JPH1134422A - Recording method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording method capable of performing paper feed in an extremely highly accurate manner and a recording apparatus adapted thereto. SOLUTION: A paper feed roller rotationally driven by a paper feed motor, a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged thereto, a line feed quality memory means 25 preliminarily measuring the paper feed quantity L of paper P when the paper feed roller is rotated once to set the quantity 1/N (N; positive integer) the paper feed quality L to line feed quantity K and storing the number of driving steps of the paper feed motor necessary for obtaining the quantity of rotation of the paper feed roller becoming the line feed quantity K, a motor driving control part 26 controlling the driving of the paper feed motor and a recording range control part 28 controlling the number of the recording elements matched with the line feed quantity K fed on the basis of the number of the driving steps stored in the line feed quantity memory part 25 among a plurality of the recording elements of the recording head so as to use the same as a reference recording range BA used in recording are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing paper feeding with high accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a thermal transfer printer, which is a kind of recording apparatus, is frequently used as an output device of a computer, a word processor or the like because of high recording quality, low noise, low cost, and ease of maintenance.

In such a conventional thermal transfer printer, a carriage is formed so as to be able to reciprocate along a platen, and a plurality of recording elements, ie, heating elements, are formed on the carriage in a direction perpendicular to the recording direction, that is, the carriage. In addition to mounting a thermal head as a recording head formed to be arranged in a paper feeding direction perpendicular to the moving direction, a ribbon cassette containing a desired ink ribbon is detachably mounted. . Further, the rotation of a paper feed motor composed of a step motor called a stepping motor, a pulse motor or the like is transmitted to a paper feed roller via a driving force transmission mechanism composed of a plurality of gears. It is formed so as to convey a predetermined amount of paper. Then, when performing a line feed operation, a line feed amount that is a paper feed amount required for line feed is calculated,
The amount of rotation of the paper feed motor is determined based on the outer peripheral length of the paper feed roller, the gear ratio of the driving force transmission mechanism, and the like, and the paper feed motor is rotated by the amount of rotation.

[0004] The ink ribbon and paper fed from the ribbon cassette are sandwiched between the platen and the thermal head, and the thermal head is reciprocated along the platen together with the carriage. By driving the thermal head based on the recording information, the ink of the ink ribbon is partially transferred to the paper, and the recording of an image such as a desired character on the paper is performed in units of lines.

[0005] By the way, improvement of paper feeding accuracy in a recording apparatus is indispensable for printing high-quality images on paper. Therefore, control of paper feeding and improvement of the structure of paper feeding rollers are required. That is being done.

[0006] Such an improvement in paper feed accuracy is, for example, as follows.
Consider the eccentricity or diameter of the paper feed roller according to the number of print elements of the print head, that is, the print range formed by the width formed in the paper feed direction orthogonal to the print direction of the print element, and This is performed by correcting the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor for driving the line feed, and setting the line feed amount, which is the paper feed amount for one line, according to the recording range.

That is, the amount of line feed is set in accordance with the number of recording elements formed on the recording head, and the amount of rotation of the paper feed motor is controlled so that the amount of line feed at each line feed is made substantially constant. The feed accuracy is improved.

[0008]

However, in the conventional recording apparatus described above, although the amount of line feed at each line feed can be made substantially constant, when the paper feed roller is rotated to repeat the line feed operation, After a predetermined number of line feed operations, the paper feed roller does not necessarily return to the reference position, which is the position at the start of the paper feed, but shifts little by little. Therefore, the position of the line feed gradually shifts, and appears as a pitch shift due to the eccentricity of each gear constituting the paper feed roller and / or the driving force transmission mechanism.

In the conventional recording apparatus, the effect of the pitch shift was almost inconspicuous because the paper feed accuracy of about ± 20 μm was sufficient.
In recent years, in a recording apparatus that is required to record a higher quality image, a paper feeding accuracy of about ± 10 μm is required. Therefore, the influence of the pitch shift cannot be ignored, and the paper feeding is performed with higher accuracy. There is a demand for a recording method and a recording apparatus that can perform the above.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing paper feeding with extremely high accuracy.

[0011]

The inventor of the present invention has made intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, has set a line feed amount in accordance with a recording range obtained from the formation width of the recording elements of the conventional recording head. Instead, the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller rotated by the paper feed motor makes one rotation is used as a reference, and 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of this paper feed amount is used as a line feed amount. By setting the number of recording elements used for recording as the reference recording range in accordance with the line feed amount, it has been found that it is possible to perform a high-precision paper feed necessary for obtaining a higher-quality image recording in recent years, The present invention has been completed.

That is, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the feature of the recording method according to the first aspect of the present invention resides in that a paper feed roller rotated by a paper feed motor makes one rotation. In this embodiment, 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of the paper feed amount is set as a line feed amount, and the number of recording elements used for printing is set as a reference print range in accordance with the line feed amount. By adopting such a configuration, the deviation of the pitch due to the influence of the eccentricity of the paper feed roller can be extremely reduced, and as a result,
It is possible to perform extremely high-precision paper feeding necessary for obtaining a higher-quality image recorded in recent years.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method according to the first aspect, wherein the recording element for several dots adjacent to the recording element forming the reference recording area is used. It is used for recording as an extended recording range.
By adopting such a configuration, stitching processing can be easily performed when a base is formed on a sheet or when an image such as an illustration or graphic is formed across a line between sheets on a sheet.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording method according to the first or second aspect, wherein the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation is equal to the recording amount. The point is that when it does not coincide with N times the reference recording range of the head, the shift amount is allocated to each line feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation. Here, the case where the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation does not match N times the reference print range of the print head means that the size (dot size) of each print element of the print head is 600 dpi or the like. Is determined according to the resolution of the recording head, and the size of the recording element is d, and the number of recording elements used for recording is z (the number z of recording elements used for recording forming the reference recording range is Is a part of the recording elements formed on the recording medium), the reference recording range used for recording is d × z, which is almost completely inconsistent with the line feed amount. The seam of the image for each rotation of the feed roller is shifted by 1 / 2d at the maximum. Further, the term "distribution of the deviation amount to each line feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation" means that the deviation amount is at most 1/2.
That is, the shift amount of d is dispersed to each line feed amount during one rotation of the paper feed roller. Specifically, the driving of the paper feed motor required to rotate the paper feed roller by one line feed amount is performed. This is performed according to the number of steps. By adopting such a configuration, the shift amount of the joint at each rotation of the paper feed roller can be reduced to 1 / 2N of 1 / 2d at the maximum, and as a result, the paper feed accuracy is further improved. be able to.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to the present invention, comprising: a paper feed roller which is driven by a paper feed motor consisting of a step motor for conveying predetermined paper; A recording head in which the recording elements are arranged in a paper feed direction perpendicular to the recording direction, and a paper feed amount of the paper when the paper feed roller rotated by the paper feed motor makes one rotation are measured in advance. A 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of the paper feed amount is defined as a line feed amount, and a line feed storing the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor necessary to obtain the rotation amount of the paper feed roller which is the line feed amount. An amount storage unit, a motor drive control unit that controls the driving of the paper feed motor based on the number of drive steps stored in the line feed amount storage unit, and the line feed amount storage of a plurality of recording elements of the recording head. Part In that it has a recording range control section that controls to use as a reference recording range used for recording the number of recording elements to suit the line feed amount is a paper feed amount to be conveyed by 憶 the number of drive steps. By adopting such a configuration, the recording method according to claim 1, that is, based on the paper feed amount of the paper when the paper feed roller rotated by the paper feed motor makes one rotation, is used as a reference. 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of the paper feed amount is set as a line feed amount, and the number of recording elements used for printing can be set as a reference print range in accordance with the line feed amount. It is possible to carry out extremely high precision paper feeding required for obtaining an image record.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the recording element for several dots adjacent to the recording element forming the reference recording area is provided. An extended recording range control unit for controlling the extended recording range to be used for recording is provided. By adopting such a configuration, the recording method according to claim 2, that is, a recording element for several dots adjacent to a recording element forming the reference recording range is used for recording as an extended recording range. As a result, it is possible to easily perform a stitching process used when a base is formed on a sheet, or when an image such as an illustration or graphic is formed on a sheet across lines.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to the fourth or fifth aspect, wherein the line feed amount storage unit stores the paper feed roller once. When the paper feed amount is not equal to N times the reference recording range of the recording head, the deviation amount is distributed to each line feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation.
The point is that the number of driving steps of the paper feed motor necessary to obtain the rotation amount of the paper feed roller that becomes each line feed amount is stored. By adopting such a configuration, the recording method according to claim 3, that is, the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation does not match N times the reference recording range of the recording head. In that case,
The feed amount can be distributed to each line feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation, and as a result, the paper feed accuracy can be further improved.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to any one of the fourth to sixth aspects, wherein the recording apparatus is provided on the paper feed roller. Reference position marker indicating the reference position of the reference position, detection means for detecting the reference position marker, and a position control unit for controlling the paper feed motor so that the paper feed roller is always positioned at the reference position at the start of the paper feed. And the point provided. And by adopting such a configuration,
The paper feed amount of the paper when the paper feed roller makes one rotation can be easily measured, and the rotation position when the paper feed roller makes one rotation can always be a fixed position.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to the seventh aspect, wherein the line feed amount storage unit stores the first and second paper feed rollers in order from the reference position of the paper feed roller.
The point is that the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor required to rotate by a line feed amount is stored in order from the reference position of the paper feed roller. By adopting such a configuration, the line feed position can be easily controlled.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to any one of the fourth to eighth aspects, wherein the paper feed motor and the paper feed roller are connected to each other. The point is that they are connected via a driving force transmission mechanism. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to reduce design restrictions on the positions where the paper feed motor and the paper feed roller are provided. That is, by connecting the paper feed motor and the paper feed roller via the driving force transmission mechanism, the paper feed motor and the paper feed roller can be easily arranged at a position where they do not interfere with each other.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which a recording method according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view, and FIG. 2 is a recording element and a reference of a recording head. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship with a recording range, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a main part near a paper feed roller, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of a control unit.

As shown in FIG. 1, a platen 3 in the form of a flat plate is provided substantially at the center of the frame 1 of the recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.
Are arranged so that the recording surface is almost vertical,
A carriage shaft 4 is provided below and in front of the platen 3 in parallel with the platen 3. A flange-shaped guide portion 5 is formed at the front edge of the frame 2. A carriage 6 is reciprocally movable along the carriage shaft 4 and the guide portion 5 on the carriage shaft 4 and the guide portion 5. Is being worn. At the leading end of the carriage 6, a thermal head 7 is disposed as a recording head that faces the platen 3 and that can be freely moved toward and away from the platen 3 by a drive mechanism (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2, the thermal head 7
The heating element 8 is a recording element called a plurality of dots.
Are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the recording direction, that is, in the paper feeding direction indicated by arrow A in FIG. 2 perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage 6. The size (dot size) of each of the heating elements 8 is determined according to the resolution of the thermal head 7, for example, 600 dpi and 1200 dpi. In addition, a predetermined number of the heating elements 8 shown at the center in FIG. 2, which are a part of the heating elements 8, form a reference recording range BA used for recording. That is, assuming that the size of the heating element 8 is d and the number of the heating elements 8 forming the reference recording area BA is z, the reference recording area BA is d × z. In addition, the number z of the heating elements 8 used for recording forming the reference recording range BA in the present embodiment is a part of the heating elements 8 formed on the thermal head 7. Further, the reference recording range BA is based on the paper feed amount L of the paper P (see FIG. 3) when the paper feed roller 10 rotated and driven by the paper feed motor 9 described later makes one rotation, and this paper feed amount L 1 / N of
(N is a positive integer) is the line feed amount K, and is formed in accordance with the line feed amount K.

An extended recording area UA for performing stitching processing at the time of recording is formed by several dots vertically adjacent to the heating element 8 forming the reference recording area BA in FIG. It is configured to form. The extended recording range UA may be formed in one of the upper and lower directions of the reference recording range BA. The number of heating elements (the number of dots) forming the extended recording area UA is set as necessary, such as the resolution of the thermal head 7 and the position and number of stitching processes when recording a color or monochrome image. do it.

The thermal head 7 may be one in which a plurality of heating elements 8 are arranged in a paper feed direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage 6.

Returning to FIG. 1, an ink ribbon is housed inside the upper surface of the carriage 6, and a ribbon cassette (not shown) for guiding the ink ribbon between the thermal head 7 and the platen 3 is attached and detached. It is freely attached.
A take-up bobbin 11 for winding the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette and a delivery bobbin 12 for sending the ink ribbon are provided on the upper surface of the carriage 6.

Behind the platen 3, there is formed a paper insertion slot 13 for feeding the paper P forward of the platen 3.
A paper feed roller 10 that conveys the paper P at a predetermined speed is provided at the paper insertion slot 13.

As shown in FIG. 3, a reference position marker 14 indicating a reference position for detecting the reference position of the paper feed roller 10 at the time of recording is rotatable with the paper feed roller 1010. It is provided in. The reference position marker 14 is formed of a reflective seal, a reflective plate, or the like, and is provided at a position that does not interfere with the traveling path of the paper P. The reference position marker 14 is detected each time the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation by a detection unit 15 such as an optical sensor provided at a position near the paper feed roller 10 and not interfering with the travel path of the paper P. It is supposed to be. The detection unit 15 is electrically connected to a control unit 16 (described later) that controls the operation of each unit of the recording apparatus 1, and outputs a detection signal of the reference position marker 14 to the control unit 16.
To be sent. Note that the detection means 15 may be a contact type.

Returning to FIG. 1, below the paper feed roller 10, a pressing roller 17 pressed against the paper feed roller 10 is rotatably disposed, and is shown on the left side of the frame 2 in FIG. On one side surface, a roller drive gear 18 coaxially attached to the paper feed roller 10 is arranged to protrude.
The roller drive gear 18 includes a plurality of transmission gears 19, 1
The motor gear 20 of the paper feed motor 9 composed of a step motor is connected via the motor 9 and drives the paper feed motor 9 to drive the paper feed roller 10 via the motor gear 20, each transmission gear 19 and the roller drive gear 18, respectively. By rotating the paper feed roller 1, the paper feed roller 1
The paper P inserted between the pressure roller 0 and the pressing roller 17 is nipped and conveyed. Also, the paper feed motor 9
Is electrically connected to the control unit 16 as shown in FIG. 3, and is driven to rotate based on a control command sent from the control unit 16.

The roller driving gear 18, the transmission gear 19, and the motor gear 20 constitute a driving force transmission mechanism 21 of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 16 includes at least a CPU 22, a memory 23 formed of a ROM, a RAM or the like having an appropriate capacity, and a controller 24 for driving each unit such as the thermal head 7. have.

In the memory 23, desired record information inputted by a suitable input device (not shown) such as a host computer, an image reader, or a keyboard is stored as record data.
At the time of recording, the recording data is output to the controller 24, and the controller 24 outputs the reference recording range BA and the extended recording range UA of the plurality of heating elements 8 of the thermal head 7.
Are selectively driven in accordance with print data to generate heat.

When a color image is formed, recording information is separated into at least three colors of yellow, magenta and cyan for recording and stored as recording data for each color. During printing, print data of colors corresponding to the three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan of the ink ribbon used for printing are output to the controller 24.

The memory 23 stores at least the line feed amount K which is 1 / N of the paper feed amount L of the paper P when the paper feed roller 10 rotated by the paper feed motor 9 makes one rotation. A line feed amount storage unit 25 that stores the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor 9 necessary for rotating the feed roller 10 is provided. More specifically, the line feed amount storage unit 25 of the present embodiment stores the paper feed roller 10 in order from the reference position by rotating the paper feed roller 10 by 1 / N of the paper feed amount L by one line feed amount. The number of drive steps of the paper feed motor 9 necessary for the operation is stored. Furthermore,
When the paper feed amount L when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation does not coincide with N times the reference recording range BA of the thermal head 7, the line feed amount storage unit 25 stores the deviation amount in the paper feed roller. 10 are distributed and stored for each line feed amount K when one rotation is made. The distribution of the shift amount will be described later.

The memory 23 has a line feed amount storage unit 25.
And a motor drive control unit that stores a program for controlling the driving of the paper feed motor 9 based on the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor 9 stored in the storage unit.

Further, the memory 23 is provided with a position control unit 27 in which a program for controlling the paper feed motor 9 is stored so that the paper feed roller 10 is always located at the reference position at the start of the paper feed. .

That is, in the present embodiment, the position at which the detecting means 15 detects the reference position marker 14 indicating the reference position provided on the paper feed roller 10 is defined as the reference position of the paper feed roller 10, and the reference position The paper feed is always started, and the paper feed roller 10 is configured to return to the reference position when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation.

In the memory 23, the number of heating elements 8 of the thermal head 7 corresponding to the line feed amount K of the paper P conveyed by the number of drive steps stored in the line feed amount storage unit 25 is stored. Is a reference recording range BA, and a recording range control unit 28 in which a program for controlling the heating elements 8 included in the reference recording range BA to be used for recording is stored.
Is provided.

Further, in the memory 23, the heating elements 8 of several dots adjacent to the heating elements 8 forming the reference recording area BA are used for recording as an extended recording area UA for performing stitching processing. An extended recording range control unit 29 in which a program for controlling the above is stored is provided. The extended recording range control unit 29 determines the presence or absence of the stitching process based on the recording information, determines the method, position, range, and the like of the stitching process, and based on the result, the extended recording range UA. A program for determining the number of heating elements 8 to be used is also stored.

Further, the memory 23 has a program for controlling the contact / separation operation of the thermal head 7 with respect to the platen 3 at the time of recording, a program for controlling the moving distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position, and Also, various programs such as a program for detecting a paper jam are stored.

Next, a recording method applied to the recording apparatus of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described together with its operation.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the paper feed amount, the line feed amount, and the recording element of the printing apparatus to which the printing method according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 6 shows the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the maximum displacement, and FIG. 7 is an illustration showing the displacement of the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation when the maximum displacement of the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation is distributed to each line feed. FIG.

In this embodiment, when setting the reference recording range BA, first, the detection means 15 detects the reference position marker 14 provided on the paper feed roller 10. That is, the paper feed roller 10 is positioned at the reference position. Then, the paper feed motor 9 is driven so that the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation from the detection position where the detecting means 15 detects the reference position marker 14 provided on the paper feed roller 10, that is, the reference position. The number of drive steps of the paper feed motor 9 required for one rotation of the paper feed roller 10 is determined by the gear ratio of each of the gears 18, 19, and 20 constituting the driving force transmission mechanism 21 from the paper feed motor 9 to the paper feed roller 10. Is determined by the paper feed motor 9 by the determined number of drive steps.
Drive. At this time, the paper feed amount L of the paper P conveyed by one rotation of the paper feed roller 10 is measured. The paper feed amount L of the paper P conveyed by one rotation of the paper feed roller 10 can be measured by using a conventionally known movement amount measuring device using a reflection type photo sensor or the like or a CCD camera proposed by the present applicant. It is preferable to use a moving amount measuring device (Japanese Patent Application No. 8-203493).

Next, a value obtained by multiplying the obtained paper feed amount L by 1 / N is set as a line feed amount K.

Here, assuming that N = 4 for convenience of description, １ ／ of the paper feed amount L of the paper P conveyed by one rotation of the paper feed roller 10 is set as the line feed amount K.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the paper feed amount L of the paper P conveyed by one rotation of the paper feed roller is equally divided into four parts.
Recording of four lines L2, L3, and L4 is performed.
In other words, when the line feed is performed three times and the recording of four lines is performed, the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation.

Next, the paper feed roller 1 is moved from the reference position.
The number of drive steps of the paper feed motor 9 required to convey the paper P by one line feed amount K until 0 rotates one turn is sequentially measured, and the obtained value is stored in the line feed amount storage unit 25. The number of drive steps varies depending on the diameter or eccentricity of the paper feed roller 10, but the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation and returns to the reference position after performing a line feed four times. It is only necessary to store in the line feed amount storage unit 25 only the number of drive steps for performing line feed four times.

Next, the number z of the heating elements 8 used for recording is set in accordance with the one line feed amount K. The set number of heating elements 8 are used by the recording range control unit 28 as the reference recording range BA during recording.

That is, in FIG. 5, reference characters L1 (first line), L1
2 (second row), L3 (third row), and L4 (fourth row) are recorded using the heating element 8 located mainly in the reference recording area BA, and the extended recording area UA is recorded in each row. Is used for stitching processing between rows. Therefore, the stitching process can be easily performed by providing the extended recording range UA.

The length of the heating elements 8 formed on the thermal head 7 of the present embodiment, that is, the total number of the heating elements 8 can be easily determined in advance from the designed maximum length of the paper feed roller 10 or the like. Can be. For example, when the maximum circumference of the paper feed roller 10 is 6 cm, the line feed amount K is 1.5
cm, it is easy to prepare a heating element 8 having a formation length of about 1.7 cm in advance in consideration of the extended recording range UA and the safety factor.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the reference recording range BA used for recording each row is determined based on the paper feed amount L of the paper P when the paper feed roller 10 rotated by the paper feed motor 9 makes one rotation. And 1 / N of this paper feed amount L
(N is a positive integer) is the line feed amount K, and by setting the reference recording range BA in accordance with the line feed amount K, the position shift of the line feed can be extremely reduced. It is possible to carry out extremely high precision paper feeding required for obtaining an image record.

The paper feed roller 10 is used to feed the paper
The conveyance of the sheet P always starts from the reference position, and always returns to the reference position when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation, and the position of the paper feed roller 10 and the driving force transmission mechanism 21
Are held at the same position, the position of the paper feed roller 10 when each line feed operation is performed, and the gears 18, 19 forming the driving force transmission mechanism 21. , 20 are always the same, so that the pitch deviation due to the eccentricity of the paper feed roller can be extremely reduced, unlike the related art. As a result, it is possible to obtain a higher quality image in recent years. The required extremely high precision paper feed can be performed.

The size (dot size) of each heating element 8 of the thermal head 7 is determined in accordance with the resolution of the thermal head 7 such as 600 dpi. Paper feed amount L
Hardly coincides with a multiple of 4 of the size d of the heating element 8.

Therefore, the connection of each line indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 5 is adjusted by the number of steps of the paper feed motor 9 (the minimum adjustment width is each of the gears 18, 19, 2).
0), and the connection when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation as shown by an arrow C in FIG.
At the overlap or opening shown in (b), the size of the heating element 8 is shifted by half at the maximum. However, unlike the conventional case, the displacement when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation is always the same.

Therefore, when the paper feed amount L when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation is not a multiple of 4 of the size d of the heating element 8, the number of heating elements 8 used for recording each row, that is, By changing the reference recording range BA. That is, the shift amount is assigned to each row.

As a specific example, when L = 4 × d × z, L1 = L2 = L3 = L4 = d × z, and when L = 4 × d × z + 1, L1 = L2 = L3 = d × z L4 = d × z + 1, L = 4 × d × z + 2, L1 = L2 = d × z L3 = L4 = d × z + 1, and L = 4 × d × z + 3, L1 = L2 = L3 = d × z + 1 L4 = d × z.

Then, the paper feed roller 1 shown in FIG.
The shift of the 1 / 2d overlap when 0 rotates once is shown in FIG.
1 / (2 × 4) d overlap shown in FIG.
The shift of the 1 / 2d opening shown in FIG.
An opening difference of 1 / (2 × 4) d shown in FIG.

That is, the maximum shift amount of ｄd when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation is distributed to each line feed amount K when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation, and the deviation amount is stored in the line feed amount storage unit 25. By storing, the paper feed roller 10
Can be further divided into N, and the paper feed accuracy can be further improved.

Therefore, according to the recording apparatus 1 of this embodiment to which the recording method of this embodiment is applied, the paper feed motor 9
Based on the paper feed amount L of the paper P when the paper feed roller 10 driven to rotate by one rotation makes a reference, the paper feed amount L
/ N (N is a positive integer) is a line feed amount K, and the number of the heating elements 8 used for recording according to the line feed amount K is a reference recording range BA.
, The pitch deviation due to the influence of the eccentricity of the paper feed roller 10 and the like can be extremely reduced, and as a result, the extremely high precision required for recording a higher quality image in recent years can be obtained. Paper feed can be performed.

The heating elements of several dots adjacent to the heating elements 8 forming the reference recording area BA are used for recording as the extended recording area UA. It is possible to easily perform a stitching process used when an image such as an illustration or a graphic that spans between lines is formed on the paper P.

Further, when the paper feed amount L when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation does not coincide with N times the reference recording range BA of the thermal head 7, the paper feed roller 10 makes the shift amount by one rotation. In this case, since the line feed amount K is distributed, the paper feeding accuracy can be further improved.

The reference position marker 14 and the detecting means 15 can easily measure the paper feed amount L of the paper P when the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation, and the paper feed roller 10 makes one rotation. In this case, the rotation position can always be a fixed position.

Further, the line feed amount storage unit 25 can easily control the line feed position of the paper feed roller 10 which is driven to rotate by the paper feed motor 9.

Further, the driving force transmission mechanism 21 can reduce design restrictions on the position where the paper feed motor 9 and the paper feed roller 10 are provided. That is, by connecting the paper feed motor 9 and the paper feed roller 10 via the driving force transmission mechanism 21, the paper feed motor 9 and the paper feed roller 10 can be easily arranged at positions where they do not interfere with each other. can do.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as needed.

[0067]

As described above, according to the recording method and the recording apparatus of the present invention, the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller rotated by the paper feed motor makes one rotation is used as a reference, 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of the feed amount is set as a line feed amount, and the number of print elements used for printing is set as a reference print range in accordance with the line feed amount. Is extremely reduced, and as a result, there is an extremely excellent effect that it is possible to carry out extremely high-precision paper feed required for recording a higher quality image in recent years.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which a recording method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between a recording element of a recording head and a reference recording range.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part near a paper feed roller.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a control unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between a paper feed amount, a line feed amount, and a printing element of a printing apparatus to which the printing method according to the present invention is applied.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams showing the maximum displacement of the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation, wherein FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the displacement of the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation when the maximum displacement of the connection when the paper feed roller makes one rotation is assigned to each line feed;
(A) is a double stitch, (b) is an open stitch

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording device 3 Platen 6 Carriage 7 Thermal head (as a recording head) 8 Heating element (as a recording element) 9 Paper feed motor 10 Paper feed roller 14 Reference position marker 15 Detecting means 16 Control unit 18 Roller drive gear 19 Transmission gear Reference Signs List 20 motor gear 21 driving force transmission mechanism 22 CPU 23 memory 24 controller 25 line feed amount storage unit 26 motor drive control unit 27 position control unit 28 recording range control unit 29 extended recording range control unit A paper feed direction B (in each line) Connection P when paper feed roller makes one rotation P Paper K Line feed amount L Paper feed amount (of paper when paper feed roller makes one rotation) BA Reference recording range UA Extended recording range d (of heating element as recording element) ) Size z (number of heating elements as recording elements)

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A paper feed amount when a paper feed roller rotated by a paper feed motor makes one rotation is set as a reference,
1 / N (N is a positive integer) of the paper feed amount is set as a line feed amount, and the number of printing elements used for printing is set as a reference print range in accordance with the line feed amount. 2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein a recording element for several dots adjacent to a recording element forming the reference recording range is used for recording as an extended recording range. 3. When the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation does not coincide with N times the reference recording range of the recording head, the deviation amount is set when the paper feed roller makes one rotation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the line feed amounts are allocated.
Alternatively, the recording method according to claim 2. 4. A paper feed roller rotated by a paper feed motor consisting of a step motor for transporting a predetermined paper, and a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in a paper transport direction orthogonal to the recording direction. And measuring in advance the paper feed amount of the paper when the paper feed roller rotated by the paper feed motor makes one rotation, and using 1 / N (N is a positive integer) of this paper feed amount as a line feed amount; A line feed amount storage unit that stores the number of drive steps of the paper feed motor necessary to obtain the amount of rotation of the paper feed roller that is the line feed amount, based on the number of drive steps stored in the line feed amount storage unit. A motor drive control unit that controls driving of the paper feed motor; and a line feed amount that is a paper feed amount conveyed by the number of drive steps stored in the line feed amount storage unit among the plurality of recording elements of the print head. And a recording range control section that controls so as to use a number of recording elements as a reference recording range used for recording, the recording apparatus characterized by having a. 5. An extended recording range control unit for controlling a recording element for several dots adjacent to a recording element forming the reference recording range to be used for recording as an extended recording range. Item 5. The recording device according to Item 4. 6. When the paper feed amount when the paper feed roller makes one rotation does not match N times the reference recording range of the recording head, the deviation amount is stored in the line feed amount storage unit. 6. The program according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the data is sorted and stored for each line feed amount when one rotation is made.
The recording device according to claim 1. 7. A reference position marker provided on the paper feed roller and indicating a reference position of the paper feed roller, detecting means for detecting the reference position marker, and setting the paper feed roller to a reference position at the start of paper feed. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6, further comprising a position control unit that controls the paper feed motor so as to be located at a position. 8. The number of drive steps of the paper feed motor necessary for rotating the paper feed roller by one line feed sequentially from the reference position of the paper feed roller is stored in the line feed amount storage unit in order from the reference position of the paper feed roller. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein
The recording device according to claim 1. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the paper feed motor and the paper feed roller are connected via a driving force transmission mechanism.