JPH1058761A - Recorder with image reading function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control a carriage in such a way that it may not perform quality retention which is not always necessary, when what is loaded on the carriage is changed from an image reader (scanner) to a recording head. SOLUTION: A scanner, a recording head, a carriage which can carry both the scanner and the recording head, a detection means which detects that either the scanner or the recording head is loaded, a recovery device which performs quality retention, a control means which controls reading by the reader, recording by the recording head, and quality retention by the recovery device, are provided. The control means, when what is loaded on the carriage is changed from the scanner to the recording head, returns the carriage to the waiting position (S109) by perfoming merely wiping operation (S107) and preliminary discharge operation (S108) without performing suction recovery operation (106) by the recovery device getting into the order waiting condition.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for forming information such as characters and images on a recording material, and more particularly to an image reading apparatus for reading characters and image information and converting the information into electric signals. It relates to a recording device which can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus includes recording means having a plurality of recording elements for forming characters and images on a recording material such as paper, cloth, and plastic sheet based on information on characters and images. This is driven under the control of the control means to perform a printing operation. This recording apparatus is classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, a laser beam type, and the like according to a recording method of a recording unit to be used.

[0003] Among these recording apparatuses, in a serial type recording apparatus employing a recording method in which a main scanning is performed in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) of the recording material, the recording material is moved to a predetermined recording position. Then, the image is recorded by a recording means (recording head) mounted on a carriage which moves along the surface of the recording material (main scanning), and after one line of recording is completed, a predetermined amount of paper is fed. By performing the operation (sub-scanning) and subsequently recording (main scanning) the image of the next row, the image is recorded over the entire area of the recording material.

On the other hand, in a line type recording apparatus which performs recording only by sub-scanning in which a recording material is transported in a conveying direction, the recording material is set at a predetermined recording position, and recording for one line is collectively performed. After that, a predetermined amount of paper feed (pitch feed) is performed, and subsequently, the operation of collectively recording the next line is repeated, whereby an image is recorded over the entire recording material.

As described above, there are various types of recording apparatuses. Among them, an ink jet type apparatus (ink jet recording apparatus), that is, recording means (recording head)
For recording by ejecting ink to the recording material from
(1) It is easy to make the recording means compact, (2) it is possible to record high-definition images at high speed, and (3) it is possible to record plain paper without special processing.
(4) It has excellent advantages such as low running cost, (5) low noise due to non-impact method, and (6) it is easy to record an image using multicolor inks. Therefore, various application forms have recently been proposed.

In particular, in an apparatus having an ink jet type recording means (recording head) for discharging ink using thermal energy, a film is formed on a substrate through a semiconductor manufacturing process such as etching, vapor deposition, or sputtering. By forming the electrothermal transducers, electrodes, liquid passage walls, top plate, etc., it is possible to easily manufacture a device having a high-density liquid passage arrangement (discharge port arrangement) and achieve further compactness. It is widely used because it has the advantage that it can be done.

In the above ink jet recording apparatus,
In general, a recording head having an array of fine discharge ports is used. A liquid chamber for storing the ink to be discharged is provided inside the discharge port, and ink tanks for supplying the ink to the liquid chamber include those that are integrated with the recording head and those that are detachable from the recording head. The liquid chamber is not filled with ink,
In a state in which good ink cannot be ejected, or in a state in which ink droplets or foreign matter adhere to the vicinity of the ejection port and good ink cannot be ejected, in order to recover or maintain a state in which a good image can be formed, The following quality maintaining operation is performed on the recording head.

For example, immediately after re-injecting the ink into the ink tank or when using an unused recording head, the recording head is filled with a cap made of a highly sealable material such as rubber to fill the liquid chamber with ink. After performing the operation of closing the surface (capping operation), a negative pressure is applied to the head surface via a pump connected to the cap, and the operation of forcibly sucking ink from the ejection openings (suction recovery operation) is performed.

Further, immediately after the suction recovery operation is performed, or immediately after the recording head once removed from the recording apparatus is mounted again, the surface of the recording head is wiped with a wiping member in advance, and the recording head adheres around the discharge port. An operation (wiping operation) for removing foreign matter and ink is performed.

Further, immediately after performing the wiping operation, for example, an operation of discharging a fixed amount of ink toward an ink receiver provided inside the recording apparatus (preliminary operation) in order to obtain more stable ink discharge. Discharge operation).

In recent years, many products have been developed in which a single device can perform a plurality of functions by combining the above-described various recording device miniaturization technologies and composite technologies. Above all, by reducing the size of an image reading device (scanner) that detects image information with a photo sensor and converts it into an electric signal, the image reading device is formed into a shape that can be mounted on a carriage on which a recording head is mounted, for example.
Many recording devices that can capture image information have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-32350 has been proposed as an inkjet recording apparatus that can be equipped with such a scanner. FIG. 8 shows an example of such a control operation according to the background art.

When a command for replacing a mounted object on the carriage is input (S201), the carriage is first moved to a position optimal for replacement (S202). The operator can change the scanner or printhead mounted on the carriage,
Alternatively, when a command to end the replacement is input after the ink tank is replaced or the ink is refilled (S203), the control unit determines the carriage mounted item (S204), and returns to a command waiting state after operating according to the following. .

That is, when nothing is mounted on the carriage at the time of inputting the exchange end command, the carriage is returned to the standby position as it is (S209). When the scanner is mounted on the carriage, an initial correction operation required for controlling the scanner (S208) is performed, and then the carriage is returned to the standby position (S209). When the recording head is mounted on the carriage, the suction recovery operation (S205), the wiping operation (S206), and the preliminary ejection operation (S207) are performed, and the carriage is returned to the standby position (S209).

[0014]

However, the conventional recording apparatus which can mount a scanner has the following problems.

[0015] In a recording device that can be equipped with a scanner,
When replacing the load on the carriage, a quality maintaining operation that is not always necessary may be performed on the recording head. As an example, when the user alternately reads an image with a scanner and records with a recording head,
It is not always necessary to replace the ink tank, re-inject ink, or mount an unused recording head. At this time, although the liquid chamber of the recording head is filled with ink, as shown in FIG. In the control method, a suction recovery operation, a wiping operation, and a preliminary ejection operation are performed each time the recording head is mounted.

As described above, in the conventional recording apparatus in which a scanner can be mounted, unnecessary quality maintenance operation may be performed when the recording apparatus returns to the command waiting state, so that extra time is spent. There is a problem that it is.
Further, performing unnecessary suction recovery operation or preliminary ejection operation on the print head consumes extra ink for use in printing, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of resource saving.

It is an object of the present invention to perform control so as not to perform unnecessary quality maintaining operation when an object mounted on a carriage is replaced with a recording head from an image reading device (scanner). Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus with an image reading function that can prevent unnecessary consumption of ink without spending extra time.

[0018]

To achieve the above object, a recording apparatus with an image reading function according to the present invention comprises: an image reading means for converting image information into an electric signal; and a recording means for forming an image on a recording material. Mounting means capable of mounting any of the image reading means and the recording means; detecting means for detecting whether the image reading means or the recording means is mounted on the mounting means; and Recovery means for performing a quality holding operation for holding, and control means for controlling a reading operation by the image reading means, a recording operation by the recording means, and a quality holding operation by the recovery means, wherein the control means If the detection result by the detection means indicates that the one mounted on the mounting means has been replaced by the recording means from the image reading means, In the above case, the quality holding operation by the step is not performed, and in the above case, the control unit detects that the detection result of the detection unit is changed from the image reading unit to the recording unit mounted on the mounting unit. In such a case, it is not necessary to perform the quality maintaining operation by the recovery means until a certain time has elapsed.

Alternatively, the control means may control the next recording operation when the detection result by the detection means indicates that the one mounted on the mounting means has been exchanged from the image reading means to the recording means. It is not necessary to perform the quality maintaining operation by the recovery means until immediately before starting.

In these recording apparatuses with an image reading function, the recording means may be a recording head using an ink jet system for discharging ink from fine holes.

In this case, it is desirable that the recording head has an electrothermal transducer for generating energy for ink ejection.

Further, it is desirable that the recording head discharges the ink from the discharge port by utilizing the film boiling generated in the ink by the thermal energy applied by the electrothermal transducer. In the recording device with an image reading function described above, the recording device may further include a sealing unit that seals a surface of the recording head when recording is not performed, and the control unit includes a detection result by the detection unit mounted on the mounting unit. If it indicates that the image reading means has been replaced by the recording means, the quality maintaining operation by the recovery means may not be performed until the recording head surface is sealed by the sealing means.

In the above-described recording apparatus with an image reading function, it is desirable that the quality maintaining operation is an operation of forcibly sucking ink from inside the recording head.

Alternatively, the quality maintaining operation may be an operation of wiping ink adhered to the recording head surface.

Alternatively, the apparatus may further include ink receiving means for directly receiving ink ejected from the recording head,
The quality maintaining operation may be an operation of discharging ink from the recording head toward the ink receiving unit.

In the recording apparatus with the image reading function described above, the ink receiving means may be the sealing means.

In the recording apparatus with the image reading function of the present invention as described above, when the detection result by the detecting means indicates that the one mounted on the mounting means has been replaced by the recording means from the image reading means, Control is performed so that the quality holding operation is not performed. As described above, according to the present invention, when the device mounted on the mounting device is changed from the image reading device to the recording device, the quality maintaining operation by the recovery device is not performed on the recording device. There is no problem that extraneous time is required to return to the instruction waiting state because the quality maintaining operation is not necessarily performed. In addition, by preventing the recording unit from performing an unnecessary quality holding operation, it is possible to prevent unnecessary consumption of ink.

[0028]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the outline of the ink jet recording apparatus will be described.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording section of the ink jet recording apparatus, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a gear section of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

2 and 3, the ink jet recording apparatus includes a pickup roller 26 for feeding the recording material 4, a feed roller 5 and a pinch roller 27,
A recording head 1 serving as means for recording on the recording material 4, a carriage 2 on which the recording head 1 is mounted, and a frame 19
The guide shaft 3 and the guide rail 24 slidably support the carriage 2 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording material 4 and in a direction parallel to the surface thereof.
And a carriage driving belt 20 for reciprocating the carriage 2 in a linear direction, a carriage driving motor 17 and a driving pulley 18, a pressure plate 25 and a base 21.

The recording head 1 is configured to be separable from the ink tank 34. The recording head 1 is a replaceable ink jet recording head, which is provided with an electric heat exchanger, generates heat energy by applying a predetermined voltage to the heat exchanger, and causes bubbles to grow and shrink due to film boiling. The ink is ejected from the ejection port using the pressure change due to this. At a predetermined moving position of the recording head 1, a wiper 16 as a wiping member of the recording head 1 and a cap 10 as a capping member are provided.

The pinch roller 27 is pressed against the feed roller 5 by being urged by a spring (not shown), and conveys the recording material 4. One end of the feed roller 5 is rotatably supported by a trigger gear 22 and an LF gear 23, and is further connected to a transport motor (not shown). Further, a pump gear 12 is provided for transmitting power from the LF gear 23 to a pump (not shown) via the trigger gear 22.

The operation of recording (printing) on the recording material 4 in the above-described ink jet recording apparatus will be described below.

Before recording (printing), the recording material 4 is placed on the pressure plate 25. At this time, the pickup roller 26 is separated from the pressure plate 25 by a release cam (not shown) provided on a shaft on which the pickup roller 26 is mounted.

When the recording material 4 is set and the drive of the feed roller 5 is transmitted to the pickup roller 26 and the release cam via a gear (not shown), the release cam separates from the pressure plate 25 and the pressure plate 25 rises. Then, the pickup roller 26 comes into contact with the recording material 4. Then, the recording material 4 is conveyed to a position facing the ink ejection surface of the recording head 1 with the rotation of the pickup roller 26.

When the recording material 4 is conveyed to a predetermined recording position, the carriage drive motor is driven to rotate the carriage drive belt 20. Thereby, the carriage 2 is reciprocated in the linear direction along the carriage guide shaft 3 and the guide rail 24. Then, ink is ejected from the recording head 1 mounted on the carriage 2 according to the image signal, and an image (including characters and the like) according to the image signal is recorded on the recording material 4.

When ink is no longer supplied from the ink tank 34 to a liquid chamber (not shown) inside the recording head 1, non-ejection occurs. If no ink remains in the ink tank 34, the ink tank 34 is replaced or the ink is refilled. In order to fill the liquid chamber with ink even when the recording head 1 is replaced with a new one, the pump gear 12 and the cap 1
The following processing is performed by a recovery device constituted by 0, a wiper 16, a pump (not shown), and the like. The ink ejection port of the recording head 1 is sealed with a cap 10 (capping operation), and ink is forcibly sucked from the ejection port through the cap 10 using a suction unit such as a pump (not shown) (suction recovery operation). Thus, the recording head 1 is always in a normal state. In the capping operation, the recording head 1 is moved to a capping position provided outside the recording area, and the cap 10 is moved to the capping position.
This is performed by bringing the ink ejection unit into contact with the ink ejection unit.

The driving force for performing the contact operation of the cap 10 is transmitted from a motor (not shown) via the LF gear 23 and the pump gear 12. However, since the LF gear 23 and the pump gear 12 are not normally engaged with each other, the trigger gear 22 is pushed by the carriage 2 at the time of capping, so that the LF gear 23 and the trigger gear 2 are not engaged.
2 are brought into contact with each other. Trigger gear 22
Is brought into contact with the LF gear 23, whereby drive is transmitted to the pump gear 12 via the trigger gear 22 (the trigger gear 22 and the pump gear 12 are interlocked by a shape not shown). As described above, the drive is switched by pushing the carriage 2.

If ink or foreign matter adheres to the vicinity of the ink ejection port of the recording head 1, the direction of the ejected ink may be disturbed or the ink ejection itself may be difficult. Therefore, immediately after the suction recovery operation or immediately after the detached recording head is mounted again, the carriage 2 is moved in the direction of the wiper 16 and the wiper 16 wipes the ejection surface of the recording head 1 (wiping operation). I do.

Further, immediately after the wiping operation is performed, a constant amount of ink is discharged toward the cap 10 in order to obtain more stable ink discharge (preliminary discharge operation).

In the ink jet recording apparatus described above, the recording head 1 is mounted on the carriage 2, but the carriage 2 may be configured to mount a scanner. The following describes the recording head for recording an image and the carriage 2 on which a scanner is mounted for reading an image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a main structure of the carriage 2 which can be mounted on both the recording head and the scanner.

Positioning projections 2d and 2e are formed on a predetermined portion of the inner wall of the carriage 2, and a contact spring 33 is provided on the opposite side. The recording head (or scanner) is positioned by the positioning protrusions 2d and 2e, and the recording head (or scanner) is fixed by the contact spring 33. The head guide 22 is provided at the tip of the contact spring 33. Further, a cable terminal portion 30a is provided in a portion where the terminal of the recording head (or the scanner) contacts, and the cable terminal portion 3a is provided.
An electrical signal is transmitted / received from a control unit (not shown) of the main body device to the recording head (or scanner) via Oa, and the quality maintaining operation for the recording head and the scanner correction for the scanner described below are performed.

FIG. 5 shows a state where the recording head 1 shown in FIG. 2 is mounted on the carriage, and FIG. 6 shows a state where the scanner 6 is mounted on the carriage. The recording head 1 and the scanner 6 are provided with positioning holes 1b, 6b and positioning notches 1c, 6c, respectively. The recording head (or scanner) is formed by the positioning holes and the positioning notches and the positioning protrusions of the carriage 2. Is performed. Further, the recording head 1 and the scanner 6 have terminals 1a and 6a serving as electric signal input / output contacts for transmitting and receiving electric signals to and from a control unit (not shown) via a cable terminal 30a of the carriage 2, respectively. Is provided.

When the recording head 1 is fixed to the carriage 2, the recording head 1 is applied so that the head terminal portion 1a and the cable terminal portion 30a face each other, and the upper surface opposite to the head terminal portion 1a is pressed down. The positioning protrusion 2
d, the head positioning notch 1c, the positioning protrusion 2e, and the head positioning hole 1b are fitted. At this time, the recording head 1 is fixed by a contact spring 33, and a contact between the head terminal portion 1a and the cable terminal portion 30a of the carriage 2 can be reliably obtained by pressing by the contact spring 33.

The fixing of the scanner 6 to the carriage 2 is performed in the same manner as the fixing of the recording head 1.

Here, the scanner 6 is an image reading device mainly comprising a light source, a light receiving section, an amplifier, an A / D converter and an image processing device, and an image recorded on the recording material 4 as follows. Read (including characters). The carriage 2 is reciprocated on the recording material 4 on which recording has been performed, and the recording surface of the recording material 4 is irradiated with light. The reflected light from the recording surface of the recording material 4 is detected by the light receiving unit, and the intensity of the reflected light is enlarged to an appropriate magnification, quantified and corrected, and controlled as an image data signal from the scanner terminal unit 6a. Unit (not shown).

Next, in a recording apparatus having an image reading function provided with a carriage 2 which can be mounted on any of the above-described recording head and scanner (for example, an apparatus using the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 2). The recording and reading operations will be described.

In the recording apparatus having this image reading function, the recording head or the scanner is mounted on the carriage 2 as necessary. Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether the recording head mounted on the carriage 2 is the recording head 1 or the scanner 6. There is.

FIG. 7 is a principle diagram for explaining how the recording head 1 or the scanner 6 mounted on the carriage 2 is determined.

The head terminal 1a of the recording head 1 (FIG. 5)
Is provided with a terminal 100b whose one end is connected to a resistor 61 connected to GND, and the terminal 100a simply connected to GND is provided at a scanner terminal 6a (FIG. 6) of the scanner 6.
b 'is provided. On the other hand, A
An operation control unit 50 having the / D converter 51 as an input unit is provided, and the terminal units 1a and 6a and the flexible cable 30 are provided.
The terminals connected via the terminals 100b, 1
A terminal 100a corresponding to 00b 'is provided. The terminal 100a is connected to the A / D converter 51 and receives the voltage Vcc via the resistor 60.

In the detecting means constructed as described above, when the recording head 1 is mounted, the A / D converter 51 included in the arithmetic and control unit 50 in the main unit 100 uses the voltage dividing resistance value on the main unit side. The voltage divided value of the recording head 1 and the resistance value 61 of the recording head 1 is read, and the mounting of the recording head 1 is determined. When the scanner 6 is mounted, since the resistance value corresponding to the resistance value 61 of the recording head 1 is 0Ω, the value read by the A / D converter 51 is at the ground level. It is.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the recording apparatus having an image reading function according to the present embodiment.
Shown in

When a key operation or an exchange start command is input from the host computer side to the recording apparatus (S101), first, the one mounted on the carriage 2 is determined. For the variable ID1 indicating the load at the start of the replacement, 0 is given if nothing is loaded, 1 is given for a printhead, and 2 is given for a scanner (S102). The carriage 2 is moved to a position where the operator can easily exchange the load on the carriage 2 (S103). After the operator has performed an operation such as replacement of the load or re-injection of the ink, the replacement end command is input to the recording apparatus (S104), and the load on the carriage 2 is determined again in the same manner as described above and replaced. For the variable ID2 indicating the mounted object at the time of termination, 0 is provided when nothing is installed, 1 is provided for the printhead, and 2 is provided for the scanner (S10).
5).

When the value of ID2 is 1 and the value of ID1 is 0 or 1, that is, when the recording head 1 is mounted from a state where there is no mounted object, or when the ink tank is replaced when the recording head 1 is mounted, When ink re-injection, replacement with an unused print head, and the like are performed, the carriage is subjected to the above-described respective quality maintaining operations, namely, the suction recovery operation (S106), the wiping operation (S107), and the preliminary ejection operation (S108). 2 is returned to the standby position (S109), and returns to the command standby state.

On the other hand, when the value of ID2 is 1 and the value of ID1 is 2, that is, when the mounted object is replaced from the scanner 6 to the recording head 1, the suction recovery operation of the above-described quality holding operation is performed. Omitted, wiping operation (S10
7) After performing only the preliminary ejection operation (S108), the carriage 2 returns to the standby position (S109), and returns to the command standby state.

When the value of ID2 is 0, that is, when nothing is mounted on the carriage 2, the carriage 2 is returned to the standby position as it is in the conventional manner (S10).
9) Return to the command waiting state.

If the value of ID2 is 2, that is, if the one mounted on the carriage 2 is the scanner 6, an initial scanner correction operation necessary for image reading is performed as in the conventional example (S110). Then, the carriage 2 is returned to the standby position (S109), and the operation enters the command standby state to end the operation.

In the recording apparatus having the image reading function of the present embodiment, when the apparatus mounted on the carriage 2 is exchanged from the scanner 6 to the recording head 1 as described above,
Since the suction recovery operation of the quality maintaining operation that is not necessarily required is not performed, the reading process by the scanner 6 can be performed without spending extra time, and the consumption of the extra ink due to the suction recovery operation can be reliably prevented. it can.

Although described in detail above, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified and modified without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, only the suction recovery operation of the quality holding operation is omitted, but other quality holding operations can be omitted when the scanner 6 is replaced with the recording head 1. Specifically, it is easy to omit the wiping operation and the preliminary ejection operation in addition to the suction recovery operation, and not to perform the operation until immediately before the start of the next recording (printing). In this case, the effect of further shortening the time can be achieved. .

The present invention provides an excellent effect particularly in an ink jet recording head and a recording apparatus in which a flying droplet is formed by utilizing thermal energy in the ink jet recording method and recording is performed.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to an electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which This is effective because heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, causing film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, and as a result, air bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding one-to-one to this drive signal can be formed. It is. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, The present invention also includes a configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.

In addition, JP-A-59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, or absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which an opening corresponds to a discharge unit.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is determined by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. The present invention can exhibit the above-mentioned effects more effectively, though it may be either a configuration that satisfies the above requirements or a configuration as a single recording head that is formed integrally.

In addition, the print head is exchangeable with a print head of the chip type, which can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus or supplied with ink from the main body of the apparatus, or is integrated with the print head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank is used.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as components of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If you list these specifically,
Capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means for the printhead, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof, and a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection other than recording Is also effective for performing stable recording.

The recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black. The recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of recording heads may be combined. The present invention is also extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above,
Although the ink is described as a liquid, it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower, and softens at room temperature, or is a liquid, or in the inkjet method described above, the ink itself is heated to 30 ° C or more and 70 ° C or less. Generally, the temperature is adjusted within the range and the viscosity is controlled so that the viscosity of the ink is in the stable ejection range. Therefore, it is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy can be positively prevented by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or solidified in a standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. Either ink may be used, or in any case, the ink may be liquefied by application of heat energy according to the recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or may already start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time by thermal energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-71260, in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter while being held in a liquid or solid state in the concave portions or through holes of the porous sheet. It may be. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to those provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of an information processing device such as a word processor or a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, May take the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0074]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

Since the quality holding operation, which is not always necessary, is not performed on the recording means when the one mounted on the mounting means is changed from the image reading means to the recording means, extra time is required for returning to the command waiting state. It takes no time, and the time can be shortened. Furthermore, since the quality maintaining operation is not performed on the recording means, no extra ink is consumed, which is advantageous in terms of resource saving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a recording apparatus with an image reading function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording unit of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a gear section of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a main configuration of a carriage that can be mounted on any of a recording head and a scanner.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state where the recording head illustrated in FIG. 2 is mounted on the carriage illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state where a scanner is mounted on the carriage shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a principle diagram for explaining how a carriage mounted on a carriage is determined to be a recording head or a scanner.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation in an inkjet recording apparatus in which a scanner according to the background art can be mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 recording head 1a head terminal portion 1b head positioning hole 1c head positioning notch 2 carriage 2d, 2e positioning protrusion 3 guide shaft 4 recording material 5 feed roller 6 scanner 6a scanner terminal portion 6b scanner positioning hole 6c scanner positioning notch 10 cap DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Pump gear 16 Wiper 17 Carriage drive motor 18 Drive pulley 19 Frame 20 Carriage drive belt 21 Base 22 Trigger gear 23 LF gear 24 Guide rail 25 Pressure plate 26 Pickup roller 27 Pinch roller 30 Flexible cable 30a Cable terminal 33 Contact spring 34 Ink tank 50 Arithmetic control unit 51 A / D converter 60, 61 Resistance 100 Main unit 100a, 100b, 100b 'Terminal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Agency reference number FI Technical indication location H04N 1/024 B41J 3/04 102H (72) Inventor Hideaki Kawakami 3-30 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo 2 Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Nakamura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Akira Kida 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Atsushi Noda 3- 30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Noriko Kawa ▲ saki 3-30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside the company (72) Inventor Takehiko Kiyohara 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (11)

[Claims] An image reading unit configured to convert image information into an electric signal; a recording unit configured to form an image on a recording medium; a mounting unit capable of mounting both the image reading unit and the recording unit; Detecting means for detecting which of the image reading means and the recording means is mounted on the means, recovery means for performing a quality maintaining operation for maintaining image quality during a recording operation, reading operation by the image reading means, Control means for controlling a recording operation by a recording means and a quality holding operation by the recovery means, wherein the control means detects that a detection result by the detection means is mounted on the mounting means from an image reading means. A recording apparatus with an image reading function, wherein when the recording means indicates that the recording means has been replaced, the quality maintaining operation by the recovery means is not performed. . 2. The recording device with an image reading function according to claim 1, wherein the control unit exchanges a detection result of the detection unit with a recording unit mounted on the mounting unit from the image reading unit to the recording unit. A recording device with an image reading function, wherein the operation of maintaining the quality by the recovery means is not performed until a predetermined time elapses. 3. The recording device with an image reading function according to claim 1, wherein the control unit exchanges a detection result of the detection unit with a recording unit mounted on the mounting unit from the image reading unit to the recording unit. A recording device with an image reading function, wherein the quality maintaining operation is not performed by the recovery means until immediately before the control of the next recording operation is started. 4. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 1, wherein said recording means is a recording head using an ink jet system for discharging ink from fine holes. Recording device with image reading function. 5. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 4, wherein the recording head has an electrothermal transducer that generates energy for discharging ink. 6. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 5, wherein the recording head ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in the ink by thermal energy applied by an electrothermal transducer. A recording device with an image reading function for discharging. 7. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 4, further comprising a sealing unit that seals a surface of the recording head when recording is not performed, wherein the control unit includes: If the detection result by the detection means indicates that the one mounted on the mounting means has been exchanged from the image reading means to the recording means, the recovery means until the recording head surface is sealed by the sealing means. A recording device with an image reading function, which does not perform a quality maintaining operation. 8. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 4, wherein the quality maintaining operation is an operation of forcibly sucking ink from inside the recording head. Attached recording device. 9. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 4, wherein the quality maintaining operation is an operation of wiping ink adhered to a recording head surface. apparatus. 10. The recording apparatus with an image reading function according to claim 4, further comprising an ink receiving means for directly receiving ink ejected from said recording head, and a quality maintaining operation. Is a recording device with an image reading function, which is an operation of discharging ink from a recording head toward the ink receiving means. 11. The recording device with an image reading function according to claim 10, wherein the ink receiving unit is the sealing unit.