Method of controlling ink jet recording apparatus

Abstract

An ink jet recording apparatus includes: a print head having an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium, thereby performing printing on the recording medium; a recording medium thickness setting unit setting a thickness of the recording medium; a droplet amount setting unit setting an ink droplet amount depending on the recording medium thickness; and a droplet amount control unit controlling an amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the set ink droplet amount.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a state where ink droplets are discharged toward the recording medium from the head;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a personal computer and a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a printer property setting window displayed on a display unit;

FIGS. 4( a) and 4(b) are conceptual views showing the positional relationship between a paper placed on a platen and a head, wherein FIG. 4(a) shows a case where a plain thin paper is used while FIG. 4(b) shows a case where a thin glossy paper is used;

FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b) are conceptual views showing the positional relationship between a paper placed on the platen and head, wherein FIG. 5(a) shows a case where the head is shifted to a lower position while FIG. 5(b) shows a case where the head is shifted to a higher level;

FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b) are conceptual views showing the positional relationship between a paper placed on the platen and head, wherein FIG. 6(a) shows a case where a thin glossy paper is used while FIG. 6(b) shows a case where a thin plain paper is used;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a droplet amount table for a normal gap that stores the ink droplet amount that changes in association with the paper thickness and the paper type and an example of another droplet amount table for a large gap that stores the ink droplet size that does not change irrespective of the paper thickness and the paper type; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing executed in the PC of FIG. 2.

Claims

1. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a print head having an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium, thereby performing printing on the recording medium;a recording medium thickness setting unit setting a thickness of the recording medium;a droplet amount setting unit setting an ink droplet amount depending on the recording medium thickness; anda droplet amount control unit controlling an amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the set ink droplet amount.

2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording medium type setting unit setting a type of the recording medium, the droplet amount setting unit setting the ink droplet amount depending on both of the thickness of the recording medium and the type of the recording medium.

3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a droplet amount storage unit storing a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts in association with a plurality of values for the recording medium thickness, and wherein the droplet amount setting unit selects one value of the ink droplet amount from the droplet amount storage unit depending on the recording medium thickness, to thereby set the ink droplet amount.

4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a gap setting unit setting an interval between the print head and a platen on which the recording medium is disposed, and wherein the droplet amount setting unit sets the ink droplet amount depending on the interval and the recording medium thickness.

5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the gap setting unit sets the value of the interval by selecting one of two different predetermined values, and wherein the droplet amount setting unit sets the ink droplet amount by selecting the largest ink droplet amount from among the plurality of ink droplet amounts when the gap setting unit sets the interval to a larger one of the two different predetermined values.

6. A method for controlling an ink jet recording apparatus having a print head formed with an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium and a controller controlling an ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port, the method comprising: setting thickness of the recording medium; andsetting an ink droplet amount depending on the recording medium thickness, the controller controlling the ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the set ink droplet amount.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising setting the type of the recording medium, wherein the ink droplet amount is set depending on both of the thickness of the recording medium and the type of the recording medium.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein one value is selected among a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts that are stored in association with a plurality of values for the recording medium thickness, to thereby set the ink droplet amount.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising setting an interval between the print head and a platen on which the recording medium is disposed, and wherein the ink droplet amount is set depending on the interval and the recording medium thickness.

10. The method according to claim 9, the value of the interval is set by selecting one of two different predetermined values, and wherein the ink droplet amount is set by selecting a largest ink droplet amount from among the plurality of ink droplet amounts when the interval is set to a larger one of the two different predetermined values.

11. A storage medium storing a set of program instructions executable on a data processing device for controlling an ink jet recording apparatus having a print head formed with an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium and a controller controlling an ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port, the instructions comprising: setting thickness of the recording medium; andsetting an ink droplet amount depending on the recording medium thickness, the controller controlling the ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the set ink droplet amount.