JP2006218734A - Recording method and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of obtaining a normal recording result by complementing even when an abnormality occurs in a recording element and performing recording while suppressing a decrease in throughput at the time of complementing. To do.
In an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording material while relatively moving the recording head and the recording material in the main scanning and sub-scanning directions, the recording head and the recording material are opposed to an abnormal recording element. The normal recording element records an image based on the image data superimposed by the image data superimposing means, and each time a recording area or a plurality of recording areas of the recording material is recorded, a sub-scanning movement pattern is set. By changing, the normal recording elements facing the abnormal recording elements are sequentially switched, and the recording elements for complementing the abnormal recording elements are dispersed in the normal recording elements.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method for forming an image on a recording material using a recording head in which a plurality of elements are integrated and arranged.

  In recent years, many recording apparatuses have been used, and these recording apparatuses are required to have high-speed recording, high resolution, high image quality, low noise, and the like.

  As a recording apparatus that meets such demands, the inkjet recording apparatus has been rapidly spreading in recent years because it is an advantageous recording apparatus in terms of apparatus configuration, running cost, and the like.

  An ink jet recording apparatus is a recording apparatus that performs dot printing by discharging ink as droplets from a nozzle of a recording head to a recording material. As an example of this recording apparatus, a recording head in which a plurality of ink discharge ports are integrated and arranged is sequentially scanned relative to the recording material in the vertical and horizontal directions to perform recording.

  The ink jet recording apparatus directly forms an image by ejecting ink droplets on a recording material in this way, and unlike an electrophotographic method, there are few intervening until an image is formed. It has a great feature that it can be obtained stably.

  However, instability caused by printing by ejecting minute ink droplets from minute nozzles, for example, recording due to ink ejection direction becoming unstable and ink droplet landing positions being slightly different, Non-ejection caused by clogging of dust and thick ink in the nozzle's ink ejection port, non-ejection due to disconnection of the nozzle's ink heating heater, non-ejection due to ink droplets covering the nozzle's ejection port in a whim In some cases, white streaks are generated along the main scanning direction, and an image having no defect may not be obtained.

  Such a problem is that when the number of nozzles is increased to several hundreds or thousands in order to increase the printing throughput, the probability that abnormal nozzles are generated increases in proportion to this, and it is difficult to obtain a defect-free image. is doing.

  Further, from the viewpoint of manufacturing a recording head, in order to obtain a defect-free image, conventionally, all nozzles must be normal and defect-free heads. However, when the number of nozzles is increased to several hundreds or thousands, the probability of occurrence of defects during manufacturing increases in proportion to it, and the manufacturing yield decreases, making it economically difficult to manufacture.

  Further, even if a defect-free print head can be manufactured, if even one nozzle malfunctions during use, the entire print head cannot be used.

  In particular, in a printing apparatus having a multi-head equipped with a plurality of recording heads in which a plurality of ink discharge ports are integrated and arranged, there is a high probability that such abnormal nozzles are generated, and defective prints are formed each time. . Further, when an abnormal nozzle occurs, it is necessary to replace the head, which causes not only a cost problem for the replacement but also a problem that the apparatus must be stopped.

  For such problems, if it is difficult to cause clogging of the nozzle, or if clogging of the nozzle is found by visual observation or the like, the recovery device is operated to recover or the nozzle is clogged. Measures such as incorporating a recovery operation into the print sequence are considered.

  As a general recovery method, forcible discharge of liquid by suction, pressurization, etc., cleaning of an ejection region having an ink ejection unit, and the like can be given.

  However, even if such measures are taken, the probability of nozzle clogging is reduced, but it cannot be completely eliminated.Furthermore, dust that has passed through the ink filter with a certain probability aggregates, At present, no measures are taken against irreversible non-ejections such as clogging of the nozzles to cause non-ejection or accidental or disconnection of the ejection heater for ink heating.

In addition, not only in the ink jet recording method, in a recording apparatus that forms an image on a recording material using various recording elements, when the recording element becomes unrecordable due to damage or the like, some recording dots in the recorded image It was necessary to continue recording in a state lacking or to stop recording and restore the recording state by replacing the recording head.
Japanese Patent No. 3005136 Japanese Patent No. 2998723 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-25700 JP 2001-10030 A Japanese Patent No. 3174539 JP 07-125262 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-226998

As an invention that solves the above problems,
The present applicant discloses a method of performing complementary recording at a recording position by a nozzle where non-ejection has occurred in Patent Document 1.

  In addition, in the present applicant, at the same time as printing, the situation immediately after printing is read by the sensor, the difference from the data to be printed is calculated, the difference is determined as non-ejection, and the subsequent scan or subsequent A configuration for performing complementary recording with a complementary head is disclosed.

  In addition, in the patent document 2, the present applicant detects an abnormal nozzle (undischarge nozzle) prior to printing, removes data corresponding to the non-discharge nozzle in advance, performs forward printing (white streak generation), and moves backward. Recording apparatus and recording method for supplementary printing of the white streak portion by sub-scanning feeding a predetermined amount so that the white streak and the non-ejection nozzle do not overlap prior to each other, and adding the removed data to the healthy nozzle in reverse order Is disclosed.

  According to these configurations, nozzles in which ejection failure has occurred using a multi-scan recording method in which serial scanning is performed using a multi-nozzle head, and a predetermined area is divided into a plurality of scans to perform complementary recording, respectively. The print position is complemented by another scan and printing is performed to prevent image quality deterioration due to image defects such as ejection failure.

  Further, the present applicants disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 4 a configuration in which image data of an abnormal nozzle in which non-ejection has occurred is recorded by complementing the non-ejection nozzle with a separately provided head. .

  According to this configuration, printing can be performed without reducing the printing speed.

  According to the configurations of Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, Patent Document 4, and the like, the nozzle that performs complementary recording prints superimposed data, and the frequency of driving for ejection is as follows: Increases by the amount of data superimposed.

Here, the frequency of driving is the number of pulse signals applied for ejection in, for example, ejection means using an electrothermal energy converter (heater), and the life of the heater is 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹⁰ times. The degree of. In this lifetime, the heater will no longer operate and the non-ejection nozzle will be unable to recover.

  Therefore, nozzles that are also used for complementation reach this number of times earlier (in a simple way, it is one-half of the original lifetime). There is a problem in that the nozzles fail to eject early, and as a result, the life of the recording head is shortened.

  In order to extend the life of the nozzles for complementation, in the patent document 5, the applicant of the present invention applied another normal recording element according to the frequency of driving the normal recording element for performing complementary recording in the interpolation recording process and the normal recording process. By changing to the above, a configuration is disclosed in which the drive frequency is prevented from concentrating on a specific recording element and the life of a normal recording element is prevented from being reduced.

  In this configuration, the number of pulses for driving the recording element is counted, and the recording element used for complementation is switched by comparing it with a reference value.

  On the other hand, instead of the number of pulses that drive the recording element, the number of main scans for normal printing and the number of complementary scanning main scans for the recording elements used for complementation are added, and the value is compared with the reference value. Thus, it has also been proposed to switch the recording elements used for complementation.

  However, the method of counting the number of pulses for driving the recording elements has a problem that a large amount of memory is required to store the count results of the number of driving times of all the recording elements.

  The latter method of counting the number of times of main scanning has a count value that is several orders of magnitude less than the count value of the number of driving times of each printing element. However, the number of times of scanning for complementary printing is stored for all printing elements. Therefore, there is a problem in that a large amount of memory is required when using a multi-nozzle recording head in recent years.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of obtaining a normal recording result by complementation even when an abnormality occurs in a recording element.

  A second object of the present invention is to provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of extending the life of a substantial recording head when a normal recording result is obtained by complementation.

  A third object of the present invention is to provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing recording while suppressing a decrease in throughput when performing the above-described complementation.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is directed to recording on a recording material by driving the recording element while moving a recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged relative to the recording material. Performing main scanning,
By repeating the sub-scanning for moving the recording material in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction with respect to the recording head,
By scanning the same area on the recording material a plurality of times,
In an apparatus for recording an image on the recording material,
When at least one of the plurality of recording elements is an abnormal recording element,
The sub-scanning direction of the recording material relative to the recording head is such that an area on the recording material to be recorded by the abnormal recording element can be recorded by a normal recording element different from the abnormal recording element. Means for causing the normal recording element to face the region by moving to
Image data superimposing means for superimposing image data to be supplied to the abnormal recording element on a normal recording element opposed to main scan the same recording area as the abnormal recording element;
The opposing normal recording element records an image based on the image data superimposed by the image data superimposing means, whereby the normal recording element records an image to be recorded and the abnormal recording element. Means for recording a power image in the same main scanning,
Each time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas of the recording material is recorded, the normal scanning element facing the abnormal recording element is switched by changing the sub-scan feed pattern, and the abnormal recording is performed. The recording element for complementing the element is distributed to a plurality of normal recording elements.

In the present invention configured as described above,
Without using a large amount of memory, it is possible to extend the life of normal recording elements and heads used for complementation.

  In the present invention, even when an abnormality occurs in the recording element of the recording means, the image data to be given to the abnormal recording element is moved to the image data given to the other recording element, and the other normal recording Since complementary recording can be performed by the element, a desired image free from image defects can be obtained.

  In particular, by changing the recording element that performs complementary recording, a decrease in the life of the recording element that performs complementary recording can be suppressed, and as a result, the substantial life of the recording head can be extended. Further, since there is no need to provide a supplementary dedicated head in addition to the normal recording head, complementary recording can be achieved without complicating and increasing the size of the apparatus itself.

  By performing the complementary recording within the process of multi-scan recording, it is possible to supplement the recording element in which an abnormality has occurred without substantially reducing the throughput even in the reciprocal recording.

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

[Inkjet printer]
First, an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a main configuration of the ink jet recording apparatus.

  On the carriage 40, there are recording heads 41-1 to 41-4 corresponding to four types of inks of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Each recording head 41 has an ejection port array for ejecting ink, and the ejection port arrays of the recording heads 41-1 to 41-4 are installed at predetermined intervals. Ink to the corresponding nozzle rows of the recording heads 41-1 to 41-4 is supplied from the ink cartridge 42, and 42-1 to 42-4 are inks that supply cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks. It is a cartridge.

  A control signal or the like to the recording head 41 is sent through the flexible cable 43. A recording material 44 made of paper, a plastic thin plate, or the like is sandwiched by a discharge roller 45 through a conveyance roller (not shown), and along with driving of an LF motor 46 used to convey the recording material 44 in the sub-scanning direction, Sent in the direction of the arrow. The carriage 40 is guided and supported by the guide shaft 47.

  The carriage 40 is reciprocated along the guide shaft 47 by driving a carriage motor (CR motor) 50 through a driving belt 49.

  A heating element (electric / thermal energy converter) that generates thermal energy for ink ejection is provided in the ink ejection port (liquid path) of the recording head 41 described above. According to the reading timing of the linear encoder 48, the heating element is driven based on a recording signal, and an image is formed by flying and adhering droplets of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink onto the recording material. it can.

  A recovery unit 52 having a cap portion 51 is installed at the home position of the carriage 40 set outside the recording area. When recording is not performed, the carriage 40 is moved to the home position, and the ink discharge port surfaces of the corresponding recording heads 41-1 to 41-4 are sealed by the caps 51-1 to 51-4 of the cap unit 51, and the ink is discharged. It prevents clogging due to adhesion of ink or adhesion of foreign matters such as dust due to evaporation of the solvent.

  Further, the capping function of the cap 51 is used for idle ejection in which ink is ejected to the cap that is away from the ink ejection port in order to eliminate ejection failure and clogging of the ink ejection port with low recording frequency. In the capped state, a pump (not shown) is operated to suck ink from the ink discharge port, and this is used for recovery of discharge from the discharge port in which the discharge failure has occurred.

  Further, by disposing a blade and a wiping member at the cap portion adjacent position 53, the ink discharge port forming surface of the recording head 41 can be cleaned.

[About the recording head]
Since the detailed configuration inside the recording head is disclosed in Patent Document 6, description thereof is omitted here.

  The configuration of the ink discharge port array and the image configuration example will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a view of the ink discharge port array of the recording head 41 as viewed from the recording material side. In the recording head 41, reference numerals 60-1 to 60-4 denote discharge port arrays that discharge cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, respectively. The discharge port arrays of each unit are 32 at a pitch of 600 dots per inch (600 dpi). Since there are four ejection openings and four types of inks of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black can be ejected during one scan in the sub-scanning direction, a color image can be generated without increasing the recording time. .

[Block diagram of recording device]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control unit that performs various controls of the recording apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image input unit which inputs image data of an image to be recorded.

  As input image data, color data is obtained as density data for each pixel for each color separated into three colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, or red, green, and blue.

  Reference numeral 2 denotes an operation unit having various keys for instructing various parameter settings and recording start, and 3 a CPU for controlling the entire recording apparatus in accordance with various programs in the storage medium.

  A storage medium 4 stores a program for operating the image processing method and apparatus and the recording apparatus in accordance with a control program and an error processing program, and various tables and test patterns.

  All operations in this embodiment are performed by this program. As the storage medium 4 for storing the program, ROM, FD, CD-ROM, HD, memory card, magneto-optical disk, or the like can be used.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a RAM used as a work area for various programs in the storage medium 4, a temporary saving area for error processing, and a work area for image processing.

  The RAM 5 can also copy various tables in the storage medium 4, change the contents of the tables, and proceed with image processing while referring to the changed tables.

  An image processing unit 6 creates an ink jet discharge pattern based on an input image.

  A printer 7 forms a dot image based on the ejection pattern created by the image processing unit during recording, and includes the recording unit shown in FIG.

  Reference numeral 8 denotes a non-volatile memory that stores the positions of nozzles that cause non-ejection in each inkjet head. The detection of the non-ejection nozzle may be performed in the inspection process at the time of shipment from the factory, or may be performed by a predetermined method at the time of the test printing periodically performed by the user, and the detection result is stored in the nonvolatile memory 8. Is stored in the defective nozzle information 8a. As the non-volatile memory 8, an EEPROM, a flash ROM, or the like can be used.

  The non-volatile memory 8 includes a sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b that stores the type of sub-scanning pattern used for the previous recording.

  Reference numeral 9 denotes a bus line for transmitting address signals, data, control signals, and the like in the apparatus.

  An algorithm for recording a color image is described in Patent Document 7, for example.

  In the storage medium 4 of FIG. 1, reference numeral 4a denotes a gamma correction conversion table for reference in input / output gamma correction processing, which converts a gamma curve dependent on an image generation device to a desired gamma curve when recorded by a printer. Is. 4b is a masking coefficient to be referred to in a later-described color correction (masking) circuit process, 4c is a black generation and UCR table referred to in a later-described black generation and UCR circuit process, and 4d is referred to in a later-described binarization process. 4e is a reference table other than those described above, 4f is a test print pattern such as a defective nozzle check pattern, and 4g is a program group storing the various programs described above.

[About image processing unit]
The image processing unit 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The red, green, and blue image luminance signals R, G, and B transferred from the host device or the like are input to the input gamma correction / luminance density conversion processing unit 80, where the yellow, magenta, and cyan image density signals 71Y, respectively. , 71M, 71C.

  These signals are subjected to color processing by a color correction (masking) processing unit 81, a black generation and UCR (undercolor removal) processing unit 82, and new image density data 73Y, 73M, and 73C for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. , 73K.

  The image density data is subjected to gamma correction by the output gamma correction processing unit 83 and converted into new image density signals 74Y, 74M, 74C, and 74K of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

  The binarization processing unit 84 performs pseudo intermediate processing to generate binary printer ejection data 75Y, 75M, 75C, and 75K corresponding to each of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks, and the bit plane memory of the printer unit 7 85-1, 85-2, 85-3, and 85-4.

  In the printer unit 7, the binary data 75Y, 75M, 75C, and 75K stored in the bit plane memories 85-1, 85-2, 85-3, and 85-4 are used as ejection signals of the respective recording heads, and from the respective recording heads. Ink is ejected from the corresponding yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink ejection ports according to the signal value, and a color image is recorded.

[Nozzle detection test pattern]
The undischarge nozzle detection is performed by an inspection process at the time of factory shipment or a periodic test printing by a user.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of test pattern data generally used for detecting an undischarge nozzle.

  The test pattern data 90 in FIG. 6 is an example in the case where there are 32 nozzles N1 to N32 in one recording head 41.

  For printing the test pattern, the test pattern 4f stored in the storage medium is stored in the bit plane memory 85 of the printer unit 7 by the CPU 3, and the recording head 41 scans once in the horizontal direction and is scanning. In accordance with the read timing of the linear encoder 48, the heating element of each ink jet head is driven based on the recording signal of each bit plane, and droplets fly on the recording sheet for each ink of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink, By adhering, a test pattern corresponding to each ink can be formed.

  Here, the horizontal line 91 of the test pattern corresponds to the first nozzle 91 of the recording head 41, the line 92 corresponds to the second nozzle 92, the line 93 corresponds to the third nozzle 93, and so on. 91 are the first blocks, 92, 96,... Are the second blocks, 93, 97. ... Are the third blocks, 94, 98,... Are the fourth blocks, and each block discharges on 8 lines at intervals of 4 nozzles. In this test pattern, for example, when there is a nozzle non-ejection, the non-ejection nozzle can be identified visually by counting the block number where the line next to the test pattern disappears and the line number in that block. It has become.

[Detection method of defective nozzle]
A method for recording and controlling a test pattern for the nozzles of the inkjet head will be described with reference to FIG.

FIGS. 7A and 7B show a process for printing a test pattern.
Reference numeral 44 denotes a recording material, and 41 denotes a recording head.

  In this example, the 23rd nozzle N23 in the nozzle row arranged in 32 lines at 600 dpi does not discharge.

  In order to simplify the description, an example of an inkjet head that prints black ink will be described.

  First, in FIG. 7A, the position H is the home position of the head. While scanning the inkjet head to the right from the home position H, the heating element of each inkjet head is driven based on the test pattern recording signal of the bit plane 85 according to the reading timing of the linear encoder 48 during scanning, and black is printed on the recording sheet. Ink is ejected at 600 dpi. As shown in FIG. 7B, the test pattern 90 is printed on the recording material, the ink jet head moves to the right end E, and the scanning is finished.

  The line 100 to be printed by the nozzle N23 does not appear in the printed test pattern 90 because of no ejection.

  Since the pattern of the sixth nozzle in the third block is not recorded, it can be visually recognized that the 23rd nozzle N23 is undischarged.

[About the printer section]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the printer unit.

  The carriage (CR) motor driver and the sub-scanning (LF) motor driver are controlled by the control circuit 21.

  The CR motor 50 is driven by the CR motor driver 22, and a signal is output from the linear encoder 48 as the carriage moves, and is input to the control circuit 21.

  An LF motor 46 is driven by the LF motor driver 23, and a signal is output from the rotary encoder and input to the control circuit 21 as the conveyance roller rotates in the sub-scanning direction.

  The control circuit 21 can accurately control the sub-scan feed amount for conveying the recording material by inputting the signal of the rotary encoder.

  The control circuit 21 refers to the sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b in the non-volatile memory 8 and changes the sub-scanning conveyance pattern for each series of recordings, for example, for each cut sheet or for each image recording area. The sub-scan driving pattern after the change is stored in the sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b.

  The bit plane 85 is a rewritable memory and stores the ejection data for each color binarized in FIG. 5 as described above.

  The multi-pass mask 25 is used to divide the ejection data in multi-pass printing, and complete image data is obtained by overlapping the determined positions.

  The defective nozzle information 8 stores defective nozzle information input by a defective nozzle information input unit (not shown) when the test pattern of FIG. 6 described above is printed and a non-ejection nozzle is found.

  The discharge data reading circuit 24 is a circuit for reading discharge data from the bit plane 85. Data to be discharged from the bit plane 85 is read by a read timing signal output from the control circuit 21 based on the output signal of the linear encoder 48. A circuit for selecting and reading.

  The mask readout circuit / defective nozzle mask processing circuit 26 is a circuit for reading out mask data from the multi-pass mask 25. The mask readout circuit / defective nozzle mask processing circuit 26 uses the mask readout timing signal output from the control circuit 21 based on the output signal of the linear encoder 48 to 25 is a circuit that selects and reads out mask data corresponding to the ejection data from 25, and has a function of masking the defective nozzle position specified by the defective nozzle information 8 with respect to the read mask data.

  The defective nozzle interpolation process / unnecessary nozzle mask process 27 determines a nozzle that complements the defective nozzle by multi-scanning from the sub-scan feed amount for the mask data generated by the mask reading circuit / defective nozzle mask processing circuit 26. Then, the process of reflecting in the mask and the mask process of unnecessary nozzles not used for printing are performed from the number of scans, the amount of sub-scan feed, and the like.

  In the ejection data generation / ejection timing generation circuit 28, a logical product of the ejection data read by the ejection data reading circuit 24 and the mask data generated by the defective nozzle interpolation process 27 is obtained to generate ejection data for each ink. . The ejection data is transferred to each head driver 29 by the timing signal output from the control circuit 21 based on the output signal of the linear encoder 48, and at the same time, the ejection timing signal is sent to the head driver. Is called.

[About mask]
FIG. 8 is an example of a mask used for two-pass printing.

  FIG. 8A shows an odd-scan mask 110, and FIG. 8B shows an even-scan mask 111.

  Each square corresponds to one dot of 600 dpi nozzle used in the recording apparatus of this embodiment.

  Each is a mask having 32 dots in the vertical direction and 16 dots in the horizontal direction.

  For explanation, for each dot of each of the masks 110 and 111, xy coordinates are defined as mask addresses as shown in FIG. 8B, and the address coordinates of the odd scan mask are defined as OM (x, y ), The address coordinates of the even-scan mask are EM (x, y). Further, 112 in FIG. 8A is OM (1, 1), and 114 in FIG. 8-B is EM (1, 1).

  Accordingly, the mask address 113 is OM (16, 32), and the mask address 115 is EM (16, 32).

  When the mask reading circuit 26 reads the dot information OM (1, 32) at the bottom in the vertical direction, as indicated by the arrow 116, the dot information OM (1,1) at the top of the column is next read. 1) can be read continuously. On the contrary, when the top dot information OM (1, 1) is read out in the vertical direction, the bottom dot information OM (1, 32) in the row can be read continuously. Has been.

  As indicated by the arrow 117, in the horizontal direction, when the rightmost mask information OM (16, 1) is read out, the next leftmost mask information OM (1, 1) is read out. It is configured as follows. Conversely, when the leftmost mask information OM (1, 1) column is read, the next rightmost mask information OM (16, 1) column is read.

  With the above configuration, the mask reading circuit 26 continuously outputs mask information for 32 dots in the vertical direction corresponding to the number of nozzles of the recording head 41 of the present embodiment from an arbitrary position of each mask according to a signal from the control circuit 21. Can be read out automatically.

  The mask has a narrow area of 32 dots in the vertical direction and 16 dots in the horizontal direction. However, the mask reading circuit 26 continuously reads out the mask, so that the mask is continuous over the entire printing area of the recording apparatus shown in the present embodiment. Can be masked.

  The portion painted in white is logically “0”, and ejection is masked (prohibited) when logical product is obtained with ejection data.

  The portion painted in black is logically “1”, and when the logical product is taken with the ejection data, ejection is performed when the corresponding dot of the ejection data is ejection, that is, logically “1”. .

  The position indicated by 112 of the odd-numbered scan mask 110 corresponds to the position indicated by 114 of the even-numbered scan mask 111. The mask patterns complement each other, that is, OM (x, y) and EM (x, y) are logically inverted, and an image obtained by ANDing each mask is obtained. By superimposing, the image is just perfect.

[Sub-scan transport pattern]
Here, the conveyance pattern in the sub-scanning direction will be described.

  In this embodiment, an example in which the sub-scan transport pattern is switched every time a series of recordings is completed is shown.

  The control circuit 21 in FIG. 2 refers to the sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b in the non-volatile memory 8, and records the sub-scanning conveyance pattern for each series of recordings, for example, for each cut sheet or for one image recording area. The sub-scanning drive pattern after the change is stored in the sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a conveyance pattern in the sub-scanning direction.

  FIG. 15A shows an example in which the recording material feed amount continues to 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots,... After the first scan.

  FIG. 15B is an example in which the recording material feed amount continues to 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots,... After the first scan.

  FIG. 15- (c) is an example in which the recording material feed amount continues to 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots,... After the first scan.

  FIG. 15- (d) is an example in which the recording material feed amount continues as 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots,... After the first scan.

  FIG. 15- (e) is an example in which the recording material feed amount continues as 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots,... After the first scan.

  In this embodiment, the sub-scan transport pattern shown in FIG. 15 is a series of (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (a), (b),. Each recording is sequentially rotated and recorded on the recording material.

[Description of recording and interpolation method]
How to complement the data of the nozzle determined to be a defective nozzle will be described with reference to one color recording head having the recording apparatus shown in this embodiment and processing of the image data.

  An example of recording with the sub-scan transport pattern of FIG. 15D will be described.

  In FIG. 9, the ejection port array 60 of the nozzles of the recording head 41 reciprocates in the main scanning direction, and performs recording by ejecting ink while moving in the direction of the arrow 120. The recording head reverses after one scan and returns to the writing position. During the reversal of the recording head, the recording material moves in the sub-scanning direction indicated by an arrow 121 orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a process in which an image is formed by sequentially repeating these operations, and shows an example of two-pass printing in which a recording head scans (scans) one line twice to form an image. ing.

  FIG. 9 shows the relative relationship between the recording head and the recording material.

  The image shows a state in which a solid image is printed for easy explanation.

  A-A ′ shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B is the upper end of the image area.

  FIG. 9A shows image data recorded in an odd-numbered scan starting from the first scan.

  FIG. 9B is image data recorded in the even-numbered scan starting from the second scan.

  According to the above-described defective nozzle detection method, the 23rd nozzle N23 of the recording head 41 does not discharge, and the defective nozzle data 8 shown in FIG. 2 stores the defective nozzle position information N23 of the head of FIG. Yes.

  As for the masks stored in the multi-pass mask 25, the odd scan mask is shown in FIG. 8- (a), and the even scan mask is shown in FIG. 8- (b). The bit plane 25 stores a solid black pattern.

  The sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 8b stores the transport pattern of the sub-scanning of the recording material performed last time. Assuming that the sub-scan transport pattern in the previous recording on the recording material is FIG. 15- (c), in this embodiment, the sub-scan transport pattern shown in FIG. Since switching is performed between (c), (d), (e), (a), (b),..., FIG.

  First, the recording material is conveyed to the recording unit, and is aligned so that the boundary A-A ′ of the recording area of the recording material is between the nozzles N18 and N19 of the recording head.

(First scan)
Image data generation will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 10, and 11.

  First, when the carriage starts moving in the direction of the arrow 120 in the first scan, a signal of the linear encoder 48 is output, and a read start signal is output from the control circuit 21 based on the output signal as a mask read circuit / defective nozzle mask process 26.

  The processing of FIG. 2 is started by the start signal of the control circuit 21.

  Mask read generation 170 and defective nozzle mask generation 171 are performed by the mask read circuit / defective nozzle mask processing 26.

  In the mask reading process 170, since the first scan is performed, the odd-numbered mask OM (1, 1) stored in the multi-pass mask 25 is read so as to match the position of the nozzle N19. The read multipass mask data is 150 shown in FIG.

  In the defective nozzle mask generation 171, defective nozzle mask data 151 is generated based on the defective nozzle information 8. The generated defective nozzle mask data 151 is masked with the bit position 152 corresponding to the defective nozzle N23 being logically “0”.

  In mask generation processing (1) 172, the logical product (AND) of the mask data 150 and the defective mask processing data 151 is obtained to generate mask data 153, and the mask reading circuit / defective nozzle mask processing 26 ends.

  When the process ends in the mask readout circuit / defective nozzle mask process 26, a start signal is output from the control circuit 21 to the defective nozzle complement process / unnecessary nozzle mask process 27, and the defective nozzle complement process / unnecessary nozzle mask process 27 is performed.

In the defective nozzle complement process / unnecessary nozzle mask process 27,
First, defective nozzle complement data generation 173 is performed. In this method, the nozzle position used for complementation is logically set to “1”, and the logical sum is taken with the mask data. However, since the defective nozzle is N23, complementation is not performed in the first scan. Therefore, all the defective nozzle complement processing data is logically “0” data, and the defective nozzle complement processing data 154 in FIG. 10 is obtained.

  Next, unnecessary nozzle mask data generation 174 is performed. Since the nozzles used in the effective recording area of the first scan are in the range of N19 to N32, unnecessary nozzle mask data 155 is generated.

  In the mask generation process (2) 175, the logical sum (OR) of the output data 153 of the mask readout circuit / defective nozzle mask process 26 and the defective nozzle complement data 154 is obtained to obtain intermediate data 156. A logical product (AND) of the intermediate data 156 and the unnecessary nozzle mask data 155 is obtained, and mask data 157 is generated.

In the discharge data reading process 176,
In parallel with the processes of the mask reading circuit / defective nozzle mask process 26 and the defective nozzle complement process / unnecessary nozzle mask process 27, a start signal is output from the control circuit 21 to the ejection data reading circuit 24, and recording is performed in the first scan. The first column (vertical column) data 158 of the image data 14 line (L14) is obtained from the image data 1 line (L1).

  In the column data 158, data 159 corresponding to the nozzles N1 to N18 is indefinite.

In the discharge data generation 178,
The ejection data generation / ejection timing generation circuit 28 is activated by a signal output from the control circuit 21, and the mask data 157 generated by the defective nozzle supplement processing / unnecessary nozzle mask processing 27 and the ejection data read by the ejection data reading circuit 24. The discharge data 160 is generated by taking the AND of 158.

The discharge data 160 generated by the above series of processes is
The ejection timing generation circuit transfers the ink to the head driver 29. In the ejection 180 process, the head driver 29 drives the recording element of the head to eject ink, so that a dot corresponding to logical “1” is logically formed on the recording material. To be recorded.

  In the mask reading process for creating the second ink ejection column data, OM (2, 1) of the odd mask is read so as to match the position of the nozzle N19.

  In the mask reading process for creating the third ink ejection column data, the odd-numbered mask OM (3, 1) is read so as to match the position of the nozzle N19.

  Sequentially, x address is incremented by 1 and read until the 16th ink ejection column data creation mask reading process.

  In the mask reading process for creating the 17th ink ejection column data, the x address is returned to the first, and the odd-numbered mask OM (1, 1) is read so as to be in the position of the nozzle N19.

  Sequentially, the above processing is repeated up to the A ′ position at the right end of the image recording area.

  As described above, the processing from 170 to 180 in FIG. 11 is performed in accordance with the movement of the carriage from A to A ′, and ink is ejected for each column, whereby an image having a width of 122 in FIG. 9 is recorded in the first scan. Is done.

  Next, the recording material is moved by 15 dots of the second scan of the transport pattern shown in FIG. 15D in the sub-scanning direction of the arrow 121 orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

  The position of the second scan shown in FIG. 9B shows a state in which the ejection port array 60 of the nozzles of the recording head 41 has moved relatively to the 15-dot recording area side with respect to the recording material.

(Second scan)
Generation of the image data of the second scan will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the carriage starts moving in the direction of the arrow 120 in the second scan, a signal of the linear encoder 48 is output, and a control signal for generating ejection data is output from the control circuit 21 to each block of the printer unit based on the output signal. Output sequentially.

  Since the mask reading process 170 is the second scan, reading is performed so that the even-numbered mask EM (1,1) stored in the multi-pass mask 25 matches the position of the nozzle N4. The read multipath mask data is 190 shown in FIG.

  In the defective nozzle mask generation 171, defective nozzle mask data 191 is generated based on the defective nozzle information 8. The defective nozzle mask data 191 is masked because the bit position 192 corresponding to the defective nozzle N23 is logically “0”.

  Since the defective mask data 191 corresponds to the nozzle row on a one-to-one basis, the defective mask data takes the same value in the processing after the third scan.

  The mask generation process (1) 172 calculates the logical product (AND) of the mask data 190 and the defective mask process data 191 to generate mask data 193.

  In the defective nozzle supplement data generation 173, since the 15-dot recording material has moved with respect to the N23 defective nozzle, the line where the N23 of the first scan could not be recorded with the N8 nozzle is complemented from 23-15 = 8. .

  The nozzle position N8 used for complementation is logically set to “1”, and defective nozzle complement processing data 194 is obtained.

  Since the nozzles N4 to N32 are used in the second scan in the unnecessary nozzle mask data generation 174, N1 to N3 are logically masked with “0”, and the other N4 to N32 are logically set to “1”. The generated unnecessary nozzle mask data 195 is generated.

  In the mask generation process (2) 175, the logical sum (OR) of the data 193 and the defective nozzle complement data 194 is obtained to obtain intermediate data 196. A logical product (AND) of the intermediate data 196 and the unnecessary nozzle mask data 195 is obtained, and mask data 197 is generated.

  In the ejection data reading process 176, the first column (vertical row) data 198 of the image data 29 line (L29) is obtained from the image data 1 line (L1) recorded in the second scan.

  In the column data 198, data corresponding to the nozzles N1 to N3 is indefinite.

  In the ejection data generation 178, the logical product of the mask data 197 and the ejection data 198 is taken to generate ejection data 199.

  In the generated ejection data 199, dots that logically correspond to “1” are recorded on the recording material by driving the recording elements and ejecting ink.

  In the mask reading process for creating the second ink ejection column data, the even-numbered mask EM (2, 1) is read so as to match the position of the nozzle N4.

  The reading order of the third and subsequent even scan masks is the same as the reading order of the odd scan masks of the first scan.

  As in the first scan, the processing from 170 to 180 in FIG. 11 is performed in accordance with the movement of the carriage from A to A ′, and ink is ejected for each column, so that an image with a width of 123 in FIG. Recorded in the second scan.

  Next, the recording material is moved by 17 dots in the sub-scanning direction of the arrow 121 orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

  The position of the third scan shown in FIG. 9A is a state in which the ejection port array 60 of the nozzles of the recording head 41 has moved to the 17-dot recording area side relative to the recording material position of the second scan. Show.

(3rd scan)
Generation of image data for the third scan will be described.

  As in the previous scan, control signals are sequentially output from the control circuit 21 to each block of the printer unit.

  In the mask reading processing 170, the odd-numbered mask OM (1, 15) is read from the position of the recording head of the third scan and the image so as to match the position of the nozzle N1. The read multipath mask data is 200 shown in FIG.

  The defect mask data corresponding to the nozzle row on a one-to-one basis is 201 in FIG.

  The mask generation process (1) 172 calculates the logical product (AND) of the mask data 200 and the defective mask process data 201 and generates the mask data 203.

  In the defective nozzle complement data generation 173, since the 17-dot recording material has moved with respect to the N23 defective nozzles, the line where the defective nozzle N23 of the second scan could not be recorded with the nozzles N6 from 23-17 = 6. Complement.

  The nozzle position N6 used for complementation is logically set to “1”, and defective nozzle complement processing data 204 is obtained.

  Since all the nozzles are used in the third scan, the unnecessary nozzle mask data generation 174 generates all the unnecessary nozzle mask data 205 that is logically “1”.

  In mask generation processing (2) 175, logical sum (OR) of data 203 and data 204 is obtained to obtain intermediate data 206, and logical product (AND) of intermediate data 206 and data 205 is taken to generate mask data 207. Is done.

  In the ejection data reading process 176, the first column (vertical row) data 208 of the image data 46 line (L46) is obtained from the image data 15 line (L15) corresponding to the recording head position of the third scan.

  In the discharge data generation 178, a logical product of the mask data 207 and the discharge data 208 is obtained, and discharge data 209 is generated and recorded.

  Similarly to the first and second scans, the processes from 170 to 180 in FIG. 11 are performed in accordance with the movement of the carriage from A to A ′, and ink is ejected for each column. An image is recorded in the second scan.

  Next, the recording material is moved by 15 dots in the sub-scanning direction of the arrow 121 orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

(4th scan)
The creation of ink ejection column data for the fourth scan is shown in FIG.

  In the mask reading process for creating the ink ejection column data, the EM (1, 30) of the even mask is read so as to match the position of the nozzle N1, and data 220 is generated.

  In mask generation processing (1) 172, the logical product (AND) of the mask data 220 and the defective mask processing data 221 is obtained to generate mask data 223.

  In the defective nozzle supplement data generation 173, since the 15-dot recording material has moved relative to the defective nozzle of N23, the nozzle of N8 is logically set to “1” from 23-15 = 8, and defective nozzle supplement processing data 224 is obtained. Get.

  Since all the nozzles are used in the fourth scan, the unnecessary nozzle mask data generation 174 generates all the unnecessary nozzle mask data 225 logically “1”.

  In mask generation processing (2) 175, the logical sum (OR) of data 223 and data 224 is obtained to obtain intermediate data 226, and the logical product (AND) of intermediate data 226 and unnecessary nozzle mask data 225 is taken to obtain mask data. 227 is generated.

  In the ejection data reading process 176, the first column (vertical row) data 228 of the image data 61 line (L61) is obtained from the image data 30 line (L30) corresponding to the recording head position of the fourth scan.

  In the discharge data generation 178, the logical product of the mask data 227 and the discharge data 228 is taken and the discharge data 229 is generated and recorded.

  The processing from 170 to 180 in FIG. 11 is performed in accordance with the movement of the carriage from A to A ′, and by ejecting ink for each column, an image having a width of 125 in FIG. 9 is recorded in the fourth scan. .

  Next, the recording material is moved by 17 dots in the sub-scanning direction of the arrow 121 orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

  In the sub-scanning driving pattern of FIG. 15D, the nozzle that complements the N23 nozzle is then scanned in the second scan by repeating the sub-scan feed sequentially with 15 dots, 17 dots, and 15 dots. Then, nozzle N8, and thereafter, N6, N8, and N6 are sequentially switched.

  As described above, in the 2-pass printing mode, non-discharge nozzles can be complemented without reducing the speed, and the nozzles used for complementation can be switched by sequentially switching the feed amount in the sub-scanning direction. It becomes.

As described above, FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a conveyance pattern in the sub-scanning direction of the present embodiment. By sequentially changing the conveyance amount in the sub-scanning direction,
FIG. 15A shows the nozzle N5 used for complementing N23 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N9 can be used alternately.

  FIG. 15B shows the nozzle N6 used for complementing N23 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N8 can be used alternately.

  In FIG. 15C, in the example in which the recording material feed amount is 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots,... After the first scan, the nozzle used to complement N23 is N7. It is.

  FIG. 15- (d) shows an example in which the recording material feed amount continues to 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots,... After the first scan. It is possible to alternately use the nozzles N8 and N6 used for complementation.

  FIG. 15E shows the nozzle N9 used for complementing N23 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N5 can be used alternately.

  The sub-scan transport pattern shown in FIG. 15 is sequentially rotated for each series of recordings (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (a), (b),. By recording on the recording material, the nozzles used for complementation can be assigned to N5, N6, N7, N8, and N9, and the usage rate of the nozzles used for complementation is also made equal. It becomes possible.

  The present invention can also be achieved by supplying the storage medium storing the program according to the present invention to another system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. .

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a conveyance pattern in the sub-scanning direction according to the present embodiment. By sequentially changing the conveyance amount in the sub-scanning direction,
16A shows a nozzle N28 used for complementing N10 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N24 can be used alternately.

  FIG. 16- (b) shows the nozzle N27 used for complementing N10 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N25 can be used alternately.

  In FIG. 16C, in the example in which the recording material feed amount is 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots, 16 dots,... After the first scan, the nozzle used for complementing N10 is N26. It is.

  FIG. 16- (d) shows an example in which the recording material feed amount continues to be 15 dots, 17 dots, 15 dots, 17 dots,... After the first scan. It is possible to alternately use the nozzles N25 and N27 used for complementation.

  FIG. 16E shows a nozzle N24 used for complementing N10 by sequentially switching the recording material feed amount to 14 dots, 18 dots, 14 dots, 18 dots,... After the first scan. And the nozzle N28 can be used alternately.

  The sub-scan transport pattern shown in FIG. 16 is sequentially rotated for each series of recordings (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (a), (b),. By recording on the recording material, the nozzles used for complementation can be distributed to N24, N25, N26, N27, and N28, and the usage rates of the nozzles used for complementation are also equalized. It becomes possible.

  In the first and second embodiments, the case of two-pass printing has been described. However, the number of passes is not limited to two passes, but may be two passes or more, such as three passes and four passes.

  In the first and second embodiments, the one-way recording method has been described, but it goes without saying that the reciprocating recording method is also possible.

  In the first embodiment, an example in which the sub-scanning conveyance pattern is changed for each series of recordings for recording one recording area has been described. However, a method of changing for each of a plurality of recording areas may be used.

  In the first and second embodiments, the recording method of changing the sub-scan conveyance pattern has been described. However, when there is no defective nozzle, the sub-scan feed amount may be fixed.

  In the first and second embodiments, the number of nozzles used for complementation is five, but complementation with other numbers is also possible by changing the number of variable patterns for the sub-scan feed amount.

  In the first and second embodiments, the method of sequentially rotating the transport pattern has been described. However, a method of randomly selecting a specified transport pattern may be used.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit that performs various types of control of the recording apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a printer unit in the embodiment of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the principal part structure of the inkjet recording device in the Example of FIG. It is a figure which shows the ink discharge port row | line | column of the inkjet head in the Example of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the flow of the image processing in the Example of FIG. It is a test pattern for undischarge nozzle detection in the Example of FIG. It is a figure which shows the process which prints the test pattern in the Example of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the mask used for 2 pass printing in the Example of FIG. It is a figure which shows the process in which an image is formed in the conveyance pattern of FIG.15- (d). It is a figure which shows the data processing of the 1st column of the 1st scan in the Example shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the data processing in the Example shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the data processing of the 1st column of the 2nd scan in the Example shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the data processing of the 1st column of the 3rd scan in the Example shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the data processing of the 1st column of the 4th scan in the Example shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the conveyance pattern of the subscanning direction of 1st Example. It is a figure which shows the conveyance pattern of the subscanning direction of 1st Example.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image input unit 2 Operation unit 3 CPU
4 Storage medium 4a Gamma correction conversion table 4b Masking coefficient 4c Black generation and UCR table 4d Ink distribution table 4e Other table 4f Test print pattern 4g Control program group 5 RAM
6 Image processing unit 7 Printer unit 8 Non-volatile memory 8a Defective nozzle information 8b Sub-scanning pattern mode storage unit 9 Bus line 21 Control circuit 22 CR motor driver 23 LF motor driver 24 Discharge data read circuit 25 Multipass mask 26 Mask read circuit / Defective nozzle mask processing 27 Defective nozzle complement processing / unnecessary nozzle mask processing 28 Discharge data generation / discharge timing generation circuit 29 Head driver 40 Carriage 41 Recording head 41-1 to 41-4 Recording head 42-1 to 42-4 Ink cartridge 43 Flexible cable 44 Recording material 45 Paper discharge roller 46 LF motor 47 Guide shaft 48 Linear encoder 49 Drive belt 50 CR motor 51-1 to 51-4 Cap section 52 Recovery unit 53 Blade, wipe Member 60 Discharge port array 80 Input gamma correction / luminance density conversion processing unit 81 Color correction (masking) processing unit 82 Black generation and UCR processing unit 83 Output gamma correction processing unit 84 Binary processing unit 85-1 to 85-4 bits Plane 90 Non-ejection nozzle check test pattern 100 Non-ejection nozzle location 110 Odd scan mask 111 Even scan mask 112 Odd scan mask upper left address 113 Odd scan mask right lower address 114 Even scan mask upper left address 115 Even Scan mask right bottom address 116 Rotation in mask reading y direction 117 Rotation in mask reading x direction 120 Main scanning recording direction 121 Sub scanning recording medium conveyance direction 122 First scanning recording width 123 Second scanning recording width 24 Third scan recording width 125 Fourth scan recording width 150 First scan First column read mask 151 First scan First column defective nozzle mask processing data 152 First scan First column defective nozzle mask position 153 First scan First column mask process (1) Generation data 154 First scan first column defective nozzle interpolation process data 155 First scan First column unnecessary nozzle mask data 156 First scan First column intermediate process data 157 First scan first column mask process (2) generation data 158 first scan first column read ejection data 159 first scan first column indefinite data 160 first scan first column ejection data 170 mask read Process 171 Defective nozzle mask generation 172 Mask Formation process (1)
173 Defective nozzle complement data generation 174 Unnecessary nozzle mask data generation 175 Mask generation processing (2)
176 Discharge data read processing 178 Discharge data generation 179 Data generation to head 180 Ink discharge 190 Second scan first column read mask 191 Second scan first column defective nozzle mask processing data 192 Second scan first column defect Nozzle mask position 193 Second scan first column mask process (1) Generation data 194 Second scan first column defective nozzle interpolation process data 195 Second scan first column unnecessary nozzle mask data 196 Second scan first column Intermediate process data 197 Second scan first column mask process (2) Generation data 198 Second scan first column read ejection data 199 Second scan first column ejection data 200 Third scan first column read Mask 201 Third scan second 1st column defective nozzle mask processing data 202 3rd scan first column defective nozzle mask position 203 3rd scan first column mask processing (1) generation data 204 3rd scan first column defective nozzle interpolation processing data 205 1st column 3rd scan 1st column unnecessary nozzle mask data 206 3rd scan 1st column intermediate process data 207 3rd scan 1st column mask process (2) generation data 208 3rd scan 1st column read ejection data 209 1st column 3rd scan 1st column ejection data 220 4th scan 1st column read mask 221 4th scan 1st column defective nozzle mask processing data 222 4th scan 1st column defective nozzle mask position 223 4th scan 1st column Mask processing (1) generation data 224 1st column defective nozzle interpolation process data 225 4th scan 1st column unnecessary nozzle mask data 226 4th scan 1st column intermediate process data 227 4th scan 1st column mask process (2) generation data 228 Discharge data 229 read from the first column of the fourth scan First discharge data of the first column of the fourth scan

Claims (19)

Main scanning for recording on the recording material by driving the recording element while moving a recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged relative to the recording material;
By repeating the sub-scanning for moving the recording material in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction with respect to the recording head,
By scanning the same area on the recording material a plurality of times,
In a recording method for recording an image on the recording material,
When at least one of the plurality of recording elements is an abnormal recording element,
The sub-scanning direction of the recording material relative to the recording head is such that an area on the recording material to be recorded by the abnormal recording element can be recorded by a normal recording element different from the abnormal recording element. Means for causing the normal recording element to face the region by moving to
Image data superimposing means for superimposing image data to be supplied to the abnormal recording element on a normal recording element opposed to main scan the same recording area as the abnormal recording element;
The opposing normal recording element records an image based on the image data superimposed by the image data superimposing means, whereby the normal recording element records an image to be recorded and the abnormal recording element. Means for recording a power image in the same main scanning,
Each time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas of the recording material is recorded, the normal scanning element facing the abnormal recording element is switched by changing the sub-scan feed pattern, and the abnormal recording is performed. A recording method comprising: allocating recording elements for complementing the elements to a plurality of normal recording elements.   The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the recording material is a cut recording material.   The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the recording material is a roll-shaped recording material.   The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scanning is rotated every time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas are recorded.   The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scan is randomly switched every time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas are recorded.   2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scan is switched so that the recording elements for complementing the abnormal recording elements are evenly distributed to a plurality of normal recording elements. .   2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein when there is no abnormal recording element, the movement amount of the sub-scan is fixed.   3. A recording method according to claim 1, wherein the recording material is fed in one direction during the sub-scanning.   2. A recording method according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing a location of an abnormal recording element. Main scanning for recording on the recording material by driving the recording element while moving a recording head in which a plurality of recording elements are arranged relative to the recording material;
By repeating the sub-scanning for moving the recording material in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction with respect to the recording head,
By scanning the same area on the recording material a plurality of times,
In a recording apparatus for recording an image on the recording material,
When at least one of the plurality of recording elements is an abnormal recording element,
The sub-scanning direction of the recording material relative to the recording head is such that an area on the recording material to be recorded by the abnormal recording element can be recorded by a normal recording element different from the abnormal recording element. Means for causing the normal recording element to face the region by moving to
Image data superimposing means for superimposing image data to be supplied to the abnormal recording element on a normal recording element opposed to main scan the same recording area as the abnormal recording element;
The opposing normal recording element records an image based on the image data superimposed by the image data superimposing means, whereby the normal recording element records an image to be recorded and the abnormal recording element. Means for recording a power image in the same main scanning,
Each time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas of the recording material is recorded, the normal scanning element facing the abnormal recording element is switched by changing the sub-scan feed pattern, and the abnormal recording is performed. A recording apparatus, wherein a recording element for complementing an element is distributed to a plurality of normal recording elements.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the recording material is a cut recording material.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the recording material is a roll-shaped recording material.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scanning is rotated every time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas are recorded.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scan is switched randomly every time one recording area or a plurality of recording areas are recorded.   11. The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the change pattern of the movement amount of the sub-scan is switched so that the recording elements for complementing the abnormal recording elements are evenly distributed to a plurality of normal recording elements. .   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when there is no abnormal recording element, the amount of sub-scanning movement is fixed.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein a feeding direction of the recording material during the sub-scanning is one direction.   The recording apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising means for storing a location of an abnormal recording element.   A storage medium storing the program according to claim 1.

Images