JP2004188762A - Portable printer system - Google Patents

Abstract

A pit-in type ink jet printer reduces the amount of electric power related to the movement of a print head.
In a system including a host computer and a printer connected to the host computer, and when the printer supplies ink to a printing unit by a pit-in method, the host computer transmits print data to the printer before transmitting the print data to the printer. A printer for calculating an ink consumption based on data in the print job, and a printer including an ink supply determining device for determining an ink supply based on the ink consumption and the remaining amount of ink in the sub tank. .
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to a printer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ink jet technology has been advanced, and higher image quality, higher speed, and improved maintainability have been sought. A so-called pit-in system has been proposed as one of the solutions. The pit-in method is a method in which an ink tank is provided outside the carriage on which the print head is mounted in the printer, and ink is supplied to the print head as necessary. This reduces the weight of the print head and increases the ink capacity. And flexible measures against unevenness are realized.
[0003]
Even in a portable printer, it is effective to adopt the pit-in method since ink can be held outside the carriage and ink can be stored in a larger amount than before.
[0004]
On the other hand, with an increase in the capacity of ink, reduction of power consumption has become an issue more than ever.
[0005]
In a pit-in type ink-jet printer driven by a built-in battery, of the operations relating to printing, factors that consume a large amount of power include (1) movement of the print carriage in the main scanning direction (2) ink ejection (3) pit-in However, in the case of (1), since the ink supply operation was conventionally performed without considering the amount of ink required for the print operation, extra ink was held on the print carriage, which resulted in an unnecessary operation. Power consumption had to be forced.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of power related to the movement of a print head in a system in which power consumed at pit-in is substantially proportional to the amount of supplied ink. I do. This is achieved by minimizing the amount of ink on the print carriage and reducing the power consumption associated with its movement.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a printer system according to the present invention is a system including a host computer and a printer connected thereto, and in a case where the printer performs ink supply to a printing unit by a pit-in method, Prior to sending the print data to the printer, the host computer calculates the ink consumption based on the data in the print job, and the printer determines the ink supply based on the ink consumption and the remaining ink in the sub tank. Features.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0009]
(Example 1)
[Printer]
FIG. 1 shows a printer constituting a part of an embodiment of the present invention.
[0010]
The printer (101) includes a print carriage (102) that moves in the main scanning direction, and includes a print head (103) and a sub tank (104) that temporarily stores ink on the print carriage (102). The paper feed roller (106) conveys the paper in the sub-scanning direction, that is, the direction of the printing paper paper feeding path (105), and the print carriage moves on the main scanning direction, that is, on the cartridge moving path (107), so that the entire print medium is printed. Is realized.
[0011]
The printer according to the present invention includes a main tank (108) as a replaceable ink storage area in addition to a sub tank (104) on the print carriage (102) for holding ink. When the ink in the sub tank (104) is consumed by the printing operation, the print carriage (102) is moved to the supply position (110), and the ink is supplied from the main tank (108) to the sub tank (104) via the supply path (109). Supply.
[0012]
Until the supply operation is performed, the supply path (109) is shut off by the supply path valve (111). When the movement of the print carriage (102) to the supply position (110) is completed and ink can be supplied, a supply path for the sub tank (104) and the main tank (108) is secured. Here, the supply path valve (111) blocking the supply path (109) is opened, and ink is supplied from the main tank (108) to the sub tank (104) through the supply path (109) by the supply control device (112). Supplied. When the supply is completed, the supply control device (112) terminates its operation, and then the supply path valve (111) is closed and the supply path (109) is shut off. The supply operation is completed as described above, and returns to a printable state.
[0013]
Next, an internal configuration diagram of the printer (101) will be described with reference to FIG.
[0014]
The printer (201) is an internal configuration diagram of the printer (101).
[0015]
The printer (201) includes one or more data receiving units (202) as an input unit. The data processing unit (203) determines the content of the data, and if the data is print data, processes the data received by the data receiving unit (202) while using the data storage area (204). The information is transmitted to the print control unit (206). Here, in this embodiment, the data transmission takes a form via the overall printer management unit (205). However, the same effect can be obtained by a method that does not involve the printer. It does not affect. An overall printer management unit (205) manages a change in a supply work executable state due to the start and end of a printing operation, maintenance of the head device (208), and the like. The print control unit (206) controls the motor device (207) and the head device (208) according to the transmitted contents to realize a printing operation.
[0016]
The amount of ink consumed by the printing operation is transmitted to the ink amount management unit (209).
[0017]
The transmitted consumed ink amount is stored in the management area (210) by the ink amount management unit (209). As the ink amount, the ink amount in the sub tank on the carriage and the ink amount in the replaceable main tank are respectively managed.
[0018]
On the other hand, if the content of the determined data is the amount of ink consumption, the data processing unit (203) requests the overall printer management unit (205) to perform the processing. Even when the ink amount in the sub-tank becomes extremely small during the print job processing, the ink amount management unit (209) notifies the printer management unit (205) that the supply is necessary. In this embodiment, the mechanism for determining whether it is the timing at which the supply process can be executed is entrusted to the overall printer management unit (205). However, this determination is not necessarily made as in this embodiment. ) Need not be performed.
[0019]
What is important is the determination material. In this embodiment, the printer overall management unit (205) determines whether or not the supply operation can be performed based on information of an event typified by the printing state or the like. A supply request is made to the control unit (211). The supply control unit (211) performs a supply operation by driving the supply control device (212) according to a request. If it is necessary to show information such as a supply operation or a supply request to the operator, the printer overall management unit (205) can also transmit the information to the operator by driving the operation unit (213) based on the transmitted information. It is. This warning will not be described here because it is a specification of each implementation system.
[0020]
The data receiving unit (202) supports bidirectional communication, and can transmit data to an external device as needed. If the data processing unit (203) determines that the content of the received data is a return request command, the data processing unit (203) transmits necessary information stored therein through a path (not shown) according to the content of the command. It acquires and returns it to the external device via the data receiving unit (202).
[0021]
(Implementation system)
Next, the operation of the system including the host computer and the printer will be described.
[0022]
In this embodiment, a general-purpose personal computer is used as a host computer. The printers described above are prepared, and the host computer and the printer are connected by an interface cable. Although a wired connection using a USB interface, a Centronics interface, or the like is assumed here, it goes without saying that an equivalent system can be configured even with a connection using a wireless interface such as IrDA or BlueTooth.
[0023]
Next, the operation of this system will be described with reference to FIG.
[0024]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the flow of the operation of the printing system to which the present invention is applied.
[0025]
When the printing is instructed by the operator, the host computer obtains the ink consumption of each page in the printing job in S11. In order to estimate the ink consumption, there is a method of using the total number of dots of each color when the data is binary, and the total density of each color when the data is multi-valued. Here, it is assumed that a table in which the number of dots and the like and the amount of ink consumption are stored in the host computer in advance, but a mechanism that can acquire this from the printer via the interface may be prepared.
[0026]
Next, in S12, data indicating the ink consumption is transmitted to the printer.
[0027]
When the printer receives the data in S21, it makes the determination in S22, and if the data indicates the amount of ink consumption, compares it with the remaining amount of ink in the sub-tank. Performs a pit-in operation, and supplies ink corresponding to the amount of ink consumed into the sub tank.
[0028]
The host computer transmits the print job to the printer in S13 following S12. Since the printer has a function of buffering received data, there is no problem even if S13 and S22 are performed simultaneously in time.
[0029]
Upon receiving the print job in S23, the printer performs a printing operation in accordance with the print job in S24, and a series of operations ends.
[0030]
As described above, the desired output result can be obtained.
[0031]
Here, an example has been described in which the pit-in timing is set immediately before each print job processing, but this timing should be determined in consideration of power consumption and throughput. From the viewpoint of the power consumption of the carriage, it is most effective to frequently perform pit-in at a timing that can be performed, such as between pages, but the pit-in operation involves overhead time other than the ink supply time, thus improving throughput. For this purpose, it is effective to reduce the number of pit stops.
[0032]
For example, an appropriate threshold is stored in the host computer, and when the amount of ink consumed in the job exceeds the threshold, data indicating the amount of ink consumption is transmitted in units of page breaks that do not exceed the threshold, and the printer transmits the data. This can be solved by processing the data indicating the ink consumption amount even during the print job data processing, and making it possible to perform pit-in at an appropriate timing.
[0033]
In addition to setting the threshold value in this way, if the ink consumption amount in the job exceeds the ink capacity in the sub-tank even when the threshold value is not set, the pit-in operation is performed during the job. Divides the job into page breaks so that the number of pit-ins is as small as possible and the maximum value of the ink amount in the sub-tank is small. It can be further reduced.
[0034]
Here, when a non-compatible host computer is connected to the printer to which the present invention is applied, the computer performs the print data transmission in S13 without performing S11 and S12 according to the print instruction of the operator. In step S21, the contents of the received data are confirmed. If the data is print data, a predetermined amount of ink is supplied to the sub-tank in step S22. Print results can be output.
[0035]
(Example 2)
In a system equivalent to the first embodiment, it is determined whether the printer can be operated by an external power supply or an internal power supply, and whether the printer is driven by the external power supply or is operated by using the internal power supply. In the case where a device for performing the operation is provided inside, the following operation can be performed.
[0036]
First, when the printer is driven by an external power supply, it is not necessary to reduce the power consumption, so that the operation can be performed with priority given to the speed without applying the present invention.
[0037]
When it is detected that the printer is operating with the internal power supply, for example, by disconnecting the power cord, the printer can be operated to reduce the power consumption as in the first embodiment.
[0038]
By operating the printer as described above, it is possible to configure a printer system that selects and operates an optimal operation mode according to the power supply status.
[0039]
【The invention's effect】
As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a system including a host computer and a printer connected to the host computer, and when the printer performs ink supply to a printing unit by a pit-in method,
The host computer calculates the ink consumption based on the data in the print job before transmitting the print data to the printer, and the printer determines the ink supply amount from the ink consumption amount and the remaining ink amount of the sub tank. Thus, it is possible to reduce the amount of power related to the movement of the print head.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 illustrates an internal configuration diagram of a printer according to an embodiment.
FIG. 3 shows the operation of the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 Printer 104 Sub ink tank unit 108 Main ink tank unit 206 Printing control unit 210 Ink amount management unit

Claims (3)

In a system including a host computer and a printer connected to the host computer, and when the printer supplies ink to a printing unit by a pit-in method,
The host computer includes an ink consumption calculating device for calculating the ink consumption based on the data in the print job prior to transmitting the print data to the printer, and the printer calculates the ink consumption based on the ink consumption and the remaining ink amount of the sub tank. A printer system comprising an ink supply amount determining device for determining a supply amount. In a system including a host computer and a printer connected to the host computer, and when the printer supplies ink to a printing unit by a pit-in method,
Before transmitting the print data to the printer, the host computer calculates the ink consumption based on the data in the print job, and the printer determines the ink supply amount from the ink consumption and the remaining ink amount of the sub tank. Characteristic printing method. In a system including a host computer and a printer connected to the host computer, and when the printer supplies ink to a printing unit by a pit-in method,
The printer includes a storage device that stores print data in a print job in a built-in storage device, an ink consumption calculation device that calculates an ink consumption amount based on the print data, and an ink consumption amount based on the ink consumption amount and the remaining ink amount of the sub tank. A printer system comprising an ink supply amount determining device for determining a supply amount.

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