JP2006240076A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet recording apparatus which selects an operation for discharging a recording sheet to the outside after printing according to the number of recording prints, and controls so that the recording print time is minimized.
In a recording apparatus that performs a sheet feeding operation of a recording sheet from a sheet feeding tray with a single motor and a sheet feeding operation during printing, a recording operation is performed by dividing one drive source into two by moving a carriage. It is carried out. When printing multiple sheets, it is necessary to switch the drive by moving the carriage and feed the next recording sheet in order to eject the recording sheet after recording one printed matter. However, the timing of the switching operation is changed according to the information on the number of printed sheets from the development of the recording data, and the time for discharging the recording paper outside the apparatus is shortened.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that controls a conveying means for conveying a recording medium.

  The recording apparatus feeds a recording medium from an automatic paper feeding apparatus in which a plurality of recording papers are stacked on a tray, and a printing area on the fed recording medium is supported on a carriage supported so as to be able to reciprocate. From the mounted recording head, liquid ink is ejected onto the recording medium to record an image. After recording one line of image, a predetermined amount of recording medium is sent, and this is repeated until the image data ends. It is formed by.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a recording apparatus has a motor for feeding and controlling an operation of feeding a predetermined amount of recording paper and a motor for reciprocating a carriage on a recording medium in order to drive and control the operation of the paper. Yes. For these, a combination of a pulse motor, a DC motor and an encoder is widely used according to the application.

  Here, the configuration of a conventional recording apparatus will be described with reference to the side sectional view of FIG.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic paper feeder, and recording sheets stacked on a pressure plate 3 spring-biased with respect to the paper feed roller 2 are separated one by one by a paper feed roller that rotates in response to a paper feed command. And conveyed to the printing unit. 4 is a conveyance roller for conveying the paper, and 5 is a pinch roller that is pressed against the conveyance roller 4 by a spring (not shown). The recording paper is nipped by the conveyance roller 4 and the pinch roller 5 and is designated as a specified feed. It is conveyed by the amount. Reference numerals 6 and 7 denote a spur and a paper discharge roller, which sandwich the paper downstream of the printing unit and convey the recording paper supplementarily by the drive transmitted from the transport roller 4. Reference numeral 8 denotes a platen that forms a recording paper conveyance surface. The platen is mounted on the chassis 12 together with a guide shaft 11 that supports a carriage 10 that mounts the recording head 9 and moves the recording paper in a direction perpendicular to the recording paper conveyance direction. It is fixed. A paper edge sensor 13 detects the leading edge and the trailing edge of the paper. When the paper edge sensor 13 comes into contact with the paper, it rotates and detects timing by a photo sensor 15 disposed on the electric board 14 on the chassis 12.

  FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram of the drive flow from the carry motor, 21 is a carry motor, 22 is its motor gear, 23 is a carry gear press-fitted into the carry roller shaft, and 24 is automatically fed to the other end of the carry roller. A transport output gear press-fitted into the transport roller shaft for the purpose of transmitting drive to the paper device, 25 is a planetary gear of a pendulum unit using the transport output gear as a sun gear, and 26 is an input gear on the automatic paper feed unit side. The pendulum gear engages a slide lever (not shown) and the pendulum unit during printing to regulate the rotation direction and prevents the drive from being transmitted to the automatic paper feeder 1 side. When the drive is transmitted to the carriage 10, the carriage 10 is moved to come into contact with the slide lever to move the slide lever to release the rotation restriction to the pendulum unit, and the planetary gear 25 is engaged with the input gear 26 to transmit the drive. Is possible.

  When recording data comes from the host PC to the recording apparatus, the recording apparatus moves the carriage 10 by a carriage motor (not shown), releases the regulation of the pendulum unit, and rotates the transport motor 21. When the transport motor 21 starts to rotate, the drive is transmitted to the automatic paper feeder 1 via the transport roller 4, and the recording paper loaded on the automatic paper feeder 1 starts to rotate when the half-moon-shaped paper feed roller 2 starts rotating. Transport onto the platen 8 (FIG. 5).

  When a predetermined amount of recording paper is conveyed, the carriage 10 moves away from the position in contact with the slide lever, thereby restricting the rotation of the pendulum, and the drive of the conveyance motor 21 is not transmitted to the automatic paper feeder.

  The recording paper transported onto the platen 8 repeats predetermined carriage movement and recording paper transport by the recording head 9 to form an image. After the image is formed, the conveyance motor 21 starts to rotate the recording paper to the outside of the apparatus, and the recording operation is finished by sending a predetermined amount from the timing when the trailing edge of the recording paper passes the paper edge sensor 13. . When the next page is recorded, the transport motor 21 is rotated again to feed the next recording sheet from the automatic sheet feeder.

  As described above, the conventional paper feeding operation and the paper feeding operation during printing are controlled by a single motor, and the driving of the motor is switched by the movement of the carriage and the pendulum control to selectively perform individual operations.

  As a method for increasing throughput in a recording apparatus that performs paper feeding and paper feeding with a single motor, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a rear end portion in the conveyance direction of an arbitrary n-th recording medium is used. There is a method in which a predetermined amount of the recording medium conveyed in the n + 1th sheet is overlapped with a front end in the conveying direction. However, in this case, the drive from the motor for transporting the recording medium is transmitted to the automatic paper feeder by a gear train via the paper feed roller. The rotation direction of the rollers for the recording paper must be the same. When the paper feed roller is rotating in the paper conveyance direction (CW: forward rotation direction), the recording paper is fed from the automatic paper feeder to which the drive is transmitted. When the leading edge of the recording paper is nipped between the paper feed roller and a pinch roller that is pressed to generate a conveyance force, the recording paper is tilted and fed. In this case, there is a problem that it is difficult to ensure the alignment of the recording paper (parallel to the longitudinal direction of the conveying roller) with high accuracy.

In recent years, in order to further improve the actual printing speed (throughput: the number of printable sheets per unit time), it has a paper feed motor and a paper feed motor independently, and each motor is linked to each other. There is also a recording apparatus in which the time required for the paper feeding operation is shortened.
JP 2000-95379 A

  However, since having multiple motors increases the cost of the motor and the cost of the control circuit, it is difficult to mount multiple motors on all models, and it is the minimum for entry-class recording devices in terms of price. It is necessary to configure the recording apparatus with the number of motors and to increase the throughput.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that improves the throughput while ensuring the alignment of the leading edge of the recording paper in a recording apparatus that feeds and feeds paper with a single motor.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention selects the case where there is data to be recorded on the recording paper next to the recording paper currently being recorded and the case where there is no next recording data and the recording paper becomes the last page. A plurality of different recording paper discharge operations are controlled.

  As a result, based on the recording page information sent from the printer driver of the host PC to the recording device or the development information of the recording data sent from the host PC on the recording device, an optimal paper discharge sequence can be made by the recording page of the recording operation. By selecting, the time from the start of feeding the recording paper until the last page is discharged out of the recording apparatus is shortened.

  Further, in a recording apparatus that develops recording data for controlling the recording apparatus on the host PC side and transmits it to the recording apparatus each time, the recording apparatus side does not have a memory for the entire recording paper, and is for several lines. In such a case, a memory area for storing page information of the recording data is required in addition to the memory area in which the recording development data is cleared for each recording line.

  That is, the present invention provides a recording apparatus that performs recording using a recording head, a unit that feeds a recording medium, a unit that conveys the fed recording medium, and a single drive that drives the sheet feeding unit and the conveying unit. Means for switching drive transmission to the sheet feeding means by movement of the carrier carrying the recording head, a plurality of page discharge operation control means, and storage means for storing page information of the recording data, Based on the page information, a discharge operation is selected from a plurality of page discharge means for each page, and control is performed so as to minimize the time for the trailing edge of the recording medium of the last page to be discharged outside the recording apparatus. Is a recording apparatus characterized by the above.

[Action]
According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the throughput by having a plurality of discharge control operations to the outside of the recording apparatus at the trailing edge of the recording paper, and selecting and executing based on the page information of the recording data. is there.

  According to the present invention, in a recording apparatus that transports recording paper by one motor and operates an automatic paper feeder, whether the currently recorded page is the last page of recording data or the next page is By selectively changing the operation control at the time of paper discharge, it is possible to minimize the time from the start of printing of the entire recording data to the discharge of the final page outside the apparatus.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same parts.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a recording apparatus described in the present invention.

  In the figure, reference numeral 41 denotes an automatic paper feeder, and recording sheets stacked on a pressure plate 44 biased by a spring 43 with respect to the paper feed roller 42 are fed by a paper feed roller 42 that rotates in response to a paper feed command. They are separated one by one and conveyed to the printing unit.

  A separation roller 45 is spring-biased with respect to the paper feed roller 42, and recording paper can be fed one by one by a torque limiter provided on its shaft.

  46 is a conveyance roller for conveying the paper, 47 is a pinch roller pressed against the conveyance roller by a spring (not shown), and the recording paper is nipped by the conveyance roller 46 and the pinch roller 47 and has a specified feed amount. Only transported. Reference numerals 48 and 49 denote spurs and paper discharge rollers, which sandwich the paper on the downstream side of the printing unit and convey the recording paper in an auxiliary manner by the drive transmitted from the transport roller 46. 50 is a platen that forms a recording paper conveyance surface, and is fixed on the chassis 54 together with a guide shaft 53 that supports a carriage 52 that mounts the recording head 51 and moves the recording paper in a direction orthogonal to the recording paper conveyance direction. Has been. A paper edge sensor 55 detects the leading edge and the trailing edge of the paper, and rotates when it comes into contact with the paper, and detects timing by a photo sensor 57 disposed on the electric board 56 on the chassis. An output gear 58 is press-fitted into the conveyance roller shaft, and transmits driving to the pendulum unit of the automatic paper feeding unit via an idler gear 59. 60 is a sun gear of the pendulum unit, and 61 and 62 are planetary gears, respectively, and drive is transmitted to the paper feed roller gear 63 and the control cam gear 64 of FIG. ing. The control cam gear 64 can be driven and rotated during forward rotation and reverse rotation, respectively, and the drive control of the pressure plate 44 of the automatic paper feeder and the initial take-off of the automatic paper feeder are provided by a missing tooth 64a provided in the gear portion. ,Is going.

  Normally, when print data is sent from the host PC to the recording device, the carry motor rotates in the reverse direction (CCW) to the paper feed, and transmits the drive to the automatic paper feeder 41. The pendulum unit of the automatic paper feeder rotates, the planetary gear 61 and the paper feed roller gear 63 are engaged, and the paper feed roller 42 and the control cam gear 64 are rotated (FIG. 2). The control cam gear 64 controls the pressure plate 44 and operates so that the recording paper loaded on the pressure plate comes into contact with the paper feed roller 42, and is subsequently conveyed one by one by the paper feed roller 42 and the separation roller 45. When the leading edge of the recording paper passes the paper edge sensor, the leading edge enters the nip formed by the reversely conveyed (CCW) conveying roller 46 and pinch roller 47, and the recording paper leading edge creates a predetermined amount of loop and conveys it. The motor stops. Then, a predetermined amount of forward rotation (CW) of the transport motor is performed to move the recording paper to the recording position, and the recording paper passes through the nip portion and is transported onto the platen.

  As a result, even if the recording paper is tilted at the time of feeding, the leading edge of the recording paper follows the state parallel to the LF roller, so that the tilt of the recording paper can be corrected and a good recording result can be obtained. It is possible.

  The recording paper conveyed onto the platen 50 is repeatedly subjected to predetermined carriage movement and recording paper conveyance by the recording head 51 to form an image. After the image is formed, the conveyance motor starts to rotate to remove the recording paper, and the recording paper is fed by a predetermined amount from the timing when the trailing edge of the recording paper passes the paper edge sensor 65. Drain out. Then, after moving the carriage 52 to a position where it engages with the trigger arm, the transport motor is rotated forward (CW) to engage the planetary gear 62 with the control cam 64 and to the tooth missing portion 64a of the gear portion. To complete the initial operation of the automatic paper feeder 41. When the next page is recorded, the transport motor is again rotated in the reverse direction (CCW) to feed the next recording sheet from the automatic sheet feeder.

  FIG. 6 schematically shows the operations of the carriage, the transport roller, the automatic paper feeder (hereinafter referred to as ASF), and the paper edge sensor (hereinafter referred to as PE) when ejected from the recording paper machine in time series. As shown in the figure, the recording paper is discharged out of the machine by the rotation operation of the transport roller after the printing is finished, but after that, the trigger operation of the carriage and the initial operation of the transport motor are required to initialize the ASF. Thus, the time from the start of conveyance to the initial is T1. In this case, when recording data for a plurality of sheets is transferred from the host PC, a trigger operation and an initial operation must be performed between pages. It will result.

  Therefore, since the paper discharge operation and the initial of the automatic paper feeder are the same rotation of the conveyance motor in the CW direction, the trigger operation and the initial operation should be performed in parallel during the recording paper discharge operation as shown in FIG. Thus, the throughput can be improved in the case of a plurality of recording data. In this case, the time from the start of paper discharge to the end of initial is T2 as shown in the figure.

  The trigger operation of the carriage for performing the ASF initial operation is performed after detecting the signal of the paper edge sensor and releasing the paper rear edge from the paper feed roller. This is to prevent the control cam gear of the ASF from being rotated during the initial operation when the end of the paper is in contact with the paper feed roller after the end of the initial operation.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the time until the recording paper is discharged out of the recording apparatus after printing is completed is delayed. However, the initial operation is partially performed at the same time, so that the initial operation is completed and the initial operation is completed. The time (T2) is shorter than the operation time (T1) shown in FIG. However, when the last page is ejected, there is no next page, so the control shown in FIG.

  Therefore, when there are a plurality of (N) print data, the operation shown in FIG. 7 is performed for the 1st to (N−1) th sheets, and the operation shown in FIG. 6 is performed for the Nth sheet. However, the time for the Nth recording sheet to be discharged out of the recording apparatus is the shortest (N> = 2).

  As described above, when a certain page is recorded, the throughput can be further improved by selecting the paper discharge operation depending on whether the page is the last page or the next image data is present.

  Specifically, it is as shown in the flow of FIG.

  Based on the recording command from the host PC (step S101: the following step is omitted), recording data and print page information are created on the host PC side (S102). The created recording data and print information data are transmitted to the recording apparatus via the printer driver (S103, S104) and stored in a recording area different from the recording data storage area. The recording device performs a paper feeding operation (S105) and a recording operation (S106) based on the recording data sent from the host PC, and when a paper discharge command is received after the recording operation is completed (S107), the current recording is performed. The middle page and the print page information are compared (S108).

  If the page currently being recorded is not the last page, a paper discharge operation is performed (S109). When the paper edge sensor detects the trailing edge of the recording paper (S110), the paper discharge operation is stopped (S111) and the carriage is moved. Thus, the behavior of the transport motor can be transmitted to the ASF (trigger operation) (S112), and the paper discharge operation is resumed (S113). As a result, the paper discharge operation and the ASF initial operation are performed at the same time. Before the ASF initial operation ends, the paper discharge to the outside of the apparatus ends, and then the ASF initial operation ends (S114). After the ASF initial is completed, the process returns to step S105 again, and the next recording paper feeding operation is performed.

  If the currently recorded page is the last page in step S108, the paper discharge operation is prioritized over the ASF initial operation to discharge the recording paper to the outside (S115), and the paper discharge operation ends. After that, the carriage is moved (S116), the drive is switched to perform the ASF initial operation, the ASF initial is performed (S118), and all the printing operations are ended (S118).

  As described above, by selectively performing the operation at the time of paper discharge based on the page information of the recording data, it is possible to minimize the time from the start of printing to the discharge of the last page outside the apparatus.

  In this embodiment, the page information of the print data is created by the printer driver installed on the host PC side and transmitted to the recording device side. However, the print data is developed by the control circuit on the recording device side. The present invention can be similarly applied to a recording apparatus that creates page information. The above description is not limited to the ink jet recording apparatus, and can be similarly applied to recording apparatuses using various recording heads.

Side sectional view showing an ink jet recording apparatus described in the present invention. Side sectional view showing an ink jet recording apparatus described in the present invention. Side sectional view for explaining a conventional ink jet recording apparatus Schematic diagram explaining the flow of drive from the LF motor Side sectional view for explaining a conventional ink jet recording apparatus FIG. 4 is a chart of the paper discharge operation 1 described in the present invention. The chart figure of the paper discharge operation | movement 2 demonstrated by this invention Step diagram of recording operation described in the present invention

Explanation of symbols

41 Automatic Paper Feeding Device 42 Paper Feeding Roller 43 Pressure Plate Spring 44 Pressure Plate 45 Separation Roller 46 Transport Roller 47 Pinch Roller 48 Spur 49 Paper Discharge Roller 50 Platen 51 Recording Head 52 Carriage 53 Guide Shaft 54 Chassis 55 Paper Edge Sensor Lever 56 Electric Board 57 Photo interrupter 58 Output gear 59 Idler gear 60 Sun gear 61 Pendulum gear A
62 Pendulum gear B
63 Feed roller gear 64 Control gear 64 Control gear missing tooth

Claims (1)

In a recording apparatus that performs recording using a recording head,
Means for feeding a recording medium; means for conveying the fed recording medium;
One driving means for driving the paper feeding means and the conveying means;
Means for switching drive transmission to the paper feeding means by movement of the carrier carrying the recording head;
A plurality of page discharge operation control means;
Storage means for storing page information of the recording data,
Based on the page information of the recorded data,
Select a paper discharge operation from multiple page discharge means for each page,
A recording apparatus, characterized in that control is performed so as to minimize the time required for the trailing edge of the recording medium of the last page to be discharged out of the recording apparatus.