JP2013163301A - Inkjet printer and method for controlling inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet printer which is allowed for cleaning of an inkjet head by a simple operation at user's option even during printing.SOLUTION: In an inkjet printer 3, when a manual operation member 32 is operated by a user during printing (ST1, ST2, ST3), the printing is interrupted to perform a cleaning operation (ST4, ST5), and the printing is resumed in due course of time (ST6). A user can visually check a print result in the middle of printing such as continuous printing, and is allowed for executing cleaning by operating the manual operation member 32 when the user determines that the cleaning is necessary. Thus, cleaning can be executed by such a simple operation as operating the manual operation member at the timing when a user desires, without any preliminary programming.

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet printer that performs an inkjet head cleaning operation at the user's discretion, and an inkjet printer control method.

  In an ink jet printer, each nozzle of an ink jet head may become clogged due to thickening of ink remaining in the nozzle, mixing of bubbles, adhesion of foreign matters, and the like, resulting in a state incapable of ejecting ink droplets. Further, there may be a discharge failure state in which a sufficient amount of ink droplets cannot be discharged. When printing is performed using an inkjet head including such defective nozzles, dot dropout or the like may occur and print quality may deteriorate. Therefore, conventionally, the inkjet head is cleaned at a predetermined timing, for example, periodically or when the power is turned on.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an ink jet printer that performs a cleaning operation called flushing that periodically ejects ink droplets from each nozzle of an ink jet head. Patent Document 2 discloses an ink jet printer that periodically performs flushing, performs a nozzle check that determines whether each nozzle is good or bad, and performs flushing in different forms based on the result. Patent Document 3 discloses a printing condition setting method in which cleaning can be specified at the time of continuous printing via a printer driver before printing on the computer side to which an inkjet printer is connected.

JP 2007-276139 A JP 2010-30184 A JP 2002-283673 A

  In a conventional ink jet printer, cleaning is performed at the time set in the firmware and conditions (power-on, nozzle check result, specified time, etc.). Alternatively, the time point at which cleaning is performed from the printer driver side before printing is set.

  For example, in continuous printing, as disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3, flushing is performed periodically so that printing defects such as missing dots do not occur. However, in continuous printing of receipts, labels, etc., it is sufficient if the contents of printing are known, and print quality may not be required so much. In such a case, from the viewpoint of improving throughput, it may be desirable to perform a series of continuous printing without being interrupted by cleaning such as flushing. On the other hand, if cleaning is performed in the middle of continuous printing, unevenness may occur in the printing state before and after that, and it may be desired not to perform cleaning in the middle of continuous printing from this viewpoint.

  In such a case, it is necessary to set this in advance in the firmware, or it is necessary to set it via the printer driver while waiting for printing. Cannot change. For this reason, when continuous printing is performed with the setting without cleaning, cleaning is not performed even in a situation where a printing defect is likely to occur in which printing content cannot be read during printing. For this reason, the printed content may become unreadable from the middle of continuous printing. In this case, it is necessary to cancel the nozzle clogging of the inkjet head by forcibly terminating continuous printing and starting a cleaning operation from the printer driver side. In addition, the recovery operation for restarting continuous printing is also complicated thereafter.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to propose an ink jet printer capable of cleaning an ink jet head with a simple operation at the discretion of a user even during printing, and an operation control method thereof.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an inkjet printer according to the present invention includes a manual operation member that activates a cleaning operation of an inkjet head, and when the manual operation member is operated during printing, the printing is interrupted and the cleaning is performed. And a control unit that performs the operation and restarts the printing after the end of the cleaning operation.

  The ink jet printer of the present invention is provided with a manual operation member for starting the cleaning operation. In the middle of printing such as continuous printing, the user visually confirms the printing result and operates the manual operation member when it is determined to be necessary. When the manual operation member is operated, printing is interrupted and cleaning is performed. Therefore, the cleaning can be performed by a simple operation of operating the manual operation member at a time desired by the user without setting in advance. Therefore, it is possible to improve the throughput of continuous printing, and it is also possible to prevent the inkjet head from being in a print impossible state due to clogging during continuous printing. Therefore, it is possible to realize an ink jet printer that is easy to use by the user.

  Here, the controller has a transport unit that transports the recording medium, and the control unit causes the transport unit to transport the recording medium without executing the cleaning operation when the manual operation member is operated during printing standby. Transport.

  As described above, the manual operation member is provided with a cleaning operation start function and a paper feed operation start function. Further, the function of the manual operation member is switched according to the operation state of the inkjet printer during printing and printing standby. Therefore, it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of manual operation members. In particular, the manual operation member for performing the paper feeding operation is often arranged in an ink jet printer using continuous paper. Therefore, if cleaning is started using this, the number of parts increases. An ink jet printer that can perform cleaning at a time desired by the user without incurring can be realized. Further, the paper feeding operation is not performed during printing, whereas the cleaning operation of the present application is an operation performed during printing, which is suitable for switching functions.

  Further, the control unit invalidates the operation of the manual operation member when the manual operation member is operated during the cleaning operation of the inkjet head. In this way, it is possible to avoid the unnecessary repetition of the cleaning operation, and it is possible to avoid unnecessary paper feeding operation.

  Next, a moving member that reciprocates the ink-jet head in a direction intersecting the direction in which the recording medium is conveyed, and one end side in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the recording medium is conveyed, A cleaning unit that executes a cleaning operation, and the inkjet head performs reciprocation by the moving member to perform printing. In the case of a so-called serial type print head, when the manual operation member is operated during printing, the control unit completes one reciprocating printing executed when the operation is performed. The cleaning operation is activated at a later time.

  For example, the inkjet head performs bi-directional printing in which printing is performed both during forward movement from the home position side to the opposite side and during backward movement in the reverse direction. If the manual operation member is operated during the forward movement and an interruption occurs, an immediate process of cleaning requires interruption processing such as saving print data and storing print positions. Also, it takes time to return the inkjet head to the position where cleaning is performed. After the printing for one pass is completed, the interruption process is also easy, and the ink jet head has returned to the home position side, so that it can be moved to a position for cleaning in a short time. Therefore, the cleaning interrupt process can be performed easily and in a short time.

  Next, according to the control method of the ink jet printer of the present invention, the manual operation member is operated when the recording medium is conveyed and the recording medium is printed by the ink jet head, and the recording medium is printed by the ink jet head. In this case, the printing operation is interrupted and the cleaning operation of the inkjet head is executed. After the cleaning operation of the cleaning head is executed, the interrupted printing is executed.

  Here, in the method of the present invention, the recording medium is transported without executing the cleaning operation when the manual operation member is operated during standby for printing by the inkjet head.

  In the method of the present invention, if the manual operation member is operated while the cleaning operation is being performed, the operation of the manual operation member is invalidated.

  Further, in the method of the present invention, the ink jet head reciprocates in a direction intersecting a direction in which the recording medium is conveyed to print the recording medium, and when the manual operation member is operated during printing, The cleaning operation is executed after the printing of one reciprocating movement executed when the operation is performed is completed.

1 is a functional block diagram of a printer system to which the present invention is applied. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the operation | movement accompanying operation of a manual operation member. It is explanatory drawing which shows the interruption operation | movement of cleaning at the time of continuous printing.

  Embodiments of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the following description shows an example of embodiment of this invention and does not intend limiting this invention to the said embodiment. For example, the following embodiments are those when the present invention is applied to a serial type ink jet printer, but the present invention is also applicable to a line type ink jet printer.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a printer system including a serial type ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printer system 1 includes a host computer 2 and an inkjet printer 3 that performs a printing operation based on print data from the host computer 2.

  The host computer 2 includes an application 4 that is a program for generating image data, an OS 5 that is a basic program for controlling the host computer 2, and a printer that performs image processing (color conversion processing, etc.), command conversion processing, etc. A driver 6 and a print data output unit 7 for outputting print data to the inkjet printer 3 are provided.

  The control system of the ink jet printer 3 is composed mainly of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The print data input unit 11 to which the print data output from the host computer 2 is input and the input print data are temporarily stored. A print buffer 12 to be stored and a printing unit 13 that performs reciprocal printing based on print data stored in the print buffer 12 are provided.

  The printing unit 13 includes a carriage 14, a carriage motor 15, an inkjet head 16, and a paper feed motor 17. The carriage 14 on which the inkjet head 16 is mounted is reciprocated in the width direction X (main scanning direction) of the printing paper 18 by the carriage motor 15. Further, the paper feed motor 17 causes the printing paper 18 to be transported in the transport direction Y (sub-scanning direction) along the transport path passing through the printing position by the inkjet head 16. A desired print image is formed on the printing paper 18 by synchronizing the driving of the carriage motor 15 and the paper feed motor 17 with the ejection operation of ink droplets from each nozzle (not shown) of the inkjet head 16. .

  Here, the content of the print data stored in the print buffer 12 is analyzed by the command analysis unit 21. When analyzing that the input print data is control command data, the command analysis unit 21 stores it in the control command buffer 22, and when analyzing it as image data, stores it in the print buffer 12. The control command data temporarily stored in the control command buffer 22 is read by the main control unit 23, and processing corresponding to each control command is executed. The image data temporarily stored in the print buffer 12 is subjected to data expansion processing by the print data generation unit 24, and finally, dot pattern data corresponding to the nozzle rows of the inkjet head 16 is generated and stored in the print buffer 12. The

  A print head control unit 25, a carriage drive control unit 26, a transport control unit 27, and a head maintenance control unit 28 are connected to the main control unit 23 in order to perform processing such as print processing. The print head control unit 25 controls the driving of the inkjet head 16 and controls the ejection of ink droplets from the nozzle row in accordance with the bit pattern data generated by the print data generation unit 24. The carriage drive control unit 26 drives the carriage motor 15 to control the operation of the carriage 14. The conveyance control unit 27 drives the paper feed motor 17 to control the rotation operation of the paper feed roller 29.

  In addition, an operation command is input to the main control unit 23 from an operation / display unit 31 disposed in a printer case (not shown) of the inkjet printer 3. In the operation / display unit 31, a paper feed / cleaning button 32 is arranged as a manual operation member. When the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated, an operation command signal is generated and input to the main control unit 23. When the operation command signal is input, the main control unit 23 activates and executes an interrupt operation assigned in advance according to the operation state of the inkjet printer 3. In this example, as will be described later, when the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated, the main control unit 23 checks the operation state of the ink jet printer 3, and if printing is in progress, the main maintenance unit 28 Instruct the start of the cleaning operation. When printing is waiting, the conveyance control unit 27 is instructed to start a paper feeding operation.

  Here, in the serial type ink jet printer 3, one end in the main scanning direction X that is the moving direction of the carriage 14 is a home position, and a head maintenance unit 33 of the ink jet head 16 is disposed here. ing. In the print standby state, the carriage 14 waits at the home position. In this standby state, the nozzle surface of the inkjet head 16 is capped by the head maintenance unit 33. Further, the head maintenance unit 33 cleans the inkjet head 16. Cleaning includes a wiping operation for wiping the nozzle surface of the inkjet head 16, a flushing operation for ejecting ink droplets from each nozzle, and an ink suction operation for sucking and discharging ink from each nozzle while the nozzle surface is capped. . These operations are controlled by the head maintenance control unit 28.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart mainly showing the flow of operations accompanying the operation of the paper feed / cleaning button 32. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation when the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated during printing.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the main control unit 23 of the inkjet printer 3 monitors an operation input from the operation / display unit 31 (step ST1). If there is an operation input, the type of operation input is determined (step ST2), and if it is an operation input signal from the paper feed / cleaning button 32, the operation state of the inkjet printer 3 is confirmed (step ST2). ST3). When the operation state is printing, after performing the printing interruption process (step ST4), cleaning of the inkjet head 16, in this example, a flushing operation is started (step ST5).

  The main controller 23 drives the carriage motor 15 via the carriage drive controller 26 to return the carriage 14 to the home position (head cleaning position). Thereafter, the inkjet head 16 is driven via the print head controller 25 to perform a flushing operation for ejecting ink droplets from each nozzle toward a waste ink collecting unit (not shown) of the head maintenance unit 33. After the flushing operation is completed, the interrupted printing is resumed (step ST6).

  In a continuous printing (multiple label printing) operation, when a user visually confirms a printed label, it may be confirmed that the printing state is likely to fall into an unreadable state. In such a case, the user operates the paper feed / cleaning button 32. As a result, as described above, printing is interrupted, a flushing operation is performed, and each nozzle of the inkjet head 16 is recovered from the clogged state. Printing is resumed after completion of the flushing operation (steps ST4, ST5, ST6 in FIG. 2). Thereby, continuous printing can be continued without falling into an unreadable printing state. Further, the user only has to operate the paper feed / cleaning button 32, and an input processing operation for resuming printing is unnecessary.

  On the other hand, if it is confirmed in step ST3 that the operation state of the inkjet printer 1 is waiting for printing, a paper feeding operation is performed (step ST7). The main control unit 23 drives the paper feed motor 17 via the transport control unit 27 and rotates the paper feed roller 29 by a predetermined amount, whereby a predetermined amount of the print paper 18 is transferred in the transport direction Y (sub-scanning direction). ) To the front. As described above, the single paper feed / cleaning button 32 has a plurality of functions, and the functions are switched according to the operation state. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a new manual operation member in order to perform manual cleaning.

  On the other hand, if it is confirmed in step ST3 that the operation state of the ink jet printer 3 is during flushing (cleaning) of the ink jet head 16, no interrupt processing is started and no paper feed operation is performed. The operation input by the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is invalidated (step ST8). Thereby, it is possible to avoid the unnecessary cleaning operation and paper feeding operation being started. If the paper feed operation is performed by operating the button while printing is interrupted and cleaning is performed in step ST5, the printing position will be shifted after the printing is resumed. Can be avoided.

  Next, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example when the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated during a series of continuous printing operations on continuous paper such as printing of a large number of labels. In this example, during continuous printing, it is set so that flushing is not performed from the start of printing to the end of printing. This setting can be performed before printing from the printer driver 6 side, for example. Alternatively, it can be set in advance for the main control unit 23 or the head maintenance control unit 28 of the inkjet printer 3.

  In the serial type inkjet printer 3, as shown by thick arrows A1, A2,... A6 in FIG. 3, the inkjet head 16 mounted on the carriage 14 performs bidirectional printing. That is, one-pass printing is performed during the forward movement from the HOME side (home position HP side) end in the width direction X (main scanning direction) of the printing paper 18 to the opposite AWAY side end, and in the reverse direction. It is formed by performing a printing operation in both of the backward movements.

  In continuous printing, when performing the first printing (001), the second printing (002)... The 100th printing (100),..., The middle position of the second printing (002) Assume that the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated. Further, it is assumed that the position of the inkjet head 16 at this time is a position close to the AWAY side at the time of forward movement, for example, as indicated by a cross in FIG. In this case, the main control unit 23 continues printing until the one-pass printing operation during printing indicated by the arrow A6 is completed.

  After the one-pass printing operation is completed and the carriage 14 (inkjet head 16) returns to the HOME side, an interrupt is issued to interrupt the printing operation, and the carriage 14 is moved to the home position HP ( Return to the cleaning position) to perform the flushing operation. After completion of the flushing operation, as shown by an arrow Y, the paper feed operation is performed so that the printing position of the next one-pass printing on the printing paper 18 reaches the printing position by the inkjet head 16, and as shown by the arrow D. Then, the carriage 14 (inkjet head 16) is moved to the printing start position. Thereafter, the printing operation is resumed.

  If the printing operation is interrupted immediately during the one-pass printing operation, a process for saving the remaining print data of the one-pass printing and storing the print position is required. Further, it is necessary to return the carriage 14 to the home position HP (cleaning position) over a long distance and to move the same distance in the reverse direction when resuming printing, which takes much time. According to the operation of this example, printing can be interrupted with a simple process, and the printing interruption time due to flushing can be shortened. Further, if printing is continued until the second printing (002) in the middle of printing at the time when the paper feed / cleaning button 32 is operated, the printing state becomes unreadable and the second sheet is printed. Since it may be necessary to discard the print (002) and print again, it is desirable to interrupt the print after one pass printing as in this example.

  In this example, a paper feed / cleaning button 32 to which functions of a cleaning operation and a paper feed operation are assigned is disposed as a manual operation member on a printer case (not shown) of the inkjet printer 3. As a manual operation member, in addition to these two operations, a function for performing another operation may be added, and the function may be switched according to the operation state. Further, a function for starting two operations, ie, a cleaning operation and an operation other than the paper feeding operation, may be assigned to the manual operation member, and these two functions may be switched according to the operation state. Furthermore, the function of the manual operation member to which a plurality of functions are assigned can be switched according to the operation state other than during printing, during printing standby, and during cleaning.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer system, 2 Host computer, 3 Inkjet printer, 4 Application, 5 OS, 6 Printer driver, 7 Print data output part, 11 Print data input part, 12 Print buffer, 13 Print part, 14 Carriage, 15 Carriage motor, 16 Inkjet head, 17 paper feed motor, 18 print paper (recording medium), 21 command analysis unit, 22 control command buffer, 23 main control unit, 24 print data generation unit, 25 print head control unit, 26 carriage drive control unit, 27 Conveyance control unit, 28 Head maintenance control unit, 29 Paper feed roller, 31 Operation / display unit, 32 Paper feed / cleaning button (manual operation member), 33 Head maintenance unit

Claims (8)

A manual operation member that activates the cleaning operation of the inkjet head;
A control unit that, when the manual operation member is operated during printing, interrupts the printing, performs the cleaning operation, and resumes the printing after the cleaning operation ends. Inkjet printer. A transport unit for transporting the recording medium;
2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein when the manual operation member is operated during printing standby, the control unit transports the recording medium by the transport unit without executing the cleaning operation.   3. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein when the manual operation member is operated during the cleaning operation of the inkjet head, the control unit invalidates the operation of the manual operation member. A moving member that reciprocates the ink-jet head in a direction that intersects a direction in which the recording medium is conveyed;
A cleaning unit that is disposed on one end side in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the recording medium is conveyed and that performs the cleaning operation;
The inkjet head is printed by reciprocating with the moving member,
The said control part starts the said cleaning operation | movement after completion | finish of 1 reciprocating movement printing performed when the said manual operation member is operated during printing, when the said operation was performed. The inkjet printer of any one of these. Transporting the recording medium and printing the recording medium with an inkjet head;
When the manual operation member is operated while printing the recording medium with the inkjet head, the printing is interrupted and the cleaning operation of the inkjet head is executed.
An ink jet printer control method, wherein interrupted printing is executed after the cleaning operation of the cleaning head is executed.   6. The method of controlling an ink jet printer according to claim 5, wherein the recording medium is conveyed without executing the cleaning operation when the manual operation member is operated while waiting for printing by the ink jet head.   The method for controlling an ink jet printer according to claim 5 or 6, wherein when the manual operation member is operated while the cleaning operation is being performed, the operation of the manual operation member is invalidated. The inkjet head reciprocates in a direction intersecting the direction in which the recording medium is transported to print the recording medium;
8. The cleaning operation according to claim 5, wherein when the manual operation member is operated during printing, the cleaning operation is executed after completion of one reciprocating printing executed when the operation is performed. A control method for an ink jet printer according to claim 1.

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