JP2009029015A - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

An accurate ink consumption cannot be obtained because either the calculation of ink usage by image processing or the calculation of ink usage by counting control signals for the head in hardware is performed.
A first ink usage amount is calculated by detecting the amount of ink droplets ejected from a recording head based on the number of generations and the strength of a head drive signal, and integrating the detected ink amount. The first ink usage amount calculation unit 511 and the second ink usage amount calculation unit 512 calculate the second ink usage amount based on the information on the number of pixels and the information on the pixel size included in the printed image data. An ink use amount calculation unit 512 and a comparison operation unit 513 that compares the first and second ink use amounts to determine the ink consumption amount are provided.
[Selection] Figure 10

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for forming an image by discharging droplets from a recording head.

  As an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine, or a multifunction machine of these, for example, a liquid (e.g., a liquid ejecting apparatus) including a recording head composed of a liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid droplets of a recording liquid (liquid) is used. Hereinafter, although it is also referred to as “paper”, the material is not limited, and a recording medium as a liquid (hereinafter, referred to as “recording medium”, “recording medium”, “transfer material”, “recording paper” and the like is also used synonymously). There is a type in which image formation (recording, printing, printing, and printing are also used synonymously) is performed by simply attaching “ink” to a sheet.

  The image forming apparatus means an apparatus for forming an image by ejecting ink onto a medium such as paper, thread, fiber, fabric, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics, etc. The term “not only” means not only giving an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure to a medium but also giving an image having no meaning such as a pattern to the medium. The ink is not particularly limited as long as it is a liquid capable of forming the image.

In such an image forming apparatus, various functions are realized by estimating the amount of ink used (ink consumption, ink usage).
For example, the ink cartridge replacement timing can be known. If the unused ink cartridge capacity is known and the amount of ink used can be estimated, the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge can be estimated, and the user can be notified of when replacement is required before the ink cartridge runs out. .

  In addition, it is possible to more accurately know the timing at which ink supplement supply to the sub tank (head tank) is required. In the case of a sub-tank type image forming apparatus, printing or the like is performed using the ink in the sub-tank arranged in the head, so it is necessary to periodically supply the ink in the ink cartridge to the sub-tank. If the amount of ink used can be estimated, the consumption of ink in the sub-tank can be determined, so that ink replenishment can be automatically performed before the sub-tank becomes empty.

  In addition, it is possible to more accurately know when maintenance is required. In proportion to the amount of ink used, the surface of the recording head may be soiled with paper dust or ink, and the ejection performance may be reduced. For this reason, it is necessary to periodically clean the recording head. However, if the amount of ink used is estimated, the contamination state of the recording head can be estimated, and maintenance can be automatically performed.

  In addition, the coverage counter used for billing can be calculated more accurately. In the case of an ink jet type image forming apparatus, it is considered that the deterioration of the apparatus progresses in proportion to the amount of ink used, and it is considered to charge for the number of sheets passed and the amount of ink used. In order to create a billing system that does not cause the user to pay an extra fee and does not damage the maintenance side, it is necessary to estimate the amount of ink used more accurately.

  As described above, the usefulness of the function can be enhanced by more accurately knowing the amount of ink used in any function. Therefore, at present, the control unit of the personal computer or the image forming apparatus main body is a method for estimating the amount of ink used that is required at the stage of performing image processing on a print image, and control for grasping the amount of ink actually ejected. There is a method of counting signals in hardware.

For example, in Patent Document 1, an ejection value is obtained from print data, an accumulated ink consumption is obtained from an ink consumption per ejection value and unit ejection value, and an ink remaining amount is obtained from an initial amount and the accumulated ink consumption. Are listed.
JP 11-348317 A

In Patent Document 2, in an ink jet printer capable of ejecting ink droplets with two or more droplet diameters, it is possible to count the number of ink ejections according to the size of the ejected droplets, and more accurately consume ink. For the purpose of being able to calculate, a configuration is described in which a control signal for ejecting ink is captured and counted.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-334107

In Patent Document 3, for the purpose of effectively performing print head temperature control, recovery operation, ink remaining amount detection, and the like, the drive data is counted for each of a plurality of blocks of the ejection port to produce the amount of ink used. Is described.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-323970

In addition, there is known an image forming apparatus that measures the power consumed by the apparatus and converts the measured power into a CO2 emission amount for display. In addition, a CO2 emission calculation method and CO2 for easily displaying the CO2 emission amount by displaying the CO2 emission amount resulting from the consumption of consumables directly related to the user by adding the CO2 emission amount by using the image forming apparatus. There is also known an image forming apparatus that provides an emission management system and that can present a recommended mode for reducing CO2 emission and perform improvement prediction. Patent Document 5 describes detecting an environmental load.
JP 2002-006696 A Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-088506

Further, in Patent Document 6, in order to detect a head abnormality and execute an appropriate recovery process according to the cause, based on detection of residual vibration of a diaphragm displaced by the actuator after the actuator is driven. It is described that the recovery process for eliminating the determined head abnormality is performed by the arithmetic processing for calculating the number of generated pulses and the means for determining the head abnormality.
JP 2004-314458 A

  However, since the calculation of ink consumption by conventional image processing is only calculation at the image processing stage, even if printing and maintenance are not completed as scheduled, the ink consumption equivalent to that performed is counted. Therefore, there is a problem that an error may occur between the ink amount actually ejected from the nozzle and the estimated ink amount.

  On the other hand, in the method of counting the control signal in hardware, since it is a signal count to the last, there is a problem that if the circuit has an abnormality, it is illegally counted.

When an error occurs between the amount of ink actually ejected from the nozzle and the estimated amount, the following problem occurs.
First, the coverage counter becomes inaccurate, and the maintenance fee charged to the user becomes inaccurate. In addition, the calculation of the remaining amount of ink becomes inaccurate, so that the user cannot be notified before the ink becomes empty, or excessive ink is left. In addition, the start timing of automatic maintenance deviates from the design target, which affects printing performance. “Coverage” is used as an auxiliary position of a normal billing counter, and the amount of ink consumed per sheet is known. A 100% defined amount (ink amount (unit: μl) defining 100% coverage) is defined for each color, and the sum of the percentages is obtained. In addition, “automatic maintenance” means that in an inkjet image forming apparatus, in order to maintain the condition of the recording head, in addition to maintenance (cleaning or refreshing) according to instructions from the user, the apparatus main body determines and performs appropriate maintenance. Running. The trigger for performing the maintenance includes the number of printed sheets, the ink consumption, the leaving time, and the like.

  In the CO2 emission conversion system, the CO2 emission amount at the time of printing is calculated based on the image data content, so that the CO2 emission amount is predicted from the consumption amount of consumables such as ink. There is a problem that the error from the amount of ink ejected from the ink is large.

  Further, if the head abnormality is determined by calculating the number of pulses generated based on the detection of the residual vibration of the diaphragm displaced by the actuator, there is a problem that the configuration of abnormality determination becomes complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problem that the ink consumption cannot be accurately detected among the above problems, and an object thereof is to obtain the ink consumption accurately.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention drives an image information receiving unit that receives image information, a recording head that forms an image by ejecting ink droplets, and the recording head. Drive signal generation means for generating a drive signal, discharge droplet amount detection means for detecting the amount of droplets discharged from the recording head based on the drive signal from the drive signal generation means, and this discharge droplet amount detection means And a second usage amount for calculating a second ink usage amount required for image formation based on the image information. Ink consumption determination for determining the ink consumption based on the detection means and the first ink usage detected by the first usage detection means and the second ink usage detected by the second usage detection means means It has a configuration that is equipped with a.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image data receiving unit that receives image data, a recording head that forms an image by ejecting ink droplets, and a driving signal generation that generates a driving signal for driving the recording head. A discharge droplet amount detection unit that detects the amount of droplets discharged from the recording head based on a drive signal from the drive signal generation unit, and a discharge droplet amount detected by the discharge droplet amount detection unit. First use amount detecting means for integrating and detecting the first ink use amount, image information generating means for generating image information based on the image data, and second ink necessary for image formation based on the image information Based on the second usage amount detecting means for calculating the usage amount, the first ink usage amount detected by the first usage amount detection means, and the second ink usage amount detected by the second usage amount detection means. And a configuration and an ink consumption determining means for determining a click consumption.

  Here, an actual sheet size detecting unit that detects the size of the sheet on which image formation is performed, a designated sheet size detecting unit that detects the size of the sheet on which image formation is included in the image information, and the actual sheet size Detecting means and paper size error detecting means for detecting that the paper size detected by the designated paper size detecting means is different, and when the paper size error is detected, the ink consumption determining means is first used. The first ink usage amount of the amount detection means can be determined as the ink consumption amount.

  A cartridge for holding ink supplied to the recording head; storage means for storing the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge provided in the cartridge; and calculating the remaining amount of ink based on ink consumption. And an ink remaining amount calculating means to be stored in the storage means, wherein the ink consumption determining means is one of the detection results of the first usage detecting means and the second usage detecting means. A large detection result can be determined as the ink consumption.

  In addition, a charge amount calculation unit that calculates a charge amount based on the ink consumption amount is provided, and the ink consumption amount determination unit is one of the detection results of the first use amount detection unit and the second use detection unit. A detection result having a small value can be determined as the ink consumption.

  The ink consumption determining means may be configured to determine an average value of both detection results as the ink consumption when the detection results of the first usage detection means and the second usage detection means are different.

  Moreover, it can be set as the structure provided with the abnormality detection means which detects abnormality based on each detection result of the said 1st usage-amount detection means and a 2nd usage detection means.

  In addition, a configuration may be provided that includes means for calculating the CO2 emission amount based on the determination result of the ink consumption amount determination means.

  In this case, the calculated CO2 emission amount can be output. Moreover, it can be set as the structure provided with the means to select the CO2 emission amount suppression mode which suppresses CO2 emission amount based on the calculated CO emission amount. Moreover, it can be set as the structure provided with the means to shorten the energy saving mode transfer time which maintains an apparatus in energy saving mode according to the calculation result of CO2 discharge | emission amount. Moreover, it can be set as the structure provided with the means to turn off the power supply of an apparatus according to the calculation result of CO2 discharge | emission amount. Moreover, it can be set as the structure provided with the means to display the warning according to the calculation result of CO2 discharge | emission amount, or the operation | movement which transfers to the CO2 discharge | emission amount suppression mode which suppresses CO2 emission amount.

  An ink replenishment calculating means for calculating an ink replenishment amount from the first ink supply unit that supplies ink to the second ink supply unit to a second ink supply unit that supplies ink to the recording head; and the ink consumption amount Based on the ink consumption amount and the ink replenishment amount determined by the determination unit, it is possible to provide a means for controlling the recording head abnormality, the recovery recovery operation, and the notification that the recovery is impossible.

  In this case, a different recovery operation can be performed according to the difference between the ink usage amount and the ink replenishment amount. In this case, when the ink usage amount is larger than the ink replenishment amount, it can be determined that the return is impossible. In addition, it is possible to provide a means for performing a recovery operation when the ink replenishment amount is larger than the ink usage amount. In this case, the first return recovery operation in which the ink consumption is relatively large according to the difference between the ink replenishment amount and the ink use amount and the second return recovery operation in which the ink consumption is relatively smaller than the first return operation. Either of the above can be configured.

  The image forming method according to the present invention is an image forming method for forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head, and the droplets ejected from the recording head based on a drive signal for driving the recording head. The first ink usage amount is calculated based on the image information, and the first ink usage amount is calculated based on the image information. The ink consumption is determined based on the second ink usage.

  According to the image forming apparatus and the image forming method of the present invention, the first ink usage amount calculated based on the drive signal for driving the recording head and the second ink usage amount calculated based on the image information are used. Since the ink consumption is determined based on this, the ink consumption can be obtained accurately.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view for explaining the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of a main part of the apparatus.
This image forming apparatus is a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and a carriage 33 is slidable in the main scanning direction by main and sub guide rods 31 and 32 which are guide members horizontally mounted on the left and right side plates 21A and 21B of the apparatus main body 1. 2 is moved and scanned in the direction indicated by the arrow (carriage main scanning direction) in FIG. 2 via a timing belt by a main scanning motor (not shown).

  The carriage 33 is provided with recording heads 34a and 34b composed of liquid ejection heads for ejecting ink droplets of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K). The “recording head 34” is arranged in a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, and the ink droplet ejection direction is directed downward.

  Each of the recording heads 34 has two nozzle rows. One nozzle row of the recording head 34a has black (K) droplets, the other nozzle row has cyan (C) droplets, and the recording head 34b has one nozzle row. One nozzle row ejects magenta (M) droplets, and the other nozzle row ejects yellow (Y) droplets.

  As the recording head 34, as shown in FIG. 3, one having nozzle rows 34K, 34C, 34M, 34Y of each color in which nozzles 34n are arranged on one nozzle surface 34N can be used.

  The carriage 33 is also equipped with sub tanks 35a and 35b (second tank 35 when not distinguished) that are second ink supply units for supplying ink of each color corresponding to the nozzle rows of the recording head 34. is doing. From the ink cartridges 10 y, 10 m, 10 c, and 10 k that are the first ink supply portions of the respective colors that are detachably attached to the cartridge loading portion 4, the sub-tank 35 is supplied through the supply tubes 36 of the respective colors by the supply pump unit 5. The recording liquid of each color is replenished and supplied.

  On the other hand, as a paper feeding unit for feeding the papers 42 stacked on the paper stacking unit (pressure plate) 41 of the paper feeding tray 2, a half-moon roller (feeding) that separates and feeds the papers 42 one by one from the paper stacking unit 41. A separation pad 44 made of a material having a large friction coefficient is provided facing the paper roller 43) and the paper feed roller 43, and the separation pad 44 is urged toward the paper feed roller 43 side.

  In order to feed the paper 42 fed from the paper feeding unit to the lower side of the recording head 34, a guide member 45 for guiding the paper 42, a counter roller 46, a transport guide member 47, and a tip pressure roller. And a holding belt 48 which is a conveying means for electrostatically attracting the fed paper 42 and conveying it at a position facing the recording head 34.

  The transport belt 51 is an endless belt, and is configured to wrap around the transport roller 52 and the tension roller 53 and circulate in the belt transport direction (sub-scanning direction). Further, a charging roller 56 that is a charging unit for charging the surface of the transport belt 51 is provided. The charging roller 56 is disposed so as to come into contact with the surface layer of the transport belt 51 and to rotate following the rotation of the transport belt 51. The transport belt 51 rotates in the belt transport direction of FIG. 2 when the transport roller 52 is rotationally driven through timing by a sub-scanning motor (not shown).

  Further, as a paper discharge unit for discharging the paper 42 recorded by the recording head 34, a separation claw 61 for separating the paper 42 from the conveying belt 51, a paper discharge roller 62, and a spur 63 that is a paper discharge roller. And a paper discharge tray 3 below the paper discharge roller 62.

  A duplex unit 71 is detachably mounted on the back surface of the apparatus body 1. The duplex unit 71 takes in the paper 42 returned by the reverse rotation of the conveyance belt 51, reverses it, and feeds it again between the counter roller 46 and the conveyance belt 51. The upper surface of the duplex unit 71 is a manual feed tray 72.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a maintenance / recovery mechanism 81 for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 34 is disposed in the non-printing area on one side of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction. The maintenance and recovery mechanism 81 includes cap members (hereinafter referred to as “caps”) 82a and 82b (hereinafter referred to as “caps 82” when not distinguished from each other) for capping the nozzle surfaces of the recording head 34, and nozzle surfaces. A wiper member (wiper blade) 83 for wiping the liquid, an empty discharge receiver 84 for receiving liquid droplets when performing empty discharge for discharging liquid droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the thickened recording liquid, A wiper cleaner portion 85 that is integrally formed with the idle discharge receiver 84 and is a cleaning member for removing ink attached to the wiper blade 83, and a wiper cleaner 86 that presses the wiper blade 83 toward the wiper cleaner 85 when the wiper blade 83 is cleaned. And a carriage lock 87 for locking the carriage 22. Further, a waste liquid tank 100 for storing waste liquid generated by the maintenance recovery operation is mounted on the lower side of the head maintenance recovery mechanism 81 in a replaceable manner with respect to the apparatus main body.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, in the non-printing area on the other side in the scanning direction of the carriage 33, idle discharge is performed to discharge liquid droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the recording liquid thickened during recording or the like. An empty discharge receiver 88 for receiving the liquid droplets at the time is disposed, and the empty discharge receiver 88 is provided with an opening 89 along the nozzle row direction of the recording head 34.

  In this image forming apparatus configured as described above, the sheets 42 are separated and fed one by one from the sheet feed tray 2, and the sheet 42 fed substantially vertically upward is guided by the guide 45, and includes the transport belt 51 and the counter. It is sandwiched between the rollers 46 and conveyed, and the leading end is guided by the conveying guide 37 and pressed against the conveying belt 51 by the leading end pressing roller 49, and the conveying direction is changed by approximately 90 °.

  At this time, a positive output and a negative output are alternately repeated with respect to the charging roller 56, that is, an alternating voltage is applied, and a charging voltage pattern in which the conveying belt 51 alternates, that is, in a sub-scanning direction that is a circumferential direction. , Plus and minus are alternately charged in a band shape with a predetermined width. When the paper 42 is fed onto the conveyance belt 51 charged alternately with plus and minus, the paper 42 is attracted to the conveyance belt 51, and the paper 42 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by the circular movement of the conveyance belt 51.

  Therefore, by driving the recording head 34 according to the image signal while moving the carriage 33, ink droplets are ejected onto the stopped paper 42 to record one line, and after the paper 42 is conveyed by a predetermined amount, Record the next line. Upon receiving a recording end signal or a signal that the trailing edge of the paper 42 has reached the recording area, the recording operation is finished and the paper 42 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3.

  When performing the maintenance and recovery of the nozzles of the recording head 34, the nozzle 33 performs the suction from the nozzles by moving the carriage 33 to a position facing the maintenance and recovery mechanism 81 which is the home position and performing capping by the cap member 82. By performing a maintenance and recovery operation such as idle ejection for ejecting droplets that do not contribute to image formation, image formation by stable droplet ejection can be performed.

Next, an example of the ink cartridge 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The ink cartridge 10 is a cartridge case (housing) 102 in which an ink bag 103 which is a recording liquid storage means for storing ink is stored. The cartridge case 102 includes a first case (base) 121 and a second case (case) 122 that are divided into two parts so as to be disassembled and assembled.

  The cartridge case 102 has an opening 123 corresponding to the ink supply port 131 of the ink bag 103 accommodated therein.

  When the ink cartridge 10 is installed in the cartridge loading unit 4, a hollow needle provided on the back side of the cartridge mounting unit 4 is pierced into the supply port 131 of the ink bag 103, and the inside of the ink bag 103 and the supply pump The unit 24 is in a communication state, and the ink in the ink bag 103 can be supplied to the apparatus main body 1 side.

  Further, a non-volatile memory 130 that is a rewritable storage element (storage means) such as an EEPROM is provided at the upper part on the front side of the ink cartridge 10. The nonvolatile memory 130 stores information related to the ink cartridge 10, for example, unique information related to ink color, ink type, expiration date, ID number, genuine information, number of refills, remaining amount of ink, etc. Information (Ver information), an update program of a control program on the image forming apparatus main body side, and the like are stored.

  By mounting the ink cartridge 10 in the cartridge loading unit 4, the information stored in the nonvolatile memory 130 can be read out to the apparatus main body side by being electrically connected to the electrode on the apparatus main body side. The writing to the nonvolatile memory 130 can be performed from the apparatus main body side.

Next, the maintenance / recovery mechanism 81 in this image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 is a schematic schematic configuration diagram of the maintenance / recovery mechanism, FIG. 7 is an enlarged explanatory view of the main part, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory plan view of the same.
In the maintenance / recovery mechanism 81, caps 82 a and 82 b held by a cap holder 212, a wiper member 83 including an elastic body as a cleaning means, and a wiper cleaner 86 can be moved up and down (up and down). Movable).

  A cylindrical empty discharge receiver 84 is disposed between the wiper member 83 and the suction cap 82a. The upper end of the empty discharge receiver 84 on the wiper member 83 side scrapes ink adhering to the wiper member 83. A wiper cleaner portion 85 to be dropped is formed. When cleaning the wiper member 83, the wiper member 83 is lowered while the wiper member 83 is pressed against the wiper cleaner portion 85 by the wiper cleaner 86, so that the ink adhering to the wiper member 83 is scraped off to the empty ejection receiver 84 side. .

  Here, the wiper cleaner 86 is rotatably attached to an upper end portion of the cleaner holder 282 for cleaning the ink attached to the wiper member 83 by wiping while contacting the wiper member 83. The cleaner holder 282 is swingably attached to the frame 211 by a support shaft 284, and is urged to swing to a retracted position side where it does not contact the wiper member 83 by a tension spring (not shown). Further, a link member 288 is provided to swing the cleaner holder 282.

  Further, a scraping mechanism 290 that scrapes off the ink transferred to the wiper cleaner unit 85 by cleaning the wiper member 83 is provided in the idle discharge receiver 84. The scraping mechanism 290 is configured to scrape ink transferred to the wiper cleaner unit 85 by being swung by a scraping member 292 by a boss 291 provided on the roller 226 as the roller 226 rotates. Do.

  Further, a tubing pump (suction pump) 220 as a suction means is connected to the cap 82a closest to the printing area via a flexible tube 219, and only the cap 82a is suctioned (recovered) and moisturized (hereinafter referred to as the cap 82a). It is simply referred to as “suction cap”), and the cap 82b is simply a moisture retention cap. Therefore, when performing the recovery operation of the recording head 34, the recording head 34 that performs the recovery operation is selectively moved to a position where it can be capped by the suction cap 82a. The suction cap 82 is provided with an absorber 200.

  A cam shaft 221 that is rotatably supported by the frame 211 is disposed below the caps 82a and 82b, the wiper member 83, and the like, and a cap cam 222 for raising and lowering the cap holder 212 is disposed on the cam shaft 221. A wiper cam 224 for raising and lowering the wiper member 83, a roller 226 as a rotating body to which liquid droplets idled in the idle discharge receptacle 84 are applied, a cleaner cam 228 for swinging the wiper cleaner 86, and a carriage lock Carriage lock cams 229 for moving up and down 87 are provided.

  Here, the cap 82 is moved up and down by the cap cam 222. The wiper member 83 is moved up and down by the wiper cam 224, and when the wiper cleaner 86 is lowered, the wiper cleaner 86 is advanced, and the wiper member 83 is lowered while being sandwiched between the cleaner roller 281 of the wiper cleaner 86 and the wiper cleaner portion 85 of the idle discharge receiver 84. The ink adhering to 83 is scraped off into the empty discharge receiver 84.

  In order to rotationally drive the suction pump 220 and the cam shaft 221, the rotation of the motor 231 is meshed with the motor gear 232 provided on the motor shaft 231 a and the pump gear 233 provided on the pump shaft 220 a of the suction pump 220 is further engaged. An intermediate gear 234 with a one-way clutch 237 is engaged with an intermediate gear 234 integrated with the intermediate gear 233, and the intermediate gear 238 coaxial with the intermediate gear 236 is fixed to the camshaft 221 via the intermediate gear 239. The cam gear 240 is engaged. The intermediate shaft 241 that is the rotation shaft of the intermediate gears 236 and 238 with the clutch 237 is rotatably held by the frame 211.

  In this maintenance / recovery mechanism 81, when removing ink and impurities adhering to the nozzle surface 34 </ b> N of the recording head 34, the motor 231 is driven to raise the wiper blade 83 via the wiper cam 224. In this state, by moving the carriage 33 in the main scanning direction, the wiper blade 83 wipes the nozzle surface 34N of the recording head 134 to wipe away impurities and the like.

  Further, if the nozzles 34n of the recording head 34 are left exposed to the outside air, the ink in the inside dries, thickens and adheres, and the ink ejection performance deteriorates. To prevent this, the recording head When the nozzle surface 34N of 34 is covered with the cap 82, the motor 231 is rotated, the cap 82 is raised via the cap cam 213, and the nozzle surface 34N of the recording head 34 is capped.

Next, an outline of the control unit of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is an overall block diagram of the control unit.
The control unit controls the entire image forming apparatus. In the present invention, the receiving unit, calculation of ink usage, determination of ink consumption, detection of paper size error, detection of abnormality, calculation of remaining amount of ink, calculation of CO2 emission A main control unit 301 configured with a microcomputer that also serves as a control unit for determining recovery operation, and a print control unit 302 configured with a microcomputer that controls printing.

  The control unit receives image data from the information processing apparatus 400 via the communication circuit 300. When there is a print command from the user through the application 401, the information processing apparatus 400 transmits image data output from the image forming apparatus by an OS (eg, GDI: Graphic Device Interface) 402 to the printer driver 403. The printer driver 403 converts the image data transmitted from the application 401 into print image data in a format that can be processed by the image forming apparatus main body, and inputs the converted image data to the image forming apparatus via the communication circuit 300.

  As described above, the main control unit 301 includes the main scanning motor 331 and the conveyance roller 52 that move and scan the carriage 33 in order to form an image on the paper 42 based on the printed image data input from the communication circuit 300. The sub-scanning motor 332 that rotates is driven and controlled via the main-scanning motor driving circuit 303 and the sub-scanning motor driving circuit 304, and control such as sending print data to the print control unit 302 is performed.

  A detection signal from a carriage position detection circuit 305 that detects the position of the carriage 33 is input to the main control unit 301, and the main control unit 301 controls the movement position and movement speed of the carriage 33 based on this detection signal. The carriage position detection circuit 305 detects the position of the carriage 33 by, for example, reading and counting the number of slits of the encoder sheet arranged in the scanning direction of the carriage 33 with a photosensor mounted on the carriage 33. The main scanning motor driving circuit 303 rotates the main scanning motor 331 according to the carriage movement amount input from the main control unit 301 to move the carriage 33 to a predetermined position at a predetermined speed.

  A detection signal from a conveyance amount detection circuit 306 that detects the movement amount of the conveyance belt 51 is input to the main control unit 301, and the main control unit 301 controls the movement amount and movement speed of the conveyance belt 51 based on this detection signal. To do. The carry amount detection circuit 306 detects the carry amount by, for example, reading and counting the number of slits of the rotary encoder sheet attached to the rotation shaft of the carry roller 52 with a photo sensor. The sub-scanning motor driving circuit 304 rotates the sub-scanning motor 332 in accordance with the transport amount input from the main control unit 301, and rotationally drives the transport roller 52 to move the transport belt 51 to a predetermined position at a predetermined speed. Move with.

  The main control unit 301 rotates the sheet feeding roller 43 once by giving a sheet feeding roller driving command to the sheet feeding roller driving circuit 308. The main control unit 301 rotates the motor 231 via the maintenance / recovery mechanism driving motor drive circuit 311 to move the cap 82 up and down and the wiper blade 83 up and down.

  The main control unit 301 drives and controls the ink supply motor 333 for driving the pump of the supply unit 24 via the ink supply motor drive circuit 312, and the ink cartridge 10 loaded in the cartridge loading unit 4 controls the sub tank 35. Supply ink.

  The main control unit 301 includes a detection signal from the sub tank full sensor 313 that detects that the sub tank 35 is full, a detection signal from the cartridge cover sensor 314 that detects opening and closing of the front cover of the cartridge loading unit 4, and the like. Entered.

  Further, the main control unit 301 takes in information stored in the nonvolatile memory 130 which is a storage unit provided in each ink cartridge 10 mounted in the cartridge loading unit 4 through the cartridge communication circuit 615 and performs a necessary process. And stored in a non-volatile memory (for example, EEPROM) which is a main body storage means included in the main control unit 301.

  The print control unit 302 generates pressure for ejecting droplets of the recording head 34 based on the signal from the main control unit 301 and the carriage position and conveyance amount from the carriage position detection circuit 305 and the conveyance amount detection circuit 306. Data for driving the means is generated and supplied to the head drive circuit 310.

  The head drive circuit 310 drives the pressure generating means (piezoelectric element in the case of a piezo head) of the recording head 34 based on the print data from the print control unit 302, and discharges droplets from a required nozzle.

  The main control unit 301 detects the size of the paper 42 being passed from the paper size sensor 321 serving as a designated paper size detection unit, and determines whether the input image data can be arranged on the paper 42 or not. When there is image data outside, the print control unit 302 can be set to trim and draw the image data.

  As a method for detecting the paper size, a reflection type sensor is disposed on the side of the carriage 33, and when the carriage 33 scans, the difference in reflectance between the paper 42 and the conveyance path (conveyance belt 51) is detected. The width can be detected. In addition, the sheet width can also be detected by arranging a line sensor on the conveyance path orthogonal to the conveyance direction. As for the sheet length in the conveyance direction, a reflection type sensor is similarly arranged on the conveyance path, and the sheet length can be detected by counting the conveyance amount after the sheet is detected.

  The main control unit 301 can detect the position of the paper 42 in the machine (inside the apparatus) from a plurality of paper position sensors 322 arranged on the conveyance path, and the paper 42 can be placed at an unintended position during printing. If there is, JAM (jam) can be detected and an abnormality can be detected by the user. Also, the location where the abnormality has occurred can be displayed and output.

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the overall configuration will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram illustrating control functions according to the present invention that are configured in the printer driver 403 in the host PC (information processing apparatus 400) or the main control unit 301 of the image forming apparatus.
Here, it is assumed that only the printed image data generation unit 501 is realized in the printer driver 403 and the others are realized in the main body of the image forming apparatus.

  When there is a print command from the user through the application 401, the OS (GDI) 402 transmits image data to be printed to the printer driver 403. The transmitted image data is processed in the printer driver 403. At this time, the image data is printed image data (image information) that is data in the formation period that can be processed by the image forming apparatus in the printed image data generation unit 501. ).

  The printed image data is received by the main control unit 301 via the communication circuit 300 (the main control unit 301 constitutes image information receiving means), and the second ink use configured by the main control unit 301 is used. The second ink usage amount calculation unit 512 is input to the second ink usage amount calculation unit 512. The second ink usage amount calculation unit 512 receives the second ink based on the information on the number of pixels and the information on the pixel size included in the printed image data. A usage amount (hereinafter also referred to as “ink usage amount 2”) is calculated.

  The printed image data is input to the head drive signal generation unit 502 that generates a head drive signal for driving the pressure generating means of the recording head 34, and the number of generations of the head drive signal included in the printed image data. In addition, information relating to the individual strength (droplet size) of the generated signal is input as an image signal to the first ink usage amount calculation unit 512 that also serves as the ejection droplet amount detection means and the first ink usage amount detection means. The first ink usage amount calculation unit 511 detects the amount of ink droplets ejected from the recording head 34 based on the number of times the head drive signal is generated and the strength thereof, and integrates the detected ink amount. An ink usage amount (hereinafter also referred to as “ink usage amount 1”) is calculated.

  The first ink usage amount and the second ink usage amount are calculated so as to have the same value when normal. As a result, the comparison operation unit 513 compares the two first ink usage amounts and the second ink usage amounts to correct the finally calculated ink usage amount (ink consumption amount) or to detect an abnormality. Can be detected.

  This value of ink consumption (ink usage) is separately used for maintenance execution determination, calculation of the remaining amount of cartridge, calculation of coverage amount indicating ink usage, and the like. The abnormality detection signal is used for error determination such as a paper size error, a paper type error, a JAM error, a paper position error, and a head drive signal generation unit abnormality.

  Here, the printed image data generation unit 501 is configured to be realized in the printer driver 403, but can also be realized in the main body of the image forming apparatus. In this case, the printer driver 403 inputs the image data from the application 401 directly to the image forming apparatus main body via the communication circuit 300. Then, the printed image data generation unit 501 in the image forming apparatus generates printed image data. In this case, the printed image data generation unit 501 configured by the main control unit 301 configures an image data reception unit that receives image data and an image information generation unit that generates image information based on the image data.

Next, details of the printed image data generation unit 501 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of control functions configured by the printer driver 403 in the host 400 or the main control unit 301 of the image forming apparatus.
Here, it is assumed that the printed image data generation unit 501 is realized in the printer driver 403. When image data is input from the application 401 to the printer driver 403 via the OS (GDI) 402, the image data is first decomposed into a dot arrangement (pixel) formed by the image forming apparatus by the pixel decomposition unit 521. This is further disassembled into units in which the carriage performs one scan (scanning) by the scan band dividing unit 522, and is further divided into pixel data by the image data creation unit 523 for each nozzle row together with the ink ejection nozzles of the recording head 34. Create At this time, the number of pixels and the size of the pixels for each scan band are totaled by the pixel count and pixel size totaling unit 524. The printed image data is output as one data by combining the pixel data, the number of pixels, and the frequency distribution of the pixel size.

  Here, each signal will be described. First, “image data” is created by an application 401 or the like of the host (information processing apparatus) 400 as shown in FIG. 12, and takes a data format that can be processed by the OS 402 or the like of the host 400. Information such as the position, shape, and color of the drawing object is included.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the “printed image data” is obtained by converting the image data by the printer driver 403 into a data format that can be processed by the ink jet recording apparatus. The data format is adapted to the processing system of the ink jet recording apparatus, and the image data is cut out as much as can be drawn while the carriage 33 performs one scan, and further divided into pixels corresponding to the nozzles of the recording head 34 It takes a form (see FIG. 13).

  The second ink use amount calculation unit 512 described above performs processing for estimating the ink use amount from the pixel size at this time. Since the amount of ink to be used is roughly determined according to the size of the pixel, the amount of ink used for one scan can be calculated by integrating the number of pixels.

Next, details of the head drive signal generator 502 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of control functions configured in the main control unit 301 or the print control unit 302 of the image forming apparatus.
The printed image data input from the printer driver 403 is temporarily stored in the printed image data storage unit 531.
When the printing operation starts and the carriage 33 starts to operate, based on the carriage position signal from the carriage position detection circuit 305, the timing signal generation unit 532 drives the recording head 34 to take a timing for ejecting ink droplets. A signal is generated. Using this timing signal as a notch, the drive waveform generation unit 533 periodically generates a drive waveform signal.

  Each time the timing signal is generated, the printed image data is extracted from the printed image data storage unit 531 by one scan (referred to as the printed image data 1), and the paper size information and JAM occurrence information are obtained. Based on this, whether or not to output an image is selected by the ejection selection unit 534 (printed image data 2). Further, the image signal generation unit 535 generates an image signal that designates the type of drive waveform according to the size of each pixel of the printed image data 2. That is, the image signal includes information on whether or not the pixels are ejected and information on selection of a drive waveform that matches the size of the pixels when ejected. This corresponds to the head drive signal, and is used for counting the number of pixels and totaling the size of the pixels in the first ink usage amount calculation unit 511.

  A drive waveform signal for driving the recording head 34 and an image signal for selecting an output thereof are input to the drive waveform selection unit 536, and a head drive signal to be finally output to the recording head 34 is generated. The head drive signal is input to the head drive circuit 310, and the recording head 34 is driven according to the printed image data, whereby a desired image is formed.

  Specifically, referring to FIG. 15, the timing signal generator 531 generates the timing signal shown in FIG. 15A in order to perform ejection in synchronization with the movement of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction. This is a signal in which pulses are generated at intervals of a certain distance. Further, the drive waveform generation unit 533 generates a drive waveform signal shown in FIG. This drive waveform signal is an electric signal for driving the recording head 34, and when the signal is partially or entirely input to the recording head 34 (pressure generating means), ink droplets of different sizes are generated. It has a waveform that can be done.

  The printed image data is temporarily stored in the printed image data storage unit 531, but is taken out every time the timing signal is generated (printed image data 1), and the ejection selection unit 534 matches the actual paper size. Thus, unnecessary data such as a non-printable area is removed (printed image data 2).

  When this printed image data 2 is input to the image signal generation unit 535, each of the pixels is taken out, and a drive waveform signal is output to eject the ink droplet amount corresponding to the pixel from the recording head 34. An image signal shown in FIG. 15C is generated as a signal for selecting which part of the image to be effective.

  The first ink use amount calculation unit 511 performs a process of estimating the ink use amount by counting the image signal that is the selection signal of the drive waveform signal. Since how much ink is ejected is determined by the selected drive waveform signal, the amount of ink used can be calculated by integrating the amount of ink corresponding to the image signal output during one scan. it can.

  When the drive waveform and the image signal that is the selection signal are input to the drive waveform selection unit 536, only the portion selected by the image signal in the drive waveform is, for example, a head drive as shown in FIG. Output as a signal. Thereby, in order to draw image data, the recording head 34 is appropriately driven, and desired ink droplets are ejected to form an image.

Next, processing in the second ink usage amount calculation unit 512 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.
The printed image data is input to the second ink usage amount calculation unit 512. In the printed image data, since the pixels are already divided for each scan band, one scan is extracted therefrom. Further, each pixel is taken out and information regarding whether or not the pixel is output is recorded.

  Therefore, the second ink usage amount calculation unit 2 sets the ink usage amount to “0”, and then obtains pixel data from the printed image data (takes out one pixel at a time), and determines the size of the pixel. Then, the amount of ink used = the amount of ink used + the amount of ink (ejection amount) of the pixel is calculated, and the second ink usage is calculated by counting all pixels. That is, one ink amount corresponding to the pixel is scanned. Accumulate minutes. As a result, the amount of ink used for one scan can be calculated.

Next, a first example of the ink consumption determination process (comparison calculation process) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
This first example is an example in which priority is given to ink usage amount 1. First, it is determined whether the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same (ink usage 1 = ink usage 2). If the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same, The ink consumption 1 is determined as the ink consumption, and the ink consumption is notified.

  On the other hand, if the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are not the same (if they are different), the actual paper size to be printed and the input image data obtained from the detection signal of the paper size sensor 321 It is determined whether or not a paper size error having a size different from the current size has occurred.

  At this time, if a paper size error has occurred, there is a high possibility that droplets are ejected based on the image signal that is the data after trimming the image data to the paper size detected by the paper size sensor 321. . Therefore, the ink usage amount 1 calculated based on the image signal, which is data after trimming the image data to the paper size detected by the paper size sensor 321, rather than the ink usage amount 2 based on the printed image data. Therefore, the final ink usage amount 1 is determined as the ink consumption amount, and the ink consumption amount is notified.

  If a paper size error has occurred, the average value of ink usage 1 and ink usage 2 is determined as the ink consumption, and the ink consumption is notified.

Next, a second example of the ink consumption determination process (comparison calculation process) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
This second example is an example when it is desired to estimate a large amount of ink consumption. First, it is determined whether the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same (ink usage 1 = ink usage 2). If the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same, The ink consumption 2 is determined as the ink consumption, and the ink consumption is notified.

  On the other hand, if the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are not the same (if they are different), it is determined whether or not the ink consumption amount is used for the cartridge remaining amount calculation.

  At this time, when the ink consumption amount is used for the cartridge remaining amount calculation, it is determined whether or not the ink usage amount 1 is larger than the ink usage amount 2 (ink usage amount 1> ink consumption amount 2). If the amount 1 is larger than the ink usage 2, the ink usage 1 is determined as the ink consumption. If the amount 1 is less than the ink usage 2, the ink usage 2 is determined as the ink consumption. Notify the amount.

  In other words, when calculating the remaining amount of the cartridge as an application of the ink consumption, it is necessary to consider not to use up the actual cartridge capacity. If ink is used in excess of the cartridge capacity, air is mixed into the ink chamber in the recording head, and the ejection performance of the recording head is significantly reduced. In order to prevent this, when calculating the remaining amount of the cartridge, it is possible to secure a safety factor against the deterioration of the performance of the recording head by estimating the amount of ink used to be large. Therefore, when used for calculating the remaining amount of the cartridge, the ink consumption is set to the larger one of the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2.

  When the ink consumption amount is not used for calculating the remaining cartridge amount, the average value of the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 is determined as the ink consumption amount, and the ink consumption amount is notified.

Next, a third example of the ink consumption determination process (comparison calculation process) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The third example is an example in which it is desired to estimate the ink consumption amount small. First, it is determined whether the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same (ink usage 1 = ink usage 2). If the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 are the same, The ink consumption 2 is determined as the ink consumption, and the ink consumption is notified.

  On the other hand, if the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are not the same (if they are different), it is determined whether or not the ink consumption amount is used for the accounting calculation.

  At this time, when the ink consumption amount is used for the billing calculation, it is determined whether or not the ink usage amount 1 is larger than the ink usage amount 2 (ink usage amount 1> ink consumption amount 2). Is greater than the ink usage amount 2, the ink usage amount 2 is determined as the ink consumption amount. If the ink usage amount 1 is less than the ink usage amount 2, the ink usage amount 1 is determined as the ink consumption amount. Notice.

  That is, when charging is performed based on the amount of ink used, since the user does not charge the amount of ink used when an abnormality occurs, the smaller of ink usage 1 and ink usage 2 is used as the ink consumption. I am trying to make a decision.

  When the ink consumption is not used for the accounting calculation, the average value of the ink usage 1 and the ink usage 2 is determined as the ink consumption, and the ink consumption is notified.

  Here, as described above, the case where the ink consumption amount is an average value of the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 will be described. For example, the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are different and the ink usage amount is different. When used for determining whether to perform maintenance on consumption, ink droplets were not completely ejected, but in an abnormal state such as JAM or a paper size error, the print head is considered to have an adverse effect. Therefore, the average value is used as final ink consumption = (ink consumption 1 + ink consumption 2) / 2. Similarly, when the use of the ink consumption is unclear, in order to perform an intermediate count, it is preferable that the final ink consumption = (ink consumption 1 + ink consumption 2) / 2. .

Next, the abnormality detection process by the comparison calculation unit will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are the same (ink usage amount 1 = ink usage amount 2). The ink consumption determined in this way is notified.

  On the other hand, when the ink usage amount 1 and the ink usage amount 2 are different from each other, it is assumed that some abnormality has occurred in the apparatus. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the ink usage amount 1 is smaller than the ink usage amount 2. At this time, if ink usage amount 1> ink usage amount 2, more ink is used than the amount of ink to be used in the image to be printed, and an abnormality occurs in the head drive signal generation unit 502. I guess that. Normally, such a situation cannot occur, so the user is notified of a device failure and prompts repair.

  If the ink usage amount 1 is smaller than the ink usage amount 2, it is determined whether or not an error has occurred.

  At this time, if an error has occurred, the incomplete printing is notified, the ink consumption is corrected, and then the ink consumption is notified. For example, when the ink usage amount 1 is smaller than the ink usage amount 2, it indicates that the image to be printed has not been printed. Therefore, it is assumed that the device has stopped printing due to some abnormality. If there is a JAM (paper position error or conveyance error), JAM has occurred, and if ink usage 1 <ink usage 2, it is assumed that printing was interrupted due to the occurrence of JAM. Is done. Therefore, in this case, the user is notified that printing has not been completed, notifies the user that reprinting is necessary before viewing the print result, corrects the ink consumption, and notifies the ink consumption.

  Further, when a paper size error is generated by the paper size sensor and the relationship of ink usage 1 <ink usage 2 is satisfied at that time, the actual paper size is smaller than the input image data and the image It is estimated that was not completely imprinted. By notifying the user of this, it is possible to inform the user that reprinting is necessary before viewing the print result.

  On the other hand, if no error occurs, that is, if the ink consumption 1 <the ink consumption 2 even though no other abnormality has occurred, there is an abnormality in the head drive signal generation unit 502. It is determined that there is a device failure, the user is notified of the failure of the device, and repair is prompted.

  In this way, the ink consumption amount 2 obtained from the printed image data and the ink usage amount 1 obtained from the image signal are compared according to the purpose and situation, thereby calculating the ink consumption amount with higher reliability. It is also possible to detect control abnormalities and circuit abnormalities. That is, in an image forming method for forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head, the amount of droplets ejected from the recording head is detected based on a drive signal for driving the recording head, and the detected ejection The amount of drops is integrated to detect the first ink usage amount, the second ink usage amount necessary for image formation is calculated based on the image information, and the ink is calculated based on the first ink usage amount and the second ink usage amount. By determining the consumption amount, the ink consumption amount with high reliability can be calculated.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, the CO2 emission amount is calculated based on the ink consumption amount. The calculation of the CO2 emission amount in the ink jet recording apparatus is obtained from the amount of power consumed by the ink jet recording apparatus. Therefore, it is important to accurately obtain the power consumed by the ink jet recording apparatus. When an ink jet recording apparatus consumes electric power, the consumption factor is roughly divided into the following three types.
A: Electric power (CO2) consumed by driving the pressure generating means of the recording head (a piezoelectric element in the case of a piezo head)
B: Electric power consumed by motor drive (CO2) such as carriage motor, conveyance motor, maintenance / recovery mechanism motor, etc.
C: Power consumed during print standby (CO2)
If the total power consumed in the above A to C is converted into CO2, the total amount of CO2 used by the ink jet recording apparatus can be obtained. Furthermore, if it is desired to obtain CO2 for each printed sheet, the sum of A and B per printed sheet may be used.

  The conversion from power consumption to CO2 emission can be obtained by E (CO2) = α × P, where P is the power consumption, α is the coefficient, and E (CO2) is the CO2 emission. The coefficient α is the amount of CO2 emitted for power generation, and varies depending on the country, region, and power company. In this specification, the amount of CO2 [mg] = 1.3 × power [W] is used as a conversion formula between electric power and CO2, but the coefficient 1.3 is set to the most suitable coefficient when using the ink jet recording apparatus. Also good.

The overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG.
In this embodiment, the first ink usage amount (ink usage amount 1) from the first ink usage amount calculation portion 511 is input to the CO2 emission amount calculation portion 541 as the ink consumption amount, and the CO2 emission amount calculation portion 541 uses the ink usage amount. Using the amount-CO2 conversion table 542, the ink usage amount 1 calculated based on the number of generations and the strength of the head drive signal is converted into the CO2 emission amount. Then, the calculated CO 2 emission amount is stored in the nonvolatile memory 543 in the main control unit 301. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Here, an example of the ink usage-CO2 conversion table will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, the intensity of the head driving signal described above is represented as a large droplet, a medium droplet, and a small droplet, which are the sizes of the ink droplets. According to this conversion table, for example, when a large droplet is ejected 100 times and a small droplet is ejected 10 times, the CO2 converted value is 20.5 mg.

  Since the value of the electric power (CO2) obtained in this way is calculated based on the actually ejected ink droplet, the ink droplet is obtained by image processing (the second ink of the first embodiment). The amount of CO2 can be determined more accurately than the case of using the second ink usage amount calculated by the usage amount calculation unit 512.

  Further, the ink droplets in the ink usage amount-CO2 conversion table can further increase the types of ink droplets in consideration of the influence of the printing mode and the operation speed of the carriage.

Next, how to obtain the electric power (CO2) consumed by B will be described.
As described above, the main control unit 301 controls the main scanning motor (carriage drive motor) 331, the sub-scanning motor (conveyance motor) 332, the maintenance / recovery mechanism motor 231 and the ink supply motor 333 (not shown). The motor drive time by the main control unit 301 is integrated, and CO2 is calculated from the motor drive time-CO2 conversion table as shown in FIG. The B CO2 emission amount is obtained by the motor driving time × the table value of FIG.

  The motor driving time-CO2 conversion table is based on the calculation of motor driving seconds, but it can also be a table in which information on motor speed and motor load is added.

  Next, for the power (CO2) consumed by C, the main control unit 302 executes print standby time integration and energy saving mode standby time integration in the same manner as B, for example, standby mode / energy saving as shown in FIG. CO2 calculation is performed by the mode-CO2 conversion table.

  As described above, the CO 2 emission amounts of A, B, and C are written in the nonvolatile memory 543.

  Next, an example of the CO2 emission amount information display process will be described with reference to the functional block diagram shown in FIG. FIG. 25 is a functional block diagram when displaying CO2 emission information from the user interface installed in the printer driver 403 of the host 400. Here, it is assumed that the CO 2 emission amount display itself is realized in the printer driver 403.

  When there is a request for displaying CO2 emission information through the printer driver 403, a CO2 emission information request command is output to the ink jet recording apparatus via a communication unit (network or USB). This CO2 emission information request command is input to the main control unit 301 via the communication unit 551. The main control unit 301 to which the command is input analyzes that the input command is a CO2 emission amount information request command. The main control unit 301 acquires the CO2 emission amount information written in the nonvolatile memory 543 from the CO2 emission amount calculation unit 541 and transmits the CO2 emission amount information to the printer driver 403 via the communication unit 551. The printer driver 403 displays the CO2 emission amount information on the OS (GUI) 402 based on the acquired CO2 emission amount information.

  Here, the CO2 emission amount display itself is configured to be realized in the printer driver 403, but it is also possible to display the CO2 emission amount information on the image forming apparatus main body on which an operation panel such as an LCD is mounted. it can. In this case, the main control unit 301 transmits the CO2 emission amount information to the LCD (display unit) mounted on the image forming apparatus main body, and displays the CO2 emission amount display on the LCD.

Next, an example of a CO2 emission suppression mode for suppressing CO2 emission will be described with reference to a functional block diagram shown in FIG.
In the setting of the printer driver 403, when the CO2 emission amount suppression mode is set, the CO2 emission amount can be suppressed from the following printing method.
When there is a print command from the user through the application 401, the OS (GDI) 402 transmits image data to be printed to the printer driver 403. The pixel decomposition unit 521 in the printer driver 403 decomposes the image data into the arrangement (pixels) of dots formed by the image forming apparatus. This is further disassembled into units in which the carriage performs one scan (scanning) by the scan band dividing unit 522, and is further divided into pixel data by the image data creation unit 523 for each nozzle row together with the ink ejection nozzles of the recording head 34. Create

  Here, an image density reduction unit 525 is provided between the pixel division unit 521 and the scan band division unit 522. The image density reduction unit 525 performs processing for reducing the density of an image by setting a character to a normal density when the CO2 emission amount suppression mode is set as a setting of the printer driver 403.

  The CO2 emission amount suppression mode process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 27. The printer driver 403 starts processing of the printed image data, determines whether the CO2 emission amount suppression mode is ON, and determines the CO2 emission. If the emission amount suppression mode is ON, the image data is generated with the normal density of the character and the image is reduced in density, and if the CO2 emission amount suppression mode is not ON, the image data of the character and the image is generated with the normal density. Thereafter, the image data is divided into scan bands, and image data for each nozzle array is generated.

  By reducing the image density of the image data in this way, the ink consumption consumed by the inkjet recording apparatus is reduced, and as a result, the head drive is reduced, so that the power consumption can be reduced and the CO2 emission can be suppressed. Connected.

  Here, the CO2 emission amount is reduced by reducing the image density with the printer driver 403. However, it can also be realized by an image forming apparatus main body having an image forming function such as a copy function. In this case, the CO2 emission reduction mode setting is performed from an operation panel or the like provided as an external user interface in the image forming apparatus main body.

  Also, here, when the CO2 emission suppression mode is set, the amount of ink used is reduced by reducing the image density by setting the character to the normal density, but among the four colors of ink (CMYK), K can also be configured to reduce the amount of ink used as a whole by reducing the amount of ink used only for CMY without reducing the density, thereby suppressing the amount of CO2 emission.

Next, a function shown in FIG. 28 shows an example of processing for shortening the transition time to the energy saving mode of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the CO2 emission status, and processing for turning off the power of the ink jet recording device according to the CO2 emission status. This will be described with reference to a block diagram.
The user interface of the printer driver 403 includes an “energy saving mode shift setting” for shifting to the energy saving mode when the CO2 emission amount specified by the user is exceeded within a period specified by the user, and an inkjet recording apparatus within a certain period. In contrast, a “power OFF setting” for turning off the power of the inkjet recording apparatus when a print job is not output is provided.

  Based on the above settings, the printer driver 403 outputs an energy saving mode transition time setting command or a power OFF setting command (hereinafter referred to as a power control command) to the inkjet recording apparatus via the communication unit (network or USB) 551. The energy saving mode transition time setting command includes the CO2 emission amount value that is the upper limit for shifting to the energy saving mode, and the power OFF setting command includes a period setting value until the power is turned off (hereinafter referred to as “user setting value”). "

The power control command is input to the main control unit 301 via the communication unit 551. The main control unit 301 to which the command is input analyzes that the input command is an energy saving mode transition time setting command or a power OFF setting command, and these are stored in the nonvolatile memory 543 in which the power control setting is stored. Write the command.
Based on the user setting value written in the non-volatile memory 543, the main control unit 301 shifts to the energy saving mode based on the energy saving mode transition time setting or the power OFF setting, or outputs a print job during the period specified by the command. If not, the power supply control unit 552 turns off the power of the inkjet recording apparatus.

  That is, this process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 29. The main control 301 starts a CO2 emission reduction process by power control, analyzes a power control command, and writes a power control setting in the memory 543. . Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the CO2 emission amount exceeds the user set value given from the printer driver 403.

  When the CO2 emission amount exceeds the user set value, the power control setting is read from the memory 543 to determine whether or not the energy saving mode transition time is set, and the energy saving mode transition time is set. When it is, the energy saving mode transition time is changed to the user set value. Further, it is determined whether or not the power is turned off (OFF). When the power is turned off, the power off setting time is changed to the user set value.

  These functions can be provided in combination with the CO2 emission suppression mode. Further, although the energy saving mode transition setting itself is configured to be realized in the printer driver 403, it can also be realized in the image forming apparatus main body on which an operation panel such as an LCD is mounted. In this case, the main control unit 301 transmits the CO2 emission amount information to the LCD mounted on the image forming apparatus main body, and displays the CO2 emission amount on the LCD, so that the user is based on the CO2 emission amount information. The power supply control can be performed.

Next, an example of processing for performing a warning display or automatic transition to the CO2 emission amount suppression mode according to the CO2 emission amount state will be described.
First, FIG. 30 shows an example of a user interface for selecting a CO2 emission amount control mode provided in the printer driver 403. In this CO2 emission control mode selection, “Turn on the CO2 emission suppression mode” (described above), “Turn on the automatic transition function of the CO2 emission suppression mode”, and “CO2 emission excess warning” are displayed. "," Power OFF setting "(described above) can be set.

Accordingly, a confirmation process when the warning display or the automatic shift to the CO2 emission suppression mode is set according to the CO2 emission amount status will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
As described above, the printer driver 403 is called when a print command is issued from the OS (GDI) 402. At this time, the printer driver 403 confirms the user interface information as shown in FIG.

  Here, it is determined whether or not the check box of the CO2 emission excess warning display is OFF (unchecked). If the CO2 emission excess warning display is OFF, the check box of the automatic transition function of the CO2 emission suppression mode is OFF. If the check box of the automatic transition function of the CO2 emission suppression mode is OFF, the process is exited.

  On the other hand, if the check box for the CO2 emission excess warning display is not OFF (if ON), it is determined whether the CO2 emission amount for n months is equal to or greater than xmg, and the CO2 emission amount for n months is xmg. If this is the case, a CO2 emissions excess warning message is displayed, a CO2 emission suppression mode activation selection dialog is displayed, it is determined whether or not CO2 emission suppression mode activation is selected, and CO2 emission suppression mode activation is activated. When selected, the CO2 emission suppression mode is turned ON. If the CO2 emission amount for n months is not xmg or more and the activation of the CO2 emission suppression mode is not selected, the process is exited.

  If the check box for the automatic transition function for CO2 emission suppression mode is not OFF (if ON), it is determined whether the CO2 emission amount for n months is xmg or more, and the CO2 emission amount for n months is xmg or more. If this is the case, the CO2 emission suppression mode is turned ON, and if the CO2 emission amount for n months is equal to or greater than xmg, this process is directly exited.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the overall configuration of the embodiment will be described with reference to a functional block diagram shown in FIG. FIG. 31 functionally shows a portion related to the discharge status confirmation processing. Here, only the printed image data generation unit is realized in the printer driver, and the others are realized in the image forming apparatus main body. Shall.

  The image data transmitted from the application 401 is processed in the printer driver 403. At this time, the image data is processed by the printed image data generation unit 410 as in the first embodiment via the device control unit 601. It is converted into photographic image data, which is data in a format that can be processed by the forming apparatus. The device control unit 601 is assigned peripheral circuit control of the microcomputer constituting the main control unit 301 of the image forming apparatus.

  As in the first embodiment, the head drive signal generation unit 501 uses the converted print image data as an electrical signal for driving the pressure generating means (a piezoelectric element in the case of a piezo head) of the recording head 34. It is converted into a drive signal and input to the head drive circuit 310. In addition, information regarding the number of times the head drive signal is generated and the strength of each of the generated signals (droplet size) included in the printed image data is input to the ink usage calculation unit 611 as an image signal.

  The ink usage amount calculation unit 611 has the same configuration as the first ink usage amount calculation unit 511 of the first embodiment. The ink use amount calculation unit 611 calculates the ink use amount based on the number of times and the strength of the head drive signal generation, and inputs this ink use amount to the comparison operation unit 613 as the ink consumption amount.

  On the other hand, the ink supply command unit 621 inputs an instruction to supply any of the insufficient ink colors (K, C, M, Y) to the ink supply drive unit 622 in response to an input from the device control unit 601. . The ink supply drive unit 622 includes an ink supply motor drive circuit 311, and drives the ink supply motor 333 to supply any of the ink colors (K, C, M, Y) that are insufficient, and the ink cartridge 10. Then, the ink is replenished and supplied to the sub tank 35. At this time, the replenishable amount is accurately detected by a sensor (not shown).

  The ink supply amount calculation unit 623 is ink replenishment amount calculation means, and calculates the ink amount replenished and supplied by the ink supply driving unit 622 (hereinafter referred to as “ink supply amount”). The value of the ink supply amount is input to the comparison calculation unit 613.

  The comparison operation unit 613 uses the ink usage amount from the ink usage amount calculation unit 611 (in this embodiment, this is an “ink consumption amount” to be compared with the ink supply amount) and the ink supply from the ink supply amount calculation unit 623. The amount is compared to determine whether it is abnormal. Since the ink use amount and the ink supply amount are equal to each other in the normal state, the comparison operation unit 613 compares the ink use amount and the ink supply amount, and outputs an abnormality detection signal as a head abnormality when the two differ.

  For example, when the ink supply amount is 0.1 cc more than the ink usage amount, the ink supply amount is smaller than the ink usage amount of the drawing theoretical value. Not done. That is, it can be determined that the nozzle is clogged. Therefore, it can be determined that it is preferable to perform head cleaning to improve the head nozzle condition in the head recovery operation.

  Further, if this difference is large, it can be determined that the ratio is proportional to the number of nozzles clogged, and therefore a head recovery operation corresponding to the difference is performed. For example, if it is 0.5 cc, it is preferable to perform head refreshing that performs a recovery operation more powerfully than head cleaning.

  Further, conversely, when the amount of ink used is larger than the amount of ink supplied, it can be determined that ink is being ejected even though drawing is not performed. For example, it can be presumed that ink has been ejected due to a leakage of ink or a defect in the head drive circuit 310 (driver IC) even though the ink is not driven.

  With regard to this abnormality, the head recovery operation cannot be restored, and parts must be replaced. Therefore, when this condition is satisfied, the user is notified that there is an abnormality.

  Thus, by performing a comparison operation between the ink use amount and the ink supply amount, a highly reliable head state can be confirmed. It is also possible to detect control abnormalities and circuit abnormalities.

Here, the ink use amount calculation unit 611 will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. The ink use amount calculation unit 611 is configured by a microcomputer of the main control unit 301.
When the image signal is input to the head drive signal generator 501, each pixel in the image signal is taken out, and which part is made effective in order to eject the ink droplet amount corresponding to the pixel from the recording head 34. A nozzle row image signal is generated as a signal for selecting whether or not.

  The ink use amount calculation unit 611 counts the nozzle array image signal, which is a selection signal of the drive waveform signal, by the counter 631 (counters 1 to N), and the use amount calculation unit 632 adds the count results of the counters 631. To estimate the ink usage. Since the amount of ink discharged is roughly determined by the selected drive waveform, the amount of ink used can be calculated by integrating the amount of ink corresponding to the image signal output during one scan. .

Next, the ink supply amount calculation unit 623 will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. The ink supply amount calculation unit 623 is configured by a microcomputer of the main control unit 301.
In response to the supply command, the ink supply driving unit 622 gives the PWM waveform to the motor driver 642 at the PWM signal generation unit 641. The motor driver 642 drives a DC motor (ink supply motor) 333 provided in the ink supply unit 24 to drive the ink supply pump 643 to replenish and supply the insufficient ink from the ink cartridge 10 to the sub tank 35. Make it.

  Further, the ink supply unit 24 is provided with an encoder sensor 644 that detects the rotation amount of the DC motor 333, and a detection signal (encoder signal) of the encoder sensor 644 is input to the encoder signal count unit 645 of the ink supply drive unit 622. Is done. The encoder signal count unit 645 counts the encoder signal, counts the rotation speed and rotation amount of the DC motor 333, and gives the count value to the ink supply amount calculation unit 623. Since the ink supply amount with respect to the counter value of the encoder signal is roughly determined, the ink supply amount calculation unit 623 integrates the ink supply amount corresponding to the drive amount of the DC motor 333 with the counter value, and calculates the ink supply amount. calculate.

Next, the determination process in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
This process corresponds to the process in the comparison calculation unit 613 and the head abnormality determination unit 614. First, the ink use amount (ink consumption amount) and the ink supply amount are compared to determine whether or not the ink consumption amount = the ink supply amount. If the ink consumption is equal to the ink supply amount, it is determined that the determination result is good, and the calculation result is notified to the device control unit 601 after the ink consumption is cleared.

  That is, if the ink consumption and the ink supply amount match, it is determined that all of the head nozzles are ejecting as intended, and the head condition is good. It should be noted that this determination does not necessarily coincide with each other, and may be determined to be good if it is within a value considering some errors.

  On the other hand, if the ink consumption amount and the ink supply amount do not match, it is determined whether or not the ink consumption amount> the ink supply amount. At this time, if the ink consumption is greater than the ink supply amount, the determination result cannot be recovered as an unintentional ejection due to ink leakage or a driver IC (head drive circuit 310) failure. Note that this determination does not necessarily coincide with each other, and may be a flow in which it is determined to be good as long as it is within a value considering some errors. Then, the ink consumption is cleared and the calculation result is notified.

  If the ink consumption is not greater than the ink supply amount, that is, if the ink supply amount is larger than the ink consumption amount, the difference between the ink consumption amount and the ink supply amount is a predetermined value (for example, 0.1 cc, limited to this). It is determined whether it is less. For example, if the difference is less than 0.1 cc, the determination result is cleaning, and if the difference is 0.1 cc or more, the refreshing operation returns the determination result better. Note that the threshold value of 0.1 cc may be held in, for example, a non-performing memory, or may be changed by a user, so that usability is excellent.

  The device control unit 601 that has received the notification of these determination results performs a cleaning operation, a refreshing operation, and the like if it is possible to return, and if it is impossible to return, the head cannot be returned to the user through the application. Notify that there is.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, in the second embodiment, the CO2 emission amount calculation unit 551 uses the conversion table to calculate the CO2 emission amount using the ink consumption amount determined by the comparison operation unit 513 of the first embodiment as the ink usage amount. I try to calculate. Thereby, it is possible to calculate the CO2 emission amount with higher accuracy.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, in the third embodiment, the comparison operation unit 613 uses the ink consumption determined by the comparison operation unit 513 of the first embodiment as the ink usage amount and the ink supply amount (= ink replenishment amount). Comparison operation is performed. Thereby, the abnormality detection and determination with higher accuracy can be performed.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to a printer having a single function configuration, and may be an image forming apparatus having a composite function such as printer / facsimile / copying.

1 is a schematic side view illustrating an overall configuration of a mechanism unit of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is principal part plane explanatory drawing of the mechanism part. FIG. 10 is an explanatory plan view illustrating another example of a recording head. It is a perspective explanatory view showing an example of an ink cartridge. It is a side explanatory view similarly. It is a typical schematic block diagram of the maintenance recovery mechanism in the same apparatus. It is a principal part expansion explanatory drawing similarly. It is a plane explanatory drawing similarly. It is a schematic block explanatory drawing explaining the control part of the apparatus. It is a functional block explanatory drawing explaining the whole structure of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is functional block explanatory drawing of the printed image data generation part of FIG. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of image data. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of photographic image data. It is functional block explanatory drawing of the head drive signal generation part of FIG. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a head drive signal similarly. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of a 2nd ink usage-amount calculation process. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of the 1st example of a comparison calculation process. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of the 2nd example of a comparison calculation process. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of the 3rd example of a comparison calculation process. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of the 4th example of a comparison calculation process. It is a functional block explanatory drawing explaining the whole structure of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing similarly provided to description of an ink usage-CO2 conversion table. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a motor drive time-CO2 conversion table similarly. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a standby mode / energy-saving mode-CO2 conversion table similarly. It is a functional block explanatory drawing of the part which similarly concerns on CO2 emission information display processing. It is functional block explanatory drawing of the part which similarly concerns on CO2 discharge | emission amount suppression mode. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of a printed image data generation process similarly. It is a functional block explanatory drawing of the part which similarly concerns on the CO2 emission amount reduction process by power supply control. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of the CO2 emission amount reduction process similarly by power supply control. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a CO2 emission amount suppression mode selection property similarly. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of a CO2 emission amount suppression function setting confirmation process similarly. It is a functional block explanatory drawing explaining the whole structure of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block explanatory drawing of an ink usage calculation part. It is a functional block explanatory drawing of the part which similarly concerns on ink supply mass production. It is a flowchart with which it uses for description of recovery operation | movement determination processing (comparison calculation processing) similarly. It is a functional block explanatory drawing explaining the whole structure of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is functional block explanatory drawing explaining the whole structure of 5th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10: Ink cartridge (first ink supply unit)
33 ... Carriage 34, 34a, 34b ... Recording head (liquid ejection head)
35 ... Sub tank (second ink supply unit)
81: Maintenance and recovery mechanism 82a, 82b ... Cap 83 ... Wiper member 301 ... Main control unit 403 ... Printer driver 501 ... Printed image data generation unit 502 ... Head drive signal generation unit 511 ... First ink usage amount calculation unit 512 ... First 2 Ink use amount calculation unit 513 ... Comparison operation unit 551 ... CO2 emission amount calculation unit 611 ... Ink use amount calculation unit 613 ... Comparison operation unit 623 ... Ink supply amount calculation unit 624 ... Head abnormality determination unit

Claims (19)

Image information receiving means for receiving image information;
A recording head that forms an image by ejecting ink droplets;
Drive signal generating means for generating a drive signal for driving the recording head;
An ejection droplet amount detection means for detecting the amount of droplets ejected from the recording head based on the drive signal from the drive signal generation means;
A first usage amount detection means for detecting the first ink usage amount by integrating the ejection droplet amounts detected by the ejection droplet amount detection means;
Second usage amount detection means for calculating a second ink usage amount necessary for image formation based on the image information;
Ink consumption determining means for determining ink consumption based on the first ink usage detected by the first usage detection means and the second ink usage detected by the second usage detection means. An image forming apparatus. Image data receiving means for receiving image data;
A recording head that forms an image by ejecting ink droplets;
Drive signal generating means for generating a drive signal for driving the recording head;
An ejection droplet amount detection means for detecting the amount of droplets ejected from the recording head based on the drive signal from the drive signal generation means;
A first usage amount detection means for detecting the first ink usage amount by integrating the ejection droplet amounts detected by the ejection droplet amount detection means;
Image information generating means for generating image information based on the image data;
Second usage amount detection means for calculating a second ink usage amount necessary for image formation based on the image information;
Ink consumption determining means for determining the ink consumption based on the second ink usage detected by the first usage detection means and the second ink usage detected by the second usage detection means. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
An actual paper size detecting means for detecting the size of the paper on which image formation is performed;
Designated paper size detection means for detecting the size of the paper on which image formation is included in the image information;
Paper size error detecting means for detecting that the actual paper size detecting means and the paper size detected by the designated paper size detecting means are different,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the paper size error is detected, the ink consumption determining unit determines the first ink usage of the first usage detection unit as the ink consumption. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
A cartridge for holding ink supplied to the recording head;
Storage means for storing the remaining amount of ink in the cartridge provided in the cartridge;
An ink remaining amount calculating means for calculating the ink remaining amount based on an ink consumption amount and storing the ink remaining amount in the storage means,
The ink consumption determining unit determines an detection result having a larger one of the detection results of the first usage detection unit and the second usage detection unit as an ink consumption. . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
Charging amount calculation means for calculating a charging amount based on the ink consumption amount;
The ink consumption determining unit determines an detection result having a smaller one of the detection results of the first usage detection unit and the second usage detection unit as an ink consumption amount. .   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink consumption determining unit calculates an average value of both detection results when the detection results of the first usage detection unit and the second usage detection unit are different. An image forming apparatus characterized in that it is determined as a consumption amount.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an abnormality detection unit configured to detect an abnormality based on each detection result of the first usage detection unit and the second usage detection unit. apparatus.   8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for calculating a CO2 emission amount based on a determination result of the ink consumption amount determining means.   9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the calculated CO2 emission amount is output.   10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for selecting a CO2 emission amount suppression mode for suppressing the CO2 emission amount based on the calculated CO2 emission amount.   10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for shortening an energy saving mode transition time for maintaining the apparatus in an energy saving mode in accordance with a calculation result of the CO2 emission amount.   11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising means for turning off the power of the apparatus in accordance with a calculation result of the CO2 emission amount.   10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for displaying a warning according to a calculation result of the CO2 emission amount or performing a transition operation to a CO2 emission amount suppression mode for suppressing the CO2 emission amount. An image forming apparatus.   14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein ink from a first ink supply unit that supplies ink to the second ink supply unit is supplied to a second ink supply unit that supplies ink to the recording head. An ink replenishment calculating means for calculating a replenishment amount, an ink consumption determined by the ink consumption determining means and an ink replenishment amount based on the ink consumption detection and the ink replenishment amount. An image forming apparatus comprising a means for performing notification.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a different recovery operation is performed according to a difference between the ink consumption amount and the ink replenishment amount.   16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein when the ink consumption amount is larger than the ink replenishment amount, it is determined that the ink cannot be restored.   16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein a return recovery operation is performed when the ink replenishment amount is larger than the ink consumption amount.   18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein a first return recovery operation in which an ink consumption amount is relatively large according to a difference between the ink replenishment amount and an ink consumption amount, and an ink consumption amount is greater than the first return operation. An image forming apparatus that performs any of relatively few second recovery operations. In an image forming method for forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head,
Detecting the amount of droplets ejected from the recording head based on a drive signal for driving the recording head, integrating the detected ejection droplet amount and detecting the first ink usage amount;
Based on the image information, a second ink usage amount necessary for image formation is calculated,
An image forming apparatus, wherein an ink consumption amount is determined based on the first ink usage amount and the second ink usage amount.

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