P _1MAX = 2.1 [μs],
The discharge amount V _{MAX at} this time was 25.5 [ng / dot].

[0038] When the pulse width is greater than P _1MAX, the ejection amount V _d is smaller than V _MAX. This is because when a preheat pulse having a pulse width in the above range is applied, a minute bubbling (a state immediately before film boiling) occurs on the electrothermal transducer, and the next main heat pulse is generated before the bubble disappears. This is because the amount of discharge is reduced by the application of the microbubbles, which disturb the bubbling by the main heat pulse. This region is called a pre-foaming region, and in this region, it becomes difficult to control the discharge amount via a preheat pulse.

If the slope of a straight line indicating the relationship between the discharge amount and the pulse width in the range of P ₁ = 0 to P _1LMT [μs] shown in FIG. 7 is defined as the preheat pulse dependence coefficient, the preheat pulse existence coefficient is:

[0040]

K _P = (ΔV _dP ) / (ΔP ₁ ) [ng / μse
c · dot]. This coefficient K _P is determined by the head structure, driving conditions, physical properties of the ink, and the like irrespective of the temperature. That is, curves b and c in FIG. 7 show the case of another print head, and it can be seen that the ejection characteristics change when the print head is different. Since the recording head is different when the upper limit value P _1LMT preheat pulse P ₁ is different, and the ejection amount control defines the upper limit value P _1LMT of each recording head as will be described later.
Incidentally, in the recording head and the ink indicated by the curve a in the present embodiment, K _P = 3.209 [ng / μsec.
* Dot].

Another factor that determines the ejection amount of the recording head is the temperature of the recording head (ink temperature).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the temperature dependence of the discharge amount. As shown in curve a of the figure, the discharge amount V _d relative to the increase in environmental temperature T _R of the recording head (= head temperature T _H) increases linearly. If the slope of this line is defined as a temperature-dependent coefficient, the temperature-dependent coefficient:

[0043]

K _T = (ΔV _dT ) / (ΔT _H ) [ng / ° C. · dot] This coefficient K _T does not depend on the driving conditions, but is determined by the structure of the head, the physical properties of the ink, and the like. In FIG. 8, curves b and c show the cases of other recording heads. Incidentally, in the recording head of the present embodiment, K _T = 0.3 [ng / ° C. ·
dot]. The discharge amount control of the present embodiment can be performed by using the relationships shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 described above.

In the above example, the PWM drive control using the double pulse has been described. However, a drive pulse composed of more pulses than a triple pulse or the like may be used. Alternatively, a main pulse for modulating the main pulse width with a single pulse may be used. A PWM drive method may be used.

As described above, in the ink jet recording apparatus, the recording dot size can be modulated by modulating the width of the pulse applied to the recording head.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 controls the driver 27 for each of the electrothermal conversion elements 51-1 to 51-n according to each of the five values indicated by the print data, as shown in FIG. Controls to apply a drive signal as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, when the gradation value is 0, P ₁ = P ₂ = P ₃ = 0 (no pulse is applied), and as the gradation value changes from 1 to 4, P ₁ becomes 0. .5μ
The pre-pulse control is performed in increments of 0.5 μs from s, and the dot size is modulated by changing the ink ejection amount.

By controlling the pulses applied to the recording head as described above, it is possible to print the optimal recording dots in accordance with the multi-value information.

In this embodiment, an ink jet recording head is used as the recording head. However, the gist of the present invention is that multi-value recording is performed by receiving binary recording data. The present invention is applicable to any recording device that can modulate the dot diameter, such as an electrophotographic recording device.

The pre-pulse (P1) control is used as a means for modulating the recording dots, but this is only an example.
It goes without saying that any other control method such as an off-time (P2) control method, a voltage control method, or a combination thereof may be used.

Further, the printing apparatus may be controlled in consideration of the influence of other factors such as the print head temperature and the ambient environment temperature.

As described above, the external device performs the conventional processing (color processing, binarization processing, encoding processing, etc.) and performs multi-value recording based on the resulting binary recording data. Can be performed, and a recording method capable of realizing higher image quality of an output image and a recording apparatus using the recording method can be realized.

(Embodiment 2) Next, another embodiment capable of outputting higher image quality will be described.

As shown in FIG. 11A, the multi-valued image is preferably an image having the same pixel area and different pixel densities. However, as in the above-described embodiment, even if the pixel density is the same, the pixel area (dot size) is reduced. In the modulation method, FIG.
The image looks like In this case, although the image quality is much improved as compared with the binary recording, the granularity due to the small dot pixels cannot be reduced depending on the resolution, and a rough feeling may occur in a highlight portion.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the granularity is reduced by using dots of new data that does not include data from the external device.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are views for explaining the recording method of the present embodiment for alleviating the graininess. In the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12B, when the small ink droplet 62 is ejected onto the recording sheet 1, a dot having only the same dot density as the large dot and a small dot area corresponding to the ejection amount is printed on the recording medium. It is formed. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12A, before discharging the small droplet 62, a colorless pre-liquid 61 not included in the print data is discharged. As a result, colorless recording dots having substantially the same size as the large dots are formed on the recording medium, and the colored small ink droplets 62 are ejected thereon. The colored ink droplet 62 mixes with the unfixed pre-liquid 61 on the recording sheet 1 and is fixed as a diluted low dot density recording pixel having substantially the same size as a large dot.

In the present embodiment, a head for colorless liquid and a structure associated therewith are newly provided for discharging colorless liquid as described above. In the case of performing quinary printing, when the print data is 1 or 2, the pre-liquid is discharged prior to ink discharge, and when the print data is 3 or 4, the pre-liquid is not discharged.

In the present embodiment, the position where the pre-liquid is applied is substantially the same as the position where the pixels are formed. However, the liquid may be applied, for example, to a grid point which is one point of a boundary that partitions each pixel region. The recording may be performed at a position including the periphery (for example, eight neighborhoods) of the recording pixels where the pre-liquid is required.

As described above, by using the pre-liquid in combination with the colored ink, it is possible to improve multi-value recording based on the dot area to multi-value recording in which the dot density can be modulated, thereby enabling higher quality image recording.

The pre-liquid may be used, for example, in such a manner that the surface tension is increased to make it difficult to penetrate the recording medium so that the ink is mixed with the ink on the recording medium as described above. There is also a method in which the tension is reduced and the ink permeates the recording medium to spread the ink widely on the recording medium.
The purpose of the pre-liquid is to reduce the dot density by increasing the dot area of the ink, and it is not necessarily limited to the preceding ejection depending on the configuration of the ink and the recording apparatus.

Further, a conventionally known multi-value recording method in which inks of a plurality of densities are used for each color and the used inks are selectively used in accordance with the multi-value recording data is used in the above-described configuration for high image quality. However, from the viewpoint of the configuration for supplying a plurality of recording inks for each color and the maintainability of the user, the advantage of the dot density modulation method of the pre-liquid ejection method of the present embodiment is great.

(Embodiment 3) Next, Embodiment 2 described above will be described.
An embodiment for controlling the amount of injection of the pre-liquid will be described.

In the second embodiment, in the quinary printing, the first liquid is ejected together with the ink because the printing data is 1 or 2
And a fixed amount of liquid was injected regardless of the value of the recording data. However, if the highest gradation value where the print data is 4 is used as a reference, even if the print data is a gradation value of 3, the image quality is more strictly improved by using the pre-liquid. It is also true that there is an optimum amount of the pre-liquid ejection amount for each of the gradation values 1, 2, and 3 of the print data from the viewpoint of improving the image quality.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the amount of the first liquid to be applied is optimized according to each gradation value by making the amount of the first liquid applied also multi-valued.

More specifically, in the present embodiment, control is performed so that the total amount of the pre-liquid and the ink to be applied to each pixel position is the same regardless of the gradation value of the print data. That is, the reference of this total droplet amount is the droplet amount of the gradation value 4, and when the gradation value is 4, the amount of the pre-liquid is 0, that is, the pre-liquid is not injected.
When the tone value is 3, the difference from the ejection amount of the recording ink having the tone value 4 is set as the ejection amount of the pre-liquid dot. That is, the ejection amount of the pre-liquid into the pixel having the gradation value 3 = the ejection amount of the ink having the gradation value 4−the ejection amount of the ink having the gradation value 3;
And Similarly, the amount of the liquid to be applied to the pixel having the gradation value 2 is defined as the difference between the amount of the ink having the gradation value 4 and the amount of the ink having the gradation value 2. The ejection amount of the pre-liquid is the difference between the ejection amount of the recording ink of gradation value 4 and the ejection amount of the recording ink of gradation value 1.

As described above, by controlling the discharge amount of the pre-liquid in accordance with the gradation value indicated by the recording data, it is possible to reproduce the gradation of the recording dot density more faithfully, and to receive the droplet receiving amount of the recording medium. The problem described above can be solved, and high image quality can be achieved.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention, 2
Since the value recording data is converted into multi-value recording data and multi-value recording is performed based on this, multi-value recording can be performed using binary recording data obtained as a result of normal color processing or the like as it is.

As a result, a recording apparatus capable of recording a high-quality image can be used as it is, with a relatively simple configuration for color processing, pseudo gradation processing, etc., which has been conventionally used. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration embodying the present invention in the above device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process of converting print data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a head drive pulse for modulating a discharge amount in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views each showing a structure of a recording head used in the apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relationship between a pulse width of a driving pulse and an ejection amount shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an environmental temperature and a discharge amount in a print head.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration for individually driving each electrothermal transducer of the recording head according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a gradation value indicated by print data and a pulse width in the drive pulse illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing the relationship between pixel area and image quality.

12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating a recording method for increasing a pixel area according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording sheet (recording medium) 2 Discharge recovery device 3 1st conveyance roller 4 2nd conveyance roller 5 Recording head 6 Carriage 7 Belt 8a, 8b Pulley 9 Guide shaft 10 Ink cartridge 20 Control part 20a CPU 20b ROM 20c RAM 20c-1 , 20c-2 Print buffer 21 Interface 22 Operation panel 23 Carriage motor 24 Feed motor 25 First transport motor 26 Second transport motor 27, 28 Driver 29 External device (host device) 51 Electrothermal converter 52 First liquid 62 Ink

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Osamu Iwasaki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Daigoro Kanematsu 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inside the corporation

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus that performs printing based on binary print data using a print head, comprising: a data conversion unit configured to convert binary print data into multi-level print data of three or more values; A recording apparatus comprising: recording control means for driving a recording head based on multi-value recording data converted by a data conversion means to perform multi-value recording. 2. The resolution of the binary recording data is higher than the resolution of the multi-level recording data, and the data conversion means performs conversion corresponding to the relationship between the two resolutions. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resolution of the multi-valued print data is determined according to a print resolution of a print head. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording control unit performs multi-level recording by modulating an area of a dot formed by the recording head. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording control unit performs multi-level recording by modulating the density of dots formed by the recording head. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the recording control unit modulates the density of the dots by overlapping two types of dots formed by the recording head. 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus further includes a receiving unit that receives the binary recording data from a host device. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head forms dots by discharging ink. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording head uses thermal energy to generate bubbles in the ink, and discharges the ink as the bubbles are generated. . 10. A data processing means for performing at least color processing and binarization processing on print data composed of a plurality of types of color signals to generate binary data, and binary data generated by the data processing means. Data conversion means for converting into multi-valued recording data of three or more values, and recording control means for performing multi-value recording by driving a recording head based on the multi-valued recording data converted by the data conversion means. A recording system device characterized by the above-mentioned.