JPS63114674A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve inexpensive long line-by-line recording through using short recording heads, by arranging the short recording heads in a staggered form, delaying by holding a portion of serial information inputted on a line-by-line basis by a period corresponding to the interval between the staggered rows of the heads, then again serializing the information, and driving the heads by the information thus obtained. CONSTITUTION:Of 2m+1 line recording heads 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 arranged in a staggered form, and m+1 heads are disposed on the preceding side. The first data of serial information is inputted directly to the short head 104. For this purpose, switches 14, 15 are connected to terminals B. The next data to be inputted to the short head 103 disposed a distance L behind the head 104 is delayed by a period corresponding to the distance L, before being supplied to the head 103. A delay circuit 12 constituted of a RAM receives the current data written after discharging the data previously stored therein, by designating the same address, and the address is sequentially shifted by an amount corresponding to the delay. Namely, supply of data to the short head 103 is carried out by changing over the switches 14, 15 to terminals A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a signal processing means of a recording head suitable for use in a recording apparatus having a relatively large screen such as a recording type electronic whiteboard apparatus.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a technology in which recording elements of several thousand pixels are arranged in a line in printers, facsimile machines, etc., and recording information is recorded line-sequentially.

During recording with such a line recording head, normally 200 to 3
00m/m, and with this line recording head, the recording width of an electronic whiteboard device, which is a large screen recording device, is approximately 1000m.
, /m was impossible to cover.

Further, it is technically and cost-effective to extend the line recording head of the conventional structure to the above-mentioned length and mass-produce it.

(Objective) An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which can solve the problems of the prior art described above and can realize long line-old recording at low cost using a short recording head.

[Means to achieve the purpose]

The present invention arranges short recording heads in a staggered pattern, delays and holds a part of the serial information inputted in a line by an amount corresponding to the staggered arrangement interval, and then serializes it again. The above object is achieved by the configuration for driving the group.

〔Example] The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a line recording head suitable for mounting on a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross section of the line recording head, and FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the recording section of the line recording head.

3 and 4, inside the housing (ink pot) 2 of the recording head 1 is ink that is semi-solid at room temperature and maintains high viscosity, but whose viscosity decreases at high temperatures. (including softening and sublimation) ink is retained.

A heating element 4 such as a carbon resistor is provided in the recording section of the housing 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of the heating elements 4 are arranged in an array at predetermined intervals (for example, at a pitch of 1 mm). Each of the heating elements 4 is provided with four ink passage holes 5, each of which is a through hole having a diameter of, for example, about 0.2 mm.

Each of the heating elements 4 has an electrode 6 made of a conductive material (such as aluminum) that is energized according to the image signal (recorded information).
are connected to each other, and by selectively applying a voltage to each electrode 6, the corresponding heating element 4 is individually heated (driven).

Furthermore, a frame-shaped spacer 7 made of fluororesin or the like is provided on the surface of the heating element 4, as shown in FIG. This spacer 7 has a thickness of, for example, 0.05 mm.
For example, the surface of each heating element 4 has a size of 0.8 mm x 0.
．． Ink reservoirs 8 having a width of 8 mm are formed in an array.

When recording with the above line recording head 1, the spacer 7 is brought into contact with a sheet-like recording medium 9 such as a recording sheet, as shown in FIG. This recording medium 9 is indicated by arrow A
Sheet feed such as line feed is performed by the platen roller 10 rotating in the direction.

The details of the recording operation of the RAD 1 described above will be explained below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, when a voltage pulse (24 V x 20 ms) is applied to the heating element 4 through the electrode 6, the heating element generates heat, and the semi-solid ink 3 near the heating element is heated. This ink has a high viscosity at room temperature and does not pass through the ink passage hole 5, but when heated with electricity as described above, the viscosity decreases and it passes through the ink passage hole 5.

The ink 3 that has passed through the ink passage hole 5 is transferred to the ink reservoir 8.
It spreads inward and returns to a semi-solid state or a state close to it due to the heat released at that time. At this time, the pressure inside the housing (ink fountain) 2 is higher than the outside pressure (0.1 in gauge pressure).
It is preferable to apply a static pressure of about atmospheric pressure because the passage of the ink 3 is promoted.

Next, when a voltage is applied to the heating element 4 according to the image signal (recorded information), the heating element 4 selectively generates heat as shown in FIG. The solid ink 3 becomes less viscous, peels off from the ink reservoir 8, and is transferred onto the recording sheet 9, which is conveyed in the direction of arrow B (see (B) in FIG. 5).

When the ink reservoir 8 is emptied by the transfer, the ink 3 in the housing 2 whose viscosity has been reduced by the heat generated by the heating element 4 passes through the ink passage hole 5 and is replenished into the ink reservoir 8, as shown in FIG. The state becomes C). Next, the ink 3 replenished into the ink reservoir 8 becomes semi-solid due to heat radiation as it spreads into the ink reservoir, resulting in the state shown in FIG. 5(D).

The operations described above in (A) to (D) in FIG. A pattern consisting of a linear array of recording dots corresponding to the width of the ink reservoir 8 is formed, and the ink image is transferred by a line printing method.

In the above-mentioned transfer recording, in the recording head 1 of this embodiment, the depth of the ink reservoir 8 (0.05 mm) is smaller than the half 11 (0.1 mm) of the ink passage hole 5, so the heating element 4 generates heat. At this time, heat transfer to the ink in the ink reservoir 8 is faster than heat transfer to the ink in the ink passage hole 5. Therefore, the timing at which the ink in the ink reservoir 8 becomes low in viscosity and is transferred onto the recording sheet 9 is slightly faster than the timing at which the ink in the ink passage hole 5 becomes low in viscosity and passes through the hole 5.

In this way, when one pulse of voltage is applied to the heating element 4,
First, the ink in the ink reservoir 8 is transferred to the recording sheet 9, and then the empty ink reservoir 8 is replenished with ink.

Considering mass production, the line recording head described above has a total length of about 210 m, which is the limit, and since the ink 3 is melted by the heating resistor 4, the ink fountain (housing) 2 is generally It needs to be larger than the resistor 4 in terms of heat capacity. In other words, it is difficult to use a plurality of rads 1 and arrange them on the same line without any gaps in the line recording of the above structure.

Therefore, in the present invention, a multi-line head in which a plurality of line recording heads are arranged in a staggered manner is employed. In the following embodiments, a case will be described in which five line recording heads are arranged in a staggered manner.

FIG. 1 illustrates an arrangement of multiple recording heads of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

In Figure 1, 2m+1 (m is an integer and in the example shown, 2m+1
) book line recording head 100.101.102.10
3.104 are arranged in a staggered manner, and in this case, m+1 heads are arranged on the leading side with respect to the sheet-like recording medium that moves relatively. The reason for this is that the number of heads that lag behind by the staggered arrangement interval is m, and the number of heads that lags behind by the staggered arrangement interval is 1
This is because the number of delay holding circuits can be reduced by 1/2 m compared to the case of the reverse arrangement, and the amount of delay of raster information can be reduced by that amount.

For example, when m=1, that is, when three heads are used, the number can be halved to 1/2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a recording head drive circuit in this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, record information output from an external device! 11
16, that is, the serial information 16 that is input as a raster is
Short line recording heads 100.1 arranged in a staggered manner
It is necessary to perform signal processing corresponding to the array position of 01.102.103.104.

The serial information 16, which is input in one line regardless of the arrangement of the short heads 100 to 104, is transmitted through switches 14 and 15.
By switching the signals, the signals are partially delayed through the delay circuits 12, 13 and converted into an array of signals that, when recombined in each of the short heads 100-104, become just serial information.

The operation of this signal processing will be specifically explained below.

First, 20 from the beginning of the serial information to be raster input.
The 0-bit data is serially input as is to the short head 104. For this purpose, switch 14.15 is connected to the second
It is connected to terminal B as shown in the figure.

Since the next 200 bits of data are input to the short head 103 which is placed a distance behind as shown in FIG. 1, it is necessary to supply them with a delay corresponding to this distance.

The delay circuit 12 for this purpose is composed of a RAM, and by specifying the same address, discharging the already stored data, writing the current data, and sequentially shifting the addresses by the delay amount, the above data is delayed. operation can be realized.

That is, the 200-bit data supplied to the short head 103 is output after the switches 14 and 15 are switched to the A terminals and the above processing is performed.

Similarly, data is supplied to the short head 102 from terminal B.
Data is supplied to the short head 101 to the terminal C, and data to the short head 100 is supplied to the terminal B by switching the switches 14 and 15. Serialization is performed again according to the head arrangement, so the second Data transfer to the five short heads 100 to 104 as shown in the figure can be easily realized simply by serially connecting built-in shift registers.

Note that the timing circuit 17 attached to the delay circuit 12.13 is composed of a counter counted by a line synchronization signal 18 inputted in synchronization with the input data 16, and the timing circuit 17 is configured to count by a line synchronization signal 18 inputted in synchronization with the input data 16. The timing pulse for operating the circuit 102 and the data delay circuit 103 to the head 101 and the switching timing of the changeover switches 14 and 15 are controlled.

Further, the control signal supplied from the timing circuit 17 to the recording head through the control line 19 is used for the transfer lock data latch and each short head 100 to 10 when reserialized serial data is transmitted through the signal line 20.
4 and is connected to each short head by a bus.

In the above embodiment, if the staggered arrangement interval L = 10 mm and the recording density is 1 dot 1 mm, the data delay will be 200 bits x 10 = 2 bits, and the delay circuits 12 and 13 should each be constructed with 2 bit SRAMI chips. Can be done.

According to the embodiment structure of the recording apparatus described above, long recording with a width of about 1 m to several meters can be realized at low cost with a simple configuration using a plurality of short recording heads 100 to 104 of about several tens of cm. is now possible.

In this case, the short heads 100 to 104 are stacked in a staggered manner and one extra head is arranged on the side where the recording timing precedes, so the scale of the signal circuit can be reduced considering the head arrangement, and data transfer to each head can be reduced. was able to facilitate this.

Incidentally, the recording apparatus according to the present invention is capable of printing from several tens of mm to 200 mm to 300 mm, regardless of the recording method, such as a thermal recording apparatus of both thermal transfer type and thermal type, an inkjet recording apparatus, or a wire dot recording apparatus.
It is widely applicable to various recording apparatuses equipped with line recording heads that are lengthened to a certain extent.

(Effects) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a line recording head formed by linearly arranging a large number of recording elements can be used.
By arranging a plurality of recording heads in a staggered manner, it is possible to provide a recording apparatus that can realize long line-sequential recording using a short recording head with a simple and reliable configuration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view illustrating the configuration of a recording head of a recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram showing a recording head drive circuit of the recording apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a line recording head. FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the recording section of the line recording head, and FIGS. 5(A) to (D) are sectional views sequentially showing the operation of the recording head of FIG. 3 during recording. be. 12.13...--Delay circuit, 14.15-
・・・・−・Selector switch, 16−・−・−・・
Serial recording information, 20 --- Serialized recording information, 100 to 104 ---
・Short length recording head (line recording head), L...
...Staggered spacing. Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A recording device characterized by having a plurality of line recording heads each having a large number of recording elements arranged in a line in a staggered arrangement. (2) Of (2m+1) line recording heads, (m
+1) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the book is placed in advance in the moving direction of a relatively moving sheet-like recording medium. (3) The recording head driving means alternately selects a means for delay-holding a part of the raster-input recording information, the rest of the raster-input recording information, and the output of the delay-holding means according to the head arrangement. 3. The recording device according to claim 1, further comprising means for re-serializing the data.