JPH03159746A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To raise a throughput of recording by reducing idle time by a method wherein whether ink of a block in recording is sufficiently fixed or not by natural drying until discharge of paper is ended, is discriminated based on a number of measured blocks and a recording density of each block, and fixing control with a fixing device is performed only for the block which is discriminated not to be sufficiently fixed. CONSTITUTION:A control part 102 inputs a density data showing each block recording density of a recording data of a 1 sheet part from a data transfer device 101 and stores in a RAM 102. A number N of total blocks to be recorded and a number B of high density blocks are recognized from this density data. Total time T1 to be required from start of recording one sheet to discharge of paper is obtained, and natural fixing time T is compared with total time T1. If T<T1, a number X of fixing times without requiring fixing control is obtained by dividing a value of subtracting the natural fixing time T from the total time T1 by fixing time t2.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field 1] The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus such as a blink or a facsimile machine that performs recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) from an ejection port of a recording head. [Prior Art] Conventional inkjet recording apparatuses use a method that determines the wetness of the sheet itself based on the recorded data almost at the same time as recording data on the sheet, in order to promote the fixation of ink on the sheet after recording. As a variation of this, it is known that the recording density of the sheet is determined, and the higher the recording density, the more the fixing is controlled by controlling the transport speed of the sheet passing through the fixing device (Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-3: 1959). (see official bulletin). [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional inkjet recording apparatus described above measures the recording density almost simultaneously with recording data on a sheet, that is, immediately before or after recording, and measures the recording density before fixing. Since it does not measure the recording density of the recorded sheet that has reached the device, there is a problem that it performs fixing control even when there is no need to do so, causing idle time and reducing the recording throughput. . The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and is a recording method that reduces idle time by performing fixing control only for blocks that are not sufficiently fixed due to natural drying during recording. An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device with high throughput.

[Means to solve the problem]

An inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention is an inkjet recording apparatus equipped with a fixing device arranged to perform fixing control to promote fixation of ink on a recording medium after recording, and in which a plurality of recording media can be connected to one recording medium. A measuring means for measuring the number of blocks per recording medium and the recording density for each block when recording is divided into blocks before recording, and the number of blocks measured by the measuring means and the recording density for each block. Based on the recording density of each block, it is determined whether the ink of the block being recorded will be sufficiently fixed by air drying before the end of paper ejection, and only for the blocks for which it is determined that the ink will not be sufficiently fixed, the specified @ and control means for controlling fixing in the device. The recording head uses thermal energy to eject ink droplets from ink ejection ports. [Function] When the measuring means measures the total number of blocks and the recording density for each block before recording, the control means ensures that the ink in the block being recorded is sufficiently fixed by air drying by the time paper ejection is completed. Determine whether or not to do so. Fixing control is performed for blocks determined not to be sufficiently fixed, but fixing control is omitted for blocks determined to be sufficiently fixed.
Let dry naturally. By omitting this fixing control, recording of the next block can be started sooner. [Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer 100 as an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a sheet feed roller 2 rotatably driven by a sheet feed motor (not shown) is pivotally supported on a chassis l, and a guide is provided in front of the sheet feed roller 2 in parallel with the sheet feed roller 2. A carriage 5 is movably supported by a shaft 3 and a rail 4. A recording head 6 is mounted on the carriage 5, and a sheet width sensor 20 is also mounted via a stay 19. The recording head 6 includes 128 ejection ports (not shown) arranged vertically in parallel, and a driving means (not shown) that uses thermal energy to eject ink droplets from each of the ejection ports. It records by scanning in the horizontal direction. These recording head 6 and sheet width sensor 20 are connected to a head driver 107 and a control section 102 shown in FIG. 3, respectively, by a flexible cable 2l. A pinch roller 8 (shown in FIG. 1) for applying a friction conveying force to the roller (shown in FIG. 2) is separably pressed into contact with the pinch roller 8 (shown in FIG. 2). Further, on the downstream side (upper side in the figure) of the sheet feed roller 2, there is provided a fixing plate which has the function of a guide plate that promotes the fixation of ink on the sheet 7 after recording and supports the sheet 7 from the back side. A paper discharge roller 10 (shown in FIG. 2) that rotates in synchronization with the sheet feed roller 2 and a block roller ti are provided on the downstream side thereof. On the other hand, on the upstream side (lower side in the figure) of the sheet feeding roller 2, there is a seat 7 on the sheet feeding roller 2.
Cut sheet feeder l2 that automatically feeds sheets one by one
is provided. The cut sheet feeder l2 is configured to feed a plurality of sheets 7 one by one from the top layer, which are pressed by a spring l5 between a pressure plate l3 and a paper feed roller I4. The sheets 7 driven by l4 are separated one by one by separation pads 17 which are laid n:4 on the paper feed roller l4 by springs 16. Near the sheet bus of the paper feed roller 14, the sheet 7 enters,
A sheet end sensor 18 is arranged to detect the passing and trailing edge. , the sheet end sensor 18 and the sheet width sensor 20 may each be constructed of a photosensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of printer 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 101 denotes a host computer or data transfer device, and the host computer or data transfer device 101 (hereinafter simply referred to as data transfer device 101) transfers recording data in a predetermined manner in response to a trigger signal from the control unit 102. The signal is sent to the control unit 102 at a clock rate of a frequency of . Further, the data transfer device 101 may be used as a measuring means, for example, as a measurement means. -1 77
As described in 4.1.2, before sending the recording data, various data indicating the recording density of the recording data, print mode, etc. The control unit 102 controls the entire printer 100, and the microprocessor 1021 also sends the data to the control unit 102.
(hereinafter referred to as MPU 102), ROM 102, which stores control programs and fixed data for the MPU 102, which will be described later, and a ROM 102, which is used as a mark area and is used to control the sheet width. A RAM 1023 stores a count value calculated from the corresponding number of data, a total value obtained by calculating the total number of receiving lines according to the count value, and flags used in the control program described later, and a RAM 1023 that stores the number of sheet feeds and When the counter 1024 that counts the number of pulses for carrying the cartridge and the MPU 102 performs counter 1024 and the instructed time is measured, the MPU 1
A timer 1025 outputs an interrupt signal to 021, and an I/O boat 10 outputs each data and control signal.
It is equipped with 26 mag. Reference numeral 103 denotes an image buffer memory, and the image buffer memory 103 can store at least the number of recording elements of the recording head 6, that is, 128 recording data sequentially sent from the data transfer device 101 via the control unit 102. . 104 is a receiving circuit which will be described later, and the receiving circuit 104
are a counter 104 and a black dot discrimination circuit 104, which will be described later, respectively. 6105 is a data converter, and the data converter 105 converts 128 lines of print data corresponding to the number of print elements of the print head 6 from the image buffer memory 103 into 128 lines in the vertical direction.
Each row of dots is read out via the control unit 102 and outputted to the head driver 107 in accordance with the recording position of the recording head 6. The head driver 107 drives each recording element of the recording head 6 based on the recording data from the data converter 105. 108 is. A carriage motor driver which horizontally scans the carriage 5 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. A paper feed motor that can feed the sheet 7 in minutes, a paper feed motor driver that drives the paper feed motor, a feeder motor for the cut sheet feeder 12 shown in FIG. 2, and the feeder motor. This is a motor drive unit that includes a driving feeder motor (each component is not shown). 109 is an information input section that inputs various information and outputs it to the control section 102, and the information input section 102 is connected to the seat end sensor 18.1 shown in FIG. It includes a sheet width sensor 20 and a key panel (not shown) that can specify the sheet size. The sheet size can also be specified from the data transfer device lot. FIG. 4 shows recording data for 1 sheet 7 (hereinafter referred to as 1 sheet) sent from the data transfer device 101 to the printer 100. Recording is performed in order. The recorded data is
The recording density is measured for each block, block 1 to block N, with the number of recording elements (128 dots) of the recording head 6 as one block. Next, what is the operation of the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 3? Figure 5 1a). This will be explained with reference to fbl. Here, the RAM 102 of the printer 100. does not have the storage capacity for one sheet as a memory for recording data, and based on the recording density of each block for one sheet transferred from the data transfer device 101, before recording The following explanation assumes that the total time involved in recording one sheet is calculated. First, control by the control program of ROMI02■ is started, and the control unit 102 receives l from the data transfer device 101.
Density data indicating the recording density of each block of recording data for one sheet is input and stored in the RAM 102 (step 5021. From this density data, the total number of blocks 'e!IN' to be recorded and the number of high-density blocks B) are input. (Step 503).As an initial setting, the timer 102S is cleared (Step 504).Next, after high-density recording data is recorded on the sheet 7, the fixing device 9 is not controlled to perform fixing. The natural fixing time T is the time required for natural drying, and the time required for the carriage 5 to move horizontally to record each block, the recording head 6 to perform recording, and the time until the carriage 5 returns to its original position. recording time t1, which is the time for one scanning of Input the settings respectively (Step 5 11 5 +. Each time T, Ll + t.,
t. The setting of i is made in the data transfer device lot or the information input unit 109, and can be changed arbitrarily depending on recording conditions, etc., but in particular, the value of recording time 1+ is set when the carriage 5 moves to the maximum. The time shall be set. Total time required from the start of recording to the ejection of one sheet 7 T I = t + X N + tzX B +
Find t3 (step 506). Compare the natural fixation time T and the total time TI (step 507L if T<
In the case of Tl, that is, when the total time T1 takes longer, the value obtained by subtracting the natural fixing time T from the total time T1 is divided by the fixing time t2 to calculate the fixing time 1aX (hereinafter omitted) that does not require fixing control. (referred to as 1x) (step 508). The N E1 part of the number of omissions x is again substituted for the number of omissions x (step 5091. Here, if the value of the number of omissions lx is less than 1, the number of omissions X becomes O. Then, a paper feeding operation is performed (step 5101). .Timer t0
2. (Step 5111. During recording, the timer l O 2 s is kept in operation. If T≧TI in step 507, the sheet feeding operation in step 510 is continued. Next, the recorded block is Clear counting count 1024 (step 5121.
After receiving one block of recording data (step 513). Recording processing is performed (step 514). Thereafter, the paper is fed by l blocks, that is, the number of recording elements (128 dots) (step 515). Determine whether the recorded block has a high recording density (step 5)
161. If the block is high, it is determined whether the number of omissions X is O (step 517). If the number of omissions X is not O and the time from the current time to paper ejection is longer than the natural fixing time T, there is no need to perform fixing control on the regulator 9, so the value of the timer 102s is read (step 524). The remaining time, which is the value obtained by subtracting the read timer value from the previously calculated total time TI, is compared with the natural fixation time T (step 5).
25). If the natural fixing time T is shorter than the remaining time, it means that it will take more time from the current time until after the paper is ejected, so even if the fixing control is omitted, the drying and fixing of the recorded sheet 7 will not be affected. shall be. Thereafter, the counter 102. (hereinafter referred to as block count) is increased by 1 (step 520). When the natural drying time T is longer than the remaining time, if the constant M control is omitted here, a situation may occur in which sheet 7 is not yet dry at the time of paper ejection, so the fixing time t2 is , performs fixing control on the fixing device 9 (step 518). LM calculation is performed for the omitted time aX (step 519l. A'ii language step 520 is performed. After step 520, it is determined whether the block count has reached the total number of blocks N (step 521!. It has not reached it yet. If not, the process returns to step 513, and if it has been reached, the paper is ejected (step 522) and the process ends. In FIGS. Although the operation of this embodiment has been explained assuming that the RAM is not
1023 has a storage capacity of 1 sheet as a memory for recording data, and the printer 1OO shown in FIG.
The following description assumes that the receiving circuit 104 in the middle is used. The receiving circuit 104 shown in FIG. 3 includes a counter I041 that can set the number of data for one line, and a control unit 102
When the set number of data is received from the RAM 1023, a detection signal indicating reception is output to the control unit 102, and the number of bits per line in the horizontal direction can be counted. The black dot discrimination circuit 1042 is a circuit that counts the maximum number of consecutive black dots in one line. As shown in FIG.
and is sent by the clock signal VDOCK. The up/down counter 51 (hereinafter referred to as counter 5l) counts up when the video signal VDO indicates black and counts down when the video signal VDO indicates white, so the output value increases as black dots continue. The converter 52 converts the output value of the counter 5l and the D flip-flop 53 (hereinafter referred to as D-
D-FF53) is compared with the output value of D-FF53.
When the value of the output of the counter 51 is greater than the value of the output of the counter 51, the value of the output of the counter 5l is held. Therefore, D-F
F53 holds the maximum value of the output of counter 5l in one line. The value is read out to MPLI102 through output buffer 54. The receiving circuit 104 configured in this manner and the RAM 102. having a storage capacity for one sheet. The operation of the embodiment having the following will be described. First, one sheet of recording data transferred from the data transfer device 101 is stored in the RAM 1023, the stored recording data is sent to the receiving circuit 104, the number of consecutive black dots is calculated, and the MPLI 102 calculates the maximum value. Read out. The density of one line is determined from the maximum number of consecutive black dots, and this operation is repeated for one block (128 lines).
The recording density of an l block is determined based on the number of consecutive high-density lines and the total number of lines in the l block. This operation is repeated for one sheet (N blocks) and the recording density of each block is stored in the RAM 1023. after that,
Figure 5 ia). Of the operations shown in (b), control 1 may be started from step 503. [Effects of the Invention J As explained above, the present invention determines the recording density for each block before recording, calculates the total time from sheet feeding to sheet ejection, and calculates the total time during recording based on the total time. By performing fixing control only on blocks that are not sufficiently fixed due to natural drying, it is possible to omit wasteful fixing control, reduce idle time, and improve recording throughput.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of FIG. 1, and FIG.
A block diagram showing the configuration of the actual example shown in FIG.
Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing recorded data, Figure 5(a),
fbl is a flowchart showing the operation of the actual travel example shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing the receiving circuit 104 in FIG. 3. l...Chassis, 2...Sheet feed roller, 3...Guide shaft, 4...-Rail, 5...
・Carriage, 6... Recording head, 7... Sheet, 8... Pinch roller, 9... Fixing device, IO... Output roller, 1l...-Block roller, 12... Cut sheet one feeder, l3... pressure plate, l4... paper feed roller,
15. 16---Spring, 17...Separation pad, l8...-Seat end sensor, l9...-Stay, 20...Seat width sensor, 5L...
... Counter, 52 ... Converter, 53
...-D-FF, 54... Output buffer, 10
0... Printer, 101... Data transfer device, 102... Control unit, 103... Image buffer memory, 104... Receiving circuit, 105-...
Data converter, 107...Head driver, 108...Motor drive section, 109...Information input section, 502-525...Steps.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an inkjet recording apparatus equipped with a fixing device arranged to perform fixing control to promote fixing of ink on a recording medium after recording, Measuring means for measuring the number of blocks per recording medium and the recording density for each block when recording is divided into blocks before recording, and the number of blocks and blocks measured by the measuring means. Based on the recording density of each block, it is determined whether the ink of the block being recorded is sufficiently fixed by natural drying by the end of paper ejection, and the fixing unit is used only for blocks determined not to be sufficiently fixed. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a control means for performing fixing control. 2. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head uses thermal energy to eject ink droplets from an ink ejection port.