JP2002046289A - Ink jet printer and ink consumption control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an ink jet printer that can sufficiently consume ink in an ink cartridge to a limit that does not adversely affect a print head. SOLUTION: An ink jet printer 3 has a function of storing an ink low fictitious value and detecting whether or not a dot omission has occurred on printing paper due to an ink ejection error. The printer 3 considers that there is a printable ink remaining amount and performs printing unless there is a missing dot even if the ink low is detected, or as long as no missing dot occurs after detecting the presence of the missing dot. continue.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly, to a technique for controlling the consumption of ink in an ink cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, every time an ink jet printer prints out, the total ink consumption of a currently mounted ink cartridge up to now is estimated based on the number of dots of ink ejected in the print out.
When the estimated total consumption reaches a certain value, the inkjet printer regards the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge as zero (hereinafter, ink end), stops printing, and notifies the user of the ink end. And instruct the user to replace the ink cartridge. The value of the total ink consumption when regarded as ink end (hereinafter referred to as an ink end pseudo value) is set in the inkjet printer in advance.

[0003]

The ink end simulated value prevents the print head from being filled with ink sufficiently to prevent the ink from being hit (i.e., adversely affecting the print head). It is set so that only the amount of ink can be left. Specifically, referring to FIG. 1, the ink end pseudo value is obtained by subtracting the ink amount (ink lower limit value) Y that can prevent the ink ejection from being lost from the ink amount X of the ink cartridge 1 at the time of shipment. It is ideal to set the value of the consumed ink amount Z. However, in practice, variations (errors) may occur in some elements as in the following (1) to (3),
The ink end simulated value is set based on these.

(1) In the ink injection step in the production of an ink cartridge, the ink injection amount is not always constant, and therefore the ink amount X at the time of shipment may have a variation x. (2) Since the components of the ink cartridge and the assembling accuracy are not always constant, a variation y may occur in the ink remaining amount lower limit Y. (3) Since the temperature of the head, the accuracy of the head drive waveform, the accuracy of the head drive voltage, and the like are not necessarily constant in each printing, the amount of ink ejected from each nozzle of the print head varies. That is, the total ink consumption estimated based on the number of ejected ink dots is literally an estimated amount, and an error z may occur when compared with the actual total ink consumption.

As described above, in practice, since there are some variations x, y, or errors z, the ink end simulated value is used to reliably prevent the ink from being over-dried. , And the error z. Referring to FIG. 1, assuming that x, y, and z are the maximum ranges of the variations (errors), a value Z obtained by subtracting the maximum ranges x, y, and z of the variations from the effective ink consumption Z. '
Is set as the ink end simulated value.

Thus, the ink end simulated value Z 'is
The variation x, y and the error z of the estimated total ink consumption are set on the safe side. For this reason, even if the estimated total ink consumption reaches the ink end pseudo value Z 'and is regarded as the ink end, there is often a sufficient amount of ink that can actually be printed. That is, in the conventional inkjet printer, the ink in the ink cartridge cannot be sufficiently consumed to a limit that does not adversely affect the print head.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printer that can sufficiently consume ink in an ink cartridge to a limit that does not adversely affect a print head.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An ink jet printer according to the present invention has a storage means for storing the total available ink amount of an installed ink cartridge, and an estimation for estimating the total ink consumption of the installed ink cartridge so far. Means, comparison means for comparing the estimated total ink consumption with the total usable ink quantity, detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an ink ejection error, and continuation of printing based on the comparison result and the detection result. Or control means for controlling the stop. Here, the total amount of usable ink is a total amount of printable ink that is set in consideration of the variation and the error, and corresponds to, for example, the above-described ink end hypothesis value or the below-described ink low hypothesis value. Is what you do.

According to the present invention, the printer controls the continuation or stop of printing based on the comparison result between the estimated total ink consumption and the total usable ink amount and the detection result of the presence or absence of an ink ejection error. Accordingly, even if it is estimated that the ink has been consumed more than the total amount of usable ink, if there is no ink ejection error, for example, no ink ejection, the printable ink amount remains in the ink cartridge. In such a case, if you control to continue printing,
Ink in the ink cartridge can be sufficiently consumed to the limit.

In a preferred embodiment, the control means stops printing when an ink ejection error is detected at least once after the estimated total ink consumption becomes equal to or more than the total usable ink amount. After the estimated total ink consumption becomes equal to or larger than the total usable ink amount, the detection means increases the frequency of detecting the presence or absence of an ink ejection error.

In a preferred embodiment, there is provided a recovery means for performing a recovery operation of the print head, and the control means determines whether or not the estimated total ink consumption is less than the total usable ink amount when an ink ejection error occurs. A head recovery operation is performed, and if the estimated total ink consumption is equal to or more than the total usable ink amount, printing is stopped. In a more preferred embodiment, the estimating unit also estimates the inter-recovery ink consumption, which is the total amount of ink consumed from the previous print head recovery operation to the current print head recovery operation. In the print head recovery operation, the degree of the print head recovery operation is controlled based on the estimated ink consumption during recovery.

In a preferred embodiment, the ink cartridge is filled with inks of a plurality of colors, and the above-described units are executed for each of the plurality of colors. For example, the storage unit stores the total available ink amount for each color, the estimation unit estimates the total ink consumption up to now for each color ink, and the detection unit sets the ink ejection amount for each color ink. Detect the presence or absence of a mistake. When an ink ejection error is detected for any of the colors, the comparing means
The control unit compares the estimated total ink consumption and the total usable ink amount for the ink of the color in which the ink ejection error occurred, and based on the comparison result of the ink of the color in which the ink ejection error occurred, continues the printing. Or control the stop.

[0013]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ink jet printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the ink jet printer (hereinafter simply referred to as a printer) 3 according to the present embodiment, the total ink consumption when the remaining amount of ink in the currently mounted ink cartridge is considered to be small (hereinafter referred to as ink low). (Hereinafter, referred to as an incense fictitious value). As with the conventional ink end simulation value, the inclaw simulation value has an adverse effect on the print head due to variations in the amount of ink at the time of shipment, variations in the lower limit value of the remaining ink amount, and errors in the estimated total ink consumption. Is set on the safe side of such variations and errors so as not to give Here, the reason why the word “ink low” is used instead of the word “ink end” is that the printer 3 according to the present embodiment immediately stops printing even if the estimated total ink consumption reaches a certain set value. This is because the function described below in detail allows the ink in the ink cartridge to be sufficiently consumed to a practical limit that does not adversely affect the print head, instead of using the ink end.

The printer 3 has a function of detecting whether or not there is a mistake in ink ejection, in other words, whether or not a dot missing has occurred on the printed paper. During printing, the printer 3 estimates the total ink consumption of the ink cartridge based on the number of ejected ink dots, checks the presence or absence of missing dots at a predetermined timing, and estimates the presence of missing dots. The printing process (ink consumption) is controlled depending on whether or not the total ink consumption has reached the ink low simulated value. Even if the estimated total ink consumption reaches the ink low simulated value and can be regarded as ink low, the printer 3 determines that there is an error in the estimated total ink consumption and the amount of ink that can be printed in the current ink cartridge. Since there is a possibility that the remaining ink remains, even if it can be regarded as ink low, as long as no missing dots are detected, or
Even if the presence of missing dots is detected once, as long as no missing dots occur, printing is continued assuming that there is a printable ink remaining amount.

Hereinafter, a specific description will be given.

The printer 3 is communicably connected to the host device 5. The host device 5 is typically a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, and has a printer driver that is software for performing a process of creating print data to be sent to the printer 3.

The printer 3 includes a print processing circuit 15 for creating a print image and controlling paper feed based on print data transferred from the host device 5, and a print processing circuit 1.
A display unit 7 for displaying the ink low, the ink end, etc. to the user under the control of the control unit 5, and a printing mechanism 9 for printing the print image created by the print processing circuit 15 under the control of the print processing circuit 15. I have.

The print processing circuit 15 includes an input / output circuit for external data, a storage medium (not shown, for example, EEPROM) for storing specific data, and a drive circuit 29 for driving the printing mechanism 9. A total ink consumption estimating unit 11 for estimating the total ink consumption; a missing dot detecting unit 13 for detecting the presence or absence of the above-mentioned missing dot; and a CPU 31 for controlling the entire print processing circuit 15.

The drive circuit 29 includes a head drive circuit for driving the print head 21, a carriage drive circuit for driving a carriage motor (not shown) of the carriage 19, and a paper feed motor for the paper feed roller 17. (Not shown) is included.

The total ink consumption estimating unit 11 estimates the total ink consumption based on the number of dots of ink ejected from the print head 21. More specifically, the total ink consumption estimating unit 11 calculates the estimated total ink consumption by counting up the ink consumption based on the number of ejected ink dots every time when printing is performed.

Under the control of the CPU 31, the missing dot detection unit 13 determines whether or not an ink droplet has been ejected from a predetermined print nozzle of the print head 21 at a predetermined timing (for example, after it is regarded as ink low). Then, it is detected whether or not a dot dropout occurs at a predetermined position on a sheet on which printing has been performed due to an ink ejection error. Specifically, for example, a light source (for example, a semiconductor laser) and a light receiving element that outputs a voltage corresponding to the intensity of light received from the light source are opposed to each other with a certain gap therebetween, and the light is ejected between them. The presence or absence of missing dots is detected by allowing the ink droplets to pass and checking the value of the output voltage from the light receiving element after the ejection ink droplets pass. According to this detection method, if the output voltage value from the light receiving element is higher than the output voltage value simulated based on the number of ejection dots at the time of the detection, the ejection ink droplet passing between the light source and the light receiving element is detected. That is, the number is small, and it can be detected that there is a missing dot. The dot missing detection can be performed for each color of the ink cartridge (that is, when the ink colors used in the printer 3 are, for example, four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow), Missing dot detection can be performed for each of them). In this dot missing detection,
The value of the output voltage that is output each time an ink droplet is ejected is written in a predetermined storage medium in units of lines, pages, or jobs, and is printed every line, every page, or one job. After the end, the presence or absence of missing dots can be detected.

The missing dot detecting section 13 detects missing dots in both cases before and after being considered as ink low. Before being considered as in-claw, dot missing detection is performed within a range that does not affect the printing throughput, for example, every time one page is printed, after printing one job, or after printing immediately after power-on. After being considered as ink low even once, in order to estimate whether or not a printable amount of ink remains in the ink cartridge, for example, a dot is printed every one line printing before it is regarded as ink low. Perform missing detection.

The CPU 31 controls the total ink consumption estimation unit 11
Every time the total ink consumption is estimated in step (3), it is checked whether or not the estimated total ink consumption has reached the ink low simulated value stored in the printer 3, and if it has, the ink is regarded as ink low. Further, the CPU 31 controls the dot missing detection unit 13 to detect a missing dot more frequently than once before assuming that the ink is low. When the dot missing detection unit 13 detects the presence of a missing dot, the CPU 31 performs a head recovery operation described later through the drive circuit 29.

The printing mechanism 20 includes a paper feed roller 17, a carriage 19, a print head 21, a head maintenance device 27 for the print head 21, and the like.

The paper feed roller feeds a printing paper to a discharge tray (not shown) of the printer 3 during printing by driving a paper feed motor.

The carriage 19 is composed of a not-shown transport belt and a carriage motor.
Cartridge holder (not shown) with print head 21
Is attached. The cartridge holder contains, for example, a black ink cartridge 23 containing black (Bk) ink and three color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) as shown in the figure. Color ink cartridge 25 is mounted. The carriage 19 reciprocates the print head 21 with respect to the printing paper in the direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction by operating the transport belt by driving the carriage motor.
The reciprocating motion of the print head 21 and the paper feed roller 1
7 is repeated, during which the print head 2
The image is printed on the printing paper by ejecting ink droplets toward the paper.

The maintenance device 27 includes the print head 21
At the end of the reciprocating movement range, that is, at a position called a home position. The maintenance device 27 suctions ink from the nozzles of the print head 21 stopped at the home position at a predetermined timing, for example, when the above-described dot missing is detected, or cleans the head surface by wiping or the like, thereby clogging the nozzles with ink. And a head recovery operation such as an ink filling operation for filling the print head with the ink in the black ink cartridge 23 and the color ink cartridge 25 (this recovery operation includes Bk, C, This is performed for each of the M and Y ink colors, but may be performed for all the colors simultaneously.) Also,
The maintenance device 27 also performs capping for capping the print head to prevent drying of the ink in the print head.

In the above-described head recovery operation, several head recovery modes having different ink suction speeds and ink suction amounts are prepared. For example, a soft recovery mode in which the ink suction speed is relatively small and the ink suction amount is relatively small, and a hard recovery mode in which the ink suction speed is relatively high and the ink suction amount is relatively large are prepared.
The recovery mode is not limited to these.) These recovery modes are selected by the CPU 31 based on the number of ink dots ejected from the print head 21.

The above is the configuration of the printer 3 in the present embodiment. The black ink cartridge 23 and the color ink cartridge 25 are of an on-carriage type mounted on the carriage 19 together with the print head 21,
Either of an off-carriage type set at an immovable place away from the carriage 19 may be used. The black ink cartridge 23 and the color ink cartridge 25 have a non-volatile storage medium,
An EPROM can also be mounted. In this case, the printer 3 writes the current estimated total ink consumption for each ink color to the EEPROM periodically or at a predetermined timing (for example, when the ink cartridges 23 and 25 are removed). In this way, even if the ink cartridges 23 and 25 are used after being used to some extent in one printer and then removed and re-installed in another printer, the other printer does not have the installed ink cartridges 23 and 25 until now. Can be identified. That is, if an EEPROM is provided in each of the ink cartridges 23 and 25 and the estimated total ink consumption is appropriately written therein, the ink cartridges 23 and 25 can be reused for a plurality of printers.

As described above, the printer 3 detects the presence or absence of missing dots at a predetermined timing, and performs a printing process (the ink cartridge 2) based on the detection result.
3 and 25). Hereinafter, the control procedure of the printing process of the printer 3 will be described by taking as an example a case where an EEPROM is provided in the ink cartridges 23 and 25 and the estimated total ink consumption is written for each ink color.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the printing process performed by the printer 3 in this embodiment.

The printer 3 includes a black ink cartridge 23
Alternatively, when the color ink cartridge 25 is mounted (YES in Step S1), the estimated total ink usage of each ink color is read from the EEPROM of the mounted ink cartridge 23 or 25 (S2). If the read estimated total ink usage is equal to or greater than the ink low simulated value (YES in S2), the ink color that can be regarded as ink low is identified (for example, magenta), and the installed ink cartridge 23 is set.
Alternatively, the fact that 25 is ink low is displayed on the display unit 7 (S3). Here, the installed ink cartridge 2
Even if the estimated total ink consumption of 3 or 25 has reached the ink low simulated value, there is a possibility that the ink cartridge 23 or 25 may have an amount of ink that can be printed, so printing is not stopped. Make the printer ready for printing.

When printing is performed after step S3 (S4), the estimated total ink consumption is counted up based on the number of ink dots ejected in the printing (S5), and the ink color (for example, magenta Only), the presence or absence of a missing dot is checked (S6). If there is no missing dot (NO in S7), the process proceeds to step S20 in FIG. 4. If there is a missing dot (YES in S7), printing is stopped (S7). S8) The ink end of the color considered as the ink low is regarded as the ink end, and the ink end is displayed (S8).
9) Instruct the user to replace the ink cartridge 23 or 25 (S10). Ink cartridge 23 or 2
When 5 has been exchanged (YES in S10), the process returns to step S2.

In step S2, if there is no ink color that can be regarded as ink low (NO in S2), printing is performed in response to a user's instruction (S11), and the estimated total ink consumption is counted up (S12). . Further, the presence or absence of missing dots is detected every time one page is printed or after one print job is completed (S14). At this time, the presence of missing dots is detected (YES in S14), and if the missing ink is ink low (YE in S15).
S), the printing is stopped (step S24 in FIG. 4), and the ink from which the dot is missing is not ink low (N in S15).
O) A predetermined head recovery operation is automatically performed (S1).
6) Estimate the amount of ink consumed in the head recovery operation and count up the estimated total ink consumption (S1).
7).

If no missing dots are detected in step S14 (NO in S14), and if none of the inks of any color is low (NO in S18), the process returns to step S11, and if any of the inks of any color is used. If there is something that can be regarded as an inclaw (YES in S18), an ink low is displayed (S19), and printing is continued.

As shown in FIG. 4, after step S19,
That is, when printing is performed after being regarded as ink low, (S
20), the estimated total ink consumption is counted up (S
21), dot missing detection is performed (S22). In this step S22, the presence or absence of missing dots is detected every time one line or one page is printed, and the ink of the color regarded as ink low in step S18 of FIG. 3 (hereinafter referred to as ink low color) is not regarded as ink low. Regarding the color ink, the presence or absence of missing dots is detected every time one page is printed or when one job is printed.

In step S22, when the presence of missing dots is detected (YES in S23), the printing is immediately stopped (S24), regardless of whether or not the ink with missing dots is an ink-low color. Then, the ink-low color ink end is displayed (S25), and replacement of the ink cartridge corresponding to the color indicated by the ink-end display is waited (S2).
6) (Return to step S2 in FIG. 3 when exchanged).

According to the above-described control flow, if a dot dropout occurs after detecting an ink low, printing is stopped because there is a high possibility that ink dropout has occurred. In other words, even if a missing dot occurs, if the missing ink cannot be regarded as ink low, a head recovery operation is performed and printing is continued. Also, even when an ink low is detected, until a missing dot is detected thereafter,
Continue printing. Even if in-claw is detected, a printable amount of ink often remains due to the above-mentioned variation or error as described above. However, according to this control flow, the printable amount of ink is reduced. When the ink remains, the ink can be surely consumed (in other words, the ink in the ink cartridges 23 and 25 can be sufficiently consumed to a limit that does not adversely affect the print head 21). ).

According to the above-described control flow, when the presence of missing dots is detected after ink low, printing is immediately stopped regardless of whether the ink with missing dots is ink low or not. Ink color ink end is displayed, and replacement of the ink cartridge 23 or 25 related to the ink end is awaited (steps 23 to 26 in FIG. 4). This processing is effective when the ink suction and ink filling operations are performed simultaneously for all the colors (that is, Bk, M, C, and Y) in the head recovery operation. In other words, in the recovery operation, there is a possibility that the ink low color ink becomes completely zero and the print head 21 cannot be sufficiently filled with ink. Therefore, when the presence of the dot missing is detected after the ink low, the presence of the dot missing is detected. The above control of stopping printing regardless of whether or not the ink is ink-low color is preferable.

The above control flow has been described as follows.
This example describes the case where M is provided and the estimated total ink consumption is written for each ink color. If a storage medium such as an EEPROM is not provided in the ink cartridges 23 and 25, the print processing control flow is as follows.
For example, the flow excludes steps S2 to S10.

The control flow of the printing process according to the present embodiment has several modified examples.

FIG. 5 shows a first modification of the control flow of the printing process according to this embodiment.

In the print processing control flow according to the first modification, the flow up to once detecting an ink low is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, that is, the same as steps S1 to S19 in FIG.

In the first modified example, after displaying the ink low (step S19 in FIG. 3), the printer 3 prints and counts up the estimated ink consumption (S27, 28).
The presence or absence of missing dots is checked for the inclaw color and other colors, and if the presence of missing dots is detected for any of the colors (S29), it is determined whether the color of the missing ink is ink-low or another color. Confirmation (S30).

If the color of the missing ink is an ink-low color (YES in S30), printing is immediately stopped (S30).
34), the ink low color ink end is displayed, and the replacement of the ink cartridge 23 or 25 related to the ink end color is waited for (S35, S36). If the color of the missing ink is not the ink-low color but another color (N in S30)
O, and YES in S31), a predetermined head recovery operation is performed (S32), the amount of ink consumed in the recovery operation is estimated, and the estimated total ink consumption is counted up (S3).
3) Return to step S29.

According to the first modification, when the presence of missing dots is detected after the detection of ink low, the color of the missing ink is checked. If the color is ink low, printing is stopped. If is not ink-color, printing is continued. This makes it possible to preferably consume ink. More specifically, when the color of the missing ink is an ink-low color, it is highly likely that the cause of the missing dot is an empty shot of ink, and if the printing is continued as it is, the print head 21 cannot be sufficiently filled with the ink. Since the print head 21 may be adversely affected, by stopping printing as described above in such a case, the print head 21 can be prevented from being adversely affected. In addition, when the color of the missing ink is not the ink-low color, the possibility of ejection failure due to clogging of the print nozzle is high due to the missing dot, and the printable amount of the ink often remains. In such a case, by continuing the printing by performing the head recovery operation as described above, the printable amount of the ink can be surely consumed.

FIG. 6 shows a second modification of the control flow of the printing process according to the present embodiment.

The print processing control flow according to the second modification is a flow after the head recovery operation is performed once, that is, FIG.
The flow after steps S16 and S17 is different from the above embodiment.

In the second modified example, when printing after the head recovery operation (S37), the printer 3 counts up the estimated total ink consumption (S38) and prints one page or one job at a time. After completion, it is checked whether or not there is a missing dot (S39). At this time, if there is a missing dot and the color of the missing ink is ink low (YES in S40 and YES in S41), printing is stopped and the ink low color ink end is displayed (S42,
43) If there is a missing dot and the color of the missing dot is not ink low (YES in S40 and NO in S41),
The amount of ink consumed since the previous (most recent) recovery operation is calculated, and a head recovery operation is performed based on the calculated ink consumption (S44, 45, 47).

More specifically, the printer 3 calculates the ink consumption amount from the previous recovery operation only for the color with missing dots, and if the calculated ink consumption amount is smaller than a certain predetermined amount “a”. (NO in S44) For example, since the ink is not frequently used, it is considered that the ink is likely to dry in the head, and the head recovery operation is performed in the hard recovery mode (S45). If the calculated ink consumption is larger than a certain predetermined amount “a” (YES in S44), for example, it is considered that the ink is frequently used and the ink is less likely to dry in the head, and the soft recovery is performed. The head recovery operation is performed in the mode (S46). After each head recovery operation, the amount of ink consumed in the recovery operation is calculated, and the estimated total ink consumption is counted up based on the calculated amount (S4).
6, 48). Note that the certain predetermined amount “a” can be set for each color and is an amount that exceeds at least the ink capacity in the print head 21. As an example, while discharging ink from all the nozzles related to the color, This is the amount of ink estimated to be consumed when printing 5 to 10 lines.

According to the above-described second modification, the ink amount (the print head 21) estimated to have been consumed from the previous recovery operation to the current recovery operation is targeted for the color with missing dots.
The head recovery mode is selected based on the total amount of ink ejected from the printer. Conventionally, a head recovery mode is selected based on the number of printed pages or the number of scanned lines. However, since the ink consumption of each page or each line is not always equal, an appropriate recovery mode cannot always be selected. . However, if the amount of ink consumed during the recovery operation is estimated and the head recovery mode is selected based on the estimated amount as in this modification, a more appropriate recovery operation can be performed.

In this case, the head recovery operation is performed only for the color with missing dots. However, the total ink consumption of all colors is calculated, and based on the calculated value, the heads for all the color inks are simultaneously printed. A recovery operation may be performed.

Alternatively, the recovery operation may be performed by selecting the recovery mode based on the frequency of occurrence of missing dots.
For example, a strong recovery operation is performed when a dot dropout occurs without recovery even after the head recovery operation, or a dot dropout occurs immediately after recovery.

Although some preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples for describing the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to these examples. . The present invention can be implemented in other various forms.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a method of setting an ink end hypothetical value.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an inkjet printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of a printing process performed by a printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a printing process performed by the printer 3 in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a first control flow of a printing process according to the embodiment;
The figure which shows the modification of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a second flowchart of the control flow of the printing process according to the embodiment;
The figure which shows the modification of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 Inkjet printer 5 Host device 7 Display unit 9 Printing mechanism 11 Total ink consumption estimation unit 13 Missing dot detection unit 15 Print processing circuit 17 Paper feed roller 19 Carriage 21 Print head 23 Black ink cartridge 25 Color ink cartridge 27 Maintenance device 29 Drive Circuit 31 CPU

Claims (7)

[Claims] A storage unit configured to store a total amount of usable ink of an installed ink cartridge; an estimation unit configured to estimate a total consumption amount of ink of the mounted ink cartridge until now; and an estimated total consumption amount of ink. Comparing means for comparing the amount with the total amount of usable ink; detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an ink ejection error; and control means for controlling continuation or stop of printing based on the comparison result and the detection result. An inkjet printer comprising: 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stops printing when the ink ejection error is detected at least once after the estimated total ink consumption becomes equal to or more than the total usable ink amount. Inkjet printer. 3. The ink-jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit increases the frequency of detecting the presence or absence of the ink ejection error after the estimated total ink consumption becomes equal to or greater than the total usable ink amount. 4. A recovery unit for performing a recovery operation of the print head, wherein the control unit is configured to perform the recovery if the estimated total ink consumption is less than the total usable ink amount when the ink ejection error occurs. 2. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein an operation is performed, and if the estimated total ink consumption is equal to or greater than the estimated total printable consumption, printing is stopped. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the estimating unit also estimates an inter-recovery ink consumption amount that is a total amount of ink consumed from a previous print head recovering operation to a present print head recovering operation. At the time of the print head recovery operation, based on the estimated ink consumption during recovery,
5. The ink jet printer according to claim 4, wherein the degree of the print head recovery operation is controlled. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein:
3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge is filled with inks of a plurality of colors, and each of the plurality of colors is executed by the ink cartridge. 7. A step of storing a total amount of usable ink of the mounted ink cartridge, a step of estimating a total ink consumption of the mounted ink cartridge so far, and a step of calculating the estimated total ink consumption. Comparing the total amount of usable ink, detecting the presence or absence of an ink ejection error, and controlling the continuation or stop of printing based on the comparison result and the detection result. Consumption control method for controlling ink consumption.