Claims
- 1. An ink jet printer comprising:a color head having a plurality of nozzles arranged on a head carrier, each of the plurality of nozzles injecting color ink particles by the drive of a piezoelectric element; and a monochrome head having a plurality of nozzles arranged the head carrier, each of the plurality of nozzles injecting monochrome ink particles by the drive of a piezoelectric element; wherein the ink jet printer comprises a control unit which, within a single scanning of the head carrier, switches the printing mode between a color printing mode by the color head and a monochrome printing mode by the monochrome head, to thereby provide a control of printing, wherein the control unit includes a color drive waveform generation unit to drive the color head and a monochrome drive waveform generation unit to drive the monochrome head in which the color drive waveform generation unit and the monochrome drive waveform generation unit are independent units that may operate simultaneously.
- 2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the control unit includes:the color drive waveform generation unit which simultaneously generates a group of color drive waveforms representative of at least two types of color dots; the monochrome drive waveform generation unit which simultaneously generates a group of monochrome drive waveforms representative of at least two types of monochrome dots; a color data output unit which outputs color data for a single scanning from a color image, in synchronism with a single scanning of the head carrier; a monochrome data output unit which outputs monochrome data for a single scanning from a monochrome image, in synchronism with a single scanning of the head carrier; a color head drive unit which selects one waveform from the group of color drive waveforms, based on the color data, the color head drive unit supplying the selected one waveform to the piezoelectric element of the color head for the drive thereof; and a monochrome head drive unit which selects one waveform from the group of monochrome drive waveforms, based on the monochrome data, the monochrome head drive unit supplying the selected one waveform to the piezoelectric element of the monochrome head for the drive thereof; and wherein if color data and monochrome data are intermingled in the printing data for a single scanning of the head carrier, the control unit selects the color head drive waveform in response to the color data during the single scanning, and selects the monochrome waveform drive signal in response to the monochrome data, to thereby provide a switching between the color printing mode and the monochrome printing mode.
- 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, whereina basic drive frequency of a group of color drive waveforms generated by the color drive waveform generation unit is equal to a basic drive frequency of a group of monochrome drive waveforms generated by the monochrome drive waveform generation unit.
- 4. The ink jet printer according to claim 3, whereinat least one intensity waveform of the group of the monochrome drive waveforms is a drive waveform that allows ink particles to be injected twice or more during a single injection cycle of the group of the color drive waveforms.
- 5. The ink jet printer according to claim 3, whereinthe color data supplied to the color head drive unit, and the monochrome data supplied to the monochrome head drive unit are a set of pixel data containing a plurality of bits, and wherein the bit data of color pixels contains information representing ink particle diameters by the color drive waveform, while the bit data of monochrome pixels contains information representing dot positions by the monochrome drive waveform.
- 6. The ink jet printer according to claim 5, whereinthe color head drive unit and the monochrome head drive unit include for each piezoelectric element an analog multiplexer of multi-input/single output which inputs a plurality of drive waveforms and selects any one waveform or does not perform selection at all, depending on the pixel data bit.
- 7. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, whereinthe color drive waveform generation unit generates at least two types of color drive waveforms for different ink particle diameters, and wherein the monochrome drive waveform generation unit generates at least two types of monochrome drive waveforms that can drive injection once or a plurality of times within a single monochrome cycle.
- 8. The ink jet printer according to claim 7, whereinthe color drive waveform generation unit generates color drive waveforms for different ink particle diameters, such as large, medium, and small diameters.
- 9. The ink jet printer according to claim 7, whereinthe monochrome drive waveform generation unit generates monochrome drive waveforms for all dot patterns with different positions, such as front, rear, and both front and rear positions.
- 10. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, whereincommon head control signals, including clock, shift, etc., are supplied both to the color head drive unit and the monochrome head drive unit.
- 11. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, whereinthe color head drive unit and the monochrome head drive unit are mounted on the head carrier.
- 12. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, whereinthe color drive waveform generation unit and the monochrome drive waveform generation unit include a waveform memory storing the group of drive waveform data, and an AD conversion unit which converts the group of drive waveform data simultaneously read out of the waveform memory, into analog waveforms.
- 13. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, whereinthe color printing mode of the control unit is a multivalued intensity mode, and wherein the monochrome printing mode of the control unit is a high-resolution mode in which the resolution of the monochrome head is integer times the resolution of the color head.
- 14. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the multivalued intensity mode of the control unit, the amount of ink particles of the color head is variable for each nozzle.
- 15. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, the resolution in the horizontal scanning direction of the monochrome head is integer times the resolution of the color head.
- 16. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, the ink injection cycle of the monochrome head is integer times the ink injection cycle of the color head.
- 17. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, a multiple of the ink injection cycle of the monochrome head relative to the ink injection cycle of the color head is equal to a multiple of the resolution in the vertical scanning direction of the monochrome head relative to the resolution in the vertical scanning direction of the color head.
- 18. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, the resolution in the vertical scanning direction of the monochrome head is integer times the resolution in the vertical scanning direction of the color head.
- 19. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, the number of nozzle lines of the monochrome head is integer times the number of nozzles lines for each color of the color head.
- 20. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, whereinin the high resolution mode of the control unit, a multiple of the number of nozzle lines of the monochrome head relative to the number of nozzle lines for each color of the color head is equal to a multiple of the resolution of the monochrome head relative to the resolution of the color head in the horizontal scanning direction.
- 21. An ink jet printer comprising:a color head having a plurality of nozzles arranged on a head carrier, each of the plurality of nozzles injecting color ink particles by the drive of a piezoelectric element; and a monochrome head having a plurality of nozzles arranged the head carrier, each of the plurality of nozzles injecting monochrome ink particles by the drive of a piezoelectric element; wherein the ink jet printer comprises a control unit which, within a single scanning of the head carrier, switches the printing mode between a color printing mode by the color head and a monochrome printing mode by the monochrome head, to thereby provide a control of printing, wherein when color data and monochrome data are intermingled, said control unit prepares color data for a single scanning operation including efficient data, corresponding to colored portions and inefficient data corresponding in non-colored portions, as well as monochrome data for a single scanning operation, including efficient data corresponding to monochrome portions and inefficient data corresponding to non-monochrome portions, wherein said control unit creates a color drive signal and a monochrome drive signal at the same time and in parallel in synchronism, with the scanning operation of the head carrier, wherein said control unit selects the color drive waveform signal to drive the color head when the color data is efficient data, but does not select the color drive signal to stop the drive of the color head when the color data are inefficient data, wherein said control unit selects the monochrome drive waveform signal to drive the monochrome head when the monochrome data is efficient data, but does not select the monochrome drive signal to stop the drive of the monochrome head when the monochrome data is inefficient data.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of international application PCT/JP99/06512 filed on Nov. 22, 1999.
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Continuations (1)
|
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US |
Child |
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|
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