JP2004082625A - Recording apparatus, recording system and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to correct a tint change due to an increase in a discharge amount caused by a temperature rise of an ink jet recording head, and to suppress occurrence of bleeding.
An initial ejection amount information is stored in an EEPROM mounted on a recording head, and the initial ejection amount information and head temperature information are transferred to a host printer driver at a predetermined timing. On the other hand, the printer driver obtains the current ejection amount from the acquired information, and changes the output γ table according to the ejection amount. When printing a plurality of pages, the printer driver predicts the head temperature at the end of the page from the print duty when spooling each page, and the spool for the next page obtains a discharge amount prediction value from the temperature prediction value, and determines the discharge amount. The recording data is processed based on the predicted amount. At the same time, the head temperature during the recording operation is periodically monitored, and when the temperature exceeds the temperature range set for each page, the spooling process is performed again from the page next to the page currently being recorded.
[Selection] Fig. 10

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing method, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that performs printing using an inkjet print head, and a printing system and a printing method that include the printing apparatus and a host that transfers print data to the printing apparatus. . More specifically, the present invention relates to correction of a change in the tint of an image caused by an increase in the amount of ink ejected due to a rise in the temperature of an ink jet recording head, and prevention of image problems such as ink overflow during recording.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing color recording usually includes a plurality of recording heads that respectively discharge four color inks of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K).
[0003]
Also, recently, in order to suppress the granularity of the recording dots in the highlight portion of the image, light inks of which the density of each color is lightened (for example, light cyan (LC) and light magenta (LM) whose density of cyan and magenta are lightened) In order to form a color image using six or more inks including the above-described four dark inks and the above-described four dark inks, a configuration including at least six recording heads is often used.
[0004]
Next, a recording head used in the ink jet recording apparatus will be described.
[0005]
As a recording method of the ink jet printer, there are a method using an electrothermal conversion element (heater) as a discharge energy generating element for giving discharge energy for discharging ink droplets, and a method using a piezoelectric element (piezo).
[0006]
In both cases, ink can be ejected by supplying an electric signal to the ejection energy generating element. However, the former method has an advantage that a space for arranging a heater which is an ejection energy generating element is small, and the structure of the ink jet recording head. This also has the advantage that simplification and miniaturization are possible, and that high density is relatively easy. On the other hand, the disadvantages are that the heat generated by the heater easily causes a change in the volume of the ejected ink droplet due to the heat accumulation in the print head, and the cavitation due to the defoaming has a large effect on the heater.
[0007]
As a method for solving these disadvantages, there are known ink jet recording methods described in JP-A-54-161935, JP-A-61-185455, JP-A-61-249768, and JP-A-4-10941. And an inkjet recording head have been proposed.
[0008]
The ink jet recording head described in the above publication has a discharge port for discharging liquid, an ink path filled with ink in communication with the discharge port, and an electrothermal conversion element provided in the ink path. It has. This electrothermal conversion element is generally formed of a thin film resistor, and a pulse-like current is applied to the electrothermal conversion element through an electric wiring (driving pulse application) to generate thermal energy. The discharge of ink droplets is realized by communicating bubbles generated by energy with the outside air. By using such a recording method, it is possible to improve the stability of the volume of ink droplets, perform high-speed recording with small droplets, and improve the durability of the heater by eliminating cavitation generated by defoaming.
[0009]
As described above, the inks of the four colors Y, M, C, and K, or the inks of the six colors Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM are formed by using a plurality of recording heads. In the case of ejection, when printheads are mass-produced as a practical problem, the ink ejection amount of each printhead varies. At present, for example, the variation occurs about ± 10% of the standard ejection amount. Such a variation in the ink ejection amount for each print head adversely affects a difference in image density and color.
[0010]
On the other hand, since the printing apparatus determines the color tone of the output image in accordance with the standard ink discharge amount from the print head due to its design, a print head in which the discharge amount is shifted from the standard discharge amount is used. The recorded image has a different color tone from the target image in design.
[0011]
By the way, images recorded by an ink jet recording apparatus in recent years have become high image quality, and the image quality has come to be close to that of silver halide photography, but in a photographic image, the color tone determines the image quality. Is an important factor above. Therefore, if the color tone is not as designed, (1) deterioration of color reproducibility and (2) occurrence of discontinuity of gradation (particularly, the balance between dark ink and light ink of the same color system is lost. And (3) the occurrence of false contours and the like may occur, and image quality may be significantly impaired.
[0012]
For this reason, conventionally, for example, as proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-167755, a printing apparatus is provided with a plurality of γ correction tables used for γ correction performed by an image processing unit for each ejection amount of a print head. The ejection amount information written in the mounted recording head is read, and a gamma correction table corresponding to the ejection amount information is selected to perform a recording process. By using this method, it is possible to minimize a change in image density and a change in tint even when the ejection amount of the recording head varies.
[0013]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the recording head described in the above conventional example is excellent in ejection stability of ink droplets, but the driving frequency of the recording head is high, and recording is performed continuously or an image with a high duty is recorded. As a result, the amount of ink ejected from the recording head fluctuates due to the temperature rise of the recording head, and increases by about 15 to 20% depending on the temperature rise.
[0014]
This is because the growth of bubbles generated on the heater provided in the recording head is significantly increased by the temperature, and as a result, the ink remaining in the nozzle liquid chamber at the time of ink ejection is reduced, and as a result, the ink ejected at one time This is a phenomenon that occurs because the amount of droplets increases.
[0015]
Due to such an increase in the ink ejection amount, adverse effects such as deterioration of the granularity of the recorded image due to an increase in the recording dot diameter, a change in the recording density, and bleeding (ink overflow) due to exceeding the ink receiving amount of the recording medium. appear. Of particular concern is bleeding. The occurrence of bleeding causes image collapse in a high-density portion and remarkable deterioration in resolution, which is a serious problem from the viewpoint of high-quality image recording.
[0016]
However, in the method of performing the printing process by selecting the γ correction table according to the ejection amount information proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-167755, the variation in the ink ejection amount is irrespective of whether the temperature of the recording head rises or not. Only the method of making the density difference generated by the printing method constant is disclosed, and it was not possible to avoid the occurrence of the bleeding caused by the increase in the ink ejection amount at the time of the temperature rise of the recording head as described above.
[0017]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems with the conventional example, and provides a recording apparatus, a recording system, and a recording method capable of performing high-quality recording regardless of a change in the temperature of a recording head. It is aimed at.
[0018]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a recording head according to the present invention has the following configuration.
[0019]
That is, a recording system including a recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from an inkjet recording head having a nonvolatile memory that stores characteristic information of ink ejection, and a host that transmits recording data to the recording apparatus, The recording apparatus includes a measuring unit that measures the temperature of the inkjet recording head, a reading unit that reads the characteristic information of the ink ejection from the nonvolatile memory, and a temperature of the inkjet recording head that is measured by the measuring unit. A first transfer unit configured to transfer the characteristic information of the ink ejection read by the reading unit to the host, wherein the host determines a head temperature of the ink jet recording head before and after recording for a predetermined amount of a recording medium. Storage means for storing a table indicating a relationship with a recording duty; and Measuring means for measuring the recording duty, temperature of the ink jet recording head transferred by the first transfer means prior to recording by the ink jet recording head, measurement results by the measuring means, and stored in the storage means. Prediction means for predicting the temperature of the ink jet recording head at the end of recording of the predetermined amount on the recording medium using a table, and the temperature of the ink jet recording head predicted by the prediction means and transferred by the first transfer means And a correcting means for correcting the ink discharge amount from the ink jet print head based on the obtained ink discharge characteristic information.
[0020]
The predetermined amount is desirably one page of the recording medium.
[0021]
Further, the host transfers the predicted temperature of the ink jet recording head to the recording device, while the recording device compares the predicted temperature of the ink jet recording head transferred from the host with the measured temperature of the ink jet recording. It is desirable that the host be configured to monitor whether it is within a predetermined allowable range and to interrupt the host according to the monitoring result.
[0022]
In this case, it is preferable that a predetermined allowable range is further stored in the table, and the predetermined allowable range is read from the table and transferred from the host to the recording apparatus.
[0023]
Further, the recording apparatus further includes scanning means for reciprocatingly scanning the ink jet recording head, and temperature measurement control means for controlling temperature measurement of the ink jet recording head by the measuring means for each scan by the scanning means. Preferably, on the other hand, the host comprises: a spool unit for spooling recording data corresponding to each page of a recording medium; a detecting unit for detecting an interruption from the recording device; and the recording unit based on a detection result by the detecting unit. It is preferable that the apparatus further comprises a spool re-execution control means for controlling the spool means so as to re-spool the recording data used for recording from the next page of the recording medium being recorded by the apparatus.
[0024]
In this case, the host inquires of the user whether or not to re-execute the spooling process based on the monitoring result by the monitoring means, and controls the spooling process to be re-executed in accordance with an instruction from the user. Is also good.
[0025]
The host may acquire the temperature of the ink jet print head prior to the spooling process of the print data corresponding to each of the plurality of pages of the recording medium when performing continuous printing on the plurality of pages of the print medium. The temperature of the ink jet print head may be acquired before spooling print data corresponding to all of the plurality of pages of print media.
[0026]
It is preferable that the correction unit performs γ correction on the recording data.
[0027]
It is preferable that the inkjet recording head includes an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink in order to eject the ink using thermal energy.
[0028]
According to another aspect of the present invention, a printing apparatus that prints by discharging ink from an inkjet print head including a nonvolatile memory that stores characteristic information of ink discharge, and a host that transmits print data to the printing apparatus are used. A recording step of measuring the temperature of the ink jet recording head, a reading step of reading the characteristic information of the ink ejection from the nonvolatile memory, and a method of measuring the temperature of the ink jet recording head measured in the measuring step. A transfer step of transferring the temperature and the characteristic information of the ink ejection read in the reading step to the host; a measuring step of measuring a print duty for each predetermined amount of a print medium from print data; and printing by the inkjet print head. Prior to the temperature of the inkjet recording head transferred in the transfer step, The measurement result in the measurement step and the table showing the relationship between the print temperature and the head temperature of the ink jet recording head before and after the recording of the predetermined amount on the recording medium, and when the recording of the predetermined amount on the recording medium is completed. A prediction step of predicting the temperature of the ink jet recording head, and the temperature of the ink jet recording head predicted in the prediction step and the characteristic information of the ink ejection transferred in the transfer step, from the ink jet recording head. A recording method is provided, comprising: a correction step of correcting an ink discharge amount; and a recording step of performing recording with the ink discharge amount corrected in the correction step.
[0029]
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for recording by discharging ink from an ink jet recording head including a nonvolatile memory storing characteristic information of ink discharging, wherein the temperature of the ink jet recording head is measured. Means for reading the characteristic information of the ink discharge from the nonvolatile memory; and a host for storing the temperature of the ink jet recording head measured by the measuring means and the characteristic information of the ink discharge read by the read means. Transfer means for transferring the ink jet recording head temperature after recording the predetermined amount from the measured temperature and the recording duty on the recording medium for the predetermined amount, and calculating the predicted temperature and the transferred ink ejection. Receiving the ink ejection amount corrected by the host based on the characteristic information and the print data; Comprising stages and, a recording apparatus characterized by having a recording unit for performing recording based on the received corrected ink ejection amount and the recording data by the receiving unit.
[0030]
With the above configuration, the present invention measures the temperature of an ink jet recording head having a non-volatile memory storing ink discharge characteristic information on the recording apparatus side, reads out the ink discharge characteristic information from the non-volatile memory, When the measured temperature of the recording head and the read ink ejection characteristic information are transferred to the host, the host measures the recording duty for each predetermined amount of the recording medium from the recording data, and the measurement result is used for recording by the inkjet recording head. The recording of the predetermined amount of the recording medium is completed by using the measured temperature of the ink jet recording head transferred in advance and the table indicating the relationship between the recording duty and the head temperature of the ink jet recording head before and after the recording of the predetermined amount of the recording medium. Predict the temperature of the inkjet recording head at the time of inkjet recording Correcting the ink discharge amount from the ink jet recording head based on the characteristic information of head of the predicted temperature and transferred ink ejection.
[0031]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0032]
In the embodiment described below, a recording apparatus using an inkjet recording head will be described as an example.
[0033]
In this specification, “record” (sometimes referred to as “print”) refers not only to the formation of significant information such as characters and figures, but also to the perception of human beings, whether significant or insignificant. Irrespective of whether or not it is made obvious so that it is obtained, a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or a case where the medium is processed is also described.
[0034]
In addition, the term “recording medium” refers to not only paper used in general recording devices, but also a wide range of materials that can accept ink, such as cloth, plastic films, metal plates, glass, ceramics, wood, and leather. Shall be.
[0035]
Further, “ink” (sometimes referred to as “liquid”) is to be interpreted broadly as in the definition of “recording (printing)”, and when applied on a recording medium, an image or pattern , A liquid that can be used for forming a pattern or the like, processing a recording medium, or treating ink (for example, coagulation or insolubilization of a colorant in ink applied to a recording medium).
[0036]
<Schematic description of the device body>
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an outline of a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a recording apparatus) IJRA which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.
[0037]
In FIG. 1, a carriage HC that engages with a spiral groove 5004 of a lead screw 5005 that rotates via driving force transmission gears 5009 to 5011 in conjunction with forward and reverse rotation of a drive motor 5013 has pins (not shown). Then, it is supported by the guide rail 5003 and reciprocates in the directions of arrows a and b. On the carriage HC, an integrated type ink jet cartridge IJC containing a recording head IJH and an ink tank IT is mounted. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate, which presses the recording paper P against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage HC. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detectors for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. Reference numeral 5016 denotes a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the print head IJH. Reference numeral 5015 denotes a suction device that suctions the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the print head through an opening 5023 in the cap.
[0038]
Reference numeral 5017 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member that allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. These members are supported by a main body support plate 5018. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form and a known cleaning blade can be applied to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery. The lever 5021 moves with the movement of the cam 5020 engaging with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by a known transmission mechanism such as clutch switching. Is done.
[0039]
These capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired operations can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. If the above operation is performed, any of the embodiments can be applied.
[0040]
The recording head IJH has six recording heads used for ejecting inks of a total of six colors of Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM in order to obtain a photographic high-quality color image. The element substrate is mounted on one head unit. Accordingly, the ink tank IT also has six ink storage sections for storing inks of a total of six colors of Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM, respectively.
[0041]
Although not particularly shown in FIG. 1, these six ink storage units are configured as six independent ink tanks, and when each of the ink tanks becomes empty, only the ink tank can be replaced. It is preferred that
[0042]
The printhead IJH includes an EEPROM as described later, and stores information unique to the printhead.
[0043]
<Description of control configuration>
Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described.
[0044]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit of the printing apparatus IJRA.
[0045]
In the figure showing a control circuit, 1700 is an interface for inputting recording data from a host computer (hereinafter, referred to as a host) 1001, 1701 is an MPU, 1702 is a program ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 1701, 1703 is various data ( This is a DRAM that stores the print data and print signals supplied to the print head IJH. Reference numeral 1704 denotes a gate array (GA) for controlling supply of a print signal to the print head IJH, and also controls data transfer between the interface 1700, the MPU 1701, and the RAM 1703. Reference numeral 1710 denotes a carrier motor for transporting the recording head IJH, and reference numeral 1709 denotes a transport motor for transporting the recording paper. Reference numeral 1705 denotes a head driver for driving the recording head IJH, and reference numerals 1706 and 1707 denote motor drivers for driving the transport motor 1709 and the carrier motor 1710, respectively.
[0046]
The gate array (GA) 1704 is formed of an ASIC, and the recording head IJH includes a temperature sensor 1711 for measuring a head temperature and an EEPROM 1708 for storing head characteristic information. The temperature sensor 1711 has a built-in analog circuit for detecting temperature and a circuit for converting an analog signal output from the circuit into a digital signal. Then, a digital signal corresponding to the head temperature is output from the temperature sensor 1711.
[0047]
Next, the operation of the above control configuration will be described.
[0048]
First, the host 1001 converts image data output from an application (not shown) into data receivable by the printing apparatus IJRA in an image processing unit 1003 described later in the printer driver 1002 and transfers the data to the printing apparatus IJRA. In response, when print data enters interface 1700, the print data is converted into a print print signal between gate array 1704 and MPU 1701. Then, the motor drivers 1706 and 1707 are driven, and the printhead IJH is driven in accordance with the print signal sent to the head driver 1705 to perform printing.
[0049]
Further, the interface 1700 is capable of bidirectional communication. Through the interface 1700, the host 1001 receives status information such as error information from the printing apparatus IJRA, receives initial ejection amount information of the printing head, and printing head temperature information. The processing method is changed accordingly. The delivery and processing of this information will be described later.
[0050]
Further, the gate array (GA) 1704 receives the contents of the EEPROM 1708 incorporated in the print head IJH at a predetermined timing, and transfers the contents to the MPU 1701.
[0051]
The printer driver 1002 is installed in the hard disk (HD) 1004 of the host 1001 and the like. When the host 1001 is started, it is read out from the hard disk and developed and executed in the memory (MEM) 1005 of the host. The printer driver 1002 is provided to a user in a form stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or via the Internet.
[0052]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map of the EEPROM 1708 attached to the recording head IJH.
[0053]
As shown in FIG. 3, the EEPROM 1708 is mapped with 1 word = 16 bits width, and the data length is variably assigned according to information. As described above, the recording head IJH is provided with six recording element substrates used to eject a total of six colors of ink of Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM. Portions corresponding to each ink, such as ink ejection nozzles including the recording element substrate, are called a Y head, an M head, a C head, a K head, an LC head, and an LM head.
[0054]
The EEPROM 1708 stores head identification information expressed in 32 bits, and the initial ejection amount information for each color ink of Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM is 8-bit data. In the initial ejection amount information, the standard ejection amount is “0”, the smaller ejection amount is minus (−), the larger ejection amount is plus (+), and “−2 (FEh: h means hexadecimal notation). ) "," -1 (FFh) "," 0 (00h) "," +1 (01h) ", and" +2 (02h) ".
[0055]
In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the Y ink and the M ink have a larger ejection amount than the standard ejection amount, the C ink and the K ink have the standard ejection amount, and the LC ink and the LM ink have a larger ejection amount than the standard ejection amount. This means that the head has a small ejection amount. Hereinafter, each of the five levels of the ink discharge amount of the recording head with respect to the initial discharge amount information will be referred to as small, small, small, medium, large, and large.
[0056]
In FIG. 3, only information related to the embodiment of the present invention is described as information written in the EEPROM 1708, but other driving conditions of the head are also written, and the recording apparatus performs the operations based on the information. The control is performed using the optimum driving conditions for each print head, the registration information of the print head is written, and the position of the print head is adjusted, and the information of the ejection failure nozzle of the print head is written based on the registration information. Various types of information may be written in the EEPROM as long as the capacity permits, for example, in order to perform the recording by the ejection failure nozzle using another nozzle for interpolation recording.
[0057]
Also, the information in the EEPROM 1708 shown in FIG. 3 was written at the time of shipment of the print head, and thereafter was used as a read-only memory. In some cases, the content was not changed. In some cases, writing may be performed later. Here, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that data is written to the EEPROM only when the recording head is shipped, and thereafter, the memory is used as a data read-only memory.
[0058]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the recording head IJH includes a temperature sensor 1711 having a built-in analog circuit for detecting temperature and a circuit for converting an analog signal output from the circuit into a digital signal. I have.
[0059]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the digital temperature output signal and the printhead temperature.
[0060]
As shown in FIG. 4, the digital temperature information is given in 12 steps from 1 to 12, and each numerical value represents a certain temperature range.
[0061]
Next, the internal processing of the image processing unit 1003 of the printer driver 1002 installed in the host 1001 will be described.
[0062]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a flow of internal processing of the image processing unit 1003.
[0063]
According to FIG. 5, image data of a total of 24 bits of 8 bits each of RGB is input to the color correction unit 3001. The color correction unit 3001 performs color correction on the input RGB image data by using a three-dimensional LUT, and outputs corrected RGB 8-bit image data in total of 24 bits. In this correction, the color space used for the input image data is converted to the standard color space, and the color reproduction range for each input / output device is unified, and color reproduction and recording color reproduction preferable for the user are performed. .
[0064]
Next, the color conversion unit 3002 converts the color-corrected RGB values into a total of 48 bits each of Y, M, C, K, LC, and LM, which are the color spaces used in the recording device as the output device. Is also performed using a three-dimensional LUT. The next output gamma correction unit 3003 performs output gamma correction using a one-dimensional LUT independently for each color component. The output gamma correction unit 3003 corrects the ink ejection amount for each head.
[0065]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing output gamma characteristics for each ink ejection amount.
[0066]
6, the horizontal axis represents the 8-bit (0-255) signal value for each color before output gamma correction, and the vertical axis represents the reflection density value (OD) when a patch expressing only the signal value is recorded. . Value).
[0067]
The output gamma characteristic is a characteristic when ink droplets having an ejection amount of 3.5 to 5.3 ng are recorded on a special glossy recording paper as a recording medium at a resolution of 1200 × 1200 dpi. Note that what is shown is the characteristic of each stage when the ink discharge amount 3.5 to 5.3 ng is divided into five stages. As is apparent from FIG. 6, naturally, the larger the ejection amount, the higher the O.D. D. The higher the value and the smaller the discharge amount, the higher the O.D. D. The value is a low characteristic.
[0068]
In the output gamma correction, the input image data is output to the O.G. in consideration of the output gamma characteristic shown in FIG. D. Correct so that the value has a linear characteristic.
[0069]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing characteristics of an output gamma correction table used corresponding to the output gamma characteristics shown in FIG.
[0070]
In this embodiment, an output gamma correction table as shown in FIG. 7 is prepared for each ink ejection amount from the print head, and stored in the output gamma correction table 3006 shown in FIG.
[0071]
FIG. 8 is a view showing how the ejection amount of ink droplets actually ejected from the recording head changes depending on the head temperature for a recording head having the above-mentioned initial ejection amount information as the initial ink ejection amount. is there.
[0072]
As described in the conventional example, the recording head tends to have a larger foam size due to a rise in the head temperature and an increased ink ejection amount with respect to the initial ejection amount.
[0073]
In consideration of such a tendency, the head ejection amount calculation unit 3007 in FIG. 5 calculates the ejection amount of the recording head at that time from the relationship between the head temperature and the initial ejection amount shown in FIG. The calculated amount is transferred to the output gamma correction table changing unit 3005 as ejection amount information.
[0074]
The head ejection amount calculation unit 3007 may be provided with the correspondence shown in FIG. 8 as a table, or a characteristic indicating the relationship between the head temperature and the ejection amount may be obtained by a relatively simple calculation formula. If there is, it may be calculated by the head discharge amount calculation unit 3007.
[0075]
The output gamma correction table changing unit 3005 receives the head information stored in the EEPROM 1708 and recognizes that a recording head having a different ink ejection amount from the output gamma table set in the output gamma correction unit 3003 is mounted. In this case, the output gamma correction table is changed according to the ejection amount based on the ejection amount information indicated by the head information.
[0076]
Then, 8-bit data of each color subjected to output gamma correction is input to the quantization unit 3004, and the number of gradations that can be expressed by the printing apparatus, for example, one bit per pixel in the example of FIG. Quantization to binary is performed. Usually, dither processing or error diffusion processing capable of pseudo-halftone expression is used for this quantization.
[0077]
Next, a method of changing the output gamma correction table for each page based on the predicted ink ejection amount for each page when printing is continuously performed on a plurality of pages of the recording paper will be described. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the recording is started when the data of the first page is spooled during recording on a plurality of pages.
[0078]
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between spool processing on the printer driver side and recording timing on the recording apparatus side. This example is an example showing the timing at the time of continuous recording of four pages.
[0079]
According to FIG. 9, first, the spooling process for the first page is finished on the printer driver side, and then the print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus side to start printing the first page. At this time, spool processing for the second and subsequent pages is executed in parallel on the printer driver side, and spool processing for the specified page is performed. Further, the recording apparatus continuously records the second and subsequent pages when the recording of the first page is completed. The printer driver obtains the head temperature at the start of the spooling process for each page.
[0080]
Here, the spool processing at the time of recording a plurality of pages will be described.
[0081]
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the spooling process when recording a plurality of pages.
[0082]
First, in step S9002, the initial ejection amount information (Vd) written in the EEPROM 1708 of the printhead IJH. ₀ ) To get. Next, in step S9003, page information (n) on which spool processing is to be performed is acquired, and in step S9004, it is determined whether the page on which spool processing is to be performed is the first page.
[0083]
Here, if n = 1, it is determined that the spool process is the process of the first page, the process proceeds to step S9007, and the current head temperature of the print head IJH (T _C ) Is acquired, and the process proceeds to step S9010. On the other hand, if n ≠ 1, it is determined that the page to be spooled is other than the first page, and the process proceeds to step S9005, where the final head temperature obtained on the (n−1) th page Predicted value T _EP (N-1) and allowable temperature error ΔT _LMT (N-1) is obtained.
[0084]
Here, the final head temperature prediction will be described. In this prediction, the head temperature at the time of recording to the end of the page is predicted from the head temperature at the head of each page and the recording duty of the entire page.
[0085]
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the relationship between the recording duty, the head temperature at the head of the page, and the head temperature at the end of the page.
[0086]
FIG. 11B shows the relationship between the head temperature at the head of the page, the recording duty, and the head temperature predicted at the end of the page. Thus, even at the same recording duty, the finally reached head temperature differs depending on the head temperature at the head of the page.
[0087]
Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in (a), a table having such characteristics in a discrete relationship is provided, and the final head temperature predicted value is calculated using the table. Note that such characteristics change depending on the printing mode used on the printing apparatus side (for example, the number of passes in multi-pass printing and the multi-pass mask used), and also change depending on the environmental temperature. It is assumed that a table as shown is provided for each recording mode and each environmental temperature.
[0088]
Further, as shown in FIG. 11A, each final head temperature predicted value (T _EP ), The difference from the actual head temperature is an allowable temperature error (ΔT _LMT ) Are also provided in the table. This is because when the head temperature is high, an error between the predicted head temperature and the actual temperature may cause a serious obstacle to recording such as bleeding. This is because, when the head temperature predicted value is high, it is preferable to reduce the allowable temperature error.
[0089]
Here, the description returns to FIG. 10, and in step S9006, the current head temperature (T _C ) To get. Further, in step S9008, the current head temperature (T _C ) Satisfies Expression (1).
[0090]
T _EP (N-1) -ΔT _LMT (N-1) <T _C <T _EP (N-1) + ΔT _LMT (N-1) (1)
That is, it is determined whether the current head temperature TC falls within the allowable temperature error range with respect to the final head temperature predicted value predicted on the previous page ((n-1) page). Here, the current head temperature (T _C ) Is outside the range, the process advances to step S9009 to spool the spool processing execution page to the next page (N + 1 page) after the page N (N <n) currently being recorded. Return the process execution and restart the spool process. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S9009. On the other hand, the current head temperature (T _C ) Is determined to be within the range, the process proceeds to step S9010.
[0091]
Next, in step S9010, the process proceeds to the current head temperature (T _C ) And the initial discharge amount (Vd ₀ ), The discharge amount Vd (n) of the n-th page currently being spooled is calculated. The calculation method is as follows. The table showing the relationship between the head initial ejection amount and the head temperature shown in FIG. It is output as ejection amount information during spool processing.
[0092]
Further, in step S9011, a corresponding output γ table is selected from the ejection amount information Vd (n) of the n-th page currently being spooled. This selection process is executed using the output gamma correction table changing unit 3005 and the output gamma correction table. That is, the output gamma correction table 3006 corresponding to the discharge amount information Vd (n) of the n-th page currently being spooled and input from the head discharge amount calculation unit 3007 is taken out, and the output gamma is output from the output gamma correction table change unit 3005. The selected output gamma correction table is passed to the correction unit 3003.
[0093]
In step S9012, spool processing for the nth page is performed.
[0094]
In step S9013, the recording duty in the page performed in the spooling process is counted, and the final head temperature predicted value T is calculated from the counted value. _EP (N) and allowable temperature error ΔT _LMT Find (n). This is obtained by referring to the table showing the relationship between the recording duty and the head temperature at the head of the page shown in FIG.
[0095]
In step S9014, it is determined whether the spool for the designated page has been completed. If the spool has not been completed yet, the process proceeds to step S9016 to increment the page n to be spooled by +1. Then, the process returns to step S9003 to restart the processing of the next page. On the other hand, if it is determined that spooling for all designated pages has been completed, the process proceeds to step S9017.
[0096]
In step S9017, it is determined whether recording for all pages has been completed. Here, if it is determined that the recording has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S9019 to determine whether or not there is an interruption process from the recording device described later. If it is determined that there is no interruption, the process returns to step S9017 and waits for an interruption from the recording device until it is determined that all-page recording is completed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the recording of all pages has been completed, the process is terminated.
[0097]
Here, the interruption process from the recording apparatus in step S9019 will be described. This is a process for restarting the spooling process when the temperature exceeds the specified temperature prediction range during printing after the spooling process of the printer driver 1002 ends.
[0098]
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the interrupt processing.
[0099]
First, in step S1102, the final temperature prediction value T of the page N being recorded is set. _EP (N) and allowable temperature error ΔT _LMT (N) is acquired. This acquisition is performed by transferring the information obtained in step S9005 and stored in the printer driver for each page to the printing apparatus main body.
[0100]
Next, in step S1103, the current head temperature (T _C ) To get. Further, in step S1104, the current head temperature (T _C ) Is the final temperature predicted value T obtained in step S1102. _EP (N) and allowable temperature error ΔT _LMT Using (N), it is checked whether Expression (2) holds.
[0101]
T _EP (N) -ΔT _LMT (N) <T _C <T _EP (N) + ΔT _LMT (N) ... (2)
If it is determined that the condition of Expression (2) is not satisfied, the process advances to step S1105 to issue an interrupt signal to the printer driver. As a result, an interrupt signal is passed to the interrupt waiting routine of step S9019 for the spool process by the printer driver. As a result, the process of FIG. 10 proceeds to step S9009, and the spool process for the next page currently being recorded Will be redone.
[0102]
On the other hand, in step S1104, the current head temperature (T _C ) Is determined to satisfy the condition of Expression (2), the process proceeds to step S1106, and it is determined whether or not recording of all rasters has been completed. If it is determined that the printing of all the rasters has not been completed, the process returns to step SS103, and the head temperature is monitored until the printing is completed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the printing of all the rasters has been completed, the process proceeds to step S1107 to check whether or not the printing of all the pages of the plurality of pages has been completed. If it is determined that the recording is still in progress, the process proceeds to step S1108 to update (+1) the page n to be recorded, and then returns to step S1102. On the other hand, if it is determined that the recording of all pages has been completed, the process ends.
[0103]
Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, in the process of spool processing during continuous printing of a plurality of pages, head temperature is predicted, and the ink ejection amount is corrected based on the result, thereby enabling printing at an optimum image density. In addition, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a phenomenon that degrades image quality, such as a bleeding phenomenon.
[0104]
Further, the head temperature prediction result is compared with the actual head temperature during printing, and when the actual head temperature exceeds the prediction range, the spooling process is performed again, so that the accuracy of the ink ejection amount correction is further improved. It becomes possible.
[0105]
In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the restart of the spool process is automatically performed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as described below, the determination as to whether or not to restart the spooling process may be left to the user.
[0106]
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process in which the execution of the spool process is left to the discretion of the user. In FIG. 13, the same process steps as those already described in FIG. 12 are denoted by the same step numbers, and the description thereof will be omitted. Here, only the process in which the execution of the spool process is left to the user's judgment will be described.
[0107]
In step S1104, the current head temperature (T _C ) Does not satisfy the condition of Expression (2), that is, if it is determined that the current head temperature exceeds the predicted temperature range, the process proceeds to step S1104a, and the user is prompted to perform spool processing. Issue a warning to retry.
[0108]
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the warning message. The screen of the warning message is displayed on a display (not shown) of the host 1001.
[0109]
Next, in step S1104b, the process waits for a user instruction. If the user selects re-spooling, the process proceeds to step S1105, in which an interrupt signal is issued as described with reference to FIG. I do. On the other hand, if the user does not select to restart the spooling process, the process proceeds to step S1107 without performing any process on this page, and shifts to the recording process of the next page.
[0110]
Now, as can be seen from FIG. 9, since the re-spooling process is performed in parallel with the recording operation, depending on the timing at which the interrupt occurs, there is a possibility that the recording may wait. Therefore, by notifying the user of the warning as shown in FIG. 14, the user can select whether to give priority to the recording quality or the recording speed. As a result, efficient recording in accordance with the user's orientation is performed.
[0111]
[Other embodiments]
In the above-described embodiment, the recording is started after the one-page spooling process, and then the recording and the spooling process are executed in parallel. In this embodiment, however, the spooling process for all pages is first executed collectively, and thereafter, A processing method when recording is started will be described.
[0112]
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a relationship between spool processing on the printer driver side and recording timing on the recording apparatus side according to this embodiment. This example is an example showing the timing at the time of continuous recording of four pages.
[0113]
According to FIG. 15, first, all the spooling processes of the first to fourth pages are executed, and after the completion of the processes, the recording data is transferred to the main body of the recording apparatus to start recording of the first to fourth pages. Therefore, the head temperature is acquired from the recording apparatus during the spooling process only when the spooling process for the first page is started.
[0114]
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing spool processing according to this embodiment. In FIG. 16, the same processing steps as those already described in FIG. 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Here, only the processing unique to this embodiment will be described.
[0115]
After the processing in steps S9002 to S9003, in step S9004 ', it is determined whether or not the page (n) of the spool processing is the first page and whether or not there is an interruption from the recording apparatus. Here, if it is determined that n = 1, or if it is determined that an interruption has occurred from the printing apparatus, the process proceeds to step S9007, where the current head temperature (T _C ) To get. In this embodiment, since the recording apparatus does not start recording until the end of the spool, the head temperature does not change, so that the current head temperature is acquired only for the first page or only when an interrupt occurs. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S9010, where the current head temperature (T _C ) And the initial discharge amount (Vd ₀ ) To calculate the ejection amount Vd (n) of the n-th page. Here, if there is no interruption, n = 1, and if there is an interruption, the value of the page at that time is set. Thereafter, processing proceeds to step S9011.
[0116]
On the other hand, if it is determined that the spool processing page is a page other than the first page, the process proceeds to step S9005, and the final head temperature predicted value T obtained on the (n−1) th page _EP (N-1) and allowable temperature error ΔT _LMT (N-1) is obtained. Thereafter, in step S9005a, the prediction value T _EP (N-1) and initial discharge amount Vd ₀ Then, the discharge amount Vd (n) of the n-th page currently being processed is calculated. After that, the process advances to step S9011 to execute the same processing as that described in FIG.
[0117]
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, when the spooling process is completed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 16, the recording is started on the recording apparatus main body side. The interrupt processing at this time is the same as that shown in FIG. However, if the head temperature exceeds the predicted range and an interrupt is to be performed again with an interrupt, the entire spool process shown in FIG. 16 is called and executed.
[0118]
At this time, in step S9003, the page next to the page currently being recorded is set as the page for restarting the spooling process. Then, in step S9004 ', it is determined that an interrupt process has been performed, and the process proceeds to step S9007, where the current head temperature (T _C ) To get. Then, the process of step S9010 is executed based on the obtained head temperature.
[0119]
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the flow of spool processing when an interrupt occurs and the flow of recording on the recording apparatus side. According to FIG. 17, an example in which an interrupt occurs on the second page is shown.
[0120]
Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, even when printing is started after performing spool processing collectively during continuous printing of a plurality of pages, the head temperature is predicted, and the ejection amount is corrected based on the result. It is possible to perform recording with an optimum image density and to prevent occurrence of a bleeding phenomenon.
[0121]
Also, during recording, the head temperature prediction result is compared with the actual head temperature during recording, and when the actual head temperature exceeds the predicted range, the spooling process is restarted from an unrecorded page to discharge. It is possible to further improve the accuracy of the amount correction.
[0122]
In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the host predicts the head temperature and performs the spool process corresponding to the one predicted head temperature. Appears, perform spool processing corresponding to a plurality of head temperatures in advance, and select the most appropriate data for the current head temperature from the completed plurality of spooled recording data. Is also good.
[0123]
Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the description has been made assuming that the liquid droplets ejected from the recording head are ink, and the liquid contained in the ink tank is ink, but the contained matter is limited to ink. Not something. For example, an ink tank may contain a processing liquid discharged to a recording medium in order to improve the fixability and water resistance of a recorded image or to improve the image quality.
[0124]
The above-described embodiment includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for causing ink to be ejected, particularly in an ink jet recording system. By using a method that causes a change in the state, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.
[0125]
Regarding the typical configuration and principle, it is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it is arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path holding the liquid (ink). Applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding the nucleate boiling, to generate heat energy in the electrothermal transducer, thereby causing the recording head to emit heat energy. This is effective in that film boiling occurs on the heat-acting surface of the liquid, and as a result, air bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the drive signal on a one-to-one basis can be formed. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed in a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.
[0126]
As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.
[0127]
As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the discharge port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid flow path or the right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in each of the above-mentioned specifications, a heat acting surface A configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which is disposed in a bending region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slot is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, or an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is discharged. A configuration based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to each unit, may be adopted.
[0128]
Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is satisfied by a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above specification. Either the configuration or the configuration as one recording head integrally formed may be used.
[0129]
In addition, not only the cartridge-type recording head in which the ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself described in the above embodiment, but also the electric connection with the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. A replaceable chip-type recording head that can supply ink from the apparatus main body may be used.
[0130]
Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like to the configuration of the printing apparatus described above, since the printing operation can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurizing or sucking means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof. It is also effective to provide a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection that is different from printing, in order to perform stable printing.
[0131]
Further, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, and may be a printing head integrally formed or a combination of a plurality of printing heads. The device may be provided with at least one of the full colors.
[0132]
In addition to the above, the recording apparatus according to the present invention may include, as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, an integrated or separate apparatus, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a transmission / reception function. It may take the form of a facsimile machine.
[0133]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the result of measuring the recording duty for each predetermined amount of the recording medium from the recording data and the measured temperature of the inkjet recording head transferred from the recording apparatus prior to recording by the inkjet recording head Predict the temperature of the inkjet recording head at the end of recording a predetermined amount of the recording medium using a table showing the relationship between the head temperature of the inkjet recording head and the recording duty before and after recording for a predetermined amount of the recording medium, Since the ink ejection amount from the ink jet recording head is corrected based on the predicted temperature of the ink jet recording head and the transferred ink ejection characteristic information, printing can be performed with an optimum image density that is not affected by the head temperature. This has the effect.
[0134]
As a result, it is possible to prevent adverse effects such as a bleeding phenomenon that degrades the quality of a recorded image.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view illustrating an outline of a configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus IJRA according to a typical embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control circuit of the recording apparatus IJRA.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map of an EEPROM 1708 attached to a recording head IJH.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a digital temperature output signal and a printhead temperature.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a flow of internal processing of an image processing unit 1003.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an output gamma characteristic for each ink ejection amount.
7 is a diagram showing characteristics of an output gamma correction table used in correspondence with the output gamma characteristics shown in FIG.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing how the ejection amount of ink droplets actually ejected from the print head changes depending on the head temperature of the print head.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between spool processing on the printer driver side and recording timing on the recording apparatus side.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a spooling process when recording a plurality of pages.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a recording duty, a head temperature at the head of a page, and a head temperature at the end of a page.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an interrupt process.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an interrupt process in which execution of a spool process is left to the discretion of a user.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a warning message.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between spool processing on a printer driver side and recording timing on a recording apparatus side according to another embodiment.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a spool process according to another embodiment.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a flow of a spool process when an interrupt occurs and a flow of recording on the recording apparatus side.
[Explanation of symbols]
1700 interface
1701 MPU
1702 ROM
1703 RAM
1704 Gate array (GA)
1705 Head driver
IJH recording head

Claims (15)

A recording system including a recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from an inkjet recording head including a nonvolatile memory that stores characteristic information of ink discharge, and a host that transmits recording data to the recording apparatus,
The recording device,
Measuring means for measuring the temperature of the inkjet recording head,
Reading means for reading the characteristic information of the ink ejection from the nonvolatile memory;
A first transfer unit that transfers the temperature of the ink jet recording head measured by the measurement unit and the characteristic information of the ink ejection read by the reading unit to the host;
The host is
Storage means for storing a table indicating the relationship between the print temperature and the print temperature of the inkjet print head before and after printing a predetermined amount of the print medium,
Measuring means for measuring the recording duty of the recording medium for each predetermined amount,
The temperature of the ink-jet recording head transferred by the first transfer unit prior to recording by the ink-jet recording head, the measurement result by the measuring unit, and the table stored in the storage unit using the table stored in the storage unit. Predicting means for predicting the temperature of the ink jet recording head at the end of recording for a predetermined amount,
Correction means for correcting an ink ejection amount from the ink jet recording head based on the temperature of the ink jet recording head predicted by the prediction means and the characteristic information of the ink discharge transferred by the first transfer means. And a recording system. The recording system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount is one page. The host is
A second transfer unit configured to transfer the temperature of the inkjet print head predicted by the prediction unit to the printing apparatus,
The recording device,
Monitoring means for monitoring whether or not the predicted temperature of the ink jet recording head transferred from the host by the second transfer means is within a predetermined allowable range as compared with the temperature of the ink jet recording measured by the measuring means; ,
Interrupt means for interrupting the host according to the monitoring result by the monitoring means,
3. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein: The table further stores the predetermined allowable range,
4. The recording system according to claim 3, wherein the second transfer unit further reads the predetermined allowable range from the table and transfers the predetermined allowable range from the host to the recording device. The recording device,
Scanning means for reciprocally scanning the inkjet recording head,
4. The printing system according to claim 3, further comprising a temperature measurement control unit that controls the temperature of the ink jet print head by the measurement unit to be measured for each scan by the scanning unit. The host is
Spool means for spooling recording data corresponding to each page of the recording medium,
Detecting means for detecting an interrupt from the recording device;
Spool re-execution control means for controlling the spool means so as to re-spool the recording data used for recording from the next page of the recording medium being recorded by the recording apparatus based on the detection result by the detection means. The recording system according to claim 3, further comprising: The host is
Display means for displaying a message inquiring the user as to whether or not to re-execute the spooling process based on the monitoring result by the monitoring means,
7. The recording system according to claim 6, wherein the spool re-execution control means controls to re-execute the spool process according to an instruction from the user. The host acquires the temperature of the ink jet print head by the first transfer means before performing the spooling process of the print data corresponding to each of the plurality of pages of the recording medium when performing continuous printing on the plurality of pages of the print medium. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the recording is performed. The host acquires the temperature of the ink jet print head by the first transfer unit before performing a spooling process of print data corresponding to all the print media of the plurality of pages when performing continuous printing on a print medium of a plurality of pages. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the recording is performed. 3. The recording system according to claim 2, wherein the correction unit performs gamma correction on the recording data. 11. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, further comprising: an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy to be applied to the ink in order to eject the ink using thermal energy. A recording system according to claim 1. A recording method using a recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink from an inkjet recording head including a nonvolatile memory that stores characteristic information of ink discharge, and a host that transmits recording data to the recording apparatus,
A measuring step of measuring the temperature of the inkjet recording head,
A reading step of reading the characteristic information of the ink ejection from the nonvolatile memory;
A transfer step of transferring the temperature information of the ink jet recording head measured in the measurement step and the characteristic information of the ink ejection read in the read step to the host;
A measurement step of measuring a print duty for each predetermined amount of the print medium from the print data,
The temperature of the ink jet recording head transferred in the transfer step prior to recording by the ink jet recording head, the measurement result in the measuring step, and the head temperature of the ink jet recording head before and after recording the predetermined amount of the recording medium A prediction step of predicting the temperature of the inkjet recording head at the end of recording for a predetermined amount of the recording medium using a table indicating the relationship between the recording duty and
A correction step of correcting the ink ejection amount from the inkjet recording head based on the temperature of the inkjet recording head predicted in the prediction step and the characteristic information of the ink ejection transferred in the transfer step,
A recording step of performing recording with the ink ejection amount corrected in the correction step. A printer driver installed on the host computer and executed to cause the inkjet recording apparatus to perform recording,
A measurement process of measuring a print duty for each predetermined amount of a print medium from print data,
The measured temperature of the inkjet recording head transferred from the inkjet recording apparatus prior to recording by the inkjet recording head, the measurement result in the measurement process, and the head of the inkjet recording head before and after recording for a predetermined amount of the recording medium A prediction process for predicting the temperature of the inkjet recording head at the end of recording of the predetermined amount on a recording medium using a table indicating the relationship between temperature and recording duty;
A program for executing a correction process for correcting the ink ejection amount from the inkjet recording head based on the predicted temperature of the inkjet recording head and the characteristic information of the ink ejection transferred from the inkjet recording device. A printer driver, characterized in that: A computer-readable storage medium storing the printer driver according to claim 13. A recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink from an inkjet recording head including a nonvolatile memory storing characteristic information of ink ejection,
Measuring means for measuring the temperature of the inkjet recording head,
Reading means for reading the characteristic information of the ink ejection from the nonvolatile memory;
Transfer means for transferring the temperature of the ink jet recording head measured by the measuring means and the characteristic information of the ink ejection read by the reading means to a host,
Predicting the temperature of the ink jet recording head after recording the predetermined amount from the measured temperature and the recording duty on the recording medium for the predetermined amount, based on the predicted temperature and the transferred characteristic information of the ink ejection, A receiving unit that receives the ink ejection amount corrected by the host and the print data,
A printing unit that performs printing based on the corrected ink ejection amount and print data received by the receiving unit.

Images