JP2013163321A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

In a conventional electric circuit that uses two sensors, at least three terminals in total, that is, a common ground terminal and two output terminals, are necessary. Therefore, two sensor outputs can be obtained using only two terminals. That is. .
In an electronic device, two rectifying sensors such as diodes and bipolar transistors are connected in parallel in opposite directions, and terminals are provided for sensor output at the two connection points. In an external device to which the electronic device is connected, a selection circuit for selecting one of the two terminals is provided, and a current is supplied to only one of the two sensors connected to the selected terminal.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording apparatus including a circuit that drives a temperature sensor in a recording head, for example.

  For example, the conventional temperature measurement diode connection configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1 employs a parallel connection configuration in which the anodes and cathodes of individual diodes are connected in opposite directions.

  Moreover, the connection structure of the conventional diode for temperature measurement disclosed in Patent Document 2 is a structure in which one diode temperature sensor is measured with two terminals.

JP-A-7-202129 JP 2002-139385 A

  However, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, two sensors cannot be used individually with only two terminals, and when the values of two temperature sensors having different measurement locations are to be obtained, the cathodes common to the two anode terminals are common. A total of three connection terminals, one terminal, were required. Further, even in the configuration of Patent Document 2, two sensors cannot be individually used with only two terminals.

  Further, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, a pair of temperature sensors connected to the same two terminals and capable of individually acquiring temperatures are arranged at different locations having different temperatures, and the temperatures are not read separately.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object thereof is to provide a recording apparatus including a circuit capable of detecting a plurality of sensors using a smaller number of terminals.

  In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

  That is, a recording apparatus that conveys a recording medium and performs recording on the recording medium by a recording head, wherein two diode sensors are connected in parallel so that current directions are opposite to each other, and the two connected in parallel An electronic circuit having two terminals at each of the two connection points, a selection means for selecting one of the two terminals according to an input selection signal, and any of the two terminals selected by the selection means And obtaining means for obtaining an output from one of the two diode sensors.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of terminals for connecting two sensors can be reduced from three to two, and there is an effect that both two sensors can be used exclusively if necessary.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus that is a typical embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the structure of the heater board (head board | substrate) which mounts the temperature sensor with which a recording head is equipped, and a recording element. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship between an ink jet recording head related to a temperature sensor and a main body of the recording apparatus. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration for acquiring sensor outputs when diode sensors D1 and D2 are connected to the main body side of the recording apparatus via terminals T1 and T2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the detailed circuit structure of a switching circuit. It is a figure which shows the switching operation implement | achieved by the circuit structure shown in FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating control of a head temperature reading process according to the first embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship between a paper sensor of a paper feeding unit and a paper sensor of a paper discharge unit as a part of the position sensor 631 and a main body of the recording apparatus. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a conveyance control process at the time of recording in the recording apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically and in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the relative arrangement and the like of the constituent elements described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those unless otherwise specified.

  In this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “printing”) is not limited to the case of forming significant information such as characters and graphics, but may be significant. Furthermore, it also represents a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or a medium is processed regardless of whether or not it is manifested so that a human can perceive it visually.

  “Recording medium” refers not only to paper used in general recording apparatuses but also widely to cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, and the like that can accept ink. Shall.

  Further, “ink” (sometimes referred to as “liquid”) should be interpreted widely as in the definition of “recording (printing)”. Therefore, by being applied on the recording medium, it is used for formation of images, patterns, patterns, etc., processing of the recording medium, or ink processing (for example, solidification or insolubilization of the colorant in the ink applied to the recording medium). It shall represent a liquid that can be made.

  Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the “recording element” collectively refers to an ejection port or a liquid path communicating with the ejection port and an element that generates energy used for ink ejection.

<Description of Inkjet Recording Apparatus (FIG. 1)>
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an outline of the configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus 1 which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a recording apparatus) has an ink jet recording head (hereinafter referred to as a recording head) 3 that performs recording by discharging ink in accordance with an ink jet system. Recording is performed by reciprocating in the direction. A recording medium P such as recording paper is fed through the paper feeding mechanism 5 and conveyed to a recording position, and recording is performed by discharging ink from the recording head 3 to the recording medium P at the recording position.

  In addition to mounting the recording head 3 on the carriage 2 of the recording apparatus 1, an ink cartridge 6 for storing ink to be supplied to the recording head 3 is mounted. The ink cartridge 6 is detachable from the carriage 2.

  The recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is capable of color recording. For this reason, the carriage 2 contains four inks containing magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) inks, respectively. An ink cartridge is installed. These four ink cartridges are detachable independently.

  The recording head 3 of this embodiment employs an ink jet system that ejects ink using thermal energy. For this reason, an electrothermal converter is provided. The electrothermal transducer is provided corresponding to each of the ejection ports, and ink is ejected from the corresponding ejection port by applying a pulse voltage to the corresponding electrothermal transducer in accordance with the recording signal.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, the recording head 3 and the ink cartridge 6 are separated, but a head cartridge in which the recording head and the ink cartridge are integrated may be used.

<Control Configuration of Inkjet Recording Apparatus (FIG. 2)>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 600 includes an MPU 601, a ROM 602, a special purpose integrated circuit (ASIC) 603, a RAM 604, a system bus 605, an A / D converter 606, and the like. Here, the ROM 602 stores a program corresponding to a control sequence to be described later, a required table, and other fixed data. The ASIC 603 generates control signals for controlling the carriage motor M1, the transport motor M2, and the recording head 3. The RAM 604 is used as a development area for image data, a work area for program execution, and the like. A system bus 605 connects the MPU 601, the ASIC 603, and the RAM 604 to each other to exchange data. The A / D converter 606 inputs analog signals from the sensor group described below, performs A / D conversion, and supplies a digital signal to the MPU 601.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 610 denotes a computer (or a reader for image reading, a digital camera, etc.) serving as a supply source of image data, and is collectively referred to as a host device. Image data, commands, status signals, and the like are transmitted and received between the host apparatus 610 and the recording apparatus 1 via an interface (I / F) 611. This image data is input in a raster format, for example.

  Reference numeral 620 denotes a switch group, which includes a power switch 621, a print switch 622, a recovery switch 623, and the like.

  Reference numeral 630 denotes a sensor group for detecting the apparatus state, and includes a position sensor 631, a temperature sensor 632, and the like.

  Further, 640 is a carriage motor driver that drives a carriage motor M1 for reciprocating scanning of the carriage 2 in the direction of arrow A, and 642 is a conveyance motor driver that drives a conveyance motor M2 for conveying the recording medium P. Reference numeral 644 denotes a head driver that drives the recording head based on recording data and control signals transferred from the controller 600.

  The ASIC 603 transfers data for driving a recording element (ejection heater) to the recording head while directly accessing the storage area of the RAM 604 during recording scanning by the recording head 3.

  Then, the power supply apparatus 100 supplies power to the controller 600. The power supply apparatus 100 can supply power necessary for the operation of each part of the apparatus such as each driver, each motor, recording head, sensor group, switch group, and each mechanism part.

  Next, an embodiment will be described with respect to the configuration of an electronic circuit using a diode sensor mounted on a recording apparatus with the above configuration.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a heater board (head substrate) on which a temperature sensor and recording elements provided in the recording head are mounted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, diode sensors D1 and D2, which are two temperature sensors formed in the heater board, are connected in parallel in opposite directions on the heater board. The recording head is provided with two terminals T1 and T2 used for connecting the outputs of these sensors to the outside. Then, the two connection points of the parallel connection are connected to the terminal T1 and the terminal T2, respectively. Here, the parallel connection in the opposite direction means that the cathode (DK1) of the diode sensor D1 is connected to the anode (DA2) of the diode sensor D2, and the cathode (DK2) of the diode sensor D2 is connected to the anode (DA1) of the diode sensor D1. Means that.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between the ink jet recording head related to the temperature sensor and the main body of the recording apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the terminals T1 and T2 are connected to the main body of the recording apparatus via a carriage 2 and a flexible cable, which are not shown in this figure. In the main body, the terminals T1 and T2 are connected to the switches SW1 and SW2, respectively. One of the terminals T1 and T2 is connected to the control circuit 700 of the diode sensor by the two switches, and the other terminal is grounded. The structure is as follows. In addition, a constant current source 701 that supplies a constant current to the diode sensors D1 and D2 is provided in the previous stage of the control circuit 700. The temperature can be read by passing a constant current through either of the connected terminals T1 and T2 and transmitting the value of the forward bias voltage to the control circuit 700.

  The control circuit 700 and the constant current source 701 are provided in the controller 600 shown in FIG.

  In the configuration of this embodiment, when it is assumed that the temperatures acquired by the sensors D1 and D2 differ depending on the mounting position of the diode sensor (hereinafter referred to as a sensor), it is possible to perform unique control for each sensor. .

  In consideration of the mounting position of the recording head with respect to the carriage and the conveyance direction of the recording medium, as shown in FIG. 3, the sensor D1 is supplied in the conveyance direction of the recording medium with respect to the nozzle array composed of a plurality of recording elements arranged on the heater board. Arranged on the paper side. On the other hand, the sensor D2 is disposed on the paper discharge side. In such a case, the sensor D1 reacts more sensitively to the temperature change near the paper feed side of the heater board than the sensor D2. On the other hand, the sensor D2 reacts more sensitively to the temperature near the discharge side of the heater board than the sensor D1.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration for acquiring sensor outputs when the diode sensors D1 and D2 are connected to the main body side of the recording apparatus via the terminals T1 and T2.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the main body of the recording apparatus includes a switching circuit 702 and a signal amplification circuit 703 for sensor signals. The switching circuit 702 includes the two switches (SW1, SW2) shown in FIG. 4, and the connection destinations of the terminals T1 and T2 of the recording head 3 are selected by these two switches. A selection signal (SEL) is input to the switching circuit 702. When this signal is turned on / off, one of the terminals is connected to the signal amplifying circuit 703 including the constant current source 701 and the other terminal is connected to GND. A simple circuit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detailed circuit configuration of the switching circuit 702.
As shown in FIG. 6, in this circuit, a selection signal (SEL) is connected to the gate terminals of the four transistors Tr1 to Tr4. Among the four transistors, the transistors Tr1 and Tr4 are electrically connected between the source and drain terminals when "High" is input to the gate terminals. On the other hand, the transistors Tr2 and Tr3 are electrically connected between the source and the drain by setting the gate terminal to “Low”.
Between these transistors, the sources of the transistors Tr1 and Tr3 are connected to each other, and the drain terminals of the transistors Tr2 and Tr4 are connected to each other. Then, the connecting portions are connected to the terminals T1 and T2, respectively. Further, the drain terminal of the transistor Tr1 and the source terminal of the transistor Tr2 become a common terminal to the signal amplifier circuit 703, and the drain terminal of the transistor Tr3 and the source terminal of the transistor Tr4 are connected to GND.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a switching operation realized by the circuit configuration shown in FIG.

  That is, how the output of the temperature sensor is selected by the signal amplifier circuit 703 or GND is determined by the input value of the selection signal (SEL). Further, the direction of the current flowing through the rectifier circuit (ie, the diode) is determined depending on whether the input value of the selection signal (SEL) is “High” or “Low”.

  Next, control of the head temperature reading process by switching the connection will be described with reference to a flowchart.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control of the head temperature reading process according to the first embodiment.

  When reading of the head temperature is started, the position of the recording paper (recording medium) is confirmed at any time by a paper sensor (one of the position sensors 631) in step S602. Here, it is determined whether the leading edge of the position of the recording paper has reached the recording position by the recording head, the trailing edge of the recording paper has reached the recording position, or the other.

  If it is determined that the leading edge of the recording sheet is at the recording position, the process advances to step S604 to select a sensor D1 that is a temperature sensor on the sheet feeding side. In step S605, the selection signal (SEL) is set to “High” in order to acquire the output of the sensor D1.

  If it is determined that the trailing edge of the recording sheet is at the recording position, the process advances to step S606 to select a sensor D2 that is a temperature sensor on the paper discharge side. In step S607, the selection signal (SEL) is set to “Low” in order to acquire the output of the sensor D2.

  Further, if it is determined that there is no leading or trailing edge of the recording paper at the recording position and the other paper position, for example, an intermediate area, the process advances to step S603 to confirm the current relative position of the recording paper. . In this case, it is not necessary to select the temperature sensor in a limited manner, and both sensor outputs may be acquired alternately.

  Therefore, in the process of step S803 in FIG. 8, whether the current position of the recording sheet is in the odd-numbered scan (odd row) of the scan recording by the recording head or in the even-numbered scan (even row) of the scan recording. Find out if there is. If the current position of the recording sheet is on an odd line, the process executes steps S606 to S607. On the other hand, if the current position of the recording sheet is on an even line, the process executes steps S604 to S605.

  In this way, the average temperature of the heater board can be used for recording control.

  Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, the outputs of two diode temperature sensors can be acquired using two output terminals. Further, the head temperature can be detected with high accuracy by appropriately switching the sensor output.

  Here, when two light receiving sensors using photodiodes or phototransistors are used as a paper sensor for a recording medium feeding unit to the recording apparatus and a paper sensor for a recording medium discharge unit from the recording apparatus, respectively. Will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship between the paper sensor of the paper feed unit and the paper sensor of the paper discharge unit as a part of the position sensor 631 and the main body of the recording apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the sensors D1 and D2 are used as light receiving sensors, and these two light receiving sensors receive light from different light sources at different locations. That is, the sensor D1 is used to detect the presence / absence of recording paper on the paper feeding side of the recording apparatus (paper sensor of the paper feeding unit), and the sensor D2 is present on the paper ejection side of the recording apparatus. Used to detect “/ None” (paper sensor of the paper discharge unit). The sensors D1 and D2 are connected in parallel in the opposite directions as shown in FIG. 4, and outputs from the respective sensors are connected to the two terminals T1 and T2, and an external switch is connected via the terminals T1 and T2. Connect to circuit portion 710.

  In the switch circuit portion 710, one of the two connected terminals is grounded, and the other is connected to the detection circuit portion 720 via the terminal T3. The detection circuit unit 720 is connected to the control circuit 700 from the terminal T3, and a constant current source 701 for passing a constant current is connected in series between the terminal T3 and the control circuit 700, as shown in FIG. Has been.

  In the circuit having the configuration shown in FIG. 9, the forward bias is applied to the sensor D1 and the reverse bias is applied to the sensor D2 by the current supplied from the detection circuit unit 720 through the terminals T3 and T1. Therefore, the voltage between the terminal T1 and the terminal T2 becomes the forward voltage of the sensor D1. Since the sensors D1 and D2 are photodiodes, when light enters the sensor D2 from the outside, the terminals between the two terminals of the sensor D2 (between the anode and the cathode) become conductive, and the voltage between the terminals T1 and T2 drops. To do. When the control circuit 700 detects this voltage change, the sensor D2 can be used as a light receiving sensor. Further, the sensor D1 can be used as a light receiving sensor by connecting to the opposite side by the switch circuit unit 710 (connecting the terminals T3 and T1).

  The following control can be realized by switching and using such a connection change according to the position and control of the recording paper in the recording apparatus.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a conveyance control process during recording by the recording apparatus.

  The value of the paper sensor at this time is set to be “High” when the sensor senses the recording paper.

  When a print command is sent from the host to the recording apparatus, in step S802, the paper sensor D1 of the paper feed unit is selected. In step S803, it is checked whether the output of the sensor D1 is “High”. Here, if the output is “High”, it is assumed that the recording paper remains in the recording apparatus, the process proceeds to Step S804, and it is confirmed in Step S803 that the output of the sensor D1 is not “High”. Paper discharge processing is performed until If it is confirmed that the output of the sensor D1 is not “High”, the process proceeds to step S805, and the acquisition source of the sensor output is switched to the sensor D2. Then, the paper discharge process in step S807 is continued until the output of the sensor D2 becomes “Low” in step S806.

  If it is confirmed that the output of the sensor D2 is “Low”, the process proceeds to step S808. At this point, both sensors D1 and D2 are in a state of indicating “Low”.

  In step S808, the acquisition source of the sensor output is switched to the sensor D1, and in step S809, paper feed processing is started. This paper feed processing continues until it is confirmed in step S810 that the output of the sensor D1 has become “High”. If it is confirmed in step S810 that the output of the sensor D1 has become “High”, the process proceeds to step S811, and registration adjustment is performed. In step S812, the acquisition destination of the sensor output is switched to the sensor D2 in order to acquire the output from the sensor D2. Then, the recording process is started.

  In step S813, it is checked whether the output of the sensor D2 is “Low” in step S814 while performing the leading edge recording process. The output of the sensor D2 being “Low” means that the leading edge of the recording paper has not yet reached the position of the paper sensor of the paper discharge unit. If the output of the sensor D2 is not “Low” in step S814, the process proceeds to step S815.

  In step S815, the acquisition source of the sensor output is switched to the sensor D1. In step S816, while continuing the recording process of the intermediate portion of the recording sheet, it is confirmed in step S817 whether the output of the sensor D1 is “High”. The output of the sensor D1 being “High” means that the trailing edge of the recording paper has not yet been detected by the paper sensor of the paper feeding unit.

  If the output of the sensor D1 becomes “Low” in step S817, it indicates that the trailing edge of the recording sheet has been detected by the sensor D1, and thus the process proceeds to step S818, where the sensor output acquisition source is switched to the sensor D2. . In step S819, the rear end recording process is started. In step S819, it is checked whether the output of the sensor D2 is “High” in step S820 while performing the trailing edge recording process. In step S820, when the output of the sensor D2 becomes “Low”, it indicates that the trailing edge of the recording sheet has been detected by the sensor D2.

  Therefore, the process proceeds to step S821, paper discharge processing is performed, and recording is completed.

  Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, the sensor output can be exclusively acquired by switching the acquisition destination of the sensor output when performing the recording process even with the sensor circuit configured with such a small number of terminals.

  As described above, in both Example 1 and Example 2, two diode sensors are connected in parallel in opposite directions, connected to these two output terminals, and the sensor output acquisition source is switched by a switch. , Get sensor output exclusively.

  By adopting such a configuration, for example, when two diode sensors are used as the temperature sensor of the recording head, a signal required between the recording head and the main body of the recording apparatus in order to acquire the sensor output. The number of lines can be reduced. When two diode sensors are used as paper sensors for the recording paper feed unit and paper discharge unit, a signal line connecting the sensor unit and the control circuit of the main unit of the apparatus in order to obtain the sensor output. Can be reduced.

  In the above-described two embodiments, the example in which the two diode sensors are applied to the recording head and the sheet feeding / discharging unit of the recording medium has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and other apparatuses are used. It can also be applied to each part.

Claims (6)

A recording apparatus that conveys a recording medium and performs recording on the recording medium by a recording head,
An electronic circuit in which two diode sensors are connected in parallel so that current directions are opposite to each other, and each of the two connection points connected in parallel has two terminals;
Selection means for selecting one of the two terminals according to an input selection signal;
A recording apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire an output from one of the two diode sensors via one of the two terminals selected by the selection unit. The recording head includes a plurality of recording elements arranged in the conveyance direction of the recording medium,
Each of the two diode sensors is a temperature sensor;
One of the two temperature sensors is provided on a paper feeding side of the plurality of recording elements provided on a head substrate of the recording head,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other of the two temperature sensors is provided on a paper discharge side of the plurality of recording elements provided on a head substrate of the recording head.   The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit acquires an output from one of the two temperature sensors according to a position of the recording medium. Each of the two diode sensors is an optical sensor,
One of the two optical sensors is provided in a paper feeding unit of the recording medium,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other of the two optical sensors is provided in a paper discharge unit of the recording medium.   The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the acquisition unit acquires an output from one of the two optical sensors in accordance with conveyance including feeding and discharging of the recording medium.   The recording apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a conveyance control unit that performs conveyance control of the recording medium in accordance with outputs from the two optical sensors.

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