JP2011126124A - Recording device, and recording control method - Google Patents

Abstract

In a serial printer using a recording head in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged, and first and second conveying rollers provided upstream and downstream in the conveying direction from the recording head, 2 is provided at the rear end of the recording medium. The increase in the recording time speed due to the gradual reduction of the used nozzles and the conveyance amount generated at the timing of switching from the position where conveyance is performed by one roller to the position where conveyance is performed only by the downstream conveyance roller is minimized.
By adjusting the recording start position at the front end of the recording medium, the number of used recording elements and the transport amount set for the central portion are set to the number of used recording elements and the transport amount set for the rear end portion. So that it can be switched as is.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording control method. In particular, the present invention employs an ink jet recording head in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged, and a so-called multi-type that forms an image by performing recording while moving the same image area a plurality of times in a direction different from the nozzle arrangement direction. It is suitable for application to a configuration that performs pass recording.

  Recently, OA devices such as personal computers and word processors are widely used, and various recording devices for recording information output from these devices on various recording media are provided. In particular, an ink jet recording apparatus has various advantages such as low noise, low running cost, small size, and relatively easy colorization, and is accepted by a wide range of users. However, in the vicinity of the front end or the rear end of the recording medium, the conveyance accuracy of the recording medium may decrease due to the configuration of the recording apparatus. For this reason, the image tends to be distorted when the leading end or the trailing end of the recording medium is recorded. This is mainly caused by a situation in which the recording medium is detached from some of a plurality of rollers that support and convey the recording medium from the front and rear of the recording unit (upstream and downstream in the conveyance direction). ing.

  Therefore, an ink jet recording apparatus that employs a special recording method has already been provided near the front end or the rear end of the recording medium. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a control in which the entire surface of a recording medium is divided into three types of regions, and the conveyance amount and the recording operation are different for each region, and the recording operation will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the division into the three types of regions. FIGS. 11A to 11D are conveying means including a recording medium, a conveying roller, and a discharge roller in the process of conveying the recording medium. FIG. In these drawings, P is a recording medium, and M3060 and M3110 are a conveyance roller on the upstream side in the recording medium conveyance direction and a discharge roller on the downstream side, respectively. The conveyance roller M3060 and the paper discharge roller M3110 cooperate with the pinch roller M3070 and the spur M3120 to sandwich and convey the recording medium P, respectively. H1001 is a recording head, and a plurality of recording elements (nozzles) for ejecting ink are arranged at a predetermined pitch in a direction parallel to the conveying direction in the figure. The recording head H1001 ejects ink from each recording element while moving in the left-right direction of FIG. 10 (direction orthogonal to FIGS. 11A to 11D), and between the transport roller M3060 and the discharge roller M3110. An image is formed on the area of the recording medium P that is positioned. Images are sequentially formed on the recording medium P by alternately repeating the ejection operation in the moving process of the recording head H1001 and the conveying operation of the recording medium P by the two roller pairs.

  In the configuration in which the recording medium is conveyed using two rollers as described above, the characteristics of the two rollers are generally set as follows in order to prevent the recording surface of the recording medium from wavy. It is. That is, the conveyance speed of the paper discharge roller M3110 is set to be higher than that of the conveyance roller M3060, and the holding force (friction force) of the recording medium by the conveyance roller M3060 is set to be larger than that of the paper discharge roller. Due to the difference in characteristics as described above, the conveyance accuracy of the conveyance roller M3060 and the discharge roller M3110 may be different, which may reduce the image recording quality.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, the frictional force between the conveyance roller M3060 and the discharge roller M3110 and the recording medium is taken into consideration, and depending on which roller is involved in the conveyance of the recording medium, the recording medium P The recording operation is performed by dividing the area. In the example of this document, a case where 768 nozzles are provided in the recording head is shown.

  In FIG. 10, an area 401 is an area in which the recording medium is conveyed by two rollers, a conveyance roller M3060 and a discharge roller M3110, as shown in FIG. In this region (hereinafter, also referred to as a central portion) 401, recording is performed using all 768 nozzles of the recording head H1001.

  An area 402a in FIG. 10 is an area in the vicinity of the leading end of the recording medium (hereinafter referred to as the leading end) where the recording medium is transported only by the transport roller M3060 as shown in FIG. An area indicated by 402b is an area in the vicinity of the rear end of the recording medium (hereinafter also referred to as a rear end) where the recording medium is conveyed by the paper discharge roller M3110 as shown in FIG. 11C. Recording is performed on these front end portion 402a and rear end portion 402b by using 256 nozzles among 768 nozzles of the recording head. That is, when recording the leading and trailing ends, the recording width of the recording head or the number of nozzles that actually eject ink is suppressed, and the conveyance amount of the recording medium is also reduced accordingly.

  As shown in FIG. 11D, an area 403 in FIG. 10 is a state in which only the discharge roller M3110 is related to the conveyance of the recording medium from the state where the conveyance roller M3060 and the discharge roller M3110 are involved in the conveyance of the recording medium. This is an area including a position 410 at which switching is made. That is, the number of nozzles used for recording in this region (hereinafter also referred to as a transition portion) is switched from 768 to 256.

  As described above, the recording medium P is first transported only by the transport roller M3060 on the upstream side in the transport direction. Then, after the time when the leading edge reaches the downstream discharge roller M3110, it is conveyed by both rollers M3060 and M3110. Further, after the rear end of the recording medium P passes through the upstream side conveyance roller M3060, the recording medium P is conveyed only by the downstream side discharge roller M3110.

  With reference to FIGS. 12A to 12C, the recording operation in Patent Document 1 will be described. In these drawings, n1, n2, n3... Are numbers of sequential passes performed by the recording head H1001. One square of the recording head H1001 corresponds to 32 continuous nozzles, and indicates a nozzle range in which the entire or a part of the recording head H1001 is surrounded by a thick line. Here, it is assumed that four-pass printing is performed in which an image is formed by four passes of the recording head H1001 in the same image area.

  FIG. 12A is an explanatory diagram of a 4-pass printing operation using all 768 nozzles of the print head H1001 with respect to the region (center portion) 401 in FIG. After the recording by the first pass n1, the recording medium for 192 (= 768/4; 6 squares) nozzles is conveyed, and the recording by the second pass n2 is performed. Thereafter, the conveyance of the recording medium for 192 nozzles and the recording in each pass are alternately performed, and the image of the area where the recording is performed by four passes is completed. In other words, the area that is completed by printing in four passes in the figure is an area for 192 nozzles in the carrying direction indicated by hatching.

  FIG. 12B is an explanatory diagram of a 4-pass printing operation that uses 256 nozzles of the 768 nozzles of the print head H1001 for the areas 402a and 402b in FIG. That is, at the time of recording at the front end portion and the rear end portion, the nozzle use range is reduced to 1/3 of the recording at the center portion. After the recording by the first pass n1, the recording medium for 64 (= 192/4; two squares) is conveyed, and the recording by the second pass n2 is performed. Thereafter, the conveyance of the recording medium for 64 nozzles and the recording by each pass are alternately performed, and the image of the area where the recording by the four passes is completed is completed. In other words, in the figure, the area that is completed by printing by four passes is an area for 64 nozzles in the transport direction indicated by hatching.

  FIG. 12C is an explanatory diagram of the 4-pass printing operation for the transition unit 403 in FIG. As shown in the figure, the number of nozzles used for printing is reduced by 128 for each pass from the third pass n3 to the sixth pass, and 256 nozzles are used from the state where all 768 nozzles are used. Transition to a state where the nozzle is used. Immediately after the number of nozzles used reaches 256, the recording medium for 192 nozzles is conveyed at the position indicated by the arrow in the figure (the position indicated by 410 in FIG. 10; hereinafter also referred to as the shift position). Is called. As shown in FIG. 11D, this is the conveyance performed at the timing when the rear end of the recording medium is released from the state of being pinched by the conveyance roller M3060 and the pinch roller M3070 (away from the conveyance roller). . This timing can be detected as, for example, a timing when a predetermined amount of conveyance is performed after a sensor (PE sensor) provided on the conveyance path to detect the edge of the recording medium detects the trailing edge of the recording medium. Thereafter, recording in each of passes n7 to n10 and regular conveyance of the recording medium for 64 nozzles are alternately performed.

  As described above, only the paper discharge roller M3110 from the two transport rollers M3060 and M3110 is involved in the conveyance of the recording medium P with the shift position 410 shown in FIG. 10 as a boundary. Here, as described above, the conveyance speed of the paper discharge rollers is higher than that of the conveyance rollers, and the holding force (friction force) of the recording medium by the conveyance rollers is larger than that of the paper discharge rollers. It is common to set characteristics. The conveyance before the trailing edge of the recording medium leaves the nipping position between the conveyance roller M3060 and the pinch roller M3070 can be said to be mainly conveyance of the conveyance roller M3060. On the other hand, from the time when the rear end of the recording medium is out of the nipping position between the conveyance roller M3060 and the pinch roller M3070, the conveyance by only the paper discharge roller M3110 is performed.

  By performing the control as described above, it is possible to suppress image defects that may occur at the time of recording at the leading end portion and the trailing end portion and contribute to improvement in recording quality. However, the recording width of the recording head is reduced and recording is performed. The amount of time required for recording on one recording medium increases as the amount of transport of the medium decreases. That is, as is clear from FIGS. 12A and 12B, the reduction in the number of nozzles used not only reduces the image area that can be completed in four passes to 1/3, but also as shown in FIG. Due to the presence of such a transition portion, the recording time of one recording medium is remarkably increased.

JP 2006-062149 A

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a configuration capable of suppressing an increase in recording time while maintaining the recording quality at the rear end of the recording medium.

For this purpose, the present invention provides a recording operation in which recording is performed while moving a recording head in which recording elements are arranged in a direction different from the direction of the arrangement with respect to the recording medium, and a direction intersecting the direction of the recording operation. An inkjet recording apparatus that records an image on the recording medium by conveying the recording medium to
First and second conveying means for conveying the recording medium located upstream and downstream in the conveying direction from the recording head, respectively;
At least the rear end portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed only by the second conveying means, the central portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed by the first and second conveying means Control means for reducing the number of recording elements used for recording, and for setting to reduce the amount of conveyance performed between the recording operations;
With
When the control unit shifts from recording in the central part to recording in the rear end part, the number of the recording elements set for the central part and the transport amount are set to the rear end part. The recording start position is adjusted at the leading end of the recording medium in which the recording medium is transported only by the first transporting means so that the number of the recording elements and the transport amount are switched as they are. It is characterized by.

The present invention also relates to a recording operation in which recording is performed while moving a recording head in which recording elements are arranged in a direction different from the direction of the arrangement with respect to the recording medium, and in a direction crossing the direction of the recording operation. And recording the image on the recording medium, respectively, and conveying the recording medium positioned upstream and downstream of the recording head from the recording head, respectively. A recording control method for a recording apparatus comprising a second conveying means,
At least the rear end portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed only by the second conveying means, the central portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed by the first and second conveying means Including a control step for reducing the number of recording elements used for recording and performing setting for reducing the amount of conveyance performed between the recording operations,
In the control step, the number of the recording elements set for the central portion and the amount of conveyance when the transition from the recording at the central portion to the recording at the rear end portion is made with respect to the rear end portion. The recording start position is adjusted at the leading end of the recording medium in which the recording medium is transported only by the first transporting means so that the number of the recording elements and the transport amount are switched as they are. It is characterized by.

  Furthermore, the present invention also resides in a control program for causing a computer to execute the recording control method.

  According to the present invention, by adjusting the recording start position at the front end of the recording medium, the number of used recording elements and the transport amount set for the central portion are the number of used recording elements set for the rear end portion and It can be switched to the carry amount as it is, and there is no need to provide a transition portion between them. Thus, it is possible to suppress an increase in recording time while maintaining the recording quality at the rear end of the recording medium.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a control system of the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. 1. 6 is a flowchart illustrating pass division processing and conveyance processing during image formation according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of low pass recording. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of low pass recording. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of low pass recording. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of multipass recording. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of multipass recording. It is explanatory drawing of the determination process of the recording position and conveyance amount at the time of multipass recording. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the area | region of the front-end | tip part, a center part, and a rear-end part in a recording medium. (A)-(d) is a figure explaining the positional relationship of a recording medium and the conveyance means containing a conveyance roller and a paper discharge roller in the process in which a recording medium is conveyed. (A), (b), and (c) are explanatory drawings for explaining modes of recording processing for the central portion, the front and rear end portion, and the transition portion, respectively, in the prior art.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, as a recording apparatus according to the present invention, a recording apparatus using a recording head according to an ink jet method will be described as an example. However, this is merely an example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Absent.

  In this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “image formation”) does not include only the case of forming significant information such as characters and graphics. In other words, regardless of whether it is significant involuntary, or whether it is manifested so that it can be perceived by the human eye, widely form images, patterns, patterns, etc. on recording media, or process media It also represents the case where “Recording medium” means not only paper used in general recording apparatuses, but also widely represents cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, etc. that can accept ink. To do. Furthermore, “ink” refers to the formation of images, patterns, patterns, etc., processing of the recording medium, or processing of the ink (for example, the colorant in the ink applied to the recording medium) by being applied on the recording medium. It shall represent a liquid that can be subjected to solidification or insolubilization. Further, “nozzle” (sometimes referred to as “recording element”) is a generic term for an ejection port or a liquid passage communicating with this and an element that generates energy used for ink ejection unless otherwise specified. Say it.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those described with reference to FIGS. 11 (a) to 11 (c). ing. A recording head H1001 according to the present embodiment includes an ejection unit in which nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged in a predetermined direction (for example, the Y direction in the figure), and an ink tank for supplying ink to the carriage. It is detachably mounted on M4000. The carriage M4000 can move in a direction X that intersects the conveyance direction of the recording medium P during a recording operation, and can be set to the home position HP during standby such as a non-recording state. Note that a plurality of combinations of ejection units and ink tanks are provided, for example, corresponding to a plurality of colors (colors, densities). The plurality of color tones may be, for example, six color tones of black (Bk), cyan (C), light cyan (Lc), magenta (M), light magenta (Lm), and yellow (Y).

  The carriage M4000 at the home position HP during standby moves in the X direction in response to a recording start command. In this process, recording is performed by ejecting ink onto the recording medium P from a plurality of nozzles of a nozzle array provided in each ejection unit of the recording head H1001 in accordance with the recording data. When one recording to the end of the recording medium P is completed, the carriage M4000 returns to the home position HP. At the same time, the conveying roller M3060 constituting the first conveying means and the discharge roller M3110 constituting the second conveying means rotate in the direction of the arrow, thereby conveying the recording medium by a predetermined width in the Y direction and again in the X direction. Start recording. By repeating such a recording operation and a conveying operation, recording on one recording medium is performed.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of the control system of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 309 denotes a motor driver, which is a control circuit for controlling the motors. The motors include a carriage motor 309c that serves as a drive source for moving the carriage M4000 or the print head H1001 in the X direction in FIG. 1, and a transport motor that serves as a drive source for transporting the recording medium P in the Y direction in FIG. 309b is included. In addition, a recovery motor 309a serving as a drive source such as a pump used for processing for maintaining or recovering the ink ejection state of the recording head H1001 in a good state is included.

  Reference numeral 310 denotes a head driver, through which recording data is transferred to the recording head H1001, and ink is ejected at a controlled timing to form an image. When the recording head or each ejection unit or each ink tank provided in the recording head is configured as a replaceable component, a unique ID may be assigned to each replaceable component. Therefore, the head driver 310 reads the ID and notifies a later-described CPU, so that the presence or absence of the replacement can be determined.

  Reference numeral 307 denotes a CPU that controls the entire recording apparatus 300 in accordance with a processing procedure described later. A ROM 306 stores a program corresponding to a control procedure executed by the CPU 307 and required fixed data. Reference numeral 305 denotes a RAM, which has a storage area for parameters used by the CPU 307 during the execution of the control procedure, and other work areas. A non-volatile memory 308 is used for storing information to be stored even when the apparatus is turned off.

  Reference numeral 302 denotes an input / output interface, which connects an external device, such as a host computer 301, which is a supply source of an image to be recorded, to the recording device 300. It has functions of receiving data corresponding to an image to be recorded and transmitting the status of the recording apparatus 300 to the host computer 301. An operation unit 303 includes a key for receiving a key operation from the user, a display unit for notifying the user of an error, and the like. An ASIC 304 is a circuit having a function for realizing control such as data reception, image processing, and image expansion by electrical processing.

  The ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment has a complementary relationship with respect to the same image area by carrying a recording medium less than the width of the array of recording elements between a plurality of recording operations of the recording head H1001. Recording is performed in multiple passes according to the pixel array. This is called a multi-pass printing method, and it is a printing method that suppresses density unevenness due to slight differences in the ink ejection amount and ejection direction for each nozzle by forming an image using a plurality of nozzles for one line. is there. In particular, in this embodiment, among the multi-pass printing methods, a random mask thinning method that generates print data by eliminating the regularity of the used nozzles and randomly thinning data, and print data is generated by thinning print dots. The data thinning method to be used is also used.

  The present embodiment reduces the number of nozzles used for recording at least for the rear end portion of the recording medium as compared with the central portion, and is performed between recording operations (hereinafter also referred to as scanning or pass). Reduce the amount of Then, when the number of recording elements and the amount of conveyance are shifted from the recording at the central portion to the recording at the rear end portion, the recording at the front end portion is switched directly to the one set for the rear end portion. Let the start position be adjusted. In other words, recording throughput is improved by minimizing the increase in the number of scans without requiring a transition portion as in the prior art.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating pass division processing and conveyance processing during image formation in the embodiment. When a recording command is received from the connected external device (host computer 301), first, in step S901, setting information such as the type of recording medium, the conveyance path, the size of the recording medium, and the recording quality is confirmed. The confirmation of the setting information is performed by referring to the information of the user setting made on the setting screen displayed in accordance with the control program (printer driver) of the recording apparatus operating in the host computer 301 connected to the recording apparatus. Is called. However, regarding the type and size information of the recording medium, if the recording apparatus is provided with a sensor, the detection result of the sensor may be referred to.

  Next, in step S902, the recording mode is determined. The recording mode is determined based on the type and recording quality of the recording medium, but the recording mode may be determined according to the transport path of the recording medium to the recording position by the recording head H1001 and the size of the recording medium. When the recording mode is determined, the number of passes to be recorded and the transport amount to be performed for each pass are determined. In step S903, it is determined whether the medium conveyance direction dimension of the stop prohibited area is less than the conveyance amount set according to the number of passes.

  The stop prohibited area is an area in the vicinity of the rear end of the recording medium having a predetermined dimension on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction, including the position at the moment when the rear end of the recording medium leaves the transport roller M3060. Immediately before and immediately after the trailing edge of the recording medium leaves the conveyance roller M3060, the state of the recording medium becomes unstable, and if the recording operation is performed in this state, image distortion may occur. Therefore, in this embodiment, a stop prohibition area having a predetermined margin is set on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction so that the position where the separation can occur is included, and the nozzle at the most upstream position is located in this area. In this state, the conveyance stop and the recording operation are not performed. It should be noted that the stop prohibited area is less than the carry amount when recording with a small number of passes (low-pass recording) such as 1-pass printing or 2-pass printing is performed. The number of passes up to the target depends on the recording head to be mounted and the mechanical accuracy of the transport system. In this embodiment, a recording head in which 768 nozzles are arranged at a density of 1200 dpi (dots / inch; reference value) is used for each ejection unit, and the conveyance direction dimension of the stop prohibited area is 180 dots (approximately 3 dots). .8 mm). In this embodiment, the target is up to four-pass printing in which a conveyance amount of 196 dots is set between passes. On the other hand, the medium conveyance direction dimension of the stop prohibited area is equal to or larger than the conveyance amount when recording with a large number of passes (multi-pass recording) is performed. In the present embodiment, 5-pass printing, 6-pass printing, or multipass printing of more than that is performed.

  If it is determined in step S903 that the medium conveyance direction dimension of the stop prohibited area is less than the set conveyance amount, the process advances to step S904 to select a rear end conveyance amount determination routine for low-pass recording. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S903 that the dimension in the medium conveyance direction of the stop prohibited area is equal to or larger than the set conveyance amount, the process proceeds to step S905, and a rear end conveyance amount determination routine for multi-pass recording is selected.

  After the image data for one pass is received in step S906, the recording operation to be performed in step S907 is the first pass (recording process for the first scan) performed on the leading end side of the recording medium. It is determined whether or not there is. If an affirmative determination is made here, the process proceeds to step S908 to determine the recording start position for recording the first scan, and then to set the determined recording start position in step S909. The adjustment conveyance amount and the used nozzle range are determined. On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in step S906, the process proceeds to step S910, and the second and subsequent scans are performed. In the second and subsequent scans, in principle, a steady conveyance amount and a nozzle use range are set in accordance with the front end, the center, and the rear end. That is, for example, when 4-pass printing is performed, the value (192) obtained by dividing the total number of nozzles (768) by 4 is the steady conveyance amount in the case of the central portion. Next, in step S911, the conveyance process of the amount determined in step S909 or S910 is performed, and the recording operation is performed in step S912. In step S913, it is determined whether or not all the recording on the recording medium has been completed. If the determination is affirmative, the recording is ended. If not, the reception of the image data of the next pass is awaited.

  4 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of a recording position and conveyance amount determination process at the time of low-pass recording, and illustrate four-pass recording. First, FIG. 4 shows a case where the number of nozzles used is reduced by providing a transition portion as in the prior art. If four-pass printing is performed for the transition portion with a transport amount of 96 nozzles (dots), the size of the transition portion in the recording medium transport direction is 384 (= 96 × 4) dots. Further, the stop prohibited area is illustrated as having a size in the recording medium conveyance direction of 180 dots and the rear end portion of 288 dots. In the case of FIG. 4, when the medium for 180 dots is transported after the pass of the scan p1 in which the nozzle on the most downstream side in the transport direction is located at the most upstream end in the transport direction of the stop prohibited area, A pass of scan p2 where the nozzle is located occurs. That is, the stop prohibition area can be avoided, but the number of scans required to complete the recording of the entire recording medium increases. On the other hand, in FIG. 5, the transition amount is not provided, and the transport amount is simply switched between when the upstream transport roller M3060 is involved in transport and when only the downstream discharge roller M3110 is involved in transport. It is a thing. In this case, as indicated by reference numeral N in the drawing, halfway conveyance occurs, and conveyance stops when the most downstream nozzle is located in the stop prohibited area, resulting in unevenness in the image at the rear end, etc. There is a risk of image damage.

  On the other hand, FIG. 6 shows the nozzle use start position of the first scan at the leading edge of the recording medium in step S908 of FIG. 3 so that the conveyance stop in the state where the most downstream nozzle is located in the stop prohibition region does not occur. It is a figure at the time of adjusting. In this case, as indicated by symbol G in the figure, the nozzle use start position of the first scan is shifted to the upstream side, and the number of rasters recorded in that scan is also reduced. However, since all the nozzles are used until the most downstream nozzle in the transport direction is located at the most upstream end in the transport direction of the stop prohibited area, it is possible to perform 4-pass printing with transport of 192 nozzles between passes. It is possible to reduce the overall number of scans without requiring a transition section. Further, by carrying 192 nozzles (dots) from that position, it is possible to pass through the stop prohibited area, so that the transportation stop does not occur when the most downstream nozzle is located in the stop prohibited area. Thereafter, the rear end portion may be recorded in the same manner as described above.

  FIGS. 7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams of the recording position and transport amount determination processing during multi-pass printing, and illustrate 8-pass printing. First, FIG. 4 shows a case where the number of nozzles used is reduced by providing a transition portion as in the prior art. If eight-pass printing is performed for the transition section with a transport amount of 48 nozzles (dots), the dimension of the transition section in the recording medium transport direction is 384 (= 48 × 4) dots. Further, the stop prohibited area is illustrated as having a size in the recording medium conveyance direction of 180 dots and the rear end portion of 288 dots. In the case of FIG. 7, when the medium for 180 dots is transported after the pass of the scan p1 in which the nozzle on the most downstream side in the transport direction is located at the most upstream end in the transport direction of the stop prohibited area, A pass of scan p2 where the nozzle is located occurs. That is, the stop prohibition area can be avoided, but the number of scans required to complete the recording of the entire recording medium increases.

  In the present embodiment, the conveyance amount of 8-pass printing is 96 nozzles (dots) with respect to the central portion, which is less than 180 dots which is the dimension of the stop prohibited area. Therefore, it is not possible to pass through the stop prohibited area at a stretch only by adjusting the leading end side of the recording medium as in the case of the 4-pass recording described above. Therefore, in the 8-pass printing of this embodiment, it is sufficient to increase the number of scans for one or two passes.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a case where a specific conveyance stagnation control for two passes is provided without providing a transition unit. That is, the print area for 96 nozzles is reduced for the scan indicated by reference numeral p1 and 96 nozzles for the scan indicated by reference numeral p2 for a total of 196 nozzles. From the scan indicated by reference numeral p3, recording for 96 × 6 dots is performed.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram in a case where adjustment on the leading end side of the recording medium is performed and a transition portion is not provided on the trailing end side, and an increase of one scan is sufficient. In this case, the nozzle use start position of the first scan is shifted to the upstream side, and the number of rasters recorded in the scan is also reduced. However, it is possible to perform 8-pass printing using all the nozzles and carrying 96 nozzles between passes until the most downstream nozzle in the carrying direction is located at the most upstream end in the carrying direction of the stop prohibited area. As a result, the overall number of scans can be reduced. Further, the area corresponding to 96 nozzles can be reduced in the scan p2 'at that time, and the transport to the scan position indicated by the symbol p3' can be performed in one transport.

<Other embodiments>
The embodiment described above performs appropriate conveyance control according to the positional relationship between a conveyance unit including a conveyance roller and a discharge roller and a recording medium in a serial type ink jet recording apparatus. Of course, the number of color tones of ink ejected by the recording head, the number of nozzles and the number of passes for each color tone are not limited to the above example, and can be determined as appropriate.

  Further, the conveyance roller M3060 and the discharge roller M3110 often have a slight difference in roller diameter and conveyance accuracy due to the difference in their main roles. The transport roller M3060 has a main role of positioning the recording medium at an appropriate position with respect to the recording head for each recording scan. Therefore, it has a sufficiently large roller diameter, and can perform a conveying operation with a desired accuracy. In contrast, the main function of the paper discharge roller M3110 is to reliably discharge the recording medium after recording. Therefore, the roller diameter is small and the conveyance accuracy of the recording medium is often inferior compared to the conveyance roller M3060. Accordingly, compared to the previous area, the conveyance accuracy is higher for the area from when the trailing edge of the recording medium P is removed from the conveying roller M3060 until the recording of the last edge of the recording medium P is completed. A deteriorating situation will occur. From this point of view, in this embodiment, as a general rule, the transport operation in which the upstream transport roller M3060 is involved in transport and the transport operation in which only the downstream discharge roller M3110 is involved in transport are roughly divided into two. It is possible to correct the amount. That is, at this time, the conveyance amount correction parameters and coefficients can be made different between the front end portion and the central portion (portion indicated by “before” in FIG. 10) and the rear end portion (portion indicated by “after”). .

  Further, the configuration of the recording apparatus and the recording method are not limited to the ink jet method as described above. Any recording apparatus may be used as long as it is configured to perform image formation by alternately performing the recording operation accompanying the movement of the recording head and the conveyance of the recording medium.

  In addition, in the above example, the setting of the conveyance amount according to the position of the recording medium, the setting of the used nozzle range, the setting of the recording start position, etc. (processing as shown in FIG. 3) are all performed on the recording apparatus side. did. However, part or all of these setting processes can be executed by an external apparatus that supplies image data to the recording apparatus, such as a computer. In this case, the processing may be achieved by supplying a software program for realizing these processes or the method of the present invention directly or remotely to the computer, and reading and executing the supplied program code.

  The program code itself installed in the computer in order to realize the above-described processing or the recording control method of the present invention by the computer is also included in the present invention. In that case, as long as it has a function of the program, the form of the program code may be any form such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, and the like.

  Various recording media can be used for supplying the program. This includes, for example, flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD- R) and the like.

  As another program supply method, the program can be supplied by connecting to an Internet site using a computer browser and downloading the computer program of the present invention from the site to a recording medium such as a hard disk. Alternatively, it can be supplied by downloading a compressed file including an automatic installation function to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different site. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  It is also possible to encrypt the program of the present invention, store it in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and distribute it to users. In this case, a user who satisfies a predetermined condition is allowed to download key information to be decrypted from a site via the Internet, execute an encrypted program by using the key information, and install it on the computer. Can be realized.

  In addition, the program read from the storage medium may be written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. In this case, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing by the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit based on the instructions of the program.

H1001 Recording head M3060 Conveying roller M3110 Paper discharge roller P Recording medium 401 Recording medium center part 402a Recording medium front end part 402b Recording medium rear end part 403 Transition part

Claims (4)

A recording operation in which recording is performed while moving a recording head in which recording elements are arrayed with respect to the recording medium in a direction different from the direction of the array, and conveyance of the recording medium in a direction crossing the direction of the recording operation An inkjet recording apparatus for recording an image on the recording medium by performing
First and second conveying means for conveying the recording medium located upstream and downstream in the conveying direction from the recording head, respectively;
At least the rear end portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed only by the second conveying means, the central portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed by the first and second conveying means Control means for reducing the number of recording elements used for recording, and for setting to reduce the amount of conveyance performed between the recording operations;
With
When the control unit shifts from recording in the central part to recording in the rear end part, the number of the recording elements set for the central part and the transport amount are set to the rear end part. The recording start position is adjusted at the leading end of the recording medium in which the recording medium is transported only by the first transporting means so that the number of the recording elements and the transport amount are switched as they are. A recording apparatus.   By performing the conveyance less than the width of the array of the recording elements between the recording operations, recording is performed in a plurality of recording operations according to a pixel array having a complementary relationship with respect to the same image area. The recording apparatus according to claim 1. A recording operation in which recording is performed while moving a recording head in which recording elements are arrayed with respect to the recording medium in a direction different from the direction of the array, and conveyance of the recording medium in a direction crossing the direction of the recording operation The first and second transport means for transporting the recording medium are recorded on the recording medium and positioned upstream and downstream in the transport direction from the recording head, respectively. A recording control method for a recording apparatus comprising:
At least the rear end portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed only by the second conveying means, the central portion of the recording medium in which the recording medium is conveyed by the first and second conveying means And a control step for performing a setting for reducing the number of recording elements used for recording and reducing the amount of conveyance performed between the recording operations. In the control step, the recording from the central portion to the trailing edge is performed. The number of the recording elements and the amount of conveyance set for the central portion when shifting to the recording of the portion is the number of the recording elements and the amount of conveyance set for the rear end portion. The recording method is characterized in that the recording start position is adjusted at the leading end of the recording medium in which the recording medium is transported only by the first transport means so that the recording medium is switched as it is.   A control program for causing a computer to execute the recording control method according to claim 3.

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