JP2009000988A - Ink-jet recording device and ink-jet recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink-jet recording device and an ink-jet recording method capable of obtaining a naturally-finished recording result with low contamination of the recording device and a recording medium in the recording device which carries out borderless recording by using a liquid which is reacted with an ink and improves image quality. <P>SOLUTION: Whether the imparting amount of the reaction liquid with respect to an end region Qb ranging from inside to outside of an end 51 of the recording medium has to be reduced to be less than a specified amount, which is determined in advance, or not is determined. When it is determined that the amount has to be reduced to be less than the specified amount, the imparting amount of the reaction liquid for the end region Qb is gradually reduced from the inside to outside of the recording medium. When it is determined that the amount is not required to be reduced to be less than the specified amount, the specified amount is imparted to the end region Qb. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink jet recording method for performing borderless recording using an ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink.

  The ink jet recording method is a recording method in which recording is performed by forming an image or the like by ejecting and attaching ink droplets from a recording head to a recording medium such as paper. As an inkjet recording method that is generally used, there is a method of using an electrothermal conversion element such as a heater as an ejection energy generating element used for ejecting ink droplets. In this method, ejection of ink droplets can be controlled by an electric signal. The principle is that by applying a voltage to the electrothermal transducer provided in the nozzle of the recording head, the ink in the vicinity of the electrothermal transducer is boiled instantaneously and abruptly generated by the phase change of the ink at the time of boiling. Ink droplets are ejected at a high speed by the foaming pressure.

  The ink used in this ink jet recording method contains water as a main component, and generally contains a water-soluble high-boiling solvent such as glycol for the purpose of preventing ink from drying in the nozzle and preventing nozzle clogging. Is. Therefore, since the ejected ink droplets are difficult to dry, it takes time to fix on the recording medium, and if the recording unit touches something before the ink is sufficiently fixed, Disturbance may occur and the recording quality may deteriorate.

  On the other hand, in recent years, high image quality equivalent to that of silver halide photography has been demanded for recording by an ink jet recording apparatus, and there are increasing demands for expanding the color reproduction region and improving the uniformity of the color of the recording result. .

  Therefore, in order to improve the problem that the recording quality is deteriorated, Patent Document 1 discloses that ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink are ejected onto the recording medium and mixed on the recording medium. A method is disclosed. As a result, it is possible to realize relatively high quality recording such as excellent water resistance and excellent color reproducibility. For the same purpose, Patent Document 2 discloses a method of causing a plurality of mutually reacting inks to react on a recording medium, and this also realizes recording with a relatively high recording quality. Is possible.

  Also, in silver halide photography, so-called borderless recording, which is a recording with no margin around the recorded image, is generally performed, and borderless recording similar to silver salt photography is also performed by inkjet recording. When performing borderless recording with an ink jet recording apparatus, it is necessary to eject ink to the end of the recording medium, and as a result, ink is ejected to the outside of the recording medium. In this case, the recording medium may be soiled by ink ejected outside the recording medium. Therefore, Patent Document 3 discloses a device that prevents the recording medium from being soiled by ink that has been struck out of the recording medium when recording the recording medium without any borders at the beginning and end of the recording medium, and also at both ends in the width direction. An applied ink jet recording apparatus and recording method are disclosed.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a recording unit of a recording apparatus that has been devised to prevent the recording medium from becoming dirty even when borderless recording is performed. A hole H is provided in a part of the platen 1811 that holds the recording medium 1810 during recording flat, and ink droplets ejected outside the recording medium are received by the hole H. This prevents ink from adhering to the portion of the platen 1811 that contacts the recording medium 1810 and prevents the conveyance surface of the recording medium 1810 from being stained by ink.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a method of performing recording by combining the above-described method of performing high-quality recording using the ink reaction and the method of realizing borderless recording.

  In general, when recording is performed by ink jet recording, it is known that mist is generated when ink droplets are ejected or landed. This phenomenon is the same when ejecting a reaction liquid used to react with ink. It is known to occur.

  When recording with a margin on the recording medium (hereinafter referred to as margined recording), the generated mist lands near the landing position of the ejected ink or the droplet of the reaction liquid (hereinafter also referred to as the main droplet). Therefore, the recording medium is rarely soiled by the mist that has landed on the outside thereof. However, when performing borderless recording, mist that does not land on the recording medium is generated because there are ink droplets and reaction liquid that are struck outside the recording medium. Since the ink mist that does not land on the recording medium and the mist of the reaction liquid react to form a reaction product at a portion other than the recording surface of the recording medium, contamination of the recording device and the recording medium by the reaction product is significant. It becomes.

  Further, when an absorber is installed in the hole H provided in the platen 1811 in FIG. 14 and the ink or reaction liquid hit outside the recording medium is received by the absorber, the borderless recording is performed. A reactant is generated in the absorber, which causes a reduction in the absorption capacity of the absorber. In addition to the decrease in the liquid absorption capacity of the absorber, as the number of times of recording increases, the reactant attached to the absorber accumulates, contaminates the back surface (non-recording surface) of the recording medium, and the reactant further As the number increases, the conveyance of the recording medium is hindered.

  Therefore, in order to improve such a problem, in Patent Document 4, the amount of reaction liquid applied when recording on the edge of the recording medium is less than the amount of reaction liquid applied to a portion other than the edge. is doing. As a result, contamination of the recording apparatus by the reactant, reduction of the liquid absorbing capacity of the absorber, and contamination of the recording medium are reduced.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-60783 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-100811 JP 2000-351205 A JP 2003-025563 A

However, if the applied amount of the reaction liquid is suddenly changed in the edge area of the recording medium, the color changes between the image area other than the edge area and the image area in the edge area, resulting in an unnatural image. It is formed. In addition, the degree of the color difference varies depending on the type of recorded image.
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink jet which can obtain a natural finished recording result with less contamination of the recording apparatus and the recording medium even when performing borderless recording using a reaction liquid for improving image quality. An object is to provide a recording method.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus that performs borderless recording by discharging ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink onto a recording medium, and reacting liquid with respect to an end region extending from inside to outside of the end of the recording medium. A determination means for determining whether or not it is necessary to reduce the applied amount of a predetermined amount less than the predetermined amount, and when the determination means determines that it is necessary to decrease the predetermined amount, the end portion And a control means for gradually decreasing the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the region from the inside to the outside of the recording medium.

  The present invention also relates to an ink jet recording method for performing borderless recording by discharging ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink onto a recording medium, and a reaction liquid for an end region extending from the inside to the outside of the end of the recording medium. A determination step for determining whether or not it is necessary to reduce the applied amount of a predetermined amount below a predetermined amount, and when the determination step determines that it is necessary to decrease the predetermined amount from the predetermined amount, the end portion And a control step of gradually reducing the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the region from the inside to the outside of the recording medium.

  According to the present invention, when performing borderless recording using ink and a reaction liquid, the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end area of the liquid application area is gradually decreased according to the recorded image as it goes outward. . As a result, the recording apparatus and the recording medium are less contaminated and a natural finished recording result can be obtained.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
An ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention includes a first recording unit (hereinafter referred to as a recording head) having an ink storage portion (ink tank portion) that stores ink and an ink discharging portion (hereinafter also referred to as a recording head) for discharging the ink. , Also referred to as a recording cartridge). Further, the ink jet recording apparatus has a second recording unit (reaction liquid discharge head) having a liquid storage section (reaction liquid tank section) that stores a reaction liquid that reacts with ink, and a liquid discharge section (reaction liquid discharge head) that discharges the reaction liquid. A cartridge for reaction solution) is provided, and recording is performed using these. As described above, the recording apparatus of the present embodiment realizes high-quality recording by recording using ink and a liquid that reacts with the ink.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus 100 to which the present invention can be applied. In FIG. 1, two types of cartridges (the same structure) are mounted on a carriage 3, a recording cartridge 1 for performing recording by discharging ink and a reaction liquid cartridge 2 for discharging a reaction liquid. . In the example shown in the figure, four recording cartridges (1Y, 1M, 1C, 1B) and one reaction liquid cartridge 2 that discharge inks of different colors are used.

  Each of the recording cartridges 1 includes an upper ink tank portion (ink storage portion) and a lower ink discharge portion (ink discharge head portion). The reaction liquid cartridge 2 includes an upper reaction liquid tank section (liquid storage section) and a lower reaction liquid discharge section (liquid discharge section). Further, the recording cartridge 1 and the reaction liquid cartridge 2 are provided with connectors for receiving drive signals and the like.

  The carriage 3 is provided with a connector holder (not shown) for transmitting signals for driving the ink ejection portions of the recording cartridges 1 and the liquid ejection portions of the reaction liquid cartridge 2. The carriage 3, the recording cartridge 1 and the reaction liquid cartridge 2 are electrically connected via the connector holder.

  The ink ejection portions of each recording cartridge 1 eject inks of different colors, for example, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (B) inks. In FIG. 1, recording cartridges 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1B for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks are mounted from the left in the drawing, and a reaction for ejecting a reaction liquid next to these recording cartridges 1 is performed. A liquid cartridge 2 is mounted.

  In FIG. 1, the carriage 3 is slidably supported in the main scanning direction by the scanning rail 4, and reciprocating scanning is possible by moving the drive belt 5 by the carriage motor 20. The conveying roller pairs 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 are arranged before and after the position where the ink is ejected by the ink ejecting portion of the recording cartridge, and sandwich the recording medium 10 and interlock with the scanning by the carriage 3. The recording medium 10 is conveyed. The recording medium 10 such as paper is guided and supported in a pressed state on a platen (not shown) for regulating the recording surface flat at a position where recording is performed. At this time, the discharge port forming surfaces of the cartridges 1 and 2 mounted on the carriage 3 protrude downward from the carriage 3 and are positioned between the conveying rollers 7 and 9 and are pressed against the guide surface of the platen 10. It faces the parallel to the.

  A recovery unit 11 is disposed in the vicinity of the home position HP set at a portion outside the recording area of the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. The recovery unit 11 includes four caps 12 corresponding to four recording cartridges (ink ejection units) 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1B and one corresponding to one reaction liquid cartridge (liquid ejection unit) 2. The caps 13 are provided so as to be movable up and down. Then, when the carriage 3 is at the home position HP, the caps 12 and 13 corresponding to the discharge port forming surfaces of the recording cartridge 1 and the reaction liquid cartridge 2 are pressure-bonded to each other, so that the recording cartridge 1 and the reaction liquid The discharge port of the cartridge 2 is sealed. By sealing (hereinafter, also referred to as capping), thickening and fixing of the ink due to evaporation of the ink solvent in the discharge port are prevented, and occurrence of defective discharge is prevented.

  The recovery unit 11 also includes a suction pump 14 that communicates with each cap 12 and a suction pump 15 that communicates with the cap 13. These pumps 14 and 15 are used to perform suction recovery processing by capping the ejection port forming surfaces with caps 12 and 13 when ejection failure occurs in the ink ejection unit or the liquid ejection unit. . Further, the recovery unit 11 is provided with two wiping members (hereinafter also referred to as blades) 16 and 17 made of an elastic member such as rubber. The blade 16 is held by a blade holder 18, and the blade 17 is held by a blade holder 19.

  In FIG. 1, the blade holders 18 and 19 are lifted and lowered by a driven blade lifting mechanism (not shown). As a result, the blades 16 and 17 are also moved up to wipe the ink and foreign matters adhering to the discharge port forming surfaces of the cartridges 1 and 2 (wiping position), and are moved down to a position not in contact with the discharge port forming surface (standby position). ). In this case, the blade 16 for wiping the discharge port forming surface of the recording cartridge 1 and the blade 17 for wiping the discharge port forming surface of the reaction liquid cartridge 2 are lifted and lowered independently of each other. It is configured to be able to.

  When the carriage 3 moves from the opposite side of the home position HP in FIG. 1 to the home position HP side, or when the carriage 3 moves from the home position HP side to the opposite side of the home position HP, the blade 16 of each recording cartridge 1 is moved. Abuts the discharge port forming surface. By abutting, the blade 17 comes into contact with the discharge port forming surface of the reaction liquid cartridge 2, and wiping operation of these discharge port forming surfaces is performed by relative movement.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a recording cartridge 1 having a structure in which an ink discharge portion and an ink tank are integrated. The reaction liquid cartridge 2 has substantially the same configuration as the recording cartridge 1 except that the reaction liquid cartridge 2 is not the ink but the reaction liquid. In the figure, 21S indicates a reaction liquid tank section of the reaction liquid cartridge 2, and 22S indicates a reaction liquid discharge section of the cartridge.

  Now, taking the recording cartridge 1 as an example, the configuration thereof will be described. The recording cartridge 1 has an ink tank portion 21 in the upper portion and an ink discharge portion (ink discharge head portion) 22 in the lower portion. Further, the recording cartridge 1 has a head-side connector 23 for receiving a signal for driving the ink ejection unit 22 and outputting an ink remaining amount detection signal. The connector 23 is provided at a position adjacent to the ink tank portion 21.

  In FIG. 2, the ink discharge section 22 has a discharge port forming surface 81, and a plurality of discharge ports (not shown) are formed on the discharge port forming surface 81. A discharge energy generating element that generates energy necessary for discharging ink is disposed in a liquid path portion that leads from the ink tank portion 21 to each discharge port. In this embodiment, an electrothermal converter is used as the energy generating element.

  The recording head cartridge 1 is a liquid ejecting unit that ejects ink, and is configured to be replaceable when the ink in the ink tank portion 21 runs out. The ink discharge unit 22 is an ink jet recording head (hereinafter simply referred to as a recording head) for discharging ink using thermal energy, and includes an electrothermal transducer for generating thermal energy. It is. The ink discharge unit 22 applies a voltage to the electrothermal transducer, causes film boiling by the generated thermal energy, and discharges ink from the discharge port using pressure change caused by bubble growth and contraction due to film boiling. And recording.

  FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view schematically showing the structure of the ink discharge unit 22. In FIG. 3, a plurality of discharge ports 82 are formed at a predetermined pitch on the discharge port forming surface 81 facing the recording medium 10 with a predetermined gap (for example, about 0.5 to 2.0 mm). Yes. An electrothermal converter 85 is disposed as discharge energy generating means for generating ink discharge energy along the wall surface of each liquid passage 84 that communicates with the common liquid chamber 83 and each discharge port 82. . The plurality of ejection ports 82 are arranged in a positional relationship that is aligned in a direction that intersects the moving direction (main scanning direction) of the recording cartridge 1. In the ink discharge section 22 configured in this manner, the corresponding electrothermal converter 85 is driven based on the image signal or the discharge signal to cause the ink in the liquid path 84 to boil, and to discharge by the pressure generated at that time. Ink is ejected from the outlet 82. Since the reaction liquid discharge unit is configured in the same manner as the ink discharge unit, the description thereof is omitted.

  The ink and the reaction liquid are not necessarily one-to-one, that is, one dot of the reaction liquid is not ejected with respect to one dot of ink, and the application amount of the reaction liquid and the ink application amount in a unit area become a predetermined ratio. It is determined as follows. Accordingly, as the ink application amount increases, the reaction liquid application amount also increases. However, this ratio can be changed as appropriate. In the description of the present specification and claims, the applied amount of the reaction liquid determined by the above-mentioned ratio with respect to the applied amount of ink is referred to as a specified amount.

  In the above, an ink jet recording apparatus that performs a discharge operation by applying thermal energy to ink and a reaction liquid has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this method, and for example, a piezoelectric element is used. A piezo ink jet recording apparatus can also be applied.

Next, a schematic configuration of a recording system including the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
4, the recording system in the present embodiment has a configuration in which an inkjet recording apparatus 100 and an external device such as a personal computer (PC) 202, a monitor 203, a keyboard 204, and a mouse 205 are connected by cables 206 to 209. Have. In the case of the form shown in FIG. 4, the UI of the printer driver of the inkjet recording apparatus 100 stored in the PC 202 is displayed on the monitor 203, and the user operates the UI using the keyboard 204 and the mouse 205 to perform various operations. Settings can be made. The UI has a button for setting a borderless recording mode. When the user selects each setting button and operates the UI of the application stored in the PC 202 to instruct recording start, the application instructs the printer driver to record. Upon receiving this instruction, the printer driver transmits an instruction for borderless recording to the inkjet recording apparatus 100. The ink jet recording apparatus 100 is provided with a control system that controls each drive unit including the cartridges 1 and 2 and a carriage motor.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a control system provided in the inkjet recording apparatus 100. In FIG. 5, software system processing means such as an image input unit 303, an image signal processing unit 304, and a CPU 300 are connected to the main bus line 305. Further, the main bus line 305 includes hardware processing means such as an operation unit 306, a recovery system control circuit 307, a head temperature control circuit 314, a head drive control circuit 315, a carriage drive control circuit 316, and a recording medium conveyance control circuit 317. Is connected. The CPU 300 performs processing such as predetermined calculation and determination in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM 301, and also controls the operation of each part including the ink and reaction liquid ejection operations in the head cartridges 1 and 2. Function as.

Next, a borderless recording operation performed by ejecting ink and reaction liquid from the inside to the outside of the recording medium will be described.
Here, prior to explaining the characteristic borderless recording operation in the present embodiment, a recording method for reducing the reaction product between the ink discharged from the recording medium and the reaction liquid is first proposed conventionally. The recording method is described.

Conventionally, as a recording method for reducing reactants generated outside the recording medium by borderless recording, the amount of reaction solution applied to the end of the recording medium (the portion that becomes the edge in recording with a border) is determined in advance. A method of reducing a certain amount from the prescribed amount has been proposed.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an original image, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a result of recording with a certain amount of the reaction liquid decreased at a predetermined position in the end region in the recording medium. . In the present invention, the “edge area” is an area corresponding to an edge of an area where ink is ejected according to image data for borderless recording, and is from within the edge 51 of the recording medium. It refers to the area that extends outside. In the present embodiment, an area obtained by combining a portion corresponding to the edge of the recording medium in the case where recording with margins is performed and a portion where ink is ejected outside the recording medium for performing marginless recording is described above. Let it be an “end region”.

  When performing borderless recording of the original image in FIG. 6, the original image was enlarged so as to be larger than the outer end 51 of the recording medium as shown in FIG. 7, and recording was performed in the standard borderless recording mode. In order to make the results easier to understand, in FIG. 7, the end area of the recording medium is made larger than the end area in actual borderless recording.

  FIG. 8 is a view showing the relationship between the end region Qa and the applied amount 223 of the reaction liquid when the recording of FIG. 6 is performed. Here, a predetermined amount of reaction liquid is applied up to the end region start position 221 (the boundary between the edge in the recording medium and the image when the recording with the edge is performed). On the other hand, the reaction liquid reduced by a certain amount with respect to the specified amount is applied to the region from the end region start position 221 to the end region end position 222.

As can be seen from FIG. 7, the color is clearly changed between the end portion of the recording medium (the portion that becomes the edge in the recording with the margin) and the portion other than the end region.
In order to eliminate such a portion having a different color as much as possible, it is conceivable that the position where the reduction of the applied amount of the reaction solution is started as close as possible to the outer end 51 of the recording medium. However, even in this case, if there is an error in the position where the recording medium is set with respect to the recording apparatus or the size of the recording medium, an unnatural image with a different color is formed on a part of the outer edge of the recording medium. May be formed.

  As described above, in order to reduce the contamination due to the reaction product of the recording apparatus and the recording medium, when recording is performed with the amount applied to the end region of the reaction solution being rapidly decreased, the color of the ink is not sufficient in the recording result. Regions with different colors will occur.

  On the other hand, when an image with a small amount of ink applied (specified amount) such as characters is recorded, the amount of reaction liquid applied to the image formation region also decreases with the amount of ink applied. That is, for images such as characters, it was confirmed that the problem caused by the reaction product can be kept within an allowable range without reducing the amount of the reaction solution applied to the end region from the specified amount.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to reduce the portion where the unnatural color is generated and reduce the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the outside of the recording medium, the amount of the reaction liquid applied is gradually increased in the end region. In addition to the reduction, control is performed to vary the amount of reaction solution applied depending on the type of image to be recorded.

Next, the borderless recording operation executed in this embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, recording is performed by selecting one of the following two recording methods for the edge region for performing borderless recording. That is, select either one of the recording method that gradually reduces the applied amount of the reaction liquid, or the recording method that applies the specified amount determined by the applied amount of ink regardless of whether it is the edge region or not. And record.

Hereinafter, the recording operation executed in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
Each process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is executed by the CPU 300 controlling the image input unit 303, the image signal processing unit 304, and the like according to a program stored in the ROM 301.

  First, when a recording command for borderless recording is input to the recording apparatus in step S1 in FIG. 9, image data in a predetermined area is extracted in step S2. This predetermined area is an area where the recording cartridge 1 performs a main scan once, or an area where the printer driver has identified each image component by type of original image.

  In step S3, the type of image data in the predetermined area is determined, and it is determined whether or not the application amount of the reaction liquid to be applied to the end area needs to be gradually reduced according to the determination result. In other words, when the image data type is image data to which a large amount of ink is applied, such as a photographic image or a high-density type image, the specified application amount of the reaction liquid (specified Amount) also increases. For this reason, if a predetermined amount of the reaction liquid is applied as it is to the end region, there is a problem that a large amount of reactants are generated outside the recording medium. Therefore, it is determined that it is necessary to reduce the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the outside from the recording medium for a large amount of ink application type image data. Based on this determination, in step S4, the recording operation on the recording medium is performed while gradually reducing the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region in the liquid application region toward the outside of the liquid application region. For example, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), a prescribed amount of reaction liquid is applied to the inside of the end region, and the application amount of the reaction solution is gradually increased from the end region start position 221 of the end region. The amount is decreased so that the applied amount becomes 0 at the end region end position 222. Note that a hatched portion 231 in FIG. 10A indicates the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the outside of the outer end 51 of the recording medium.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S3 that the image data type is a character / ruled line type image or a low density type image, it is not necessary to reduce the amount of the reaction solution applied to the end region from the specified amount. Judge. This is because when the image data type is a character / ruled line or low density type image, the ink application amount required for image formation is small, and the reaction liquid set according to the ink application amount This is because it is not necessary to reduce the application amount because the application amount (specified amount) is also small. In accordance with this determination, in step 5, recording is performed on the recording medium while applying a prescribed amount of the reaction liquid to the end region as in the region inside the end region. The relationship between the application amount of the reaction liquid and the end region at this time is shown in FIG. In the figure, the hatched portion 231 indicates the amount of the reaction liquid applied outside the outer end 51 of the recording medium.

  Thereafter, in step S6, it is determined whether or not the recording of all the image area data has been completed. If there is any unrecorded image data, the process returns to step S2, and the above-described recording cycle is repeated again. If all the image data has been recorded, the borderless recording process ends.

The state of an image actually recorded by the above recording operation will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 11 shows an original image. Among the original images shown here, the image data of the areas A and C are determined as character / ruled line type image data by the above-described step S3, and the image data of the area B is It is determined as photo type data. Therefore, the application amount of the reaction solution was as shown in FIG. In the figure, the black portion of the color represents that a prescribed amount of reaction solution is applied, and the amount of reaction solution applied is decreased as the color becomes lighter. As shown in the figure, in the regions A and C where the character / ruled line type images are recorded, the reaction liquid is hardly applied to the outside of the recording medium, and even in the region B where the photographic type images are recorded, the recording medium It can be seen that the amount of reaction solution applied to the outer side is very small.

The result of forming the image by applying the reaction solution as described above is shown in FIG.
Here, the original image shown in FIG. 11 was slightly protruded from the outer end 51 of the recording medium. In order to make the control of the reaction liquid easier to understand, in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the end region is enlarged, but nevertheless, the end of the recording medium is unnatural due to a reduction in the amount of reaction liquid applied. Most images are not generated.

  In actual recording, the width 201 (see FIG. 12) of the end region of the recording medium from the postcard size to the A4 size is set to about 1 to 20 mm, more preferably about 3 to 5 mm. Recorded images were obtained, and the occurrence of problems due to reactants was suppressed. However, in large format recording apparatuses such as design printers and plotter printers, it may be desirable to set the width 201 of the end region to 20 mm or more, for example, about 50 mm.

  Further, when the amount of the reaction solution applied to the end region is continuously decreased from the inside to the outside, even if it is a continuous decrease in actual processing, it is a gradual decrease when viewed in detail. In order to prevent an unnatural streak from being generated in the recorded image located at the boundary of each step in this step-wise reduction, the number of steps for reducing the amount of the reaction solution within the normal region width 201 is preferably set to three. It is necessary to set the number of steps or more, more desirably eight or more steps.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the type of image is determined for each predetermined area (unit area) of the current image, if there are different types of images in the recording image to be recorded on one recording medium. It is possible to vary the application amount of the reaction liquid depending on the type of the image. Therefore, when the entire recorded image is the same type of image, for example, when the entire recorded image is a photographic type image or a character / ruled line type image, the reaction liquid is changed according to the type of each image. Grant is made.

  In the present embodiment, the image data type is determined to be two types of images: a photographic image or high density image type and a character / ruled line type or low density image type. It is also possible to discriminate between more than one type of image. For example, in addition to the above two types of images, a graphics type or medium density type image can be added as the third image type. When performing borderless recording of this type of image, recording is performed while gradually reducing the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region from the inside to the outside of the recording medium. In this case, it is desirable to set reaction liquid application conditions such that the degree of decrease is smaller than in the case of a photographic image or a high-density image (in the case of step S5).

  In step S5, the application amount of the reaction liquid to the end region is set to a specified amount. However, the application amount of the reaction liquid may be gradually reduced from the inside to the outside of the recording medium. Good. In this case, the decreasing rate may be suppressed from the decreasing rate in step S4.

  In the embodiment, the processing procedure of FIG. 9 relating to the borderless recording operation has been described as an example in which the control system in the inkjet recording apparatus 100 is executed. However, the printer driver stored in the personal computer 202 can make a determination in steps S2 and S3, and send a command to execute the operations in steps S4 and S5 on the ink jet recording apparatus 100 side.

  As described above, in the present invention, when performing borderless recording, the type of image data in the predetermined area is determined, and the reaction liquid is used so that a large amount of reactants is not generated outside the recording medium with respect to the end area in the predetermined area. The granting conditions are changed. In addition, the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region is continuously decreased toward the outside of the recording medium to prevent unnatural recording results.

Next, a method for determining the type of image will be described.
As a method for discriminating the type of image, there are a method for discriminating based on the format of image data and a method for discriminating based on the dot density in the unit area of the image.
(1) Discrimination Method Based on Image Data Format In the personal computer (PC) 202 as an external device, a printer driver stored in the PC 202 based on information on the format of image data sent from an application stored inside Determines the type of image included in the original image. For example, it is assumed that original image data in which a character / ruled line type image and a photo type image as shown in FIG. 11 are mixed is sent from an application on the PC side to the printer driver. In this case, the printer driver determines the type of image included in the image based on information indicating the attribute of the image data.
(2) Discrimination Method Based on Dot Density in Unit Area of Image Of the input image bitmap data transmitted to the printer driver or inkjet recording apparatus 100 stored in the PC 202, the recording cartridge 1 performs one main scan. The image data of the end area in the recorded area is taken out. Then, the type of recorded image is determined by calculating the number of dots per unit area (dot density) in the extracted image data. For example, when the number of dots per unit area is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the image is a photographic image, and when the number of dots per unit area is less than the predetermined number, the image is a character / ruled line type image.

  Thereafter, the printer driver or controller stored in the PC 202 instructs the ink jet recording apparatus 100 on the conditions for applying the reaction liquid along with the transmission of the recording image data. Alternatively, the ejection image data of the reaction liquid corresponding to the application condition of the reaction liquid is created and transmitted to the ink jet recording apparatus 100. Alternatively, an appropriate reaction liquid is applied to a region near the edge of the recording medium by creating discharge image data of the reaction liquid corresponding to the conditions for applying the reaction liquid in the inkjet recording apparatus 100.

  Next, a method for reducing the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region will be described. As this method, the following methods (i) and (ii) are preferably used. These methods may be used alone or in combination.

(I) Thinning-out recording method Thinning-out recording is recording by thinning out ejected droplets. For example, the reaction liquid discharge data is thinned out at a certain ratio, and the ink discharge data is not thinned out, and the reaction liquid is discharged to a part of all the places where ink is discharged. According to this configuration, since the reaction liquid is thinned out and discharged, the generation of the reaction liquid mist and the generation of ink mist due to the contact between the reaction liquid and the ink on the recording medium can be reduced to the extent that they cannot be completely prevented. As a result, contamination by reactants can be reduced. Further, instead of thinning out only the reaction liquid, the ink may be thinned out at a certain rate. According to this configuration, since the reaction liquid mist and the ink mist are reduced as compared with the case where only the reaction liquid is thinned out, the amount of reaction product generated by the ink mist and the reaction liquid mist can be reduced.

  Further, when a combination of a cationic ink and an anionic ink is used as a reaction system, for example, the black ink discharge data is thinned out at a certain ratio without thinning out the anionic color ink. You may comprise so that the provision amount may be reduced. Further, both the cationic black ink and the anionic color ink (Y, M, C) may be thinned out at a certain ratio.

  As described above, according to the thinning recording method in which recording is performed by thinning out at least one of the ink and the reaction liquid, the amount of applied ink and reaction liquid is reduced, and accordingly, the amount of ink mist and reaction liquid mist are reduced accordingly. The amount of is also reduced. Along with this, generation of extra reactants due to ink mist and reaction liquid mist is prevented or suppressed, and the reactants are less likely to adhere to the platen or the back surface of the recording medium.

(Ii) Recording method for reducing the discharge amount per droplet from the discharge port (i) In the thinning-out recording method, at least one of ink or reaction liquid is thinned out to reduce the generation of ink mist and reaction liquid mist. However, here, the generation of ink mist and reaction liquid mist is reduced by reducing the discharge amount per droplet from the discharge port. As a method of reducing the discharge amount per droplet from the discharge port, a method of adjusting the width of the prepulse applied to the electrothermal conversion element provided for each nozzle, or an interval time between the preheat pulse and the main pulse is set. There are a method for adjusting the length, a method for adjusting the driving voltage, and the like. The pre-pulse is a pulse mainly for controlling the ink temperature in the liquid path, and plays an important role in controlling the ejection amount. This pre-pulse width is preferably set to a value that does not cause a foaming phenomenon in the liquid by the heat energy generated by the electrothermal converter. The interval time ensures time for energy transmission of the prepulse to the liquid in the liquid path. The main pulse causes foaming in the liquid in the liquid path and discharges the liquid from the discharge port.

  Here, with respect to at least one of both the ink and the reaction liquid, the discharge amount per droplet from the discharge port is reduced. Specifically, in the marginless recording mode, the ejection amount per droplet of the reaction liquid is reduced as compared with the normal recording mode. Moreover, you may comprise so that the discharge amount per drop of both a reaction liquid and ink may be reduced. According to this configuration, since the amount of applied ink and reaction liquid is reduced, the ink mist amount and the reaction liquid mist amount that are generated at the time of landing or upon contact with ink that has already landed and the reaction liquid. Is reduced. Along with this, generation of extra reactants due to ink mist and reaction liquid mist is prevented or suppressed, and the reactants are less likely to adhere to the platen or the back surface of the recording medium.

  Note that thinning out or reducing the discharge amount per droplet from the discharge port may be for both the ink and the reaction liquid, or only for the reaction liquid.

  As described above, according to the configuration in which the thinning rate and the discharge amount reduction rate are increased in the end region as compared with the region other than the end region, the amount of ink and reaction liquid that is driven into the end portion of the recording medium is reduced. Therefore, the amount of ink and reaction liquid that land on the platen is also reduced. As a result, contamination of the platen and recording medium can be reduced. In addition, by reducing the discharge of the reaction liquid to the edge of the recording medium and the outside of the recording medium as much as possible, the absorption capacity of the absorber provided in the conveyance path of the recording medium is not lowered and the reaction between the ink and the reaction liquid is performed. Since the production of objects is reduced, it is possible to suppress the conveyance of the recording medium from being hindered.

  Hereinafter, the reaction system 1, the reaction system 2, and the reaction system 3 such as the ink and the reaction liquid used in the present invention will be described. In the text, “part” and “%” are based on mass unless otherwise specified. The reaction system 1 is a combination of ink and reaction liquid that react with each other. The reaction system 2 is a combination of ink (black ink) and ink (color ink) that react with each other. The reaction system 3 is a combination of an ink that reacts with each other and has opposite polarities and a reaction solution containing fine particles.

[Reaction system 1]
(Preparation of ink subset 1)
The following components were mixed and further filtered under pressure through a fluoropore filter having a pore size of 0.22 μm to obtain black ink Bk1, yellow ink Y1, magenta ink M1, and cyan ink C1. A combination of Bk1, Y1, M1, and C1 is referred to as ink subset 1.
<Composition of Bk1>
・ C. I. Food black 24.0 parts, thiodiglycol 10 parts, acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals) 0.05 parts, ion-exchanged water 85.95 parts <composition of Y1>
・ C. I. Direct yellow 142 2 parts ・ Thiodiglycol 10 parts ・ Acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals) 0.05 parts ・ Ion-exchanged water 87.95 parts <Composition of M1>
・ C. I. Acid 922.5 parts, thiodiglycol 10 parts, acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals) 0.05 parts, ion-exchanged water 87.45 parts <composition of C1>
・ C. I. 1992.5 parts direct blue, 10 parts thiodiglycol, 0.05 parts acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals), 87.45 parts ion-exchanged water

(Preparation of liquid composition 1)
The following components were mixed, and further filtered under pressure through a fluoropore filter having a pore size of 0.22 μm to obtain liquid composition 1.
<Composition of liquid composition 1>
・ 5 parts of polyallylamine (in-house synthesis) ・ 3 parts of polyallylamine hydrochloride (in-house synthesis) ・ 10 parts of thiodiglycol ・ 82 parts of ion-exchanged water

[Reaction system 2]
(Preparation of ink subset 2)
The following components were mixed, and further filtered under pressure through a Teflon (registered trademark) (R) filter having a pore size of 1 μm to obtain black ink Bk2, yellow ink Y2, magenta ink M2, and cyan ink C2. The combination of Y2, M2 and C2 is referred to as ink subset 2. The Bk2 color material is cationic in the ink, and the Y2, M2 and C2 color materials are anionic.
<Composition of Bk2>
-3 parts of Diacryl Supra Black ESL (Mitsubishi)-10 parts of ethylene glycol-5 parts of sulfolane-2 parts of cyclohexanol-0.05 part of acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals)-80 parts of ion-exchanged water <Composition of Y2>
・ C. I. 293 parts direct yellow, 10 parts ethylene glycol, 5 parts sulfolane, 2 parts cyclohexanol, 1 part acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals), 79 parts ion-exchanged water <M2 composition>
・ C. I. Acid Red 2893 parts, ethylene glycol 10 parts, sulfolane 5 parts, cyclohexanol 2 parts, acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals) 1 part, ion-exchanged water 79 parts <Composition of Y2>
・ C. I. 1993 parts direct blue, 10 parts ethylene glycol, 5 parts sulfolane, 2 parts cyclohexanol, 1 part acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals), 79 parts ion-exchanged water

[Reaction system 3]
(Preparation of ink subset 3)
The following components were mixed and further filtered under pressure with a fluoropore filter having a pore size of 0.45 μm to obtain black ink Bk3, yellow ink Y3, magenta ink M3, and cyan ink C3. A combination of Bk3, Y3, M3, and C3 is referred to as ink subset 3. The color materials Bk3, Y3, M3, and C3 are anionic in the ink.
<Composition of Bk3>
・ C. I. 1952.5 parts of direct black, 10 parts of 2-pyrrolidone, 5 parts of glycerin, 4 parts of isopropyl alcohol, 0.4 part of sodium hydroxide, 78.1 parts of ion-exchanged water <Composition of Y3>
・ Projet Fast Yellow 2 (Zeneca) 2 parts ・ C. I. 861 parts of direct yellow, 8 parts of thiodiglycol, 8 parts of ethylene glycol, 0.2 part of acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals), 4 parts of isopropyl alcohol, 76.8 parts of ion-exchanged water <composition of M3>
・ ProjetFastMagenta2 (Zeneca) 3 parts ・ Glycerol 7 parts ・ Urea 7 parts ・ Acetylenol EH (Kawaken Chemicals) 0.2 part ・ Isopropyl alcohol 4 parts ・ Ion-exchanged water 78.8 parts <Composition of C3>
・ C. I. Direct Blue 1993 parts, ethylene glycol 7 parts, diethylene glycol 10 parts, acetylenol EH (manufactured by Kawaken Chemicals) 0.3 part, ion-exchanged water 79.7 parts (preparation of fine particle-containing liquid composition 3) After mixing and dissolving, pressure filtration was performed with a membrane filter (trade name, fluoropore filter, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 1 μm to obtain a fine particle-containing liquid composition of the present invention.

(Synthesis of alumina hydrate)
Aluminum dodexide was produced by the method described in US Pat. No. 4,242,271. Next, the aluminum dodexide was hydrolyzed by the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,870 to produce an alumina slurry. Water was added to the alumina slurry until the solid content of alumina hydrate was 8.2%. The pH of the alumina slurry was 9.7. A 3.9% nitric acid solution was added to adjust the pH to 5.3, and the mixture was aged in an autoclave at 120 ° C. for 8 hours to obtain a colloidal sol. This colloidal sol was adjusted to pH = 4.0 with nitric acid and concentrated to a solid content of 20% to prepare an alumina hydrate slurry. Alumina hydrates in these slurries are positively charged in water and are cationic. Further, these alumina hydrate slurries were diluted and dispersed in ion-exchanged water and dropped onto a collodion membrane to prepare a measurement sample. When observed with a transmission electron microscope, all of the particles were flat plate-shaped.
<Composition of the fine particle-containing liquid composition 3>
-10.0 parts by weight of 1.5-pentanediol-7.5 parts by weight of ethylene glycol-50.0 parts by weight of alumina hydrate slurry-32.5 parts by weight of water (Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was mixed at 3000 rpm for 30 minutes, and then centrifuged (4000 rpm, 15 minutes) to remove coarse particles to obtain a fine particle-containing liquid composition 3.

  The pH of the fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 obtained above was 3.9, the average particle size of the fine particles was 80 nm, and the zeta potential was +41 mV. In addition, after filling the ink tank with the fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 and conducting a storage test at 60 ° C./Dry·1 month, no sediment is seen in the ink tank, and the ejection stability from the recording head is also good. Met. The fine particle aggregate obtained from the fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 has a pore volume of 0.90 ml / g when the pore radius is in the range of 3 nm to 30 nm, and the pore volume within the range exceeding 30 nm is 0.00. It was 001 ml / g. The pore volume in the range of 3 nm to 20 nm was 0.89 ml / g, and the pore volume in the range exceeding 20 nm was 0.01 ml / g.

The physical property evaluation method of the fine particle liquid composition 3 was performed as follows.
1) Average particle size of fine particles The fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 was diluted with ion-exchanged water so that the solid content concentration of the fine particles was 0.1%. Then, it was dispersed for 5 minutes with an ultrasonic cleaner, and the scattering intensity was measured using an electrophoretic light scattering photometer (manufactured by Otsuka Electronics Co., Ltd., ELS-8000, liquid temperature 25 ° C., using a quartz cell). . The average particle size was determined by the cumulant analysis method from the scattering intensity using the attached software.
2) The pH fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 was measured at a liquid temperature of 25 ° C. using a pH meter (Horiba Seisakusho, Castany pH meter D-14).
3) After the fine particle liquid composition 3 is dispersed with ion-exchanged water so that the solid content concentration of the zeta potential fine particles is 0.1%, a zeta potential measuring machine (Brookhaven, BI-ZETA plus, liquid temperature 20 ℃, using acrylic cell).
4) Pore radius and pore volume After pretreatment according to the following procedure, the sample was put into a cell, vacuum degassed at 120 ° C. for 8 hours, and measured by a nitrogen adsorption / desorption method using Omnisorb 1 manufactured by Cantachrome. did. The pore radius and pore volume were obtained by calculation according to the method of Barrett et al. (J.am.Dhem.Soc., Vol 73, 373, 1951).

(1) The fine particle-containing liquid composition 3 is dried at 120 ° C. for 10 hours in an air atmosphere to substantially evaporate the solvent and dry.
(2) The dried product is heated from 120 ° C. to 700 ° C. over 1 hour and then calcined at 700 ° C. for 3 hours.
(3) After firing, the fired product is gradually returned to room temperature, and the fired product is crushed with an agate mortar to be powdered.

(Other embodiments)
Other embodiments of the present invention will be described.
In the above embodiment, when the application amount of the reaction liquid is decreased from the end start position to the end end position of the end region, the application amount of the reaction liquid is set to 0 at the end end position. However, when the color of the end region is changed more gradually, the application amount of the reaction liquid at the end end position may be an application amount other than zero.

  In addition, the reaction solution applied to the end region is not limited to being reduced at a constant rate, but may be reduced at a different rate. For example, as shown in FIG. 16, the amount of change is small at the start of the applied amount reduction, and then the amount of change is increased, and the amount of change is reduced again as the end region end position is approached. Change the amount of liquid applied. By reducing the amount of the reaction liquid applied in the end region in a non-linear manner in this way, a more natural recording result can be obtained, and the amount of ink applied to the outside of the recording medium can be further increased. It can also be reduced.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) executes the program codes. But it can be achieved.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but an OS (operating system) running on the computer is actually based on the instruction of the program code. You may perform the process of. Needless to say, the process includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized.

  Furthermore, the program code read from the storage medium may be executed after being written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. That is, the case where the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. Needless to say.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a cartridge in which an ink discharge unit and an ink tank are integrated. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows typically the structure of an ink discharge part. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording system including an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system provided in the inkjet recording apparatus 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of an original image. It is a figure which shows the result of having recorded the original image shown in FIG. 6 with the conventional borderless recording method. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between the end region and the applied amount of reaction liquid when the original image shown in FIG. 6 is recorded by the recording method shown in FIG. 7. It is a flowchart which shows the recording operation performed in this embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a relationship between an end region and an applied amount of a reaction liquid when the original image shown in FIG. 11 is recorded by the recording method according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the original image recorded on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the provision state of the reaction liquid in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the image formed by this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a recording unit of a recording apparatus that is devised to prevent contamination of a recording medium in borderless recording.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording cartridge 2 Reaction liquid cartridge 21 Ink tank part 22 Recording head 51 Outer end 82 Ejection port 85 Electrothermal conversion body 101 Outer end 102 Unnatural part 123 External discharge amount 201 End area width 231 External Discharge amount 1811 Platen 201 Inkjet recording apparatus 300 CPU
301 ROM
302 RAM
Qa edge area

Claims (11)

In an inkjet recording apparatus that performs borderless recording by discharging ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink to a recording medium,
A judging means for judging whether or not it is necessary to reduce the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region extending from the inside to the outside of the end of the recording medium below a predetermined amount;
Control means for gradually reducing the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region from the inside to the outside of the recording medium when it is determined by the determining means that the amount needs to be reduced from the specified amount. An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by the above.   The determination means determines whether or not it is necessary to reduce the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region from a predetermined amount depending on the type of image to be recorded. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to 1. The determination means determines the type of each of a plurality of image constituent parts constituting an image to be recorded, and the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region for each of the image constituent parts based on the determination result To determine whether it is necessary to reduce the amount below a predetermined amount,
The control means gradually decreases the amount of the reaction liquid applied to each end region included in each image constituent part as it goes from the inside of the recording medium to the outside according to the determination result of the determination means. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit continuously decreases the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region.   4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reduces the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region in a stepwise manner.   6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specified amount is set such that a ratio of the application amount of the reaction liquid to the application amount of the ink is a predetermined ratio. .   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit determines the type of the image based on a format of image data of an image to be recorded.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit determines the type of the image according to the number of dots within a unit area in the image to be recorded.   The determination means divides the image type into a high-density type and a low-density type according to the density of dots per unit area, and applies a reaction liquid to an end region included in the low-density type image. It is determined that the amount does not need to be reduced from the specified amount, and it is determined that the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the end region included in the high-density type image needs to be reduced from the specified amount. An ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 7. The image types include at least a character / ruled line type and a photo type,
The determination means determines that the character / ruled line type image is an image that does not require the amount of reaction liquid applied to the edge region to be reduced below the specified amount, and the photographic type image is 9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image is determined to be an image that requires the amount of the reaction liquid applied to the partial area to be reduced from the specified amount. In an inkjet recording method for performing borderless recording by discharging ink and a reaction liquid that reacts with the ink to a recording medium,
Determining whether or not the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region extending from the inside to the outside of the end of the recording medium needs to be reduced below a predetermined amount;
A step of gradually decreasing the amount of reaction liquid applied to the end region from the inside of the recording medium to the outside when it is determined that it is necessary to reduce the amount from the specified amount. Inkjet recording method.

Images